Formononetin Derivative for Osteoporosis by Simultaneous Regulating Osteoblast and Osteoclast.

Seven new formononetin derivatives (-) were designed and prepared from formononetin (phase II phytoestrogen). The derivatives 9-butyl-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-9,10-dihydro-4,8-chromeno[8,7-][1,3]oxazin-4-one () and 9-(furan-3-ylmethyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-9,10-dihydro-4,8-chromeno[8,7-][1,3]oxazin-4-one () promoted significant osteoblast formation by modulating the BMP/Smad pathway. Compound exhibited potent antiosteoclastogenesis activity in RANKL-induced RAW264.

Hypoglycemic effects of dracorhodin and dragon blood crude extract from Daemonorops draco.

Background: Dragon blood is a red fruit resin from the palm tree Daemonorops draco and is a herbal ingredient used in the traditional Chinese medicine, "Jinchuang Ointment," which is used to treat non-healing diabetic wounds. According to the Taiwan Herbal Pharmacopeia, the dracorhodin content in dragon blood should exceed 1.0%.

Antimelanogenic Effect of Isoquinoline Alkaloids from Plumula Nelumbinis.

Plumula Nelumbinis, the green embryo of a lotus seed, is widely consumed in China as a well-known food with medicinal effects. In this study, 14 alkaloids, including 4 new and 10 known alkaloids, were isolated from it, which were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, and were investigated for their antimelanogenic effects in vitro and in vivo. As a result, melanogenesis in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells was reduced significantly by a new compound and known compound at a concentration of 0.

The role of peptidoglycan hydrolases in the formation and toxicity of membrane vesicles.

Bacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) have been reported to kill other bacteria. In the case of the bactericidal activity has been attributed to an unidentified 26 kDa peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolase that is associated with MVs and gives rise to a lytic band on zymograms using murein sacculi as substrate. In this study, we employed a proteomics approach to show that this PG hydrolase is the AmphD3 amidase.

Phytochemical Analysis and Anti- Activity of Different Species and .

plants (ZPs), including multiple Chinese prickly ash species, are dual-purpose functional foods favored by the general population around the world in foods, cosmetics, and traditional medicines and have antipruritic, insecticidal, and fungicidal bioactivities. For the first time, the anti-roundworm bioactivity of ZPs and the active ingredients were compared and investigated. Through nontarget metabolomics following targeted quantitative analysis, qinbunamides, sanshools, sanshooel, asarinin, and sesamin were found to be the main different components of species.

Prenatal diagnosis of Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome type 1 with an 814 kb Xq26.2 deletion with the initial presentation of a thick nuchal fold.

Objective: Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome type 1 (SGBS1) is a rare X-linked recessive disorder characterized by overgrowth and multiple anomalies. Most clinical diagnoses of SGBS1 are made postnatally. We present the case of a pregnant woman in whom the fetus presented with a thick nuchal fold 5.

The impact of social isolation from COVID-19-related public health measures on cognitive function and mental health among older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

We aimed to estimate the impact of social isolation on cognitive function and mental health among older adults during the two-year-and-a-half COVID-19 period. Pubmed Central, Medline, CINAHL Plus and PsychINFO were searched between March 1, 2020, and September 30, 2022. We included all studies that assessed proportions of older adults with the mean or the median with a minimum age above 60 reporting worsening cognitive function and mental health.

Antifungal compounds of Chinese prickly ash against drug-resistant .

The leaf of Chinese prickly ash, a unique spice having typical pungent sensation, is a popular food in Southwest China with antipruritic, insecticidal and fungicidal functions, but its bioactive constituents of fungistatic capacity remain unknown. In present investigation, twenty-nine compounds were isolated from leaf of Chinese prickly ash, and their antifungal bioactivity against drug-resistant were evaluated and . As a result, three compounds , , showed antifungal bioactivity by damage of the fungal biofilm, and they might recover sensitive of drug resistant to Fluconazole.

New steroidal alkaloids with anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects from Veratrum grandiflorum.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: "Li-Lu", the roots and rhizomes of Veratrum grandiflorum (Melianthiaceae), has been historically used as a traditional folk medicine for the treatment of wrist pain, fractures, sores, and inflammation in Yunnan Province, China. However, the anti-inflammatory and analgesic studies of this plant have seldom reported.

Aim Of The Study: To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties related to the traditional usage of V.

Cardiovascular Benefits With Favorable Renal, Amputation and Hypoglycemic Outcomes of SGLT-2 Inhibitors in Type 2 Diabetes From the Asian Perspective: A Population-Based Cohort Study and Systematic Review.

Objective: We assessed the effects of sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) versus dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4is) in a large real-world Asian cohort with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and performed a systematic review with integrating the present study findings to provide up-to-date evidence from the Asian perspective.

Methods: New users of SGLT2is or DPP4is were identified from the Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database and followed until 2018. Primary outcomes were hospitalization for heart failure (HHF) and three-point major adverse cardiovascular event (3P-MACE; namely, myocardial infarction [MI], stroke, or cardiovascular death).

Phytochemical and anti-MRSA constituents of Zanthoxylum nitidum.

Infectious diseases caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pose a significant threat to humanity. Persistent and repeated invasive infection with MRSA led to higher morbidity and mortality, and required comprehensive measures in treatment and prevention. Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.

Cholesteryl α-D-glucoside 6-acyltransferase enhances the adhesion of Helicobacter pylori to gastric epithelium.

Helicobacter pylori, the most common etiologic agent of gastric diseases including gastric cancer, is auxotrophic for cholesterol and has to hijack it from gastric epithelia. Upon uptake, the bacteria convert cholesterol to cholesteryl 6'-O-acyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (CAG) to promote lipid raft clustering in the host cell membranes. However, how CAG appears in the host to exert the pathogenesis still remains ambiguous.

Nonlinear climatic sensitivity to greenhouse gases over past 4 glacial/interglacial cycles.

The paleoclimatic sensitivity to atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) has recently been suggested to be nonlinear, however a GHG threshold value associated with deglaciation remains uncertain. Here, we combine a new sea surface temperature record spanning the last 360,000 years from the southern Western Pacific Warm Pool with records from five previous studies in the equatorial Pacific to document the nonlinear relationship between climatic sensitivity and GHG levels over the past four glacial/interglacial cycles. The sensitivity of the responses to GHG concentrations rises dramatically by a factor of 2-4 at atmospheric CO levels of >220 ppm.

21st-century rise in anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on a remote coral reef.

With the rapid rise in pollution-associated nitrogen inputs to the western Pacific, it has been suggested that even the open ocean has been affected. In a coral core from Dongsha Atoll, a remote coral reef ecosystem, we observe a decline in the N/N of coral skeleton-bound organic matter, which signals increased deposition of anthropogenic atmospheric N on the open ocean and its incorporation into plankton and, in turn, the atoll corals. The first clear change occurred just before 2000 CE, decades later than predicted by other work.

Severe Decline of Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate Associates with Progressive Cognitive Deterioration in the Elderly: A Community-Based Cohort Study.

Cognitive dysfunction is closely related to aging and chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the association between renal function changes and the risk of developing cognitive impairment has not been elucidated. This longitudinal cohort study was to determine the influence of annual percentage change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) on subsequent cognitive deterioration or death of the elderly within the community.

miR-346 and miR-582-3p-regulated EG-VEGF expression and trophoblast invasion via matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9.

Endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF) is an important regulator for embryo implantation and placental development, and is clinically associated with several obstetric disorders related to insufficient or inappropriate trophoblast invasion, such as recurrent abortion, preeclampsia, and intrauterine fetal growth restriction. This study was performed to identify the microRNAs targeting EG-VEGF, and evaluate the regulatory effect on trophoblast biology. miR-346 and miR-582-3p were initially identified via bioinformatic tools, and their specific binding sites on the EG-VEGF 3'UTR were further confirmed using dual luciferase and a co-transfection assays.

Metabolic labelling of cholesteryl glucosides in reveals how the uptake of human lipids enhances bacterial virulence.

infects approximately half of the human population and is the main cause of various gastric diseases. This pathogen is auxotrophic for cholesterol, which it converts upon uptake to various cholesteryl α-glucoside derivatives, including cholesteryl 6'-acyl and 6'-phosphatidyl α-glucosides (CAGs and CPGs). Owing to a lack of sensitive analytical methods, it is not known if CAGs and CPGs play distinct physiological roles or how the acyl chain component affects function.

A Common Variant of PROK1 (V67I) Acts as a Genetic Modifier in Early Human Pregnancy through Down-Regulation of Gene Expression.

PROK1-V67I has been shown to play a role as a modifier gene in the PROK1-PROKR system of human early pregnancy. To explore the related modifier mechanism of PROK1-V67I, we carried out a comparison study at the gene expression level and the cell function alternation of V67I, and its wild-type (WT), in transiently-transfected cells. We, respectively, performed quantitative RT-PCR and ELISA assays to evaluate the protein and/or transcript level of V67I and WT in HTR-8/SV neo, JAR, Ishikawa, and HEK293 cells.

Obliquity pacing of the western Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone over the past 282,000 years.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) encompasses the heaviest rain belt on the Earth. Few direct long-term records, especially in the Pacific, limit our understanding of long-term natural variability for predicting future ITCZ migration. Here we present a tropical precipitation record from the Southern Hemisphere covering the past 282,000 years, inferred from a marine sedimentary sequence collected off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea.

Gene-gene interactions and risk of recurrent miscarriages in carriers of endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor and prokineticin receptor polymorphisms.

Objective: To study endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF), prokineticin receptor (PROKR) 1, and PROKR2 variants in the coding regions of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (RM) patients and further evaluate gene-gene interactions of these three genes.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: University-based reproductive clinics and genetics laboratory.

Gene-gene interactions and gene polymorphisms of VEGFA and EG-VEGF gene systems in recurrent pregnancy loss.

Purpose: Both vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF) systems play major roles in angiogenesis. A body of evidence suggests VEGFs regulate critical processes during pregnancy and have been associated with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). However, little information is available regarding the interaction of these two major major angiogenesis-related systems in early human pregnancy.

Suppressed quantum-confined Stark effect in InGaN-based LEDs with nano-sized patterned sapphire substrates.

This paper demonstrates that quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) within the multiple quantum wells (MQWs) can be suppressed by the growths of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the nano-sized patterned c-plane sapphire substrates (PCSSs) with reducing the space. The efficiency droop is also determined by QCSE. As verified by the experimentally measured data and the ray-tracing simulation results, the suppressed efficiency droop for the InGaN-based LED having the nano-sized PCSS with a smaller space of 200 nm can be acquired due to the weaker function of the QCSE within the MQWs as a result of the smaller polarization fields coming from the lower compressive strain in the corresponding epitaxial layers.

National survey of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke in Taiwan 2003-2010.

Data on thrombolytic therapy at the national level is scarce in Asia. Understanding current practice pattern is important for a policy maker in decision making. This cross-sectional study analyzed the utilization pattern of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in Taiwan from 2003 through 2010 and identified factors associated with post-therapy intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and mortality.

Prokineticin receptor variants (PKR1-I379V and PKR2-V331M) are protective genotypes in human early pregnancy.

Endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF) and its receptor genes (PROKR1 (PKR1) and PROKR2 (PKR2)) play an important role in human early pregnancy. We have previously shown that PROKR1 and PROKR2 are associated with recurrent miscarriage (RM) using the tag-SNP method. In this study, we aimed to identify PROKR1 and PROKR2 variants in idiopathic RM patients by genotyping of the entire coding regions.