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Malyngamide X (1), the first (7R)-lyngbic acid connected to a new tripeptide backbone, was isolated from the Thai sea hare Bursatella leachii. The gross structure of 1 was established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectroscopic data. Combination of the NMR spectroscopic experiments with alpha-methoxy-alpha-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetic acid esters, 2,2,2-trifluoro-1-(9-anthryl)ethanol chiral solvating agent, and molecular mechanics of 1 and the synthetic molecular fragments allowed us to determine the absolute stereochemistry of all six stereogenic centers without hydrolytic degradation of the compound. Compound 1 displayed moderate cytotoxic, antitubercular, and antimalarial properties.

An examination of the stools from school-children in northern Thailand was performed in order to compare the efficacy of a new method--the agar plate method--for the detection of Strongyloides stercoralis with traditional methods. Twenty-three positive specimens (15.5%) from a total of 148 specimens were detected as follows: 18 cases by the agar plate method, 13 cases by direct stool smear, 11 cases by filter paper culture, and four cases by the formalin-ether method (MGL). On the basis of the above results, the agar plate method appeared to be more efficient than traditional methods for detecting Strongyloides in human stool samples. Other positive factors in its favour were ease of manipulation and low cost. There were some problems with using this method. Five cases shown to be positive by traditional methods were negative in the agar plate method, and it was necessary to discriminate Strongyloides microscopically from other similar nematode larvae, especially in an area, such as northern Thailand, with a high prevalence of hookworms.