Chemical constituents, cytotoxic, antifungal and antimicrobial properties of Centaurea diluta Ait. subsp. algeriensis(Coss. & Dur.) Maire

Objective:To investigate the chemical composition of a moderately polar extract(CHC1_3 soluble part of the MeOH-H_2O extract) obtained from the aerial parts(leaves and flowers) of Centaurea diluta Ait.subsp.algeriensis(Coss.& Dur.) Maire,a species endemic to Algeria and Morocco on which no reports are available to date.To evaluate in vitro the cytotoxic,antifungal and antimicrobial activities of this extract and the cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities of its isolated secondary metabolites.Methods:The cytotoxic effects of the extract were investigated on 3 human cancer cell lines i.e.the A549 non-small-cell lung carcinoma(NSCLC),the MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma and the U373 glioblastoma using a MTT colorimetric assay.Biological data allowed to guide the fractionation of the extract by separation and purification on silica gel 60(CC and TLC).The isolated compounds which were characterized by spectral analysis,mainly HR-ESIMS,HR-EIMS,UV and NMR experiments(~1H,^(13)C,COSY,ROESY,HSQC and HMBC) and comparison of their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature,were evaluated for cytotoxic activities on six cancer cell lines(A549,MCF7,U373,Hs683 human glioma,PC3 human prostate and B16-F10 murine melanoma).The direct and indirect antibacterial and antifungal activities were determined using microdilution methods for the raw extract and TLC-bioautography and microdilution methods against standard and clinical strains for the isolated compounds.Results:The raw extract reduced cell viability with IC_(50)s of 27,25 and 21 μg/mL on A549,MCF7 and U373,respectively.Five secondary metabolites:two phenolic compounds(vanillin 1,paridol 3),a lignan[(-)-arctigenin 2]and two flavonoid aglycones(eupatilin 4 and jaceosidin 5),were then isolated from this extract.Moderate cytotoxic effects were observed for(-)-arctigenin 2(IC_(50)s:28 and 33μM on Hs683 and B16-F10,respectively),eupatilin 4(IC_(50)s:33 and 47 μM on B16-F10 and PC3,respectively) and jaceosidin 5(IC_(50)s:32 and 40 μM on PC3 and B16-F10,respectively).Conclusions:All the isolated compounds were described for the first time from this species.Although inactive against 7 tested microorganisms(fungi,bacteria and yeast,human or plant pathogens),the raw extract was able to potentiate the effect of beta-lactam antibiotics on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA),reducing the minimal inhibitory concentrations(MICs) by a factor of 2-32-fold.No synergy was found between the extract and streptomycin.From the five isolated compounds only jaseosidin 5 showed a moderate antimicrobial activity.

Direct antiviral agents in hepatitis C virus related liver disease:Don’t count the chickens before they’re hatched

Since molecules with direct-acting antiviral(DAA)became available,the landscape of the treatment of hepatitis C virus(HCV)infection has completely changed.The new drugs are extremely effective in eradicating infection,and treatment is very well tolerated with a duration of 8-12 wk.This review aims to report the outstanding clinical benefits of DAA and to highlight their critical disadvantages,identifying some clinically relevant hot topics.First,do the rates of virological response remain as high when patients with more advanced cirrhosis are considered?Large studies have shown slightly lower but still satisfactory rates of response in these patients.Nevertheless,modified schedules with an extended treatment duration and use of ribavirin may be necessary.Second,does the treatment of HCV infection affect the risk of occurrence and recurrence of liver cancer?Incidence is reduced after viral eradication but remains high enough to warrant periodic surveillance for an early diagnosis.In contrast,the risk of recurrence seems to be unaffected by viral clearance;however,DAA treatment improves survival because of the reduced risk of progression of liver disease.Third,can HCV treatment also have favorable effects on major comorbidities?HCV eradication is associated with a reduced incidence of diabetes,an improvement in glycemic control and a decreased risk of cardiovascular events;nevertheless,a risk of hypoglycemia during DAA treatment has been reported.Finally,is it safe to treat patients with HCV/hepatitis B virus(HBV)coinfection?In this setting,HCV is usually the main driver of viral activity,while HBV replication is suppressed.Because various studies have described HBV reactivation after HCV clearance,a baseline evaluation for HBV coinfection and a specific follow-up is mandatory.

Two-stage Optimal Dispatching of AC/DC Hybrid Active Distribution Systems Considering Network Flexibility

The increasing flexibility of active distribution systems(ADSs)coupled with the high penetration of renewable distributed generators(RDGs)leads to the increase of the complexity.It is of practical significance to achieve the largest amount of RDG penetration in ADSs and maintain the optimal operation.This study establishes an alternating current(AC)/direct current(DC)hybrid ADS model that considers the dynamic thermal rating,soft open point,and distribution network reconfiguration(DNR).Moreover,it transforms the optimal dispatching into a second-order cone programming problem.Considering the different control time scales of dispatchable resources,the following two-stage dispatching framework is proposed.d dispatch uses hourly input data with the goal(1)The day-ahea of minimizing the grid loss and RDG dropout.It obtains the optimal 24-hour schedule to determine the dispatching plans for DNR and the energy storage system.(2)The intraday dispatch uses 15-min input data for 1-hour rolling-plan dispatch but only executes the first 15 min of dispatching.To eliminate error between the actual operation and dispatching plan,the first 15 min is divided into three 5-min step-by-step executions.The goal of each step is to trace the tie-line power of the intraday rolling-plan dispatch to the greatest extent at the minimum cost.The measured data are used as feedback input for the rolling-plan dispatch after each step is executed.A case study shows that the comprehensive cooperative ADS model can release the line capacity,reduce losses,and improve the penetration rate of RDGs.Further,the two-stage dispatching framework can handle source-load fluctuations and enhance system stability.

KOH Direct Activation for Preparing Activated Carbon Fiber from Polyacrylonitrile-based Pre-oxidized Fiber

The activated carbon fiber（ACF） was prepared from polyacrylonitrile-based pre-oxidized fiber（PANOF） by KOH direct activation. The influence of activation conditions including impregnation ratio（the mass ratio of PANOF to KOH）, activation temperature and activation time on the pore structure and electrochemical properties of ACF was investigated, and the corresponding activation mechanism was proposed. The ACF prepared at an activation temperature of 800℃ and an impregnation ratio（the mass ratio of PANOF to KOH） of 1：2 for an activation time of 1 b in 6 mol/L KOH solution exhibits a specific surface area of 3029 m^2/g, a mesoporosity of 84.2% and a specific capacitance of 288 F/g, and shows a good capacitive performance. The prepared ACF can be used as the electrode material for supercapacitors.

Effect of activators on the properties of nickel coated diamond composite powders

Nickel coated diamond composite powders were fabricated via a newly developed direct electrodeposition technique. The effects of activators on the coating of diamond were firstly investigated and diamond grinding wheels were then prepared from Ni-coated diamond composite powders with different activators. The microstructural characterizations of this composite powders were finally conducted by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, and the mechanical and tribological properties of as-prepared diamond grinding wheels were also measured. There are changes in microstructures and properties of the composite powders with activators. The activator concentration also has an influence on the morphologies and phase structures of the Ni coating on diamond particles.The composite powders with more compact coating of nickel can be prepared by adding 1 g dm^（-3） or more AgNO_3 as an activator to electrodeposit nickel on diamond. The mechanical and tribological properties of diamond grinding wheels were significantly improved when the coating phase structure of Ni crystal grew with（111） plane orientation on the surface of diamond particles. The wheels made from nickel coated diamond composite powders possessed the advantages of easy preparation and outstanding tribological properties. Therefore, Ni coated diamond composite powders exhibit a great potential to be extensively applied in diamond cutting and grinding tools.

Dry reforming of methane on doped Ni nanoparticles:Featureassisted optimizations and ranking of doping metals for direct activations of CH_(4) and CO_(2)

As a vital energy resource and raw material for many industrial products,syngas(CO and H_(2))is of great significance.Dry reforming of methane(DRM)is an important approach to producing syngas(with a hydrogen-to-carbon-monoxide ratio of 1:1 in principle)from methane and carbon dioxide,with a lower operational cost as compared to other reforming techniques.However,many pure metallic catalysts used in DRM face deactivation issues due to coke formation or sintering of the metal particles.A systematic search for highly efficient metallic catalysts,which reduce the reaction barriers for the rate-determining steps and resist carbon deposition,is urgently needed.Nickel is a typical low-cost transition metal for activating the C–H bond in methane.In this work,we applied a two-step workflow to search for nickel-based bimetallic catalysts with doping metals M(M-Ni)by combining density functional theory(DFT)calculations and machine learning(ML).We focus on the two critical steps in DRM—CH_(4) and CO_(2) direct activations.We used DFT and slab models for the Ni(111)facet to explore the relevant reaction pathways and constructed a data set containing structural and energetic information for representative M-Ni systems.We used this dataset to train ML models with chemical-knowledge-based features and predicted CH_(4) and CO_(2) dissociation energies and barriers,which revealed the composition–activity relationships of the bimetallic catalysts.We also used these models to rank the predicted catalytic performance of candidate systems to demonstrate the applicability of ML for catalyst screening.We emphasized that ML ranking models would be more valuable than regression models in high-throughput screenings.Finally,we used our trained model to screen 12 unexplored M-Ni systems and showed that the DFT-computed energies and barriers are very close to the ML-predicted values for top candidates,validating the robustness of the trained model.

Direct C-H Bond Activation of Benzoxazole and Benzothiazole with Aryl Bromides Catalyzed by Palladium（Ⅱ）-N-heterocyclic Carbene Complexes

Herein, we report that a series of novel palladium（II）-NHC complexes （NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene） were synthesized. The structures of all novel complexes were characterized by ^1H NMR, ^13C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis techniques. These palladium（ll）-NHC complexes were tested as efficient catalysts in the direct C-H bond activation of benzoxazole and benzothiazole with aryl bromides in the presence of 1 mol% catalyst loading at 150 ℃ for 4 h. Under the given conditions, various aryl bromides were successfully applied as the arylating reagents to achieve the 2-arylbenzoxazoles and 2-arylbenzothiazoles in acceptable to high yields.

A NOVEL DIRECT ACTIVATOR OF TFEB PROMOTES AUTOPHAGY AND LYSOSOME BIOGENESIS AND PROTECTS NEURONS IN THE BRAIN

Autophagy dysfunction is a common feature in neurodegenerative disorders caused by the accumulation of toxic,aggregate-prone proteins.Increasing evidence have demonstrated that genetic or pharmacological activation of transcription factor EB(TFEB),a master regulator of autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis,ameliorates neurotoxicity and rescues neurodegenerative phenotypes in several animal models of neurodegenerative diseases.