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Aloe vera is an agricultural resource widely used in many fields, but it has not been fully exploited as a biological dye in textile substrates. This work explored an approach for using Aloe vera rinds (AVRs) for the simultaneous dyeing and UV-protective functional finishing of silk fabrics. The optimal extraction conditions and the chemical composition of Aloe vera dye (AVD) were investigated. The colour parameters, colour-fastness, and UV-protective properties of silk fabrics dyed with AVD were tested. The results showed that the extracts mainly included polyphenols and flavonoids. The dyed fabrics obtained a colour depth (K/S) of 7.9447 and > 4 grades of colour-fastness to washing and rubbing without using a mordant. The dyed fabrics exhibited a surprising ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of 2075.76 and remained at 1241.23 after 25 washing cycles, which was much higher than standard recommended. This research provides a method for the value-added management of agricultural waste for natural dyeing and functional finishing of textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterized by degradation of extracellular matrix, apoptosis of chondrocytes and inflammation in articular cartilage. Zinc finger E-box binding homebox 2 (ZEB2), a transcription repressor, has been demonstrated with anti-inflammatory role in some cells. The analysis from GEO data reveals that ZEB2 expression is upregulated in articular cartilage of OA patients and experimental OA rodents. This study aims to confirm the function of ZEB2 in OA process. The experimental OA was induced by anterior cruciate ligament transaction (ACLT) in rats, and the adenovirus loaded with ZEB2 coding sequence was intra-articularly injected into rats (1 × 10 PFU). The primary articular chondrocytes were stimulated by interleukin-1β (IL-1β) (10 ng/ml) to mimic the osteoarthritic injury, and transfected with the adenovirus carrying ZEB2 coding or silencing sequence. The apoptosis, content of extracellular matrix, inflammation, and the activity of NFκB signaling in chondrocytes and cartilage were determined. ZEB2 was highly expressed in osteoarthritic cartilage tissues and IL-1β-treated chondrocytes. The overexpression of ZEB2 restrained ACLT- or IL-1β administration-induced apoptosis, matrix degradation and inflammation in vivo or in vitro, evidenced by changed levels of cleaved caspase-3/PARP, collagen-II, aggrecan, matrix metalloproteinase 3/13, tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. Additionally, the phosphorylation of NFκB p65, IκBα and IKKα/β, and the nuclear translocation of p65 was blocked by ZEB2, implying inactivation of this signaling. ZEB2 mitigated osteoarthritic symptoms in rats and chondrocytes, and NFκB signaling might be involved. These findings may provide novel insights for clinical treatment of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five new iridoids, patriscabioins M-Q and a new monoterpene, eldanolide acid, together with three known iridoids, were isolated from the 95% aqueous EtOH extract whole plants of Patrinia villosa Juss. The structures were established by a variety of spectroscopic analysis, such as IR, 1 D and 2 D NMR spectra, MS, ECD and X-ray diffraction data. Bioactivity screening revealed the inhibitory effects on nitric oxide (NO) production of them in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW264.7 cells with Aminoguanidine Hydrochloride as the positive control. Among them, patriscabioin M (1), patriscabioin N (2), patriscabioin P (4), patriscabioin Q (5), 8,9-didehydro-7-hydroxydolichodia (7) were found to markedly reduce LPS-induced NO production in murine macrophage cells with IC50 values of 18.14, 18.93, 22.00, 13.64, 26.48 μM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new coumarin, 4,6-dihydroxy-7-formyl-3-methylcoumarin (1), and an α-pyrone derivative, 6-[(7S,8R)-8-propyloxiran-1-yl]-4-methoxy-pyran-2-one (2), together with four known α-pyrone derivatives (3–6), were isolated from the broth extract of the plant endophytic fungusPestalotiopsis versicolor. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and by comparison of the chemical shift values with those of related known compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 500 μM 5-azacytidine to the culture medium of a plant endophytic fungus,Pestalotiopsis crassiuscula, obtained from the leaves ofFragaria chiloensis, dramatically altered the profiles of its metabolites and resulted in the isolation of one new coumarin (1), along with six known compounds (2–7). HPLC profiles revealed that only compounds3,4, and7belonged to the new induced secondary metabolites. The structures of all isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive analysis of NMR spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In leukemia patients, T-cell function has been suppressed with the disease progress. Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are all to a degree immunodeficient. In order to elucidate the feature of T-cell receptor signal transduction in CLL, the expression levels of CD3γ, δ, ε, and ζ chain, FcεRIγ, and Zap-70 genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were analyzed. Real-time polymerase chain reaction with SYBR Green technique was used for detecting the gene expression level in PBMCs from 13 patients with CLL, 13 healthy individuals, and 10 B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL) served as control. The β2-microglobulin gene was used as an endogenous reference. Relative mRNA expression level of genes was analyzed by using the 2-ΔCt × 100% method. Significant lower expression levels of CD3γ, ε, and ζ chain genes, as well as FcεRIγ gene were found in CLL samples. Moreover, there was lost the negative correlation of the expression levels between CD3ζ and FcεRIγ genes. The expression level of Zap-70 in CLL was lower than those from healthy controls, while higher than those from B-ALL group. There was no significant correlation between the expression levels of CD3ζ and Zap-70 genes neither in the healthy group nor in the CLL group. In conclusion, the results provide a global gene expression profile of CD3γ, δ, ε, and ζ chains, and the CD3ζ-related genes FcεRIγ and Zap-70 in CLL. Deficiency of these gene expression levels might represent the feature related to T-cell immunodeficiency. The study might contribute to better understand the cellular immune features in CLL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]