Malaysia, especially the Borneo Island state of Sarawak, has a large variety of tropical wood species. In this study, selected raw tropical wood species namely Artocarpus Elasticus, Artocarpus Rigidus, Xylopia spp., Koompassia Malaccensis, and Eugenia spp. were chemically treated with sodium metaperiodate to convert them into plasticized wood (PW). Manufactured plasticized wood samples were cha...

In our search for inhibitors of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL, investigation of Xylopia caudata afforded a new diterpenoid, ent-trachyloban-4beta-ol (2), and five known ent-trachylobane or ent-atisane compounds. Only ent-trachyloban-18-oic acid (1) exhibited weak binding activity to Bcl-xL. These compounds exhibited cytotoxicity against KB and HCT-116 cell lines with IC(50) values between 10...

Results of the study of specimens collected in tropical Africa and preserved in different European collections and museums are reported and extensively illustrated. The following three new species are described: Horatosphaga aethiopica sp. n., Dapanera occulta sp. n. and Cestromoecha laeglae sp. n. In addition, new diagnostic characters or distributional data for Ruspolia differens (Serville, 1...

A new lectin gene was isolated by using genomic walker technology and revealed to encode a mannose-binding lectin. Analysis of a 2233 bp segment revealed a gene including a 1169 bp 5' flanking region, a 417 bp open reading frame (ORF) and a 649 bp 3' flanking region. There are two putative TATA boxes and eight possible CAAT boxes lie in the 5' flanking region. The ORF encodes a 15.1 kDa precurs...

Systropha is a small genus of bees belonging to Rophitinae (sister-group to all remaining Halictidae). Three subgenera are recognized in Systropha: Austrosystropha and Systrophidia that are sub-Saharan endemics, and Systropha s.str., which occurs in Africa and Eurasia. As a result of the rarity of Systropha specimens in collections and the difficulty in associating males and females due to sexu...

Seven species of Scolytodes (tribe Ctenophorini) are described as new to science: S. concavus and S. circumsetosus (from Ficus branches, La Selva), S. montanus (Monteverde), S. nudifrons (Las Cruces near San Vito), and S. triangulus (fogging sample, La Selva), all from Costa Rica, and S. ungulatus (Cerro Punta) and S. punctifrons (from Astronium graveolens, Canal Zone), both from Panama. New di...