Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most painful and widespread chronic degenerative joint diseases and is characterized by destructed articular cartilage and inflamed joints. Previously, our findings indicated that circular RNA ciRS-7 (ciRS-7)/microRNA 7 (miR-7) axis is abnormally expressed in OA, and regulates proliferation, inflammatory responses, and apoptosis of interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-stimulated chondrocytes. However, its underlying role in OA remains unknown. In this study, we first validated cartilage degradation and defection of autophagy in samples of OA patients. IL-1β initially stimulated autophagy of chondrocytes, and ultimately significantly suppressed autophagy. Upregulated ciRS-7/down-regulated miR-7 aggravated IL-1β-induced cartilage degradation, and restrained autophagy in vitro . Gene sequencing and bioinformatics analysis performed on a control group, IL-1β group, and IL-1β+miR-7-mimics group demonstrated that seven of the most significant mRNA candidates were enriched in the interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathway. Increased IL-17A levels were also observed by qRT-PCR and ELISA. In addition, it was revealed that the ciRS-7/miR-7 axis ameliorated cartilage degradation and defection of autophagy by PI3K/AKT/mTOR activation in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes. Furthermore, an OA model was established in rats with medial meniscus destabilization. miR-7-siRNA-expressing lentiviruses alleviated surgical resection-induced cartilage destruction of OA mice, whereas miR-7 mimics worsened the effects. Thus, these findings revealed that the mechanism of the ciRS-7/miR-7 axis involved regulating OA progression and provided valuable directions for OA treatment.

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The skin microbiota is an inseparable component of the skin barrier structure, which participates in the stabilization or impairment of the barrier function as well as the development of many skin diseases. To characterize the normal skin microbiota and its association with skin sites, age and sex, we recruited 50 volunteers divided into children, adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults and the elderly. The skin sites consisted of cheeks, volar forearms (representing dry environments) and upper back (representing sebaceous environments). A total of 9 574 365 high-quality sequences of the V3 to V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene were annotated with taxonomic information related to two archaeal phyla (Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota) and five dominant bacterial phyla (Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria). The skin bacteria community structure was influenced by skin sites, and was closely related to age and sex. The upper back was dominated by Propionibacterium and Staphylococcus, and the cheeks facilitated the survival of Betaproteobacteria, while Alphaproteobacteria were prevalent on the volar forearms. Regarding the effects of age, after sexual maturity, the cheek microbiota became more similar to sebaceous sites (i.e. the upper back). The volar forearms appeared to experience the aging process earlier than the other two sites. The elderly had greater species richness and diversity and their community composition no longer had skin-site selectivity. Males had a greater species richness than females, but the sex differences in the community structure only present at certain age groups and skin sites.

Caffeic acid and its esters (CAEs) are widely distributed in the plant kingdom and have been reported to elicit a wide range of exceptional biological activities. Present methods for screening and characterization of CAEs normally need the use of liquid chromatography diode-array detection/multistage mass spectrometry (LC-DAD/MS(n)). In this report, a rapid and efficient method coupling ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with fragment-targeted multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) has been developed for screening CAEs in a crude extract of Erigeron breviscapus, while a UPLC/quasi-MS(n) method has been applied in the structural identification of these compounds. Furthermore, a simple quasi-UPLC/MS/MS method based on in-source collision-induced dissociation (CID) has been proposed for rapid identification of the CAEs. As a result, a total of more than 34 CAEs were detected and their structures characterized. Nine of them were reported from E. breviscapus for the first time. Applications of these strategies in the chemical investigation of an injection of E. breviscapus resulted in the identifications of 16 CAEs. These strategies, if appropriate modifications are made, will be very useful in screening and characterization not only of CAEs, but of other structural types of compounds in various complex matrices.

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The study showed that TFPF of P. capitatum contained flavonoid glycosides and polyphenolic glycosides as its major principles. Polyphenolic glycosides were perhaps the most typical chemical markers of P. capitatum.

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