Cadmium (Cd) is a persistent environmental and occupational contaminant that accumulates in the liver and induces oxidative stress and inflammation. Melatonin possesses potent hepatoprotective properties against the development and progression of acute and chronic liver injury. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism underlying the protective effects of melatonin against Cd-induced hepatotoxicity remains obscure. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of melatonin on Cd-induced liver inflammation and hepatocyte death. Male C57BL/6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with melatonin (10 mg/kg) once a day for 3 days before exposure to CdCl (2.0 mg/kg). We found that Cd induced hepatocellular damage and inflammatory infiltration as well as increased serum ALT/AST enzymes. In addition, we showed that Cd triggered an inflammatory cell death, which is mediated by the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Moreover, melatonin treatment significantly alleviated Cd-induced liver injury by decreasing serum ALT/AST levels, suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokine production, inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation, ameliorating oxidative stress, and attenuating hepatocyte death. Most importantly, melatonin markedly abrogated Cd-induced TXNIP overexpression and decreased the interaction between TXNIP and NLRP3 in vivo and in vitro. However, treatment with siRNA targeting TXNIP blocked the protective effects of melatonin in Cd-treated primary hepatocytes. Collectively, our results suggest that melatonin confers protection against Cd-induced liver inflammation and hepatocyte death via inhibition of the TXNIP-NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

Owing to their considerable beneficial effects on human health, probiotics have been increasingly incorporated into food products. However, many findings have demonstrated that their survival and stability are very sensitive to processing and host gastrointestinal tract. To solve these problems, encapsulation techniques have been received considerable attention these days. So, in this review paper, methods for probiotics encapsulation, alginate-based and protein-based materials for probiotics encapsulation and application of encapsulated probiotics in food industry were discussed.

Employees' positive organizational behavior (POB) is not only to promote organizational function but also improve individual and organizational performance. As an important concept in organizational research, organizational justice is thought to be a universal predictor of employee and organizational outcomes. The current set of two studies examined the effects of organizational justice (OJ) on POB of employees with two different studies, a large-sample survey and a situational experiment. In study 1, a total of 2,566 employees from 45 manufacturing enterprises completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires assessing organizational justice (OJ) and positive organizational behavior (POB) of employees. In study 2, 747 employees were randomly sampled to participate in the situational experiment with 2 × 2 between-subjects design. They were asked to read one of the four situational stories and to image that this situation happen to the person in the story or them, and then they were asked to imagine how the person in the story or they would have felt and what the person or they subsequently would have done. The results of study 1 suggested that OJ was correlated with POB of employees and OJ is a positive predictor of POB. The results of study 2 suggested that OJ had significant effects on POB and negative organizational behavior (NOB). Procedural justice accounted for significantly more variance than distributive justice in POB of employees. Distributive justice and procedural justice have different influences on POB and NOB in terms of effectiveness and direction. The effect of OJ on POB was greater than that of NOB. In addition, path analysis indicated that the direct effect of OJ on POB was smaller than its indirect effect. Thus, many intermediary effects could possibly be between them.

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Trimethyltin chloride (TMT) is a potent neurotoxin that causes neuroinflammation and neuronal cell death. Melatonin is a well‐known anti‐inflammatory agent with significant neuroprotective activity. Male C57BL/6J mice were intraperitoneally injected with a single dose of melatonin (10 mg/kg) before exposure to TMT (2.8 mg/kg, ip). Thereafter, the mice received melatonin (10 mg/kg, ip) once a day for another three consecutive days. Melatonin dramatically alleviated TMT‐induced neurotoxicity in mice by attenuating hippocampal neuron loss, inhibiting epilepsy‐like seizures, and ameliorating memory deficits. Moreover, melatonin markedly suppressed TMT‐induced neuroinflammatory responses and astrocyte activation, as shown by a decrease in inflammatory cytokine production as well as the downregulation of neurotoxic reactive astrocyte phenotype markers. Mechanistically, serine peptidase inhibitor clade A member 3N (SERPINA3N) was identified as playing a central role in the protective effects of melatonin based on quantitative proteome and bioinformatics analysis. Most importantly, melatonin significantly suppressed TMT‐induced SERPINA3N upregulation at both the mRNA and protein levels. The overexpression of Serpina3n in the mouse hippocampus abolished the protective effects of melatonin on TMT‐induced neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity. Melatonin protected cells against TMT‐induced neurotoxicity by inhibiting SERPINA3N‐mediated neuroinflammation. Melatonin may be a promising and practical agent for reducing TMT‐induced neurotoxicity in clinical practice.

The composite analyses during 1950–2016 show that the impacts of El Niño on the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) are different among the Eastern Pacific type, Central Pacific type‐I (CP‐I), and Central Pacific type‐II (CP‐II). The three types of El Niño produce distinct impacts on WPSH due to the varying importance of the Northwestern Pacific coupling, Indian Ocean capacitor, and Maritime Continent mechanisms. The different enhancements and cancellations among these three mechanisms are related to differences in SST anomaly locations and Indian Ocean conditions among the El Niño types. The CP‐II El Niño becomes the most influential type of El Niño, while the CP‐I El Niño becomes the least influential type. The different impacts and mechanisms for the CP‐I and CP‐II types of El Niño imply that these two subtypes of CP El Niño may involve different forcing from the Indian Ocean and extratropical Pacific for their generation.

The study was designed to explore the relationships among character strengths, strengths use, future self-continuity and subjective well-being. A total of 225 undergraduates completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires assessing character strengths, strengths use, future self-continuity, and subjective well-being. Results suggested several character strengths were correlated with subjective well-being and the strongest correlations were found for hope, curiosity, zest, perseverance and love. All character strengths were significantly correlated with strengths use. Strengths use and future self-continuity were robustly correlated with subjective well-being. The mediation analysis showed that strengths use mediates the relationship between character strengths and subjective well-being, and specifically, the indirect effects of strengths use varies from different character strengths. The moderated mediator suggested that future self-continuity moderated the mediation of strengths use because future self-continuity moderates the effect of strengths use on subjective well-being. Furthermore, the indirect effect of strengths use was stronger with high level of future self-continuity than those with low level of future self-continuity. The present findings make a contribution to understand the underlying mechanisms involving in character strengths are associated with higher level of well-being. Additionally, the findings expand knowledge about future self-continuity and its relation to strengths use and subjective well-being among undergraduates, having significant implications in the educational context.

Background: The role of dietary inflammatory index (DII) in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality is still controversial. This systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies aimed to evaluate the effect of DII, indicating a pro-inflammatory diet, on the incidence and mortality of CVD. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of articles published through August 2019 was performed in Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science. The pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for highest vs lowest DII in relation to CVD risk or mortality were estimated using a DerSimonian and Laird random effects model. The heterogeneity among studies was tested using Cochran's Q test and I 2 statistic. Results: A total of 15 cohort studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. The highest DII score was significantly associated with a higher risk of CVD incidence (RR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.12–1.78) or mortality (RR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.19–1.44), compared with the lowest DII score. There was statistically significant heterogeneity among the studies on the association between DII and CVD mortality (P < .001; I 2 = 70.8%). No obvious heterogeneity was observed among the studies on the association between DII and CVD risk (P = .160; I 2 = 37.0%). In the sensitivity analysis, exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the pooled RRs. Conclusion: The present systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that a higher DII score is related to a higher risk of CVD. Further well-designed prospective cohort or trials are warranted to validate our preliminary findings.