Chondrosterins A–E, Triquinane-Type Sesquiterpenoids from Soft Coral-Associated Fungus Chondrostereum sp.

The marine fungus Chondrostereum sp. was collected from a soft coral Sarcophyton tortuosum from the South China Sea. This fungus was cultured in potato dextrose broth medium and the culture broth was extracted with EtOAc. Five new triquinane-type sesquiterpenoids, chondrosterins A–E (1–5), and the known sesquiterpenoid hirsutanol C (6), were isolated. The structures were elucidated mainly on the basis of NMR, MS, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction data. Chondrosterin A (1) showed significant cytotoxic activities against cancer lines A549, CNE2, and LoVo with IC50 values of 2.45, 4.95, and 5.47 μM, respectively

Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags from a cDNA library of the fruiting body of Ganoderma lucidum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little genomic or trancriptomic information on <it>Ganoderma lucidum </it>(<it>Lingzhi</it>) is known. This study aims to discover the transcripts involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis and developmental regulation of <it>G. lucidum </it>using an expressed sequence tag (EST) library.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cDNA library was constructed from the <it>G</it>. <it>lucidum </it>fruiting body. Its high-quality ESTs were assembled into unique sequences with contigs and singletons. The unique sequences were annotated according to sequence similarities to genes or proteins available in public databases. The detection of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) was preformed by online analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 1,023 clones were randomly selected from the <it>G</it>. <it>lucidum </it>library and sequenced, yielding 879 high-quality ESTs. These ESTs showed similarities to a diverse range of genes. The sequences encoding squalene epoxidase (SE) and farnesyl-diphosphate synthase (FPS) were identified in this EST collection. Several candidate genes, such as <it>hydrophobin</it>, <it>MOB2</it>, <it>profilin </it>and <it>PHO84 </it>were detected for the first time in <it>G</it>. <it>lucidum</it>. Thirteen (13) potential SSR-motif microsatellite loci were also identified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study demonstrates a successful application of EST analysis in the discovery of transcripts involved in the secondary metabolite biosynthesis and the developmental regulation of <it>G. lucidum</it>.</p

Amphiregulin/epidermal growth factor receptor/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α pathway regulates T helper 9 and T cytotoxic 9 cell response in adult patients with infectious mononucleosis

Amphiregulin (AREG)/epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), leading to promotion of T helper 9 (Th9) differentiation and anti-tumor functions. However, the role of the AREG/EGFR/HIF-1α pathway in regulating interleukin-9 (IL-9) production by T cells in adult patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) has not been fully elucidated. Fifty IM patients and 20 controls were enrolled. The percentages of Th9 and T cytotoxic 9 (Tc9) cells, the mRNA relative expressions of the transcription factors of IL-9-secreting T cells, purine-rich nucleic acid binding protein 1 (PU.1) and forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1), and the levels of IL-9, AREG, EGFR, and HIF-1α were measured. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from IM patients were stimulated with EGFR inhibitor or exogenous AREG in the presence or absence of anti-HIF-1α. Regulation of the AREG/EGFR/HIF-1α pathway to IL-9 production by T cells was assessed. The percentages of Th9 and Tc9 cells, plasma IL-9 levels, and PU.1 and FOXO1 mRNA expressions were elevated in IM patients. Plasma levels of AREG and HIF-1α were also increased in IM patients. AREG levels correlated positively with the percentages of Th9 and Tc9 cells in IM patients. Inhibition of EGFR suppressed IL-9-producing T cell differentiation and HIF-1α production. Exogenous AREG stimulation not only induced EGFR and HIF-1α expression but also promoted IL-9-secreting T cell differentiation. Neutralization of HIF-1α abrogated AREG/EGFR-induced Th9 and Tc9 differentiation in IM patients. The current data suggested that the AREG/EGFR/HIF-1α pathway contributed to the elevation of Th9 and Tc9 differentiation in IM patients

Realization of corner and helical edge states in topologically trivial band gap by twig edge

The twig edge states in graphene-like structures are viewed as the fourth states complementary to their zigzag, bearded, and armchair counterparts. In this work, we study a rod-in-plasma system in honeycomb lattice with twig edges under external magnetic fields and lattice scaling and show that twig edge states can exist in different phases of the system, such as quantum Hall phase, quantum spin Hall phase and insulating phase. The twig edge states in the quantum Hall phase exhibit robust one-way transmission property immune to backscattering and thus provide a novel avenue for solving the plasma communication blackout problem. Moreover, we demonstrate that corner and edge states can exist within the trivial band gap of the insulating phase by modulating the on-site potential of the twig edges. Especially, helical edge states with the unique feature of pseudospin-momentum locking that could be exited by chiral sources are demonstrated at the twig edges within the trivial band gap. Our results show that many topological-like behaviors of electromagnetic waves are not necessarily tied to the exact topology of the systems and the twig edges and interface engineering can bring new opportunities for more flexible manipulation of electromagnetic waves

A Global Decision Support System for Garment Manufacturing by Using Genetic Algorithm

In the recent years, each industry has to face the situation of making the decisions from global markets, especially the industries within lower technicality. These industries earn money hardly in the perfectly competitive markets. Sometimes, decision makers have to decide how to allot orders in the different factories because of distinctive requests from individual consumer. It is necessary to find a way to help managers with making a decision and allotting orders effectively. The purpose of this study tries to develop a decision support system (DSS) to help the managers and decision makers of a real garment industry In Taiwan to decide order allocation, and we used genetic algorithm (GA) for analysis tools and results would be showed by visual graphs to assist managers in decision making. By decision support systems, managers and decision makers might decide order allocation quickly and save the costs. Finally, the decision support system results in a visional frame within lowest cost, and managers decide order allocation with effectiveness by graphs. With this information, decision makers might make different decisions in unlike situations for dissimilar goals. The system had developed to be used easily and suitable to the garment industries and other similar manufacturing industries

Research progress in efficacy and mechanism of decreasing blood glucose by food nutrients

At present,the common food nutrients with hypoglycemic effect were divided into five categories：water-soluble dietary fiber,polysaccharides,flavonoids,saponins,trace elements.Animal experiments are mostly used to study the hypoglycemic effect of related nutrients.The hypoglycemic efficacy and its mechanism of the nutrients with different variety,different sources and different doses on diabetic mice and rats were systematically analyzed and summarized,in order to provide scientific and reasonable suggestions about the daily dietary choice for diabetic patients,and to offer reference for the research and development of health food suitable for diabetic patients