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Highly selective 1,2-hydroxyacylmethylation between 1,3-dienes, sulfur ylides, and water involving photoredox catalysis is described.

Traffic assignment has been recognized as one of the key technologies in supporting transportation planning and operations. To better address the perfectly rational issue of the expected utility theory (EUT) and the overlapping path issue of the multinomial logit (MNL) model that are involved in the traffic assignment process, this paper proposes a cumulative prospect value (CPV)-based generalized nested logit (GNL) stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) model. The proposed model uses CPV to replace the utility value as the path performance within the GNL model framework. An equivalent mathematical model is provided for the proposed CPV-based GNL SUE model, which is solved by the method of successive averages (MSA). The existence and equivalence of the solution are also proved for the equivalent model. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed CPV-based GNL SUE model, three road networks are selected in the empirical test. The results show that the proposed model can jointly deal with the perfectly rational issue and the overlapping path issue, and additionally, the proposed model is shown to be applicable for large road networks.

Since the pathogenesis of depression is complicated, the therapeutic effects of western medicine are poor accompanied by severe side effects. Chinese medicine has unique advantages in the treatment based on syndrome differentiation and contains many effective components against depression, including flavonoids, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, quinones, and alkaloids. These chemical components can delay the course of the disease, improve the curative effect, and reduce side effects of western medicine by regulating the biochemical abnormalities of monoamine neurotransmitters, brain tissue protein content, and internal environment as well as energy metabolism to make the treatment of Chinese medicine highlighted and recognized. This study systematically reviewed the effective components and mechanisms of anti-depressive Chinese medicine to inspire the rational development and utilization of new Chinese medicines against depression.

A visible-light-driven photoredox-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of 2-vinylanilines, sulfonyl chlorides, and sulfur ylides is described. This protocol features redox-neutral mild conditions, a broad substrate scope, and good functional group tolerance, providing access to various sulfonated 2,3-disubstituted indolines. The product can be transformed to a diverse range of functionalized indoles by a selective aromatization/nucleophilic substitution process. Mechanistic investigations suggest that both sulfonyl chlorides and sulfur ylides serve as radical sources, and the reaction proceeds through a sequential radical addition/addition/thermal SN2-substitution process.

Exploration of the zwitterionic property of sulfur ylides has long been known as a flexible strategy in a wide range of chemical transformations for different ring-sized construction. By contrast, their use in radical synthetic chemistry has been significantly limited due to dearth of general activation methods. Herein, a convenient strategy of visible light-driven proton-coupled electron transfer was reported to enable sulfur ylides to decompose into the corresponding α-carbonyl carbon radicals. With this method, a highly selective 1,2-hydroxyacylmethylation between 1,3-dienes, sulfur ylides and water under photoredox catalysis is thus achieved (>40 examples). Preliminary mechanistic studies and theoretical calculations shed light on the mechanism and the origin of regioselectivity.

Gaudichaudione H (GH), a caged polyprenylated xanthone from Garcinia plants, showed anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects in vitro. However, the in vivo toxicity of this compound has never been reported. The present study was aimed to address the toxic effects of Gaudichaudione H using zebrafish embryos and larvae as an in vivo test model. The zebrafish embryos were treated with GH having different concentrations (0, 0.28, 0.38 and 0.57 μg/mL). The results revealed that GH induces significant embryonic mortality, decreased heartbeat, cardiotoxicity, cardiovascular defects, increased apoptosis and decreased hemoglobinization in zebrafish embryos and larvae. According to transcriptome analysis, 1841 genes were significantly differentially expressed (1185 down-regulated and 656 up-regulated) after GH treatment. The main functions of these genes were related to iron metabolism pathways. The toxicity of GH on zebrafish embryonic development and cardiovascular may due to large amounts of downregulated genes involved in metabolic pathways and DEGs related to 'Iron ion binding' and 'Heme binding' functions.

The present study aimed to determine whether oleanolic acid (Ole) could be used to treat psoriasis and its related underlying mechanism of action via in vitro analysis. HaCaT cells were stimulated with IL-22 to established an in vitro psoriasis cell model. MTT, flow cytometry and TUNEL assays, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the cell ultrastructure. LC3B protein expression levels were analyzed using immunofluorescence, other protein expression levels were determined using western blotting. Cell viability was significantly increased, while the apoptotic rate was significantly decreased in the model group (P < 0.001). In addition, Notch1, Hes1, beclin 1 and LC3B protein expression levels were significantly downregulated, while P62 protein expression levels were significantly upregulated in the model group compared with the control group (P < 0.001). Supplementation of Ole, the increased levels of proliferation were significantly suppressed, while cell apoptosis was significantly increased (P < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner, which was discovered to occur via Notch1 upregulation. Notably, the transfection with small interfering RNA-Notch1 significantly reversed the effect of Ole treatment (P < 0.001) and the levels of autophagy were also decreased. In conclusion, the findings of the current study suggested that Ole may relieve psoriasis via upregulating Notch1, which subsequently regulates cell autophagy.

C-prenyl coumarins (C-PYCs) are compounds with similar structures and various bioactivities, which are widely distributed in medicinal plants. Until now, the metabolic characterizations of C-PYCs and the relationship between metabolism and bioactivities remain unclear. In this study, ultra-performance chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry-based metabolomics (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) was firstly used to determine the metabolic characterizations of three C-PYCs, including meranzin hydrate (MH), isomeranzin (ISM), and meranzin (MER). In total, 52 metabolites were identified, and all of them were found to be novel metabolites. Among these metabolites, 10 were from MH, 22 were from ISM, and 20 were from MER. The major metabolic pathways of these C-PYCs were hydroxylation, dehydrogenation, demethylation, and conjugation with cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, and glucuronide. The metabolic rate of MH was much lower than ISM and MER, which was only 27.1% in MLM and 8.7% in HLM, respectively. Additionally, recombinant cytochrome P450 (CYP) screening showed that CYP1A1, 2B6, 3A4, and 3A5 were the major metabolic enzymes involved in the formation of metabolites. Further bioactivity assays indicated that all of these three C-PYCs exhibited anti-inflammatory activity, but the effects of ISM and MER were slightly higher than MH, accompanied by a significant decrease in inflammatory cytokines transcription induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in macrophages RAW 264.7. Taken together, the metabolic characterizations of the three C-PYCs suggested that the side chain of the prenyl group may impact the metabolism and biological activity of C-PYCs.

Coumarins are a group of natural compounds commonly found in the families of Rutaceae and Umbelliferae. 7-Isopentenyloxycoumarin (ISC), auraptene (AUR), and umbelliprenin (UM) belong to prenyloxycoumarins (PYCs), which link isopentenyl, geranyl, and farnesyl group at C7 position, respectively. The substituent of 7-ethoxycoumarin (ETC) is the ethyl group. In this study, UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS (ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight-MS)-based metabolomics was used to evaluate the in vivo and in vitro metabolism of PYCs. Results showed that ETC produced 10 known metabolites, and ISC was transformed into 17 metabolites in vivo and in vitro, which were undescribed compounds. A total of 35 AUR metabolites, including 34 undescribed metabolites were identified, and 21 metabolites were reported for the first time in UM. The results indicated that hydroxylation and N-acetylcysteine conjugation were the common metabolic reactions for PYCs. The metabolic rates of ETC, ISC, AUR and UM were 26%, 36%, 81%, and 38%, respectively, in human liver microsome, while they were 24%, 40%, 80%, and 37%, respectively, in mouse liver microsomes. In addition, recombinant cytochrome P450s (CYPs) screening showed that CYP1A1, 2C19, 3A4, and 3A5 were the major metabolic enzymes involved in the formation of hydroxylation metabolites. Together, these results suggest that the isopentenyl group plays an important role in the metabolism of PYCs.

A visible-light-driven and room temperature photo-Wolff-Kischner reaction of sulfur ylides and N-tosylhydrazones has been developed for the first time to provide modular access to alkene synthesis. The high functional group tolerance and broad substrate scope were demonstrated by more than 60 examples. Both E- and Z-olefinic stereochemistry in the products could be controlled with excellent stereoselectivity. A series of mechanistic studies support that the reaction should proceed through a radical-carbanion crossover pathway, specifically involving addition of photo-generated sulfur ylide radical cations to N-tosylhydrazones to form carbanions and subsequent Wolff-Kischner process.

Activation of ubiquitous organic halides into radical intermediates has been a challenging topic. In a recent paper published in Science, Leonori, Julia, and co-workers disclosed a new and robust strategy for halogen-atom-transfer activation of alkyl and aryl halides with the use of α-aminoalkyl radicals, easily generated from simple tertiary amines via single-electron transfer (SET) oxidation.

Background: The regimen containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)+lamivudine or emtricitabine + efavirenz remains the recommended first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) by the WHO. Limited studies, however, have been conducted on the incidence of renal impairment among Chinese patients with long-term exposure to TDF-containing ART regimens. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 269 eligible patients who had no comorbidities and received TDF-containing ART from July 2014 to April 2015. TDF-related renal impairment was defined as a decrease of eGFR by >25% from baseline or eGFR 10 mL/min/1.73 m2 from baseline. Results: 97.0% of study patients were male (median age 29, eGFR 124.0 ml/min/1.73 m2). After 168-week of ART, renal impairment occurred in 7 patients (2.7%). The incidence of decreased renal function was significantly higher at Week 168 compared with that observed at Week 12 (24.8% vs 3.7%, p

Noninvasive visualization of deep tissue lymphatic metastasis is crucial for diagnosing malignant tumors and predicting prognosis. However, the limited diffusivity and specificity of imaging contrast agents that are transported in lymph vessels (LVs), even for those agents delivered by nanocarriers, make long-distance tracing of the lymphatic system in vivo challenging. Here, we develop a computed tomography (CT)/fluorescence dual-modality phospholipid nanoprobe (PL(I/D)NP) with a negative charge and sub-60 nm size. By using micro-CT, we noninvasively traced the LVs from the subcutaneous injection site in feet to the thoracic ducts with an entire length of ∼68 mm and measured the volume of the lymph nodes (LNs) and their separation distance along the LVs. For diagnostic imaging of tumor lymphatic metastasis, all LNs with metastasis were identified in vivo. Thus, with their long-distance diffusivity, high lymphatic capillary specificity, and quantifiability, the PL(I/D)NPs combined with noninvasive imaging accurately depicted the changes in the lymphatic system under pathologic conditions, especially cancer metastasis, which indicates their high potential for clinical applicability.

Multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) have great potential for multimodal cancer imaging and effective therapy. We have developed multifunctional NPs (GNR@SiO2@QDs) by incorporating gold nanorods (GNRs) and CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) into silica. Folic acid (FA) as a targeting ligand was covalently conjugated on the surfaces of GNR@SiO2@QDs with a silane coupling agent. Cell viability assay showed that these NPs had low cytotoxicity. And confocal fluorescence images illustrated that they could selectively target HeLa cells overexpressing folate receptors (FRs) rather than FR-deficient A549 cells. In vitro cell imaging experiments revealed that these NPs exhibited strong X-ray attenuation for X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging and strong fluorescence for fluorescence imaging. They also showed an enhanced photothermal therapy (PTT) effect for cancer cells due to GNRs' high absorption coefficient in the near infrared (NIR) region and a better heat generation rate. All results show that they have great potential in theranostic applications such as for targeted tumor imaging and therapy.

Currently, high expression of WD repeat and HMG-box DNA binding protein 1 (WDHD1) has been found in a variety of tumors; but there is no research has been conducted concerning the expression of WDHD1 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Our purpose is to investigate the expression and the latent mechanism of WDHD1 in LSCC.Firstly, 9 data sets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and ArrayExpress were statistically analyzed to explore the expression of WDHD1 in LSCC; immunohistochemistry was performed in 79 LSCC tissues and 44 non-cancer tissues to further verify the result. In addition, the target gene of WDHD1 was predicted and immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of the target gene. The potential mechanism of WDHD1 in LSCC was investigated by Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses and protein-protein interaction network (PPI).The WDHD1 mRNA was expressed at higher levels in the LSCC tissue than in the normal tissue (SMD=1.90, 95% CI=1.50-2.30); and the results of immunohistochemistry were consistent with the conclusion. Using chip-seq analysis, we found that S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) had a significant binding peak with WDHD1, and the expression of these two genes was significantly positively correlated. Immunohistochemistry showed that Skp2 was also highly expressed in LSCC. In addition, GO and KEGG analysis revealed the WDHD1 positively correlated genes was closely related to cell cycle, and PPI analysis identified 10 hub genes: COL7A1, COL4A2, COL4A1, COL4A6, COL11A1, COL5A2, COL1A1, COL13A1, COL8A1 and COL10A1, which may be critical to the progression of LSCC.WDHD1 was overexpressed in LSCC tissues. Meanwhile, WDHD1 and its target gene Skp2 for transcriptional regulation may play a role in the progression of LSCC by regulating the cell cycle.

Raspberry, the fruit of Rubus Chingii Hu, has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to nourish kidney and strengthen Yang-qi. In order to determine the quality of raspberry, the quality markers (Q-markers) of raspberry that can improve renal function were investigated using UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS in this study. The results of serum pharmacochemistry indicated that six components rutin, ellagic acid, kaempferol-3-rutinoside, astragalin, tiliroside, and goshonoside F5 in raspberry were absorbed into rat blood. The HEK293 cells treated with cisplatin were used to evaluate the kidney-protecting activity of these absorbed components. All these components could markedly inhibit cell damage induced by cisplatin and restore the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase (CAT) in the cells, suggesting that these components may be the Q-markers of raspberry. More importantly, except for ellagic acid, other five Q-markers in raspberries from Dexing of Jiangxi province were higher than those from most of other areas. It is well known that Dexing raspberry is the Dao-di herbs raspberry used in the clinic of Chinese Medicine, demonstrating that these components could be used as Q-markers of raspberry. This study provides a reliable and valuable method for quality evaluation of raspberry.

A novel photocatalytic hydrazonyl radical-mediated radical cyclization/allylation cascade reaction of β,γ-unsaturated hydrazones is developed using allyl sulfones and Morita-Baylis-Hillman adduct as allyl sources, which provides an efficient and practical access to various diversely functionalized dihydropyrazoles and tetrahydropyridazines. The reaction is enabled by controllable generation of hydrazonyl radicals via an oxidative deprotonation electron transfer strategy and selective trapping of the resultant C-centered radicals under visible light irradiation.

This Concept article highlights recent advances in the rapidly developing field of visible-light-driven, single-photocatalyst-promoted photocascade catalysis and its application in the discovery of novel reactivities suitable for cascade reactions. Examples of photocascade catalytic transformations are categorized by the activation modes of substrates and intermediates involved in these processes. It is hoped that this emerging catalysis strategy will enable chemists to develop many more useful, sustainable and sophisticated cascade synthetic transformations in the near future.

Myrislignan (MRL) is a bioactive 8-O-4′-neolignan distributed in nutmeg that is an official Traditional Chinese Medicine used for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in China. In the present study, the metabolic map of MRL was determined in mouse by ultra-performance chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-QTOFMS)-based metabolomics. A total of 23 MRL metabolites (19 were newly identified) were determined in both in vivo and in vitro metabolism of MRL. It was found that hydroxylation and demethylation were the major metabolic pathways for MRL metabolism in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Recombinant cytochrome P450s (CYPs) screening revealed that CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 played a crucial role in the metabolism of MRL. Interestingly, MRL and its metabolites were prone to generate the high abundance ions of Na+ adducts due to one 8-O-4′ type bond in their molecular structures. Taken together, these data reveal the metabolic map of MRL, contributing to the understanding of the metabolism and disposition of 8-O-4′-neolignans in nutmeg.

Direct and selective functionalization of sp3 C–H bonds, which are ubiquitous in organic compounds, remains a long-standing challenging reaction. In a recent paper in Nature, MacMillan and colleagues disclosed that the merger of decatungstate photo-HAT and nickel catalysis provided a mild, generally applicable platform for direct and selective arylation of strong C(sp3)–H bonds.

To explore the significance of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) in the disease progress of primary gastrointestinal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PGI-DLBCL).The clinical data of 43 patients diagnosed as PGI-DLBCL in our hospital from January 2011 to December 2015 were collected, and the disease progress was followed up.According to the ROC curve, the threshold value of LMR for 2 years PFS (%) of PGI-DLBCL patients was 2.6. Unvariate analysis showed that LMR (P＜0.05), large enclosed mass lesion (P＜0.01) and IPI (P＜0.05) were prognostic factors affecting PFS, the COX regression model multivariate analysis showed that LMR＜2.6 [ (risk ratio (RR)=3.083, 95%CI 1.828-8.313, P＜0.01], and large enclosed mass lesions (RR=2.718, 95%CI 1.339-6.424, P＜0.05) were the independent adverse prognostic factor for two years PFS.Both LMR＜2.6 and large enclosed mass lesions relate with the progress of PGI-DLBCL.外周血淋巴细胞与单核细胞比值在PGI-DLBCL疾病进展中的意义.探讨外周血淋巴细胞与单核细胞比值（lymphocyte to monocyte ratio，LMR）在原发胃肠道弥漫性大B细胞淋巴瘤（primary gastrointestinal diffuse large B cell lymphoma，PGI-DLBCL）疾病进展中的意义.收集本院2011年1月至2015年12月期间经病理学确诊为PGI-DLBCL的43例患者的临床资料，并随访观察患者疾病进展情况,分析LMR与患者2年PFS（%）之间的关系.根据ROC曲线PGI-DLBCL患者LMR最具差异性的界限值为2.6。单因素分析显示，LMR（P＜0.05）、大包块病变（P＜0.01)和IPI（P＜0.05)为影响患者2年PFS（%）的预后因素。COX回归模型多因素分析显示，LMR＜2.6 [（危险比（RR）=3.083，95%CI 1.828-8.313，P＜0.01）]、大包块病变（RR=2.718，95%CI 1.339-6.424 ，P＜0.05）为2年PFS（%）的不良预后相关因素.LMR＜2.6，大包块病变与PGI-DLBCL患者疾病的进展相关.

To analyze the incidence of hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and the factors affecting HC, so as to provide clinical evidence for further treatment of HC.The HC of 113 patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University between the years 2014-2016 was analyzed respectively. All cases of HC were divided into HC group and non-HC(control) group. The follow-up time: from preeonditionig day to 180 d after transplantation. The 10 clinical parameters were selected for univariate analysis with COX regression analysis: sex, age (＜25 years and 25 years), primary disease, conditioning regimen with anti-thymoglobulin(ATG), sex-mismatch in recipients, haploidential HSCT, cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia, EB viremia, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and primary disease relapse, the factors significant at the 0.1 level in univariate analysis should be further evaluated by multivariate analysis using a COX regression analysis. The difference was significant at P＜0.05 in multivariate analysis.The HC occured in 31 of 113 patients (27.4%), with 5 cases of grade I (5.5%), 19 of grade II (16.8%), 5 of grade III (4.4%), and 2 of grade IV (1.8%). The median time of HC onset was 37 days (26-70 d) after transplantation. The median duration of HC was 14 days (5-55d). Univariate analysis showed that conditioning with anti-thymoglobulin (ATG) (RR=6.170, 95%CI: 1.875-20.306, P＜0.01), CMV viremia (RR=7.633, 95%CI：2.318-25.133) (P＜0.01), haploidentical HSCT (RR=0.307, 95%CI：0.137-0.686, P＜0.01), GVHD (RR=1.891, 95%CI：0.918-3.898, P＞0.05) were the risk factors for recovery from HC. The multivatiate analysis of above-mentioned risk factors with statistical significance showed that only CMV viremia (RR=4.770, 95%CI: 1.394-16.326, P＜0.05) was the indentified risk factor affecting the recovery from HC.Monitoring CMV viremia and antivirotic treatment are effective measurs to prevent the occurrence of HC and promote the recovery from HC.影响异基因造血干细胞移植后出血性膀胱炎恢复的多因素分析.分析异基因造血干细胞移植后出血性膀胱炎（HC）的发生率及其影响HC恢复的因素，为HC进一步治疗提供临床依据。.对徐州医科大学附属医院2014-2016年连续完成异基因造血干细胞移植的113例患者发生HC的情况进行了回顾性的分析。全部病例分为HC和非HC（对照）2组，以预处理实施之日为随访起点，移植后180 d作为随访终点。选择10个临床参数作为危险因素，采用COX回归分析进行单因素分析：性别、年龄（＜25岁和≥25岁）、原发疾病、预处理方案中是否含有抗胸腺免疫球蛋白（ATG）、移植供受体性别差异、HLA嵌合、巨细胞病毒（CMV）血症、EB病毒血症、移植物抗宿主病（GVHD）、原发病复发，所有单因素分析P＜0.01的危险因素进入多因素分析，P＜0.05为差异有统计学意义。.113例移植患者中位年龄为28岁，共有31例（27.4%）发生HC；其中Ⅰ度5例（4.4%），Ⅱ度19例（16.8%），Ⅲ度5例（4.4%），Ⅳ度2例（1.8%），中位发生时间为移植术后37（26-70）d，中位持续时间为14（5-55）d。单因素分析发现，预处理方案中含ATG（RR=6.170，95%CI：1.875-20.306，P＜0.01）、CMV血症（RR=7.633，95%CI：2.318-25.133，P＜0.01）、单倍体相合造血干细胞移植（RR=0.307，95%CI：0.137-0.686，P＜0.01）、移植物抗宿主病（GVHD）（RR=1.891，95%CI：0.918-3.898，P＞0.05）为影响HC恢复的高危因素。对上述有统计意义的因素进行COX多因素分析发现，CMV血症（RR=4.770，95%CI：1.394-16.326，P＜0.01）为影响HC恢复的独立危险因素。.监测CMV血症、积极抗病毒治疗是预防HC发生，促进HC好转的有效措施。.

Nintedanib is a promising tyrosine kinase inhibitor for clinically treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Some clinical cases reported that nintedanib treatment can cause hepatotoxicity and myocardial toxicity. U. S. FDA warns the potential drug-drug interaction when it is co-administrated with other drugs. In order to understand the potential toxicity of nintedanib and avoid drug-drug interaction, the metabolism of nintedanib was systematically investigated in human liver microsomes and mice using metabolomics approach, and the toxicity of metabolites was predicted by ADMET lab. Nineteen metabolites were detected in vivo and in vitro metabolism, and 8 of them were undescribed. Calculated partition coefficients (Clog P) were used to distinguish the isomers of nintedanib metabolites in this study. The major metabolic pathways of nintedanib majorly included hydroxylation, demethylation, glucuronidation, and acetylation reactions. The ADMET prediction indicated that nintedanib was a substrate of the cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and P-glycoprotein (P-gp). And nintedanib and most of its metabolites might possess potential hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity. This study provided a global view of nintedanib metabolism, which could be used to understand the mechanism of adverse effects related to nintedanib and its potential drug-drug interaction.

Neutral eosin Y-derived photoexcited states have been found to serve as photoacids and direct hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) catalysts in the activation of glycals and C-H bonds, respectively. These studies pave the way for further use of eosin Y in photochemical synthesis.

A new synergistic multicatalytic activation mode of eosin Y has been discovered by exploiting the redox potential of its ground state and excited state. This catalytic strategy proves to be an enabling tool for visible-light-driven sequential benzylic C-H amination and oxidation of o-benzyl-N-methoxyl-benzamides when using Selectfluor as a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reagent and O2 as oxidant. Efficient synthesis of a range of diversely functionalized 3-hydroxyisoindolinones can thus be achieved with good yields and selectivity at mild reaction conditions. Preliminary mechanistic studies and DFT calculations suggest that eosin Y works as a redox catalyst and photosensitizer.

Traditional phenotyping of rice tillers is time consuming and labor intensive and lags behind the rapid development of rice functional genomics. Thus, dynamic phenotyping of rice tiller traits at a high spatial resolution and high-throughput for large-scale rice accessions is urgently needed. In this study, we developed a high-throughput micro-CT-RGB (HCR) imaging system to non-destructively extract 730 traits from 234 rice accessions at 9 time points. We used these traits to predict the grain yield in the early growth stage, and 30% of the grain yield variance was explained by 2 tiller traits in the early growth stage. A total of 402 significantly associated loci were identified by GWAS, and dynamic and static genetic components were found across the nine time points. A major locus associated with tiller angle was detected at nine time points, which contained a major gene TAC1. Significant variants associated with tiller angle were enriched in the 3'-UTR of TAC1. Three haplotypes for the gene were found and tiller angles of rice accessions containing haplotype H3 were much smaller. Further, we found two loci contained associations with both vigor-related HCR traits and yield. The superior alleles would be beneficial for breeding of high yield and dense planting.HighlightCombining high-throughput micro-CT-RGB phenotyping facility and genome-wide association study to dissect the genetic architecture of rice tiller development by using the indica subpopulation.

Further chemical investigation of the fruit of the mangrove Avicennia marina led to the isolation of a new caffeic acid derivative, maricaffeolylide A (1), and a new megastigmane derivative, maricyclohexene A (2). The structures of the isolates were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. The antioxidant activity of 1 and 2 was also evaluated using a cellular antioxidant activity assay, and catechol 1 showed antioxidant activity with an EC50 value of 24 ± 0.3 μm.

We developed a simple and efficient method to synthesize a novel probe for both computed tomography (CT) and fluorescence imaging. Gold nanospheres were coated with positively charged mesoporous silica (Au@mSiO2-TTA) using a one-pot method to cohydrolyze quaternary ammonium silane and tetraethyl orthosilicate. Subsequently, IR-783, a negatively charged and water-soluble near-infrared fluorescent dye, was electrostatically adsorbed into the silica shell. Transmission electron microscopy imaging, X-ray powder diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated that Au@mSiO2-TTA had a clear core-shell structure, was monodisperse, had a large surface area (530 m2/g), and had a uniform pore size (2.2 nm). The mesoporous structure could effectively load fluorescent dye. After loading, the zeta potential of the nanoparticle dropped from 48 mV to 30 mV, and after additional modification with polyvinylpyrrolidone, it further reduced to 6 mV. Probe fluorescence was stable over time, and the probe was an effective CT contrast agent and as a near-infrared fluorescent probe. The half-life of the probe in the blood was 1.5 h, and the probe was mainly distributed in the spleen and liver 4 h after injection. Tissue sections showed that major organs were normal and without visible morphological changes, 6 days post injection, indicating the biocompatibility of the probe.

In this article, a fluorescence-CT dual-mode nanoprobe is successfully synthesized by making use of distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol)-folate (DSPE-PEG2000-FA) and other amphiphilic molecules to coat silver sulfide (Ag2S) quantum dots (QDs) and iodinated oil simultaneously. In vitro experiments show that the fluorescence wavelength of the nanoprobe is 1170 nm in the near infrared-II region. Its size is 139.6 nm, it has good dispersibility, and it has low cellular toxicity at concentrations up to 25 μg mL(-1) Ag. In vivo experiments revealed that the probe has a rather long circulation time (blood half-life of 5.7 hours), and the tissue histopathological tests show that it is not obviously harmful to major organs' normal function. Biochemical analysis (glutamic pyruvic transaminase and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase levels) and blood analysis (white blood cell, red blood cell, hemoglobin and blood platelet counts) reveal that it has little influence on blood within 15 days of administration. When injected into HeLa xenograft nude mice by the tail vein, the probe elicited intensely enhanced fluorescence and X-ray computed tomography (CT) signals in the tumors after 24 hours, and the structure, size and position of tumor tissue were shown clearly. In a word, the probe has good tumor targeting capabilities, and it has significant value in fluorescence-CT dual-mode imaging in vivo.

In fluorescence molecular tomography, the quality of image reconstruction of fluorophore distribution is heavily reduced by the mismodeling of inaccurately known tissue optical properties. We propose an efficient sparsity-promoting Bayesian approximation error (spBAE) method to compensate for this mismodeling. The spBAE method incorporates sparsity prior into the BAE method by updating the parameters of the Gaussian prior according to its initial solution. In vivo experiments demonstrate that this new method greatly improves the reconstruction quality.

A ligand-free, palladium-catalyzed aminoarylation reaction of the unactivated alkenes in β,γ-unsaturated hydrazones is described. This protocol enables efficient and simultaneous formation of C(sp3)–N and C(sp3)–C(sp2) bonds under mild conditions, providing a practical and general approach to various diversely substituted dihydropyrazoles in generally good yields, without the use of any stoichiometric external oxidant.

Dehydrodiisoeugenol (DDIE), a representative and major benzofuran-type neolignan in Myristica fragrans Houtt., shows anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial actions. In order to better understand its pharmacological properties, xenobiotic metabolomics was used to determine the metabolic map of DDIE and its influence on endogenous metabolites. Total thirteen metabolites of DDIE were identified through in vivo and in vitro metabolism, and seven of them were reported for the first time in the present study. The identity of DDIE metabolites was achieved by comparison of the MS/MS fragmentation pattern with DDIE using ultra-performance chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI- QTOFMS). Demethylation and ring-opening reaction were the major metabolic pathways for in vivo metabolism of DDIE. Recombinant cytochrome P450s (CYPs) screening revealed that CYP1A1 is a primary enzyme contributing to the formation of metabolites D1-D4. More importantly, the levels of two endogenous metabolites 2,8-dihydroxyquinoline and its glucuronide were significantly elevated in mouse urine after DDIE exposure, which explains in part its modulatory effects on gut microbiota. Taken together, these data contribute to the understanding of the disposition and pharmacological activities of DDIE in vivo.

With the development of hybrid imaging scanners, micro-CT is widely used in locating abnormalities, studying drug metabolism, and providing structural priors to aid image reconstruction in functional imaging. Due to the low contrast of soft tissues, segmentation of soft tissue organs from mouse micro-CT images is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a mouse segmentation scheme based on dynamic contrast enhanced micro-CT images. With a homemade fast scanning micro-CT scanner, dynamic contrast enhanced images were acquired before and after injection of non-ionic iodinated contrast agents (iohexol). Then the feature vector of each voxel was extracted from the signal intensities at different time points. Based on these features, the heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney could be classified into different categories and extracted from separate categories by morphological processing. The bone structure was segmented using a thresholding method. Our method was validated on seven BALB/c mice using two different classifiers: a support vector machine classifier with a radial basis function kernel and a random forest classifier. The results were compared to manual segmentation, and the performance was assessed using the Dice similarity coefficient, false positive ratio, and false negative ratio. The results showed high accuracy with the Dice similarity coefficient ranging from 0.709 ± 0.078 for the spleen to 0.929 ± 0.006 for the kidney.

Radix Angelicae Dahuricae is the dried root of Angelicae Dahurica (Fisch.ex Hoffm.)Benth.et Hook.f. var.formosana (Boiss.) Shan et Yuan (Fam.Umbelliferae). The total coumarins (Cou) and volatile oil (VO) were main active components that drived from Radix Angelicae Dahuricae. Our previous studies have shown that Cou and VO could increase intestinal absorption for transmucosal drug delivery with unknown mechanism. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of Radix Angelicae Dahuricae for improving drug intestinal transport. Caco-2 cell model was used to study the effect of Radix Angelicae Dahurica on transepithelial electrical resistance. Western blot was used to study its effect on the expression of the actin and ZO-1, tight junction proteins. The effect of Radix Angelicae Dahurica on the expression of P-gp protein was investigated using flow cytometry. VO (0.036–2.88 μL/mL) and Cou (0.027–0.54 mg/mL) caused a reversible, time- and dose-dependent decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance. VO and/or Cou could inhibit the expression of the tight junction protein, ZO-1 and actin. VO and/or Cou also could inhibit the expression of P-gp. These data suggested that Radix Angelicae Dahurica increased cell permeability by affecting the expression of actin, ZO-1 or P-gp, opening the tight junction or inhibiting the efflux induced by P-gp. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.