Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 28 in total

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  1. Zhang D, Hussain HI
    J Environ Manage, 2021 Nov 01;297:113360.
    PMID: 34346402 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113360
    The triple components of energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic expansion are important to achieving sustained economic activity and sound ecological advancement. This study aims to estimate the impact of wide-ranging parameters on environmental circumstances in South Asian countries. This analysis required two approaches: 1)quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) as an econometric model, and 2) data envelopment analysis (DEA) non-parametric comparable composite index to examine concurrently South Asian nations' data for the 2000-2018 period. The underscored category of the parameters were grouped into four key indices, namely financial, fiscal, human, and energy. The DEA's mathematical composite findings reveal varied circumstances regarding environmental self-maintenance in South Asian nations. India and Pakistan are doing quite well; Afghanistan is abysmal. In addition, the QARDL approach findings reveal that energy use and fiscal indicators abate pollution. Furthermore, the correlation between fiscal decentralization and ecological attributes is strengthened by the excellent level of institutions and human capital progress. There is a unidirectional impact emanating from fiscal devolution, gross domestic product, human capital, eco-innovation, and institutional excellence on carbon dioxide pollution, although different from the other correlations obtained.
  2. Zhang D, Gao C, Li R, Zhang L, Tian J
    Arch Pharm Res, 2017 May;40(5):579-591.
    PMID: 28211011 DOI: 10.1007/s12272-017-0899-9
    2α,3α,24-Thrihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oicacid (TEOA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid, isolated from the roots of Actinidia eriantha, exhibits significant cytotoxicity against SW620, BGC-823, HepG-2, A549 and PC-3 cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of the anticancer activity of TEOA in SW620 cells. We demonstrated that TEOA induced apoptosis through cleavage of caspase-9 and PARP in SW620 cells. In addition, evidence of TEOA-mediated autophagy included the induction of autophagolysosomes and activation of autophagic markers LC-3B and p62. Further analysis illustrated that TEOA promoted the phosphorylation of PERK and elF2α, followed by up-regulation of the downstream protein CHOP, suggesting the involvement of PERK/eIF2α/CHOP pathway and ER stress in TEOA-induced autophagy in SW620 cells. Meanwhile, TEOA-mediated PINK1, Parkin, ubiquitin and p62 activation revealed that TEOA induced specific autophagy-mitophagy in SW620 cells. Additionally, an antioxidant NAC attenuated the TEOA-induced mitophagy, indicating that TEOA triggers mitophagy via a ROS-dependent pathway. Collectively, our findings revealed a novel cellular mechanism of TEOA in the colon cancer cell line SW620, thus providing a molecular basis for developing TEOA into an anti-tumor candidate.
  3. Chen Y, Wang H, Zhang D, Zhang L, Tao L
    Front Neurosci, 2023;17:1272834.
    PMID: 37822349 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1272834
    INTRODUCTION: Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD) lesions via visual examination of Electroencephalography (EEG) signals poses a considerable challenge. This has prompted the exploration of deep learning techniques, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Visual Transformers (ViTs), for AD prediction. However, the classification performance of CNN-based methods has often been deemed inadequate. This is primarily attributed to CNNs struggling with extracting meaningful lesion signals from the complex and noisy EEG data.

    METHODS: In contrast, ViTs have demonstrated proficiency in capturing global signal patterns. In light of these observations, we propose a novel approach to enhance AD risk assessment. Our proposition involves a hybrid architecture, merging the strengths of CNNs and ViTs to compensate for their respective feature extraction limitations. Our proposed Dual-Branch Feature Fusion Network (DBN) leverages both CNN and ViT components to acquire texture features and global semantic information from EEG signals. These elements are pivotal in capturing dynamic electrical signal changes in the cerebral cortex. Additionally, we introduce Spatial Attention (SA) and Channel Attention (CA) blocks within the network architecture. These attention mechanisms bolster the model's capacity to discern abnormal EEG signal patterns from the amalgamated features. To make well-informed predictions, we employ a two-factor decision-making mechanism. Specifically, we conduct correlation analysis on predicted EEG signals from the same subject to establish consistency.

    RESULTS: This is then combined with results from the Clinical Neuropsychological Scale (MMSE) assessment to comprehensively evaluate the subject's susceptibility to AD. Our experimental validation on the publicly available OpenNeuro database underscores the efficacy of our approach. Notably, our proposed method attains an impressive 80.23% classification accuracy in distinguishing between AD, Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Normal Control (NC) subjects.

    DISCUSSION: This outcome outperforms prevailing state-of-the-art methodologies in EEG-based AD prediction. Furthermore, our methodology enables the visualization of salient regions within pathological images, providing invaluable insights for interpreting and analyzing AD predictions.

  4. Zhang L, Cenci A, Rouard M, Zhang D, Wang Y, Tang W, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2019 06 03;9(1):8199.
    PMID: 31160634 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44637-x
    Fusarium wilt disease, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, especially by tropical race 4 (Foc TR4), is threatening the global banana industry. Musa acuminata Pahang, a wild diploid banana that displays strong resistance to Foc TR4, holds great potential to understand the underlying resistance mechanisms. Microscopic examination reports that, in a wounding inoculation system, the Foc TR4 infection processes in roots of Pahang (resistant) and a triploid cultivar Brazilian (susceptible) were similar by 7 days post inoculation (dpi), but significant differences were observed in corms of both genotypes at 14 dpi. We compare transcriptomic responses in the corms of Pahang and Brazilian, and show that Pahang exhibited constitutive defense responses before Foc TR4 infection and inducible defense responses prior to Brazilian at the initial Foc TR4 infection stage. Most key enzymatic genes in the phenylalanine metabolism pathway were up-regulated in Brazilian, suggesting that lignin and phytotoxin may be triggered during later stages of Foc TR4 infection. This study unravels a few potential resistance candidate genes whose expression patterns were assessed by RT-qPCR assay and improves our understanding the defense mechanisms of Pahang response to Foc TR4.
  5. Sadaghiani MS, Arami-Niya A, Zhang D, Tsuji T, Tanaka Y, Seiki Y, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 04 05;407:124781.
    PMID: 33412363 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124781
    Given the safety issues associated with flammability characteristics of alternative environmentally-friendly refrigerants, it is vital to establish measurement systems to accurately analyse the flammability of these mildly flammable refrigerants. In this study, we used a customised Hartmann bomb analogue to measure the minimum ignition energy (MIE) and laminar burning velocity (BV) for refrigerant/air mixtures of pure ammonia (R717), R32, R1234yf and mixtures of R32 and R1234yf with non-flammable refrigerants of R134a, R125 and carbon dioxide (R744). The MIEs of R717, R32, and R1234yf were measured at an ambient temperature of 24 °C to be (18.0 ± 1.4), (8.0 ± 1.5) and (510 ± 130) mJ at equivalence ratios of 0.9, 1.27 and 1.33, respectively. Adding the non-flammable refrigerants R134a, R125 and R744 along with R32 at volumetric concentrations of 5% each to R1234yf reduced the latter compound's flammability and increased its MIE by one order of magnitude. The laminar burning velocities of pure R717 and R32 were measured at an equivalence ratio of 1.1 using the flat flame method and found to be 8.4 and 7.4 cm/s, respectively. Adding 5% R1234yf to R32 decreased the laminar burning velocity by 11%, while a further 5% addition of R1234yf resulted in a decrease of over 30% in the laminar burning velocity.
  6. Kong Y, Ma NL, Yang X, Lai Y, Feng Z, Shao X, et al.
    Environ Pollut, 2020 Oct;265(Pt A):114951.
    PMID: 32554093 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114951
    Greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), contribute significantly to global warming, and they have increased substantially over the years. Reforestation is considered as an important forestry application for carbon sequestration and GHGs emission reduction, however, it remains unknown whether reforestation may instead produce too much CO2 and N2O contibuting to GHGs pollution. This study was performed to characterize and examine the CO2 and N2O emissions and their controlling factors in different species and types of pure and mixture forest used for reforestation. Five soil layers from pure forest Platycladus orientalis (PO), Robinia pseudoacacia (RP), and their mixed forest P-R in the Taihang mountains of central China were sampled and incubated aerobically for 11 days. The P-R soil showed lower CO2 and N2O production potentials than those of the PO soils (P 
  7. Wang M, Fu X, Zhang D, Chen F, Liu M, Zhou S, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Jul 01;880:163470.
    PMID: 37076008 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163470
    Global climate change and rapid urbanization, mainly driven by anthropogenic activities, lead to urban flood vulnerability and uncertainty in sustainable stormwater management. This study projected the temporal and spatial variation in urban flood susceptibility during the period 2020-2050 on the basis of shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). A case study in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was conducted for verifying the feasibility and applicability of this approach. GBA is predicted to encounter the increase in extreme precipitation with high intensity and frequency, along with rapid expansion of constructed areas, resulting in exacerbating of urban flood susceptibility. The areas with medium and high flood susceptibility will be expected to increase continuously from 2020 to 2050, by 9.5 %, 12.0 %, and 14.4 % under SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively. In terms of the assessment of spatial-temporal flooding pattern, the areas with high flood susceptibility are overlapped with that in the populated urban center in GBA, surrounding the existing risk areas, which is consistent with the tendency of construction land expansion. The approach in the present study will provide comprehensive insights into the reliable and accurate assessment of urban flooding susceptibility in response to climate change and urbanization.
  8. Zhang Y, Sun L, Zhang D, Gao Y, Ma H, Xue Y, et al.
    Ecotoxicol Environ Saf, 2023 Nov 01;266:115561.
    PMID: 37837697 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115561
    Butylparaben is an ubiquitous environmental endocrine disruptor, that is commonly used in cosmetics and personal care product due to its anti-microbial properties. Butylparaben has been shown to cause developmental toxicity, endocrine and metabolic disorders and immune diseases. However, little is known about the impact on female fertility, especially oocyte quality. In the present study, we reported that butylparaben influenced female fertility by showing the disturbed oocyte meiotic capacity and fertilization potential. Specifically, butylparaben results in the oocyte maturation arrest by impairing spindle/chromosome structure and microtubule stability. Besides, butylparaben results in fertilization failure by impairing the dynamics of Juno and ovastacin and the sperm binding ability. Last, single-cell transcriptome analysis showed that butylparaben-induced oocyte deterioration was caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, which led to the accumulation of ROS and occurrence of apoptosis. Collectively, our study indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction and redox perturbation is the major cause of the weakened female fertility expoesd to butylparaben.
  9. Zhang D, Shao Y, Wang J, Li Z, Wang Q, Sun H, et al.
    Small, 2024 Feb 01.
    PMID: 38299768 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202309901
    Metal sulfides are promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their structural diversity and high theoretical capacity, but the severe capacity decay and inferior rate capability caused by poor structural stability and sluggish kinetics impede their practical applications. Herein, a cobalt-doped amorphous VS4 wrapped by reduced graphene oxide (i.e., Co0.5 -VS4 /rGO) is developed through a Co-induced defect engineering strategy to boost the kinetics performances. The as-prepared Co0.5 -VS4 /rGO demonstrates excellent rate capacities over 10 A g-1 and superior cycling stability at 5 A g-1 over 1600 cycles, which is attributed to the defects formed by Co doping, the formed amorphous structure and the robust rGO substrate. The great features of Co0.5 -VS4 /rGO anode are further confirmed in sodium-ion capacitors when the active carbon cathode is used. Additionally, the relationships between metal doping, the derived defects, the amorphous structure, and the sodium storage of VS4 are uncovered. This work provides deep insights into preparing amorphous functional materials and also probes the potential applications of metal sulfide-based electrode materials for advanced batteries.
  10. Wang X, Soh KG, Deng N, Zhang D, Cao S, Samsudin S
    Heliyon, 2024 Jan 30;10(2):e24087.
    PMID: 38293332 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24087
    This study aims to analyse the effects of functional training on muscle strength, jumping, and functional movement screen in wushu athletes.

    METHODS: This study followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A systematic search of electronic databases was also conducted, including EBSCOhost, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, Google Scholar, and Wanfang. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was an effective indicator to evaluate the quality of studies included in the systematic review.

    RESULTS: This systematic review included 474 participants aged 8-24 years old. The intervention period for most studies was 12 weeks. Among the included studies, 6 focused on muscle strength, 4 on jumping performance, and 11 on functional movement screen.

    CONCLUSION: These articles have been analysed, and the positive impact of functional training interventions on muscle strength, jumping, and functional movement screen of wushu athletes has been verified.

  11. Jiang Y, Zhao L, Ma J, Yang Y, Zhang B, Xu J, et al.
    Phytomedicine, 2024 Jan;123:155229.
    PMID: 38006804 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2023.155229
    BACKGROUND: Triphala (TLP), as a Chinese Tibetan medicine composing of Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula and Terminalia bellirica (1.2:1.5:1), exhibited hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic and gut microbiota modulatory effects. Nonetheless, its roles in prevention of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the related mechanistic insights involving the interplay of gut microbiota and hepatic inflammation are not known.

    PURPOSE: The present study seeks to determine if TLP would prevent HFD-induced NAFLD in vivo and its underlying mechanisms from the perspectives of gut microbiota, metabolites, and hepatic inflammation.

    METHODS: TLP was subjected to extraction and chemo-profiling, and in vivo evaluation in HFD-fed rats on hepatic lipid and inflammation, intestinal microbiota, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and permeability, and body weight and fat content profiles.

    RESULTS: The TLP was primarily constituted of gallic acid, corilagin and chebulagic acid. Orally administered HFD-fed rats with TLP were characterized by the growth of Ligilactobacillus and Akkermansia, and SCFAs (acetic/propionic/butyric acid) secretion which led to increased claudin-1 and zonula occludens-1 expression that reduced the mucosal permeability to migration of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) into blood and liver. Coupling with hepatic cholesterol and triglyceride lowering actions, the TLP mitigated both inflammatory (ALT, AST, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α) and pro-inflammatory (TLR4, MYD88 and NF-κB P65) activities of liver, and sequel to histopathological development of NAFLD in a dose-dependent fashion.

    CONCLUSION: TLP is promisingly an effective therapy to prevent NAFLD through modulating gut microbiota, mucosal permeability and SCFAs secretion with liver fat and inflammatory responses.

  12. Liang Zhang D, Jiang Z, Mohammadzadeh F, Hasani Azhdari SM, Abualigah L, Ghazal TM
    Heliyon, 2024 Apr 15;10(7):e28681.
    PMID: 38586386 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28681
    Sonar sound datasets are of significant importance in the domains of underwater surveillance and marine research as they enable experts to discern intricate patterns within the depths of the water. Nevertheless, the task of classifying sonar sound datasets continues to pose significant challenges. In this study, we present a novel approach aimed at enhancing the precision and efficacy of sonar sound dataset classification. The integration of deep long-short-term memory (DLSTM) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) models is employed in order to capitalize on their respective advantages while also utilizing distinctive feature engineering techniques to achieve the most favorable outcomes. Although DLSTM networks have demonstrated effectiveness in tasks involving sequence classification, attaining their optimal performance necessitates careful adjustment of hyperparameters. While traditional methods such as grid and random search are effective, they frequently encounter challenges related to computational inefficiencies. This study aims to investigate the unexplored capabilities of the fuzzy slime mould optimizer (FUZ-SMO) in the context of LSTM hyperparameter tuning, with the objective of addressing the existing research gap in this area. Drawing inspiration from the adaptive behavior exhibited by slime moulds, the FUZ-SMO proposes a novel approach to optimization. The amalgamated model, which combines CNN, LSTM, fuzzy, and SMO, exhibits a notable improvement in classification accuracy, outperforming conventional LSTM architectures by a margin of 2.142%. This model not only demonstrates accelerated convergence milestones but also displays significant resilience against overfitting tendencies.
  13. Huang L, Liu Z, Li H, Wang Y, Li Y, Zhu Y, et al.
    Geohealth, 2020 Jul 07.
    PMID: 32838101 DOI: 10.1029/2020GH000272
    The outbreak of COVID-19 in China has led to massive lockdowns in order to reduce the spread of the epidemic and control human-to-human transmission. Subsequent reductions in various anthropogenic activities have led to improved air quality during the lockdown. In this study, we apply a widely used exposure-response function to estimate the short-term health impacts associated with PM2.5 changes over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region due to COVID-19 lockdown. Concentrations of PM2.5 during lockdown period reduced by 22.9% to 54.0% compared to pre-lockdown level. Estimated PM2.5-related daily premature mortality during lockdown period is 895 (95% confidential interval: 637-1081), which is 43.3% lower than pre-lockdown period and 46.5% lower compared with averages of 2017-2019. According to our calculation, total number of avoided premature death associated PM2.5 reduction during the lockdown is estimated to be 42.4 thousand over the YRD region, with Shanghai, Wenzhou, Suzhou (Jiangsu province), Nanjing, and Nantong being the top five cities with largest health benefits. Avoided premature mortality is mostly contributed by reduced death associated with stroke (16.9 thousand, accounting for 40.0%), ischemic heart disease (14.0 thousand, 33.2%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (7.6 thousand, 18.0%). Our calculations do not support or advocate any idea that pandemics produce a positive note to community health. We simply present health benefits from air pollution improvement due to large emission reductions from lowered human and industrial activities. Our results show that continuous efforts to improve air quality are essential to protect public health, especially over city-clusters with dense population.
  14. Ma J, Ma NL, Zhang D, Wu N, Liu X, Meng L, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2022 Apr;292:133345.
    PMID: 34922964 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133345
    Zero waste multistage utilization of biomass from Ginkgo biloba branches (GBBs) was achieved through extraction of bioactive components, analysis of antioxidant and antibacterial activities, preparation and composition of pyrolyzate, adsorption and reuse of modified biochar. The results showed that GBBs had abundant bioactive components for potential application in the industry of food, chemical raw materials and biomedicine. Especially, the bioactive compounds in acetone extract (10 mg/mL) of GBBs identified by DPPH and ABTS had free radical scavenging abilities of 92.28% and 98.18%, respectively, which are equivalent to Vitamin C used as an antioxidant in food additives. Fourier Transform Infrared and X-Ray Diffraction analysis showed that carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and magnetic Fe3O4 were successfully incorporated into raw biochar (RB) to form CMC-Fe3O4-RB nanomaterial. Scanning electron microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction spectroscopy displayed Fe, C, and O existed on the surface of CMC-Fe3O4-RB. Compared with RB, CMC-Fe3O4-RB had a larger specific surface area, pore volume and pore size. Meanwhile, nanomagnetic CMC-Fe3O4-RB solved the problem of agglomeration in traditional magnetized biochar production, and improved the adsorption capacity of Pb2+, which was 29.90% higher than that of RB by ICP-OES. Further, the Pb2+ (10 mg/L) adsorption capacity of CMC-Fe3O4-RB reached the highest level in 2 h at the dosage of 0.01 g/L, and remained stable at 52.987 mg/g after five cycles of adsorption and desorption. This research aided in the creation of a strategy for GBBs zero waste multistage usage and a circular economic model for GBBs industry development, which can be promoted and applied to the fields of food industry and environment improvement.
  15. Peng Z, Xue H, Liu X, Wang S, Liu G, Jia X, et al.
    Front Bioeng Biotechnol, 2023;11:1222088.
    PMID: 37539434 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1222088
    The development of cost-effective, biocompatible soft wound dressings is highly desirable; however, conventional dressings are only designed for flat wounds, which creates difficulty with promising healing efficiency in complex practical conditions. Herein, we developed a tough, adhesive biomimetic hyaluronic acid methacryloyl hydrogels composed of chemically crosslinked hyaluronic acid methacryloyl (HAMA) network and poly(N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide) (PHEAA) network rich in multiple hydrogen bonding. Due to the multiple chemical crosslinking sites (acrylamide groups) of HAMA; the bulk HEMA/PHEAA hydrogels presented significant enhancements in mechanical properties (∼0.45 MPa) than common hyaluronic acid hydrogels (<0.1 MPa). The abundant hydrogen bonding also endowed the resultant hydrogels with extremely high adhesiveness on many nonporous substrates, including glass and biological tissues (e.g., heart, liver, lung, kidney, stomach, and muscle), with a considerable interfacial toughness of ∼1432 J m-2. Accordingly, since both natural hyaluronic acid derivative polymers and hydrophilic PHEAA networks are highly biocompatible, the hydrogel matrix possesses good blood compatibility (<5% of hemolysis ratio) and satisfies the general dressing requirements (>99% of cell viability). Based on these physicochemical features, we have demonstrated that this adhesive hydrogel, administered in the form of a designed patch, could be applied to wound tissue healing by promoting epithelialization, angiogenesis, and collagen deposition. We believe that our proposed biomimetic hydrogel design holds great potential for wound repair and our developed HAMA/PHEAA hydrogels are extremely promising for the next-generation tissue healings in emergency situations.
  16. van der Eijk Y, Tan Ping Ping G, Ong SE, Tan Li Xin G, Li D, Zhang D, et al.
    Int J Health Policy Manag, 2022 Sep 01;11(9):1616-1624.
    PMID: 33906338 DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.25
    BACKGROUND: The global e-cigarette market has proliferated and is increasingly dominated by transnational tobacco companies. While Southeast Asian countries have received relatively little attention in e-cigarette research, the region represents an area of potentially untapped growth for the industry. We review the e-cigarette situation in Southeast Asia in terms of the e-cigarette markets, advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes, reported health impacts of e-cigarette use, and policy responses in the region.

    METHODS: We examined e-cigarette market data from the Euromonitor Global Market Information Database (GMID) Passport database, searched in the academic literature, grey literature and news archives for any reports or studies of e-cigarette related diseases or injuries, e-cigarette marketing, and e-cigarette policy responses in Southeast Asian countries, and browsed the websites of online e-cigarette retailers catering to the region's active e-cigarette markets.

    RESULTS: In 2019, e-cigarettes were sold in six Southeast Asian markets with a total market value of $595 million, projected to grow to $766 million by 2023. E-commerce is a significant and growing sales channel in the region, with most of the popular or featured brands in online shops originating from China. Southeast Asian youth are targeted with a wide variety of flavours, trendy designs and point of sale promotions, and several e-cigarette related injuries and diseases have been reported in the region. Policy responses vary considerably between countries, ranging from strict bans to no or partial regulations.

    CONCLUSION: Although Southeast Asia's e-cigarette market is relatively nascent, this is likely to change if transnationals invest more heavily in the region. Populous countries with weak e-cigarette regulations, notably Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, are desirable targets for the transnationals. Regulatory action is needed to prevent e-cigarette use from becoming entrenched into these societies, especially among young people.

  17. Wang J, Shao Y, Ma Y, Zhang D, Aziz SB, Li Z, et al.
    ACS Nano, 2024 Apr 09;18(14):10230-10242.
    PMID: 38546180 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c00599
    The realization of sodium-ion devices with high-power density and long-cycle capability is challenging due to the difficulties of carrier diffusion and electrode fragmentation in transition metal selenide anodes. Herein, a Mo/W-based metal-organic framework is constructed by a one-step method through rational selection, after which MoWSe/C heterostructures with large angles are synthesized by a facile selenization/carbonization strategy. Through physical characterization and theoretical calculations, the synthesized MoWSe/C electrode delivers obvious structural advantages and excellent electrochemical performance in an ethylene glycol dimethyl ether electrolyte. Furthermore, the electrochemical vehicle mechanism of ions in the electrolyte is systematically revealed through comparative analyses. Resultantly, ether-based electrolytes advantageously construct stable solid electrolyte interfaces and avoid electrolyte decomposition. Based on the above benefits, the Na half-cell assembled with MoWSe/C electrodes demonstrated excellent rate capability and a high specific capacity of 347.3 mA h g-1 even after cycling 2000 cycles at 10 A g-1. Meanwhile, the constructed sodium-ion capacitor maintains ∼80% capacity retention after 11,000 ultralong cycles at a high-power density of 3800 W kg-1. The findings can broaden the mechanistic understanding of conversion anodes in different electrolytes and provide a reference for the structural design of anodes with high capacity, fast kinetics, and long-cycle stability.
  18. Guan R, Van Le Q, Yang H, Zhang D, Gu H, Yang Y, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2021 May;271:129499.
    PMID: 33445014 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.129499
    Phytochemicals refer to active substances in plant-based diets. Phytochemicals found in for example fruits, vegetables, grains and seed oils are considered relatively safe for consumption due to mammal-plant co-evolution and adaptation. A number of human diseases are related to oxidative stress caused by for example chemical environmental contaminants in air, water and food; while also lifestyle including smoking and lack of exercise and dietary preferences are important factors for disease development in humans. Here we explore the dietary sources of antioxidant phytochemicals that have beneficial effects on oxidative stress, cardiovascular and neurological diseases as well as cancer. Plant-based diets usually contain phenolic acids, flavonoids and carotenoids, which have strong antioxidant properties, and therefore remove the excess of active oxygen in the body, and protect cells from damage, reducing the risk of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease. In most cases, obesity is related to diet and inactivity and plant-based diets change lipid composition and metabolism, which reduce obesity related hazards. Cruciferous and Allium vegetables are rich in organic sulphides that can act on the metabolism of carcinogens and therefore used as anti-cancer and suppressing agents while dietary fibres and plant sterols may improve intestinal health and prevent intestinal diseases. Thus, we recommend a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains as its content of phytochemicals may have the potential to prevent or improve a broad sweep of various diseases.
  19. Wang Y, Cho SH, Lin HC, Ghoshal AG, Bin Abdul Muttalif AR, Thanaviratananich S, et al.
    Int Arch Allergy Immunol, 2018;177(1):69-79.
    PMID: 29874659 DOI: 10.1159/000489015
    BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis (AR), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and rhinosinusitis are common and little studied in the Asia-Pacific region.

    OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate real-world practice patterns for these respiratory diseases in India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

    METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study enrolled adults (age ≥18 years) presenting to general practitioners (GP) or specialists for physician-diagnosed AR, asthma, COPD, or rhinosinusitis. Physicians and patients completed study-specific surveys at one visit, recording patient characteristics, health-related quality of life (QoL), work impairment, and healthcare resource use. Findings by country and physician category (GP or specialist) were summarized.

    RESULTS: Of the 13,902 patients screened, 7,243 (52%) presented with AR (18%), asthma (18%), COPD (7%), or rhinosinusitis (9%); 5,250 of the 7,243 (72%) patients were eligible for this study. Most eligible patients (70-100%) in India, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore attended GP, while most (83-85%) in Taiwan and Thailand attended specialists. From 42% (rhinosinusitis) to 67% (AR) of new diagnoses were made by GP. On average, patients with COPD reported the worst health-related QoL, particularly to GP. Median losses of work productivity for each condition and activity impairment, except for asthma, were numerically greater for patients presenting to GP vs. specialists. GP prescribed more antibiotics for AR and asthma, and fewer intranasal corticosteroids for AR, than specialists (p < 0.001 for all comparisons).

    CONCLUSIONS: Our findings, albeit mostly descriptive and influenced by between-country differences, suggest that practice patterns differ between physician types, and the disease burden may be substantial for patients presenting in general practice.
  20. Li Y, Ling Ma N, Chen H, Zhong J, Zhang D, Peng W, et al.
    Environ Int, 2023 Nov;181:108279.
    PMID: 37924601 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108279
    According to the World Health Organization, women's breast cancer is among the most common cancers with 7.8 million diagnosed cases during 2016-2020 and encompasses 15 % of all female cancer-related mortalities. These mortality events from triple-negative breast cancer are a significant health issue worldwide calling for a continuous search of bioactive compounds for better cancer treatments. Historically, plants are important sources for identifying such new bioactive chemicals for treatments. Here we use high-throughput screening and mass spectrometry analyses of extracts from 100 plant species collected in Chinese ancient forests to detect novel bioactive breast cancer phytochemicals. First, to study the effects on viability of the plant extracts, we used a MTT and CCK-8 cytotoxicity assay employing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA-MB-231 and normal epithelial MCF-10A cell lines and cell cycle arrest to estimate apoptosis using flow cytometry for the most potent three speices. Based on these analyses, the final most potent extracts were from the Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) wood/root bark and Nigaki (Picrasma quassioides) wood/root bark. Then, 5 × 106 MDA-MB-231 cells were injected subcutaneously into the right hind leg of nude mice and a tumour was allowed to grow before treatment for seven days. Subsequently, the four exposed groups received gavage extracts from Amur honeysuckle and Nigaki (Amur honeysuckle wood distilled water, Amur honeysuckle root bark ethanol, Nigaki wood ethanol or Nigaki root bark distilled water/ethanol (1:1) extracts) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), while the control group received only PBS. The tumour weight of treated nude mice was reduced significantly by 60.5 % within 2 weeks, while on average killing 70 % of the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells after 48 h treatment (MTT test). In addition, screening of target genes using the Swiss Target Prediction, STITCH, STRING and NCBI-gene database showed that the four plant extracts possess desirable activity towards several known breast cancer genes. This reflects that the extracts may kill MBD-MB-231 breast cancer cells. This is the first screening of plant extracts with high efficiency in 2 decades, showing promising results for future development of novel cancer treatments.
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