Publications by authors named "ZhiLi Zuo"

Amid the new industrial revolution, digital technology and green finance play pivotal roles in shifting towards a low-carbon economy. This paper establishes a coherent research framework by integrating digital technology, green financing, and carbon emission performance. Utilizing a multifaceted dataset that combines provincial panel data with corporate listings databases, this study evaluates the development of green finance using a hybrid weighing methodology that merges the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with the spatial-temporal entropy weight method.

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The TRPC5 channel plays an important role in regulating various physiological processes, which is related to various human diseases, especially psychiatric and kidney diseases. Although the TRPC5 channel is one of the essential potential target, no drugs against TRPC5 channels have been granted in the market to date. In this study, based on the structure of hit compound ph1, we further synthesied 49 compounds of novel quinazolinone and heterocyclic fusion pyrimidinone derivatives, and their activities were evaluated by electrophysiological assays.

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Fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FCS) from Holothuria mexicana (FCS) was selected for investigation because of its intriguing branch features. Selective β-eliminative depolymerization and the bottom-up assembly were performed to unravel that FCS consisted of a {D-GlcA-β1,3-D-GalNAc} backbone and branches of alternating Fuc (55 %) and D-GalNAc-α1,2-L-Fuc (45 %), the highest proportion of disaccharide branch reported to date. In branches, sulfation could occur at every free -OH site except O-3 of GalNAc, being the most complex and various structure features of natural FCS.

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The traditional extensive development of the manufacturing industry has caused significant environmental damage. Consequently, the manufacturing sector urgently needs a green transformation to achieve sustainable development. The primary goal of current research is to examine the extent to which green technological innovation (GTI) impacts enterprises' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

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Article Synopsis
  • GSPT1 is an important protein involved in stopping protein translation, often overexpressed in tumors, making it a target for anti-cancer treatments, despite being deemed "undruggable."
  • Recent research indicates that small molecules can degrade GSPT1 via a "molecular glue" mechanism, showing promise as a new therapy for blood cancers, with many current compounds based on the structure of existing drugs.
  • In this study, a novel compound, AN5782, was identified that effectively reduces GSPT1 levels and inhibits tumor cell growth, with further research suggesting its mechanism involves the ubiquitin-proteasome system, giving it potential as a new antitumor drug.
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and spp. are microsporidian pathogens with zoonotic potential that pose significant public health concerns. To ascertain the occurrence and genotypes of and spp.

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The transient receptor potential canonical channel 5 (TRPC5), a member of the TRPC family, plays a crucial role in the regulation of various physiological activities and diseases, including those related to the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, kidney, and cancer. As a nonselective cation channel, TRPC5 mainly controls the influx of extracellular Ca into cells, thereby modulating cellular depolarization and intracellular ion concentration. Inhibition of TRPC5 by small molecules presents a promising approach for the treatment of TRPC5-associated diseases.

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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, whose pathologic features include dysregulated glucose homeostasis and lipid accumulation. Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor α (PPARα) is a key regulator of fatty acid metabolism and ketogenesis due to its regulatory pathways involve activating fatty acid uptake, accelerating fatty acid oxidation, inhibiting gluconeogenesis, and suppressing inflammation and fibrosis. Therefore, PPARα is considered as a potential target for the treatment of NAFLD and some agonists have entered clinical trials, which drove us to discover more novel PPARα agonists.

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To ensure China's energy security, the mining industry faces increasing emissions reduction and energy conservation pressures. This study combined index and production-theoretical decomposition analyses to decompose the energy-related CO emissions in mining industry (ERCEMI) influencing factors into seven major effects and adopted a gravity model to dynamically visualize the transfer path and gravity distribution from 2000 to 2015. As investment effects were introduced into the decomposition analysis, the results fully considered the regional heterogeneity and spatiotemporal dynamics.

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Phosphodiesterase-4, the primary enzyme responsible for cAMP degradation in the majority of immune and inflammatory cells, plays a critical role in the regulation of intracellular cAMP levels. Consequently, small molecular entities capable of inhibiting PDE4 have been employed in the treatment of inflammation-associated disorders, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), psoriasis, atopic dermatitis (AD), inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), rheumatic arthritis (RA). In the present investigation, a multi-faceted approach was employed to identify novel PDE4 inhibitors, utilizing the co-crystallization structure of PDE4B available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) database, drug-like screening, false positive filtration, similarity and ADMET screen, as well as molecular docking via multiple software platforms, in conjunction with bioactivity assays.

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Cyclovirobuxine-D (CVB-D) is a Buxus alkaloid and a major active constituent in the Chinese medicinal herb Buxus microphylls. Traditionally, the natural alkaloid cyclovirobuxine-D has a long history of use as a traditional Chinese medicine for cardiovascular diseases as well as to treat a wide variety of medical conditions. As we found that CVB-D inhibited T-type calcium channels, we designed and synthesized a variety of fragments and analogues and evaluated them for the first time as new Ca3.

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Immunotherapy has been increasingly used in the treatment of cancer. Compared with chemotherapy, immunotherapy relies on the autoimmune system with fewer side effects. Small molecule immune-oncological medicines usually have good bioavailability, higher tissue and tumor permeability, and a reasonable half-life.

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11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11β-HSD1) represents a promising drug target for metabolic syndrome, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. Our initial screen of a collection of natural products from Danshen led to the identification of tanshinones as the potent and selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitors. To improve the druggability and explore the structure-activity relationships (SARs), more than 40 derivatives have been designed and synthesized using tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone as the starting materials.

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CRBN protein is an E3 ubiquitin ligase which plays an important role in the ubiquitin-proteasome system of eukaryotic cells. Small molecules can modulate CRBN and induce multiple target proteins to bind with CRBN, which contributes to ubiquitination and degradation of target proteins. Modulating the CRBN protein through small molecules provides a novel idea for treatment of tumors and immune system disease.

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Peroxidative depolymerization is often used to elucidate the structure and structure-activity relationship of fucosylated glycosaminoglycan (FG), while the selectivity of bond cleavage and structural characteristics of the resulting fragments remain to be confirmed. Here, the FG from Stichopus variegatus (SvFG) was depolymerized by HO, and a series of yielded mono- and oligo-saccharides were purified. Almost all the non-reducing ends of oligosaccharides were d-GalNAc, suggesting that GlcA-β1,3-GalNAc linkage was preferentially cleaved.

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The incidence of malignant tumor with high mortality is increasing yearly. CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase was proved to be an antitumor target. It was found that thalidomide and its analogs could bind to CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase and modulate CRBN.

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Inverse-electron-demand-hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of alkenes with α,β-unsaturated keto compounds allow rapid access to the tetrahydropyran ring found in numerous natural products and bioactive molecules. Despite its synthetic interest, catalytic asymmetric versions of this process remain underdeveloped, especially regarding the use of non-activated alkenes reacting with α,β-unsaturated ketone or aldehyde, for which no report can be found in the literature. Herein, we describe the catalytic inverse-electron-demand-hetero-Diels-Alder reactions between neutral alkenes and an α,β-unsaturated ketones or aldehydes to produce a variety of trans-fused [5,6,8] tricyclic structures containing a central, chiral tetrahydropyran ring.

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Rhynchines A-E (-), five new indole alkaloids with an unprecedented skeleton, were isolated from . The new skeleton was characterized by an indole moiety and a 2-oxa-8-azatricyclo[6,5,0,0]tridecane core, forming a unique 6/5/7/5/5 ring system. Their structures were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance, high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and were confirmed by X-ray crystallography.

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Article Synopsis
  • A terpene synthase (LcTPS2) was isolated from the plant Leucosceptrum canum, capable of producing unique macrocyclic terpenoids.
  • Engineered versions of bacteria and plants were able to produce six new types of sesterterpenoids, marking a significant advancement in terpenoid research with the largest ring system identified so far.
  • Certain engineered variants of LcTPS2 showed increased production of these compounds and demonstrated the ability to inhibit T-cell production, offering potential applications in biocatalysis and plant biosynthesis.
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KGP94 is a potent, selective, and competitive inhibitor of the lysosomal endopeptidase enzyme (Cathepsin L) currently in preclinical trials for the treatment of metastatic cancer, which is a leading cause of cancer-associated death. Herein, we report two new synthetic routes for synthesizing the target compound through four consecutive steps, using a Weinreb amide approach starting from a common 3-bromobenzoyl chloride. A key step in the approach is a coupling reaction of a readily available Grignard reagent with amide 4 to produce 6, a previously unreported coupling pattern.

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The mining industry is one of the pillar industries of Guangxi's economic and social development. The output value of mining and related industries accounts for 27% of the whole district's total industrial output value. Therefore, the mining eco-efficiency measurement in Guangxi can be of great significance for the sustainable development of Guangxi's mining industry.

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Background: The emergence of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading worldwide in 2020. Coronaviruses could mainly cause respiratory tract infections in humans and multiple system infections in many animals. The coronavirus enters the host cell through the binding of surface spike glycoprotein (S Protein) with host angiotensin-converting enzyme-Ⅱ (ACE2) protein.

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SARS-CoV-2 is the pathogen that caused the global COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Promising progress has been made in developing vaccines and antiviral drugs. Antivirals medicines are necessary complements of vaccines for post-infection treatment.

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The invasion and metastasis of tumor cells are the hallmarks of malignant diseases and the greatest obstacle to overcome. Heparanase-mediated degradation of heparan sulfate (HS) is the critical process for tumor angiogenesis and metastasis, therefore, heparanase become an attractive target for cancer research. Herein, we reported a native fucosylated glycosaminoglycan (nHG) extracted from sea cucumber Holothuria fuscopunctata and a depolymerized nHG (dHG) and its contained oligosaccharides (hs17, hs14, hs11, hs8 and hs5), acting as heparanase inhibitors.

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Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are conserved polysaccharides composed of linear repeating disaccharides and play crucial roles in multiple biological processes in animal kingdom. However, saccharide-branched GAGs are rarely found, except the fucose-branched one from sea cucumbers. There was conjecture about the presence of disaccharide-branched GAG since 30 years ago, though not yet confirmed.

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