Abstract Purpose To analyze the plasma lipid spectrum between healthy control and patients with pancreatic cancer and to select differentially expressed tumor markers for early diagnosis. Methods In total, 20 patents were divided into case group and healthy control group according to surgical pathology. Of almost 1206 plasma lipid molecules harvested from 20 patients were measured by HILIC using the normal phase LC/MS. Heat map presented the relative levels of metabolites and lipids in the healthy control group and patients with pancreatic cancer. The PCA model was constructed to find out the difference in lipid metabolites. The principal components were drawn in a score plot and any clustering tendency could be observed. PLS-DA were performed to distinguish the healthy control group and pancreatic cancer according to the identified lipid profiling datasets. The volcano plot was used to visualize all variables with VIP>1 and presented the important variables with P<0.01 and |FC|>2. Results The upregulated lipid metabolites in patients with pancreatic cancer contained 9 lipids; however, the downregulated lipid metabolites contained 79 lipids. Conclusion There were lipid metabolomic differences in patients with pancreatic cancer, which could serve as potential tumor markers for pancreatic cancer.

Abstract Background The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential effects of the 5,10,15,20‑tetrakis (1‑meth‑ ylpyridinium‑4‑yl) porphyrin (TMPyP4) on the proliferation and apoptosis of human cervical cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms by which TMPyP4 exerted its actions. Results After human cervical cancer cells were treated with different doses of TMPyP4, cell viability was determined by 3‑(4,5‑dimethyl‑2‑thiazolyl)‑2,5‑diphenyl‑2‑H‑tetrazolium bromide (MTT) method, the apoptosis was observed by flow cytometry (FCM), and the expression of p38 mitogen‑activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphated p38 MAPK (p‑p38 MAPK), capase‑3, MAPKAPK2 (MK‑2) and poly ADP‑ribose polymerase (PARP) was measured by Western blot analysis. The analysis revealed that TMPyP4 potently suppressed cell viability and induced the apoptosis of human cervical cancer cells in a dose‑dependent manner. In addition, the up‑regulation of p‑p38 MAPK expression levels was detected in TMPyP4‑treated human cervical cancer cells. However, followed by the block of p38 MAPK signaling pathway using the inhibitor SB203580, the effects of TMPyP4 on proliferation and apoptosis of human cervical cancer cells were significantly changed. Conclusions It was indicated that TMPyP4‑inhibited proliferation and ‑induced apoptosis in human cervical cancer cells was accompanied by activating the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Taken together, our study demonstrates that TMPyP4 may represent a potential therapeutic method for the treatment of cervical carcinoma.

Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF) is essential material in LCM (Liquid Crystal Module) process. It is used in bonding process to make the driving circuit conductive. Because the price of TFT-LCD is getting lower than before in recent years, the ACF has relatively higher cost ratio. The conventional long bar ACF cutting unit is changed into short bar ACF cutting unit in new bonding technology. However, the new type machine was not optimized in process control and mechanical design. Therefore, the failure rate of new ACF cutting process is much higher than the one of the conventional process. This wastes the ACF material and rework cost is considerably large. How to make the manufacturing cost down effectively and promote the product quality is the main issue to maintain competition capability for the product. Therefore, the orthogonal particle swarm optimization (OPSO) is used to analyze the optimal design problem. The ACF cutting yield rate is selected to be objective function for optimization. The quality characteristic function for yield rate is used in orthogonal particle swarm optimization. Three control factors such as plasma clean speed, ACF peeling speed and ACF cutter spring setting are selected to study the effect of the yield rate. Results show that the proposed method can provide good optimal solution to improve the ACF cutting process for TFTLCD manufacturing process.

A chemical study of the EtOAc-soluble ethanolic extract of Monascus kaoliang BCRC 31506 (Eurotiaceae) fermented rice led to the isolation of a new furan-3-one derivative along with 9 known compounds, monascin (2), ankaflavin (3), N-trans-feruloyltyramine (4), vanillic acid (5), 4-acetonyl-3,5-dimethoxy-p-quinol (6), (+)-ß-eudesmol (7), trans-phytol (8), aesculetin dimethyl ether (9) and (-)-matairesinol (10). Structure 1 is proposed for monascuskaoliaone on the basis of spectroscopic evidence (NMR, UV, IR, and HRMS). None of the compounds exhibited significant scavenging activity toward DPPH radical in bioautography or spectroscopic assays.

Two natural new compounds, pyrroline-2-one (1) and 2-(2-amino-3-methyl-butyrylamino)-3-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-propionic acid (2), together with nine known compounds, iodinin (3), thymine (4), V-(2-hydroxy-phenyl)-acetamide (5), (Z)-pulchellalactam (6), uracil (7), nicotinic acid (8), nicotiamide (9); p-nitrophenol (10) and indole 3-carboxylic acid (11), all were isolated from the EtOAc extract of the culture broth of anew actinomycete Acrocarpospora sp. strain, FIRDI 001. The structures were elucidated by ID and 2D NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the isolated compounds were subjected to evaluate the antimicrobial activity. Compounds 2, 3 and 10 showed antimicrobial activity. The active metabolite, iodinin existed as a major metabolite in this study.

One new dioxoaporphine alkaloid, zanthodione (1), together with nineteen known compounds have been isolated from the stem bark of Zanthoxylum scandens. The structures of these compounds were determined by means of spectral analyses. Except for zanthodione (1), methyl vanillate, vanillic acid, and 2-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl hexacosanoate, all of the other 16 compounds, as same constituents found in Z. ailanthoides, which were evaluated for inhibition of HIV replication in H9 lymphocyte cells in our previous report in Bioorg. Med. Chem.. The reported decarine, γ-fagarine, and (+)-platydesmine were the most potent anti-HIV constituents, with EC50 values ranging from 0.1 to 1.34 µg/mL and TI (Therapeutic index) values from 74 to 231, also isolated from the stem bark of this plant

The methanolic extract of the root wood of Michelia compressa (Maxim.) Sargent showed cytotoxicity against MCF-7, NCI-H460 and SF-268 cancer cell lines. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the chloroform-soluble layer led to the isolation of costunohde and liriodenine with cytotoxic activities, along with the isolation of twenty-seven known compounds. The active costunohde existed as major constituent in this study.

One chromone, peperosuione (1), together with eighteen known compounds were identified from the whole plant of Peperomia sui (Piperaceae). Peperovulcanone A (2) isolated firstly from the P. vulcanica also obtained from this study, its structure was revised on the basis of spectroscopic evidences. All of the isolates constituents were determined by means of spectral analyses.

The mycelia of Antrodia cinnamomea (BCRC 36799) were extracted and four compounds were purified: one new benzoquinone, 5-methyl-benzo[1,3]dioxole-4,7-dione (1), one new benzenoid, isobutylphenol (2), along with two known benzoquinone derivatives, 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl[1,4]benzoquinone (3), 2-methoxy-5-methyl[1,4]benzoquinone (4). Their structures were elucidated by intensive MS and 2D NMR study. These compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant activities in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and supero xide radical scavenging assay. Preliminary antioxidant activity data revealed that compound 4 showed a poor radical scavenging activity