BACKGROUND The search for new antimicrobial drugs is a never ending task due to microbial resistance to the existing drugs. Antioxidants are essential to prevent free radical reactions which lead to chronic diseases to human kind. OBJECTIVE The present studies were aimed to synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of pyridine and benzoisothiazole decorated chalcones. MATERIALS AND METHODS FTIR spectra were recorded using KBr pellets on Shimadzu FT-IR spectrophotometer. 1H and 13C NMR spectra were recorded on Bruker 400 MHz spectrometer. Antimicrobial activity of the synthesized chalcones was found to be good against diffenet bacterial and fungal strains. Antioxidant activity was studied in terms of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyI and superoxide radical scavenging activities. Molecular docking was studied using Discovery Studio Visualizer Software, version 16 whereas Autodock Vina program was used to predict toxicity profile of the compounds using FAFDrugs2 predictor. RESULTS The compounds 5c, 5d & 6c showed good antioxidant activities. The insilico molecular docking study supports the experimental results and demonstrated that the chalcones 5d, 6a and 7a are the most active among the synthesized derivatives. CONCLUSION Prediction of pharmacokinetic parameters and molecular docking studies suggest that the synthesized chalcones have good pharmacokinetic properties to act as lead molecules in the drug discovery process. HG106 Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Frostbite injury results in serious skeletal muscle damage. The inflammatory response due to frostbite causes local muscle degeneration. Previous studies have shown that the heat shock proteins (hsps) are able to protect against inflammation. In addition, our previous studies showed that increased expression of hsp70 is able to protect skeletal muscle against cryolesion. Therefore, our aim was to determine if the induction of the heat shock proteins are able to minimize inflammation and protect skeletal muscle against frostbite injury. RESULTS In the present study we used the hsp90 inhibitor, 17-dimethylaminoethylamino-17- demethoxygeldanamycin (17-DMAG) which was administered within 30 minutes following frostbite injury. Rat hind-limb muscles injected with 17-DMAG following frostbite injury exhibited less inflammatory cell infiltration as compared to control rat hind-limb muscles. In agreement with this observation, we found that increased hsp expression resulted in decreased inflammatory cytokine expression. Additionally, we found that administration of 17-DMAG after frostbite injury is able to preserve muscle tissue structure as well as function. CONCLUSION We conclude that compounds such as 17-DMAG that induce the heat shock proteins are able to preserve skeletal muscle function and structure if injected within 30 minutes after frostbite injury. Our studies provide the basis for the development of a potential therapeutic strategy to treat injury caused by frostbite. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.AIM AND OBJECTIVE The Dendrobium officinalis flower (DOF) is popular in China due to common belief in its anti-aging properties and positive effects on “nourish yin”. However, there have been relatively few confirmatory pharmacological experiments conducted to date. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether DOF has beneficial effects on learning and memory in senescent rats, and, if so, to determine its potential mechanism of effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS SD rats were administrated oral with DOF at a dose of 1.38, or 0.46 g/kg once a day for 8 weeks. Two other groups included a healthy untreated control group and a senescent control group. During the 7th week, a Morris water maze test was performed to assess learning and memory. At the end of experiment, serum and brain samples were collected to measure concentrations of antioxidant enzymes, including malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GSH-Px) in serum, and the neurotransmitters, including γ-aminobutyric acid (γ-GABA), Glutamic (Glu), and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in the brain. Histopathology of the hippocampus was assessed using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining. RESULTS The results suggested that treatment with DOF improved learning as measured by escape latency, total distance, and target quadrant time, and also increased levels of γ-GABA in the brain. In addition, DOF decreased the levels of MDA, Glu, and MAO-B, and improved SOD and GSH-Px. Histopathological analysis showed that DOF also significantly reduced structural lesions and neurodegeneration in the hippocampus relative to untreated senescent rats. CONCLUSION DOF alleviated brain aging and improved the spatial learning abilities in senescent rats, potentially by attenuating oxidative stress and thus reducing hippocampal damage and balancing the release of neurotransmitters. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Tumor microenvironment (TME) cells play important roles in tumor progression. Accumulating evidence show that they can be exploited to predict the clinical outcomes and therapeutic responses of tumor. However, the role of immune genes of TME in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is currently unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine the role of immune genes in SCLC. METHODS We downloaded the expression profile and clinical follow-up data of SCLC patients from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and TME infiltration profile data of 158 patients using CIBERSORT. The correlation between TME phenotypes, genomic features, and clinicopathological features of SCLC was examined. A gene signature was constructed based on TME genes to further evaluate the relationship between molecular subtypes of SCLC with the prognosis and clinical features. RESULTS We identified a group of genes that are highly associated with TME. Several immune cells in TME cells were significantly correlated with SCLC prognosis (p less then 0.0001). These immune cells displayed diverse immune patterns.