Application of Chalcone in the Structural Modification of Natural Products: An Overview.

Natural products frequently display a range of biological activities, yet many exhibit only moderate efficacy during initial evaluations. Often, these natural substances necessitate structural alterations to yield promising lead compounds. Chalcones, characterized by their β-unsaturated carbonyl aromatic ketone structure, are prevalent in plant life and serve as fundamental scaffolds for the biosynthetic precursors of flavonoids and isoflavones.

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of antitumor activity in Pseudolaric acid B Azole derivatives: Novel and potent angiogenesis inhibitor via regulation of the PI3K/AKT and MAPK mediated HIF-1/VEGF signaling pathway.

Tumor proliferation and metastasis are intricately linked to blood vessel formation, with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) playing a pivotal role in orchestrating angiogenesis throughout tumor progression. Pseudolaric acid B (PAB) has emerged as a potent inhibitor of tumor cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis. In efforts to enhance its efficacy, 37 derivatives of PAB were synthesized and assessed for their capacity to suppress VEGF secretion in SiHa cells under hypoxic conditions.

Design, synthesis, and in vivo and in vitro biological screening of pseudolaric acid B derivatives as potential anti-tumor agents.

Pseudolaric Acid B (PAB), a natural product with remarkable anti-tumor activity, is a starting point for new anticancer therapeutics. We designed and synthesized 27 PAB derivatives and evaluated their anti-proliferative activities against four cancer cell lines: MCF-7, HCT-116, HepG2, and A549. Compared with unmodified PAB, the PAB derivatives showed stronger anti-proliferative activity.

[Evaluation of the clinical effect of acupuncture in treatment of neck pain in cervical spondylosis based on propensity score matching].

Objective: To observe the clinical effect and safety of acupuncture in treatment of neck pain due to cervical spondylosis.

Methods: According to the patients' preference and acceptance for the interventions of neck pain induced by cervical spondylosis, an acupuncture group (221 cases) and a non-acupuncture group (251 cases) were divided. After the control of confounding factors with propensity score matching, 218 cases were included in either acupuncture group or non-acupuncture group.

Research progress of natural products and their derivatives against Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a persistent neurological dysfunction, has an increasing prevalence with the aging of the world and seriously threatens the health of the elderly. Although there is currently no effective treatment for AD, researchers have not given up, and are committed to exploring the pathogenesis of AD and possible therapeutic drugs. Natural products have attracted considerable attention owing to their unique advantages.

Poly-amino acids coated gold nanorod and doxorubicin for synergistic photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy in ovarian cancer cells.

In this work, we have successfully designed and formulated a doxorubicin-loaded polypeptide-based multilayer assembled gold nanorod (DH-GNR). We have hypothesized that near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation of DH-GNR will combine the benefits of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. The GNR was surface functionalized with poly-glutamic acid (PGA) and poly-l-Lysine (PLL) with a final layer of hyaluronic acid (HA) that could also serve as a targeting ligand toward the overexpressed CD44 receptors in ovarian cancer cells.

iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomic analysis provides insight for molecular mechanism of neuroticism.

Background: Neuroticism is a core personality trait and a major risk factor for several mental and physical diseases, particularly in females, who score higher on neuroticism than men, on average. However, a better understanding of the expression profiles of proteins in the circulating blood of different neurotic female populations may help elucidate the intrinsic mechanism of neurotic personality and aid prevention strategies on mental and physical diseases associated with neuroticism.

Methods: In our study, female subjects were screened for inclusion by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scales and routine physical examination.

Photo-Induced Charge Transfer on Pt/Bi₂WO Composite Photocatalysts.

Pt/Bi₂WO composite photocatalysts were prepared by a facile photoreduction method. Pt nanoparticles with an average size of 5-8 nm were successfully deposited on the surface of Bi₂WO microspheres and the photocatalytic activity of Bi₂WO was greatly improved by Pt nanoparticles. The photo-induced charge transfer properties of samples were studied by means of surface photovoltage (SPV) and transient photovoltage (TPV) techniques, giving an insight into the intrinsic reasons of the improvement in photocatalytic activity.

Chlorogenic acid: A potent molecule that protects cardiomyocytes from TNF-α-induced injury via inhibiting NF-κB and JNK signals.

The traditional Chinese herb Lonicerae Japonicae Flos has shown significant clinical benefits in the treatment of heart failure, but the mechanism remains unclear. As the main active ingredient found in the plasma after oral administration of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, chlorogenic acid (CGA) has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-apoptosis function. We firstly confirmed the cardioprotective effects of CGA in transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced heart failure mouse model, through mitigating the TNF-α-induced toxicity.

Anticancer activity of cucurbitacin-A in ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 involves cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and inhibition of mTOR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Purpose: Ovarian cancer is one of the deadly causes of gynecological cancer related mortality worldwide. Despite initial responses to chemotherapy, the disease consistently relapses. Therefore there is an urgent need for identification of anticancer lead molecules for treatment and management of ovarian cancer.

pH-Dependent Self-Assembly of Ladder-Like Lanthanide Chains with Copper(I) Halide Clusters.

Through adjustment of the pH value of the reaction system, two series of 3 D lanthanide(III)-copper(I) coordination polymers, namely [Ln (na) Cu Br (H O) ] [Ln=La (1), Ce (2), Pr (3), Nd (4), Sm (5), Eu (6), Gd (7), Tb (8)] and [La (na) Cu Br (H O) ]⋅H O (9) (na =nicotinate), are synthesized hydrothermally and characterized fully. It is worth nothing that these two series of heterometallic compounds are constructed from similar ladder-like Ln-organic chains, but different copper(I) halide clusters. The luminescence properties of the compounds with Nd (4), Eu (6), and Tb (8) are also investigated.

An Interdisciplinary Nutrition Support Team Improves Clinical and Hospitalized Outcomes of Esophageal Cancer Patients with Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.

Background: The prevalence of malnutrition is very high in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not a nutrition support team (NST) could benefit esophageal cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: Between June 2012 and April 2014, 50 esophageal cancer patients undergoing concurrent CRT were randomly assigned into two groups: The NST group and the control group.

Establishment and validation of serum free light chain reference intervals in an ethnic Chinese population.

Background: Quantification of serum free light chains (FLC) and calculation of a kappa/lambda ratio using polyclonal antisera based immunoassays provide laboratories with a sensitive alternative to urine protein electrophoresis (UPE). However, the published 0.26 - 1.

Octanuclear Mn(III)6Mn(II)Ln (Ln = Gd, Dy and Er) clusters with a novel core topology: syntheses, structures, and magnetic properties.

Reactions of [Mn6O2(piv)10(py)2.5(piv)1.5], Ln(NO3)3·6H2O and N-mdeaH2 in MeCN in the presence of Me3SiCl generated a family of octanuclear Mn/Ln complexes [Mn6(III)Mn(II)Ln(N-mdea)3(N-mdeaH)(piv)8O2(OH)3(NO3)(H2O)]·xCH3CN·xH2O [Ln = Gd (1), Dy (2), Er (3), pivH = pivalic acid, N-mdeaH2 = N-methyl diethanolamine].

Metal catalyzed C(sp3)-H bond amination of 2-alkyl azaarenes with diethyl azodicarboxylate.

Metal-catalyzed direct C(sp(3))-H bond amination of 2-alkyl azaarenes with N=N double bonds has been developed, which expands the scope of C(sp(3))-H bond activation reactions and provides a new access to medicinally important azaarene derivatives.

Dual functions of a monoclonal antibody against cell surface F1F0 ATP synthase on both HUVEC and tumor cells.

Aim: To generate a monoclonal antibody (McAb) against cell surface F1F0 ATP synthase (ATPase) and observe its antitumoral activity on both human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and tumor cells.

Methods: Hybridoma cells secreting McAb against ATPase were produced by polyethylene glycol-mediated fusions and screened by ELISA. The specificity of McAb was demonstrated by immunofluorescence and confocal imaging, as well as flow cytometry analysis.