Cytotoxic and Noncytotoxic Steroidal Constituents of .

(-)-Cryptanoside A () was identified previously as a major cytotoxic component of the stems of collected in Laos, which mediates its activity by targeting Na/K-ATPase (NKA), with hydrogen bonds formed between its 11- and 4'-hydroxy groups and NKA being observed in its docking profile. In a continuing investigation, and its 17-epimer, (-)-17--cryptanoside A (), and the new (+)-2-hydroxyandrosta-4,6-diene-3-one-17-carboxylic acid () and the known (+)-2,21-dihydroxypregna-4,6-diene-3,20-dione or 2-hydroxy-6,7-didehydrocortexone () pregnane-type steroids were isolated from . In addition, (-)-11,4'-di--acetylcryptanoside A () has been synthesized from the acetylation of .

Neural Determinants of Sedentary Lifestyle in Older Adults: A Brain Network Analysis.

Purpose: The prevalence of sedentary lifestyles (SL), which includes both high volumes of extended sitting behavior and a low volume of steps accumulated across the day, among older adults continues to rise contributing to increases in associated comorbidities and the loss of independence. The social, personal, and economic burdens are enormous. In recognition of the health implications of SL, current public health physical activity guidelines now emphasize the complimentary goals of sitting less by moving more.

Discovery of New Cyclic Lipodepsipeptide Orfamide N via Partnership with Middle School Students from the Boys and Girls Club.

We established a university-community partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago (BGCC)-named b-to involve middle school students in antibiotic discovery research. In the course of working with a cohort of students from the BGCC, one student isolated a bacterium from a goose feces sample that produced a new cyclic lipodepsipeptide, which was characterized as orfamide N. Orfamide N is composed of ten mixed D/L-amino acids and a ()-3-hydroxyhexadec-9-enoic acid residue.

Branched-chain amino acid catabolism promotes ovarian cancer cell proliferation via phosphorylation of mTOR.

Ovarian cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among individuals with ovaries, and high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most common and lethal subtype. Characterized by a distinct and aggressive metastatic pattern, HGSOC can originate in the fallopian tube with the transformation of fallopian tube epithelial (FTE) cells, which metastasize to the ovary and subsequently to the omentum and peritoneal cavity. The omentum is a privileged metastatic site, and the metabolic exchange underlying omental metastasis could provide enzyme or receptor targets to block spread.

Bioactivity-driven fungal metabologenomics identifies antiproliferative stemphone analogs and their biosynthetic gene cluster.

Introduction: Fungi biosynthesize chemically diverse secondary metabolites with a wide range of biological activities. Natural product scientists have increasingly turned towards bioinformatics approaches, combining metabolomics and genomics to target secondary metabolites and their biosynthetic machinery. We recently applied an integrated metabologenomics workflow to 110 fungi and identified more than 230 high-confidence linkages between metabolites and their biosynthetic pathways.