Effects of soaking process on arsenic and other mineral elements in brown rice

One of the main food crops in the world,rice can accumulate high levels of arsenic from flooded paddy soils,which seriously threatens human health.Soaking,a common processing method for brown rice products,especially for brown rice noodles,was investigated in this study.Japonica rice(Dao Hua Xiang No.2)and Indica rice(Ye Xiang You No.3)were selected for studying the effects of soaking on arsenic concentrations,species,and distributions.Results revealed that soaking can efficiently remove arsenic in these two rice varieties,and the main part of removal is endosperm with the maximal rate of about 40%.Inorganic arsenic(I-As)(about 85%)is the main species of arsenic reduction.Meanwhile,the variations of four other elements(i.e.,Mg,Ca,Zn,and Fe)were analyzed.Collectively,the findings of this study indicate that soaking can efficiently remove arsenic in brown rice under controlled soaking conditions,which thereby reduces the arsenic intake for brown rice customers.

Activating Connexin43 gap junctions primes adipose tissue for therapeutic intervention

Adipose tissue is a promising target for treating obesity and metabolic diseases.However,pharmacological agents usually fail to effectively engage adipocytes due to their extraordinarily large size and insufficient vascularization,especially in obese subjects.We have previously shown that during cold exposure,connexin43(Cx43)gap junctions are induced and activated to connect neighboring adipocytes to share limited sympathetic neuronal input amongst multiple cells.We reason the same mechanism may be leveraged to improve the efficacy of various pharmacological agents that target adipose tissue.Using an adipose tissue-specific Cx43 overexpression mouse model,we demonstrate effectiveness in connecting adipocytes to augment metabolic efficacy of theβ_(3)-adrenergic receptor agonist Mirabegron and FGF21.Additionally,combing those molecules with the Cx43 gap junction channel activator danegaptide shows a similar enhanced efficacy.In light of these findings,we propose a model in which connecting adipocytes via Cx43 gap junction channels primes adipose tissue to pharmacological agents designed to engage it.Thus,Cx43 gap junction activators hold great potential for combination with additional agents targeting adipose tissue.

Polydiacetylene-based poly-ion complex enabling aggregation-induced emission and photodynamic therapy dual turn-on for on-demand pathogenic bacteria elimination

Poly-ion complex(PIC)integrating non-antibiotic theranostics holds great promise in the combat against drug-resistant bacteria.Photosensitizers with aggregation-induced emission(AIE)characteristic are particularly intriguing theranostic agents,but incorporating them into antibacterial PIC to enable both fluorescence and reactive oxygen species(ROS)generation turn-on is deemed a great challenge.Here we report the development of a PIC that can dually boost the fluorescence and ROS generation in the presence of pathogen bacteria.The PIC is constructed based on an anionic polydiacetylene poly(deca-4,6-diynedioic acid)(PDDA),which completely degrades in the presence of ROS.A cationic polymer quaternized poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)(PQDMA)that can disrupt bacterial membrane is co-loaded together with a highly efficient AIE photosensitizer TPCI in the PIC.PIC is nonfluorescent initially in that PDDA can quench the AIE of TPCI in PIC.When pathogenic bacteria are present,they can disturb the assembly of PIC to release TPCI,whose fluorescence turns on sensitively to indicate the existence of bacteria.The on-demand irradiation can be subsequently applied to excite TPCI,which generates ROS to degrade PDDA and deform the PIC.As a result,TPCI and PQDMA are completely released to eliminate bacteria through a synergy of turned-on photodynamic therapy(PDT)and membrane disruption.The highly efficient detection and inhibition against both Gramnegative and Gram-positive bacteria have validated this polydiacetylene-based PIC system as an effective non-antibiotic antibacterial theranostic platform as well as a new strategy to enable“turn-on”fluorescence sensing and imaging of AIE fluorophores.