Testicular dysfunction (TDF) is characterized by testosterone deficiency and is caused by oxidative stress injury in Leydig cells. A natural fatty amide named N-benzylhexadecanamide (NBH), derived ...from cruciferous maca, has been shown to promote testosterone production. Our study aims to reveal the anti-TDF effect of NBH and explore its potential mechanism in vitro. This study examined the effects of H
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on cell viability and testosterone levels in mouse Leydig cells (TM3) under oxidative stress. In addition, cell metabolomics analysis based on UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS/MS showed that NBH was mainly involved in arginine biosynthesis, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, the TCA cycle and other metabolic pathways by affecting 23 differential metabolites, including arginine and phenylalanine. Furthermore, we also performed network pharmacological analysis to observe the key protein targets in NBH treatment. The results showed that its role was to up-regulate ALOX5, down-regulate CYP1A2, and play a role in promoting testicular activity by participating in the steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway. In summary, our study not only provides new insights into the biochemical mechanisms of natural compounds in the treatment of TDF, but also provides a research strategy that integrates cell metabolomics and network pharmacology in order to promote the screening of new drugs for the treatment of TDF.
The neuroprotective properties of ginsenosides have been found to reverse the neurological damage caused by oxidation in many neurodegenerative diseases. However, the distribution of ginsenosides in ...different tissues of the main root, which was regarded as the primary medicinal portion in clinical practice was different, the specific parts and specific components against neural oxidative damage were not clear. The present study aims to screen and determine the potential compounds in different parts of the main root in ginseng. Comparison of the protective effects in the main root, phloem and xylem of ginseng on hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death of SH-SY5Y neurons was investigated. UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS/MS was used to quickly and comprehensively characterize the chemical compositions of the active parts. Network pharmacology combined with a molecular docking approach was employed to virtually screen for disease-related targets and potential active compounds. By comparing the changes before and after Content-Effect weighting, the compounds with stronger anti-nerve oxidative damage activity were screened out more accurately. Finally, the activity of the selected monomer components was verified. The results suggested that the phloem of ginseng was the most effective part. There were 19 effective compounds and 14 core targets, and enriched signaling pathway and biological functions were predicted. After Content-Effect weighting, compounds Ginsenosides F1, Ginsenosides Rf, Ginsenosides Rg
and Ginsenosides Rd were screened out as potential active compounds against neural oxidative damage. The activity verification study indicated that all four predicted ginsenosides were effective in protecting SH-SY5Y cells from oxidative injury. The four compounds can be further investigated as potential lead compounds for neurodegenerative diseases. This also provides a combined virtual and practical method for the simple and rapid screening of active ingredients in natural products.
Abstract
With speeding up development of 5 G chips, high-efficient thermal structure and precise management of tremendous heat becomes a substantial challenge to the power-hungry electronics. Here, ...we demonstrate an interpenetrating architecture of electrocaloric polymer with highly thermally conductive pathways that achieves a 240% increase in the electrocaloric performance and a 300% enhancement in the thermal conductivity of the polymer. A scaled-up version of the device prototype for a single heat spot cooling of 5 G chip is fabricated utilizing this electrocaloric composite and electromagnetic actuation. The continuous three-dimensional (3-D) thermal conductive network embedded in the polymer acts as nucleation sites of the ordered dipoles under applied electric field, efficiently collects thermal energy at the hot-spots arising from field-driven dipolar entropy change, and opens up the high-speed conduction path of phonons. The synergy of two components, thus, tackles the challenge of sluggish heat dissipation of the electroactive polymers and their contact interfaces with low thermal conductivity, and more importantly, significantly reduces the electric energy for switching the dipolar states during the electrocaloric cycles, and increases the manipulable entropy at the low fields. Such a feasible solution is inevitable to the precisely fixed-point thermal management of next-generation smart microelectronic devices.
The first appeal of clinical assay is always accurate and rapid. For alkaline phosphatase (ALP) monitoring in medical treatment, a rapid, reliable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) test kit is ...designed based on a “hot spots” amplification strategy. Consisting of alkyne-tagged Au nanoparticles (NPs), Ag+, and enzyme substrate, the packaged test kit can achieve one-step clinical assay of ALP in human serum within several minutes, while the operation is simple as it directly inputs the sample into the test kit. Here, Ag+ ions are adsorbed onto the surface of Au core due to electrostatic interaction between Ag+ and the negatively charged donor surface, then enzymatic biocatalysis of ALP triggers the reduction of Ag+ and subsequently silver growth occurs on every Au core surface in a controllable manner, forming “hot spots” between the Au core and Ag shell, in which the SERS signal of alkyne Raman reporters would be highly amplified. Meanwhile, ALP mediates a redox reaction of Ag+ as well as the dynamic silver coating process so the increase of SERS intensity is well-controlled and can be recognized with increasing amounts of the targets. Instead of conventional NP aggregation, this leads to a more reproducible result. In particular, the distinct Raman emission from our self-synthesized alkyne reporter is narrow and stable with zero background in the Raman silent region, suffering no optical fluctuation from biosystem inputs and the detection results are therefore reliable with a limit of detection of 0.01 U/L (2.3 pg/mL). Along with ultrahigh stability, this SERS test kit therefore is an important point-of-care candidate for a reliable, efficacious, and highly sensitive detection method for ALP, which potentially decreases the need for time-consuming clinical trials.
A fully coupled heat transfer model at pore-scale of volumetric solar receiver is established in this paper. The X-ray computed tomography technique is applied to reconstruct the porous structure. By ...generating the voxel mesh and coupling with the Monte Carlo Ray Tracing method, the energy source due to the solar radiation could be determined and then added to the unstructured CFD mesh. The governing equations are solved by the commercial CFD software FLUENT. The results show that the details of the fluid flow and heat transfer in volumetric solar receiver are successfully captured. The pressure drop correlation corresponds satisfactorily to the previous study. The local convective heat transfer coefficient varies in a small range along the inlet fluid flow direction inside volumetric solar receiver and the average Nusselt number could be correlated to a power function of the Reynolds number. The radiation transfer inside the porous media is visualized and thermal radiation loss is evident at the entrance of the solar receiver. The proportion taken by radiation in the total heat transfer is determined as a function of the average temperature of porous skeleton.
•The computational model of porous media is reconstructed by X-ray CT technique.•MCRT method is applied to determine the solar radiative heat flux on porous media.•The pore-scale heat transfer model of volumetric solar receiver is established.•The pore-scale heat transfer characteristics of volumetric solar receiver are shown.
•Porous volumetric solar receiver based on molten salt heat transfer fluid is proposed.•Spectrally selective absorption of different molten salts is characterized.•Direct pore-scale numerical ...simulation method is applied for Hitec and air receivers.•High efficiency and low pressure drop are found for Hitec porous receiver.
Thermal radiation loss hinders the high-efficient operation of solar receiver at high temperature. Porous volumetric solar receiver using molten salt instead of air as heat transfer fluid is proposed. A comprehensive literature review is done to investigate the optical and radiative properties of molten in solar and infrared spectra. Direct pore-scale numerical simulation method based on X-ray computed tomography technique is applied to compare the fluid flow and heat transfer performance of molten salt and air porous volumetric solar receiver. The results present that some types of molten salts behave to be transparent in solar spectrum and opaque in infrared spectrum, which allow the penetration of solar radiation while strongly absorb the infrared emission in the receiver. The thermal efficiency of Hitec porous volumetric solar receiver is higher than traditional air porous receiver especially at higher working temperature, and it is improved by 9.6% at receiver’s outlet temperature of 1000 K. Due to its large heat storage capability and efficient convective heat transfer, small mass flow rate is required in the molten salt receiver to absorb solar radiation, which leads to orders-magnitude smaller pressure drop for the Hitec porous receiver. Further research related to this type of porous volumetric solar receiver is outlined with respect to experiment verification and application of high temperature molten salt.
•A solar-driven solar-electricity-water cogeneration system was fabricated.•A solar-thermal-electrical multi-physics coupling model was established.•Photovoltaic and thermoelectric performance ...enhanced by interfacial evaporation.•The solar-electricity efficiency and steam rate can reach 20.0 % and 1.0 kg·m−2·h−1.
The future development of hybrid systems using renewable energy to realize the cogeneration of freshwater and electricity has become an urgent challenge to meet the sustainable development of human life with a minimal carbon footprint. In this work, a solar-electricity-water integrated system was fabricated by integrating photovoltaic, interfacial solar steam generator, and a thermoelectric device. Taking advantages of the heat management provided by evaporative cooling and reuse of recycling steam enthalpy, the integration of efficient photovoltaic power generation, seawater desalination, and power generation of thermoelectric devices has been realized. A solar-electrical-thermal multi-physical field coupling model was established, the energy transmission mechanism was clarified, and the structural parameters were optimized to achieve the full use of energy. This system was experimentally demonstrated to cool down the photovoltaic by over 14℃ and produce a stable electricity generation efficiency of 19.4 % while collecting freshwater of 1.0 kg·m−2·h−1 from seawater in one sun. Concurrently, an increase in power generation is realized by the synergistic effect of evaporation enthalpy dissipation and the interfacial cooling design. Under a natural environment of 0.8 sun in average, the system revealed more stable temperature control and better water-electricity cogeneration performance than that of the single photovoltaic module. As a result, this work aims to develop a promising pathway to respond to the water-energy nexus through the interfacial cooling design.
Although evidence on the association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and human health outcomes has grown exponentially, specific health outcomes and their potential associations ...with PFASs have not been conclusively evaluated.
We conducted a comprehensive search through the databases of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from inception to February 29, 2024, to identify systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies examining the associations between the PFASs and multiple health outcomes. The quality of included studies was evaluated using the A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool, and credibility of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) criteria. The protocol of this umbrella review (UR) had been registered in PROSPERO (CRD 42023480817).
The UR identified 157 meta-analyses from 29 articles. Using the AMSTAR measurement tool, all articles were categorized as of moderate-to-high quality. Based on the GRADE assessment, significant associations between specific types of PFASs and low birth weight, tetanus vaccine response, and triglyceride levels showed high certainty of evidence. Moreover, moderate certainty of evidence with statistical significance was observed between PFASs and health outcomes including lower BMI z-score in infancy, poor sperm progressive motility, and decreased risk of preterm birth as well as preeclampsia. Fifty-two (33%) associations (e.g., PFASs and gestational hypertension, cardiovascular disease, etc) presented low certainty evidence. Additionally, eighty-five (55%) associations (e.g., PFASs with infertility, lipid metabolism, etc) presented very low certainty evidence.
High certainty of evidence supported that certain PFASs were associated with the incidence of low birth weight, low efficiency of the tetanus vaccine, and low triglyceride levels.
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•High-quality evidence supports an association between PFNA as well as PFUnDA and low birthweight.•High-quality evidence supports an association between PFOA as well as PFOS and low tetanus vaccine response.•High-quality evidence supports an association between PFOS and low TG levels.
The reflectance losses are the predominate energy losses in solar radiation transfer process for the porous volumetric solar receiver. However, few studies pay attention to the influence of ...geometrical parameters of porous media on the reflectance losses, and the data of reflectance losses of porous volumetric solar receiver in solar spectrum is not complete. In this paper, both experimental and numerical simulation methods are applied to comprehensively investigate the reflectance losses of the porous volumetric solar receiver. A series of silicon carbide reticulated porous ceramics (SiC RPCs) is fabricated by replica method and recoating technique. The reflectance losses are measured based on UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. Meanwhile, porous models with different geometrical parameters are artificially reconstructed. Monte Carlo Ray Tracing method is used to calculate the total reflectance. The results present that the SiC RPCs exhibit small reflectance losses in the solar spectrum with a peak at about 420 nm. The geometrical parameters, such as porosity and pore diameter do not change the spectral behavior but only influence the magnitude of the reflectance. Larger porosity and larger pore diameter are beneficial for reducing the reflectance losses. The correlation of the reflectance losses as functions of pore density and porosity has been developed. Furthermore, the influence of the incident angle of radiation on reflectance losses is studied. Relatively large increase is observed as the incident angle is larger than 30°. This phenomenon becomes more obvious for the porous media with larger porosity or larger pore diameter.
•Silicon carbide reticulated porous ceramics with different geometrical parameters are fabricated.•Numerical models of porous ceramics with different geometrical parameters are reconstructed.•Spectral and total reflectance losses of the porous volumetric solar receiver are studied.•Influence of the incident angle of radiation on reflectance losses is studied.
The risk factors for predicting bone metastases in patients with breast cancer are still controversial. Here, a total of 2133 patients with breast cancer, including 327 with bone metastases (15.33%) ...and 1806 without bone metastases (84.67%) were retrospective reviewed from January 2005 to December 2015. The spine was found to be the most common site for bone metastases, followed by ribs (57.5%), pelvis (54.1%) and sternum (44.3%). The results indicated that axillary lymph node metastases and the concentrations of CA125, CA153, ALP and hemoglobin were the independent risk factors for bone metastases in patients with breast cancer. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves showed that combined axillary lymph node metastases, high CA153 and ALP, with low hemoglobin were the most accurate biomarkers for predicting bone metastases in breast cancer area under the curve = 0.900, and the sensitivity and specificity for the prediction were 78.5% and 87.8%, respectively. Therefore, breast cancer patients with more axillary lymph node metastases, high serum concentrations of CA125, CA153, ALP and low level of hemoglobin were closely related to bone metastases. Combined axillary lymph node metastases, CA153, ALP with hemoglobin have the highest predictive accuracy for bone metastases in breast cancer.
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