Acanthopanax senticosus (A. senticosus) is a common Asian herb known as "Siberian Ginseng" or "Eleutherococcus senticosus" 1) and used for rheumatism and prophylaxis of various diseases including chronic bronchitis, hypertension, and ischemia. The herb has also been known to effectively relieve stress or fatigue, and symptoms associated with diabetes, neuralgia, and cancer. 2,3) Today this oriental herb is called "adatogen" in the U.S.4) The major active components of A. senticosus are acanthoside, eleutheroside, chiisanoside, senticoside, triterpenic saponin, syringin, flavone, vitamin, minerals, b-sitosterol, sesamine and savinine. 4,5) Each chemical compound is known to produce diverse biological activities. In Korea, the extract of the A. senticosus plant is used a component in traditional herbal Korean medicine, and is available as a functional beverage commercially marketed for reducing liver damage and accelerating alcohol detoxification. The efficacy of A. senticosus in animal modes and the mechanisms underlying the aforementioned physiological properties involved in alcohol metabolism is unclear, and is therefore the purpose of this investigation.As much as 80-90% of ingested alcohol is metabolized in the liver, where alcohol is oxidized to acetadehyde. [6][7][8] The process is catalyzed by 3 different enzymes: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), microsomal ethanol metabolizing system (MEOS), and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Since acetaldehyde is much more toxic than alcohol, it is associated with a larger number of the metabolic abnormalities in liver disease induced by alcohol.9,10) Under normal conditions, acetaldehyde is rapidly converted to acetate by ADH, and therefore very low level of acetaldehyde should remain in the liver tissue or blood. ALDH also plays an important role in the elimination of acetaldehyde through oxidative reactions.11) Therefore, the severity of liver diseases can be proportional to reductions in ADH or ALDH activities. 2,12) Development of fatty liver and hyperlipidemia frequently occurs in chronic alcoholics; mainly because ethanol becomes a preferred fuel for the liver and displaces fat as a source of energy, which results in fat accumulation. Furthermore, the redox state secondary to ethanol oxidation is altered, promotings lipogenesis through increasing a-glycerophosphate and acylglycerols. The depressed oxidative capacity of mitochondria caused by chronic alcohol also contributes to fatty liver. Increasing fat accumulations in the liver can also stimulate secretion of lipoproteins into the bloodstream, facilitating the development of hyperlipidemia. Acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) is an enzyme that catalyzes the first step in fatty acids biosynthesis and is a rate-limiting enzyme in lipogenesis.5,13) Moreover, malic enzyme (ME), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), and 6-phosphoglucuronic acid dehydrogenase (6-PGDH) are also involved in lipogenesis by supplying NADPH, an essential cofactor for fatty acids and cholesterol biosynthesis. Alcohol has also been suggested ...

Using data from the Philippines, we study the impact of mobile phones on the prices agricultural producers receive for their cash crop. We first look at the impact on price of mobile phone ownership at the household level. Because this masks a considerable amount of heterogeneity, we then look at the impact on price of the intrahousehold allocation of mobile phones. We find that whether the household owns a mobile phone has no impact on price, but whether a farmer or his spouse own a mobile phone is associated with a 5-to 7-percent increase in price.

Using data from the Philippines, we study the impact of mobile phones on the prices agricultural producers receive for their cash crop. We first look at the impact on price of mobile phone ownership at the household level. Because this masks a considerable amount of heterogeneity, we then look at the impact on price of the intrahousehold allocation of mobile phones. We find that whether the household owns a mobile phone has no impact on price, but whether a farmer or his spouse own a mobile phone is associated with a 5-to 7-percent increase in price.

Perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) are attractive photoactive materials in various optoelectronic devices including light‐emitting diodes, solar cells, and photodetectors. However, the weakly bound surface ligands on PNCs reduce colloidal stability and cause film formation and patterning difficulties, severely restricting their practical applications. Herein, a rationally designed photocrosslinkable zwitterionic (PZ) ligand is introduced to obtain directly patternable CsPbBr3 PNCs with enhanced colloidal stability, optical properties, and self‐assembly propensity. The PZ ligands strongly interact with the pre‐synthesized PNCs in solution, substantially replacing the original capping ligands and effectively passivating surface defects. This surface engineering induces strong electrostatic interactions between the PNCs, enabling the fabrication of densely packed CsPbBr3 PNC films. Furthermore, the methacrylate group of the PZ ligands serves as a bridge for active radical propagation in the ligand shells around the PNCs upon UV exposure. Accordingly, high‐resolution direct photopatterning can be achieved through ligand crosslinking, and the resulting PNC patterns (minimum line spacing of 4 µm) maintain optical stability for over 2 weeks. Therefore, this study demonstrates that a tailored ligand design strategy enables the simultaneous achievement of high colloidal stability, optical properties, photopatternability, and self‐assembly propensity and has considerable potential to be extended to other PNC materials.

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