No abstract

Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. Plant-derived compounds have played an important role in the development of useful anti-cancer agents. The current study was designed to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of chemical compounds from the stem bark of Styrax obassia. Seven known compounds (1−7) were isolated and identified. Compound 2 exhibited cytotoxic activity against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with an IC 50 of 27.9 µM, followed by the human cervical cancer cell line Hela with an IC 50 of 23.3 µM, and the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL-60 with an IC 50 of 47.8 µM. Compound 7 exhibited cytotoxicity against Hela cells with an IC 50 of 16.8 µM, followed by MCF-7 cells with an IC 50 of 53.5 µM. This is the first study to investigate the significant anti-tumor properties of isolated compounds from the stem bark of S. obassia.

This study was undertaken to establish an analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC for the standard determination of resveratrol and trans-scirpusin A as functional ingredients in Smilax sieboldii extract. We evaluated the specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantitation (LOQ) of various analytical methods for detecting resveratrol and trans-scirpusin A using HPLC. The specificity was confirmed by the chromatogram obtained using the HPLC analytical method. Also, the results of UV and the coefficient of correlation (R 2 ) obtained was 0.999, which confirmed that this was a suitable analysis with high linearity. The LOD was 0.98, 0.49 μg/mL, and LOQ was 2.98, 1.48 μg/mL, which was confirmed as a suitable limit level for the analysis of resveratrol and trans-scirpusin A content in the S. sieboldii extract. The recovery of resveratrol and trans-scirpusin A content was determined to be 98.77±0.73∼99.24±1.47% and 98.45±1.18∼ 99.45±1.66%, respectively, indicating high accuracy. The intra-day repeatability and the intra-laboratory precision of the daily repetition were confirmed to be 0.67∼0.87%, 1.18∼1.33% and 0.93∼1.22%, 1.33∼2.27%, respectively, for trans-scirpusin A, for the relative standard deviation. These results indicate that the reported HPLC method is simple, reliable, and reproducible for the detection of resveratrol and trans-scirpusin A in S. sieboldii extract.

In our search for novel plant-derived inhibitors of nitric oxide (NO) with potential for treating inflammatory diseases, the phytochemicals of Amomum tsao-ko fruits were investigated, leading to the isolation of one bicyclic nonane (1), three menthene skeleton monoterpenoids (2–4), and two acyclic monoterpenoids (5 and 6). Their structures were identified using one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. To the best of our knowledge, compounds 2–5 were obtained from the genus Amomum for the first time. All isolates were tested for their ability to inhibit lipopolysaccharide-stimulated NO overproduction in RAW264.7 cells. Compound 4 was found to inhibit NO production. Western blotting analysis indicated that active compound 4 can regulate inducible NO synthase expression. In addition, lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin 1 beta and interleukin-6 overproduction was reduced in a concentration-dependent manner.

During the last three decades, concrete pavement or rigid pavement became a widely used alternative of flexible pavement (asphalt pavement) at freeways and highways with high traffic of heavy vehicles, due to its durability, long life, and less need of maintenance; however, the cost of construction for rigid pavement is very high compared to asphalt pavement. Developing a new concrete mixture to increase the performance and reducing the required thickness of concrete pavement became an important issue in rigid pavement design in order to reduce the high construction cost. In this study, a new concrete mixture was developed using specific amounts of steel fibers and steel slag (as a supplementary cementing material to replace a part of the cement). Several mixtures with different concentrations of fibers were prepared, and samples were tested for workability, early flexural strength, and ultimate flexural strength. The results showed that the new concrete mixture could achieve an increase in flexural strength between 48.9% and 50.5% compared to normal concrete mixture without steel fibers and steel slag, with minimum acceptable workability, and therefore, the required pavement thickness could be decreased by more than 24%.