Objective: To systematically analyze the potential therapeutic mechanism of licochalcone A against Alzheimer's disease by network pharmacology. Methods: The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) and GeneCards database were screened, and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed on the overlapping genes of Alzheimer's disease and licochalcone A, followed by Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) analysis and visualization. Results: A total of 64 potential overlapping targets between licochalcone A and Alzheimer's disease were identified, among which CASP3, AKT1 and BCL2 were core targets with high degree values. The annotated genes were enriched in signal transduction, metabolism and immune system. Conclusion: Licochalcone A may exert anti-Alzheimer's disease effects by targeting and regulating inflammatory response, participating in biological processes such as signal transduction and energy metabolism, which provides a theoretical basis for the development of multi-target drugs for Alzheimer's disease.

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Modifiable lifestyle factors influence the structure of the gut microbiome; however, most studies have isolated individual exposures and focused on continuous diversity indices rather than categorical community phenotypes. As a result, the relative weights of various coexisting lifestyle habits in determining the composition of the dominant intestinal bacterial genus are still unknown. Genus-level relative abundance data and self-reported lifestyle metadata for 336 adults from the American Gut Project were analysed. Remove unclassified taxa and re-normalise abundances, then assign a dominant genus to each sample based on its most abundant taxon. Associations with the frequency of alcohol consumption, exercise frequency, sleep duration, dietary pattern, antibiotic use history, body mass index and demographic factors were analysed using univariate tests with False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction, multinomial logistic regression, PERMANOVA, redundancy analysis and differential abundance tests. Dataset-of-origin was explicitly modelled to rule out technical batch effects. After controlling for batch effects in a multivariate model, alcohol consumption frequency (importance = 0.0230), exercise frequency (importance = 0.0209) and sleep duration (importance = 0.0168) were the top two modifiable predictors of dominant genus classification. Only the frequency of alcohol consumption was significantly associated with the global community structure (PERMANOVA, F = 2.03, p = 0.01, FDR = 0.04), and Bacteroides showed a graded increase in relative abundance from 10% for never-drinkers to 39% for daily drinkers. Exercise frequency was positively correlated with increased Rothia abundance (FDR = 0.039). The dataset identifier was a relatively strong overall predictor of the dominant genus assignment (importance = 0.0462) and exceeded the combined contribution of all lifestyle variables. Alcohol consumption, exercise and sleep duration are all independently associated with the composition of dominant intestinal bacteria in adults after controlling for technical batch effects. The above results present new high-priority targets for microbiome modification and also indicate that explicit batch correction must be performed during aggregated microbiome analysis.

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In the research area, chili pepper is not only a very popular food ingredient but also a critical cash crop. Observations indicate that many people in the local community grow peppers for their livelihood. However, a persistent challenge has been identified: peppers are often infected by severe pests and diseases, so the yield is frequently very low, causing significant financial loss to farmers. After learning about these issues, research interest in pepper cultivation has been aroused. At the same time, the huge advantages of microbial control in agriculture have been recognized; therefore, a topic related to chili peppers and microbial control was selected. The purpose of conducting this research is to understand to what extent microbial control can improve the cultivation of chili peppers, evaluate the assistance of different microorganisms in chili pepper cultivation compared to traditional methods, and assess whether these biological methods are economically and practically viable for ordinary farmers. This research synthesizes data from global studies to determine if microorganisms are a "silver bullet" or a supportive tool in modern agriculture. The author has read relevant literature and learned that the diseases and pests of peppers can be caused by multiple factors, ranging from fungal infections to insect infestations. Meanwhile, many microorganisms can also affect the growth of peppers to varying degrees, offering a sustainable alternative that does not damage the surrounding environment. At present, microbial control has been widely applied in agriculture, but there are still many people who do not understand this technology. They prefer traditional chemical prevention and control methods, instead of microbial control, due to habit and cost concerns. This research aims to compare conflicting views and make more people know the advantages and limitations of microbial control.

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