Characterization of bacterial cellulose composite films incorporated with bulk chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles: A comparative study.

Ternary composite films containing bulk chitosan (CS) and chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) with different concentrations were prepared using bacterial cellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol) as the base film and the composites films were compared. The micromorphology and mechanical, physical, chemical, antibacterial, and optical barrier properties of the composite films were compared. CS incorporation improved the mechanical properties, as the maximum tensile strength was increased to 130.

Physicochemical characterization of Gleditsia triacanthos galactomannan during deposition and maturation.

Gleditsia triacanthos polysaccharide, known as galactomannan, has not been exploited as a new functional material even though it possesses industrial potential in food and biomedicine. Galactomannans were recovered from the endosperm of seeds (15 weeks to 25 weeks after flowering) for deposition and maturation analysis. These galactomannans were characterized by using Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and monosaccharide composition analysis (particularly the mannose to galactose ratio) and molecular weight, solubility, and rheological measurements.

FAK inhibitors in Cancer, a patent review.

Introduction: Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that localizes at sites of cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and mediates signalling events downstream of integrin engagement of the ECM. FAK is known to regulate cell survival, proliferation and migration.

Areas Covered: FAK expression has also been shown to be up-regulated in many cancer types.

Characterization of Fractional Polysaccharides from Gleditsia sinensis and Gleditsia microphylla Gums.

The seeds of and , widespread in China, are an important source of galactomannans. gum (GSG) and gum (GMG) were purified and precipitated using different concentrations of ethanol and isopropanol. The GSG and GMG, precipitated in different stages, presented different characteristics, including polymer recovery, mannose/galactose ratio, chemical composition, molecular weight, and morphological appearance.

Identification of substituent groups and related genes involved in salecan biosynthesis in Agrobacterium sp. ZX09.

Salecan, a soluble β-1,3-D-glucan produced by a salt-tolerant strain Agrobacterium sp. ZX09, has been the subject of considerable interest in recent years because of its multiple bioactivities and unusual rheological properties in solution. In this study, both succinyl and pyruvyl substituent groups on salecan were identified by an enzymatic hydrolysis following nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), HPLC, and MS analysis.

Ethanol production from a biomass mixture of furfural residues with green liquor-peroxide saccarified cassava liquid.

Background: As the most abundant renewable resources, lignocellulosic materials are ideal candidates as alternative feedstock for bioethanol production. Cassava residues (CR) are byproducts of the cassava starch industry which can be mixed with lignocellulosic materials for ethanol production. The presence of lignin in lignocellulosic substrates can inhibit saccharification by reducing the cellulase activity.

Indole-based, Antiproliferative Agents Targeting Tubulin Polymerization.

Indole is a potential lead for drug design which has been found in numerous pharmaceutically important compounds due to its medicinal properties, such as anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, anti-virus and anti-inflammatory. In the last decade, interfering with microtubule polymerization, a potential orientation to cause cell cycle arrest and apoptosis has become a promising method for cancer therapy. Thus, indole-based agents capable to modulate the microtubule assembly have gained considerable interest among scientists.

Enhancement of Gleditsia sinensis gum rheological properties with pressure cell treatment in semi-solid state.

The apparent viscosity, molecular weight, and molecular weight distribution are important physical properties that determine the functional properties of galactomannan gum. Gleditsia sinensis gum (GSG) in semi-solid state was pressure cell treated over a range of temperature (30-110 °C) under nitrogen maintained at a pressure of 1.0-4.

Comparative study of alkaline hydrogen peroxide and organosolv pretreatments of sugarcane bagasse to improve the overall sugar yield.

Green liquor (GL) combined with H2O2 (GL-H2O2) and green liquor (GL) combined with ethanol (GL-ethanol) were chosen for treating sugarcane bagasse. Results showed that the glucose yield (calculated from the glucose content as a percentage of the theoretical glucose available in the substrates)of sugarcane bagasse from GL-ethanol pretreatment (97.7%) was higher than that from GL-H2O2 pretreatment (41.

Daily variation in global and local DNA methylation in mouse livers.

DNA methylation is one of the best-characterized epigenetic modifications and has an important biological relevance. Here we showed that global DNA methylation level in mouse livers displayed a daily variation where the peak phases occurred during the end of the day and the lowest level at the beginning of the day in the light-dark or dark-dark cycles. Typical repeat sequence long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) had a similar methylation rhythm to global DNA.

Design and synthesis of thiazole derivatives as potent FabH inhibitors with antibacterial activity.

Components of fatty acid biosynthetic pathway have been identified as attractive targets for the development of new antibacterial agents. Compounds of series A (4a-4 g) and series B (5a-5 g) were synthesized by the formation of an amine bond between aromatic acid and 4-phenylthiazol-2-amine or 4-(4-bromophenyl)thiazol-2-amine. These thiazole derivatives have evaluated as potent FabH inhibitors.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial activities of 5-(pyrazin-2-yl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol derivatives containing Schiff base formation as FabH inhibitory.

A series of novel schiff base derivatives (H(1)-H(20)) containing pyrazine and triazole moiety have been designed and synthesized, and their biological activities were also evaluated as potential inhibitors of β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (FabH). These compounds were assayed for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and selected compounds among them were tested for their Escherichia coli FabH inhibitory activity. Based on the biological data, compound H(17) showed the most potent antibacterial activity with MIC values of 0.

Synthesis, molecular modeling and biological evaluation of N-benzylidene-2-((5-(pyridin-4-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)thio)acetohydrazide derivatives as potential anticancer agents.

A series of new 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (6a-6x) containing pyridine and acylhydrazone moieties were synthesized and developed as potential telomerase inhibitors. The bioassay tests demonstrated that compounds 6n, 6o, 6q, 6s and 6t exhibited significant broad-spectrum anticancer activity with IC₅₀ range from 0.76 to 9.

[Study on chemical constituents isolated from Juncus effuses].

Objective: To study the constituents isolated from Juncus effuses Linn..

Methods: The compounds were isolated through chromatographic approaches, such as Silica gel.

[Quality comparison between two cultivated Chinese yam-Kunming yam and Tiegun yam].

Objective: To compare the quality of cultivated Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya Turcz.) from Yunnan (Kunming yam) and Henan (Tiegum yam) by determining the content of dry substance in fresh sample and the contents of water extracts, ethanol extracts, starch, protein, crude-fat and polysaccharide in dry sample.

Method: The above-mentioned indexes were determined by methods of air desiccation, cold-immersing, hot-immersing, iodine-blue coloration, half Micro-Kjeldahl, Soxhlet extraction and spectrophotometric method respectively.