Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino (GP), also named Jiaogulan in Chinese, was known to people for its function in both health care and disease treatment. Initially and traditionally, GP was a kind of tea consumed by people for its pleasant taste and weight loss efficacy. With the passing of the centuries, GP became well known as more than just a tea. Until now, numbers of bioactive compounds, including saponins (also named gypenosides, GPS), polysaccharides (GPP), flavonoids, and phytosterols were isolated and identified in GP, which implied the great medicinal worth of this unusual tea. Both in vivo and in vitro tests, ranging from different cell lines to animals, indicated that GP possessed various biological activities including anti-cancer, anti-atherogenic, anti-dementia, and anti-Parkinson’s diseases, and it also had lipid-regulating effects as well as neuroprotection, hepatoprotective, and hypoglycemic properties. With the further development and utilization of GP, the research on the chemical constituents and pharmacological properties of GP were deepening day by day and had made great progress. In this review, the recent research progress in the bioactive compounds, especially gypenosides, and the pharmacological activities of GP were summarized, which will be quite useful for practical applications of GP in the treatment of human diseases. Full article

Wound healing is a great challenge in many health conditions, especially in non-healing conditions. The search for new wound healing agents continues unabated, as the use of growth factors is accompanied by several limitations. Medicinal plants have been used for a long time in would healing, despite the lack of scientific evidence veryfying their efficacy. Up to now, the number of reports about medicinal plants with wound healing properties is limited. Urtica dioica L. is a well-known plant, widely used in many applications. Reports regarding its wound healing potential are scant and sparse. In this study, the effect of an Urtica dioica L. extract (containing fewer antioxidant compounds compared to methanolic or hydroalcoholic extracts) on cell proliferation, the cell cycle, and migration were examined. Additionally, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties were examined. Finally, in vivo experiments were carried out on full-thickness wounds on Wistar rats. It was found that the extract increases the proliferation rate of HEK-293 and HaCaT cells up to 39% and 30% after 24 h, respectively, compared to control cells. The extract was found to increase the population of cells in the G₂/M phase by almost 10%. Additionally, the extract caused a two-fold increase in the cell migration rate of both cell lines compared to control cells. Moreover, the extract was found to have anti-inflammatory properties and moderate antioxidant properties that augment its overall wound healing potential. Results from the in vivo experiments showed that wounds treated with an ointment of the extract healed in 9 days, while wounds not treated with the extract healed in 13 days. Histopathological examination of the wound tissue revealed, among other findings, that inflammation was significantly reduced compared to the control. Urtica dioica L. extract application results in faster wound healing, making the extract ideal for wound healing applications and a novel drug candidate for wound healing. Full article

In complex foods, bioactive secondary plant metabolites (SPM) can bind to food proteins. Especially when being covalently bound, such modifications can alter the structure and, thus, the functional and biological properties of the proteins. Additionally, the bioactivity of the SPM can be affected as well. Consequently, knowledge of the influence of chemical modifications on these properties is particularly important for food processing, food safety, and nutritional physiology. As a model, the molecular structure of conjugates between the bioactive metabolite benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC, a hydrolysis product of the glucosinolate glucotropaeolin) and the whey protein α-lactalbumin (α-LA) was investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy, anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid fluorescence, and dynamic light scattering. Free amino groups were determined before and after the BITC conjugation. Finally, mass spectrometric analysis of the BITC-α-LA protein hydrolysates was performed. As a result of the chemical modifications, a change in the secondary structure of α-LA and an increase in surface hydrophobicity and hydrodynamic radii were documented. BITC modification at the ε-amino group of certain lysine side chains inhibited tryptic hydrolysis. Furthermore, two BITC-modified amino acids were identified, located at two lysine side chains (K32 and K113) in the amino acid sequence of α-LA. Full article

Fatty acid profiling on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) platforms is typically performed offline by manually derivatizing and analyzing small batches of samples. A GC–MS system with a fully integrated robotic autosampler can significantly improve sample handling, standardize data collection, and reduce the total hands-on time required for sample analysis. In this study, we report an optimized high-throughput GC–MS-based methodology that utilizes trimethyl sulfonium hydroxide (TMSH) as a derivatization reagent to convert fatty acids into fatty acid methyl esters. An automated online derivatization method was developed, in which the robotic autosampler derivatizes each sample individually and injects it into the GC–MS system in a high-throughput manner. This study investigated the robustness of automated TMSH derivatization by comparing fatty acid standards and lipid extracts, derivatized manually in batches and online automatically from four biological matrices. Automated derivatization improved reproducibility in 19 of 33 fatty acid standards, with nearly half of the 33 confirmed fatty acids in biological samples demonstrating improved reproducibility when compared to manually derivatized samples. In summary, we show that the online TMSH-based derivatization methodology is ideal for high-throughput fatty acid analysis, allowing rapid and efficient fatty acid profiling, with reduced sample handling, faster data acquisition, and, ultimately, improved data reproducibility. Full article

A multivariate regression approach based on sensory data and chemical compositions has been applied to study the correlation between the sensory and chemical properties of Pinot Blanc wines from South Tyrol. The sensory properties were identified by descriptive analysis and the chemical profile was obtained by HS-SPME-GC/MS and HPLC. The profiles of the most influencing (positively or negatively) chemical components have been presented for each sensory descriptor. Partial Least Square Regression (PLS) and Principal Component Regression (PCR) models have been tested and applied. Visual (clarity, yellow colour), gustatory (sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, astringency, and warmness) and olfactory (overall intensity, floral, apple, pear, tropical fruit, dried fruit, fresh vegetative, spicy, cleanness, and off-odours) descriptors have been correlated with the volatile and phenolic profiles, respectively. Each olfactory descriptor was correlated via a PCR model to the volatile compounds, whereas a comprehensive PLS2 regression model was built for the correlation between visual/gustatory descriptors and the phenolic fingerprint. “Apple” was the olfactory descriptor best modelled by PCR, with an adjusted R² of 0.72, with only 20% of the validation samples falling out of the confidence interval (α = 95%). A PLS2 with 6 factors was chosen as the best model for gustatory and visual descriptors related to the phenolic compounds. Finally, the overall quality judgment could be explained by a combination of the calibrated sensory descriptors through a PLS model. This allowed the identification of sensory descriptors such as “olfactory intensity”, “warmness”, “apple”, “saltiness”, “astringency”, “cleanness”, “clarity” and “pear”, which relevantly contributed to the overall quality of Pinot Blanc wines from South Tyrol, obtained with two different winemaking processes and aged in bottle for 18 months. Full article

The absence of magic numbers in bosonic ⁴He clusters predicted by all theories since 1984 has been challenged by high-resolution matter-wave diffraction experiments. The observed magic numbers were explained in terms of enhanced growth rates of specific cluster sizes for which an additional excitation level calculated by diffusion Monte Carlo is stabilized. The present theoretical study provides an alternative explanation based on a simple independent particle model of the He clusters. Collisions between cluster atoms in excited states within the cluster lead to selective evaporation via an Auger process. The calculated magic numbers as well as the shape of the number distributions are in quite reasonable agreement with the experiments. Full article

La₃LiMn_1−xTi_xO₇ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) samples were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method, and a single-phase form was observed for the samples in the range of x ≤ 0.03. Crystal structure, optical properties, and color of the La₃LiMn_1−xTi_xO₇ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03) samples were characterized. Strong optical absorption was observed at a wavelength between 400 and 550 nm, and a shoulder absorption peak also appeared around 690 nm in all samples; orange colors were also exhibited. Among the samples synthesized, the most brilliant orange color was obtained at La₃LiMn_0.97Ti_0.03O₇. The redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values of this pigment were higher than those of the commercially available orange pigments. Therefore, the orange color of this pigment is brighter than those of the commercial products. Since the La₃LiMn_0.97Ti_0.03O pigment is composed of non-toxic elements, it could be a new environmentally friendly inorganic orange pigment. Full article

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the changes of packing structures, and thermodynamic quantities including internal energy, entropy, and free energy are used to determine temperature regime and transition time of atomic packing structures. The simulation results show different packing structures as the component composition changes, and there are different packing patterns during cooling. For these Cu-Ag alloy clusters containing only a small number of atoms of Cu, they present FCC packing structures in different parts at high temperatures, and then there are transformations to icosahedral structures. With the increase in content of Cu atoms, there is a transition mechanism from molten state to icosahedron. When the content of Cu atoms is appropriate, core-shell structures can be formed at room temperature. Full article

Cyclopeptidic photosensitizer prodrugs (cPPPs) are compounds designed to specifically target overexpressed hydrolases such as serine proteases, resulting in their specific activation in close proximity to tumor cells. In this study, we explored a series of conjugates that can be selectively activated by the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA). They differ from each other by their pheophorbide a (Pha) loading, their number of PEG chains and the eventual presence of black hole quenchers (BHQ3). The involvement of a peptidic linker between the drugs and the cyclopeptidic carrier allows specific cleavage by uPA. Restoration of the photophysical activity was observed in vitro on A549 lung and MCF7 breast cancer cells that exhibited an increase in red fluorescence emission up to 5.1-fold and 7.8-fold, respectively for uPA-cPPQ_2+2/5. While these cPPP conjugates do not show dark toxicity, they revealed their phototoxic potential in both cell lines at 5 µM of Pha_eq and a blue light fluence of 12.7 J/cm² that resulted in complete cell death with almost all conjugates. This suggests, in addition to the promising use for cancer diagnosis, a use as a PDT agent. Intravenous injection of tetrasubstituted conjugates in fertilized hen eggs bearing a lung cancer nodule (A549) showed that a double PEGylation was favorable for the selective accumulation of the unquenched Pha moieties in the tumor nodules. Indeed, the diPEGylated uPA-cPPP_4/5² induced a 5.2-fold increase in fluorescence, while the monoPEGylated uPA-cPPP_4/5 or uPA-cPPQ_2+2/5 led to a 0.4-fold increase only. Full article

The development of electrode materials for supercapacitors (SCs) is greatly desired, and this still poses an immense challenge for researchers. Cobalt silicate (Co₂SiO₄, denoted as CoSi) with a high theoretical capacity is deemed to be one of the sustainable electrode materials for SCs. However, its achieved electrochemical properties are still not satisfying. Herein, the phosphorus (P)-doped cobalt silicate, denoted as PCoSi, is synthesized by a calcining strategy. The PCoSi exhibits 1D nanobelts with a specific surface area of 46 m²∙g⁻¹, and it can significantly improve the electrochemical properties of CoSi. As a supercapacitor’s (SC’s) electrode, the specific capacitance of PCoSi attains 434 F∙g⁻¹ at 0.5 A∙g⁻¹, which is much higher than the value of CoSi (244 F∙g⁻¹ at 0.5 A∙g⁻¹). The synergy between the composition and structure endows PCoSi with attractive electrochemical properties. This work provides a novel strategy to improve the electrochemical performances of transition metal silicates. Full article

Currently, there is a growing demand for flavorings, especially of natural origin. It is worth paying attention to the biotechnological processes of flavor production, characterized by simplicity, high efficiency and relatively low cost. In this study, we analyzed the ability of the Galac tomyces geotrichum mold to transform by-products of the dairy industry: sour whey and buttermilk to complex flavour mixtures with pleasant, honey-rose aroma. Furthermore, the aroma complexity of the fermentation product has been carefully identified applying a sensomic approach involving the use of gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA) to identify and quantify aroma compounds. Based on the calculation of odor activity value (OAV), 13 key aroma compounds were present in both tested variants. The highest OAVs were found for phenylacetaldehyde (honey-like) in the buttermilk variant (912) and 2-phenylethanol (rose-like) in the sour whey variant (524). High values of this indicator were also recorded for phenylacetaldehyde (319) and 3-methyl-1-butanol with a fruity aroma (149) in the sour whey culture. The other compounds identified are 3-methylbutanal (malty), 2,3-butanedione (cheesy), isovaleric acid (cheesy), 3-(methylthio)-propanal (boiled potato), butanoic acid (vinegar), (E)-2-nonenal (fatty), ethyl furaneol (burnt sugar), dimethyl trisulfide (cabbage), and acetic acid (vinegar). Full article

The pyrin domain-containing multiprotein complex NLRP3 inflammasome, consisting of the NLRP3 protein, ASC adaptor, and procaspase-1, plays a vital role in the pathophysiology of several inflammatory disorders, including neurological and metabolic disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Several phytochemicals act as promising anti-inflammatory agents and are usually regarded to have potential applications as complementary or alternative therapeutic agents against chronic inflammatory disorders. Various in vitro and in vivo studies have reported the anti-inflammatory role of berberine (BRB), an organic heteropentacyclic phytochemical and natural isoquinoline, in inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent inflammation against many disorders. This review summarizes the mechanism and regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and its involvement in inflammatory diseases, and discusses the current scientific evidence on the repressive role of BRB on NLRP3 inflammasome pathways along with the possible mechanism(s) and their potential in counteracting various inflammatory diseases. Full article

The use of monoamine oxidases (MAOs) in amine oxidation is a great example of how biocatalysis can be applied in the agricultural or pharmaceutical industry and manufacturing of fine chemicals to make a shift from traditional chemical synthesis towards more sustainable green chemistry. This article reports the screening of fourteen Antarctic fungi strains for MAO activity and the discovery of a novel psychrozyme MAOP3 isolated from the Pseudogymnoascus sp. P3. The activity of the native enzyme was 1350 ± 10.5 U/L towards a primary (n-butylamine) amine, and 1470 ± 10.6 U/L towards a secondary (6,6-dimethyl-3-azabicyclohexane) amine. MAO P3 has the potential for applications in biotransformations due to its wide substrate specificity (aliphatic and cyclic amines, pyrrolidine derivatives). The psychrozyme operates at an optimal temperature of 30 °C, retains 75% of activity at 20 °C, and is rather thermolabile, which is beneficial for a reduction in the overall costs of a bioprocess and offers a convenient way of heat inactivation. The reported biocatalyst is the first psychrophilic MAO; its unique biochemical properties, substrate specificity, and effectiveness predispose MAO P3 for use in environmentally friendly, low-emission biotransformations. Full article

The cultivation of one actinobacteria strain, Herbidospora yilanensis, was isolated from sediment samples collected from Yilan County City in Taiwan, resulting in the isolation of five previously undescribed compounds: herbidosporayilanensins A–E (1–5), and four compounds isolated from nature for the first time: herbidosporayilanensins F–I (6–9). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses, including 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments with those of known analogues, and on the basis of HR-EI-MS mass spectrometry, their antimycobacterial activities were also evaluated. Full article

Batten disease or neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) is a group of rare, fatal, inherited neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorders. Numerous genes (CLN1–CLN8, CLN10–CLN14) were identified in which mutations can lead to NCL; however, the underlying pathophysiology remains elusive. Despite this, the NCLs share some of the same features and symptoms but vary in respect to severity and onset of symptoms by age. Some common symptoms include the progressive loss of vision, mental and motor deterioration, epileptic seizures, premature death, and in the rare adult-onset, dementia. Currently, all forms of NCL are fatal, and no curative treatments are available. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can differentiate into any cell type of the human body. Cells reprogrammed from a patient have the advantage of acquiring disease pathogenesis along with recapitulation of disease-associated phenotypes. They serve as practical model systems to shed new light on disease mechanisms and provide a phenotypic screening platform to enable drug discovery. Herein, we provide an overview of available iPSC models for a number of different NCLs. More specifically, we highlight findings in these models that may spur target identification and drug development. Full article