Monoterpenoid Glycosides from the Leaves of Ligustrum robustum and Their Bioactivities.

The leaves of Ligustrum robustum have been applied as Ku-Ding-Cha, a functional tea to clear heat, remove toxins, and treat obesity and diabetes, in Southwest China. The phytochemical research on the leaves of L. robustum led to the isolation and identification of eight new monoterpenoid glycosides (1-8) and three known monoterpenoid glycosides (9-11). Compounds 1-11 were tested for the inhibitory activities on fatty acid synthase (FAS), α-glucosidase, α-amylase, and the antioxidant effects. Compound 2 showed stronger FAS inhibitory activity (IC50: 2.36 ± 0.10 µM) than the positive control orlistat (IC50: 4.46 ± 0.13 µM), while compounds 1, 2, 5 and 11 displayed more potent ABTS radical scavenging activity (IC50: 6.91 ± 0.10~9.41 ± 0.22 µM) than the positive control L-(+)-ascorbic acid (IC50: 10.06 ± 0.19 µM). This study provided a theoretical basis for the leaves of L. robustum as a functional tea to treat obesity.

Ultra-sensitive fluorescent sensor for intracellular miRNA based on enzyme-free signal amplification with carbon nitride nanosheet as a carrier.

A novel ultra-sensitive fluorescent sensor for monitoring microRNA (miRNA) in living cells was constructed by utilizing a hybridization chain reaction (HCR) as the signal amplification with a carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS) as a carrier. The Cy5-labeled hairpin DNA could be adsorbed onto the surface of CNNS, resulting in fluorescence quenching of Cy5. When treated with complementary miRNA, the fluorescence was recovered because miRNA could efficiently trigger an HCR, which led to the release of the HCR products from the CNNS. This intracellular HCR strategy can be used for ultra-sensitive monitoring of intracellular miRNA. The main advantages of the proposed method are its simplicity, high sensitivity, high specificity and low toxicity for monitoring low-level biomarkers.

Bioactive polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols from Hypericum scabrum.

Eighteen polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols were isolated from the whole plant of Hypericum scabrum Linn., including six new compounds (1-6). Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. The evaluation of their cytotoxic activities was carried out against SMMC-7721 and MGC-803 cell lines. We found that most tested compounds exhibited moderate cytotoxic activities against SMMC-7721 cell line except for 11 and 12, while compounds 1, 5-7, 13 and 16 also showed cytotoxic activities on MGC-803 cells. Besides, Bacillus subtilis, MRSA and MDPRA were also used to test inhibitory activity of these compounds. Our results showed that only compounds 12 and 13 presented weak inhibitory activity against Bacillus subtilis, while compounds 7, 13 and 14 also inhibited MRSA weakly.

Microenvironment Analysis of Prognosis and Molecular Signature of Immune-Related Genes in Lung Adenocarcinoma.

There is growing evidence on the clinical significance of tumor microenvironment (TME) cells in predicting prognosis and therapeutic effects. However, cell interactions in tumor microenvironments have not been thoroughly studied or systematically analyzed so far. In this study, 22 immune cell components in the lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) TME were analyzed using gene expression profile from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The TME-based molecular subtypes of LUAD were defined to evaluate further the relationship between molecular subtypes, prognosis, and clinical characteristics. A TME risk score model was constructed by using the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of molecular subtypes. The relationship between the TME score and clinical characteristics and genomic mutations was compared to identify the genes that have significant associations with the TME. The comprehensive analysis of the TME characteristics may be helpful in revealing the response of LUAD patients to immunotherapy, providing a new strategy for immunotherapy.

Ocular manifestations of a hospitalised patient with confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus disease.

PURPOSE: To report the ocular characteristics and the presence of viral RNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in conjunctival swab specimens in a patient with confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). PARTICIPANT AND METHODS: A 30-year-old man with confirmed COVID-19 and bilateral acute conjunctivitis which occurred 13 days after illness onset. Based on detailed ophthalmic examination, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus in conjunctival swabs. The ocular characteristics, presence of viral RNA and viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in the conjunctival specimens were evaluated. RESULTS: Slit lamp examination showed bilateral acute follicular conjunctivitis. RT-PCR assay demonstrated the presence of viral RNA in conjunctival specimen 13 days after onset (cycle threshold value: 31). The conjunctival swab specimens remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 on 14 and 17 days after onset. On day 19, RT-PCR result was negative for SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 is capable of causing ocular complications such as viral conjunctivitis in the middle phase of illness. Precautionary measures are recommended when examining infected patients throughout the clinical course of the infection. However, conjunctival sampling might not be useful for early diagnosis because the virus may not appear initially in the conjunctiva.

Spectral data of nicotabaflavonoidglycoside.

The dataset addressed in this article relates to the research article entitled"Nicotabaflavonoidglycoside, the first example of cembranoid and flavonoid heterodimer from Nicotiana tabacum" (Yang et al., 2018) [1]. The dataset presents the MS4(879-571-421-335), MS n fragment pathways, (+) HR-ESI-MS, (-) HR-ESI-MS, UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HSQC, 1H-1H COSY, HMBC, ROESY, ORD and ECD data of Nicotabaflavonoidglycoside. The MS4(879-571-421-335), (+) HR-ESI-MS, (-) HR-ESI-MS, UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HSQC, 1H-1H COSY, HMBC, ROESY, ORD and ECD data were collected by experimental methods, and the MSn fragment pathways were acquired by analyses.

Nicotabaflavonoidglycoside, the first example of cembranoid and flavonoid heterodimer from Nicotiana tabacum.

Nicotabaflavonoidglycoside (1), a novel cembrane-type diterpenoid and flavonoid heterodimer had been isolated from the leaves of Nicotiana tabacum. Its structure was elucidated as (1″S, 6″S) or (1″R, 6″R)-8-[6″-((-)-(1″S, 2″E, 4″Z, 7″E, 11″E)-cembra-2″, 4″, 7″, 11″-tetraenyl)]-rutin by comprehensive analyses of the NMR and HRESIMS spectra. Its absolute configurations of C-1″ and C-6″ were assigned as (1″S, 6″S) by its biogenesis and electronic circular dichroism (ECD). A possible biogenesis involving eliminate reaction of (1S, 2E, 4S, 6R, 7E, 11E)-2, 7, 11-cembratriene-4, 6-diol or its 4R isomer, as well as electrophilic substitution reaction of rutin was postulated.

Theoretical studies on pyrimidine substituent derivatives as dual inhibitors of AP-1 and NF-kappaB.

Theoretical studies on the three-dimensional (3D) quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and mechanisms of action of a series of pyrimidine substituent derivatives as dual inhibitors of AP-1 and NF-kappaB were carried out using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and docking methods. The established 3D-QSAR model exhibits a satisfying statistical quality and prediction ability. Docking results show somewhat lower average values of the flexible and rigid energy scores in the chosen binding sites. The docking analysis offers appropriate orientations and conformations of these compounds at the binding sites to both AP-1 and NF-kappaB in good agreement with the 3D-QSAR model from CoMFA. The combined CoMFA and docking study suggests the following substituent selections: substituent R(2) should be a kind of H-N-thienyl or CH(3)-N-thienyl group; substituent R(5) should be a kind of COO-tBu or COOEt group; and substituent R(4) should be a CH(2)CH(3) or 2-thienyl group. The docking analysis also shows that the binding sites fall just at the joint regions between AP-1 (or NF-kappaB) and DNA, where these compounds can effectively prevent free AP-1 and NF-kappaB from binding to DNA, and this may be the reason that derivatives with pyrimidine substituents have an inhibition function. In addition, a very interesting finding was that the binding sites of both AP-1 and NF-kappaB have a common structural characteristic, thereby providing a reasonable explanation for the dual inhibition functions of these compounds towards both AP-1 and NF-kappaB. These theoretical results help to deepen our understanding of the inhibition mechanism of these pyrimidine substituent derivatives, and will aid in directing further drug-molecular design.