A Prins cyclization between a polymer‐bound aldehyde and a homoallylic alcohol served as the key step in the synthesis of tetrahydropyran derivatives. A phenotypic screen led to the identification of ...compounds that inhibit mitosis (as seen by the accumulation of round cells with condensed DNA and membrane blebs; see picture). These compounds were termed tubulexins as they target the CSE1L protein and the vinca alkaloid binding site of tubulin.
This study aims to describe the diagnostic performance of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), alpha-fetoprotein L3 isoform (AFP-L3), protein induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II), and combined biomarkers ...for non-B non-C hepatocellular carcinoma (NBNC-HCC). A total of 681 newly-diagnosed primary liver disease subjects (385 non-HCC, 296 HCC) who tested negativity for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C antibody (anti-HCV) enrolled in this study. At the cut-off point of 3.8 ng/mL, AFP helps to discriminate HCC from non-HCC with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.817 (95% confidence interval CI: 0.785-0.849). These values of AFP-L3 (cut-off 0.9%) and PIVKA-II (cut-off 57.7 mAU/mL) were 0.758 (95%CI: 0.725-0.791) and 0.866 (95%CI: 0.836-0.896), respectively. The Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) statistic identified the optimal model, including patients' age, aspartate aminotransferase, AFP, and PIVKA-II combination, which helps to classify HCC with better performance (AUC = 0.896, 95%CI: 0.872-0.920, P < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of the optimal model reached 81.1% (95%CI: 76.1-85.4) and 83.2% (95%CI: 78.9-86.9), respectively. Further analyses indicated that AFP and PIVKA-II markers and combined models have good-to-excellent performance detecting curative resected HCC, separating HCC from chronic hepatitis, dysplastic, and hyperplasia nodules.
Butterfly pea flower have great sensory attraction, but they have not yet been used widely in Vietnam. Extracts of butterfly pea flowers can be used conveniently as a natural blue colorant for food ...products. In this study, the identification of anthocyanin compounds in butterfly pea flowers was performed by UPLC coupled with a UV and Mass spectrometer instrument. Positive and negative ion electrospray MS/MS chromatograms and spectra of the anthocyanin compounds were determined. By analyzing the chromatograms and spectra for each ion, five anthocyanins were identified in the butterfly pea flower extract; these were delphinidin-3-(6″-p-coumaroyl)-rutinoside, cyanidin 3-(6″-p-coumaroyl)-rutinoside, delphinidin-3-(p-coumaroyl) glucose in both cis- and trans- isomers, cyanidin-3-(p-coumaroyl-glucoside) and delphinidin-3-pyranoside. Additionally, based on their intensity, it was determined that cyanidin-3-(p-coumaroyl-glucoside) was the most abundant anthocyanin, followed by cyanidin 3-(6″-p-coumaroyl)-rutinoside, delphinidin-3-(p-coumaroyl-glucoside), delphinidin-3-(6″-p-coumaroyl)-rutinoside and delphinidin-3-pyranoside. In this study, cyanidin derivatives were discovered in butterfly pea flower extract, where these compounds had not been detected in previous studies.
As part of an ongoing search for new protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitors and glucose uptake stimulators from nature, a new coumarin, selaginolide A (
1
) and four known isoflavones (
2
‒
5
) ...were isolated from the ethanol extract of a Vietnamese medicinal plant
Selaginella rolandi-principis
. The chemical structures of the isolates were elucidated by extensive analysis of spectroscopic and physicochemical data. Compounds
3
‒
5
have been identified from
Selaginella
genus for the first time. The antidiabetic properties of the isolates (
1
‒
5
) were investigated using in vitro assay on 2-NBDG uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and against PTP1B and α-glucosidase enzyme activities as well. Compounds
1
exhibited the most potency with inhibitory IC
50
values of 7.40 ± 0.28 and 7.52 ± 0.37 µM against PTP1B and α-glucosidase, respectively. Compounds
3
and
5
possessed potential inhibitions on PTP1B enzyme with IC
50
values of 23.02 ± 1.29 and 11.08 ± 0.92 µM and moderate inhibitions on α-glucosidase with IC
50
values of 36.47 ± 1.87 and 55.73 ± 2.58 µM, respectively. Compounds
2
and
4
showed weak PTP1B inhibitory activity (IC
50
> 30 µM) but displayed remarkable α-glucosidase inhibition with IC
50
values of 3.39 ± 0.87 and 9.72 ± 0.62 µM, respectively. Furthermore, ursolic acid as a positive control (IC
50
3.42 ± 0.26 µM) and compounds
1
and
5
acted as mixed-competitive inhibitors against PTP1B enzyme with
K
i
values of 6.46, 10.28, and 15.01 µM, respectively. In addition, compounds
1
and
5
also showed potent stimulatory effects on 2-NBDG uptake at a concentration of 10 µM. The obtained result might suggest the potential of new coumarin (
1
) as a new type of natural PTP1B and α-glucosidase inhibitor for further research and development of antidiabetic and obese agents.
Graphic abstract
As the most important driving force for ensuring the effective supply of grain in the country, the production stability of the major grain-producing areas directly concerns the national security of ...China. In this paper, considering the “water–soil–energy–carbon” correlation, water, soil and energy resource factors, and carbon emission constraints were included in an index system, and the global common frontier boundary three-stage super-efficient EBM–GML model was used to measure the grain production resource utilization efficiency of the major grain-producing areas in China from 2000 to 2019. This paper also analyzed the static and dynamic spatiotemporal characteristics and the restrictions of utilization efficiency. The results showed that, under the measurement of the traditional data envelopment analysis model, the grain production resource utilization efficiency in the major producing areas is relatively high, but there is still room to improve by more than 20%, and grain production still has enormous growth potential. After excluding external environmental and random factors, it was found that the utilization efficiency of grain production resources in the major producing areas decreased, and the efficiency and ranking of provinces changed significantly. External factors inhibit pure technical efficiency and expand the scale efficiency. The utilization efficiency of Northeast China was much higher than that of the Huang-Huai-Hai region and the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River region, and its grain production resource allocation management had obvious advantages. The total factor productivity index of food production resources showed an upward trend as a whole, and its change was affected by both technological efficiency and technological progress, of which technological progress had the greater impact. Therefore, reducing the differences in the external environment of different regions while making adjustments in accordance with their own potential is an effective way to further improve the utilization efficiency of food production resources.
Many pretreatment techniques were used to change the physical and chemical structure of the lignocellulosic biomass and improve hydrolysis rates for conversion to fuel. A hydrothermal (HT) combined ...chemical treatment (acid or alkaline) and steam explosion (SE) at various pretreatment conditions were applied on bamboo biomass to study the hydrolysis of hemicelluloses and celluloses to their corresponding reducing sugars and evaluated these hydrolysis yield process. The results showed that the yield of pretreatment using sulfuric acid is more effective than using sodium hydroxide at the same hydrothermal condition. By treatment raw bamboo in 1.2% sulfuric acid, at 121 °C for 60 min and ratios of 1:15 (g/mL), the hydrolysis yield was 20%, exceeding than 10% that in 2.5% NaOH. Consecutive immersed in H
2
SO
4
for 24 h before the steam explosion at 230 °C in 3 min, hydrolysis efficiency significantly increased to 72% compared to other methods. Whereas treated in NaOH then steam exploding, the cellulose and hemicellulose were not strongly affected to increase soluble sugars. Alkaline pretreatment in HT or SE conditions had extracted lignin the most of over 39%. The inhibitory concentration of furfural in the hydrolysate of immersed sulfuric acid and steam explosion showed the highest value of 0.402 g/L.
Graphic Abstract
In this study, bamboo biomass was carried out two pretreatment processes including hydrothermal and steam explosion with variations of acid and alkaline conditions. The carbohydrate content and dissolved sugar content in bamboo biomass were determined via HPLC-RID analysis technique to investigate the effect of conditions and processes on hydrolysis. The results prove that treated biomass by sulfuric acid then steam exploding is remarkably effective process that can be applied to large-scale for bamboo biomass.
Despite the burgeoning of research on climate change, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the antecedents of climate change and adaptation behavior. Drawing on a survey of coffee ...farmers in Honduras, this study explores the impact of climate change risk perception (CCRP) on adaptation behavior of coffee farmers and explores the mediating role of climate-related attitudinal factors and the moderating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between climate change risk perception and adaptation behavior. Data are analyzed in the partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) (v 3.3.3). The findings of this study supported the hypothesized relationship between CCRP and adaptation behavior, mediated by climate-related attitudinal factors, such that, concern for climate change, skepticism, and feeling of powerlessness significantly mediate the underlying relationship between CCRP and adaptation behavior. Furthermore, the study found that self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship between CCRP and adaptation behavior such that the relationship is more pronounced at high levels of self-efficacy and vice versa. In addition, the study also found significant interaction effect of self-efficacy in the indirect relationship between CCRP and adaptation behavior, mediated by attitudes towards climate change. Finally, the study presents significant implications for research and practice.
Aerobic vaginitis (AV) is a vaginal inflammation characterized by disruption of the lactobacillus microbiota and increased counts of different aerobic bacteria. AV may result in severe complications, ...especially during pregnancy, including preterm delivery, neonatal and maternal infections. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of AV in the third trimester of pregnancy, and the relationship between AV and pregnancy outcomes. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study included 323 pregnant women attending for routine antenatal care in the Hue University Hospital. Vaginal samples collected at the third trimester of pregnancy were evaluated for AV according to the scoring system of Donders and cultured for identification of predominant bacteria. Pregnancy was followed to its end, and pregnancy outcomes were recorded for both mothers and infants.
The proportion of pregnant women diagnosed with AV in the third trimester was found to be 15.5%, with the vast majority of the cases (84%) displaying the light AV and 16% the moderate AV. The vaginal cultures in the women with AV revealed most frequently Streptococcus agalactiae (6%), followed by Enterococcus spp (4%), Staphylococcus aureus (4%), and Acinetobacter baumannii (2%). In addition, AV during the last trimester of pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of puerperal sepsis (OR 8.65, 95% CI: 1.41-53.16, p = 0.020) and there was a slightly increased risk for neonatal infections, which was statistically insignificant.
The proportion of AV is relatively high in Vietnamese pregnant women. Since it is associated with an increased risk of puerperal sepsis, it needs to be diagnosed and treated before delivery.
Summary
LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO), a high‐voltage spinel, has attracted great attention owing to its low cost and high operating voltage. Many great efforts have been devoted to developing full‐cell of ...LNMO/graphite because of electrolyte oxidation issues at such high voltage. In this work, the effect of additives including vinylene carbonate (VC) and lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB) in carbonate‐based electrolytes was investigated on LNMO/Li and graphite/Li to find out the optimized electrolyte composition. The use of additives in 1.0 M LiPF6 in EC:DMC (1:1 v/v) seemed not to give any improvement on the electrochemical behavior of the cell. In the case of 1.2 M LiPF6 in EC:EMC (3:7 v/v), however, both half‐cells of LNMO and graphite exhibited stability of discharge capacity during long cycling with the presence of LiBOB or VC additives. Based on the artificial neural network (ANN) simulation, the best electrochemical performance would obtain for LNMO/Li in the electrolyte of 0.67 M LiPF6 in EC:DMC:EMC (2.9:3.5:3.6 (v/v) with 0.41 wt% LiBOB and 1.17 wt% VC additives cell, which delivered 141.1 mAh.g−1 and remained 90% capacity after 100 cycles when using. Also, it predicted that the graphite/Li in the electrolyte of 1.34 M LiPF6 in EC:DMC:EMC (6.2:1.2:2.6) (v/v) with a 0.08 wt% LiBOB additive would achieve 342.2 mAh.g−1 and 85% of capacity retention after 100 cycles. The machine learning approach is efficient in exploring the effect of additive and simultaneously searching an optimization of many design parameters and thus saving the significant cost of time‐consuming experiments.
• EC: EMC (3:7) (v/v) should be employed as a baseline electrolyte in a combination of VC and LiBOB additives.
• Effectiveness of the ANN simulation in studying additives' roles and predicting the best electrolyte contents.
• LNMO/Li cell could achieve 141.1 mAh g−1 and 90% retention after 100 cycles with 0.67 M LiPF6 in EC: DMC: EMC (2.9: 3.5: 3.6) (v/v) + 0.41 wt%. LiBOB and 1.17 wt%. VC.
• Graphite/Li cell could gain 342.2 mAh.g−1 and 85% retention with 1.34 M LiPF6 in EC: DMC: EMC (6.2: 1.2: 2.6) (v/v) + 0.08 wt%. LiBOB.
Increasing agricultural output by reducing capital misallocation is a capital-saving strategy, as it does not require the usage of additional inputs. Based on the panel data of 36 prefecture-level ...cities in Northeast China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses the spatial Durbin model to test the impact of capital mismatch on agricultural output and its mechanisms. We found that capital misallocation is prevalent in prefecture-level cities, showing a spatial distribution characteristic of “north-south confrontation and central collapse”, with a significant spatial spillover effect. A one-unit increase in capital misallocation leads to a 16.00% decrease in local agricultural output and a 1.80% decrease in adjacent areas. However, with the optimization and upgrading of the agricultural industry and agricultural technology progress, the inhibitory effect of capital misallocation on the growth of agricultural output is constantly weakening. The above conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. The conclusion of this paper provides policy inspiration for promoting the rational allocation of factors between cities and regions, coordinating regional coordinated development, and then promoting the sustainable growth of agricultural output.
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