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Bamboo can be used in a variety of ways, including as fuel and as household and construction materials. Due to its versatility, the material is of high economic value. This study investigated the fuel properties of six bamboo species grown in Indonesia. Each bamboo sample was carbonized at different temperatures. Proximate and ultimate analyses were carried out on the bamboo samples. The thermal maturity of the bamboo samples as a solid fuel was investigated by the van Krevelen diagram. The efficiency of bamboo at each carbonizing temperature was determined based on the char yield, energy densification rate, energy efficiency, and calorific value. The results showed that the ash and fixed carbon contents of carbonized bamboo increased with an increasing carbonization temperature; while the volatile matter decreased. Significant changes in the fuel properties were observed between 200 °C and 400 °C. Carbonized bamboos showed lower sulfur contents in comparison to other fossil fuels. Ampel bamboo showed a calorific value of 18 MJ/kg to 32 MJ/kg, which was the highest value among the samples. Bamboo carbonized at temperatures above 600 °C showed a thermal maturity of coal grade. The results of this study can be used for utilizing Indonesian bamboo as a fuel source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to evaluate the effect of temperature and clamping method during heat treatment on the properties of high density Okan wood. Heat treatment of sapwood and heartwood was conducted using an electric oven with a programmable controller at 160 °C, 180 °C, 200 °C, and 220 °C for 2 h. Physical and mechanical properties were compared before and after the heat treatment process. The color change (ΔE*), weight loss, and volume shrinkage increased with increasing temperature, whereas the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and water absorption (WA) decreased in both types of wood. The wood density was not affected by temperature, and the magnitude of ΔE* in sapwood was the highest, while the magnitude of weight loss, volume shrinkage, EMC, and WA in heartwood was higher than in sapwood. The clamping method affected ΔE* in heartwood only, while the weight loss, volume shrinkage, EMC, and WA was affect in both types of wood. A significant reduction in the mechanical properties occurred after heat treatment at 200 °C and 220 °C. The reduction of MOR, MOE, and shear strength in heartwood was greater than in sapwood, while the compressive strength reduction in sapwood was the highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of bamboo species and resin content on the physical and mechanical properties of oriented strand boards (OSBs) prepared from steam-treated bamboo strands. The strands from three species of Indonesian bamboo, namely Andong (Gigantochloa verticillata), Betung (Dendrocalamus asper), and Ampel (Bambusa vulgaris), were steamed at 126 °C for 1 h at a pressure of 0.14 MPa. Three-layered OSBs with the core layer oriented perpendicularly to the face layers were prepared by bonding them together with 3 to 5% methylene diphenyldiisocyanate (MDI) resin based on ovendried strands and with the addition of 1% paraffin. The strand compositions for the face, core, and back layers were 25%, 50%, and 25%, respectively. The slenderness ratios and aspect ratios of the strands ranged from 71.02 to 76.60 and from 2.96 to 3.02, respectively. The physical and mechanical properties of the OSBs fabricated from Andong and Betung were better than those from Ampel, and the properties of all OSBs were improved by increasing their resin content. OSBs from Betung with 3 to 5% resin content and those from Andong and Ampel with 4 to 5% resin content showed strength retention of more than 50%, which means they can be used for exterior structural applications. Except for OSBs fabricated from Ampel with 3% resin content, the properties of all OSBs prepared in this study were higher than the minimum values required by the CSA O437.0 (grade O-1) standard (2011). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geldanamycin (GM) is a naturally occurring anticancer agent isolated from several strains of Streptomyces hygroscopicus. However, its potential clinical utility is compromised by its severe toxicity and poor water solubility. For this reason, considerable efforts are under way to make new derivatives that have both good clinical efficacy and high water solubility. On the other hand, glycosylation is often a step that improves the water solubility and/or biological activity in many natural products of biosynthesis. Here, we report the facile production of glucose-conjugated nonbenzoquinone GM analogs using the Bacillus UDP-glycosyl-transferase BL-C. Five aglycon substrates containing nonbenzoquinone aromatic rings were chosen to validate the in vitro glycosylation reaction. Putative glucoside compounds were determined through the presence of a product peak(s) and were also verified using LC/MS analyses. Further, the chemical structures of new glucoside compounds 6 and 7 were elucidated using spectroscopy data. These glucoside compounds showed a dramatic improvement in water solubility compared with that of the original aglycon, nonbenzoquinone GM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which determined the function of violaceol-I and -II in inducing the elongation of cell shape through F-actin aggregation. Researchers noted that the key features of elongation function by violaceol compounds are the presence of 2,2'-dihydroxy groups in the biphenyl system and calcium ions. The study concluded that the study of violaceol function can help in developing new antitumor drugs.

Pseudoceratins A (1) and B (2) have been isolated from the marine sponge Pseudoceratina purpurea. Pseudoceratins are unique among the large class of bromotyrosine-derived sponge metabolites with respect to the substitution pattern of aromatic rings and the presence of spiroacetal and oxime ether functional groups as well as an 1,5-diamino-1,5-dideoxy-D-arabitol tether. Pseudoceratins A (1) and B (2) are epimeric differing in the orientation of the tether. Their structures were determined by analysis of spectral data. The rigidity of the compounds arising from their bridged structure gave ROESYINOESY spectra with many transannular cross-peaks, which allowed the assignment of the relative stereochemistry of 1 and 2 to be established. The D-configuration of the 1,5-diamino-1,5-dideoxyarabitol unit was determined by converting the fragment isolated from the acid hydrolysate to the Mosher's ester and compared the ¹H NMR spectrum with those of standard samples. Pseudoceratins exhibited significant antifungal activity against Candida albicans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes novel stripline models including embedded pores and sharpened conductor edges, which are commonly introduced during the multilayer low-temperature cofired-ceramic (LTCC) process. This model enables designers to obtain conductivity and tan δ of the stripline that are difficult to obtain using the experimental methods from arbitrary frequencies. This paper confirms that the proposed models are appropriate for LTCC striplines by comparing the simulated results with the experimental results. We found that embedded pores contributed to increase in unloaded quality factor (Qu) and characteristic impedance in the range of 5 % to 6 % while effective ϵr decreased in the range of 11%. Sharpened edges contributed to maximum peak in Qu and decreased characteristic impedance. These models will contribute to precision design of the future LTCC striplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An acinar morphogenesis inhibitor named fusarisetin A (1) that possesses both an unprecedented carbon skeleton and a new pentacycic ring system has been identified from an in-house fractionated fungal library using a three-dimensional matrigel-induced acinar morphogenesis assay system. The structure of was determined in detail by NMR and circular dichroism spectroscopy, X-ray analysis, and chemical reaction experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the rheology and curing behavior of UV curable barium titanate suspensions. Influence of the Barium titanate particle size on cure depth; Development of the ferroelectric photoactive suspensions for stereolithography.

Investigates the effect of various stacking sequences of sol-gel-prepared Pb(Zr,Ti)O[sub 3]/PbZrO[sub 3] multilayered thin films on the electric fatigue properties. Antiferroelectric layer between the Pt electrode and the ferroelectric layers that acted as a barrier to fatigue; Leakage current of the multilayered films.

Based on the sclereids in the bark of oak species, a convolutional neural network (CNN) was employed to validate species classification performance and its influencing factors. Three optimizers including stochastic gradient descent (SGD), adaptive moment estimation (Adam), root mean square propagation (RMSProp), and dataset augmentation were adopted. The accuracy and loss stabilized at approximately 15 to 20 and 70 to 80 epochs for the augmented and non-augmented condition, respectively. In the last five epochs, the RMSProp-augmented condition achieved the highest accuracy of 89.8%, whereas the Adam-augmented condition achieved the lowest accuracy of 73.8%. Regarding the loss, SGD-non-augmented condition was the lowest at 0.498, whereas Adamaugmented condition was the highest at 2.740. The highest accuracy was influenced by RMSProp at 0.194. Dataset augmentation had a significant influence on accuracy at 0.456. Homogeneous subsets among the validation conditions indicated that the accuracy and loss were classified into the same subset using an augmented dataset during the training, regardless of the optimizer. Only Adam and RMSProp with nonaugmented datasets were categorized into the same subset during the test. Hence, species classification using CNN and sclereid characteristics in the bark was feasible, and RMSProp with augmented datasets showed optimal performance for species classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical restraint through the use of clamps was applied as an attempt to prevent drying defects during the heat treatment of highdensity wood. Boards of okan (Cylicodiscus gabunensis (Taub.) Harms) with the initial moisture content of 8.99% and 9.68% for sapwood and heartwood, respectively, were prepared. The boards were heat-treated under an oxygen atmosphere at the peak temperatures of 160 °C, 180 °C, 200 °C, and 220 °C with a residence time of 2 h. The occurrence of drying defects as checks (i.e., surface and end checks) and warps (i.e., bow, cup, and twist) were evaluated. Heat treatment stimulated the occurrence of drying defects in okan wood. The results revealed that the surface checks, end checks, and twists increased linearly with increased temperature. The occurrence of warps, such as bow and cup, after heat treatment was relatively low. Heartwood showed a higher degree of drying defects compared to the sapwood. Application of mechanical restraint by clamping efficiently decreased the occurrence of drying defects of okan wood, particularly surface checks, end checks, and twists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to improve the properties of Korean white pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. & Zucc.) and royal paulownia (Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Siebold & Zucc. ex Steud.) via heat treatment. The woods were treated at 160 °C, 180 °C, 200 °C, and 220 °C for 2 h. The effect of mechanical restraint through clamping during heat treatment on the dimensional stability, physical, and mechanical properties was evaluated. The results showed that increased temperature increased the weight loss and volume shrinkage, while equilibrium moisture content and wettability decreased. Royal paulownia showed higher weight loss, but lower shrinkage and equilibrium moisture content, when compared to Korean white pine. The samples with clamps in both woods had lower weight loss and volume shrinkage after heat treatment. The modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture decreased with increased temperature followed by a noticeable decrease obtained after heat treatment at 200 °C and 220 °C. Clamping minimized strength reduction in both woods. Consequently, it was suggested that mechanical restraint was a useful method to maintain the wood properties during heat treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide information on the identification and quality evaluation of Q. variabilis virgin cork from Korea, the qualitative anatomical characteristics of the virgin cork were observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy and compared with those of Q. suber reproduction cork from Portugal. Q. variabilis showed a narrower growth ring than Q. suber. A dark-brown zone with sclereids was found only in Q. variabilis cork. The lenticular channel in Q. variabilis is larger than that in Q. suber. Q. variabilis virgin cork showed a distinct growth ring boundary and an abrupt transition from earlycork to latecork with a few rows of latecork cells. Q. suber reproduction cork showed an indistinct growth ring with a gradual transition from one to two rows of latecork cells. In the earlycork, Q. suber showed mild corrugation, while Q. variabilis displayed significant corrugation with collapsed and distorted cork cells. The lenticular channel in Q. variabilis virgin cork was surrounded by thick-walled cells filled with compact lenticular filling tissue. Q. suber reproduction cork had an opening with loose lenticular filling tissue surrounded by thick-walled cells. Prismatic crystals, thick-walled sclereid cells, and fiber-sclereids were found only in Q. variabilis. A few trabeculae were found in both cork samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we found that chloroform fraction (CF) from TJP ethanolic extract inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of nitric oxide (NO) and intracellular ROS in RAW264.7 cells. In addition, expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) genes was reduced, as evidenced by western blot. Our results indicate that CF exerts anti-inflammatory effects by down-regulating expression of iNOS and COX-2 genes through inhibition of MAPK (ERK, JNK and p38) and NF-κB signaling. Similarly we also evaluated the effects of CF on LPS-induced acute lung injury. Male Balb/c mice were pretreated with dexamethasone or CF 1 h before intranasal instillation of LPS. Eight hours after LPS administration, the inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were determined. The results indicated that CF inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-6 production in a dose dependent manner. It was also observed that CF attenuated LPS-induced lung histopathologic changes. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that the protective effect of CF on LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice might relate to the suppression of excessive inflammatory responses in lung tissue. Thus, it can be suggested that CF might be a potential therapeutic agent for ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Quorum sensing (QS) networks are more commonly known as acyl homoserine lactone (HSL) networks. Recently, p-coumaroyl-HSL has been found in a photosynthetic bacterium. p-coumaroyl-HSL is derived from a lignin monomer, p-coumaric acid, rather than a fatty acyl group. The p-coumaroyl-HSL may serve an ecological role in diverse QS pathways between p-coumaroyl-HSL producing bacteria and specific plants. Interference with QS has been regarded as a novel way to control bacterial infections. Heterologous production of the QS molecule, p-coumaroyl-HSL, could provide a sustainable and controlled means for its large-scale production, in contrast to the restricted feedback regulation and extremely low productivity of natural producers. Results: We developed an artificial biosynthetic process for phenylacetyl-homoserine lactone analogs, including cinnamoyl-HSL, p-coumaroyl-HSL, caffeoyl-HSL, and feruloyl-HSL, using a bioconversion method via E. coli (CB1) in the co-expression of the codon-optimized LuxI-type synthase (RpaI) and p-coumaroyl-CoA ligase (4CL2nt). In addition to this, we show the de novo production of p-coumaroyl-HSL in heterologous host E. coli (DN1) and tyrosine overproducing E. coli (DN2), containing the rpaI gene in addition to p-coumaroyl-CoA biosynthetic genes. The yields for p-coumaroyl-HSL reached 93.4 ± 0.6 and 142.5 ± 1.0 mg/L in the S-adenosyl-l-methionine and l-methionine feeding culture in the DN2 strain, respectively. Conclusions: This is the first report of a de novo biosynthesis in a heterologous host yielding a QS molecule, p-coumaroyl- HSL from a glucose medium using a single vector system combining p-coumaroyl-CoA biosynthetic genes and the LuxI-type synthase gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiogenesis plays a very important role in tumor progression through the creation of new blood vessels. Therefore, angiogenesis inhibitors could contribute to cancer treatment. Here, we show that a microbial metabolite, elaiophylin, exhibits potent antiangiogenic activity from in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis assays. Elaiophylin dramatically suppressed in vitro angiogenic characteristics such as proliferation, migration, adhesion, invasion and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) stimulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at non-toxic concentrations. In addition, elaiophylin immensely inhibited in vivo angiogenesis of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) from growing chick embryos without cytotoxicity. The activation of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) in HUVECs by VEGF was inhibited by elaiophylin, resulting in the suppression of VEGF-induced activation of downstream signaling molecules, Akt, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38, nuclear factor-κB (NFκB), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9 which are closely associated with VEGF-induced angiogenesis. We also found that elaiophylin blocked tumor cell-induced angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Elaiophylin downregulated the expression of VEGF by inhibiting hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) accumulation in tumor cells. To our knowledge, these results for the first time demonstrate that elaiophylin effectively inhibits angiogenesis and thus may be utilized as a new class of natural antiangiogenic agent for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevated expression of human enhancer filamentation 1 (HEF1; also known as NEDD9 or Cas-L) is an essential stimulus for the metastatic process of various solid tumors. This process requires HEF1 localization to focal adhesions (FAs). Although the association of HEF1 with FAs is considered to play a role in cancer cell migration, the mechanism targeting HEF1 to FAs remains unclear. Moreover, up-regulation of Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) positively correlates with human cancer metastasis, yet how Plk1 deregulation promotes metastasis remains elusive. Here, we report that casein kinase 1δ (CK1δ) phosphorylates HEF1 at Ser-780 and Thr-804 and that these phosphorylation events promote a physical interaction between Plk1 and HEF1. We found that this interaction is critical for HEF1 translocation to FAs and for inducing migration of HeLa cells. Plk1-docking phosphoepitopes were mapped/confirmed in HEF1 by various methods, including X-ray crystallography, and mutated for functional analysis in HeLa cells. In summary, our results reveal the role of a phosphorylation-dependent HEF1-Plk1 complex in HEF1 translocation to FAs to induce cell migration. Our findings provide critical mechanistic insights into the HEF1-Plk1 complex-dependent localization of HEF1 to FAs underlying the metastatic process and may therefore contribute to the development of new cancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel cyclic depsipeptides, ulleungamides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from cultures of terrestrial Streptomyces sp. Their structures were determined by analyses of spectroscopic data and various chemical transformations, including modified Mosher's method, advanced Marfey's method, PGME, GITC derivatizations, and Snatzke's method. Ulleungamides were determined to be a new class of peptides bearing unprecedented units, such as 5-hydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-dehydropipecolic acid, 4,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-dehydropipecolic acid, and amino-linked 2-isopropylsuccinic acid. Ulleungamide A displayed growth inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium without cytotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Methylated resveratrol analogs show similar biological activities that are comparable with those of the resveratrol. However, the methylated resveratrol analogs exhibit better bioavailability as they are more easily transported into the cell and more resistant to degradation. Although these compounds are widely used in human health care and in industrial materials, at present they are mainly obtained by extraction from raw plant sources. Accordingly their production can suffer from a variety of economic problems, including low levels of productivity and/or heterogeneous quality. On this backdrop, large-scale production of plant metabolites via microbial approaches is a promising alternative to chemical synthesis and extraction from plant sources. Results: An Escherichia coli system containing an artificial biosynthetic pathway that produces methylated resveratrol analogues, such as pinostilbene (3,4’-dihydroxy-5-methoxystilbene), 3,5-dihydroxy-4’-methoxystilbene, 3,4’-dimethoxy-5-hydroxystilbene, and 3,5,4’-trimethoxystilbene, from simple carbon sources is developed. These artificial biosynthetic pathways contain a series of codon-optimized O-methyltransferase genes from sorghum in addition to the resveratrol biosynthetic genes. The E. coli cells that harbor pET-opTLO1S or pET-opTLO3S produce the one-methyl resveratrol analogues of 3,5-dihydroxy-4’-methoxystilbene and pinostilbene, respectively. Furthermore, the E. coli cells that harbor pET-opTLO13S produce 3,5-dihydroxy-4’-methoxystilbene, bis-methyl resveratrol (3,4’-dimethoxy-5-hydroxystilbene), and tri-methyl resveratrol (3,5,4’-trimethoxystilbene). Conclusions: Our strategy demonstrates the first harness microorganisms for de novo synthesis of methylated resveratrol analogs used a single vector system joined with resveratrol biosynthetic genes and sorghum two resveratrol O-methyltransferase genes. Thus, this is also the first report on the production of the methylated resveratrol compounds bis-methyl and tri-methyl resveratrol (3,4’-dimethoxy-5-hydroxystilbene and 3,5,4’-trimethoxystilbene) in the E. coli culture. Thus, the production of the methylated resveratrol compounds was performed on the simple E. coli medium without precursor feeding in the culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone), a natural flavonoid widely distributed in plants, reportedly has chemopreventive properties against various cancers. However, the anticancer activity of chrysin observed in in vivo studies has been disappointing. Here, we report that a chrysin derivative, referred to as compound 69407, more strongly inhibited EGF-induced neoplastic transformation of JB6 P+ cells compared with chrysin. It attenuated cell cycle progression of EGF-stimulated cells at the G1 phase and inhibited the G1/S transition. It caused loss of retinoblastoma phosphorylation at both Ser-795 and Ser-807/811, the preferred sites phosphorylated by Cdk4/6 and Cdk2, respectively. It also suppressed anchorage-dependent and -independent growth of A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells. Compound 69407 reduced tumor growth in the A431 mouse xenograft model and retinoblastoma phosphorylation at Ser- 795 and Ser-807/811. Immunoprecipitation kinase assay results showed that compound 69407 attenuated endogenous Cdk4 and Cdk2 kinase activities in EGF-stimulated JB6 P+ cells. Pulldown and in vitro kinase assay results indicated that compound 69407 directly binds with Cdk2 and Cdk4 in an ATP-independent manner and inhibited their kinase activities. A binding model between compound 69407 and a crystal structure of Cdk2 predicted that compound 69407 was located inside the Cdk2 allosteric binding site. The binding was further verified by a point mutation binding assay. Overall results indicated that compound 69407 is an ATP-noncompetitive cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor with anti-tumor effects, which acts by binding inside the Cdk2 allosteric pocket. This study provides new insights for creating a general pharmacophore model to design and develop novel ATP-noncompetitive agents with chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic potency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STK295900, a small synthetic molecule belonging to a class of symmetric bibenzimidazoles, exhibits antiproliferative activity against various human cancer cell lines from different origins. Examining the effect of STK295900 in HeLa cells indicates that it induces G2 phase arrest without invoking DNA damage. Further analysis shows that STK295900 inhibits DNA relaxation that is mediated by topoisomerase 1 (Top 1) and topoisomerase 2 (Top 2) in vitro. In addition, STK295900 also exhibits protective effect against DNA damage induced by camptothecin. However, STK295900 does not affect etoposide-induced DNA damage. Moreover, STK295900 preferentially exerts cytotoxic effect on cancer cell lines while camptothecin, etoposide, and Hoechst 33342 affected both cancer and normal cells. Therefore, STK295900 has a potential to be developed as an anticancer chemotherapeutic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]