Unbiased evaluation of bioactive secondary metabolites in complex matrices

The majority of bioactive principles in a complex matrix such as natural products and botanical medicines are secondary rather than primary metabolites. In addition to being chemically diverse, the bioactivity of an ethnobotanical can comprise from one to several bioactive compounds, present in a complex mixture. Conventional discovery efforts utilize bioassay-guided fractionation (BGF) to isolate individual active compounds. When applied to complex natural products, BGF is often challenged by an apparent loss of activity during fractionation, resulting in weakly active isolated compounds. Metabolomic analysis can potentially complement existing the BGF paradigm by capturing the chemical complexity of the metabolites. The proposed biochemometric approach establishes a link between the chemistry of a secondary metabolome and a deserved health impact, using a high-throughput, high-resolution capable biological endpoint. The proof of principle is demonstrated for the anti-tuberculosis (TB) activity of the Alaskan ethnobotanical, Oplopanax horridus. Biochemometric analysis identified the 100 most active constituents from thousands of metabolites in the active extract by means of 2D orthogonal chromatography using countercurrent and GC-MS methods. Previously isolated O. horridus phytoconstituents were used as reference markers of known structure and bio (in)activity. Positive correlations allowed distinction of anti-TB actives from inactive compounds. A total of 29 bioactives from 3 main structural classes were assigned based on MS data. Biochemometric analysis is a new tool for the standardization of herbal medicines and ethnobotanicals, as well as for drug discovery from nature. The method can assign multiple active compounds in complex mixtures without their prior isolation or structure elucidation, while still providing an interface to structural information.     

Identifying botanical mechanisms of action

The biological mechanism of action for any botanical extract is a necessary part of discovery to determine pharmacological use and safety. Interestingly, many activities that are governed by endogenous compounds are not fully understood making the characterization of mechanisms elusive. For example, phytoestrogens are being consumed for menopausal symptoms while the biological action of estradiol are still being investigated. Therefore, long term efficacy and safety issues are a challenge in the field. As new activities are associated with new biological pathways, an important component of therapeutic discovery will need to be the re-evaluation of negative or less active natural products to determine their relative use as medicines.     

天然动植物色素的特性及其提取技术概况

综述了天然生物色素在动植物体中的分布和特定生理功能。概括了动植物色素的主要提取方法及其发展状况：直接破碎原料、溶剂浸提、物理技术辅助浸提和现代仪器提取分离等;指出超临界流体萃取(SFE)是较具发展潜力的高效萃取方法,有利于提高色素产品质量。     

脲醛树脂结构研究进展

在过去的２０余年里,为获得结构更合理、性能更优异的脲醛树脂,人们使用近代分析手段对脲醛树脂结构进行了广泛的研究,付立叶变换红外光谱（ＦＴＩＲ）和１３Ｃ核磁共振（１３ＣＮＭＲ）是目前脲醛树脂结构研究的最主要方法,其中１３ＣＮＭＲ是在分子水平描述脲醛树脂结构的最完善、最有效的工具。本文综述近２０年脲醛树脂结构研究进展,内容包括结构研究方法、内容和结果。     

The potential health benefit of polyisoprenylated benzophenones from Garcinia and related genera: Ethnobotanical and therapeutic importance

The diversity present in biological activities and the medicinal significance of natural products provide a renewed interest in the use of natural compounds and, more importantly, their role as a basis for drug development. Advancements in the field of natural product chemistry provide valuable information on Garcinia fruits which revealed the presence of biologically important secondary metabolites named as polyisoprenylated benzophenones (PIBs). They are mainly present in the genus Garcinia (Guttiferae) which occupies a prominent position in the history of natural products. Compared to the long history of medicinal uses and widespread research on Garcinia, the study of polyisoprenylated benzophenones was relatively limited. During recent years, these PIBs have been recognized as interesting and valuable biologically active secondary metabolites as many of the isolated polyisoprenylated benzophenones exhibited significant cytotoxic activity in in vitro and in vivo assay. During past decades, some promising advances had been achieved in understanding the chemistry and pharmacology of polyisoprenylated benzophenones. However, there has been not any systematic review on the ethnobotanical importance, chemistry, isolation techniques, structure activity relationships and the biological activities of polyisoprenylated benzophenones. In this review, the biological activity of different structures of polyisoprenylated benzophenones isolated from genus Clusia, Garcinia, Vismia, Allanblackia, Moronobea, Symphonia, Hypericum, Tovomita, Tovomiptosis and Ochrocarpus have been described. Therefore, the goal of this review article would be a valuable reference for the natural product chemists and biologists working on these PIBs. Furthermore, the review article on polyisoprenylated benzophenones would also be useful from the drug discovery point of view as cytotoxic agents in near future. This review focuses our understanding about the specific biological effects of Garcinia fruits, which may be useful for predicting other medicinal uses, potential drug or food interactions and may benefit people where the fruits are prevalent and healthcare resources are scarce.     

Corporate responsibility reporting by large pulp and paper companies

The forest-based industry has a crucial role in global sustainable development because of its unique raw material basis and increasing internationalisation. Using institutional organisation theory as a background this paper analyses corporate responsibility reporting in the world's ten largest pulp and paper companies, representing 25% of global production capacity. The studied companies have their headquarters in Japan, the Nordic countries or North America, and have very different geographical and cultural bases and variable company product portfolios ranging from wood-based products and printing papers to packaging boards and consumer goods. Both quantitative and qualitative economic, environmental and social metrics from the annual and social responsibility reports of the companies were analysed regarding institutionalised, culture-specific and company-specific characteristics. The results showed that regulated financial and environmental reporting leaves little flexibility for company-specific diversification in reporting. Only a few regional characteristics were identified, mainly in social responsibility reporting, while the reporting largely reflected a general North American–Nordic type of corporate responsibility and the globalisation trend of the studied companies. Regardless of the many challenges in the assessment of corporate responsibility, the concepts discussed in this paper are potentially useful tools for helping to achieve sustainable development in the pulp and paper industry.     

中国藤及藤制品国际贸易面临的主要问题和政策建议

近年来,藤制品的国际市场价格和全球贸易额不断上升。中国已成为世界上最主要的藤原材料进口国,每年从东南亚国家进口原材料5万～6万t。同时,中国也是世界上最大的藤制品出口国,2004年5种主要藤产品出口额达到1．39亿美元。随着国内资源的短缺,中国藤产业原材料对外依存度越来越大。为了保障中国藤产业的健康发展,文中提出了3点政策性建议：（1）加强国内藤资源培育;（2）建立稳定的国外原材料市场,在国外建立原材料基地;（3）提高资源利用率。     

关于发展竹材人造板工业的思考

根据我国竹材人造板工业的现状和发展需要，提出了企业规模适度扩大并由单一产品生产转向多品种生产；原料由单一竹材向以竹材为主的多种原料转变；板材构成单元向多元化转变；板材由高密度型向中密度型转变；加工方法由传统的弦向剖蔑、弦向胶合改变为径向剖蔑、径向胶合等五项变革发展的思路，以期促使我国竹材人造板工业步入成熟发展阶段。     

Larvicidal activity of a botanical natural product, AkseBio2, against Culex pipiens

A botanical natural product, AkseBio2, was evaluated for its larvicidal effect against Culex pipiens under laboratory conditions. The product exhibited strong larvicidal activity and caused >90% mortalities in both the young (first-second) and the older (third-fourth) larval stages of the species at 24 h at the doses of 25 and 50 ppm. However, it was determined that the young larval stages were more susceptible to the product in comparison with the older larval stages. The results suggest that the product is promising as a larvicide against C. pipiens and could be useful in the search of new larvicidal natural compounds.     

关于促进我国木材工业发展的几个问题

本文分析了我国木材工业的发展现状，指出了我国的木材工业企业只有实施原料基地化、规模经济化、经营国际化、品种多元化、企业信息化、营销理性化、管理现代化和产品品牌化，才能实现我国木材工业的跨越式发展。     

Ecological interactions,management lessons and design tools in tropical agroforestry systems

During the 1980s, land- and labor-intensive simultaneous agroforestry systems (SAFS) were promoted in the tropics, based on the optimism on tree-crop niche differentiation and its potential for designing tree-crop mixtures using high tree-densities. In the 1990s it became clearer that although trees would yield crucial products and facilitate simultaneous growing of crops, they would also exert strong competitive effects on crops. In the meanwhile, a number of instruments for measuring the use of growth resources, exploratory and predictive models, and production assessment tools were developed to aid in understanding the opportunities and biophysical limits of SAFS. Following a review of the basic concepts of interspecific competition and facilitation between plants in general, this chapter synthesizes positive and negative effects of trees on crops, and discusses how these effects interact under different environmental resource conditions and how this imposes tradeoffs, biophysical limitations and management requirements in SAFS. The scope and limits of some of the research methods and tools, such as analytical and simulation models, that are available for assessing and predicting to a certain extent the productive outcome of SAFS are also discussed. The review brings out clearly the need for looking beyond yield performance in order to secure long-term management of farms and landscapes, by considering the environmental impacts and functions of SAFS.

     

我国木基静音地板发展现状分析

针对目前国内木基静音地板品种少、对天然优质软木依赖度大;基础理论研究少、无相应性能测试及质量评价标准的现状,提出从原料入手,加强木基地板静音机理的研究,开发新型的静音地板,制定相关的行业乃至国家标准等解决方案,同时,展望了木基静音地板的发展前景和趋势。     

Hybrid zones as a tool for identifying adaptive genetic variation in outbreeding forest trees: lessons from wild annual sunflowers (Helianthus spp.)

The identification and study of adaptively important genes in forest trees represents a formidable challenge because of their long generation spans. In annual or perennial herbs, formal genetic studies can be employed to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and/or candidate genes that underlie important traits, and the segregating populations can be transplanted into natural populations to measure the strength and direction of selection. However, the application of these methods to forest trees is difficult, because the creation of appropriate genetic material is extremely time-consuming in long-lived, woody plants, and lifetime fitness estimates are difficult or impossible to obtain. Although QTL mapping should in principle be feasible in wild intraspecific populations (as an alternative to artificial crosses), this approach is less likely to be successful in trees because LD (linkage disequilibrium) will decay quickly in large outbreeding plant populations. Within the present paper, we discuss a modified approach based on natural hybrid zones. We describe the use of wild annual sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) as a model for exploring the hybrid zone approach. Transplanted experimental hybrids allowed us to assess the adaptive value of individual chromosomal blocks in nature, and data on natural Helianthus hybrids suggest that similar approaches are possible in natural hybrid zones. Our results allowed us to test the role of hybridization in the origin of ecological divergence in wild sunflowers. In addition, they have practical implications for identifying adaptively important genes or QTLs in trees. This is exemplified by three temperate forest taxa, Populus (poplars, aspens, cottonwoods), Fraxinus (ash), and Quercus (oak). All three are diploid and important genomic tools are under development. Moreover, all three offer extensive hybrid zones whose likely age can be inferred from fossil data. Age data enables estimates of the size and frequency of chromosomal blocks in hybrids, thereby providing guidance in designing marker-based experiments. We predict that natural hybrid zones will be valuable tools for identifying the QTLs and/or candidate genes responsible for adaptive traits in forest trees.     

赤峰市植物园建设

随着城市化的高速发展,植物园已经成为现代文明城市的重要标志,是向全社会进行生态文明和自然科学知识教育的重要载体。文章介绍了赤峰植物园的基本情况和主要特点,重点对其生态休闲和科普功能进行了分析,并结合赤峰森林城市建设对进一步挖掘植物园功能潜力提出了对策。       

OPLC and AMD, recent techniques of planar chromatography: their interest for separation and characterization of extractive and synthetic compounds

It is always important for the chemist to have good methods of separation, characterization and quantitative evaluation for one or several compounds resulting from a chemical reaction or an extraction procedure. In this domain the chromatographic techniques are choice methods, in particular Over Pressured Layer Chromatography (OPLC) and Automated Multiple Development (AMD). They are relatively recent methods whose use is unfortunately not yet generalized although they give very clean separation. In this paper we present numerous examples of the use of these two new types of planar chromatographies and especially the results we have obtained in the field of natural products on a wide variety of different structures: coumarins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, alkaloids and essential oils.     

Increased forest production through forest tree breeding

Forest tree breeding started in the middle of the twentieth century and since then the use of improved forest regeneration material has become an essential part of forestry in many countries. This review describes methods and achievements of tree breeding programmes, which aim at increasing the quantities and improving qualities of wood-based raw materials through selection, field testing and controlled crossings. Most improved materials currently deployed are seed crops from first-generation phenotypic or tested seed orchards, which offer 10–25% gains in yield depending on the selection intensity of parent trees. Methods of vegetative propagation are developed intensively so that it could be applied to a larger range of species, because it offers high genetic gain and uniformity of the material. Genomic tools are also developed to enhance the efficacy of selection. Applications of genetic engineering are currently limited to research purposes. Forest tree breeding will be an integral part of bioeconomy in securing the production of good quality raw materials in large quantities and will have a significant economic impact on the profitability of forestry in the long term.     

Laboratory and field evaluations of some botanical pesticides against the cedar leaf moth, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Acleris undulana</Emphasis>

The cedar leaf moth (CLM), Acleris undulana Walsingham, has recently become an important pest in the cedar forests in southwestern Turkey. Control has focussed on the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, with little research having been conducted on alternative control methods. In this study, four botanical pesticides (two commercial neem products, Neemazal-T/S^® and Greeneem^® oil, and two hot water plant extracts, Origanum onites L. and Pimpinella anisum L.) were evaluated for their effects against young (first–second) and older (third–fifth) instar larvae of CLM under laboratory and field conditions. The results of larval dip bioassay in the laboratory showed that all the botanical pesticides tested had significant larvicidal activity against both young and older instars of CLM compared to the water-treated control. Of the botanical pesticides tested, Neemazal was the most larvicidal botanical, causing mortalities ranging from 84 to 100%, the least effective was the P. anisum extract, but at high concentrations this extract still caused significant mortality. Results from field trials also revealed that the botanical pesticides had larvicidal activity against CLM. Neemazal was the most larvicidal botanical, followed by Greeneem oil then by O. onites and finally by P. anisum. Our overall results suggest that all the botanical pesticides tested are promising as larvicides against CLM, and may provide an alternative control method that is more compatible with Integrated Pest Management programs than the use of synthetic chemical pesticides.     

A review on natural products as wood protectant

Traditional wood protection methods employ chemicals that are considered toxic and can adversely affect human health and the environment. Fortunately, serious efforts are being made globally to develop alternative protection methods based on natural products with little or no toxicity, but the progress in implementation of the technologies has been slow because of certain limitations, including discrepancies between laboratory and field performance of natural products, variability in their efficacy related to exposure/environmental conditions, and legislation difficulties due to disagreements globally on setting standards defining the quality of their performance and use. The focus of this review is to present information on the natural compounds that have shown promise for wood protection, and the information is presented under defined interactive categories. In closing, some thoughts are presented on potential use of rapidly evolving technologies, such as nano- and gene-technologies that can lead to significant advances, particularly from the consideration of specificity of natural products and their economic value.     

世界竹藤商品贸易现状及趋势

利用联合国商品贸易数据库的数据, 对目前参与国际贸易的主要竹藤商品的贸易现状和趋势、贸易结构以及进出口流向进行了分析。数据显示, 竹藤商品贸易正在成为国际贸易的重要组成部分, 除原材料以外的各类竹藤产品贸易呈稳步上升趋势。全球竹藤贸易主要集中在亚洲、欧洲和北美, 其中中国(原竹、编织品、家具)、印度尼西亚(原藤和坐具)和欧盟(家具)是主要出口地区。欧盟(原材料、编织品、家具)、美国(原材料和家具)和中国(原藤)是主要进口地区。     

三明市林化工业的发展思路与对策

本文分析了三明市林化工业现状，提出建立集约化原料林基地，改变产品结构，强化企业管理，走企业集团化的发展思路；并提出了发展三明市林化工业的具体措施。