Two new polyhydroxysterols produced by Fusarium solani, an endophytic fungus from Chloranthus multistachys.

A highly antagonistic endophytic fungus, designated strain CL39, was originated from the leaves of Chloranthus multistachys collected in Wulong of Chongqing municipality of China in November 2015. The strain was identified as Fusarium solani based on morphological characteristics, 5.8S gene and internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis. Two new compounds, 2ß, 9α-dihydroxy-5α-methoxyergosta-7, 22-diene (1), 2ß, 6ß-dihydroxy-5α-methoxyergosta-7, 22-diene (2) have been isolated from the culture broth of the strain. Structures of the new compounds were elucidated by detailed analysis of their spectroscopic data aided by the comparison with reported data of related derivatives, and found to belong to the polyhydroxylated steroids with a hydroxyl at C-2 instead of C-3, a rare structure among the steroids. The extract of this strain and all isolated compounds were evaluated for their antagonistic activities.

Acupuncture for stroke: evidence of effectiveness, safety, and cost from systematic reviews.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analysis on the effectiveness, safety, and cost of acupuncture for stroke. METHODS: Two authors selected the articles according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 2 authors extracted data from the reviews. Potentially relevant systematic reviews were searched through the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CISCOM, Chinese Biological Medicine Database (CBMD), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), Chinese periodicals in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Database. The evidence was based on the reviews and meta-analysis. RESULTS: Nine articles were indentified: 1 focused on acute stroke; 1 focused on subacute or chronic stroke; 5 focused on stroke (the interval after stroke onset was variable in these studies); and 2 addressed dysphagia after stroke. There is a split among reviewers regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture for stroke recovery. The most reliable evidence showed that there was no clear benefit of acupuncture for stroke patients in acute, subacute, or chronic stages. There was not a single economic analysis of acupuncture for treatment of stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture treatment seems to be relatively safe. The evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for stroke was inconclusive, mainly due to poor methodological quality and small samples. For future research, further high-quality, randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up are needed, as well as economic analysis.

Fish oil supplementation improves large arterial elasticity in overweight hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the effect of fish oil supplementation on arterial elasticity and blood pressure (BP) in overweight hypertensive patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This was a double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled clinical study, in which 52 overweight hypertensive patients from a community were selected and randomly allocated to two groups (26 in the fish oil group (3 g day(-1), fish oil capsules) and 26 in the placebo group (only capsules). All the subjects were follow-up for 8 weeks. The arterial elasticity was determined by CVProfilor DO-2020 and expressed as elasticity indexes (C(1)-large artery and C(2)-small artery). During the follow-up, totally nine cases were dropped out (three cases from the fish oil group and six cases from the placebo group). RESULTS: After 8 weeks follow-up, the large artery elasticity in the fish oil group, compared with its baseline, was significantly improved (C(1): 15.5+/-1.5 vs 12.8+/-3.7 ml mm Hg(-1) x 10), whereas no effects were found in the placebo group (C(1): 13.0+/-3.4 vs 13.4+/-3.8 ml mm Hg(-1) x 10), P=0.027, RM-ANOVA across the two groups. The small artery elasticity (C(2)), BP and pulse pressure were not found any changes, either in the fish oil group or in the placebo group. At same time, the serum soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(sVCAM-1) and leptin levels, the lipid profile and insulin sensitivity index (ISI) as well, did not show significant differences between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Fish oil supplementation certainly would improve large arterial elasticity but no effect on BP in overweight hypertensive patients. Further study is needed to confirm the benefits of fish oil supplementation on age-related increases in arterial stiffness.