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Five isocoumarin derivatives including three new compounds, aspermarolides A-C (1–3), and two known analogues, 8-methoxyldiaporthin (4) and diaporthin (5) were obtained from the culture extract of Aspergillus flavus CPCC 400810. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods. The double bond geometry of 1 and 2 were assigned by the coupling constants. The absolute configuration of 3 was determined by electronic circular dichroism experiment. All compounds showed no cytotoxic activities against the two human cancer cells HepG2 and Hela.

The double Higgs boson production through ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}hhZ$ is analyzed in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (SM) with the local gauge symmetry $U(1{)}_{B\ensuremath{-}L}$, where $h$ denotes the lightest Higgs boson with 125 GeV. Considering the constraints from the updated prediction data, we find that the production cross section of this process in the model depends on some parameters strongly.

Background Angelica sinensis (Oliv) Diels (Apiaceae) is a traditional medicine that has been used for more than 2000 years in China. It exhibits various therapeutic effects including neuroprotective, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities. Angelica polysaccharides (APs), bioactive constituents of Angelica have been shown to be responsible for these effects; however, the utility of APs for the treatment of glioma and their mechanism of action remain to be elucidated. Purpose In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of APs on a glioma cell line and their molecular mechanism of action. Study design U251 cells were utilized to confirm the effects of APs on glioma. Methods The human glioblastoma cell line U251 was utilized for both in vitro and in vivo models, in which we tested the effects of APs. Flow cytometry, gene expression analysis, western blotting, and MTT assays were used to elucidate the effects of APs on cell proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis. Results The results demonstrated that APs significantly inhibited the growth and proliferation of U251 cells and induced their apoptosis. Furthermore, APs effectively reduced the expression of several cell cycle regulators: cyclins D1, B, and E. The apoptosis suppressor protein Bcl-2 was also downregulated, and the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and cleaved-caspase-3 increased. Additionally, APs inhibited the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling pathway and stimulated the expression of E-cadherin, thus prohibiting cell growth. Conclusion In conclusion, the results indicate that APs attenuate the tumorigenicity of glioma cells and promote their apoptosis by suppressing the TGF-β signaling pathway. The present study therefore provides evidence of the inhibitory effects of APs against glioma progression, and proposes their potential application as alternative therapeutic agents for glioma.

Charged lepton flavor violating processes are forbidden in the standard model (SM), hence the observation of charged lepton flavor transitions would represent a clear signal of new physics beyond the standard Model. In this work, we investigate some lepton flavor violating processes in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM with local $B-L$ gauge symmetry (B-LSSM). And including the corrections from some two loop diagrams to the anomalous dipole moments (MDM) of muon, we discuss the corresponding constraint on the relevant parameter space of the model. Considering the constraints from updated experimental data, the numerical results show that, new contributions in the B-LSSM enhance the MSSM predictions on the rates of $l_j-l_i$ transitions about one order of magnitude, and also enhance the MSSM prediction on the muon MDM. In addition, two loop electroweak corrections can make important contributions to the muon MDM in the B-LSSM.

Background/Aims: Deoxyschizandrin as one of the most important component of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill plays an immunomodulatory role in a variety of diseases, yet its role in ulcerative colitis remains to be elucidated. We aimed to investigate the role of deoxyschizandrin in DSS-induced ulcerative colitis in mice. Patients and Methods: In the present study, an inflammation model of cells was constructed to confirm the anti-inflammatory effect of deoxyschizandrin. Then a mouse model with Dextran sulfate sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis was constructed, and the effects of deoxyschizandrin on mouse colon inflammation, apoptosis, and CD4 T lymphocyte infiltration in ulcerative colitis were examined. Result: Deoxyschizandrin could improve the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, determined by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and histopathological scores. Moreover, deoxyschizandrin reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines, suppressed CD4 T cell infiltration, and effectively inhibited apoptosis in the colon of DSS-induced ulcerative colitis mice. Conclusion: In summary, deoxyschizandrin can effectively rescue the symptoms of DSS-induced ulcerative colitis in mice by inhibiting inflammation. T cell infiltration and apoptosis in the colon, suggesting that deoxyschizandrin could be a potential drug in treating ulcerative colitis.

The electronic structure and the thermoelectric properties of Mg2X (X = Si, Ge, and Sn) were studied using the density functional theory and the semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory. The three compounds of Mg2X (X = Si, Ge, and Sn) were found to be indirect band-gap semiconductors with gap magnitudes of 0.66, 0.63, and 0.29 eV, respectively. By studying the carrier concentration dependence of the transport properties, we find that the p-type Mg2X exhibit superior thermoelectric performance originating from a large density-of-states effective mass due to the large valley degeneracy of valence bands. In particular, a maximum ZT value of 1.1 for p-type Mg2Sn can be achieved at 800 K with a carrier concentration of 9.8 × 1019 cm−3, which is higher than that of Mg2Si (0.8) and Mg2Ge (1.0). The high ZT of Mg2Sn is mainly attributed to its low lattice thermal conductivity that is a consequence of the low velocity of the optical modes caused by the large mass density. These findings suggest that Mg2Sn is a promising mid-temperature thermoelectric material.