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Abstract Background To assess the effects of Glycine tomentella Hayata (GTH), a traditional herbal medicine for treatment of rheumatic diseases on the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines and on the clearance of apoptotic cells by macrophages. Methods RAW264.7 cells were cultured with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the presence or absence of ethanol extract of GTH. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and transglutaminase 2 (TG2) were assayed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were assayed by gelatin zymography. For detecting uptake of apoptotic cells, RAW264.7 cells were cultured with carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA)-stained apoptotic cells and assayed by flow cytometry. Results The major components of GTH analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) chromatogram were daidzein (42.5%), epicatechin (28.8%), and naringin (9.4%). GTH treatment inhibited the expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and MMP-9 but did not affect the expression of TNF-α and iNOS. GTH significantly enhanced the expression of TG2 and the clearance of apoptotic cells by RAW264.7 macrophages. Conclusions GTH inhibits proinflammatory cytokine secretion and MMP-9 activity, enhances apoptotic cell uptake and up-regulates TG2 expression. Our data show that GTH might have beneficial effects on rheumatic diseases.

Apart from numerous applications, for example in azo dye precursors, explosives, and industrial processes, the nitro group (−NO2) appears on countless molecules in photochemical research owing to its unique characteristics such as a strong electron‐withdrawing ability and facile conversion to the reduced substituent. Although it is well known as a fluorescence quencher, fluorescent chromophores that contain the nitro group have also emerged, with 3‐nitrophenothiazine being recently reported to have 100 % emission quantum yield in nonpolar solvents. The diverse characters of nitro‐containing chromophores motivated us to systematically review those chromophores with nitro substituents, their associated photophysical properties, and applications. In this Review, we succinctly elaborate the advance of the fluorescent nitro chromophores in fields of intramolecular charge transfer, fluorescent probes and nonlinear properties. Special attention is paid to the rationalization of the associated emission spectroscopy, so that the readers can gain insights into the structure‐photophysics relationship and hence gain insights for the strategic design of nitro chromophores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weak fluorescence (quantum yield <1 % in cyclohexane) of phenothiazine (PTZ) impedes its further application. In addition, the nitro group (NO2) is a well‐known fluorescence quencher. Interestingly, we obtained a highly fluorescent chromophore by combining these two moieties, forming 3‐nitrophenothiazine (PTZ‐NO2). For comparison, a series of PTZ derivatives bearing electron‐withdrawing groups (EWGs; CN and CHO) or electron‐donating groups (EDGs; OMe) at the 3‐position have been designed and synthesized. The phenothiazines bearing EWGs exhibited enhanced emission compared with the parent PTZ or EDG derivatives. Computational approaches unveiled that for PTZ and PTZ‐OMe, the transitions are from HOMOs dominated by π orbitals to LUMOs of mixed sulfur nonbonding–π* orbitals, and hence are partially forbidden. In contrast, the EWGs lower the energy level of the lone‐pair electrons on the sulfur atom, thereby suppressing the mixing of the nonbonding orbital with the π* orbital in the LUMO, such that the allowed ππ* transition becomes dominant. This work thus demonstrates a judicious chemical design to fine‐tune the transition character in PTZ analogues, with PTZ‐NO2 attaining 100 % emission quantum yields in nonpolar solvent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether interventions through barrier-free home environment improvements could reduce family caregivers' care stress, improve their family functions, and increase their quality of life. This study recruited family caregivers of older people with disabilities from a long-term care management center in central Taiwan. These older people required improvements related to a barrier-free home environment. A pretest was conducted before and a post-test was conducted 2 months after the improvements. The content of the pretest and the post-test questionnaires included: demographic characteristics, Caregiver stress scale, Family functions scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire. This study recruited 72 family caregivers; the average age was 56.25 ± 12.99 years. The results indicated that interventions through barrier-free home environment improvements could significantly reduce the family caregivers' care stress, improve their family functions (e.g., reducing conflicts), and enhance their quality of life. Additionally, after intervention, the family cohesion of family caregivers caring for those with mild disability improved to a greater extent than did that of those caring for people with other disease severities. This study revealed that interventions involving barrier-free home environment improvements have positive effects on family caregivers.

The weak fluorescence (quantum yield <1 % in cyclohexane) of phenothiazine (PTZ) impedes its further application. In addition, the nitro group (NO 2 ) is a well-known fluorescence quencher. Interestingly, we obtained a highly fluorescent chromophore by combining these two moieties, forming 3-nitrophenothiazine (PTZ-NO 2 ). For comparison, a series of PTZ derivatives bearing electron-withdrawing groups (EWGs; CN and CHO) or electron-donating groups (EDGs; OMe) at the 3-position have been designed and synthesized. The phenothiazines bearing EWGs exhibited enhanced emission compared with the parent PTZ or EDG derivatives. Computational approaches unveiled that for PTZ and PTZ-OMe, the transitions are from HOMOs dominated by π orbitals to LUMOs of mixed sulfur nonbonding-π* orbitals, and hence are partially forbidden. In contrast, the EWGs lower the energy level of the lone-pair electrons on the sulfur atom, thereby suppressing the mixing of the nonbonding orbital with the π* orbital in the LUMO, such that the allowed ππ* transition becomes dominant. This work thus demonstrates a judicious chemical design to fine-tune the transition character in PTZ analogues, with PTZ-NO 2 attaining 100 % emission quantum yields in nonpolar solvent., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

With the aim of generalizing the structure-properties relationship of bending heterocyclic molecules that undergo prominent photoinduced structural planarization (PISP), a series of new dihydrodibenzo[ac]phenazine derivatives in which one nitrogen atom is replaced by oxygen (PNO), sulfur (PNS), selenium (PNSe), or dimethylmethanediyl (PNC) was strategically designed and synthesized. Compounds PNO, PNS, and PNSe have significantly nonplanar geometries in the ground state, which undergo PISP to give a planarlike conformer and hence a large emission Stokes shift. A combination of femtosecond early relaxation dynamics and computational approaches established an R*→I* (intermediate)→P* sequential kinetic pattern for PNS and PNSe, whereas PNO undergoes R*→P* one-step kinetics. The polarization ability of the substituted heteroatoms, which is in the order O

Phenothiazine derivatives based on the 10-phenyl-10H-phenothiazine (NAS) chromophore, namely 7-phenyl-7H-benzo[c]phenothiazine (NAS-1) and 12-phenyl-12H-benzo[a]phenothiazine (NAS-2), were designed and synthesized. NAS-1 and NAS-2 are constitutional isomers with different steric strains imposed on the phenothiazine core moiety. In solution, the more-strained NAS-2 possesses a bent structure and undergoes photoinduced structural planarization (PISP). In the crystal, despite the absence of PISP, bent NAS-2 exhibits prominent excimer emission as well as emission mechanochromism, which is not observed in the planar-like NAS and NAS-1. This unconventional observation results from the bent core structure facilitating π-π stacking of the peripheral naphthalene moieties. Two-photon-coupled depth-dependent emission shows spectral differences between the surface and kernel of the NAS-2 crystal, and is believed to be a general phenomenon, at least in part, for materials exhibiting emission mechanochromism., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)