Long-Dan is an important traditional Chinese medicinal(TCM) herb used widely for the treatment of inflammation, hepatitis, rheumatism, cholecystitis, and tuberculosis. In the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the roots and rhizomes of four species from the genus Gentiana(Gentianaceae) are recorded as the original materials of "Long-Dan", called Gentianae Radix et Rhizoma. The species included G. manshurica, G. scabra, G. triflora and G. rigescens, which are distributed in different areas of China. Though iridoid and secoiridoid glucosides were reported as the main constituents in "Long-Dan", these four different species also resulted in different minor components, which may related to their pharmacological activities. Herein, we summarized the herbal textual study, distribution, chemical constituents, biological investigation and quality control of the recorded "Long-Dan" origins in Chinese Pharmacopoeia during the period 1960 to 2011.

The whole plants of Ypsilandra thibetica have been analyzed as part of a systematic study on saponin constituents of medicinal plants. This has resulted in the isolation of two new bisdesmosidic furostanol saponins, named ypsilandroside P(1) and ypsilandroside Q(2), and one new pregnane glycoside, named ypsilandroside R(3), together with nine known steroidal glycosides. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including that of 2D NMR data, and the results of acidic hydrolysis. Ypsilandroside P(1) was cytotoxicity against two human tumor cell lines.

The drug L-DOPA has been widely used against Parkinson's disease and is extracted from plants. Due to the increasing demand of this drug, new plant sources need to be discovered in addition to the existing sources. The paper embodies results on Mucuna monosperma, which can be a promising candidate for L-DOPA. The seed powder of this plant contains 5.48% of(dry weight) the drug and when the seeds were soaked in distilled water, content was increased to 6.58%. Different elicitors when added, enhanced the drug level in seed up to 11.8%. The possible rationale behind this increase was confirmed by increase in tyrosinase activity in the seeds. Presence of L-DOPA was confirmed using various analytical techniques as HPLC, HPTLC and NMR. The work demonstrates a potential candidate plant as a source for L-DOPA when a novel method was adopted as described here.

There are still cases of millers returning poor quality red wheat to the Zimbabwe Grain Marketing Board(GMB) and this has been an ongoing problem over the past few years. A larger amount of this wheat has discoloured and damaged embryos and it is discounted by millers because the germs are brittle and they crumble easily. There have been also many rejections of the red wheat particularly by major traders. Therefore there was an urgent need to investigate the causes and effects of storage conditions on the quality of silo-stored red wheat, since red wheat is one of human beings' main food supplies. A representative sample of 2.25 kg of red winter wheat was randomly collected from the common red winter wheat incoming to the Grain Marketing Board Depot for storage. This representative sample of 2.25 kg was used as the control sample and its test density was determined. The control sample was then finely ground and analysed for protein, moisture, ash, aflatoxins and falling number. The red winter wheat was then stored in six different silos for a period of 5 months, with each silo having different humidity and temperature conditions. Representative samples of 4.5 kg were randomly collected monthly from each silo during the storage period. The test densities of the representative samples were determined. These representative samples were then finely ground and analysed for protein, moisture, ash, aflatoxins, and falling number. The results of the red wheat in storage were then compared with those of the control sample and analysed by analysis of variance(ANOVA) at the 5% level of significance. Results obtained after data analysis suggest that there were significant differences in the protein content, moisture content and falling number of the wheat before and after storage. However, differences in test density, aflatoxin and ash contents of the wheat before and after storage were not statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. The deterioration in wheat quality was attributed to the high storage temperature and humidity conditions. It was also concluded that the optimum conditions for wheat storage are a temperature of 15 oC and a humidity of 60%.

Four new limonoids, dysohainanins A-D(1-4), and two new triterpenoids, dysohainanins E and F(5 and 6), together with seven known ones were isolated from the twigs and leaves of Dysoxylum hainanense Merr. The structures of the new compounds were determined by a variety of spectroscopic methods. The cytotoxic activities of these compounds were evaluated, and the known compound ent-19-nor-4, 16, 18-trihydroxy-8(14)-pomaren-15-one(13) showed in vitro cytotoxicity against HL-60, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480 cells, with IC₅₀ values of 24.3, 28.1, 30.7, and 22.5 μM, respectively. Compounds 2 and 3 were tested their insecticidal activities using brine shrimp and both of them were inactive.

The Gwich' in, which belong to the Athapaskan language group of Native Americans live in the borderland between Alaska and Canada. We analyzed 29 medicinal plants of this tribe for their growth inhibitory activity against CCRF-CEM T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia(T-ALL) cells. The anti-leukemic activity of these plants has not been investigated as yet. Considering the poor cure rates of some ALL forms, there might be a great potential for medicinal plants as resource for natural products to treat T-ALL. We found that the hexane extracts of three plants revealed considerable growth inhibition on CCRF-CEM cells. The 50% inhibition concentrations(IC₅₀) were 6.63±0.03 μg/ml for Cladina mitis, 8.65±0.38 μg/ml for Picea mariana(needles), and 9.67 ±1.36 μg/ml for Artemisia frigida. Further investigations are required to isolate the active constituents of these plants.

Two polyene macrolide antibiotics: antifungalmycin(1) and fungichromin(2) were isolated from the culture mycelia of Streptomyces padanus 702 via bioactivity-guided fractionation using various chromatographic procedures. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral analysis, and 1 is a new polyene macrolide. Compounds 1 and 2 showed significant inhibition against Gibberella zeae with EC₅₀ values of 26.71 and 2.21 μg/mL, Fusicoccum sp. (plantain head blight) with EC₅₀ values of 23.4 and 3.17 μg/mL, Mucor ssp. 8894 with EC₅₀ values of 28.80 and 2.11 μg/mL, Ustilaginoidea virens with EC₅₀ values of 26.72 and 0.21 μg/mL, respectively. This shows that the microbial secondary metabolites 1 and 2 have the potential to be developed as agricultural fungicides for use against G. zeae, Fusicoccum sp., Mucor ssp. 8894, and U. virens.