scholarly journals Characterization of Phytoestrogens in Medicago sativa L. and Grazing Beef Cattle

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 550
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Wyse ◽  
Sajid Latif ◽  
Saliya Gurusinghe ◽  
Erica D. Berntsen ◽  
Leslie A. Weston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Period ◽  
Microbial Infection ◽  
Pasture Legumes ◽  
Angus Cattle ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Angus Heifers ◽  
Grazing Livestock

Phytoestrogens are plant-produced bioactive secondary metabolites known to play an integral role in plant defense that frequently accumulate in times of stress and/or microbial infection. Phytoestrogens typically belong to two distinct chemical classes; flavonoids (isoflavones) and non-flavonoids (lignans and coumestans). Upon consumption by livestock, high concentrations of phytoestrogens can cause long-term disruption in reproduction due to structural similarities with mammalian estrogens and their tendency to bind estrogen receptors. Wide variation in phytoestrogen concentration has been reported in pasture legumes and corresponding silage or hay. Lucerne is a common perennial pasture legume in temperate climates, but information on phytoestrogen production or accumulation in grazing livestock is currently limited. Therefore, metabolic profiling using UHPLC-MS-QToF was performed to identify and quantitate key phytoestrogens in both fresh and dried lucerne fodder from replicated field or controlled glasshouse environments. Phytoestrogens were also profiled in the blood plasma of Angus cattle grazing field-grown lucerne. Results revealed that phytoestrogens varied quantitatively and qualitatively among selected lucerne cultivars grown under glasshouse conditions. Fresh lucerne samples contained higher concentrations of coumestans and other phytoestrogenic isoflavones than did dried samples for all cultivars profiled, with several exceeding desirable threshold levels for grazing cattle. Coumestans and isoflavones profiled in plasma of Angus heifers grazing lucerne increased significantly over a 21-day sampling period following experimental initiation. Currently, threshold concentrations for phytoestrogens in plasma are unreported. However, total phytoestrogen concentration exceeded 300 mg·kg−1 in fresh and 180 mg·kg−1 in dried samples of selected cultivars, suggesting that certain genotypes may upregulate phytoestrogen production, while others may prove suitable sources of fodder for grazing livestock.

scholarly journals Characterization of non-refractory (NR) PM<sub>1</sub> and source apportionment of organic aerosol in Kraków, Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 14893-14906
Author(s):  
Anna K. Tobler ◽  
Alicja Skiba ◽  
Francesco Canonaco ◽  
Griša Močnik ◽  
Pragati Rai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Source Apportionment ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Full Dataset ◽  
Residential Heating ◽  
Solid Fuel Combustion ◽  
High Concentrations

Abstract. Kraków is routinely affected by very high air pollution levels, especially during the winter months. Although a lot of effort has been made to characterize ambient aerosol, there is a lack of online and long-term measurements of non-refractory aerosol. Our measurements at the AGH University of Science and Technology provide the online long-term chemical composition of ambient submicron particulate matter (PM1) between January 2018 and April 2019. Here we report the chemical characterization of non-refractory submicron aerosol and source apportionment of the organic fraction by positive matrix factorization (PMF). In contrast to other long-term source apportionment studies, we let a small PMF window roll over the dataset instead of performing PMF over the full dataset or on separate seasons. In this way, the seasonal variation in the source profiles can be captured. The uncertainties in the PMF solutions are addressed by the bootstrap resampling strategy and the random a-value approach for constrained factors. We observe clear seasonal patterns in the concentration and composition of PM1, with high concentrations during the winter months and lower concentrations during the summer months. Organics are the dominant species throughout the campaign. Five organic aerosol (OA) factors are resolved, of which three are of a primary nature (hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), biomass burning OA (BBOA) and coal combustion OA (CCOA)) and two are of a secondary nature (more oxidized oxygenated OA (MO-OOA) and less oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA)). While HOA contributes on average 8.6 % ± 2.3 % throughout the campaign, the solid-fuel-combustion-related BBOA and CCOA show a clear seasonal trend with average contributions of 10.4 % ± 2.7 % and 14.1 %, ±2.1 %, respectively. Not only BBOA but also CCOA is associated with residential heating because of the pronounced yearly cycle where the highest contributions are observed during wintertime. Throughout the campaign, the OOA can be separated into MO-OOA and LO-OOA with average contributions of 38.4 % ± 8.4 % and 28.5 % ± 11.2 %, respectively.

scholarly journals Isolation and Characterization of a Molybdenum-reducing and Carbamate-degrading Serratia sp. strain Amr-4 in soils from Egypt

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
M. Abd. AbdEl-Mongy ◽  
M.F. Rahman ◽  
Mohd Yunus Shukor
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Biochemical Investigation ◽  
Isolation And Characterization ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Bacteria Inhibition ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Reducing Bacteria ◽  
Bioremediation Agent

Physical or chemical procedures could efficiently remove contaminants including pesticides such as carbamates from high concentrations of toxicants. Bioremediation, on the other hand, is frequently a less expensive option in the long term when used at low concentrations. Isolation of multiple toxicants removing microorganisms is the goal of bioremediation. In this paper we report on the molybdenum reduction of the bacterium and its ability to grow on the carbamates carbofuran and carbaryl as carbon sources. Both the carbamates carbofuran and carbaryl cannot support molybdenum reduction when used as the sole carbon sources. Between pH 6.0 and 6.8 and between 30 and 34 oC, the bacterium is most efficient in converting molybdate to Mo-blue. For molybdate reduction, glucose was shown to be the strongest electron donor, with maltose and sucrose coming in second and third, respectively, and d-mannitol and d-adonitol coming in last. Phosphate concentrations of 2.5 to 7.5 mM and molybdate concentrations of 20 to 30 mM are also needed. Identical to that of a decreased phosphomolybdate, the Mo-blue produced by the new Mo-reducing bacteria has an absorption spectrum similar to prior Mo-reducing bacteria. Inhibition of molybdenum reduction was 73.3, 50.1, 50.1 and 20.7 percent, respectively, by mercury, copper, silver and lead at 2 ppm. The bacterium was tentatively identified as Serratia sp. strain Amr-4 after biochemical investigation. This bacterium's ability to detoxify a variety of toxicants is highly sought after, making it a significant bioremediation agent.

scholarly journals Characterization of NR-PM<sub>1</sub> and source apportionment of organic aerosol in Krakow, Poland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Tobler ◽  
Alicja Skiba ◽  
Francesco Canonaco ◽  
Griša Močnik ◽  
Pragati Rai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Source Apportionment ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Ambient Aerosols ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Full Dataset ◽  
Solid Fuel Combustion ◽  
High Concentrations

Abstract. Krakow is routinely affected by very high air pollution levels, especially during the winter months. Although a lot of effort has been done on characterization of ambient aerosols, there is a lack of online and long-term measurements of non-refractory aerosols. Our measurements at AGH University provide online long-term chemical composition of ambient submicron particulate matter (PM1) between January 2018 and April 2019. Here we report the chemical characterization of non-refractory submicron aerosols and source apportionment of the organic fraction by positive matrix factorization (PMF). In contrast to other long-term source apportionment studies, we let a small PMF window roll over the dataset instead of performing PMF over the full dataset or on separate seasons. In this way, the seasonal variation of the source profiles can be captured. The uncertainties of the PMF solutions are addressed by the bootstrap resampling strategy and the random a-value approach for constrained factors.We observe clear seasonal patterns in concentration and composition of PM1, with high concentrations during the winter months and lower concentrations during the summer months. Organics are the dominant species throughout the campaign. Five organic aerosol (OA) factors are resolved, of which three are of primary nature (hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), biomass burning OA (BBOA) and coal combustion OA (CCOA)) and two are of secondary nature (more oxidized oxygenated OA (MO-OOA) and less oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA)). While HOA contributes on average 8.6 % ± 2.3 % throughout the campaign, the solid fuel combustion related BBOA and CCOA show a clear seasonal trend with average contributions of 10.4 % ± 2.7 % and 14.1 %, ± 2.1 % respectively. The highest contributions are observed during wintertime as a result of residential heating. Throughout the campaign, the OOA can be separated into MO-OOA and LO-OOA with average contribution of 38.4 % ± 8.4 % and 28.5 % ± 11.2 %, respectively.

Anticancer Effects & Comparative Study of Thymoquinone, Cordyceps, Spirulina, Ganoderma Lucidium, Poria Cocos, and Lion’s Mane on Human Nasal Cancer Cells (RPMI-2650)

2020 ◽  
pp. 62-78
Author(s):  
سعيد مزعل موازي ◽  
يحيى فائق حسين ◽  
عبد المنعم دولاني ◽  
سيف يوسف عبدالله السويدي
Keyword(s):  
Term Treatment ◽  
Epithelial Cell Line ◽  
Anticancer Effect ◽  
Short Term Treatment ◽  
Poria Cocos ◽  
Nasal Cancer ◽  
Antineoplastic Effect ◽  
Long Term Treatment ◽  
High Concentrations

Recently, many studies have been conducted to discover or improve cancers treatment. The current study aims to investigate the anticancer effect of thymoquinone, cordyceps, spirulina, ganoderma lucidium, poria cocos, and lion’s mane in four different concentrations 4, 8, 16, and 32 ug (equivalent to 1 mg/mL) in two different time treatments (48 and 96 hours) on human nasal epithelial cell line RPMI 2650. By using cell culture cytotoxicity techniques and assay, the highest anticancer effect on RPMI 2650 was obtained by thymoquinone. The lowest anticancer effect was demonstrated by poria cocos and cordyceps. However, these two medications showed higher anticancer effect when given in short-term treatment (48 hours) compared to long-term treatment (96 hours). Ganoderma lucidium and spirulina showed better impact than poria cocos, cordyceps, and lion’s mane in term of cells cytotoxicity. Mild to moderate antineoplastic effect was seen by utilizing lion’s mane treatment compared other drugs. Therefore, adopting a long-term treatment of high concentrations and doses of thymoquinone, cordyceps, spirulina, ganoderma lucidium, poria cocos, and lion’s mane can be more effective in the treatment of nasal cancer. In conclusion, these drugs were found to be a promising cancer remedy; therefore, they can be utilized as alternative treatment for nasal cancer or any other type of cancer therapy.

scholarly journals Characterization of Highly Irradiated ALPIDE Silicon Sensors

Universe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Valentina Raskina ◽  
Filip Křížek
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Detection Efficiency ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Physics Institute ◽  
Total Ionization ◽  
Silicon Sensors ◽  
Active Pixel ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) experiment at CERN will upgrade its Inner Tracking System (ITS) detector. The new ITS will consist of seven coaxial cylindrical layers of ALPIDE silicon sensors which are based on Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) technology. We have studied the radiation hardness of ALPIDE sensors using a 30 MeV proton beam provided by the cyclotron U-120M of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Řež. In this paper, these long-term measurements will be described. After being irradiated up to the total ionization dose 2.7 Mrad and non-ionizing energy loss 2.7 × 10 13 1 MeV n eq · cm - 2 , ALPIDE sensors fulfill ITS upgrade project technical design requirements in terms of detection efficiency and fake-hit rate.

scholarly journals Adsorption Studies on Magnetic Nanoparticles Functionalized with Silver to Remove Nitrates from Waters

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1757
Author(s):  
Yesica Vicente-Martínez ◽  
Manuel Caravaca ◽  
Antonio Soto-Meca ◽  
Miguel Ángel Martín-Pereira ◽  
María del Carmen García-Onsurbe
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Nanoparticles ◽  
Nitrate Content ◽  
Adsorption Efficiency ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Dependent Behavior ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Naoh Solution ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Interference Studies

This paper presents a novel procedure for the treatment of contaminated water with high concentrations of nitrates, which are considered as one of the main causes of the eutrophication phenomena. For this purpose, magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with silver (Fe3O4@AgNPs) were synthesized and used as an adsorbent of nitrates. Experimental conditions, including the pH, adsorbent and adsorbate dose, temperature and contact time, were analyzed to obtain the highest adsorption efficiency for different concentration of nitrates in water. A maximum removal efficiency of 100% was reached for 2, 5, 10 and 50 mg/L of nitrate at pH = 5, room temperature, and 50, 100, 250 and 500 µL of Fe3O4@AgNPs, respectively. The characterization of the adsorbent, before and after adsorption, was performed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Nitrates can be desorbed, and the adsorbent can be reused using 500 µL of NaOH solution 0.01 M, remaining unchanged for the first three cycles, and exhibiting 90% adsorption efficiency after three regenerations. A deep study on equilibrium isotherms reveals a pH-dependent behavior, characterized by Langmuir and Freundlich models at pH = 5 and pH = 1, respectively. Thermodynamic studies were consistent with physicochemical adsorption for all experiments but showed a change from endothermic to exothermic behavior as the temperature increases. Interference studies of other ions commonly present in water were carried out, enabling this procedure as very selective for nitrate ions. In addition, the method was applied to real samples of seawater, showing its ability to eliminate the total nitrate content in eutrophized waters.

scholarly journals Halogenated Volatile Organic Compounds in Water Samples and Inorganic Elements Levels in Ores for Characterizing a High Anthropogenic Polluted Area in the Northern Latium Region (Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1628
Author(s):  
Mario Vincenzo Russo ◽  
Ivan Notardonato ◽  
Alberto Rosada ◽  
Giuseppe Ianiri ◽  
Pasquale Avino
Keyword(s):  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Greenhouse Crops ◽  
River Waters ◽  
Liquid Liquid Extraction ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Very High ◽  
Inorganic Fraction

This paper shows a characterization of the organic and inorganic fraction of river waters (Tiber and Marta) and ores/soil samples collected in the Northern Latium region of Italy for evaluating the anthropogenic/natural source contribution to the environmental pollution of this area. For organic compounds, organochloride volatile compounds in Tiber and Marta rivers were analyzed by two different clean-up methods (i.e., liquid–liquid extraction and static headspace) followed by gas chromatography–electron capture detector (GC-ECD) analysis. The results show very high concentrations of bromoform (up to 1.82 and 3.2 µg L−1 in Tiber and Marta rivers, respectively), due to the presence of greenhouse crops, and of chloroform and tetrachloroethene, due to the presence of handicrafts installations. For the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the inorganic fraction, it is highlighted the use of a nuclear analytical method, instrumental neutron activation analysis, which allows having more information as possible from the sample without performing any chemical-physical pretreatment. The results have evidenced high levels of mercury (mean value 88.6 µg g−1), antimony (77.7 µg g−1), strontium (12,039 µg g−1) and zinc (103 µg g−1), whereas rare earth elements show levels similar to the literature data. Particular consideration is drawn for arsenic (414 µg g−1): the levels found in this paper (ranging between 1 and 5100 µg g−1) explain the high content of such element (as arsenates) in the aquifer, a big issue in this area.

Post-Operative Dysphagia in Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 000348942110155
Author(s):  
Leonard Haller ◽  
Khush Mehul Kharidia ◽  
Caitlin Bertelsen ◽  
Jeffrey Wang ◽  
Karla O’Dell
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Medical Records ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Anterior Cervical Discectomy ◽  
Cervical Discectomy ◽  
Long Term Follow Up

Objective: We sought to identify risk factors associated with long-term dysphagia, characterize changes in dysphagia over time, and evaluate the incidence of otolaryngology referrals for patients with long-term dysphagia following anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF). Methods: About 56 patients who underwent ACDF between May 2017 to February 2019 were included in the study. All patients were assessed for dysphagia using the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) survey preoperatively and late postoperatively (≥1 year). Additionally, 28 patients were assessed for dysphagia early postoperatively (2 weeks—3 months). Demographic data, medical comorbidities, intraoperative details, and post-operative otolaryngology referral rates were collected from electronic medical records. Results: Of the 56 patients enrolled, 21 patients (38%) had EAT-10 scores of 3 or more at long-term follow-up. None of the demographics, comorbidities, or surgical factors assessed were associated with long-term dysphagia. Patients who reported no long-term dysphagia had a mean EAT-10 score of 6.9 early postoperatively, while patients with long-term symptoms had a mean score of 18.1 ( P = .006). Of the 21 patients who reported persistent dysphagia symptoms, 3 (14%) received dysphagia testing or otolaryngology referrals post-operatively. Conclusion: Dysphagia is a notable side effect of ACDF surgery, but there are no significant demographics, comorbidities, or surgical risk factors that predict long-term dysphagia. Early postoperative characterization of dysphagia using the EAT-10 questionnaire can help predict long-term symptoms. There is inadequate screening and otolaryngology follow-up for patients with post-ACDF dysphagia.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document