As part of our continuous study on the Annonaceae species Porcelia macrocarpa, in the present work, eight chemically related 2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-γ-lactones (1-8) were isolated. Their structures were characterised by NMR, MS, and VCD. Their antitrypanosomal activity was evaluated in vitro against intracellular amastigotes with EC values ranged from 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFargesin is an important bioactive furofuran lignan isolated from different plant species. Despite presenting potent biological activities, its stereochemical characterization has relied mostly on empirical correlations of optical rotation, an approach considered risky that commonly leads to misassignments and error propagation. Additionally, the enantiomeric purity of fargesin isolates used for biological assays has not been previously investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Commun (Camb)
September 2024
Secondary metabolites from land and marine (micro)organisms have been at the focus of the drug discovery process for many years. One of the reasons for this success is nature's incredible ability to create intricate molecular scaffolds. Such structural richness, however, makes the structural elucidation, and the absolute configuration assignment in particular, a challenging process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroorganisms
August 2024
The composition of the intestinal microbiota can influence the metabolism and overall functioning of avian organisms. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different probiotics and an antibiotic on the microbiomes of 1.400 male Cobb broiler raised for 42 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNovel open-chain merocytochalasans, perochalasins A-C (-), containing an unusual N-O six-membered heterocyclic moiety, were isolated from cultures of the marine-derived sp. M16 fungus, along with cytochalasin Z (), cytochalasin Z (), [12]-cytochalasin (), and phenochalasin B (). The structures of compounds - were established by analysis of the spectroscopic data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor a minority of the bereaved, the loss of a significant other can trigger an overwhelming emotional reaction and impaired functioning across life domains, known as prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Hence, ongoing efforts have been made to refine existing treatments to increase their efficacy and to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of grief reactions. This study presents the results of an open clinical trial of the feasibility and effectiveness of the Meaning in Loss (MIL) protocol in an online format.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutophagic flux plays a crucial role in various diseases. Recently, the lysosomal ion channel TRPML1 has emerged as a promising target in lysosomal storage diseases, such as mucolipidosis. The discovery of mucolipin synthetic agonist-1 (ML-SA1) has expanded our understanding of TRPML1's function and its potential therapeutic uses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Natural products are potential sources of anticancer components. Among various species, the lipophilic extract of the subsp. (Wiesb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES) evaluates the ability to integrate stressful experiences into one's meaning system. The present study developed and validated a version of this scale for a bereaved Portuguese-speaking population, utilizing a sample of 242 adults who had lost a significant other to diverse causes of death. The sample was predominantly female, educated, married, or in consensual unions, and actively employed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Nat Prod
March 2024
The phytochemical investigation of the leaves and trunk bark of a specimen of collected in the southern portion of the Amazon forest led to the isolation of an oxabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane-type neolignan and 15 bicyclo[3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gait initiation is challenging for older individuals with poor physical function, particularly for those with frailty. Frailty is a geriatric syndrome associated with increased risk of illness, falls, and functional decline. This study examines whether spatial and temporal parameters of gait initiation differ between groups of older adults with different levels of frailty, and whether fear of falling, and balance ability are correlated with the height of lifting the food during gait initiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Radiotherapy is one of the main strategies used in the treatment of cancer patients and it can cause early or late xerostomia and/or hyposalivation. Therapeutic management of xerostomia includes oral hygiene, sialogenic agents among others.
Methods: This study reviews the use of extra-oral salivary glands photobiomodulation in treating xerostomia and/or hyposalivation after radiotherapy and performs a meta-analysis of this data.
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
January 2024
The ability of nature to produce structurally complex molecules makes the determination of the absolute configuration of natural products a challenging task. Although extensive NMR analysis generally allows for the reliable assignment of relative configurations, the assignments of absolute stereochemistry are commonly performed by empirical comparisons of optical rotation (OR) and/or electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data obtained for related molecules. Such an approach, however, may lead to misassignments and consequent error propagations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Psychol Psychother
August 2023
Introduction: Innovative moments (IMs) pinpoint new and more adaptative meanings that emerge in clients' discourse during psychotherapy. Studies with adult clients have found a greater proportion of IMs in recovered compared to unchanged cases, but similar studies have yet to be conducted with adolescents.
Aims: The paper aims (1) to study retrospectively the emergence of IMs in therapy, using a post-therapy interview, in adolescents that underwent psychotherapy for depression, and (2) to characterize the themes present in IMs identified retrospectively in the interviews.
Phys Chem Chem Phys
August 2023
Cyclic peptides are privileged structures in medicinal chemistry; however, their solution-state structure characterization is difficult. Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy is a powerful alternative to NMR, but requires challenging calculations. We present a VCD approach guided by a genetic algorithm, which is simple, more effective, and has a higher conformer resolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetic cardiomyopathy refers to myocardial dysfunction in type 2 diabetes, but without the traditional cardiovascular risk factors or overt clinical atherosclerosis and valvular disease. The activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), oxidative stress, lipotoxicity, maladaptive immune responses, imbalanced mitochondrial dynamics, impaired myocyte autophagy, increased myocyte apoptosis, and fibrosis contribute to diabetic cardiomyopathy. This review summarizes the studies that address the link between cardiomyopathy and the RAS in humans and presents proposed pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntioxidants (Basel)
June 2023
This study investigated the similarities between and , plant species that are traditionally used in Brazil to treat rheumatism and arthritis, whose anti-inflammatory effects are supported by scientific evidence. The contents of - and -aconitic acid, homoorientin, chicoric acid, swertisin, caffeoyl-feruloyl-tartaric acid, and di-feruloyl-tartaric acid were quantified by UPLC-DAD in various hydroethanolic extracts from the leaves, whereas their anti-oxidant activity and their effect on TNF release by LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells were assessed to evaluate potential anti-inflammatory effects. The 50% and 70% ethanol extracts showed higher concentrations of the analyzed markers in two commercial samples and a cultivated specimen of , as well as in a commercial lot of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVibrational circular dichroism (VCD) is one of the most powerful techniques to assess the stereochemistry of chiral molecules in solution state. The need for quantum chemical calculations to interpret experimental data, however, has precluded its widespread use by non-experts. Herein, we propose the search and validation of IR and VCD spectral markers to circumvent the requirement of DFT calculations allowing for absolute configuration assignments even in complex mixtures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMagnesium tetraborate (MgBO) is an example of a material that has attracted the attention of researchers in the field of ionising radiation dosimetry. Several challenges are present in order to achieve considerable advances in luminescence dosimetry. The incorporation of efficient dopants in the host matrix has been an experimentally useful but limited strategy.
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