Mushroom-Derived Medicine? Preclinical Studies Suggest Potential Benefits of Ergothioneine for Cardiometabolic Health

Medicinal use of mushrooms has been documented since ancient times, and in the modern world, mushrooms have a longstanding history of use in Eastern medicine. Recent interest in plant-based diets in Westernized countries has brought increasing attention to the use of mushrooms and mushroom-derived compounds in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Edible mushrooms are the most abundant food sources of the modified amino acid, ergothioneine. This compound has been shown to accumulate in almost all cells and tissues, but preferentially in those exposed to oxidative stress and injury. The demonstrated cytoprotectant effect of ergothioneine has led many to suggest a potential therapeutic role for this compound in chronic conditions that involve ongoing oxidative stress and inflammation, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, the in vivo effects of ergothioneine and its underlying therapeutic mechanisms in the whole organism are not as clear. Moreover, there are no well-defined, clinical prevention and intervention trials of ergothioneine in chronic disease. This review highlights the cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of ergothioneine and its potential as a Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the promotion of cardiometabolic health and the management of the most common manifestations of cardiometabolic disease.     

A Novel DUF569 Gene Is a Positive Regulator of the Drought Stress Response in Arabidopsis

In the last two decades, global environmental change has increased abiotic stress on plants and severely affected crops. For example, drought stress is a serious abiotic stress that rapidly and substantially alters the morphological, physiological, and molecular responses of plants. In Arabidopsis, several drought-responsive genes have been identified; however, the underlying molecular mechanism of drought tolerance in plants remains largely unclear. Here, we report that the “domain of unknown function” novel gene DUF569 (AT1G69890) positively regulates drought stress in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis loss-of-function mutant atduf569 showed significant sensitivity to drought stress, i.e., severe wilting at the rosette-leaf stage after water was withheld for 3 days. Importantly, the mutant plant did not recover after rewatering, unlike wild-type (WT) plants. In addition, atduf569 plants showed significantly lower abscisic acid accumulation under optimal and drought-stress conditions, as well as significantly higher electrolyte leakage when compared with WT Col-0 plants. Spectrophotometric analyses also indicated a significantly lower accumulation of polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and chlorophylls in atduf569 mutant plants. Overall, our results suggest that novel DUF569 is a positive regulator of the response to drought in Arabidopsis.     

Design,Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel 6H-Benzo[c]chromen-6-one Derivatives as Potential Phosphodiesterase II Inhibitors

Urolithins (hydroxylated 6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-ones) are the main bioavailable metabolites of ellagic acid (EA), which was shown to be a cognitive enhancer in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. As part of this research, a series of alkoxylated 6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-one derivatives were designed and synthesized. Furthermore, their biological activities were evaluated as potential PDE2 inhibitors, and the alkoxylated 6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-one derivative 1f was found to have the optimal inhibitory potential (IC₅₀: 3.67 ± 0.47 μM). It also exhibited comparable activity in comparison to that of BAY 60-7550 in vitro cell level studies.     

Current Perspectives on the Physiological Activities of Fermented Soybean-Derived Cheonggukjang

Cheonggukjang (CGJ, fermented soybean paste), a traditional Korean fermented dish, has recently emerged as a functional food that improves blood circulation and intestinal regulation. Considering that excessive consumption of refined salt is associated with increased incidence of gastric cancer, high blood pressure, and stroke in Koreans, consuming CGJ may be desirable, as it can be made without salt, unlike other pastes. Soybeans in CGJ are fermented by Bacillus strains (B. subtilis or B. licheniformis), Lactobacillus spp., Leuconostoc spp., and Enterococcus faecium, which weaken the activity of putrefactive bacteria in the intestines, act as antibacterial agents against pathogens, and facilitate the excretion of harmful substances. Studies on CGJ have either focused on improving product quality or evaluating the bioactive substances contained in CGJ. The fermentation process of CGJ results in the production of enzymes and various physiologically active substances that are not found in raw soybeans, including dietary fiber, phospholipids, isoflavones (e.g., genistein and daidzein), phenolic acids, saponins, trypsin inhibitors, and phytic acids. These components prevent atherosclerosis, oxidative stress-mediated heart disease and inflammation, obesity, diabetes, senile dementia, cancer (e.g., breast and lung), and osteoporosis. They have also been shown to have thrombolytic, blood pressure-lowering, lipid-lowering, antimutagenic, immunostimulatory, anti-allergic, antibacterial, anti-atopic dermatitis, anti-androgenetic alopecia, and anti-asthmatic activities, as well as skin improvement properties. In this review, we examined the physiological activities of CGJ and confirmed its potential as a functional food.     

地下金属矿山斜坡道浆土路修筑工艺及应用研究

斜坡道是地下金属矿山的主要运输通道,其道路质量直接影响着矿山的安全运输和经济效益。针对斜坡道混凝土浇筑路面存在的筑路成本高、养护时间长、使用寿命短及维护困难等不足,引入浆土路修筑技术,开展了地下金属矿山斜坡道浆土路筑路材料配比试验、黏土搓条和崩解试验、水洗筛分试验,并在云南卡房分公司完成了浆土路试验路段的修筑。结果表明：浆土路筑路技术能够很好地应用于地下矿山道路修筑,具有施工工艺简单、筑路成本低、施工周期短、承载能力强、抑尘防滑和低碳环保等诸多优点,为地下金属矿山道路修筑提供了工程借鉴,对于矿山降本增效、节能减排及安全高效具有重要的意义。     

Study on bioleaching of primary chalcopyrite ore with thermoacidophilic archae

A high temperature-tolerating thermoacidophilic archae （TA） was isolated from water samples collected from a hot sulfur-containing spring in the Yunnan Province, China, and was used in bioleaching experiments of a low-grade chalcopyrite ore. The TA grow at temperatures ranging from 40 to 80℃, with 65℃ being the optimum temperature, and at pH values of l.5 to 4.0, with an optimum pH value of 2.0. The bioleaching experiments of the chalcvpyrite ore were conducted in both laboratory batch bioreactors and leaching columns. The results obtained from the bioreactor experiments showed that the TA bioleaching rate of copper reached 97% for a 12-day leaching period, while the bioleaching rate was 32.43% for thiobacillus ferrooxidans （Tf） leaching for the same leaching time. In the case of column leaching, tests of a two-phase leaching （196 days）, that is, a two-month （56 days） Tf leaching in the first phase, followed by a 140-day TA leaching in the second phase were performed. The average leaching rate of copper achieved for the 140-day TA leaching was 195mg/（L.d）, while for the control experiments, it was as low as 78mg/（L .d） for the Tf leaching, indicating that the TA possesses a more powerful oxidizing ability to the chalcopyrite than Tf Therefore, it is suggested that the two-phase leaching process be applied to .for the heap leaching operations, whereas, the TA can be used in the second phase when the temperature inside the heap has increased, and the primary copper sulfide minerals have already been partially oxidized with Tf beforehand in the first phase.     

镍系聚丁二烯橡胶生产技术进展

介绍了近几年国内外镍系顺丁橡胶生产技术的进展情况，内容涉及分子量调节技术、催化剂配置技术、节能降耗的气相聚合、本体聚合工艺及橡胶后处理过程中使用的热泵技术、螺杆挤压工艺，同时也对国内外顺丁橡胶新型防老剂的使用情况及其新品种的开发进行了简要介绍。     

中药废水处理研究进展

综述了目前中药工业废水处理中应用的各种物化、生物处理技术；并对各种处理方法的应用特点进行了论述。最后指出了中药工业废水处理技术今后研究开发的方向和思路。     

1,2,4-三氮唑并[1,5-α]嘧啶类衍生物的研究进展

本文概述了三氮唑并嘧啶磺酰胺、三氮唑并嘧啶硫代乙酰芳胺和三氮唑并嘧啶硫醚等三个系列的三氮唑并嘧啶类衍生物的国内外最新研究进展。     

聚合物防老化稳定剂的协同作用机理

从聚合物热氧老化和光氧老化机理出发，介绍了不同稳定剂间的相互作用，可能产生的协同及反协同作用机理以及一些实用实例。