Effect of Ecklonia kurome extract on thyroid hormone disorder in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Ecklonia kurome extract (EKE) on thyroid hormone concentrations in male mice.Methods: Mice were administered EKE by gastric intubation for 15 days. PTU or L-T4 was set as positive control. Twenty-four hours after the last administration, all animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Blood was collected and serum samples assayed for T3 and T4. Furthermore, the liver was removed for biochemical analysis.Results: T3 and T4 serum levels in mice decreased after the administration of EKE. The relative potency of EKE was calculated in terms of percent increase or decrease in thyroid hormones. Compared with the control value, the decrease in T3  concentration by a high dose of EKE was approximately 64.32 %. Compared with the control group, hepatic LPO decreased (p < 0.01) while superoxide dismutase (SOD, p < 0.01) and catalase (CAT, p < 0.01) activities were significantly increased by the high dose of EKE, thus indicating its anti-peroxidative role.Conclusion: This suggests that EKE may be useful for the treatment of  hyperthyroidism, but further studies are required to ascertain this.Keywords: Ecklonia kurome, Thyroid hormone, Anti-peroxidative, Hyperthyroidis

The Study of Rare Bc→Ds,d(∗)llˉB_c\rightarrow D^{(*)}_{s,d}l\bar{l} Decays

In this paper, we study rare decays $B_c\rightarrow D^{(*)}_{s,d}l\bar{l}$ within the Standard Model. The penguin, box, annihilation, color-favored cascade and color-suppressed cascade contributions are included. Based on our calculation, the annihilation and color-favored cascade diagrams play important roles in the differential branching fractions, forward-backward asymmetries, longitudinal polarizations of the final vector mesons and leptonic longitudinal polarization asymmetries. More importantly, color-favored cascade decays largely enhance the resonance cascade contributions. To avoid the resonance cascade contribution pollution, new cutting regions are put forward.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figure

Oxyphyllones A and B, novel sesquiterpenes with an unusual 4,5-secoeudesmane skeleton from Alpinia oxyphylla

Two novel 4,5-secoeudesmane sesquiterpenoids, oxyphyllones A (1) and B (2) were isolated from the fruits of Alpinia oxyphylla. Their structures were established by spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NMR spectra. These two compounds are the first example of naturally occurring sesquiterpenoids with a 4,5-secoeudesmane skeleton in the family of Zingiberaceae and oxyphyllone A (1) is the first 4,5-secoeudesmane type of 13-norsesquiterpenoid. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited no cytotoxicities against three cancer cell lines at 10 mg/mL

ELISA for Aging Biomarkers Induced by Telomere Dysfunction in Human Plasma

Background. We identified cathelicidin related antimicrobial protein (CRAMP) secreted from telomere dysfunctional bone marrow cells of late generation telomerase knockout mice (G4mTerc−/−), increased in blood and various tissues. It can represented human aging and disease. The main aim of this study is to investigate the sensitive direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to analyze the human aging and disease in plasma and the detailed methods to quantify the direct ELISA of these aging biomarkers. Methods. Telomere lengths of 50 healthy persons are measured with real-time PCR in blood cells. Plasma samples from all subjects are analyzed using direct ELISA. Results. From 25 years old person to 78 years, the telomere length becomes shorter during aging. In blood plasma, the expression levels of CRAMP increases during human aging. There is the reverse correspondence between the telomere length and the plasma CRAMP level. We also find that the fresh plasma, the frozen plasma which thawed less than 3 times, and the plasma kept in the room temperature less than 3 hours are better for the ELISA analyze of CRAMP in the plasma. Conclusion. This CRAMP ELISA could become a powerful tool for investigating the relationship between human aging and telomere length shortening

A novel procedure for precise quantification of Schistosoma japonicum eggs in bovine feces

Schistosomiasis japonica is a zoonosis with a number of mammalian species acting as reservoir hosts, including water buffaloes which can contribute up to 75% to human transmission in the People's Republic of China. Determining prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma japonicum in mammalian hosts is important for calculating transmission rates and determining environmental contamination. A new procedure, the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation-digestion (FEA-SD) technique, for increased visualization of S. japonicum eggs in bovine feces, is described that is an effective technique for identifying and quantifying S. japonicum eggs in fecal samples from naturally infected Chinese water buffaloes and from carabao (water buffalo) in the Philippines. The procedure involves filtration, sedimentation, potassium hydroxide digestion and centrifugation steps prior to microscopy. Bulk debris, including the dense cellulosic material present in bovine feces, often obscures schistosome eggs with the result that prevalence and infection intensity based on direct visualization cannot be made accurately. This technique removes nearly 70% of debris from the fecal samples and renders the remaining debris translucent. It allows improved microscopic visualization of S. japonicum eggs and provides an accurate quantitative method for the estimation of infection in bovines and other ruminant reservoir hosts. We show that the FEA-SD technique could be of considerable value if applied as a surveillance tool for animal reservoirs of S. japonicum, particularly in areas with low to high infection intensity, or where, following control efforts, there is suspected elimination of schistosomiasis japonica.This work was partially supported by the following grants: The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (grant No. 2007AA02Z153), and National Science and Technology Major Program (grant Nos. 2009ZX10004-302, 2008ZX10004-011)

Bis(2-carboxybenzo­ato-κO 1)bis­[1-cyclo­propyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-7-(piperazin-4-ium-1-yl)-1,4-dihydro­quinoline-3-carboxyl­ato-κ2 O 3,O 4]manganese(II) dihydrate

The title compound, [Mn(C17H18FN3O3)2(C8H5O4)2]·2H2O or [Mn(cfH)2(1,2-Hbdc)2]·2H2O (cfH = ciprofloxacin = 1-cyclo­propyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-piperazin­yl)-3-quinoline carb­oxy­lic acid, 1,2-bdc = benzene-1,2-dicarboxyl­ate), has been prepared under hydro­thermal conditions. The Mn2+ atom, located on an inversion centre, exhibits a distorted octa­hedral geometry, coordinated by four O atoms from two symmetry-related zwitterionic ciprofloxacin ligands in the equatorial positions and two O atoms of two 1,2-Hbdc ligands in the axial positions. The complex mol­ecules are linked into a two-dimensional network through N—H⋯O and OW—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. A strong intramolecular hydrogen bond between the carboxyl/carboxylate groups of the 1,2-Hbdc anion is also present. The layers are further extended through off-set aromatic π–π stacking inter­actions of cfH groups [centroid–centroid distance of 3.657 (2) Å] into the final three-dimensional supra­molecular arrays