The novel herbicide icafolin-methyl is a plant-specific inhibitor of tubulin polymerization.

Background: Without controlling weeds, it is estimated that about one third of global crop yields would be lost. Herbicides remain the most effective solution for weed control, but they face multiple challenges, such as the emergence and growth of resistant weed populations. Consequently, there is an urgent need for either herbicides with new modes of action or at least novel chemistries within established modes of action, with outstanding efficacy but without showing cross-resistance to the herbicides present in the prospective markets.

A Study in Scaffold Hopping: Discovery and Optimization of Thiazolopyridines as Potent Herbicides That Inhibit Acyl-ACP Thioesterase.

In the search for new chemical entities that can control resistant weeds by addressing novel modes of action (MoAs), we were interested in further exploring a compound class that contained a 1,8-naphthyridine core. By leveraging scaffold hopping methodologies, we were able to discover the new thiazolopyridine compound class that act as potent herbicidal molecules. Further biochemical investigations allowed us to identify that the thiazolopyridines inhibit acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase (FAT), with this being further confirmed via an X-ray cocrystal structure.

Effects of huoxin formula on the arterial functions of patients with coronary heart disease.

Huoxin formula is a Traditional Chinese Medicine for coronary heart disease (CHD) treatment. To explore the therapeutic mechanism of the Huoxin formula on arterial functions in CHD patients. Fifty-eight CHD patients receiving cardiovascular drugs including β-receptor blocker, statins, and antiplatelet medications or others were randomized into intervention [additionally 13.

Int6/eIF3e Silencing Promotes Placenta Angiogenesis in a Rat Model of Pre-eclampsia.

We investigated whether stable eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3e/inter 6 (eIF-3e/Int6) RNA-silencing (siRNA-Int6) can ameliorate pre-eclampsia (PE) by promoting angiogenesis in an N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced rat pre-eclampsia (PE) model. Twenty-four pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated into 4 groups, including controls (Con) without any treatment, and 18 from gestational day (GD) 7 to GD17 L-NAME-treated rats, which were divided into stable siRNA-Int6 transfected (siRNA-Int6), negative vector control siRNA (NC-siRNA) and PE control (PE-Con) groups. All adenovirus siRNA transfections were performed on GD7 via intravenous tail injection.

Extreme and superextreme events in a loss-modulated CO_{2} laser: Nonlinear resonance route and precursors.

We investigate the occurrence of extreme and rare events, i.e., giant and rare light pulses, in a periodically modulated CO_{2} laser model.