Sesquiterpenoids and a steroid from the algicolous Trichoderma brevicompactum.

Six new sesquiterpenoids including three bisabolane derivatives, trichobisabolins O1, O2, and P (1-3), two nerolidol derivatives, trichonerolins A and B (4 and 5), one acorane, trichoacorin A (6), along with one new steroid, isoergokonin B (7), were isolated from the culture of Trichoderma brevicompactum A-DL-9-2 obtained from the inner tissue of the red alga Chondria tenuissima. Their structures and relative configurations were assigned by interpretation of 1D/2D NMR and MS data. As acyclic sesquiterpenoids, compounds 4 and 5 were discovered from Trichoderma for the first time. Compounds 1-7 were evaluated for the inhibition of some marine-derived organisms, in which, 3 and 4/5 exhibited potent inhibition against Amphidinium carterae and Chattonella marina with IC50 of 1.8 µg/mL and 1.2 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, compound 7 could inhibit the growth of Pseudoalteromonas citrea with an MIC value of 64 µg/mL.

Cyclonerane sesquiterpenes and an isocoumarin derivative from the marine-alga-endophytic fungus Trichoderma citrinoviride A-WH-20-3.

Two new cyclonerane sesquiterpenes, (10E)-isocyclonerotriol (1) and (10Z)-isocyclonerotriol (2), and one new isocoumarin derivative, trichophenol A (3), were isolated from Trichoderma citrinoviride A-WH-20-3, an endophyte from the marine red alga Laurencia okamurai. Their structures and relative configurations were assigned by spectroscopic techniques, highlighted by using Sarotti's DP4+ sheet to confirm the cyclopentane ring. The absolute configuration of 1 was established by comparison of experimental and calculated specific rotation data. Compounds 1 and 2 represent the first occurrence of ring-isomerized cycloneranes. Compound 3 is the first 3-phenylisocoumarin derivative from Trichoderma and features inhibition of several marine-derived bacteria and phytoplankton species.

Seven chromanoid norbisabolane derivatives from the marine-alga-endophytic fungus Trichoderma asperellum A-YMD-9-2.

An examination of the endophytic fungus Trichoderma asperellum A-YMD-9-2 obtained from the marine red alga Gracilaria verrucosa led to the isolation of seven new chromanoid norbisabolane derivatives, trichobisabolins I-L (1-4) and trichaspsides C-E (5-7). Their structures and relative configurations were established on the basis of spectroscopic techniques, mainly including 1D/2D NMR and MS, and the absolute configuration of 1 was assigned by X-ray crystallographic analysis using Cu Kα radiation. All of these isolates feature a 1,9-epoxy ring system, and 5-7 represent the second occurrence of norbisabolane aminoglycosides. Compounds 1-7 exhibited potent inhibition of several marine phytoplankton species.

Curative efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine xuebijing injections combined with ulinastatin for treating sepsis in the Chinese population: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a clinically critical disease. However, it is still controversial whether the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine Xuebijing injections (XBJI) and western medicine can enhance curative efficacy and ensure safety compared with western medicine alone. Thus, this research consisted of a systematic review of the curative efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine XBJI combined with ulinastatin for treating sepsis in the Chinese population. METHODS: A total of 8 databases were retrieved: 4 foreign databases, namely, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science; and 4 Chinese databases, namely, Sino Med, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP, and Wangfang Data. The time span of retrieval began from the establishment of each database and ended on August 1, 2017. Published randomized controlled trials about the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine XBJI and western medicine were included, regardless of language. Stata12.0 software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Finally, 16 papers involving 1335 cases were included. The result of meta-analysis showed that compared with the single use of ulinastatin, traditional Chinese medicine XBJI combined with ulinastatin could reduce the time of mechanical ventilation, shorten the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, improve the 28-day survival rate, and decrease the occurrence rate of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, case fatality rate, procalcitonin (PCT) content, APACKEII score, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α level, and interleukin (IL)-6 level. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the common basic therapeutic regimen, the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine XBJI and ulinastatin was compared with the use of ulinastatin alone for treating sepsis in the Chinese population. It was found that the number of adverse events of combination therapy is not significantly increased, and its clinical safety is well within the permitted range. However, considering the limitations of this conclusion due to the low-quality articles included in the present research, it is necessary to conduct high-quality randomized controlled trials.

Breaking down barriers: enabling care-by-parent in neonatal intensive care units in China.

BACKGROUND: Denying parents access to their infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a standard practice in most hospitals across China. Visitation is not usually permitted or may be strictly limited, and NICU care for most neonates is provided by health-care professionals with little participation of the parents. An exception to this rule is the level 2 "Room-In" ward in Qilu Children's Hospital, Shandong University, where parents have 24-hour access to their infants and participate in providing care. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study compared the outcomes of infants who were admitted to the NICU and remained there throughout their stay (NICU-NICU group, n=428), admitted to the NICU and then transferred to the Room-In ward (NICU-RIn group, n=1018), or admitted straight to the Room-In ward (RIn only group, n=629). RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the rates of nosocomial infection, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intraventricular hemorrhage, and retinopathy of prematurity between the NICU-NICU and NICU-RIn groups. The rate of necrotizing enterocolitis was significantly lower in the NICU-RIn group (P=0.04), while weight gain and duration of hospital stay were significantly higher (both P<0.001). Rates of adverse outcomes were lower in RIn-only infants due to their low severity of illness on admission. CONCLUSIONS: Allowing parents access to their infant in the NICU is feasible and safe in China, and may result in improvements in infant outcomes. Further studies are required to generate stronger evidence that can inform changes to neonatal care in China.

A new sesquiterpene from an endophytic Aspergillus versicolor strain.

A new sesquiterpene, albican-1,14-diol (1), and seven known compounds, including sterigmatocystin (2), 3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)-4-(4'-hydroxyphenoxy) pyrrolidin-2-one (3), (1H-indol-3-yl) oxoacetamide (4), indole-3-carboxylic acid (5), indole-3-acetic acid (6), indole-3-carboxaldehyde (7), and volemolide (8), were isolated from the cultures of Aspergillus versicolor, an endophytic fungus isolated from the marine green alga Codium fragile. The structure of 1 was elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR and mass spectroscopic techniques. The bioassay results showed that 1 possessed potent activity against brine shrimp, Escherichia coli, and Staphyloccocus aureus.

A new pyrrolidine derivative and steroids from an algicolous Gibberella zeae strain.

A new pyrrolidine derivative, 3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)-4-(4'-hydroxyphenoxy)pyrrolidin-2-one (1), and eight known steroids, (22E,24R)-7beta,8beta-epoxy-3beta,5alpha,9alpha-trihydroxyergosta-22-en-6-one (2, a reassigned structure of (22E,24R)-5alpha,6alpha-epoxy-3beta,8beta,14alpha-trihydroxyergosta-22-en-7-one), (22E,24R)-3beta,5alpha,9alpha-trihydroxyergosta-7,22-dien-6-one (3), (22E,24R)-3beta,5alpha-dihydroxyergosta-7,22-dien-6-one (4), (22E,24R)-ergosta-7,22-dien-3beta/,5alpha,6beta-triol (5), (22E,24R)-ergosta-5,22-dien-3beta-ol (6), (22E,24R)-5alpha,8alpha-epidioxyergosta-6,22-dien-3beta-ol (7), (22E,24R)-5alpha,8alpha-epidioxyergosta-6,9(11),22-trien-3beta-ol (8), and (22E,24R)-1(10 --> 6)-abeo-ergosta-5,7,9,22-tetraen-3alpha-ol (9), were isolated from the cultures of Gibberella zeae, an endophytic fungus isolated from the marine green alga Codium fragile. Their structures and relative stereochemistry were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR and mass spectroscopic techniques. Compound 1 showed cytotoxicity against A-549 and BEL-7402 cell lines.

Asporyergosterol, a new steroid from an algicolous isolate of Aspergillus oryzae.

Asporyergosterol (1), a new steroid with an E double bond between C-17 and C-20, was identified from the culture extracts of Aspergillus oryzae, an endophytic fungus isolated from the marine red alga Heterosiphonia japonica. Moreover, four known steroids including (22E,24R)-ergosta-4,6,8(14),22-tetraen-3-one (2), (22E,24R)-3beta-hydroxyergosta-5,8,22-trien-7-one (3), (22E,24R)-ergosta-7,22-dien-3beta,5alpha,6beta-triol (4), and (22E,24R)-5alpha,8alpha-epidioxyergosta-6,22-dien-3beta-ol (5) were isolated. Structures of these compounds were unambiguously established by spectroscopic techniques and by comparison with literature values. All the isolates exhibited low activity to modulate acetylcholinesterase (AChE).

[Clinical study of fuzheng jiangnian capsule in improving pre-thrombosis correlated factors in patients with coronary heart disease].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of Fuzheng Jiangnian Capsule (FZJN) on the pre-thrombosis correlated factors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: Ninety patients with CHD complicated with blood hyperviscosity syndrome were treated with conventional treatment and randomly divided into three groups by the additional treatment, i. e. the FZJN group (FZJN, a preparation with action of invigorating Pi, supplementing Shen, and activating blood circulation), the CSDP group [Compound Salviae droplet pill, CSDP) with the action of activating blood circulation to remove blood stasis) and the aspirin (ASP) group, 30 patients in each group. After two months of treatment, clinical efficacy, the levels of endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO), coagulation factor I (Fib), D-dimer (DD), thrombocytic granule membranous glucoprotein (CD62p), superoxide dismutase (SOD), high- and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C, LDL-C) in patients before and after treatment were observed and compared with those in the healthy control group. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy control group, the levels of Fib, DD, ET, CD62p were significantly higher, NO and SOD significantly lower (P<0.05, P<0.01) in all the patients with CHD. Compared with the same group before treatment, the levels of Fib, DD, ET, CD62p, LDL-C in the FZJN group lowered significantly, while NO and SOD raised significantly (P <0.05, P <0.01). ET and CD62p in the CSDP group lowered significantly, while SOD raised significantly (P < 0.05), CD62p in the ASP group lowered significantly (P < 0.05). No statistical difference was found in comparison of DD or ET, though certain improvement was shown. The total effective rate in relieving TCM syndromes and angina pectoris, and the decrease or stop rate of nitrate esters medication were superior in FZJN group to those in the CSDP group and the ASP group, respectively (P <0.05). The rate of electrocardiogram improvement in the FZJN and CSDP group was superior to that in the ASP group (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Increase of Fib, DD, ET, CD62p, and decrease of NO and SOD levels were found in patients with CHD in prethrombosis stage. Compared with ASP, compound Chinese medicinal herbs can act on the prethrombosis manner of CHD patients through multi-paths, multi-links. FZJN showed better efficacy in improving correlated blood molecule markers and clinical syndromes than CSDP, suggesting that the possible mechanism of FZJN might be related to its actions in dilating blood vessels, improving microcirculation, alleviating endothelial cell damage, inhibiting activity of blood platelet, regulating coagulation-fibrolysis balance, improving metabolism of free radicals as well as lowering the level of LDL-C.

[Studies on extraction factors of buxueyangyan mixture].

OBJECTIVE: To study the optimum extraction factors of Buxueyangyan Mixture. METHOD: The orthogonal design was used to select the optimum extraction factors of Cervi Pantotrichum etc. and water extraction rate was used to evaluate the factors. The orthogonal desingn was used to study three factors including crude particle size, extraction time and amount of water. Lcariine content was used as analytical parameter. RESULT: The optimum extraction factors for Cervi Pantotrichum etc. were: 3 a volume ofwith 10 times of water used for three extraction 2.5 h each time. The optimum extraction factors for others were: 1 cm or smaller the crude particle size, boiling 2 times: 2.5, 1.5 h respectively the amount of water used was 10. 8 times of the drug mixture respectively. CONCLUSION: According the optimum extraction factors, the active substance can be extracted efficiently.