Design and optimization of purification process of sinomenine hydrochloride

Sinomenine hydrochloride is generally produced from Caulis Sinomenii. At present, the purification process in industrial production suffers from large amount of solid waste, high solvent toxicity, and low sinomenine hydrochloride yield. In this study, a new purification process for sinomenine hydrochloride was proposed by using the extract obtained from acid extraction of Caulis Sinomenii as the starting material.The process included the following steps: alkalization, extraction, water washing, acid–water stripping,drying, and crystallization. 1-Heptanol was used as the extractant. The distribution coefficients of sinomenine and sinomenine hydrochloride in 1-heptanol–water system were 27.4 and 0.0167, respectively.The dissociation constants of sinomenine hydrochloride were 8.27 and 11.24, respectively. Process parameters of the new purification process were optimized with experimental design. The extractant1-heptanol and sinomenine hydrochloride in the crystallization mother solution can be recycled in the new process. The purity of the obtained sinomenine hydrochloride crystals exceeded 85%, and the yield was about 70%. Compared with current industrial processes, safer extractant, less solid waste, and higher sinomenine hydrochloride yield can be achieved using the new purification process of sinomenine hydrochloride provided in this study.

Incompressible Limit of the Oldroyd-B Model with Density-Dependent Viscosity

This paper studies the existence and uniqueness of local strong solutions to an Oldroyd-B model with density-dependent viscosity in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ Rd, d = 2 or 3 via incompressible limit, in which the initial data is “well-prepared” and the velocity field enjoys the slip boundary conditions. The main idea is to derive the uniform energy estimates for nonlinear systems and corresponding incompressible limit.

Teaching Team Construction and Teaching Reform of the School of Communication Under the Background of New Liberal Arts - Taking Sichuan University of Media and Communications as an Example

Under the background of new liberal arts,in order to run a major well as well as highlight its characteristics and advantages,private colleges and universities cannot do without the construction of professional teaching teams and teaching reforms.Taking Sichuan University of Media and Communication as an example,a series of explorations and practices has been carried out from the aspects of professional team construction,personnel training objectives,professional curriculum system,professional teaching mode,and professional teaching quality,in which good results have been achieved.On this basis,a training base for journalism and communication talents serving the whole Sichuan Province and even the western region is constructed,so that the results of the project have a certain demonstration and promotion value for the construction and development of similar majors in new institutions of higher learning in Sichuan Province.

Gene deficiency or pharmacological inhibition of PDCD4-mediated FGR signaling protects against acute kidney injury

Recent studies have shown that programmed cell death 4(PDCD4)modulates distinct signal transduction pathways in different pathological conditions.Despite acute and chronic immune responses elicited by ischemia contributing to the functional deterioration of the kidney,the contributions and mechanisms of PDCD4 in acute kidney injury(AKI)have remained unclear.Using two murine AKI models including renal ischemia/reperfusion injury(IRI)and cisplatin-induced AKI,we found that PDCD4 deficiency markedly ameliorated renal dysfunction and inflammatory responses in AKI mice.Consistently,upregulation of PDCD4 was also confirmed in the kidneys from patients with biopsy confirmed acute tubular necrosis from a retrospective cohort study.Moreover,we found that overexpression of Fgr,a member of the tyrosine kinase family,dramatically aggravated renal injury and counteracted the protective effects of PDCD4 deficiency in AKI mice.We discovered that FGR upregulated NOTCH1 expression through activating STAT3.Most importantly,we further found that systemic administration of ponatinib,a tyrosine kinase inhibitor,significantly ameliorated AKI in mice.In summary,we identified that PDCD4 served as an important regulator,at least in part,of FGR/NOTCH1-mediated tubular apoptosis and inflammation in AKI mice.Furthermore,our findings suggest that ponatinib-mediated pharmacologic targeting of this pathway had therapeutic potential for mitigating AKI.

Inhibition of Botrytis cinerea and control of gray mold on table grapes by calcium propionate

Objectives:The gray mold fungus Botrytis cinerea(B.cinerea)infects a wide range of crops before and after harvest,causing huge losses worldwide.Inhibition mechanisms of B.cinerea in vitro and in plants by calcium propionate(CP),generally recognized as a safe substanee,are described in this study.Materials and methods:Wild-type and transgenic mutant strains of B.cinerea were used in the study to evaluate the effects of CP on fun gal growth and developme nt in vitro.Plant materials in cludi ng tomato leaves and table grapes were tested for con trolling efficie ncy of CP agai nst gray mold deterioration in vivo.Results:Mycelial growth of B.cinerea was inhibited by CP in a dose-dependent manner with occasional disruption of hyphal tips,causing cellular collapse and efflux of cell contents.Staining with fluorescein diacetate and propidium iodide indicated that CP decreased fungal cell viability.Inhibition efficiency of CP against B.cinerea was enhaneed by reducing pH.In contrast,the veil mutant,which exhibited deficiency in acid production,was more resista nt to CP,suggesti ng that inhibition of B.cinerea by CP is enhanced by the acidification ability of the fungus itself.Additionally,CP inhibited infection cushion development by germlings of B.cinerea.Infection assays with tomato leaves and table grapes showed that CP inhibited decay development in both host tissues.Moreover,application of CP on grapes 3 days prior to harvest could contribute to management of deterioration caused by spontaneous fungal diseases during storage.Conclusion:CP can suppress hyphal growth,inhibit infection cushion development,and reduce the virulence of B.cinerea.CP is thus promising for practical management of gray mold in fruit crops and merits further evaluation.

Prognostic impact of gene copy number instability and tumor mutation burden in patients with resectable gastric cancer

Dear Editor,Gastric cancer(GC)is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide,especially in China and other East Asian countries[1,2].Although considerable achievements have been made in its treatment[3]and predictive biomarkers[4]in past decades,the prognosis of GC remains poor[5].Therefore,more effective prognostic markers are needed to improve the prognosis prediction of GCs.Small panels based on next-generation sequencing,such as FoundationOne CDx and MSK-IMPACT,are widely used for selecting appropriate treatment approaches(such as targeted therapies,immunotherapies,and chemotherapies)with the advantages of a higher sequencing depth and more cost-effectiveness than whole-exome sequencing(WES).Previous studies have demonstrated that molecular characteristics based on the designed cancer-related gene panel were consistent with those determined by WES and could be prognostic markers for various cancer types[6-8].As such,we analyzed the molecular features with the designed panel to investigate probable prognostic biomarkers for Chinese patients with GC.