Guided Isolation of New Cytotoxic Cassane Diterpenoids from Caesalpinia sappan.

Guided by an MS/MS-based molecular networking, six undescribed cassane diterpenoids and three known ones were isolated and identified from the seeds of Caesalpinia sappan. Their structures were unequivocally elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Cytotoxic evaluation showed that phanginin JA exhibited significant antiproliferative activities against human non-small cell lung cancer (A549) cells with IC values of 16.

Pushing the boundary of seasonal prediction with the lever of varying annual cycles.

Predicting climate anomalies months in advance is of tremendous socioeconomic value. Facing both theoretical and practical constraints, this realm of "seasonal prediction" progressed slowly in recent decades. Here we devise an innovative scheme that pushes the boundary of seasonal prediction by recognizing and isolating distinct spatiotemporal footprints left by modes of climate variability that cause varying annual cycles in response to the solar forcing.

Spatiotemporal propagating decadal signal of ocean heat content and thermocline depth identified in the tropical Pacific.

Tropical Pacific decadal variability (TPDV) and its mechanisms are essential for understanding long-term variations in global climate. The spatiotemporal pattern of this decadal variation has yet to be clarified. Here, on the basis of observational data with the help of the adaptive data analysis method, we extracted and investigated the spatiotemporal evolution of the tropical Pacific decadal variability in upper ocean heat content (UOHC) and thermocline depth.

Seasonal to decadal spatiotemporal variations of the global ocean carbon sink.

The global ocean has absorbed approximately 30% of anthropogenic CO  since the beginning of the industrial revolution. However, the spatiotemporal evolution of this important global carbon sink varies substantially on all timescales and has not yet been well evaluated. Here, based on a reconstructed observation-based product of surface ocean pCO and air-sea CO  flux (the MPI-SOMFFN method), we investigated seasonal to decadal spatiotemporal variations of the ocean CO  sink during the past three decades using an adaptive data analysis method.

ENSO and Southeast Asian biomass burning modulate subtropical trans-Pacific ozone transport.

Trans-Pacific transport of enhanced ozone plumes has been mainly attributed to fossil fuel combustion in Asia in spring, but less attention has been paid to vegetation fires in Asia. Here we show that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-modulated fires in Southeast Asia, rather than Asian fossil fuel plumes, dominate the interannual variability of springtime trans-Pacific transport of ozone across the entire North Pacific Ocean. During El Niño springs, the intensified fires from both the Indochinese Peninsula and Indonesia, together with large-scale circulation anomalies, result in enhanced ozone plumes that stretch over 15 000 km in both the lower-middle and upper troposphere.

Data concerning statistical relation between obliquity and Dansgaard-Oeschger events.

Data presented are related to the research article entitled "Using Holo-Hilbert spectral analysis to quantify the modulation of Dansgaard-Oeschger events by obliquity" (J. Deng et al., 2018).

Pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies of cassane diterpenoids, in rats through an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-Q exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry.

Cassane diterpenoids (CA) are considered as the main active constituents of medicinal plants belonging to the Caesalpinia genus. Three cassane derivatives, bonducellpin G (BG), 7-O-acetyl-bonducellpin C (7-O-AC) and caesalmin E (CE), isolated from Caesalpinia minax Hance seeds, showed strong anti-inflammatory activity. In this paper, pharmacokinetics (BG, 7-O-AC, CE) and tissue distribution (7-O-AC, CE) properties were studied for the first time using a reliable, sensitive and rapid UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HR-MS to develop new anti-inflammatory agents.

Length-dependent dual-mechanism-controlled failure modes in silver penta-twinned nanowires.

A series of molecular dynamics simulations on silver penta-twinned nanowires are performed to reveal the tensile failure mechanisms that are responsible for the different failure modes and morphologies of fracture surfaces observed in various experimental reports. The simulations show that a ductile-to-brittle transition in failure mode occurs with increasing length of the nanowires. Short nanowires have ductile-like plasticity with flat-like fracture surfaces, while long nanowires show brittle-like fractures with cone-like failure surfaces.

Therapeutic effects of Caesalpinia minax Hance on complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis and the anti-inflammatory activity of cassane diterpenes as main active components.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance called 'Ku-Shi-Lian' (KSL) in China have been used as Zhuang or Dai folk medicines for treatment of common cold, fever, rheumatoid arthritis and dysentery for hundred years.

Aim Of The Study: This study aimed to investigate therapeutic efficacy of KSL extract using complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis in a rat model and the anti-inflammatory activity of cassane diterpenes as the main active material basis of this herb.

Materials And Methods: Arthritis was induced in male Wistar rats (200-220 g) by immunization with CFA.

Analysis of the interaction among rice, weeds, inorganic fertilizer, and a herbivore in a composite farming paddy ecosystem.

As one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), rice field composite farming is an ecological measure in rice production, which can reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. This research studies the interaction among rice, weed, inorganic fertilizer and herbivore in a composite farming paddy ecosystem. We develop a differential equation model to analyze the relations and interactions among those components.

Size-dependent melting modes and behaviors of Ag nanoparticles: a molecular dynamics study.

The size-dependent melting behaviors and mechanisms of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with diameters of 3.5-16 nm were investigated by molecular dynamics (MD). Two distinct melting modes, non-premelting and premelting with transition ranges of about 7-8 nm, for Ag NPs were demonstrated via the evolution of distribution and transition of atomic physical states during annealing.

Spatiotemporal evolution of the chlorophyll a trend in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Analyses of the chlorophyll a concentration (chla) from satellite ocean color products have suggested the decadal-scale variability of chla linked to the climate change. The decadal-scale variability in chla is both spatially and temporally non-uniform. We need to understand the spatiotemporal evolution of chla in decadal or multi-decadal timescales to better evaluate its linkage to climate variability.

Fast multidimensional ensemble empirical mode decomposition for the analysis of big spatio-temporal datasets.

In this big data era, it is more urgent than ever to solve two major issues: (i) fast data transmission methods that can facilitate access to data from non-local sources and (ii) fast and efficient data analysis methods that can reveal the key information from the available data for particular purposes. Although approaches in different fields to address these two questions may differ significantly, the common part must involve data compression techniques and a fast algorithm. This paper introduces the recently developed adaptive and spatio-temporally local analysis method, namely the fast multidimensional ensemble empirical mode decomposition (MEEMD), for the analysis of a large spatio-temporal dataset.

New triterpenoids from the latex of Euphorbia resinifera Berg.

Nine novel compounds, six euphane triterpenes, Euphorol A-D (1-4), H (8) and I (9), and three tirucallane triterpenes, Euphorol E-G (5-7) including four nortriterpenes, together with seven known compounds (10-16) have been isolated from the methanol extraction of Euphorbium. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive analyses of their HR-ESI-MS, UV, IR, 1D and 2D NMR methods. A putative biogenetic relationship to these compounds was proposed.

Simultaneous identification and analysis of cassane diterpenoids in Caesalpinia minax Hance by high-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Cassane diterpenoids were successfully and simultaneously identified in Caesalpinia minax Hance by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 59 peaks were detected, and among them 51 compounds, including 41 furanocassane diterpenoids, 10 furanolactone cassane diterpenoids were simultaneously identified and characterized on the basis of the protonated molecule, retention behavior, and fragments in MS(2) . Ten compounds, including seven novel compounds, were identified or tentatively identified for the first time in C.

Two new diterpenes from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance.

Molecules with diterpene skeletons often possess valuable medicinal properties. Two new diterpenes 1α,6α,7β-triacetoxy-5α-hydroxy-14β-ethyl-O-vouacapane (1) and 2α-acetoxy-14,15-cyclopimara-7β,16-diol (2) were isolated from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including HR-ESI-MS, UV, IR, 1D, and 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, NOESY) methods.

Anti-inflammation furanoditerpenoids from Caesalpinia minax Hance.

Cassane skeletons are rare in nature, but often possess valuable medicinal properties. A furanoditerpenoid with an unusual A-seco-rearranged cassane skeleton, neocaesalminin A, and five furanoditerpenoids were isolated from seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance, along with six known cassane derivatives, 7-O-acetyl-bonducellpin C, caesalmin F, caesalmin C, ζ-caesalmin, caesalmin E1 and caesalpinin K. Compound structures were determined by spectroscopy (HR-ESI-MS, UV, IR, 1D NMR, 2D NMR), X-ray crystallography and quantum chemical computation of electronic circular dichroism).

Seven new cassane furanoditerpenes from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax.

A bioassay-guided study led to the isolation of seven new cassane furanoditerpenes, designated as spirocaesalmin B (1), caesalpinin M1 (2), caesalpinin M2 (3), caesalmin E1 (4), caesalmin E2 (5), caesalmin E3 (6), caesalpinin F1 (7) and three known compounds neocaesalpin A(8), neocaesalpin L(9), neocaesalpin L1(10) from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance. Compound structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including X-ray crystallographic analysis, HRESI-MS, UV, IR, 1D and 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, NOESY) methods. Some absolute configurations were confirmed via the circular dichroism (CD) spectra.

Two new compounds with cytotoxic activity on the human melanoma A375-S2 cells from Daphne giraldii callus cells.

Four compounds were isolated from Daphne giraldii callus cells, and their structures were characterized as daphnenone (1), daphnolon (2), R-( - )-1-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-1,5-pentandione (3), and S-(+)-daphneolone-4'-O-β-d-glucoside (4) on the basis of MS, NMR spectrographic analysis, and chemical methods. All of the four compounds possessed C6-C5-C6 carbon skeleton, and among them, 3 and 4 were two new compounds. In activity screening test, compounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 showed different degrees of cytotoxic activity against the tumor cells of human melanoma A375-S2 by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium hydrobromide method, with IC(50) values of 29.

Three new cassane diterpenes from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance.

Three new cassane-diterpene-lactones, methyl 1α,7β-diacetoxy-5α,12α-dihydroxy-cass-13(15)-en-16,12-olide-17β-carboxylate (1), methyl 7β-acetoxy-1α,5α,12α-trihydroxy-cass-13(15)-en-16,12-olide-17β-carboxylate (2), and 12α-ethoxyl-1α,6α,7β-triacetoxy-5α,14β-dihydroxy-cass-13(15)-en-16,12-olide (3), were isolated from the seeds of Caesalpinia minax Hance. Their structures were established on the basis of HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis.

Two new compounds from Acanthopanax senticosus Harms.

From the dried aerial part of Acanthopanax senticosus, a new coumarin glycoside, eleutheroside B(2) (1), and a new sesquiterpenoid, oplopanone B (2), were isolated. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic methods.

Two new compounds from fermentation liquid of the marine fungus Trichoderma atroviride G20-12.

The chemical constituent research on the ethyl acetate extracts of fermentation liquid of the marine fungus Trichoderma atroviride G20-12 led to the isolation of two new compounds, 2-hydroxybutan-3-yl 5'-(2''-hydroxy-N-(2'''-oxobutan-3'''-yl)propanamido)butanoate (1) and 3-hydroxy-5-(4-hydroxybenzyl)dihydrofuran-2(3H)-one (2). The structures of the new compounds were determined by spectroscopic and chemical analysis.

Use of nakagami statistics and empirical mode decomposition for ultrasound tissue characterization by a nonfocused transducer.

The Nakagami parameter associated with the Nakagami distribution estimated from ultrasonic backscattered signals reflects the scatterer concentration in a tissue. A nonfocused transducer does not allow tissue characterization based on the Nakagami parameter. This paper proposes a new method called the noise-assisted Nakagami parameter based on empirical mode decomposition of noisy backscattered echoes to allow quantification of the scatterer concentration based on data obtained using a nonfocused transducer.

[Neocaesalpin L1, a new diterpenoid compound from Caesalpinia minax].

Objective: To study the chemical constituents of Caesalpinia minax.

Method: The chemical constituent was isolated by various chromatographic metheds and its structure was elucidated by the analysis of spectral data and physiochemical properties.

Result: One diterpenoid compound was isolated from the 95% ethanolic extract of C.

Altered Phase Interactions between Spontaneous Blood Pressure and Flow Fluctuations in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Nonlinear Assessment of Cerebral Autoregulation.

Cerebral autoregulation (CA) is an important mechanism that involves dilation and constriction in arterioles to maintain relatively s cerebral blood flow in response to changes of systemic blood pressure. Traditional assessments of CA focus on the changes of cerebral blood flow velocity in response to large blood pressure fluctuations induced by interventions. This approach is not feasible for patients with impaired autoregulation or cardiovascular regulation.