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Objective. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Bushenjiangya-optimized (BSJYO) granule on left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in hypertensive (HTN) patients. Methods. 120 patients diagnosed with HTN plus LVDD were randomly assigned to the BSJYO granule group and placebo group, and all patients received basal western medicine (WM) treatment. After eight weeks of treatment, we evaluated echocardiography, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, liver and kidney functions, and adverse events. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) were collected at 6-month follow-up. Results. Compared with pretreatment, E/Ea (Doppler-derived index of filling pressure and worsening LVDD) significantly decreased significantly after 8 weeks of treatment in the BSJYO granule plus basal WM group (10.52 ± 1.87 vs. 9.49 ± 1.49, P<0.01), alongside reductions in significantly effective response (SER), effective response (ER), and total effective response (TER = SER + ER) in TCM symptom scores (21.59% vs. 71.70%, P<0.01). There were no differences between treatment groups in kidney and liver function, early adverse events, or MACE. Conclusion. BSJYO granule plus basal WM is an effective and safe therapy for HTN patients with LVDD.

Objective To evaluate the criterion validity of Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) -Quality of Life (QOL) Scale of Integrative Medicine (abbreviated as Scale). Methods Clinical data of 249 CHF in- patients were collected. Using Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses, the indicators such as NT- proBNP, cardiac function classification (NYHA) , 6 Minutes Walk Test (6MWT) , left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were taken as exterior contrasts of standard validity, the correlation between the Scale and physicochemical indices of modern medicine were analyzed. The standard validity of the Scale was evaluated. Results Compared with before treatment, the numerical value of the overall index score of the Scale, LVEF, LVEF≤40%, and 6MWT all increased (P0. 05, P0. 01) ; NT-proBNP level decreased (P0. 01). The numerical value of the overall index score of the Scale was negatively correlated with NY- HA classification and NT-proBNP level, but positively correlated with LVEF and 6MWT, all with statistical difference (P0. 01). NT-proBNP, 6MWT, and NYHA classification were all correlated with the scores of the Scale in each field (P0. 05). LVEF was correlated with the scores of the Scale in each field (P0. 05) except social function. Conclusion The Scale had favorable criterion validity, which could be taken as an indicator for comprehensive curative effect evaluation system of CHF.

In this study, we screened compounds with skin whitening properties and favorable safety profiles from a series of marine related natural products, which were isolated from Formosan soft coral Cladiella australis. Our results indicated that 4-(phenylsulfanyl)butan-2-one could successfully inhibit pigment generation processes in mushroom tyrosinase platform assay, probably through the suppression of tyrosinase activity to be a non-competitive inhibitor of tyrosinase. In cell-based viability examinations, it demonstrated low cytotoxicity on melanoma cells and other normal human cells. It exhibited stronger inhibitions of melanin production and tyrosinase activity than arbutin or 1-phenyl-2-thiourea (PTU). Also, we discovered that 4-(phenylsulfanyl)butan-2-one reduces the protein expressions of melanin synthesis-related proteins, including the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase-related protein-1 (Trp-1), dopachrome tautomerase (DCT, Trp-2), and glycoprotein 100 (GP100). In an in vivo zebrafish model, it presented a remarkable suppression in melanogenesis after 48 h. In summary, our in vitro and in vivo biological assays showed that 4-(phenylsulfanyl)butan-2-one possesses anti-melanogenic properties that are significant in medical cosmetology.

Via combination of a novel acid-promoted rearrangement of acetal functionality with the controlled installation of the epoxide unit to create the pivotal epoxide intermediates in enantiomerically pure form, a simple, concise, flexible, and readily scalable enantiodivergent synthesis of (+)- and (-)-shikimic acids and (+)- and (-)-4-epi-shikimic acids has emerged. This simple strategy not only provides an efficient approach to shikimic acids but also can readily be adopted for the synthesis of (+)- and (-)-pinitols. These concise total syntheses exemplify the use of pivotal allylic epoxide 14 and its enantiomer ent-14. A readily available inexpensive C2-symmetric L-tartaric acid (7) served as key precursor. In general, the strategy here provides a neat example of the use of a four-carbon chiron and offers a good account of the synthesis of functionalized cyclohexane targets.

We demonstrate the characteristics of p+-Ge/n-Si and n+-Ge/p-Si heterojunction diodes formed by heteroepitaxial Ge grown on Si leading to high performance and very low leakage current. The ON/OFF current ratio of the p+-Ge/n-Si and n+-Ge/p-Si heterojunction was > 107 and > 106, respectively. The OFF current density was extremely low at

Equisetum ramosissimum,a genus of Equisetaceae, is a medicinal plant that can be separated into ethyl acetate (EA), dichloromethane (DM),n-hexane (Hex), methanol (MeOH), and water extracts. EA extract was known to have potent antioxidative properties, reducing power, DPPH scavenging activity, and metal ion chelating activity. This study compared these five extracts in terms of their inhibiting effects on three human malignant melanomas: A375, A375.S2, and A2058. MTT assay presented the notion that both EA and DM extracts inhibited melanoma growth but did not affect the viabilities of normal dermal keratinocytes (HaCaT) or fibroblasts. Western blot analyses showed that both EA and DM extracts induced overexpression of caspase proteins in all three melanomas. To determine their roles in melanogenesis, this study analyzed theirin vitrosuppressive effects on mushroom tyrosinase. All extracts except for water revealed moderate suppressive effects. None of the extracts affected B16-F10 cells proliferation. EA extract inhibited cellular melanin production whereas DM extract unexpectedly enhanced cellular pigmentation in B16-F10 cells. Data for modulations of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1, and tyrosinase-related protein 2 showed that EA extract inhibited protein expression mentioned above whereas DM extract had the opposite effect. Overall, the experiments indicated that the biofunctional activities of EA extract contained in food and cosmetics protect against oxidation, melanoma, and melanin production.

Melanogenesis is a complex physiological mechanism involving various paracrine factors. Skin cells such as keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and melanocytes communicate with one another through secreted regulators, thereby regulating the melanocytes’ bio-functions. The stem cell factor (SCF) is a paracrine factor produced by fibroblasts, and its receptor, c-kit, is expressed on melanocytes. Binding of SCF to c-kit activates autophosphorylation and tyrosine kinase to switch on its signal transmission. SCF inhibition does not suppress fibroblast proliferation in MTT assay, and SCF silencing induced mRNA expressions of paracrine factor genes, HGF, NRG-1, and CRH in qPCR results. Following UVB stimulation, gene expressions of HGF, NRG, and CRH were higher than homeostasis; in particular, HGF exhibited the highest correlation with SCF variations. We detected fibroblasts regulated SCF in an autocrine-dependent manner, and the conditioned medium obtained from fibroblast culture was applied to treat melanocytes. Melanogenesis-related genes, tyrosinase and pmel17, were upregulated under conditioned mediums with SCF silencing and exposed to UVB treatments. Melanin quantities in the melanocytes had clearly increased in the pigment content assay. In conclusion, SCF silencing causes variations in both fibroblast paracrine factors and melanocyte melanogenesis, and the differences in gene expressions were observed following UVB exposure.

Via combination of a novel acid-promoted rearrangement of acetal functionality with the controlled installation of the epoxide unit to create the pivotal epoxide intermediates in enantiomerically pure form, a simple, concise, flexible, and readily scalable enantiodivergent synthesis of (+)- and (-)-shikimic acids and (+)- and (-)-4-epi-shikimic acids has emerged. This simple strategy not only provides an efficient approach to shikimic acids but also can readily be adopted for the synthesis of (+)- and (-)-pinitols. These concise total syntheses exemplify the use of pivotal allylic epoxide 14 and its enantiomer ent-14. A readily available inexpensive C2-symmetric L-tartaric acid (7) served as key precursor. In general, the strategy here provides a neat example of the use of a four-carbon chiron and offers a good account of the synthesis of functionalized cyclohexane targets.