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Two new clerodane diterpenoids (1 and 2), a new pyran-2-one derivative (3), along with five known compounds (4‒8), were isolated from Croton crassifolius. Notably, crassifolin X (1) is a novel clerodane diterpenoid, characterized with a peculiar δ-lactone core being formed between C-1 and C-4. Their structures, including absolute configurations, were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods (UV, IR, HRESIMS and NMR), and circular dichroism experiments. In addition, all compounds were evaluated for their anti-neuroinflammatory activities based on the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 levels on LPS-induced BV2 cells, and compounds 1‒3 and 5 showed potential anti-neuroinflammatory activity.

The microstructural observation, the mass loss test, potentiodynamic polarization measurements and corrosion morphology examinations were conducted to study the influence of microstructural characteristics on corrosion behavior of Mg–5Sn–3In alloys in Hank's solution after extrusion. The results show that the corrosion rate of the as-cast alloy is similar to that of as-extruded alloy; however, the local corrosion susceptibility is greatly weakened in the as-extruded alloy, especially in the extrusion direction. The relatively uniform corrosion morphology of the as-extruded alloy is attributed to refined Mg2Sn particles, uniform distribution of Mg2Sn particles and favorable crystal orientation. Meanwhile, the cytotoxicity tests confirm that the Mg–5Sn–3In alloy exhibits cytotoxicity of Grade 0–1 for NIH3T3 cells, suggesting an acceptable cytotoxicity of this alloy in the vitro assay.

Five matrine-type alkaloids (1‒5) including two new compounds (1 and 3) and a new natural product (2) were isolated from the roots of Sophora tonkinesis. Their structures were identified by extensive spectroscopic analysis (UV, IR, HRESIMS and NMR). The absolute configurations of 2 and 3 were determined by X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1‒5 were evaluated their activity against inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 levels on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, and compound 1 showed the most significant activity, potent than that of matrine, the representative ingredient from Sophora plants.

C19H22O7, orthorhombic, P21 (no. 4), a = 6.4154(1) Å, b = 7.8782(2) Å, c = 17.1555(4) Å, β = 91.021(2)°, V = 866.93(3) Å3, Z = 2, R gt (F) = 0.0326, wR ref (F 2) = 0.1028, T = 150 K.

One new alkaloid, 6, 7-dimethoxyisoquinoline

Pegaharines A-G (1-6), six novel β-carboline alkaloids representing three types of skeleton, were isolated from the seeds of Peganum harmala. Compound 1 is a peculiar β-carboline alkaloid characterized by the unprecedented carbon skeleton of an azepine-indole system. Compounds 3-6 represent the first examples of heterodimers constructed from rare tetracyclic β-carboline and classic tricyclic β-carboline alkaloids. Compounds 1 and 2 were characterized by X-ray crystallography. Compound 4 exhibited strong antiviral activity against HSV-2, with an IC50 value of 2.12 ± 0.14 μM.

Exidia glandulosa is a cosmopolitan species, and it was commonly reported from China. Seventeen specimens with close resemblance to the species by having blackish, gelatinous basidiocarps were analyzed based on morphological and molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses were performed by the combined ITS+nLSU dataset and the combined ITS+nLSU+TEF1-a + RPB2 dataset, and 20 ITS, 20 nLSU, 22 TEF1-a, and 20 RPB2 sequences were newly generated. Seventeen specimens were gathered into three different lineages in phylogenies, and they were identified as three species, E. glandulosa s. str. and two new species, E. reflexa and E. subglandulosa, respectively. The two new species differ from E. glandulosa s. str. by the absence of papillae on hymenial surface, and E. reflexa differs from E. subglandulosa by obvious effused-reflexed basidiocarps and smaller basidia and basidiospores. Detailed characteristics with morphological photos of two new species were provided here.

Six undescribed abietane-type diterpenoids (tripterydinoids A-F) and five undescribed oleanane-type triterpenoids (tripterytrinoids A-E) were obtained and determined from the stem and branch of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. (Celastraceae). Tripterydinoids A-C possessed the abietane-type diterpenoid skeleton with rare 8, 9-epoxy ring. The structures of undescribed compounds were established by extensive spectroscopic studies [HRESIMS, 1D/2D-NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation]. The absolute configurations of tripterydinoids A, B, E and tripterytrinoid A were defined by X-ray crystallographic analyses. Bioactivity screening indicated that tripterydinoids A-C exhibited potent inhibitory effects against NO release in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC

A new aromatic glycoside (1) and a new natural product, neolignan (2), along with twenty-three known compounds (3-25), were isolated from the thorns of Gleditsia sinensis. According to the spectros...

Two new isoquinoline alkaloids, 6 R,6aS-N-nantenine Nβ-oxide (1), 6S,6aS-N-nantenine Nα-oxide (2), along with nine known alkaloids, nantenine (3), oxonantenine (4), protopine (5), nornantenine (6),...

Five new matrine-type alkaloid dimers, alopecuroides A-E, were isolated from the aerial parts of Sophora alopecuroides. Alopecuroides A and B represent the first dimeric matrine-type alkaloids possessing a cyano group and an epoxy moiety. Alopecuroides C and D are dimeric matrine-type alkaloids connected via C-2-C-9' and C-10-C-3' bonds, respectively. The chemical structures of alopecuroides A-E were elucidated by spectroscopic methods combined with single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The anti-inflammatory effects of alopecuroides A-E were evaluated, and alopecuroide B exhibited the most significant activity, better than that of matrine, the representative compound from S. alopecuroides.

Copper is the most common interconnected materials in the field of microelectronic packaging, and it is widely used in various advanced package technologies, such as redistribution layer (RDL), copper pillar (CuP) and under bump metallization (UBM) etc. However, the rapid development of packaging technology, decreasing size and increasing Joule heat make a great challenge on the mechanical properties and thermal stability of copper interconnected materials. It was widely reported that the nanotwinned copper had very high strength and excellent conductivity, which was quite suitable for the next generation interconnected materials. However, different from electroplating thin films, the achievement of uniformity and flatness for electroplating ultra-fine pitch nanotwinned RDLs would be difficult since the line width was as low as 1.5µm. Through the study of growth mechanism and additives effect, we had invented an acid nanotwinned copper electrolyte as reported previously. So in our study, the evaluation of modified nanotwinned copper electrolyte was conducted in order to clarify its performance of on the electroplating ultra-fine pitch RDLs. Also, three kinds of commercial RDL electrolytes were served as comparisons. In detail, different electrolytes were evaluated from the aspect of microstructure, hardness, thermal stability, uniformity and flatness. Firstly, the morphology of electroplating copper film was characterized by focus ion beam (FIB), and then the hardness was measured. The thermal stability was revealed by the hardness evolution before and after heat treatment test. Finally, the 1.5µm, 4pm and 1.5µm RDLs were electroplated on a patterned wafer, and their uniformity and flatness were calculated. Both uniformity and flatness showed a decreasing tendency basically when the line width kept decreasing. The uniformity and flatness were 6.73~13.89% and 2.32~4.17% respectively for nanotwinned copper electrolyte, which was at the upper level compared to the commercial RDL electrolytes.

A phytochemical investigation on the alkaloids from water-soluble part of Sophora alopecuroides led to obtain forty matrine-type alkaloids (1–40) including eighteen new ones (1–18), which covers almost all positions of the oxygen substitution in matrine-type structure. Notably, eight compounds (1–8) belong to rare bis-amide matrine-type alkaloid. The new structures were determined based on extensive spectroscopic data, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, and six instances, verified by X-ray crystallography. Most of isolates showed anti-neuroinflammatory activities based on the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 in BV2 microglia cells. Especially, compound 39 can suppress those two mediator secretions in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values of 21.6 ± 0.5 and 16.7 ± 0.8 μM, respectively. Further mechanistic study revealed that 39 suppressed the phosphorylation of IκBα and p65 subunit to regulate the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Ten new dihydroagarofuran sesquiterpene polyol esters, tripterdines A-J (1-10) were isolated from the stem and branch of Tripterygium wilfordii. The structures of new compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including UV, IR, HRESIMS, NMR, and CD exciton chirality method. The structures of compounds 1, 3, and 6 were confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analyses. The anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities were assessed for all the compounds (1-10). Compounds 3, 5 and 10 exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activities with the secretion level of TNF-α ranging from 43.86% to 51.27%, and the IL-6 ranging from 32.44% to 50.64%. In addition, compounds 1, 3, 7 and 9 showed weak cytotoxicities against three human tumor cell lines (Huh7, MCF-7 and HCT-116).

Three new sesquiterpene lactones, named scabertopinolides H - J (

In recent years, the health effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have attracted increasing attention. However, there is no published literature conducting a bibliometric analysis to explore the tendency. The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of the research on the health effects of VOCs over the past 16 years. Based on the data retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database, several bibliometric indicators mainly including topics (keywords), journals, co-citation relationship, leading countries and institutions were evaluated. Among the 1,035 articles, the top three high-yield years were 2018 (n = 122), 2016 (n = 120), and 2017 (n = 105). Through co-citation analysis, TOP 10 clusters were obtained (respectively, BTEX, VOCs, indoor air, radon, indoor chemistry, VOC, photocatalytic oxidation, urinary metabolites of volatile organic compounds, fungal volatiles and nitrogen dioxide). Then, by constructing co-occurrence network of keywords, we revealed that “exposure” and “emissions” are two hotspots in the literature examined. Also, the results demonstrated that USA is the leading country (n = 294) and TSINGHUA UNIV. is the leading institution (n = 24). Moreover, the top three popular journals publishing the topic on health effects of VOCs were identified, respectively Atmos. Environ., Environ. Sci. Technol. and Indoor Air. Notably, in the literature examined, the most common diseases potentially associated with VOCs are mainly involved in the respiratory system, blood system and inflammation. Therefore, this study assessed publications on health effects of VOCs using bibliometric approaches, which provided the research status and trends of the topic and potential hints to future investigation in this field.

Six new compounds, hyperpatulones A–F (1–6), along with ten additional known related derivatives (7–16), were isolated from Hypericum patulum (Guttiferae). Their structures were elucidated by extensive analysis of spectroscopic data (IR, UV, HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR), X-ray crystallography, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy and Rh2(OCOCF3)4-induced ECD. All compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activities on human HepG-2, HeLa, MCF-7, and A549 cell lines via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Compound 5 exhibited significant cytotoxicities against HepG-2, HeLa and A549 cell lines with IC50 values of 9.52 ± 0.27, 11.87 ± 0.22 and 12.63 ± 0.12 μM, respectively.

Two new oleanane-type triterpenoids (1–2), a new ursane-type triterpenoid (3), and a new podocarpane-type diterpenoid (4), together with 20 known compounds (5–24) were isolated from the stems of Celastrus hindsii Benth. Their structures were identified on the basis of the spectral data (HRESIMS, IR, UV, 1D, and 2D NMR) and the absolute configurations were determined by comparison of experimental and calculated ECD data. The structures of 1 and 4 were further confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, all compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antiviral activities against respiratory syncytium virus (RSV) using cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assay. Compounds 7, 10, 11, 19 and 24 exhibited obvious anti-RSV activity with IC50 values from 1.55 to 6.25 μM.

Five novel quinolizidine-based alkaloids (1-5) were obtained from the seeds of Sophora alopecuroides L. Compounds 1 and 2 are the first examples of sparteine-indolizine and matrine-indolizine alkaloids, respectively, whereas 3 and 4 are epimeric normatrine-julolidine alkaloids with unusual skeletons. The structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and electronic circular dichroism analyses. Hypothetical biosynthetic pathways of 1-5 were proposed. Compound 2 exhibited significant antiviral activity against the hepatitis B virus.

Seven undescribed phloroglucinol derivatives, tomentodiones N−T, and eleven known ones were isolated from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa. Tomentodione N is the first example of a β-triketone unit coupled with an isoamyl alcohol through a furan fused-ring, and tomentodiones N, S, T were three racemates. The undescribed structures were elucidated by means of spectroscopic, X-ray diffraction, electronic circular dichroism calculation, and chemical methods. In addition, the isolated compounds were determined for the cytotoxic activities on HeLa cells and anti-inflammatory activities in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells.

Background The aim of this research is to present our experience with the combined use of pedicled neurotrophic flap and distraction osteogenesis in management of complex lower extremity injuries with composite bone and soft tissue defects and assess the functional and cosmetic results of this method.Methods Between 2008 and 2016, soft tissue coverage with pedicled neurotrophic flap followed by distraction osteogenesis using Ilizarov external fixator was performed in 25 patients for reconstruction of segmental bone defects of lower extremity complicated by massive loss of soft tissue. There were 16 men and 9 women: their mean age was 39 years (23 to 57) at the time of surgery. The soft tissue defect after radical debridement ranged from 5 × 9 cm2 to 11 × 14 cm2, and the average size of segmental defect was 5.02 (2.5 to 7.5) cm.Results The distally based sural neurovascular flap was performed in 13 patients, and the greater saphenous neurocutaneous perforator flap in 12 patients. All flaps survived completely without complications. The bone defects were corrected by a mean lengthening of 6.74 (4.5 to 9.5) cm. The function was judged to be excellent in 12 patients and good in 13 patients. Bone results were graded as excellent in 18 patients and good in 7 patients. Complications observed in the process of the treatment included pain, pin tract infections (PTI), ankle midfoot joints stiffness, and nonunion of docking sites. All the cases achieved successful limb salvage and satisfactory function recovery without recurrence of infection.Conclusions The combined technique of a perforator artery pedicled neurotrophic flap and distraction osteogenesis should be considered to be an effective alternative approach in the salvage treatment of the massively traumatized and chronically infected lower extremity.Trial registration: This article has been retrospectively registered.

Pegaharines A-G (

C19H22O8, orthorhombic, P212121 (no. 19), a = 4.63150(10) Å, b = 9.4846(3) Å, c = 39.7929(11) Å, V = 1748.02(8) Å3, Z = 4, R gt (F) = 0.0340, wR ref (F 2) = 0.0892, T = 150 K.

A new sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloid (

A new aromatic glycoside (

Three new acylphloroglucinol glucosides, rhodosides A-C (1–3), and three known ones (4–6) were isolated from the roots of Lysidice rhodostegia. The new structures were identified by MS, NMR, and acid hydrolysis. In addition, the antioxidant capacities of the isolated compounds were evaluated using DPPH radical-scavenging assay, and compounds 1–6 exhibited obvious antioxidant activities with IC50 values of 24.65 ± 1.27 to 38.11 ± 1.35 μM.

Five new matrine-type alkaloid dimers, alopecuroides A-E, were isolated from the aerial parts of

Ovarian cancer is a major cause of mortality in women. However, the molecular events underlying the pathogenesis of the disease are yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, an integrated bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify core genes involved in serous epithelial ovarian cancer. A total of three expression datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, and included 46 serous epithelial ovarian cancer and 30 ovarian surface epithelium samples. The three datasets were merged, and batch normalization was performed. The normalized merged data were subsequently analyzed for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). In total, 2,212 DEGs were identified, including 1,300 upregulated and 912 downregulated genes. Gene Ontology analysis revealed that these DEGs were primarily involved in 'regulation of cell cycle', 'mitosis', 'DNA packaging' and 'nucleosome assembly'. The main cellular components included 'extracellular region part', 'chromosome', 'extracellular matrix' and 'condensed chromosome kinetochore', whereas the molecular functions included 'Calcium ion binding', 'polysaccharide binding', 'enzyme inhibitor activity', 'growth factor activity', 'cyclin-dependent protein kinase regulator activity', 'microtubule motor activity' and 'Wnt receptor activity'. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed that these DEGs were predominantly involved in 'Wnt signaling pathway', 'pathways in cancer', 'PI3K-Akt signaling pathway', 'cell cycle', 'ECM-receptor interaction', 'p53 signaling pathway' and 'focal adhesion'. The 20 most significant DEGs were identified from the protein-protein interaction network, and Oncomine analysis of these core genes revealed that 13 were upregulated and two were downregulated in serous epithelial ovarian cancer. Survival analysis revealed that cyclin B1, polo like kinase 1, G protein subunit γ transducin 1 and G protein subunit γ 12 are key molecules that may be involved in the prognosis of serous epithelial ovarian cancer. These core genes may provide novel treatment targets, although their roles in the carcinogenesis and prognosis of serous epithelial ovarian cancer require further study.