Antiproliferation and cell apoptosis inducing bioactivities of constituents from Dysosma versipellis in PC3 and Bcap-37 cell lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, interest in phytochemicals from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs with the capability to inhibit cancer cells growth and proliferation has been growing rapidly due to their nontoxic nature. <it>Dysosma versipellis </it>as Bereridaceae plants is an endemic species in China, which has been proved to be an important Chinese herbal medicine because of its biological activity. However, systematic and comprehensive studies on the phytochemicals from <it>Dysosma versipellis </it>and their bioactivity are limited.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifteen compounds were isolated and characterized from the roots of <it>Dysosma versipellis</it>, among which six compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time. The inhibitory activities of these compounds were investigated on tumor cells PC3, Bcap-37 and BGC-823 <it>in vitro </it>by MTT method, and the results showed that podophyllotoxone (PTO) and 4'-demethyldeoxypodophyllotoxin (DDPT) had potent inhibitory activities against the growth of human carcinoma cell lines. Subsequent fluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis indicated that these two compounds could induce apoptosis in PC3 and Bcap-37 cells, and the apoptosis ratios reached the peak (12.0% and 14.1%) after 72 h of treatment at 20 <it>μ</it>M, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study suggests that most of the compounds from the roots of <it>D. versipellis </it>could inhibit the growth of human carcinoma cells. In addition, PTO and DDPT could induce apoptosis of tumor cells.</p

Phosphatidylserine stimulates ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P) intermembrane transfer by C1P transfer proteins

Genetic models for studying localized cell suicide that halt the spread of pathogen infection and immune response activation in plants include Arabidopsis accelerated-cell-death 11 mutant (acd11). In this mutant, sphingolipid homeostasis is disrupted via depletion of ACD11, a lipid transfer protein that is specific for ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P) and phyto-C1P. The C1P binding site in ACD11 and in human ceramide-1-phosphate transfer protein (CPTP) is surrounded by cationic residues. Here, we investigated the functional regulation of ACD11 and CPTP by anionic phosphoglycerides and found that 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidic acid or 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol (≤15 mol %) in C1P source vesicles depressed C1P intermembrane transfer. By contrast, replacement with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylserine stimulated C1P transfer by ACD11 and CPTP. Notably, “soluble” phosphatidylserine (dihexanoyl-phosphatidylserine) failed to stimulate C1P transfer. Also, none of the anionic phosphoglycerides affected transfer action by human glycolipid lipid transfer protein (GLTP), which is glycolipid-specific and has few cationic residues near its glycolipid binding site. These findings provide the first evidence for a potential phosphoglyceride headgroup-specific regulatory interaction site(s) existing on the surface of any GLTP-fold and delineate new differences between GLTP superfamily members that are specific for C1P versus glycolipid

Association between pelvic floor muscle strength and sexual function based on PISQ-12—an analysis of data from a multicenter cross-sectional study on 735 nulliparae during pregnancy

BackgroundPelvic floor muscle strength is well-known to be associated with female sexual function. However, there were a few studies that reported on the relationship between pelvic floor muscle strength and female sexual function in pregnant women, and the presented results were inconsistent. Nulliparae represent a specific cohort with simplicity to exclude confounding factors that are caused by parity. The present study aimed to explore the association of pelvic floor muscle strength and sexual function based on the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire (PISQ-12) of nulliparae during pregnancy.MethodsThis is the second analysis of the baseline data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), which aimed to study the protective efficacy of pelvic floor muscle training on stress urinary incontinence at 6th week postpartum (registration number: ChiCTR2000029618). Nulliparae aged 20–40 years with singleton pregnancy before 16 weeks of gestation were enrolled in this study, and data, including participants' demographic information, the Modified Oxford Scale (MOS), and PISQ-12, were collected. Eligible nulliparae were divided into two groups: Group MOS &gt; 3 and Group MOS ≤ 3. Demographic information of the two groups was compared. Sexual function based on the PISQ-12 scores of the two groups was compared. A comparison of the PISQ-12 scores between the two groups was calculated by the Mann–Whitney U-test using SPSS version 23.0.ResultsA total of 735 eligible nulliparae were enrolled in this study. Along with MOS grading up, PISQ-12 scores tended to get lower. Of the 735 nulliparae, there were 378 and 357 participants included in Group MOS &gt; 3 and Group MOS ≤ 3, respectively. The PISQ-12 scores of Group MOS &gt; 3 were significantly lower than those of Group MOS ≤ 3 (11 vs. 12, p &lt; 0.001). The scores of the frequency of feeling sexual desire, orgasm achievement, sexual excitement, sexual activity satisfaction, sexual intercourse pain, fear of urinary incontinence, and negative emotion reactions with the sexual intercourse of Group MOS &gt; 3 were lower than those of Group MOS ≤ 3 (p &lt; 0.05).ConclusionPelvic floor muscle strength was positively associated with sexual function based on the questionnaire of young nulliparae during their first trimester. Up to half of the nulliparae during the first trimester were suffering from weak pelvic floor muscle strength and nearly a quarter of the nulliparae were facing this weakness combined with sexual dysfunction.Trial registrationThis study has been registered at http://www.chictr.org.cn (registration number: ChiCTR2000029618)

The Effects of ATIR Blocker on the Severity of COVID-19 in Hypertensive Inpatients and Virulence of SARS-CoV-2 in Hypertensive hACE2 Transgenic Mice.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is required for the cellular entry of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. ACE2, via the Ang-(1-7)-Mas-R axis, is part of the antihypertensive and cardioprotective effects of the renin-angiotensin system. We studied hospitalized COVID-19 patients with hypertension and hypertensive human(h) ACE2 transgenic mice to determine the outcome of COVID-19 with or without AT1 receptor (AT1R) blocker treatment. The severity of the illness and the levels of serum cardiac biomarkers (CK, CK-BM, cTnI), as well as the inflammation markers (IL-1, IL-6, CRP), were lesser in hypertensive COVID-19 patients treated with AT1R blockers than those treated with other antihypertensive drugs. Hypertensive hACE2 transgenic mice, pretreated with AT1R blocker, had increased ACE2 expression and SARS-CoV-2 in the kidney and heart, 1 day post-infection. We conclude that those hypertensive patients treated with AT1R blocker may be at higher risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, AT1R blockers had no effect on the severity of the illness but instead may have protected COVID-19 patients from heart injury, via the ACE2-angiotensin1-7-Mas receptor axis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12265-021-10147-3

A new array extension configuration method based on nesting and minimum redundancy

Abstract While the uniform linear array (ULA) is a well‐known array configuration being widely used in various practical application scenarios, it also encounters numerous challenges in the field of direction‐of‐arrival (DOA) estimation. Specifically, it is difficult for the ULA to achieve a satisfactory DOA estimation accuracy, especially in the case of closely spaced sources. That is because that the resolvability of ULA is severely restricted by its limited DOA. To circumvent this issue and further improve the DOA estimation performance, a new array geometry is designed. Inspired by the fact that some linear sparse co‐arrays can yield higher DOFs and larger array apertures, the proposed array configuration is developed by nesting two or more minimum‐redundant arrays in a dedicated way. The simulation results indicate that the proposed array configuration can significantly increase the DOFs and the length of virtual array apertures, and an improved estimation accuracy can be accepted

Estimation of BRDF model kernel weights under an a priori knowledge-aided constraint

The reflectance anisotropy of land surface serves as an important bridge between surface biophysical parameters and remote sensing observations. It can characterize by the linear kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), which is the combination of several kernel functions and kernel weights. These kernel weights can be estimated by remote sensing; however, the stability of current kernel weights products is still challenging, especially in urban areas with complex aerosol properties and heterogeneous surfaces. In this paper, we propose a method for robust estimation of kernel weights from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface spectral reflectance products (MxD09GA) data based on the constrained least-squares method (CLSM) and a priori knowledge. The kernel weights data were obtained by the CLSM from 2014 to 2017 in Beijing region of China. Validations were carried out using the MxD09GA and BRDF/Albedo products (MCD43A1). The results show that the time series of kernel weights by the CLSM show small variability over different land cover types. The kernel weights estimated by the CLSM can clearly show the phenological signal and fitting ability of surface spectral reflectance is better than that of the MCD43A1 products in Beijing urban area. Experimental results demonstrate that the CLSM has the potential for the robust estimation of kernel weights in urban areas