Two new alkaloids from Tibetan medicine of Hypecoum leptocarpum.

Two new alkaloids, leptocarpinine B (1) and corydamine acid (2), with thirteen known alkaloid compounds (3-15), were isolated from Hypecoum leptocarpum. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined based on spectroscopic data analyses, including IR, ESI-MS, 1 D, and 2 D NMR. In addition, all the isolates were evaluated for cytotoxic activities. Compound 6 showed moderate cytotoxicity against human ovarian cancer cell lines (A2780), human cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa), and human hepatocellular carcinomas cell lines (HepG2).[Formula: see text].

[Diversity of Soil Eukaryotic Microbes in Different Succession Stages in Maolan Karst Forest of Guizhou].

As an indispensable part of the Maolan karst forest soil microorganisms, eukaryotic microbes play an important role in ecosystem material and energy flow. To investigate the composition and diversity of soil eukaryotic microbial communities under different succession stages in the Maolan karst forest, we explored the diversity and composition of soil eukaryotic microbes under four succession stages of primary forests (YSL), shrub forests (GML), bushes (GMC), and grassland (CD) via high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of the 18S rDNA. The results showed that the composition of soil eukaryotic microbial communities was similar in different succession stages under different classification levels. There was a significant difference in α diversity, Shannon, and Simpson's indices at different stages of succession as follows: YSL > GMC > GML > CD. The non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that there were differences in the soil eukaryotic microbial community structure at different succession stages. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis showed that the number of differential indicator species in YSL was higher than in GML, GML, and CD. The results of our study provide a theoretical basis for further research on soil eukaryotic microorganisms in different succession stages.

Prevalence and recognition of depressive disorders among Chinese older adults receiving primary care: A multi-center cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there have been increasing calls for integrating late-life mental health services into primary care in China, but data on the epidemiology of depressive disorders in older adults receiving primary care are very limited. This study examined prevalence, correlates and recognition of depressive disorders among Chinese older adults receiving primary care. METHODS: A total of 752 older patients (65+ years) were consecutively recruited from 13 primary care clinics in Wuhan, China, and interviewed with the Chinese Mini-international Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0. RESULTS: One-fifth (20.3%) of the older adults met DSM-IV criteria for depressive disorders during the month prior to the interview: 10.2% had major depression, 4.8% had dysthymia, and 5.3% had minor depressive disorder. The recognition rate of older patients with depressive disorders was 1.3% only. In multiple logistic regression analysis, factors significantly associated with depressive disorders included female gender (OR = 1.61), an education of primary school and below (OR = 1.69), poor financial status (OR = 2.44), poor or fair family relationship (OR = 1.66), loneliness (OR = 1.77), hypertension (OR = 1.91), heart disease (OR = 2.02), chronic gastric ulcer (OR = 6.01), and arthritis (OR = 3.55). LIMITATIONS: Older adults from primary care clinics of economically underdeveloped regions of China were not included. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive disorders are prevalent but poorly recognized in Chinese older adults receiving treatment in primary care clinics. In order to improve the emotional well-being and health of older adults, it is time to integrate the management of common mental disorders into primary healthcare in China.

Major depressive disorder in Chinese persons with speech disability: High rates of prevalence and perceived need for mental health care but extremely low rate of use of mental health services.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been increasing awareness on the importance of mental health services for persons with disability in China, but data on mental health of persons with speech disability (PwSD) are scarce. This study examined prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder (MDD) among Chinese PwSD, as well as their perceived need for and utilization of mental health services. METHODS: A total of 227 community-residing adult PwSD were successfully recruited by using multi-stage sampling approach, and interviewed with the Mini-international Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0. Depressed PwSD's perceived need for and utilization of mental health services were also measured. RESULTS: 29.5% of the PwSD suffered from MDD during the month before the interview and, of the depressed PwSD, 44.8% perceived a need for mental health care but only 1.5% had sought help from mental health specialists. Factors significantly associated with MDD included female gender (OR=2.42), marital status of "non-married" (OR=2.27), having the disability during childhood (OR=4.60) and adulthood (OR=10.99) (vs. at birth), co-occurring other types of disabilities (OR=2.29), major medical conditions (OR=2.62), and impaired ability of activities of daily living (OR=3.23). LIMITATIONS: Findings can only be generalized to PwSD who register with the Disabled People's Federation (DPF) in China, because the sampling frame was based on the registration system of DPF. CONCLUSIONS: There is a large unmet need for mental health services among Chinese PwSD. It is urgently needed to integrate the management of MDD and other common mental disorders into the services system for PwSD in China.

Anti-proliferative effects of diterpenoids from Sagittaria trifolia L. tubers on colon cancer cells by targeting the NF-κB pathway.

A new labdane-type diterpenoid, ent-19-ol-13-epi-manoyl oxide,19-undecane ester, together with ten known diterpenes, were isolated from the ethanolic crude extract of the fresh tubers of Sagittaria trifolia L. The chemical structures of these compounds were determined by extensive 2-D NMR experiments and by comparison with the data reported in the literature. These compounds showed different inhibitory effects on various human cancer cells. Among these, compound 11 exhibited potential inhibition effects against human colon cancer cells. Moreover, flow cytometry demonstrated that compound 11 arrested the cell cycle at the G1 phase and induced cellular apoptosis, accompanied by mitochondrial membrane potential reduction. Mechanistic studies revealed that treatment with compound 11 inhibited IKKα/ß phosphorylation and IκBα phosphorylation, which subsequently caused the blockage of NF-κB p65 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. Compound 11 also inhibited the expression of c-Myc, Cyclin D1, and Bcl-2, the downstream targets of NF-κB. Therefore, our findings provided insight into the anticancer components of Sagittaria trifolia L. tubers, which could facilitate their utilization as functional food ingredients.

[Soil bacterial community characteristics under different microhabitat types on Maolan karst forest, Guizhou, Southwest China]. / è´µå·žèŒ‚å °å–€æ–¯ç‰¹æ£®æž—ä¸åŒå°ç”Ÿå¢ƒä¸‹åœŸå£¤ç»†èŒç¾¤è½ç‰¹å¾.

We analyzed the diversity, community composition and relative abundance of soil bacteria communities in five different types of microhabitats (included stone caverns, stone crevices, stone gullies, stone grooves, top-soils) in Maolan karst forest, Guizhou Province, China. Bacterial 16S rRNA V3-V4 variable regions were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technique. We examined the effects of soil physicochemical factors on bacterial community structure. The results showed that 27 phyla, 64 classes, 128 orders, 242 families, 367 genera, and 704 species were detected in the soils from five types of microhabitats. Proteobacteria, Actinomycetes, Acidobacteria, Chlorofleixi and Nitrospirae were the dominant bacterial phyla. Actinomycetes was the dominant phyla in the microhabitats of top-stone cavern (0-10 cm), sub-stone cavern (10-20 cm), stone crevice, and stone groove. Acidobacteria was the dominant phyla in the top-soil (0-10 cm) and the sub-soil (10-20 cm). Proteobacteria was the dominant phyla in the top-stone gully (0-10 cm) and the sub-stone gully (10-20 cm). The highest soil bacterial Simpson index was found in stone crevice microhabitat, while the lowest was found in sub-soil (10-20 cm) microhabitat. Results from the LEfSe analysis showed that the number of distinct indicator species at the different levels of taxo-nomy was higher in the top-soil (0-10 cm), sub-soil (10-20 cm), sub-stone cavern (10-20 cm), and the stone groove than in the stone crevice, the top-stone gully (0-10 cm) and sub-stone gully (10-20 cm). The indicator phyla were Actinobacteria and Chlorofleixi in the sub-stone cavern (10-20 cm). The top-stone gully (0-10 cm) were characterized by the phyla of Proteobacteria and Tectomicrobia. The top-soil (0-10 cm) was featured by Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and Latescibacteria. The sub-soil (10-20 cm) was dominated by Nitrospirae. There were no indicator species in stone groove, stone crevice, and sub-stone gully (10-20 cm). There was no indicator species in phylum to genus in top-stone cavern (0-10 cm). RDA and ABT analysis showed that soil organic matter, pH, and available phosphorus explained a large part of the variation regarding the responses of bacterial community to the changes in basic physicochemical factors in the soil.

Development of Orthographic Awareness, Morphological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming of Elementary-level Students in China: A Longitudinal Analysis from Grades 1 to 4.

The longitudinal study sought to examine the dynamic development of cognitive skills for reading among elementary-level students in Mainland China. Two groups of students in first (n=164, mean age=6.65 years at first test) and second grade (n=202, mean age=7.73 years at first test) were followed on orthographic awareness, morphological awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN) for two years. The children exhibited significant improvement in orthographic awareness, morphological awareness and RAN from grades 1 to 4. More importantly, to the orthographic and morphological awareness, while the children took a leap from grade 1 to 2 and grade 3 to 4, the progress developed at relatively slow rates from grade 2 to 3. In order to assure children's development of orthographic and morphological awareness, evidence-based orthographically and morphologically enhanced instruction is needed for Chinese children in the early elementary years, especially for those at the stage from grade 2 to 3.

[Effects of Chinese prickly ash orchard on soil organic carbon mineralization and labile organic carbon in karst rocky desertification region of Guizhou province].

Taking 5-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard (PO-5), 17-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard (PO- 17), 30-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard (PO-30) and the forest land (FL, about 60 years) in typical demonstration area of desertification control test in southwestern Guizhou as our research objects, the aim of this study using a batch incubation experiment was to research the mineralization characteristics of soil organic carbon and changes of the labile soil organic carbon contents at different depths (0-15 cm, 15-30 cm, and 30-50 cm). The results showed that: the cumulative mineralization amounts of soil organic carbon were in the order of 30-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard, the forest land, 5-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard and 17-year-old Chinese prickly ash orchard at corresponding depth. Distribution ratios of CO2-C cumulative mineralization amount to SOC contents were higher in Chinese prickly ash orchards than in forest land at each depth. Cultivation of Chinese prickly ash in long-term enhanced the mineralization of soil organic carbon, and decreased the stability of soil organic carbon. Readily oxidized carbon and particulate organic carbon in forest land soils were significantly more than those in Chinese prickly ash orchards at each depth (P < 0.05). With the increasing times of cultivation of Chinese prickly ash, the contents of readily oxidized carbon and particulate organic carbon first increased and then declined at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depth, respectively, but an opposite trend was found at 30-50 cm depth. At 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm, cultivation of Chinese prickly ash could be good for improving the contents of labile soil organic carbon in short term, but it was not conducive in long-term. In this study, we found that cultivation of Chinese prickly ash was beneficial for the accumulation of labile organic carbon at the 30-50 cm depth.

[Effects of land use and abandonment on soil labile organic carbon in the Karst region of southwest China].

Effects of land use and land abandonment on labile organic carbon (LOC) in whole soils and different aggregate sizes were studied by sampling analysis of the soils in some typical land uses of the Karst region, southwest China. Results showed that the content and degree of dispersion of labile organic carbon decreased with soil depth, and the content of LOC was highly significant (P < 0.01) in 0-10 cm than in 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm. In the 0-10 cm soil layer, the content of LOC distribution in different aggregates was higher in the < 0.25 mm size, while no obvious changes of LOC among aggregates were found in the 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm depths. In different land use patterns, the LOC was the highest in paddy whether in whole soils or aggregates, followed by shrub, and the lowest in abandoned 3 years grassland. Within-between principal component analysis showed that the accumulation characters between land use and LOC were in the order of paddy > shrub > abandoned 15 years grassland = dry land > abandoned 3 years grassland, the content of LOC increased by 20.3% as compared to dryland, and had reached 80% of the content of shrub in abandoned 15 years grassland at the 0-10 cm depth, indicating that at the early stage of land abandonment, the natural recovery of carbon is relatively slow, while with the abandonment time increase, the carbon sink effect gradually appear.