Natural Product Alert

NAPRALERT (Natural Products ALERT) University of Illinois at Chicago STN information on the pharmacology, biological activity, taxonomic distribution, medicine and chemistry of plant, microbial, and animal (including marine) extracts... 

Incorporating the Kirtas system with the International Plant Names Index and SNOW-MED allows movement of the historic text into an electronic format, identihcation of current plant names, and identihcation of the symptoms treated with the plants. To complete the mining of historic herbal texts for novel drug leads we use the Natural Products Alert (NAPRALERT ) database to compare the information extracted from the historic herbal text to the reports of plant use in the current literature. The NAPRALERT database provides a summary of plants ethnopharmacological use, biochemical activities, and isolated compounds [27]. By querying each plant (with the current plant name) it is possible to identify any reports in the current literature regarding the plant. As an example, Table 4.1 shows the NAPRALERT output for Cycas rumphii. 

Farnsworth, N. R. 1999. NAPRALERT natural products alert database. Program for collaborative research in the Pharmaceutical Science Department of Medicinal Chem. Pharmacognosy, College Pharmacy, University of Illinois, Chicago. 

In addition to their inclusion in the CAS databases, CAS Registry Numbers are used in many public and private databases. Currently, the cluster of databases on STN International containing Registry Numbers includes 7 CAS databases and 53 non-CAS databases. Among the latter are such diverse files as AIDSLINE, BIOSIS, Design Institute for Physical Property Data File (DIPPR), MEDLINE, Natural Products Alert (NAPRALERT), Pharmaceutical News Index (PNI), and Plastics Materials Selection Database (PLASPEC). 

Pharmaceuticals Denwent Drug File (DDFU), EMBASE, Natural Products Alert (NAPRALERT). 

Increased interest is added to the topic of this review by the discovery of several examples of covalent hydration in nature although no systematic investigation has been made, an increasing alertness to its possible occurrence can be detected among natural product workers. Some naturally occurring pteridines, such as xanthopterin,67 are covalently hydrated. The hydration of uracil and of the coenzyme diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPNH) were mentioned in Section IV. 

In 2001, Lee and Schneider17 compared the properties of trade drugs (taken from the Derwent World Drug Index, WDI, n=5151) and natural products (taken from the BioScreenNP database, n= 10 495). These investigators described the comparison of parameters applicable only to the rule of five (molecular weight, log P, number of H donors per molecule, number of N per molecule, number of O per molecule and percentage of rule of five alerts). 

The many examples presented here amply demonstrate the versatility and usefulness of enaminones in heterocyclic syntheses, but as alert readers will realize, the chemistry of enaminones is so rich that much of it remains to be explored. Its applications in natural product synthesis, particularly that of alkaloids, and in both nonheterocyclic and heterocyclic syntheses are expected to grow continuously. We hope the present view attracts general interest and stimulates further exploration of this fascinating and important field. 

In 2011, Professor Brimble was alerted to the discovery of a novel family of benzannulated spiroketal natural products isolated by the research group of... 

An exhaustive analysis of 2995 molecule pairs extracted from the 98.1 version of Bioster database indicated that similarity measures based on 2D molecular fingerprints or electrostatic field descriptors were complementary although 2D methods could be adequate for similarity analyses [55]. To evaluate a range of similarity measures among synthetic substances and natural products, the Willett group also used 5024 compounds from Bioster database as well as sets of selected bioactive compounds from the more populous Chemical Abstract Service, ID-Alert, MACCS Drug Data Report, and NCI AIDS databases [56]. 

Transportation of Chemicals. Feed materials and finished products are frequendy transported by tank tmck and railroad tank cars. Design, constmction, and movement of these vehicles is regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) (97). The DOT regulations require placarding of material-transport vehicles to alert the pubHc and emergency personnel to the nature of their contents. 

As a pharmaceutical physician, one has to be alert to the modern methods of publication of information that, by virtue of industry sponsorship, then becomes promotional in nature. One is wise to review material, both written and verbal, that is to be disseminated as information or a service to medicine. The rules require that such items report the data fairly and without bias and that if made available in support of a product as information or promotion, the relevant rules are observed (see below Section 12.5). Companies have been found in breach of the Code of Practice when so-called independent speakers of known opinion have been used too frequently in support of a product. 

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