Identification of hub genes, signaling pathways and immune infiltration of recurrent spontaneous abortion based on bioinformatics analysis with clinical verification.

Objective: The present study was aimed to identify hub genes associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) via both bioinformatics analysis and clinical verification, also to evaluate the related pathways and immune infiltration situation of RSA, for exploring its underlying mechanism.

Materials And Methods: We screened candidate hub genes associated with RSA via bioinformatic analysis in the microarray datasets GSE22490 downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting were used to validate these hub genes.

The therapeutic effects of tectorigenin on chemically induced liver fibrosis in rats and an associated metabonomic investigation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of tectorigenin on chemically induced liver fibrosis in rats. Liver fibrosis was induced in rats with carbon tetrachloride, a diet high in fat, cholesterol and alcohol in the drinking water. Our results indicate that tectorigenin treatment significantly inhibited the increases in the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and the increases in the serum levels of hyaluronate (HA), laminin (LN) and procollagen III N-terminal peptide (PIIIP); tectorigenin treatment also significantly inhibited the increases in the amount of collagen in the livers of the fibrogenic rats.

Benzophenones from Guignardia sp. IFB-E028, an endophyte on Hopea hainanensis.

The first natural S-containing benzophenone dimer, named guignasulfide (3), was isolated from the culture of Guignardia sp. IFB-E028, an endophytic fungus residing in healthy leaves of Hopea hainanensis. Its structure was determined through correlative analyses of its MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data.

Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase by extracts derived from inflammation-treating Chinese medicinal herbs.

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) has been proved to be a key enzyme involved in inflammation progression, and inhibition of sEH is therefore very helpful or crucial for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases. In order to uncover new clues suggesting the presence of phytochemical-based sEH inhibitors, and to rationalize the utility of the inflammation-treating Chinese medicinal herbs, the ethanol extracts derived from 46 medicinal herbs, traditionally used for the treatment of inflammation-associated diseases in China, were tested for sEH-inhibition activity using a recently developed sensitive fluorescence-based assay. Screened at 10 microg/mL, four extracts showed substantial inhibitions of sEH (inhibition rates >50%).

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of a series of genistein derivatives.

Thirty genistein (= 5,7-dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one; GEN) derivatives were synthesized from genistein through a facile approach in high yields. Compounds 9, 11, 12, 23-30 were reported for the first time, while 13-22 have already been reported in our recent paper. The cytotoxic activities of these compounds were evaluated against a human nasopharyngeal epidermoid tumor cell line KB.