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The gut microbiota, as a major source of opportunistic pathogens, poses a great threat to systemic infection, whereas the role of the gut microbiota in sepsis is underestimated. Here, we aimed to explore the effects of different gut microbiota patterns (namely, enterotypes) in cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced murine sepsis. To achieve this purpose, we built four kinds of enterotypes by exposing mice to different types of antibiotics (azithromycin, amoxicillin, metronidazole, and levofloxacin). The results showed that antibiotic exposure induced different enterotypes, which, in turn, led to varying levels of systemic inflammation in septic mice, with amoxicillin-associated enterotypes exhibiting the most severe inflammation, followed by metronidazole, azithromycin, and levofloxacin. Specifically, the amoxicillin-associated enterotype was characterized by an abundance of intestinal opportunistic pathogens, including Enterobacteriaceae, Sutterellaceae, and Morganellaceae. This enterotype played a significant role in promoting the pathogenic potential of the gut microbiota, ultimately contributing to the development of severe systemic inflammation. Furthermore, the amoxicillin-associated enterotype exaggerated the sepsis-related liver injury, as evidenced by higher levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, and hepatic malondialdehyde. The results of the RNA sequencing and the fecal suspension intraperitoneal injection sepsis model indicated that the amoxicillin-associated enterotype provoked acute hepatic immune responses and led to more significant metabolic compensation in the event of sepsis. Collectively, we concluded that the gut microbiota was one crucial factor for heterogeneity in sepsis, where the modulated gut microbiota likely prevented or reduced the serious consequences of sepsis, at least in gut-derived sepsis.

Aggressiveness and drug resistant are major challenges in the clinical treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Our previously research reported a novel candidate oncogene ribosomal protein L22 like 1 (RPL22L1). The aim of this study was to elucidate the potential role and mechanism of RPL22L1 in progression and temozolomide (TMZ) resistance of GBM. Online database, tissue microarrays and clinical tissue specimens were used to evaluate the expression and clinical implication of RPL22L1 in GBM. We performed cell function assays, orthotopic and subcutaneous xenograft tumor models to evaluate the effects and molecular mechanisms of RPL22L1 on GBM. RPL22L1 expression was significantly upregulated in GBM and associated with poorer prognosis. RPL22L1 overexpression enhanced GBM cell proliferation, migration, invasion, TMZ resistance and tumorigenicity, which could be reduced by RPL22L1 knockdown. Further, we found RPL22L1 promoted mesenchymal phenotype of GBM and the impact of these effects was closely related to EGFR/STAT3 pathway. Importantly, we observed that STAT3 specific inhibitor (Stattic) significantly inhibited the malignant functions of RPL22L1, especially on TMZ resistance. RPL22L1 overexpressed increased combination drug sensitive of Stattic and TMZ both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, Stattic effectively restored the sensitive of RPL22L1 induced TMZ-resistant in vitro and in vivo. Our study identified a novel candidate oncogene RPL22L1 which promoted the GBM malignancy through STAT3 pathway. And we highlighted that Stattic combined with TMZ therapy might be an effective treatment strategy in RPL22L1 high-expressed GBM patients.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) as precursors of nitrogenous disinfection byproducts (N-DBPs) has become a serious issue for drinking water treatment. Here, Fe3O4/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) system was used to examine the amino acid removal and formation of N-DBPs in the system and the corresponding mechanisms. Results showed a remarked variation in removal efficiency of three typical amino acids, i.e., glutamate (78%), histidine (53%) and phenylalanine (27%) in Fe3O4/PMS system at optimum conditions (0.1 g/L Fe3O4, 1.5 mM PMS, 1 h). Notably, Fe3O4/PMS treatment led to dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) formation caused by the chlorination of glutamate, phenylalanine and histidine being reduced by 53.3%, 9.7% and 41.9%, respectively. The degradation and subsequent N-DBPs formation in the Fe3O4/PMS system mainly depended on the types and properties of the amino acids. The formation of dichloroacetamide (DCAcAm) exhibited different trends, which may be due to the different R group structure of the three amino acids and the special aromaticity of the imidazole ring in the histidine side chain that facilitates its quick electrophilic substitution and ring-opening reaction. This study highlights that the Fe3O4/PMS system is a promising strategy to remove DON and efficiently eliminate N-DBPs formation in the drinking water treatment process depending on the amino acid type.

Leptosphaerulina leaf blight occurs on most turfgrasses. Hitherto, Leptosphaerulina species associated with this disease include L. americana, L. argentinensis, L. australis, and L. trifolii. However, following Koch's postulates, L. australis was confirmed as saprobes but not pathogens, and the other three species have not been tested. The pathogenicity of Leptosphaerulina spp. is still questionable. In this study, we isolated 19 Leptosphaerulina strains from diseased golf turfgrasses in China, and they were identified as L. gaeumannii, L. saccharicola, and a new species, L. macrospora, through multilocus (ITS, 28S, rpb2, and tub2) phylogenetic analyses and morphological observations. Pathogenicity test revealed that the three Leptosphaerulina species identified in this study cannot infect live/healthy turfgrass tissues of Poa pratensis and Agrostis stolonifera and only produced pseudothecia on the dead leaves of stressed seedlings. Considering the results of pathogenicity tests in this and previous studies, we speculate that most Leptosphaerulina species isolated from diseased turfgrass are not pathogens but saprobes. Applying proper management practices to prevent severe turfgrass stress is a key measure to reduce or eliminate the effects of Leptosphaerulina on golf turfgrass.

In recent years, Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are becoming popular, partially due to their sophisticated graphics and broad virtual world, and cloud gaming is demanded more than ever especially when entertaining with light and portable devices. This article considers the problem of server allocation for running MMOG on cloud, aiming to reduce the cost on cloud gaming service and meanwhile enhance the quality of service. The problem is formulated into minimizing an objective function involving the cost of server rental, the cost of data transfer and the network latency during the gaming time. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the minimization problem for processing simultaneous server allocation for the players who log into the system at the same time while many existing players are playing the same game. Extensive experiments based on the player behavior in “World of Warcraft” are conducted to evaluate the proposed method and compare with the state-of-the-art as well. The experimental results show that the method gives a lower cost and a shorter network latency in most of the time.

Regulating electronic structure of active centres to improve the performance of catalysts has always been a notable research topic, in which many challenges still need to be solved urgently. Herein, we report a PtFe3 intermetallic catalyst anchored on N-doped carbon spheres (PtFe3/CN) with electron-rich isolated Pt active sites. The electron-rich nature of isolated Pt sites is attributed to the coordination of low electronegativity iron atoms. The PtFe3/CN catalyst showed a catalytic performance for the hydrosilylation of alkene superior to traditional single-atom Pt catalyst (coordinate with N etc. atoms) loading on N-doped graphene carbon (Pt1/CN) with electron-deficient isolated Pt sites and Pt nanoparticles supported N-doped carbon spheres (Pt NPs/CN) catalysts with the contiguous Pt sites. More importantly, turnover number (TON) of alkene hydrosilylation can reach a striking ca. 740,000 and no Pt leaching was detected. The opinion has been substantiated by both experimental and theoretical results that the PtFe3/CN catalyst can completely catalyze conversion of alkene and exhibit a high selectivity for anti-Markovnikov addition under environmentally friendly and mild conditions.

The rechargeable Zn-air batteries as an environmentally friendly sustainable energy technology have been extensively studied. However, it is still a challenge to develop non-noble metal bifunctional catalysts with high oxygen reduction as well as oxygen evolution reaction (ORR and OER) activity and superior durability, which limit the large-scale application of rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Herein, we synthesized an ultrastable FeCo bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst on Se-doped CNTs (FeCo/Se-CNT) via a gravity guided chemical vapor deposition (CVD) strategy. The catalyst exhibits excellent ORR (E1/2 = 0.9 V) and OER (overpotential at 10 mA cm-2 = 340 mV) properties simultaneously, surpassing commercial Pt/C and RuO2/C catalysts. More importantly, the catalyst shows an unordinary stability, that is, is no obvious decrease after 30K cycles accelerated durability test for ORR and OER processes. The small potential gap (0.75 V) represents superior bifunctional ORR and OER activities of the FeCo/Se-CNT catalyst. The FeCo/Se-CNT catalyst possesses outstanding electrochemical performance for the rechargeable liquid and flexible all-solid-state Zn-air batteries, for example, a high open circuit voltage (OCV) and peak power density of 1.543 and 1.405 V and 173.4 and 37.5 mW cm-2, respectively.

Developing a highly efficient, easy-to-fabricate and non-noble metal electrocatalyst is vital for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we fabricate a single Fe site catalyst Fe1/d-CN by developing a double-layer MOF strategy. The Fe1/d-CN catalyst shows an excellent ORR activity in the pH-universal range, especially in alkaline electrolytes with a record-level half-wave potential of 0.950 V, exceeding those of almost all the reported non-noble electrocatalysts and the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.863 V). Besides its exceptional ORR activity in alkaline electrolytes, it also exhibits comparable ORR activity to the commercial Pt/C catalyst in acidic and neutral electrolytes. We speculate that the sources of the excellent pH-universal ORR performance can be attributed to the regulation of the electronic structure of Fe centres and the excellent electron/proton transport capability that comes from the rich defects and hierarchical porous features of the Fe1/d-CN catalyst. More excitingly, the catalyst possesses remarkable durability, and exhibits a negligible decrease after 30k accelerated durability test (ADT) cycles in pH-universal media. The flexible quasi-solid-state alkaline rechargeable Zn–air batteries with the Fe1/d-CN catalyst as the cathode show superior performance such as a high OCV of 1.50 V and peak power density of 78.0 mW cm−2. Furthermore, the flexible quasi-solid-state neutral rechargeable Zn–air batteries also exhibited remarkable performance.

Background Repetitive DNA sequences accounts for over 80% of maize genome. Although simple sequence repeats (SSRs) account for only 0.03% of the genome, they have been widely used in maize genetic research and breeding as highly informative codominant DNA markers. The genome-wide distribution and polymorphism of SSRs are not well studied due to the lack of high-quality genome DNA sequence data. Results In this study, using data from high-quality de novo-sequenced maize genomes of five representative maize inbred lines, we revealed that SSRs were more densely present in telomeric region than centromeric region, and were more abundant in genic sequences than intergenic sequences. On genic sequences, tri- and hexanucleotide motifs were more abundant in CDS sequence and some mono- and dinucleotide motifs were more abundant in UTR sequences. Median length and chromosomal density of SSRs were both narrowly range-bound, with median length of 14-18 bp and genome-wide average density of 3355.77 bp/Mbp. LTR-RTs of Conclusions We found that the median length of SSR sequences of different SSR motifs was nearly constant. SSR density in genic regions was much higher than intergenic regions. In addition, SSR density at LTR-RTs of different evolutionary ages varied in a narrow range. The SSRs and their LTR-RT carriers evolved at an equal rate. All these observations indicated that SSR length and density were under control of yet unknown evolutionary forces. The chromosome region-specific and motif-specific SSR polymorphisms we observed supported the notion that SSR polymorphism was invaluable genome resource for developing highly informative genome and gene markers in maize genetic research and molecular breeding.

Two-dimensional transition-metal disulfides (TMDs) have aroused boosting attention for the capacitive deionization (CDI) application because of their amazing chemical and physical superiorities. Ne...

As one of the important elements of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) Program Review Model (PRM) proposed by NRC, integrated system validation (ISV) is an evaluation using performance-based tests to identify human engineering discrepancies (HEDs) and improve the design of systems. However, the descriptions of criteria and methodology in HFE PRM are so general that analysts in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) industry are often encountered with confusions in real cases (Dong et al., 2013). The process of integrated system validation is so tedious and complicated that lots of manpower and time is involved. In addition, many steps of the process are repetitive and exhaustive which can be better managed by computer programs. In this study, a tool kit of ISV for NPP field is developed to support ISV data collection, data extraction and data processing. An analysis report as the output of the tool kit, would conclude results of ISV and provide reference for identifying HEDs. In this article, logic model and requirement analysis of the tool kit is described and a preliminary prototype is developed.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a promising desalination method to address the water resource crisis. However, widely used CDI electrodes mostly rely on carbonaceous nanomaterials and highly compl...

Passiflora edulis is a tropical fruit with high nutrient and medicinal values that is widely planted in southern China. However, the molecular biology of P. edulis has not been well studied. There are few reports regarding the choice of reference genes for gene expression studies of passion fruit.By using three algorithms, implemented in geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper, we have selected ten candidate reference genes to explore their transcriptional expression stability in various tissues and under cold stress conditions. EF1 and HIS were stably expressed in five tissues. Ts and OTU were stably in vegetative organs. 50 S and Liom were stably in reproductive organs. The transcriptional abundance of EF1 and UBQ was stable in cold-treated and recovery treated leaf samples of P. edulis. In all samples, EF1 and Ts exhibited the highest expression stability. Evaluation of selected genes using simple statistical methods (ANOVA and post hoc analysis). Overall, EF1 emerged as the optimum reference gene for qRT-PCR normalize in P. edulis. In addition, the qRT-PCR analysis revealed that expression of ICE1 increases with the duration of cold treatment.In this study, we successfully screened stable reference genes from 10 candidates in P. edulis and verified the results by analyzing the expression level of ICE1. The results provide reliable and effective reference genes for future research on gene expression analysis in P. edulis, and lay a foundation for follow-up research on functional genes in P. edulis.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a worldwide health problem with limited therapeutic options, which is associated with gut-derived endotoxins, particularly lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. Recently, probiotics, synbiotics and other food additive interventions have been shown to be effective in decreasing or preventing the progression of ALD. Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and its metabolic products are widely used as food additives to maintain intestinal health, but the protective effects of B. subtilis against alcohol-induced liver injury are poorly understood. In the present study a chronic alcohol-induced liver injury model was constructed based on the Lieber-DeCarli diet and it aimed to determine whether dietary B. subtilis supplementation may alleviate alcohol-induced liver injury. Results revealed that prophylactic B. subtilis supplementation partially restored gut microbiota homeostasis and relieved alcohol-induced intestinal barrier injury, which significantly decreased the translocation of bacterial endotoxins to the blood. In addition, the decreased serum LPS alleviated hepatic inflammation via the toll-like receptor 4 pathway, resulting in improved hepatic structure and function. These results demonstrated that dietary B. subtilis supplementation imparts novel hepatoprotective functions by improving intestinal permeability and homeostasis.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) has been a subject of studies because of its potential to form nitrogenous disinfection byproducts (N-DBPs) in drinking water treatment. In our study, histidine was effectively degraded in the CoFe-LDO/PMS system. The results investigated that the removal of DON and histidine within 1 h in the CoFe-LDO/PMS system were up to 61% and 72%, respectively. Then the influences of CoFe-LDO dosage, PMS dosage and pH value for DON removal were elucidated. The optimum pH was 8, the optimal dosage of CoFe-LDO and PMS were 0.04 g/L and 0.5 mmol/L. It was found that SO4−• and •OH induced by the transformation of Co2+-Co3+ and Fe2+-Fe3+ on the catalyst surface were responsible for the degradation by ESR detection, in which SO4−• played a more important role. The degradation pathway of histidine indicated that it was partly oxidized to NH4+-N in the 60 min and no evident generation of N2 during the whole process. Furthermore, degradation products of histidine have also been revealed by the analysis of HPLC-MS. In addition, the generation potentials of two typical N-DBPs were also clarified. The formation potential of dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) decreased, while that of dichloroacetamide (DCAcAm) increased firstly after declining.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) has been a research subject due to its potential to form nitrogenous disinfection byproducts (N-DBPs) in drinking water treatment. In our study, CoFe layered double oxide (CoFe-LDO) was selected as an effective catalyst for the removal of histidine by activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The results investigated that the removal of DON and histidine within 1 h in the CoFe-LDO/PMS system were up to 61% and 72%, respectively. The influences of CoFe-LDO dosage, PMS dosage, and pH value for DON removal were also elucidated. The optimum pH was 8, and the optimal dosage of CoFe-LDO and PMS were 0.04 g/L and 0.5 mmol/L. It was found that SO4•− and •OH induced by the transformation of Co2+-Co3+ and Fe2+-Fe3+ on the catalyst surface were responsible for the degradation by ESR detection, in which SO4•− played a more important role. The degradation pathway of histidine indicated that it was partly oxidized to NH4+-N in the 60 min and no evident generation of N2 during the whole process. Furthermore, degradation products of histidine have also been revealed by the analysis of HPLC-MS. In addition, the generation potentials of two typical N-DBPs were also clarified. The formation potential of dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) decreased, while that of dichloroacetamide (DCAcAm) increased firstly before declining.

The SCL9 subfamily is a key member of the GRAS family that regulates plant development and stress responses. Nevertheless, the functional role of these genes in the growth and development of poplar still unclear. Here, we reported the six SCL9 genes, which were found to be differentially expressed during poplar adventitious root formation. The full-length sequences of PeSCL9 genes of ‘Nanlin895’ poplar (Populus deltoids × Populus euramericana) were cloned by the RACE technique All PeSCL9 genes lacked introns. RT-qPCR revealed that PeSCL9 genes displayed a dynamic expression pattern in the adventitious root of poplar, according to RT-qPCR data. A series of comprehensive genes characteristics analysis were carried out for six genes by bioinformation. Meanwhile, transient expression analysis of the Populus protoplasts showed that all the PeSCL9 proteins were localized in the nucleus. In addition, the degradome and sRNA of ‘Nanlin895’ poplar in combination were used to predict miRNAs that regulate PeSCL9. It was found that miR396a and miR396c may affect PeSCL9 expression via cleavage, which was further verified by a transient expression experiment in Populus protoplasts. Overall, the development of poplar adventitious root and other tissues was closely related to these six SCL9 genes, and they serve as a starting point for further research into the mechanisms regulating poplar growth and development.

Copper is an indispensable trace element for human health. Too much or too little intake of copper ion (Cu2+ ) can lead to its own adverse health conditions. Therefore, detection of Cu2+ is always of vital importance. In this work, a simple sensor was developed for rapid detection of trace Cu2+ in water, in which L-cysteine (Cys) as a molecular probe was self-assembled on a gold interdigital electrode to form a monolayer for specific capture of Cu2+ . The interfacial capacitance of interdigital electrode was detected to indicate the target adsorption level under an AC signal working as the excitation to induce directed movement and enrichment of Cu2+ to the electrode surface. This sensor reached a limit of detection of 4.14 fM and a satisfactory selectivity against eight other ions (Zn2+ , Hg2+ , Pb2+ , Cd2+ , Mg2+ , Fe2+ , As3+ , and As5+ ). Testing of spiked tap water was also performed, demonstrating the sensor's usability. This sensor as well as the detection method shows a great application potential in fields such as environmental monitoring and medical diagnosis.

Zbasic-ΔI-CM is a novel intein-based self-cleavable tag we developed to accelerate the soluble expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli (E. coli). Previously we found that intein activity could be interfered by its flanking exteins, and thus reducing the production efficiency and final yield. In this work, we used CXC-chemokine 9 (CXCL9) as a model C-extein, which fusion with Zbasic-ΔI-CM showed high intein activity. When the fusion protein got soluble expression, CXCL9 was released immediately and purified directly from cell lysis supernatant. The results demonstrated that Zbasic-ΔI-CM tag had successfully mediated the efficient production of high-quality CXCL9 with reduced time and resources consumption in comparison with inclusion bodies expression. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested that the improved cleavage activity of Zbasic-ΔI-CM upon fusion with CXCL9 may be due to the higher dynamics of the first half loop and stabilization of the second half loop of intein. Our results proved that the self-cleavable Zbasic-ΔI-CM mediated soluble expression could be a feasible process for cytokines like CXCL9, thus of attractive potentials for production of therapeutic proteins using E. coli expression system.

Ethanol-induced intestinal and liver injury are closely associated with intestinal dysbiosis and altered short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) metabolites which is crucial for intestinal health. Bacillus subtilis (BS) strains with biotherapeutic potential can benefit the host through maintaining intestinal homeostasis and regulating systematic immunity via producing small molecules, although these molecules do not include butyrate. To combine the advantages of butyrate and BS, we evaluated the bioactivity of an engineered butyrate-producing Bacillus subtilis (BPBS) strain against ethanol exposure in a chronic-binge ethanol feeding mouse model. Our findings suggested that prophylactic BPBS supplementation restored eubiosis of the gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function, which obviously reduced bacterial translocation of microbial products especially lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to the circulatory system. Additionally, the decrease of serum LPS is responsible for the relief of hepatic inflammation via the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway, resulting in improved hepatic structure and function. Collectively, these results demonstrated that engineered BPBS intervention imparted novel hepatoprotective functions by improving intestinal barrier function and reducing systematic inflammation under ethanol exposure, as well as paving the way for further exploration of engineered probiotics in improving human health care.

An aprepitant (APT) cholesteryl hemisuccinate (CHEMS) ion pair complex emulsion (AIPE) with high lecithin content was prepared to improve sterilization stability through the film dispersion homogenization method; therefore, it could be a promising delivery system of APT. Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) was selected as the oil phase to improve the solubility and stability of APT in oil phase. DSC, XRD, FT-IR, and 1H-NMR spectroscopies confirmed that the APT-CHEMS ion pair (AIP) was formed between CHEMS and APT. The formation of AIP significantly increased the hydrophobicity of APT, allowing it to be completely embedded in the oil phase core to improve chemical stability and decrease hydrolysis of APT in the water phase. Also, CHEMS had a strong affinity with lecithin and could stabilize lipid membranes, forming a stronger and thicker interface membrane to increase the physical stability of AIPE. As a result, AIPE could withstand autoclaving at 120°C for 8 min without any change of particle size or content. Furthermore, AIPE with a potential of − 53.4 mV remained stable through spatial repulsion during sterilization. The encapsulation efficiency of AIPE was over 90% and the particle size was 106.8 ± 65.62 nm(0.286). Pharmacokinetic study in rats was comparable with that of CINVANTI which yielded a relative bioavailability of 114.31% indicating that the AIPE had similar pharmacokinetic processes in vivo with the analog of CINVANTI®. The AUC0–t of the AIPE was 4.31-fold that of the APT solution.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) has drawn more attention from research into drinking water treatment because of its potential to form nitrogenous disinfection byproducts. Amino acids are important DON constituents that are difficult to remove by conventional water treatment. The permanganate/hydrogen sulfite (PM/BS) system, a novel oxidation process, is used to remove a typical amino acid, glutamate. The factors that affect removal mechanism and the degradation pathways were studied. The results show that the rates of DON and glutamate removal in the PM/BS system within 10 min were 55% and 90%, respectively. The optimum pH for glutamate degradation was 5, and the optimal dosages of KMnO

Recently, two-dimensional transition-metal disulfides (TMDs) with amazing chemical and physical superiorities are emerging as promising faradic ion intercalation materials for effective capacitive deionization (CDI) application. Herein, a carbon-embedded hierarchical and dual-anion C@MoSP nanoflowers was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal reaction accompanied by the phosphorization treatment, and explored as an advanced CDI electrode material. Benefiting from the specific microstructure (e.g., hierarchically porous arrangement, enriched porosity and highly open pore network) and the strong synergistic effect of highly conductive carbon and low-electronegativity P dopant, the C@MoSP electrode demonstrated high surface area, enrich accessible interlayer, superior ion diffusion pathway and good electric conductivity for effective salty ion intercalation/deintercalation; Accordingly, the C@MoSP electrode realized an outstanding gravimetric adsorption capacity of 25.43 mg/g, excellent intercalation rate, and good durability in a NaCl aqueous solution with an initial concentration of 500 mg/L at an operation voltage of 1.2 V, which were evidently enhanced in comparison to MoSP and pristine MoS2 ones.

Two novel Fenestin A analogs (1 and 2) containing a phthalimide moiety are prepared by photoinduced cyclization. Their absolute configurations were determined by experimental ECD with the aid of theoretical calculations. The resulting compounds are active in HeLa (IC50 = 28.2 μM for 1 and 36.5 μM for 2) and HepG-2 cell lines (IC50 = 33.5 μM for 1 and 40.3 μM for 2).