Cephaliverins A-D, four new lignans from Cephalotaxus oliveri Mast.

Four new lignans named cephaliverins A-D (1-4), along with seven known analogues (5-11), were isolated from Cephalotaxus oliveri Mast. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of HR-ESI-MS and NMR analyses, and their absolute configurations were determined by ECD comparison. Cephaliverin A (1), herpetotriol (5) and hedyotol A (6) exhibited moderate antitumor activity against HepG2 and A549 cell lines.

Preparation Optimization and Immunological Activity Studies of Portulaca oleracea L. Polysaccharides Liposomes.

AIMS: This study combines traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides with nanomaterials to enhance drug bioavailability and immunological activity. BACKGROUND: The study of polysaccharide preparation, structure identification, pharmacological activity, and mechanism of action is deepening, but the research combined with the new drug delivery system is relatively weak, so the application of polysaccharides is still facing great limitations. In order to prolong the action time of polysaccharides and improve their bioavailability, liposome has become the most promising delivery carrier. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to optimize the preparation process of Portulaca oleracea L. polysaccharides liposomes (POL-PL) and evaluate the immunoactivity in vitro. METHODS: POL-PL was prepared by reverse evaporation, and the preparation process was optimized using the response surface methodology. The characteristic analysis of POL-PL was detected by the indicators including morphology, particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, release, and stability. The effects of POL-PL on the proliferation and immunological activity of mouse spleen lymphocytes and RAW264.7 cells were evaluated in vitro. RESULTS: POL-PL is highly homogeneous in morphology and particle size, and its sustained release improves the bioavailability of Portulaca oleracea L. polysaccharides (POL-P). Moreover, POL-PL treatment significantly enhanced the proliferation and phagocytic activity of RAW264.7 cells and increased the secretion of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1ß, and NO. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that POL-PL were prepared successfully by reverse evaporation method, and POL-PL had immunoenhancing activity in vitro. The results provided a theoretical basis for further application of POL-PL.

Portulaca oleracea L. Polysaccharide Inhibits Porcine Rotavirus In Vitro.

Diarrhea is one of the most common causes of death in young piglets. Porcine rotavirus (PoRV) belongs to the genus Rotavirus within the family Reoviridae, and is considered to be the primary pathogen causing diarrhea in piglets. Portulaca oleracea L. (POL) has been reported to alleviate diarrhea and viral infections. However, the antiviral effect of Portulaca oleracea L. polysaccharide (POL-P), an active component of POL, on PoRV infection remains unclear. This study demonstrated that the safe concentration range of POL-P in IPEC-J2 cells is 0-400 µg/mL. POL-P (400 µg/mL) effectively inhibits PoRV infection in IPEC-J2 cells, reducing the expression of rotavirus VP6 protein, mRNA and virus titer. Furthermore, on the basis of viral life cycle analysis, we showed that POL-P can decrease the expression of PoRV VP6 protein, mRNA, and virus titer during the internalization and replication stages of PoRV. POL-P exerts antiviral effects by increasing IFN-α expression and decreasing the expression levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 inflammatory factors. Overall, our study found that POL-P is a promising candidate for anti-PoRV drugs.

Ocean acidification exacerbates copper toxicity in both juvenile and adult stages of the green tide alga Ulva linza.

The toxicity of heavy metals to coastal organisms can be modulated by changes in pH due to progressive ocean acidification (OA). We investigated the combined impacts of copper and OA on different stages of the green macroalga Ulva linza, which is widely distributed in coastal waters, by growing the alga under the addition of Cu (control, 0.125 (medium, MCu), and 0.25 (high) µM, HCu) and elevated pCO2 of 1,000 µatm, predicted in the context of global change. The relative growth rates decreased significantly in both juvenile and adult thalli at HCu under OA conditions. The net photosynthetic and respiration rates, as well as the relative electron transfer rates for the adult thalli, also decreased under the combined impacts of HCu and OA, although no significant changes in the contents of photosynthetic pigments were detected. Our results suggest that Cu and OA act synergistically to reduce the growth and photosynthetic performance of U. linza, potentially prolonging its life cycle.

Using Statistics and Data Mining Approaches to Analyze Male Sexual Behaviors and Use of Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Based on Large Questionnaire Data.

The prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) has been extensively studied worldwide. Erectile dysfunction drugs has shown great efficacy in preventing male erectile dysfunction. In order to help doctors know drug taken preference of patients and better prescribe, it is crucial to analyze who actually take erectile dysfunction drugs and the relation between sexual behaviors and drug use. Existing clinical studies usually used descriptive statistics and regression analysis based on small volume of data. In this paper, based on big volume of data (48,630 questionnaires), we use data mining approaches besides statistics and regression analysis to comprehensively analyze the relation between male sexual behaviors and use of erectile dysfunction drugs for unravelling the characteristic of patients who take erectile dysfunction drugs. We firstly analyze the impact of multiple sexual behavior factors on whether to use the erectile dysfunction drugs. Then, we explore to mine the Decision Rules for Stratification to discover patients who are more likely to take drugs. Based on the decision rules, the patients can be partitioned into four potential groups for use of erectile dysfunction: high potential group, intermediate potential-1 group, intermediate potential-2 group and low potential group. Experimental results show 1) the sexual behavior factors, erectile hardness and time length to prepare (how long to prepares for sexual behaviors ahead of time), have bigger impacts both in correlation analysis and potential drug taking patients discovering; 2) odds ratio between patients identified as low potential and high potential was 6.098 (95% confidence interval, 5.159-7.209) with statistically significant differences in taking drug potential detected between all potential groups.

[Role of Fas, FasL in NOD insulitis].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the significance of Fas-FasL in NOD insulitis and to explore the mechanism of the autoimmune diabetes. METHODS: Thirty-two female NOD mice, 3-32 weeks of age, were selected. The blood glucose concentrations were recorded. The pathological data were obtained from the HE staining of the pancreatic sections and the immunohistochemical staining, in which insulin, Fas, FasL, CD8 were detected. RESULTS: Diabetes was found from the age of 14 weeks. In normal islets, insulin + cells accounted for (59.37 +/- 1.21)%, and some islet cells were observed expressing Fas. At the age of 6 weeks, insulitis lesions could be found. The average score of insulitis tended to rise with the increasing age (P < 0.0005). Meanwhile, insulin + cells decreased (P < 0.0005), and correlated negatively with scoring (P < 0.05). Fas+ islet cells increased (P < 0.0005), correlated positively with scoring (P < 0.01). In insulitis lesions, islet cells expressed FasL that increased gradually (P < 0.0005) and correlated positively with scoring (P < 0.01). The infiltrating cells were all Fas negative. But these mononucleated cells showed the expression of FasL and CD8, both increasing gradually (P < 0.0005). Furthermore, there was certain correlation between the expression of some antigens: in islet cells, between Fas and insulin (negative, P < 0.01), insulin and FasL (negative, P < 0.01), and Fas and FasL (positive, P < 0.01). In the infiltrating cells, the expression of CD8 was correlated with FasL (positively, P < 0.01); it was also found that there was a negative correlation between Fas+ islet cells and CD8+ mononucleated cells (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: To sum up, there may be some important and complicated effects by Fas-FasL on the damage of beta cells and the regulation of autoreactive T cells in NOD insulitis, which will facilitate further studies in human type 1 diabetes.