Identification of phytocompounds from Houttuynia cordata Thunb. as potential inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 replication proteins through GC–MS/LC–MS characterization,molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a massive viral disease outbreak of international concerns. The present study is mainly intended to identify the bioactive phytocompounds from traditional antiviral herb Houttuynia cordata Thunb. as potential inhibitors for three main replication proteins of SARS-CoV-2, namely Main protease (Mpro), Papain-Like protease (PLpro) and ADP ribose phosphatase (ADRP) which control the replication process. A total of 177 phytocompounds were characterized from H. cordata using GC–MS/LC–MS and they were docked against three SARS-CoV-2 proteins (receptors), namely Mpro, PLpro and ADRP using Epic, LigPrep and Glide module of Schrödinger suite 2020-3. During docking studies, phytocompounds (ligand) 6-Hydroxyondansetron (A104) have demonstrated strong binding affinity toward receptors Mpro (PDB ID 6LU7) and PLpro (PDB ID 7JRN) with G-score of???7.274 and???5.672, respectively, while Quercitrin (A166) also showed strong binding affinity toward ADRP (PDB ID 6W02) with G-score -6.788. Molecular Dynamics Simulation (MDS) performed using Desmond module of Schrödinger suite 2020–3 has demonstrated better stability in the ligand–receptor complexes A104-6LU7 and A166-6W02 within 100 ns than the A104-7JRN complex. The ADME-Tox study performed using SwissADMEserver for pharmacokinetics of the selected phytocompounds 6-Hydroxyondansetron (A104) and Quercitrin (A166) demonstrated that 6-Hydroxyondansetron passes all the required drug discovery rules which can potentially inhibit Mpro and PLpro of SARS-CoV-2 without causing toxicity while Quercitrin demonstrated less drug-like properties but also demonstrated as potential inhibitor for ADRP. Present findings confer opportunities for 6-Hydroxyondansetron and Quercitrin to be developed as new therapeutic drug against COVID-19.

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Artematrovirenolides A—D and Artematrolides S—Z,Sesquiterpenoid Dimers with Cytotoxicity against Three Hepatoma Cell Lines from Artemisia atrovirens

Inspired by the intriguing structures and remarkable activities of sesquiterpenoid dimers,12 new sesquiterpenoid dimers,artematrovirenolides A—D(1—4)and artematrolides S—Z(8—12),were isolated from the EtOAc fraction of Artemisia atrovirens through a bioactivity-guided approach.Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic data and absolute configuration was assigned based on single crystal X-ray diffraction data and ECD calculations.Structurally,all compounds are presumably formed via[4+2]cycloaddition involving three connecting model.Compounds 1—4 are four novel hetero-dimeric[4+2]Diels-Alder adducts dimerized from a rotundane-type unit and a guaiane-type monomer,and compounds 5—12 are eight new homo-dimeric[4+2]adducts derived from two guaianolide moieties.A putative biosynthetic pathway for compounds 1—4 was also proposed.Compounds 4,6,7,and 10 demonstrated moderate cytotoxicity against HepG2,SMMC-7721,and Huh7 cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 9.3 to 62.3μmol/L.Interestingly,compounds 5 and 11 manifested cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 13.6 and 12.8(HepG2),18.5 and 13.1(SMMC-7721),and 16.5 and 19.4μmol/L(Huh7),respectively,which were equivalent to the positive control,sorafenib.This investigation suggests that compounds 5 and 11 might be considered as potent antihepatoma candidates and deserve further structural modification and mechanism study.     

TiO2/CuInS2-sensitized structure for sensitive photoelectrochemical immunoassay of cortisol in saliva

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Cortisol, a steroid hormone, has been confirmed as a kind of biomarker that reflects the stress response of psychobiology and related adverse health...     

Multi-targeted molecular docking,drug-likeness and ADMET studies of derivatives of few quinoline- and acridine-based FDA-approved drugs for anti-breast cancer activity

Structural Chemistry - Quinoline- and acridine-based drugs are widely used as anti-breast cancer agents. These drugs act through various mechanisms of action; for example, neratinib acts on...     

Synchronization mechanism of clapping rhythms in mutual interacting individuals

In recent years, clapping synchronization between individuals has been widely studied as one of the typical synchronization phenomena. In this paper, we aim to reveal the synchronization mechanism of clapping interactions by observing two individuals’ clapping rhythms in a series of experiments. We find that the two synchronizing clapping rhythm series exhibit long-range cross-correlations(LRCCs);that is, the interaction of clapping rhythms can be seen as a strong-anticipation process. Previous studies have demonstrated that the interactions in local timescales or global matching in statistical structures of fluctuation in long timescales can be sources of the strong-anticipation process. However, the origin of the strong anticipation process often appears elusive in many complex systems. Here, we find that the clapping synchronization process may result from the local interaction between two clapping individuals and may result from the more global coordination between two clapping individuals. We introduce two stochastic models for mutually interacting clapping individuals that generate the LRCCs and prove theoretically that the generation of clapping synchronization process needs to consider both local interaction and global matching. This study provides a statistical framework for studying the internal synchronization mechanism of other complex systems. Our theoretical model can also be applied to study the dynamics of other complex systems with the LRCCs, including finance, transportation, and climate.     

An effective multi-channel fault diagnosis approach for rotating machinery based on multivariate generalized refined composite multi-scale sample entropy

Nonlinear Dynamics - Fault diagnosis of critical rotating machinery components is necessary to ensure safe operation. However, the commonly used rotating machinery fault diagnosis methods are...     

Empirical tail conditional allocation and its consistency under minimal assumptions

Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics - Under minimal assumptions, we prove that an empirical estimator of the tail conditional allocation (TCA), also known as the marginal expected...     

Cu过量对Cu1+x Al1-x O2(0≤x≤0.04)薄膜结构与光电性能的影响

以单相多晶Cu1+x Al1-x O2陶瓷做靶材,采用射频磁控溅射方法在石英衬底上沉积了Cu过量的Cu1+x Al1-x O2(0≤x≤0.04)薄膜.通过X射线衍射(XRD)、紫外吸收光谱以及电导率的测试,表征了不同含Cu量Cu1+x Al1-x O2薄膜的结构与光电性能.结果表明,沉积态薄膜经退火处理后,由非晶转变为具有铜铁矿结构的纯相Cu1+x Al1-x O2;退火态薄膜在可见光区域的平均透过率约为55;,平均可见光透过率不受Cu含量的影响;退火态薄膜样品的室温电导率随Cu含量的增加而增大,Cu1.04 Al0.96 O2的室温电导率最高,为1.22×10-2 S/cm;在近室温区(200～300 K),退火态薄膜均很好地符合Arrhenius热激活模式.