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Join the green team: Inducers of plant immunity in the plant disease sustainable control toolbox.
Zhu, F, Cao, MY, Zhang, QP, Mohan, R, Schar, J, Mitchell, M, Chen, H, Liu, F, Wang, D, Fu, ZQ
Journal of advanced research. 2024;:15-42
Abstract
BACKGROUND Crops are constantly attacked by various pathogens. These pathogenic microorganisms, such as fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes, threaten global food security by causing detrimental crop diseases that generate tremendous quality and yield losses worldwide. Chemical pesticides have undoubtedly reduced crop damage; however, in addition to increasing the cost of agricultural production, the extensive use of chemical pesticides comes with environmental and social costs. Therefore, it is necessary to vigorously develop sustainable disease prevention and control strategies to promote the transition from traditional chemical control to modern green technologies. Plants possess sophisticated and efficient defense mechanisms against a wide range of pathogens naturally. Immune induction technology based on plant immunity inducers can prime plant defense mechanisms and greatly decrease the occurrence and severity of plant diseases. Reducing the use of agrochemicals is an effective way to minimize environmental pollution and promote agricultural safety. AIM OF REVIEW The purpose of this workis to offer valuable insights into the current understanding and future research perspectives of plant immunity inducers and their uses in plant disease control, ecological and environmental protection, and sustainable development of agriculture. KEY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS OF REVIEW In this work, we have introduced the concepts of sustainable and environment-friendly concepts of green disease prevention and control technologies based on plant immunity inducers. This article comprehensively summarizes these recent advances, emphasizes the importance of sustainable disease prevention and control technologies for food security, and highlights the diverse functions of plant immunity inducers-mediated disease resistance. The challenges encountered in the potential applications of plant immunity inducers and future research orientation are also discussed.
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Inhibiting acid-sensing ion channel exerts neuroprotective effects in experimental epilepsy via suppressing ferroptosis.
Shi, X, Liu, R, Wang, Y, Yu, T, Zhang, K, Zhang, C, Gu, Y, Zhang, L, Wu, J, Wang, Q, et al
CNS neuroscience & therapeutics. 2024;(2):e14596
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease characterized by repeated and unprovoked epileptic seizures. Developing disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) has become important in epilepsy studies. Notably, focusing on iron metabolism and ferroptosis might be a strategy of DMTs for epilepsy. Blocking the acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) has been reported to protect the brain from ischemic injury by reducing the toxicity of [Ca2+ ]i . However, whether inhibiting ASIC1a could exert neuroprotective effects and become a novel target for DMTs, such as rescuing the ferroptosis following epilepsy, remains unknown. METHODS In our study, we explored the changes in ferroptosis-related indices, including glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme activity and levels of glutathione (GSH), iron accumulation, lipid degradation products-malonaldehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) by collecting peripheral blood samples from adult patients with epilepsy. Meanwhile, we observed alterations in ASIC1a protein expression and mitochondrial microstructure in the epileptogenic foci of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Next, we accessed the expression and function changes of ASIC1a and measured the ferroptosis-related indices in the in vitro 0-Mg2+ model of epilepsy with primary cultured neurons. Subsequently, we examined whether blocking ASIC1a could play a neuroprotective role by inhibiting ferroptosis in epileptic neurons. RESULTS Our study first reported significant changes in ferroptosis-related indices, including reduced GPx enzyme activity, decreased levels of GSH, iron accumulation, elevated MDA and 4-HNE, and representative mitochondrial crinkling in adult patients with epilepsy, especially in epileptogenic foci. Furthermore, we found that inhibiting ASIC1a could produce an inhibitory effect similar to ferroptosis inhibitor Fer-1, alleviate oxidative stress response, and decrease [Ca2+ ]i overload by inhibiting the overexpressed ASIC1a in the in vitro epilepsy model induced by 0-Mg2+ . CONCLUSION Inhibiting ASIC1a has potent neuroprotective effects via alleviating [Ca2+ ]i overload and regulating ferroptosis on the models of epilepsy and may act as a promising intervention in DMTs.
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Engineering Symmetry-Breaking Centers and d-Orbital Modulation in Triatomic Catalysts for Zinc-Air Batteries.
Zhong, J, Liang, Z, Liu, N, Xiang, Y, Yan, B, Zhu, F, Xie, X, Gui, X, Gan, L, Yang, HB, et al
ACS nano. 2024
Abstract
Unraveling the configuration-activity relationship and synergistic enhancement mechanism (such as real active center, electron spin-state, and d-orbital energy level) for triatomic catalysts, as well as their intrinsically bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis, is a great challenge. Here we present a triatomic catalyst (TAC) with a trinuclear active structure that displays extraordinary oxygen electrocatalysis for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), greatly outperforming the counterpart of single-atom and diatomic catalysts. The aqueous Zn-air battery (ZAB) equipped with a TAC-based cathode exhibits extraordinary rechargeable stability and ultrarobust cycling performance (1970 h/3940 cycles at 2 mA cm-2, 125 h/250 cycles at 10 mA cm-2 with negligible voltage decay), and the quasi-solid-state ZAB displays outstanding rechargeability and low-temperature adaptability (300 h/1800 cycles at 2 mA cm-2 at -60 °C), outperforming other state-of-the-art ZABs. The experimental and theoretical analyses reveal the symmetry-breaking CoN4 configuration under incorporation of neighboring metal atoms (Fe and Cu), which leads to d-orbital modulation, a low-shift d band center, weakened binding strength to the oxygen intermediates, and decreased energy barrier for bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis. This rational tricoordination design as well as an in-depth mechanism analysis indicate that hetero-TACs can be promisingly applied in various electrocatalysis applications.
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The effect of periodic resistance training on obese patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
Li, S, Yuan, S, Zhang, J, Xu, F, Zhu, F
Scientific reports. 2024;(1):2761
Abstract
Resistance training is an exercise against resistance designed to train the endurance and strength of muscle. To observe the effect of intervention of periodic resistance training on obese patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy. A total of 60 obese patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy were randomized into resistance training group and aerobic exercise group (30 patients each group) for observing the changes of blood glucose, body weight, blood lipid, insulin resistance, serum creatinine (Scr), urinary microalbumin, urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) calculated by urinary creatinine, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) after 12 weeks of intervention, and relevant significance as well. The number of patients with hypoglycemia during the intervention was also recorded. After 12 weeks of intervention, the weight, Body mass index (BMI), Waist, Triglyceride (TG), Cholesterol (TC), Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), Fasting glucose (FBG), Fasting insulin (FINS), Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and urine Albumin-Creatinine Ratio (uACR) were decreased and GFR was increased in both groups (P < 0.05), but the effect was more significant in the resistance training group. GFR was increased from 92.21 ± 10.67 mL/(min·1.73 m2) to 100.13 ± 12.99 mL/(min·1.73 m2) in resistance training group (P < 0.05). In the aerobic exercise group, GFR was increased from 89.98 ± 9.48 mL/(min·1.73 m2) to 92.51 ± 11.35 mL/(min·1.73 m2) (P > 0.05). Periodic resistance training can not only control the weight, blood sugar and blood lipid of obese patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy, but also improve the urinary albumin excretion rate and glomerular filtration rate of early obese patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy, and delay the progression of diabetic nephropathy. It is an effective non-drug intervention.
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Regulation of microclimate and shading effects of microalgal photobioreactors on rooftops: Microalgae as a promising emergent for green roof technology.
Kumar, S, Ali Kubar, A, Sobhi, M, Cui, Y, Liu, W, Hu, X, Zhu, F, Huo, S
Bioresource technology. 2024;:130209
Abstract
Urban areas remarkably affect global public health due to their emissions of greenhouse gases and poor air quality. Although urban areas only cover 2% of the Earth's surface, they are responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. Dense buildings limit vegetation, leading to increased air pollution and disruption of the local and regional carbon cycle. The substitution of urban gray roofs with microalgal green roofs has the potential to improve the carbon cycle by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. Microalgae can fix 15-50 times more CO2 than other types of vegetation. Advanced microalgal-based green roof technology may significantly accelerate the reduction of atmospheric CO2 in a more effective way. Microalgal green roofs also enhance air quality, oxygen production, acoustic isolation, sunlight absorption, and biomass production. This endeavor yields the advantage of simultaneously generating protein, lipids, vitamins, and a spectrum of valuable bioactive compounds, including astaxanthin, carotenoids, polysaccharides, and phycocyanin, thus contributing to a green economy. The primary focus of the current work is on analyzing the ecological advantages and CO2 bio-fixation efficiency attained through microalgal cultivation on urban rooftops. This study also briefly examines the idea of green roofs, clarifies the ecological benefits associated with them, discusses the practice of growing microalgae on rooftops, identifies the difficulties involved, and the positive aspects of this novel strategy.
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Adverse Events Associated With Disease-Modifying Drugs for Multiple Sclerosis: A Multiregional Population-Based Study.
Ng, HS, Zhu, F, Zhao, Y, Yao, S, Lu, X, Ekuma, O, Evans, C, Fisk, JD, Marrie, RA, Tremlett, H
Neurology. 2024;(3):e208006
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES It is not possible to fully establish the safety of a disease-modifying drug (DMD) for multiple sclerosis (MS) from randomized controlled trials as only very common adverse events occurring over the short-term can be captured, and the quality of reporting has been variable. We examined the relationship between the DMDs for MS and potential adverse events in a multiregion population-based study. METHODS We identified people with MS using linked administrative health data from 4 Canadian provinces. MS cases were followed from the most recent of first MS or related demyelinating disease event on January 1, 1996, until the earliest of emigration, death, or December 31, 2017. DMD exposure primarily comprised β-interferon, glatiramer acetate, natalizumab, fingolimod, dimethyl fumarate, teriflunomide, and alemtuzumab. We examined associations between DMD exposure and infection-related hospitalizations and physician visits using recurrent events proportional means models and between DMD exposure and 15 broad categories of incident adverse events using stratified multivariate Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS We identified 35,894 people with MS. While virtually all DMDs were associated with a 42%-61% lower risk of infection-related hospitalizations, there was a modest increase in infection-related physician visits by 10%-33% for select DMDs. For incident adverse events, most elevated risks involved a second-generation DMD, with alemtuzumab's hazard of thyroid disorders being 19.42 (95% CI 9.29-36.51), hypertension 4.96 (95% CI 1.78-13.84), and cardiovascular disease 3.72 (95% CI 2.12-6.53). Natalizumab's highest risk was for cardiovascular disease (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.61; 95% CI 1.24-2.10). For the oral DMDs, fingolimod was associated with higher hazards of cerebrovascular (aHR 2.04; 95% CI 1.27-3.30) and ischemic heart diseases (aHR 1.64; 95% CI 1.10-2.44) and hypertension (aHR 1.73; 95% CI 1.30-2.31); teriflunomide with higher hazards of thyroid disorders (aHR 2.30; 95% CI 1.11-4.74), chronic liver disease (aHR 1.94; 95% CI 1.19-3.18), hypertension (aHR 1.76; 95% CI 1.32-2.37), and hyperlipidemia (aHR 1.61; 95% CI 1.07-2.44); and from complementary analyses (in 1 province), dimethyl fumarate with acute liver injury (aHR 6.55; 95% CI 1.96-21.87). DISCUSSION Our study provides an extensive safety profile of several different DMDs used to treat MS in the real-world setting. Our findings not only complement those observed in short-term clinical trials but also provide new insights that help inform the risk-benefit profile of the DMDs used to treat MS in clinical practice. The results of this study highlight the continued need for long-term, independent safety studies of the DMDs used to treat MS. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with MS, while DMD exposure reduces the risk of infection-related hospitalizations, there are increased risks of infection-related physician visits and incident adverse events for select DMDs.
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An updated review of functional ingredients of Manuka honey and their value-added innovations.
Wang, S, Qiu, Y, Zhu, F
Food chemistry. 2024;:138060
Abstract
Manuka honey (MH) is a highly prized natural product from the nectar of Leptospermum scoparium flowers. Increased competition on the global market drives MH product innovations. This review updates comparative and non-comparative studies to highlight nutritional, therapeutic, bioengineering, and cosmetic values of MH. MH is a good source of phenolics and unique chemical compounds, such as methylglyoxal, dihydroxyacetone, leptosperin glyoxal, methylsyringate and leptosin. Based on the evidence from in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies, multifunctional bioactive compounds of MH have exhibited anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer activities. There are controversial topics related to MH, such as MH grading, safety/efficacy, implied benefits, and maximum levels of contaminants concerned. Artificial intelligence can optimize MH studies related to chemical analysis, toxicity prediction, multi-functional mechanism exploration and product innovation.
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Iron Supplements Concomitant within Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Prolyl Hydroxylase Domain Inhibitors in the Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease Anemia.
Wang, X, Wei, C, Zhao, D, Sun, X, Zhu, F, Mei, Y, Ma, Q, Cai, G, Chen, X, Li, P
Kidney diseases (Basel, Switzerland). 2023;(6):485-497
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anemia is a common and important complication in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Accordingly, the current treatment is based on erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and iron. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase domain inhibitors (HIF-PHIs) have been developed to treat renal anemia through a novel mechanism. HIF-PHIs increase erythropoietin at physiologic blood concentrations and also improve the supply of hematopoietic iron. Iron is the main component of hemoglobin, and ensuring efficient iron metabolism is essential in the treatment of anemia. SUMMARY HIF-PHIs may have advantages in improving iron utilization and mobilization compared to ESAs. Most HIF-PHI trials revealed a significant decline of hepcidin, increase in transferrin level and total iron binding capacity in patients. From a clinical point of view, improvements in iron metabolism should translate into reductions in iron supplementation. There are differences in the iron treatment regimentation currently used, so it is important to evaluate and timely iron supplementation across studies. KEY MESSAGES This review summarizes the mechanism of HIF-PHIs on improved iron metabolism and the route of iron usage in the trials for dialysis-dependent CKD and non-dialysis CKD. And this review also makes an interpretation of the clinical practice guidelines in China and recommendation by Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology.
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Ethnopharmacology of Rubus idaeus Linnaeus: A critical review on ethnobotany, processing methods, phytochemicals, pharmacology and quality control.
Tao, Y, Bao, J, Zhu, F, Pan, M, Liu, Q, Wang, P
Journal of ethnopharmacology. 2023;(Pt A):115870
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Rubus idaeus Linnaeus (RI) is a Chinese herbal medicine that has been widely used in China for a long time to reinforce the kidney, nourish the liver, improve vision, and arrest polyuria. AIM OF THE STUDY This work aims to evaluate the recent progress of the chemical composition, pharmacological activity, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and quality control and of Rubus idaeus, which focuses on the insufficiency of existing research and will shed light on future studies of Rubus idaeus. METHODS Literatures about "Rubus idaeus","Red raspberry" and "Fupenzi"are retrieved by browsing the database, such as Web of Science (http://www.webofknowledge.com/wos), Pubmed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/), CNKI (http://www.cnki.net/), and Wanfang Data (http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn). In addition, related textbooks and digital documents are interrogated to provide a holistic and critical review of the topic. The period of the literature covered from 1981 to 2022. RESULTS Approximately 194 compounds have been isolated from Rubus idaeus, which is rich in phenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, steroids, and fatty acids. Numerous investigations have demonstrated that Rubus idaeus exhibits many pharmacological activities, including hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic, anti-Alzheimer effect, anti-osteoporosis, hepatoprotective, anti-cancer, neuroprotective, anti-bacteria and skin care, etc. However, it is worth noting that most of the research is not associated with the conventional effect, such as reducing urination and treating opacity of the cornea. CONCLUSION The effectiveness of Rubus idaeus has been proved by its long-term clinical application. The research on the pharmacological activity of Rubus idaeus has flourished. In many pharmacological experiments, only the high-dose group can achieve the corresponding efficacy, so the efficacy of Rubus idaeus needs to be further interrogated. Meanwhile, the relationship between pharmacological activity and specific compounds of Rubus idaeus has not been clarified yet. Last but not least, studies involving toxicology and pharmacokinetics are very limited. Knowledge of bioavailability and toxicological behavior of Rubus idaeus can help understand the herb's pharmacodynamic and safety profile.
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Meta-analysis of blood parameters related to lipid and glucose metabolism between two subtypes of primary aldosteronism.
Zhu, QG, Zhu, F
Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.). 2023;(1):13-21
Abstract
It remains unclear whether metabolic profiles differ within the subtypes of primary aldosteronism (PA). This meta-analysis aimed to compare the blood parameters related to lipid and glucose metabolism at baseline between unilateral PA and bilateral PA. A search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, and Sciencedirect databases, supplemented by hand-searching of related references. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for each parameter. Twenty-one studies involving 4197 patients with PA were included. Compared with bilateral PA groups, unilateral PA groups demonstrated significantly lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, SMD: -.14 mmol/L, 95% CI: -.20, -.07), total cholesterol (TC, SMD: -.16 mmol/L, 95% CI: -.23, -.09), triglyceride (TG, SMD: -.22 mmol/L, 95% CI: -.29, -.16), fasting blood glucose (FBG, SMD: -.11 mmol/L, 95% CI: -.18, -.04), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, SMD: -.21%, 95% CI: -.30, -.13), and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, SMD: -.40, 95% CI: -.58, -.23). No significant difference was found in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level between the two groups (SMD: .40 mmol/L, 95% CI: -.02, .11). To sum up, comparison of several blood metabolic parameters between the two subtypes suggested that the bilateral PA may associate with a higher prevalence of impaired glucose and lipid metabolism than unilateral PA; however, results should be treated with caution. Additional well-designed studies are needed to prove the present results and better elucidate the link between metabolic abnormalities and etiologies of each PA subtype.