Constipation is one of the most frequent non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD) and it may be ignored by PD patients, leading to this problem not to be reported in time. The relationships between constipation and demographic variables, motor symptoms and other non-motor symptoms of PD are still unknown. PD patients were evaluated by diagnostic criteria of functional constipation in Rome III and divided into PD with constipation (PD-C) and PD with no constipation (PD-NC) groups. PD patients were assessed by rating scales of motor symptoms and other non-motor symptoms, activity of daily living and quality of life. The frequency of constipation in PD patients was 61.4%, and 24.5% of PD patients had constipation before the onset of motor symptoms. PD-C group had older age and age of onset, longer disease duration, more advanced disease stage, and more severe motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms, including worse cognition and emotion, poorer sleep quality, severer autonomic symptoms, fatigue and apathy. Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the age, H-Y stage, depression, anxiety and autonomic dysfunction increased the risk of constipation in PD patients. Constipation exerted serious impact on the activity of daily living and quality of life in PD patients.

The aim of this study was to isolate and identify angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from sesame protein through simulated gastrointestinal digestion in vitro, and to explore the underlying mechanisms by molecular docking. The sesame protein was enzymatically hydrolyzed by pepsin, trypsin, and α-chymotrypsin. The degree of hydrolysis (DH) and peptide yield increased with the increase of digest time. Moreover, ACE inhibitory activity was enhanced after digestion. The sesame protein digestive solution (SPDS) was purified by ultrafiltration through different molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membranes and SPDS-VII (< 3 kDa) had the strongest ACE inhibition. SPDS-VII was further purified by NGC Quest™ 10 Plus Chromatography System and finally 11 peptides were identified by Nano UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS (nano ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry) from peak 4. The peptide GHIITVAR from 11S globulin displayed the strongest ACE inhibitory activity (IC50 = 3.60 ± 0.10 μM). Furthermore, the docking analysis revealed that the ACE inhibition of GHIITVAR was mainly attributed to forming very strong hydrogen bonds with the active sites of ACE. These results identify sesame protein as a rich source of ACE inhibitory peptides and further indicate that GHIITVAR has the potential for development of new functional foods.

Energy crises and environmental pollution are two serious threats to modern society. To overcome these problems, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) nanosheets were fabricated and functionalized with SnO 2 nanoparticles to produce H 2 from water splitting and degrade 2-chlorophenol under visible light irradiation. The fabricated samples showed enhanced photocatalytic activities for both H 2 evolution and pollutant degradation as compared to bare g-C 3 N 4 and SnO 2 . These enhanced photoactivities are attributed to the fast charge separation as the excited electrons transfer from g-C 3 N 4 to the conduction band of SnO 2 . This enhanced charge separation has been confirmed by the photoluminescence spectra, steady state surface photovoltage spectroscopic measurement, and formed hydroxyl radicals. It is believed that this work will provide a feasible route to synthesize photocatalysts for improved energy production and environmental purification.

Parkinson disease (PD) is usually accompanied by numerous nonmotor symptoms (NMS), such as neuropsychiatric symptoms, sleep disorders, autonomic dysfunctions, and sensory disturbances. However, it is not clear that the factors influencing the occurrence of NMS and its sequence with motor symptoms (MS).We conducted comprehensive assessments of NMS by using 13 scales in 1119 PD patients.A total of 70.8% PD patients present NMS. Olfactory dysfunction tends to occur in PD patients with older age, more severe depression, sleep problems, and autonomic dysfunctions. Older patients are more likely to have olfactory dysfunction before MS than younger patients. Rapid eye movement behavior disorder is more prone to happen in patients with older age, older onset age, more severe depression, sleep problems, and autonomic dysfunctions. Patients with rapid eye movement behavior disorder before MS are older in onset age than after group.Olfactory dysfunction, constipation, rapid eye movement behavior disorder, and depression, as early warning NMSs of PD, connected to each other. There is a clinical heterogeneity that older patients are more likely to have NMS before MS, while younger patients are opposite.