Abstract:In this paper, the biosynthesis process of phenolic compounds in plants is summarized, which includes the shikimate, pentose phosphate and phenylpropanoid pathways. Plant phenolic compounds can act as antioxidants, structural polymers (lignin), attractants (flavonoids and carotenoids), UV screens (flavonoids), signal compounds (salicylic acid and flavonoids) and defense response chemicals (tannins and phytoalexins). From a human physiological standpoint, phenolic compounds are vital in defense responses, such as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities. Therefore, it is beneficial to eat such plant foods that have a high antioxidant compound content, which will cut down the incidence of certain chronic diseases, for instance diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular diseases, through the management of oxidative stress. Furthermore, berries and other fruits with low-amylase and high-glucosidase inhibitory activities could be regarded as candidate food items in the control of the early stages of hyperglycemia associated with type 2 diabetes.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) has been broadly studied in inflammatory disease. However, the expression and function of TREM-2 remain undiscovered in acquired cholesteatoma. The expression of TREM-2 was significantly higher in human acquired cholesteatoma than in normal skin from the external auditory canal, and its expression level was positively correlated with the severity of bone destruction. Furthermore, TREM-2 was mainly expressed on dendritic cells (DCs). In human acquired cholesteatoma, the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2, MMP-8 and MMP-9) were up-regulated, and their expression levels were positively correlated with TREM-2 expression. Osteoclasts were activated in human acquired cholesteatoma. In an animal model, TREM-2 was up-regulated in mice with experimentally acquired cholesteatoma. TREM-2 deficiency impaired the maturation of experimentally acquired cholesteatoma and protected against bone destruction induced by experimentally acquired cholesteatoma. Additional data showed that TREM-2 up-regulated IL-1β and IL-6 expression via TLR4 instead of the TLR2 signaling pathway and promoted MMP-2 and MMP-8 secretion and osteoclast activation in experimentally acquired cholesteatoma. Therefore, TREM-2 might enhance acquired cholesteatoma-induced bone destruction by amplifying the inflammatory response via TLR4 signaling pathways and promoting MMP secretion and osteoclast activation.

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Combining both localized surface plasmon polaritons (LSPPs) and propagating surface plasmon polaritons, remote surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) emerges as a novel sensing technology in recent years, which could avoid the overlap of incident light and inelastic scattering light in SERS. Compared to traditional SERS, it has novel applications in sensors, plasmondriven surface-catalyzed reactions, Raman optical activity, etc. However, the weak Raman intensity of remote SERS impedes its further application. In this work, we demonstrated that the remote SERS signals could be enhanced by more than 100% through the subwavelength interference in dual-path-excited Ag-branched nanowire dimer and nanowire−nanoparticle systems. Our experiment has revealed that remote SERS intensities could be modulated by polarization and phase differences of two incident lights illuminating at two separate nanowire terminals. The simulated electromagnetic field distributions through the finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) method indicate that subwavelength interference occurs in Ag nanowires, which causes the Raman intensities collected at a remote site is greatly influenced by the coherent superposition of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (PSPPs). Our work on this coherent enhancement could not only promote the application of remote SERS but also enlarge the research on light manipulating in the subwavelength.

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