Users make lasting judgments about a website's appeal within a split second of seeing it for the first time. This first impression is influential enough to later affect their opinions of a site's usability and trustworthiness. In this paper, we demonstrate a means to predict the initial impression of aesthetics based on perceptual models of a website's colorfulness and visual complexity. In an online study, we collected ratings of colorfulness, visual complexity, and visual appeal of a set of 450 websites from 548 volunteers. Based on these data, we developed computational models that accurately measure the perceived visual complexity and colorfulness of website screenshots. In combination with demographic variables such as a user's education level and age, these models explain approximately half of the variance in the ratings of aesthetic appeal given after viewing a website for 500ms only.

The results suggest that the type of dammarane, the number of sugar moieties, and differences in the substituent groups affect their anti-cancer activity. This information may be useful for evaluating the structure/function relationship of other ginsenosides and their aglycones and for development of novel anticancer agents.

Metabolic reprogramming greatly contributes to the regulation of macrophage activation. However, the mechanism of lipid accumulation and the corresponding function in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) remain unclear. With primary investigation in colon cancer and confirmation in other cancer models, here we determine that deficiency of monoacylglycerol lipase (MGLL) results in lipid overload in TAMs. Functionally, macrophage MGLL inhibits CB2 cannabinoid receptor-dependent tumor progression in inoculated and genetic cancer models. Mechanistically, MGLL deficiency promotes CB2/TLR4-dependent macrophage activation, which further suppresses the function of tumor-associated CD8+ T cells. Treatment with CB2 antagonists delays tumor progression in inoculated and genetic cancer models. Finally, we verify that expression of macrophage MGLL is decreased in cancer tissues and positively correlated with the survival of cancer patients. Taken together, our findings identify MGLL as a switch for CB2/TLR4-dependent macrophage activation and provide potential targets for cancer therapy.

This review, a sequel to part 1 in the series, collects about 107 chemical entities separated from the roots, leaves and flower buds of Panax ginseng, quinquefolius and notoginseng, and categorizes these entities into about 18 groups based on their structural similarity. The bioactivities of these chemical entities are described. The ‘Yin and Yang’ theory and the fundamentals of the ‘five elements’ applied to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are concisely introduced to help readers understand how ginseng balances the dynamic equilibrium of human physiological processes from the TCM perspectives. This paper concerns the observation and experimental investigation of biological activities of ginseng used in the TCM of past and present cultures. The current biological findings of ginseng and its medical applications are narrated and critically discussed, including 1) its antihyperglycemic effect that may benefit type II diabetics; in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated protection of ginseng on beta-cells and obese diabetic mouse models. The related clinical trial results are stated. 2) its aphrodisiac effect and cardiovascular effect that partially attribute to ginseng’s bioactivity on nitric oxide (NO); 3) its cognitive effect and neuropharmacological effect that are intensively tested in various rat models using purified ginsenosides and show a hope to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD); 4) its uses as an adjuvant or immunotherapeutic agent to enhance immune activity, appetite and life quality of cancer patients during their chemotherapy and radiation. Although the apoptotic effect of ginsenosides, especially Rh2, Rg3 and Compound K, on various tumor cells has been shown via different pathways, their clinical effectiveness remains to be tested. This paper also updates the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and immune-stimulatory activities of ginseng, its ingredients and commercial products, as well as common side effects of ginseng mainly due to its overdose, and its pharmacokinetics.