Lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide and the protease prolyl oligopeptidase (EC 3.4.21.26) have been proposed as targets for the treatment of cognitive disturbances such as dementia. In this study, nine triterpenoids isolated from the roots of Sanguisorba officinalis, including arjunic acid (1), rosamultic acid (2), haptadienic acid (3), 1β-hydroxyeuscaphic acid (4), euscaphic acid (5), torm...

Ziyuglycoside II is an active compound of Sanguisorba officinalis L. that has anti-inflammation, antioxidation, antibiosis, and homeostasis properties. We report here on the anticancer effect of ziyuglycoside II on human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cells. We investigated the effects of ziyuglycoside II on cell growth, cell cycle, and cell apoptosis of this cell line. Our results revealed that ziy...

background and objectives: alzheimer's disease (ad) as a neurodegenerative disorder is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. according to the amyloid hypothesis, accumulation of amyloid beta (aβ) plaques, which are mostly constituted of aβ peptide aggregates, triggers pathological cascades that lead to neuronal cell death. thus, modulation of aβ toxicity is the hopeful therapeut...

This paper discusses the assumed infinite numbers of antigens and antibodies, and the nature of their interactions, in relation to reproductive immunology. Classical models offered by Pauling, Burnet and Crick are discussed. The author's own model is described, based on selectionist principles, proposing that the numbers are defined, discrete and not infinite. The binding specificity of monoclo...

was "Quite a godsend! Everybody ill, nobody dying"') the 1918-19 variety showed a dreadful propensity to lead on to pneumonic complications and death. The bodies of the deceased, it might be added, were prone to a distressing darkening or even blackening.2 Mortality among pregnant women seemed to be particularly high.3 Edwin Jordan, writing in the 1920s, put the global toll of the pandemic at, ...

When a suspension of bacterial viruses is mixed with specific antiserum, the virus particles are rapidly "inactivated," that is, they lose the power to attack bacteria and to multiply. This inactivation is due to the union of the virus particles with the antibody. The union is irreversible but does not destroy the virus. The original virus may be recovered if the antibody is digested with papai...

After a wave of earthquakes in 1692 and 1693, the astronomer John Flamsteed composed an innovative explanation of their causes. He argued that they did not originate underground but were caused by explosions of nitrous and sulphurous particles in the air. Although the idea now sounds strange, Flamsteed's account was expressed in terms that were familiar to his contemporaries in the Royal Societ...

This paper proposes new anthropogenic pollen indicators for the Balearic Islands and attempts to assess gradients of human impact on vegetation in Mediterranean islands. A combination modern analogue studies, complemented by phytosociological descriptions ordination techniques using quantitative presence/absence data was used. Redundancy analysis allowed us evaluate relationships between types ...