A Spring in the Desert: Infertility and Merciful Accompaniment.

The mystery of love as it unfolds in marriage is an adventure filled with wonder and anticipation for what the future holds. Such is the excitement and optimism of the couple embarking on family life by actively trying to conceive a child. For the couple struggling with infertility, however, joyful anticipation can soon devolve into anguish as they realize that their hoped-for children might not come.

High acidity tolerance in lichens with fumarprotocetraric, perlatolic or thamnolic acids is correlated with low pKa1 values of these lichen substances.

The depsidone fumarprotocetraric acid as well as the depsides perlatolic and thamnolic acids are lichen secondary metabolites. Their first dissociation constants (pK(a1)) in methanol were determined to be 2.7 for perlatolic acid and 2.

Dissociation and metal-binding characteristics of yellow lichen substances suggest a relationship with site preferences of lichens.

Background And Aims: Many species of lichen-forming fungi contain yellow or orange extracellular pigments belonging to the dibenzofurans (usnic acid), anthraquinones (e.g. parietin) or pulvinic acid group.

Lichen substances affect metal adsorption in Hypogymnia physodes.

Lichen substances are known to function as chelators of cations. We tested the hypothesis that lichen substances can control the uptake of toxic metals by adsorbing metal ions at cation exchange sites on cell walls. If true, this hypothesis would help to provide a mechanistic explanation for results of a recent study showing increased production of physodalic acid by thalli of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes transplanted to sites with heavy metal pollution.

Ketamine enantiomers differentially relax isolated coronary artery rings.

Background And Objective: It has been shown that racemic ketamine increases coronary blood flow and that this effect is at least in part due to a direct vasorelaxing effect of this substance. This study was designed to determine whether ketamine might stereoselectively relax isolated porcine coronary arteries.

Methods: Using the model of isolated vessels we studied the effects of S(+) ketamine, R(-) ketamine, and racemic ketamine (5-500 microg mL(-1)) on artery strips pre-contracted by either potassium chloride (KCl) or prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha).

The significance of lichens and their metabolites.

Lichens, symbiontic organisms of fungi and algae, synthesize numerous metabolites, the "lichen substances," which comprise aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic, and terpenic compounds. Lichens and their metabolites have a manifold biological activity: antiviral, antibiotic, antitumor, allergenic, plant growth inhibitory, antiherbivore, and enzyme inhibitory. Usnic acid, a very active lichen substance is used in pharmaceutical preparations.

In vitro inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase by protolichesterinic acid from Cetraria islandica.

The aliphatic α-methylene-γ-lactone (+)-protolichesterinic acid (1), isolated from Cetraria islandica, has been shown to exhibit inhibitory effects on the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase in an in vitro assay in which porcine leucocytes are used as a source of the enzyme system. The isomeric compounds (+)-lichesterinic acid (2) and (-)-lichesterinic acid (4), prepared from (+)-protolichesterinic- and (-)-allo-protolichesterinic acids, respectively, exhibited anti-5-lipoxygenase activity of the same order of magnitude. (+)-Methyl lichesterinate (3) was, however, inactive.

Acetylenes and Other Constituents from Artemisia dracunculus.

The aerial parts of ARTEMISIA DRACUNCULUS afforded several known compounds as well as three new acetylenes, two phenylpropane derivatives, two monoterpenes, hex-3 Z-en-1-ol and vomifoliol A glucosides. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and a few chemical transformations.

Constituents of Evolvolus arbuscula ssp. canus.

From the aerial parts of EVOLVOLUS ARBUSCULA ssp. CANUS (Convolvulaceae) the nor-sesquiterpenoids, 15-norpanasinsan-5beta-ol-8-one, 15-nor-panasinsan-5,8-dione, and caryophyllenoxide, have been isolated together with some aliphatic compounds and sterols.

[Further Compounds from Centaurea stoebe.].

From CENTAUREA STOEBE the following compounds have been isolated: cnicin, salonitenolide, salonitenolid-8- O-(4'-acetoxy-5'-hydroxyangelate), stoebenolide, 3-hydroxy-2-methylbutyrolactone, and 3-(3, 4-dihydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl)-prop-1-yl 3-hydroxy-11-methyloctadecanoate.