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The phytochemical investigation on the pericarps of Garcinia multiflora resulted in the isolation of 12 previously undescribed polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs, 1-12) with a variety of skeletons. Their structures were determined by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, ECD calculations, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 6-9 possess a rare bicyclo[4.3.1]decane skeleton. Additionally, the anti-tumor activity of the 12 isolates was evaluated. The results indicated that compounds 5, 9, and 12 exhibited significant cytotoxicity in a wide range of cancer cell lines, including the human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells, human lung cancer A549 cells, human colon cancer SW480 cells and human ovarian cancer HEY cells. Further studies indicated that compound 5 induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, to inhibit the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells. Taken together, these findings expand the chemical diversity of PPAPs and further demonstrate the potential of PPAPs as candidates for cancer treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Rice taste is closely associated with endosperm composition, which varies among different rice layers. Although clarifying the relationship between this difference and nutritional taste can guide rice breeding and cultivation practices, research on this topic is limited., Results: Here, typical rice varieties having excellent and poor taste characteristics were selected to analyze the distribution characteristics and differences of their components. The varieties with excellent taste exhibited lower apparent amylose content (AAC) and protein content (PC), lesser short-chain (Fa) and long-chain (Fb 3 ) amylopectin (AP) and more medium-chain (Fb 1+2 ) AP, higher long-to-short chain ratio (Fa:Fb 3 ), and higher nitrogen (N), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) content in layer 1 (L1) than the varieties with poor taste. Layer 2 (L2) played a key role in AAC and PC regulation in the varieties with excellent taste by reducing AAC and appropriately increasing PC, consequently improving rice taste. AP structure in layer 3 (L3) substantially affected the taste of the two types of varieties. The mineral content was the highest in L1, and increased potassium (K), Ca, and Mg content improved taste in all varieties., Conclusion: AAC in each layer contributes to rice taste. PC and minerals primarily act on L1 and L2, whereas AP acts on L2 and L3. Therefore, the endosperm formation process should be exploited for improving rice taste. Furthermore, key resources and cultivation should be identified and regulated, respectively, to improve rice taste. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Profiting from the sustained clinical improvement and prolonged patient survival, immune checkpoint blockade of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis has emerged as a revolutionary cancer therapy approach. However, the anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies only achieve a clinical response rate of approximately 20%. Herein, we identified a novel combination strategy that Chinese medicine ginseng-derived ginsenoside Rh2 (Rh2) markedly improved the anti-cancer efficacy of anti-PD-L1 antibody in mice bearing MC38 tumor. Rh2 combined with anti-PD-L1 antibody (combo treatment) further triggered the infiltration, proliferation and activation of CD8 + T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Depletion of CD8 + T cells by mouse CD8 blocking antibody abolished the anti-cancer effect of combo treatment totally. Mechanistically, combo treatment further increased the expression of CXCL10 through activating TBK1-IRF3 signaling pathway, explaining the increased infiltration of T cells. Employing anti- CXC chemokine receptor 3 (CXCR3) blocking antibody prevented the T cells infiltration and abolished the anti-cancer effect of combo treatment. Meanwhile, combo treatment increased the percentage of M1-like macrophages and raised the ratio of M1/M2 macrophages in TME. By comparing the anti-cancer effect of combo treatment among MC38, CT26 and 4T1 tumors, resident T cells were considered as a prerequisite for the effectiveness of combo treatment. These findings demonstrated that Rh2 potentiated the anti-cancer effect of PD-L1 blockade via promoting the T cells infiltration and activation, which shed a new light on the combination strategy to enhance anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy by using natural product Rh2., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Approximately 40% of CRC patients are KRAS sequence variation, including KRAS G13D mutation (KRAS G13D ) CRC patients, accounting for approximately 8% of all KRAS mutations in CRC patients and showing little benefit from anti-EGFR therapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new and effective anticancer agents in patients with KRAS G13D CRC. Here, we identified a natural product, erianin, that directly interacted with purified recombinant human KRAS G13D with a Kd of 1.1163 μM, which also significantly improve the thermal stability of KRAS G13D . The cell viability assay showed that KRAS G13D cells were more sensitive to erianin than KRAS WT or KRAS G12V cells. In vitro, results showed that erianin suppressed the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of KRAS G13D CRC cells. Furthermore, erianin induced ferroptosis, as evidenced by the accumulation of Fe 2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, and changes in the mitochondrial morphology of KRAS G13D CRC cells. Interestingly, we also found that erianin-induced ferroptosis was accompanied by autophagy. Moreover, the occurrence of erianin-induced ferroptosis is reversed by autophagy inhibitors (NH4Cl and Bafilomycin A1) and ATG5 knockdown, suggesting that erianin-induced ferroptosis is autophagy-dependent. In addition, we evaluated the inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis by erianin in vivo using a subcutaneous tumor model and a spleen-liver metastasis model, respectively. Collectively, these data provide novel insights into the anticancer activity of erianin, which is valuable for the further discussion and investigation of the use of erianin in clinical anticancer chemotherapy for KRAS G13D CRC., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used for cancer treatment. Identification of anti-cancer targets of TCM is the first and principal step in discovering molecular mechanisms of TCM as well as obtaining novel targets for cancer therapy. In this study, glycogen phosphorylase L (PYGL) was identified as one of the targeted proteins for several TCMs and was upregulated in various cancer types. The expression level of PYGL was positively correlated with the stage of lung cancer and the poor prognosis of patients. Meanwhile, knockdown of PYGL significantly inhibited proliferation and migration in lung cancer cells. In addition, PYGL was associated with spindle, kinetochore, and microtubule, the cellular components that are closely related to mitosis, in lung cancer. Moreover, PYGL was more susceptible to be upregulated by 144 mutated genes. Taken together, PYGL is a potential target for lung cancer treatment and its molecular mechanism probably influences the mitotic function of cells by regulating energy metabolism., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Based on the service encounter perspective, this study combines theoretical foundations for such factors as service quality and the characteristics of the hospital service industry to develop a research model scale to investigate whether the quality of hospital services affects patients' perceptions of health service encounters, trust, and loyalty. Nowadays, with the advancement of medical technology, patients pay more attention to the quality of medical services and good service encounters provided by healthcare professionals in order to establish positive patient relationships; hospitals need to improve their own service quality and establish good patient trust relationships so that doctor-patient satisfaction and loyalty can be improved. In a review of related literature, this study found that most past studies focused on issues related of quality of medical services and patient satisfaction, but ignored those related to the relationship between medical service encounters and patient trust and loyalty, as well as the lack of scientific measurement markers for service encounters in the Chinese medical service industry. Therefore, this study uses the Service Encounter Perspective and Service Quality Theory Development Research Scale to collect and analyze data for a typical case of a Chinese tertiary hospital. Finally, this study explores the relationship between the four variables of service quality, service encounter, trust, and loyalty by means of a questionnaire and statistical analysis of the data. Finally, it is concluded that the higher the service quality of the hospital, the higher the customer trust, the higher the service encounter, and in the greater the doctor-patient loyalty., Competing Interests: G-YL was employed by Shandong Holyscape Marketing Research & Consulting Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Shie, Huang, Li, Lyu, Yang, Dai, Su and Wu.)

Background: To evaluate the myocardial microcirculation perfusion of patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) with a different index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) and analyse the value of MCE in predicting myocardial perfusion after PCI., Methods: Fifty-six patients with acute STEMI who underwent an emergency PCI were selected from October 2018 to October 2019 in our hospital. According to the IMR values measured during PCI treatment, the patients were divided into three groups. Traditional ultrasound and MCE were performed one week after PCI. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), ventricular wall motion score index (WMSI), A value, β value and A × β value (which refers to the patient's myocardial blood flow) were measured. The receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to evaluate the effectiveness of the MCE parameters in the diagnosis of myocardial microcirculation perfusion disorders., Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference in the LVEF among the groups. The WMSI in Group 3 was statistically different from that in Groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference in the WMSI between Groups 1 and 2. Among the three groups, the A value, β value and A × β value were significantly different (P < 0.05). According to Spearman's correlation analysis, the MCE quantitative parameters (i.e. the A value, β value and A × β value) were negatively correlated with the IMR value (r = -0.523, -0.471, -0.577, P < 0.01)., Conclusions: The A value, β value and A × β value were negatively correlated with the IMR value. Furthermore, MCE could be used to observe the myocardial perfusion in patients with acute STEMI after PCI and may be one of the indicators used to accurately evaluate myocardial microcirculation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Abnormal N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is closely associated with the occurrence, development, progression and prognosis of cancer, and aberrant m6A regulators have been identified as novel anticancer drug targets. Both traditional medicine-related approaches and modern drug discovery platforms have been used in an attempt to develop m6A-targeted drugs. Here, we provide an update of the latest findings on m6A modification and the critical roles of m6A modification in cancer progression, and we summarize rational sources for the discovery of m6A-targeted anticancer agents from traditional medicines and computer-based chemosynthetic compounds. This review highlights the potential agents targeting m6A modification for cancer treatment and proposes the advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) in the discovery of m6A-targeting anticancer drugs. Three stages of m6A-targeting anticancer drug discovery: traditional medicine-based natural products, modern chemical modification or synthesis, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted approaches for the future., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Owing to high intrinsic figure-of-merit implemented by multi-band valleytronics, GeTe-based thermoelectric materials are promising for medium-temperature applications. Transition metals are widely used as dopants for developing high-performance GeTe thermoelectric materials. Herein, relevant work is critically reviewed to establish a correlation among transition metal doping, electronic quality factor, and figure-of-merit of GeTe. From first-principle calculations, it is found that Ta, as an undiscovered dopant in GeTe, can effectively converge energy offset between light and heavy conduction band extrema to enhance effective mass at high temperature. Such manipulation is verified by the increased Seebeck coefficient of synthesized Ge 1- x - y Ta x Sb y Te samples from 160 to 180 µV K -1 at 775 K upon doping Ta, then to 220 µV K -1 with further alloying Sb. Characterization using electron microscopy also reveals the unique herringbone structure associated with multi-scale lattice defects induced by Ta doping, which greatly hinder phonon propagation to decrease thermal conductivity. As a result, a figure-of-merit of ≈2.0 is attained in the Ge 0.88 Ta 0.02 Sb 0.10 Te sample, reflecting a maximum heat-to-electricity efficiency up to 17.7% under a temperature gradient of 400 K. The rationalized beneficial effects stemming from Ta doping is an important observation that will stimulate new exploration toward high-performance GeTe-based thermoelectric materials., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Hypoxia is a prominent feature of tumors. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), a major subunit of HIF-1, is overexpressed in hypoxic tumor tissues and activates the transcription of many oncogenes. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that HIF-1α promotes tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, metabolism, and immune evasion. Natural products are an important source of antitumor drugs and numerous studies have highlighted the crucial role of these agents in modulating HIF-1α. The present review describes the role of HIF-1α in tumor progression, summarizes natural products used as HIF-1α inhibitors, and discusses the potential of developing natural products as HIF-1α inhibitors for the treatment of cancer., (Copyright © 2020 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Clarifying the association of differences in endosperm biochemical composition with nutrient and edible quality can guide rice breeding and cultivation. In this study, very-low-amylose-content (LAC), Japanese good-taste (JTC), Northeast China good-taste (CTC), and Northeast China high-yield (CHC) cultivars were milled to obtain four layers (L1-L4) from outside-in, and then analyzed for apparent amylose content (AAC), protein content (PC), amino acids, soluble sugars, and minerals. The association of these compositions and Rapid-Visco analysis values with taste was also examined. LAC had low AAC, high amino acid and mineral content, and the highest taste value. Taste was significantly affected by AAC and soluble sugar in L3, and by PC in the L2 layer. High levels of amino acid in L2 and L3 improved the taste, as did Mg, P, and Ca in L1. On the whole, starch factors had the highest contribution to taste, followed by minerals, amino acids, and PC., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Viscosity, a crucial characteristic for rice palatability, is affected by endosperm characters. We compared correlations between differences in viscosity of japonica rice with various palatability and endosperm characters. Changes in apparent amylose and protein contents (AAC% and PC%, respectively) and amylopectin side-chain distribution and the relationship of these traits with palatability were investigated in superior and inferior spikelets of good cultivars with low amylose content from Hokkaido and common cultivars from northeastern Japan, using rapid visco analyzer characteristics and rice-grain microstructures. Significant differences occurred in PC%, AAC%, breakdown, setback, peak time, and pasting temperature of different cultivars and grain positions. Amylopectin components showed remarkable differences in grain surfaces, surface layers, and section structure between the grain varieties. Hokkaido cultivars showed better viscosity than northeastern cultivars, particularly initial stage grains. Correlation analysis indicated viscosity was mainly AAC%-dependent, whereas differences in endosperm characteristics between spikelet positions were mainly due to grain-filling temperature.