Green Tea (Camellia sinensis): A Review of Its Phytochemistry,Pharmacology, and Toxicology

Objectives Green tea (Camellia sinensis) is a kind of unfermented tea that retains the natural substance in fresh leaves to a great extent. It is regarded as the second most popular drink in the world besides water. In this paper, the phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of green tea are reviewed systematically and comprehensively. Key findings Green tea has been demonstrated to be good for human health. Nowadays, multiple pharmacologically active components have been isolated and identified from green tea, including tea polyphenols, alkaloids, amino acids, polysaccharides, and volatile components. Recent studies have demonstrated that green tea shows versatile pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, anticancer, hypoglycemic, antibacterial, antiviral, and neuroprotective. Studies on the toxic effects of green tea extract and its main ingredients have also raised concerns including hepatotoxicity and DNA damage. Summary Green tea can be used to assist the treatment of diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, oral cancer, and dermatitis. Consequently, green tea has shown promising practical prospects in health care and disease prevention.     

Synthesis,Structure and Theoretical Calculation of Metal Coordination Polymers with Pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxylic Acid and 3-(2-Pyridyl)pyrazole as Co-ligands

A new 2D metal coordination polymer(MCP),[Mn(pzdc)_(0.5)(L)]_n(1,pzdc=pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid,HL=3-(2-pyridyl)pyrazole),was synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction,powder XRD,FT-IR,TG,fluorescence and elemental analysis techniques.Pale yellow crystals crystallize in orthorhombic system,space group Fdd2 with a=11.2368(6),b=38.280(2),c=10.5682(6) A,V=4545.9(4) A~3,C_(11)H_7MnN_4O_2,M_r=282.15,D_c=1.649 g/cm~3,μ(MoKα)=1.159 mm~(-1),F(000)=2272,Z=16,the final R=0.0613 and wR=0.1773 for 2856 observed reflections(I 2σ(I)).It shows a two-dimensional network structure and is further assembled into a three-dimensional supramolecular framework via hydrogen bonds and abundant π-π interactions.In addition,we analyzed natural bond orbital(NBO) of 1 in using the PBE0/LANL2DZ method established in Gaussian 03 Program.There is obvious covalent interaction between the coordinated atoms and Mn(Ⅱ) ions.     

Identification of New Non-BBB Permeable Tryptophan Hydroxylase Inhibitors for Treating Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptophan) is a hormone that regulates emotions in the central nervous system. However, serotonin in the peripheral system is associated with obesity and fatty liver disease. Because serotonin cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), we focused on identifying new tryptophan hydroxylase type I (TPH1) inhibitors that act only in peripheral tissues for treating obesity and fatty liver disease without affecting the central nervous system. Structural optimization inspired by para-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA) resulted in the identification of a series of oxyphenylalanine and heterocyclic phenylalanine derivatives as TPH1 inhibitors. Among these compounds, compound 18i with an IC₅₀ value of 37 nM was the most active in vitro. Additionally, compound 18i showed good liver microsomal stability and did not significantly inhibit CYP and Herg. Furthermore, this TPH1 inhibitor was able to actively interact with the peripheral system without penetrating the BBB. Compound 18i and its prodrug reduced body weight gain in mammals and decreased in vivo fat accumulation.     

氧化镍纳米晶体的制备及其过程分析

为了开发一种新型纳米氧化镍催化剂,能有效地应用于生物质气化过程中去除焦油,本文采用均匀沉淀法成功地制备了纳米氧化镍晶体,并利用TGA、FTIR、XRD、BET、YEM等分析手段对前驱体和产品的性能进行了表征.同时,对前驱体的分解过程进行了全面的分析.分析结果表明前驱体是水合碱式碳酸镍,其分子式为NiCO3·Ni(OH)2·nH2O,它能在360℃下完全分解转化为纳米NiO,同时煅烧条件对合成纳米NiO的晶体粒径影响很大.实验证实所得纳米NiO颗粒呈球形,分散性好,纯度较高,属立方晶系结构,平均粒径约为7.5nm,其BET表面积为187.98m2/g,这显示纳米NiO晶体具有作为高效催化材料的应用可行性.     

低温制备≥99.5%多晶氧化铝陶瓷

本文通过引入稀土氧化物Y2O3、Tm2O3为烧结助剂低温制备了氧化铝含量大于99.5;的多晶氧化铝陶瓷.实验表明:稀土氧化物的加入能够明显降低99.5;多晶氧化铝陶瓷的烧结温度,提高致密度.Y2O3、Tm2O3混合烧结助剂与单一稀土氧化物的烧结助剂相比能够明显抑制晶粒的生长,促进晶粒的均匀发育.当Y2O3+Tm2O3的含量为0.3;质量分数时,99.5;多晶氧化铝陶瓷的相对密度可达99.2;理论密度,抗弯强度为533MPa,显微硬度为17.2GPa.陶瓷断裂主要以穿晶断裂为主.     

Mesoporous sodium four-coordinate aluminosilicate nanoparticles modulate dendritic cell pyroptosis and activate innate and adaptive immunity

Pyroptosis is a programmed cell death widely studied in cancer cells for tumour inhibition, but rarely in dendritic cell (DC) activation for vaccine development. Here, we report the synthesis of sodium stabilized mesoporous aluminosilicate nanoparticles as DC pyroptosis modulators and antigen carriers. By surface modification of sodium-stabilized four-coordinate aluminium species on dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles, the resultant Na-^IVAl-DMSN significantly activated DC through caspase-1 dependent pyroptosis via pH responsive intracellular ion exchange. The released proinflammatory cellular contents further mediated DC hyperactivation with prolonged cytokine release. In vivo studies showed that Na-^IVAl-DMSN induced enhanced cellular immunity mediated by natural killer (NK) cells, cytotoxic T cells, and memory T cells as well as humoral immune response. Our results provide a new principle for the design of next-generation nanoadjuvants for vaccine applications.

Na-^IVAl-DMSN acts as both antigen carriers and modulators to “hyperactivate” dendritic cells (DCs) via potassium (K⁺) efflux dependent pyroptosis, eventually leading to enhanced adaptive and innate immunity.     

Water Status and Predictive Models of Moisture Content during Drying of Soybean Dregs Based on LF-NMR

To explore the drying characteristics of soybean dregs and a nondestructive moisture content test method, in this study, soybean dregs were dried with hot air (80 °C), the moisture content was measured using the drying method, water status was analyzed using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and the moisture content prediction models were built and validated. The results revealed that the moisture contents of the soybean dregs were 0.57 and 0.01 g/g(w.b.), respectively, after drying for 5 and 7 h. The effective moisture diffusivity increased with the decrease in moisture content; it ranged from 5.27 × 10⁻⁹ to 6.96 × 10⁻⁸ m²·s⁻¹. Soybean dregs contained bound water (T₂₁), immobilized water (T₂₂) and free water (T₂₃ and T₂₃’). With the proceeding of drying, all of the relaxation peaks shifted left until a new peak (T₂₃’) appeared; then, the structure of soybean dregs changed, and the relaxation peaks reformed, and the peak shifted left again. The peak area may predict the moisture content of soybean dregs, and the gray values of images predict the moisture contents mainly composed of free water or immobilized water. The results may provide a reference for drying of soybean dregs and a new moisture detection method.     

Polyoxometalate/Cellulose Nanofibrils Aerogels for Highly Efficient Oxidative Desulfurization

Polyoxometalate (POM) presents great potential in oxidative desulfurization (ODS) reaction. However, the high dissolubility of POM in common solvents makes it difficult to recycle. Besides, the small specific surface area of POM also limits the interaction between them and the substrate. Depositing polyoxometalates onto three-dimensional (3D) network structured materials could largely expand the application of POM. Here, the surfaces of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were modified with very few (3-Aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APTS) to endow positive charges on the surfaces of CNFs, and then phosphotungstic acid (PTA) was loaded to obtain the aerogel A-CNF/PTA as the ODS catalyst. FT-IR indicated the successful deposition of PTA onto aminosilane modified CNF surfaces. UV-VIS further suggested the stability of PTA in the aerogels. BET and SEM results suggested the increased specific surface area and the relatively uniform 3D network structure of the prepared aerogels. TGA analysis indicated that the thermal stability of the aerogel A-CNF/PTA50% was a little higher than that of the pure CNF aerogel. Most importantly, the aerogel A-CNF/PTA50% showed good catalytic performance for ODS. Catalysis results showed that the substrate conversion rate of the aerogel A-CNF/PTA50% reached 100% within 120 min at room temperature. Even after five cycles, the substrate conversion rate of the aerogel A-CNF/PTA50% still reached 91.2% during the dynamic catalytic process. This work provides a scalable and facile way to stably deposit POM onto 3D structured materials.     

Improvement of Biological Effects of Root-Filling Materials for Primary Teeth by Incorporating Sodium Iodide

Therapeutic iodoform (CHI₃) is commonly used as a root-filling material for primary teeth; however, the side effects of iodoform-containing materials, including early root resorption, have been reported. To overcome this problem, a water-soluble iodide (NaI)-incorporated root-filling material was developed. Calcium hydroxide, silicone oil, and NaI were incorporated in different weight proportions (30:30:X), and the resulting material was denoted DX (D5~D30), indicating the NaI content. As a control, iodoform instead of NaI was incorporated at a ratio of 30:30:30, and the material was denoted I30. The physicochemical (flow, film thickness, radiopacity, viscosity, water absorption, solubility, and ion releases) and biological (cytotoxicity, TRAP, ARS, and analysis of osteoclastic markers) properties were determined. The amount of iodine, sodium, and calcium ion releases and the pH were higher in D30 than I30, and the highest level of unknown extracted molecules was detected in I30. In the cell viability test, all groups except 100% D30 showed no cytotoxicity. In the 50% nontoxic extract, D30 showed decreased osteoclast formation compared with I30. In summary, NaI-incorporated materials showed adequate physicochemical properties and low osteoclast formation compared to their iodoform-counterpart. Thus, NaI-incorporated materials may be used as a substitute for iodoform-counterparts in root-filling materials after further (pre)clinical investigation.     

Versatile Graphene-Isolated AuAg-Nanocrystal for Multiphase Analysis and Multimodal Cellular Raman Imaging

Main observation and conclusion Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy(SERS)-based bioanalytical technique involves the interaction of SERS-active substrate with c...