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In this study, diatomite coated with Fe-Mn oxides (DFMO) was synthesized through calcination. The adsorption of antimonate (Sb(V)) by DFMO was studied, and environmental factors affecting the adsorption were investigated. The components of DFMO were identified as γ-Fe2O3, γ-MnO2, and SiO2, in the presence of diatomite covered with nanoscale metal oxides. Batch experiments were carried out to evaluate the antimonate adsorption performance in aqueous solution. Results showed that maximum Sb(V) adsorption capacity of DFMO reached 10.7 mg/g at pH 4, corresponding to 22.2 mg/g per unit metal oxides. Antimonate adsorption occurred on heterogenous surface, following the Freundlich and Pseudo-second order model. Overall, antimonate adsorption was favored at acidic condition due to low point of zero charge. However, when treating electroplating wastewater, neutral pH condition exhibited a higher efficiency than acidic pH, because co-existing ions in electroplating wastewater significantly affects antimony adsorption. Further investigation showed that among different potential co-existing ions, fluoride can strongly inhibit the adsorption of antimonate at 5 mg/L under pH 4. Density functional theory (DFT) analysis confirmed that adsorption energy on DFMO follows: HF

Seaweed Complex Preparation (SCP) is a clinical traditional Chinese medicine preparation which is composed of seven traditional Chinese herbs, and it has been used for treatment of lung cancer, liver cancer and digestive cancer. However, little information is available about the pharmacodynamic basis. The antitumor, immunomodulatory and free radical scavenging effects of SCP were evaluated in this study. Transplanted tumor in vivo method was used to determine the antitumor effect. The effects on splenocyte proliferation and phagocytosis of macrophages in tumor-bearing mice were measured by the MTT method and the phagocytizing cock red blood cell (CRBC) method respectively. The scavenging activities of SCP on DPPH and hydroxyl radicals in vitro were investigated. It was found that the medium-dose and high-dose of SCP could significantly inhibit the growth of transplanted hepatic tumor of murine hepatocarcinoma cell line H22, and promote proliferation of splenocytes and phagocytosis of macrophages. SCP possessed noticeable scavenging activities on DPPH and hydroxyl radicals. The antitumor effects of SCP might be achieved by improving immune system and scavenging free radicals, which is in accordance with the viewpoint of traditional Chinese medicine in promoting the body resistance and eliminating pathogenic factors for cancer treatment.

In this paper, we utilize the framework of multi-label learning for face demographic classification. We also attempt to explore the suitable classifiers and features for face demographic classification. Three most popular demographic information, gender, ethnicity and age are considered in experiments. Based on the results from demographic classification, we utilize statistic analysis to explore the correlation among various face demographic information. Through the analysis, we draw several conclusions on the correlation and interaction among these high-level face semantic, and the obtained results can be helpful in automatic face semantic annotation and other face analysis tasks.

Three new dioxopiperazine metabolites (1-3), together with two known compounds, N-acetyltyramine (4) and cyclo-(Ala-Val) (5), were isolated from a marine-derived fungus Aspergillus fumigatus Fres. Their structures were established by spectroscopic methods. Their cytotoxic activities against the K562 cell line were preliminarily evaluated by the sulphorhodamine B (SRB) method.

In this paper, we propose a parallel computing technique for content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system. This technique is mainly used for single node with multi-core processor, which is different from those based on cluster or network computing architecture. Due to its specific applications (such as medical image processing) and the harsh terms of hardware resource requirement, the CBIR system has been prevented from being widely used. With the increasing volume of the image database, the widespread use of multi-core processors, and the requirement of the retrieval accuracy and speed, we need to achieve a retrieval strategy which is based on multi-core processor to make the retrieval faster and more convenient than before. Experimental results demonstrate that this parallel architecture can significantly improve the performance of retrieval system. In addition, we also propose an efficient parallel technique with the combinations of the cluster and the multi-core techniques, which is supposed to gear to the new trend of the cloud computing.

isolation, structure and cytotoxicity of five new secosteroids (I) and seven known analogues

The chemical composition of monogalactosyldiacylglycerols (MGDGs) from brown alga Sargassum horneri and their inhibitory effects on lipid accumulation were investigated in this study. A total of 10 molecular species of MGDGs were identified using nuclear magnetic resonance, alkaline hydrolysis, gas chromatography-flame ionization detector, and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods. Individual molecular species of MGDGs, including (2S)-1-O-myristoyl-2-O-palmitoleoyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (1), (2S)-1-O-myristoyl-2-O-linoleyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (3), (2S)-1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-linolenoyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (5), (2S)-1-O-myristoyl-2-O-oleyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (7), (2S)-1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-palmitoleoyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (8), (2S)-1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-linoleyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (9), and (2S)-1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-oleyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (10), were then furnished using semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography, and their inhibitory effects on triglyceride (TG) accumulation and free fatty acid (FFA) levels in 3T3-L1 adipocytes were evaluated. Compounds 3 and 9 showed inhibitory effects on TG and FFA accumulation, with TG levels of 1.568 ± 0.2808 and 1.701 ± 0.1460 μmol/L and FFA levels of 0.149 ± 0.0258 and 0.198 ± 0.0229 mequiv/L, respectively, which were more effective than other compounds. The primary structure-activity relationship suggested that linoleyl [18:2(ω-6)] in the sn-2 position played an important role on triglyceride accumulation inhibition.

A new 19-oxygenated steroid, 25-acetate-nebrosteroid K (1), and five known steroids (2–6), along with one known 19-hydroxy steroidal glycoside (7) were obtained from the gorgonian Dichotella gemmacea collected from the South China Sea. The structure and relative configuration of 1 were elucidated by using comprehensive spectroscopic data including NOESY spectra. Compound 1 represents the first example of 19-oxygenated steroid with a 19-oic acid methyl ester group isolated from gorgonians. All of the isolated compounds were evaluated for lethal activity to brine shrimp Artemia salina and cytotoxicity against A549 and HL-60 cell lines. Among them, 1 showed strong lethality towards A. salina.

One new δ-valerolactone (1) and one new natural phenolic glycoside 2, together with four known compounds 3–6, were isolated from the fruits of Ligustrum lucidum. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data. The chemical transformation from 2 to 3 was observed. The immunomodulatory activities of the compounds were also evaluated.

Sargassum pallidum (Turn.) C. Ag., a kind of brown algae distributed mainly in the Shandong and Liaoning Provinces of China, has been used in folk medicine for a long time in China [1]. Only several polysaccharides from S. pallidum with antitumor and antioxidant activities have been reported [2]. However, there are no reports on phytochemical analysis of the secondary metabolites. In this paper, two new natural keto-acid derivatives, 2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-2-cyclohexene-1-acetic acid (1) and 2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-2-cyclohexene-1-acetic acid methyl ester (2), were reported from the whole plant of S. pallidum (Turn.) C. Ag.. Their structures were established by comprehensive analysis of the spectral data, especially 2D NMR spectral results. Compound 3 was isolated for the first time from the marine enviroment. Compound 1 was obtained as a yellow oil, [ ] D –7.96 (c 9.15, MeOH). The molecular formula of 1 was established as C11H16O3 from the results of ESI-MS ([M + H] + at m/z 197) and its NMR data. The molecular formula indicated four degrees of unsaturation within the molecule. The IR spectrum showed the presence of carbonyl groups (1653, 1651 cm–1). The 13C NMR and DEPT spectra showed that 1 has 11 carbon signals, attributable to 3 methyl, 2 methylene, 2 methine, and 4 quaternary carbons, including 1 ketone carbonyl at C 202.1 and 1 carboxyl at C 180.0. The 1H NMR spectrum together with HMQC data displayed one olefinic proton signal at H 5.79 (s), one triple signal due to one methine proton at H 2.70, two methylene group signals at H 2.02, 2.40 and H 2.17, 2.49, and three methyl group signals at H 1.03 (s, CH3), 1.04 (s, CH3), 2.03 (s, CH3). The whole structure of 1 was mainly determined by the HMBC spectra (Table 1). The correlations from H-9 proton to C-1, C-2, C-6, C-11 and the correlations from H-1 to C-2, C-3, C-6, C-9, C-11 suggested that C-1 was directly connected with C-2, C-6, and C-9. The correlations from H-5 to C-1, C-3, C-4, C-6, C-7, C-8, and the correlations from H-7, H-8 to C-1, C-5, C-6 indicated that C-5 was linked with C-4 and C-6. The correlations from H-3 to C-1, C-2, C-10 and the correlations from H-5 to C-3 confirmed that there were linkages between the C-3 and C-2, C-4 positions. Thus protons of 10-CH3 showed the HMBC correlations to the C-1, C-2 and C-3, placing the methyl group at the C-2 position. Thus, the structure of compound 1 was identified as 2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-2-cyclohexene-1-acetic acid. As is known, compound 1 has not been reported previously as a natural product and was only obtained as a synthetic compound [3, 4].

Five new 9,11-secosteroids 1, 2, and 4-6, and seven known analogs, 3 and 7-12, with the same steroid skeleton, (5αH)-3β,6α,11-trihydroxy-9,11-secocholest-7-en-9-one, were isolated from the South China Sea gorgonian Subergorgia suberosa. Among them, 2/3 and 4/5 are C(24)-epimeric mixtures, and 6/7 is an (E)/(Z) mixture of (C(24)C(28)). Their structures and relative configurations were elucidated by using comprehensive spectroscopic methods including NOESY spectra. The absolute configuration of the steroidal nucleus was established by the modified Mosher method applied to 10 and on the basis of a common biogenesis for all of these compounds. All isolated compounds, 1-12, and five synthetic acetylated derivatives, 12a-12e, were evaluated for their cytotoxicities in vitro. Compounds 4/5, 11, 12, and 12b-12d showed cytotoxic activities against K562 cell line with the IC50 values ranging from 1.09 to 8.12 μM.

Two new eunicellin-based diterpenoids, sibogins A (1) and B (2), along with one known analogue (3), and four known 9,10-secosteroids (4–7), were isolated from the gorgonian Muricella sibogae Nutting collected from the South China Sea. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of spectroscopic data, especially by using 2D NMR spectra. The antifouling activity on barnacle Balanus amphitrite and lethality towards brine shrimp Artemia salina of all the isolated compounds were evaluated.

Anticancer effect of tephrosin (1) has been documented; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the cytotoxicity of tephrosin in cancer cells remain unclear. In the present paper, the proliferation inhibition rate of several cancer cells was tested using the MTT assay; cell cycle, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were determined by flow cytometry; poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) expression were evaluated by Western blotting; autophagy was examined by confocal microscopy and light chain 3 (LC3) conversion assay. The results showed that exposure of the cells to tephrosin induced significant proliferation inhibition in a dose-dependent manner, especially on A549 with G(2)/M being arrested. Tephrosin was not found to induce cell apoptosis as PARP cleavage was not detected after 24 h treatment, but the formation of acidic vesicular organelle of autophagy character was found, and autophagy was further confirmed by the increase in the ratio of LC3-II to LC3-I. It was observed that tephrosin induced ROS generation and Hsp90 expression inhibition. These results indicate that tephrosin induces A549 cancer cell death via the autophagy pathway, and the roles of ROS generation and Hsp90 expression inhibition in this process need further study in the future.

Four known butenolides were isolated from the ethyl acetate extracts of the culture broth of the marine-derived bacterium, Streptoverticillium luteoverticillatum, by bioassay-guided fractionation. The structures were identified on the basis of spectral data. The absolute configuration of compound (1) was determined by CD spectrum for the first time. Compounds 1-4 showed in vitro cytotoxicity against the murine lymphoma P388 and human leukemia K562 cell lines. This is the first report on the isolation of butenolides from the marine bacterium, Streptoverticillium luteoverticillatum, and their cytotoxic activities.