Curcumin analogues as selective fluorescence imaging probes for brown adipose tissue and monitoring browning.

Manipulation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) can be promising new approaches to counter metabolic disorder diseases in humans. Imaging probes that could consistently monitor BAT mass and browning of WAT are highly desirable. In the course of our imaging probe screening, we found that BAT could be imaged with curcumin analogues in mice.

Asiatic acid mitigates hyperglycemia and reduces islet fibrosis in Goto-Kakizaki rat, a spontaneous type 2 diabetic animal model.

The Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat is a spontaneous type 2 diabetic animal model, which is characterized by a progressive loss of beta islet cells with fibrosis. In the present study, the hypoglycemic effect of asiatic acid (AA) in GK rats was examined. GK rats receiving AA at a daily dose of 25 mg·kg(-1) for four weeks showed a significant reduction in blood glucose levels.

Involucratustones A-C: Unprecedented Sesquiterpene Dimers Containing Multiple Contiguous Quaternary Carbons from Stahlianthus involucratus.

Involucratustones A-C (1-3), three cadinane dimers containing multiple contiguous quaternary carbons, were isolated from the rhizomes of Stahlianthus involucratus. Their structures were determined by a combination of NMR spectroscopy, chemical conversion, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 1 and 2 are rearranged homodimers of cadinane sesquiterpene fused with a unique fully substituted 1-oxaspiro[4.

[Research Progress in Preparation of Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Mechanisms of Action].

Currently, all the conventional antibiotics have developed corresponding drug-resistant pathogenic strains, which have increasingly become a serious threat to people's health. Development of completely new types of antibiotics is one of effective ways to solve the drug resistance issue. Antimicrobial peptides with broad-spectrum antibacterial and antimicrobial activity and wild variety become the ideal alternative to traditional antibiotics.

Near-infrared fluorescence molecular imaging of amyloid beta species and monitoring therapy in animal models of Alzheimer's disease.

Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) molecular imaging has been widely applied to monitoring therapy of cancer and other diseases in preclinical studies; however, this technology has not been applied successfully to monitoring therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although several NIRF probes for detecting amyloid beta (Aβ) species of AD have been reported, none of these probes has been used to monitor changes of Aβs during therapy. In this article, we demonstrated that CRANAD-3, a curcumin analog, is capable of detecting both soluble and insoluble Aβ species.

Maslinic acid promotes synaptogenesis and axon growth via Akt/GSK-3β activation in cerebral ischemia model.

Maslinic acid, a natural pentacyclic triterpene from Olea europaea plants, possesses neuroprotective effects both in vivo and in vitro. However, the mechanism of its action is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the potential effects of maslinic acid on synaptogenesis and axonal regeneration, as well as the possible signal pathway involved in a cerebral ischemia mouse model.

Intermittent levetiracetam treatment in five patients with catamenial epilepsy.

Catamenial epilepsy is a periodic increase in seizure frequency in women with epilepsy during menstruation, or at any specific point in the menstrual cycle. We present five cases who attended the epilepsy outpatient clinic at the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, China, and who suffered catamenial epilepsy and received intermittent Levetiracetam (LEV) treatment 1 week prior to and post-menstruation around each menstrual period. The patients responded positively and seizures were controlled with a dose of 0.

Nanosheet-assembled ZnFe2O4 hollow microspheres for high-sensitive acetone sensor.

Semiconductor oxides with hierarchically hollow architecture can provide significant advantages as sensing materials for gas sensors by facilitating the diffusion of target gases. Herein, we develop a facile template-free solvothermal strategy combined with the subsequent thermal treatment process toward the successful synthesis of novel ZnFe2O4 hollow flower-like microspheres. The images of electron microscopy unambiguously indicated that the ZnFe2O4 nanosheets with thickness of around 20 nm assembled hierarchically to form the unique flower-like architecture.

Visible-light induced isoindoles formation to trigger intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions in the presence of air.

Visible-light induced isoindole formation triggered an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction with dienophiles such as acetylenedicarboxylate and maleimides in the presence of air. The reaction resulted in excellent diastereoselctivity and high yields under mild reaction conditions. This protocol provides an atom-economical, transition-metal-free (TM-free) and straightforward approach to structurally diverse bridged-ring heterocycles from easily accessible molecules.

Conformational change study of dengue virus NS2B-NS3 protease using 19F NMR spectroscopy.

The dengue virus NS2B-NS3 protease (NS2B-NS3p), an important antiviral target for drug development, has been reported to adopt an open or closed conformation in crystal structures with different NS2B C-terminus (NS2Bc) positioning. In solution, nevertheless, NS2B-NS3p forms a mixture of open, closed and maybe other intermediate conformations, which is difficult to characterize using conventional biophysical and biochemical techniques. In this study, we developed a new strategy to analyze these conformational changes using (19)F NMR spectroscopy.

A Collaborative Assembly Strategy for Tumor-Targeted siRNA Delivery.

A novel "collaborative assembly" approach was reported for the synthesis of an siRNA delivery system via a combination of an electrostatically driven physical assembly and a facile click reaction-mediated chemical assembly, which showed various advantages of more safety, efficiency, and flexibility over the conventional approach that is only based on the physical assembly. This strategy remained a high cationic property of lipid-based complex for high siRNA loading capacity. The direct chemical modification of a model polyanion, hyaluronic acid (HA) on the cationic complex via click chemistry shielded the positive charge of complex without affecting the siRNA binding, which reduced the toxicity and enhanced the blood stability of the complex.

Intracellular Self-Assembly and Disassembly of (19)F Nanoparticles Confer Respective "Off" and "On" (19)F NMR/MRI Signals for Legumain Activity Detection in Zebrafish.

(19)F MRI has higher selectivity but lower sensitivity than (1)H MRI for in vivo diagnosis. Therefore, to avoid using a high injection dose of the (19)F probe while, in the meantime, maintaining the high sensitivity of (19)F MRI has remained challenging. Local self-assembly and disassembly of (19)F nanoparticles could be one of the "smart" strategies to achieve this goal.

Stereoselective Synthesis of Arylglycine Derivatives via Palladium-Catalyzed α-Arylation of a Chiral Nickel(II) Glycinate.

A practical and efficient stereoselective synthesis of arylglycine derivatives was realized via palladium-catalyzed α-arylation of a chiral nickel(II) glycinate complex with aryl bromides. The structurally diverse arylglycine products were obtained in excellent isolated yields and with good diastereoselectivity. A simple acidic hydrolysis furnished optically pure arylglycines in high yield, and the chiral ligand (S)-BPB could be efficiently recovered and reused.

Combination therapy with oleanolic acid and metformin as a synergistic treatment for diabetes.

Aims And Background: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that cannot be treated adequately using the known monotherapies, especially when the disease progresses to an advanced stage. In this study, we explore the possibility of treating the disease with a novel combination approach of oleanolic acid (OA), a glycogen phosphorylase (GP) inhibitor, and metformin.

Methods: Db/db mice were randomly divided into four groups: a db/db control group, db/db mice treated with OA (250 mg/kg), db/db mice treated with metformin (100 mg/kg), and db/db mice treated with a combination of OA and metformin.

Protein imaging. Single-protein spin resonance spectroscopy under ambient conditions.

Magnetic resonance is essential in revealing the structure and dynamics of biomolecules. However, measuring the magnetic resonance spectrum of single biomolecules has remained an elusive goal. We demonstrate the detection of the electron spin resonance signal from a single spin-labeled protein under ambient conditions.

Automatic Learning of Fine Operating Rules for Online Power System Security Control.

Fine operating rules for security control and an automatic system for their online discovery were developed to adapt to the development of smart grids. The automatic system uses the real-time system state to determine critical flowgates, and then a continuation power flow-based security analysis is used to compute the initial transfer capability of critical flowgates. Next, the system applies the Monte Carlo simulations to expected short-term operating condition changes, feature selection, and a linear least squares fitting of the fine operating rules.

Correlation of CCNA1 promoter methylation with malignant tumors: a meta-analysis introduction.

Epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes by promoter methylation plays vital roles in the process of carcinogenesis. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine whether the aberrant methylation of cyclin A1 (CCNA1) may be of great significance to human malignant tumors. By searching both English and Chinese language-based electronic databases carefully, we tabulated and analyzed parameters from each study.

Efficacy of and patient compliance with a ketogenic diet in adults with intractable epilepsy: a meta-analysis.

Background And Purpose: Despite the successful use of a ketogenic diet in pediatric epilepsy, its application in adults has been limited. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the findings of relevant published studies in order to identify the efficacy of and compliance with a ketogenic diet and its main subtypes (i.e.

Lewis acid-catalyzed redox-neutral amination of 2-(3-pyrroline-1-yl)benzaldehydes via intramolecular [1,5]-hydride shift/isomerization reaction.

Lewis acid-catalyzed redox-neutral amination of 2-(3-pyrroline-1-yl)benzaldehydes via intramolcular [1,5]-hydride shift/isomerization reaction has been realized, using the inherent reducing power of 3-pyrrolines. A series of N-arylpyrrole containing amines are obtained in high yields.

Controlled intracellular self-assembly and disassembly of 19F nanoparticles for MR imaging of caspase 3/7 in zebrafish.

Compared to (1)H MRI, (19)F MRI provides higher selectivity but lower sensitivity. Therefore, the need to inject high doses of the (19)F probe to improve its sensitivity for in vivo diagnosis remains a challenge. A "smart" strategy is needed that could locally concentrate a low-dose (19)F probe while avoiding the fast transverse relaxation of the probes.

C–H bond functionalization via [1,5]-hydride shift/cyclization sequence: approach to spiroindolenines.

A concise synthesis of spiroindolenines from 2-substituted (Me, Et) indoles and 2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)benzaldehydes has been developed via a [1,5]-hydride shift/cyclization sequence. This method features a wide substrate scope and an operationally simple procedure, affording the spiroindolenines in good to excellent yields and moderate diastereoselectivity (3.5/1 dr).

Touch DNA of shed skin cells from the deployed airbag to address drunken driving crimes.

In the criminal cases of driving under the influence (DUI), DNA evidence can be collected from the deployed airbag of the motor vehicle and submitted to the crime lab for touch DNA analysis. The evidence can be acquired when the skin cells are observed on the surface of the airbag in a traffic accident. However, the low quantity or quality of the evidence collected from a crime scene prevents further identification analysis in many cases.

Intramolecular redox reaction for the synthesis of N-aryl pyrroles catalyzed by Lewis acids.

An efficient approach to synthesize N-aryl pyrroles via Lewis acid-mediated 1,5-hydride shift and isomerization of 2-(3-pyrroline-1-yl)arylaldehydes has been achieved in up to 89% yield. This methodology is applicable to the synthesis of fluorazene derivatives as electron donor (D)/acceptor (A) molecules.

Dynamic expression changes of Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and Hsp70 in middle cerebral artery occlusion rats.

Background: This study aimed to study the dynamic changes of B cell lymphoma/leukaemia 2 (Bcl-2), caspase-3 and heat shock response protein 70 (Hsp70) in blood serum following acute middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats.

Methods: Occlusion of the cerebral artery was accomplished via the intraluminal filament, followed by the TTC staining evaluation and neurological deficit score. Meanwhile, the blood serum was extracted at 0.