scholarly journals Effect of Plasma Activated Water on Selected Chemical Compounds of Rocket-Salad (Eruca sativa Mill.) Leaves

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 7691
Author(s):  
Doaa Abouelenein ◽  
Simone Angeloni ◽  
Giovanni Caprioli ◽  
Jessica Genovese ◽  
Ahmed M. Mustafa ◽  
...  

Plasma activated water (PAW) has proven to be a promising alternative for the decontamination of rocket leaves. The impact of PAW on the volatile profile, phytosterols, and pigment content of rocket leaves was studied. Leaves were treated by PAW at different times (2, 5, 10, and 20 min). Compounds of the headspace were detected and quantified using GC–MS analysis. A total of 52 volatile organic compounds of different chemical classes were identified. Glucosinolate hydrolysis products are the major chemical class. PAW application induced some chemical modifications in the volatile compounds. Changes in the content of the major compounds varied with the increase or decrease in the treatment time. However, PAW-10 and -2 were grouped closely to the control. A significant decrease in the content of β-sitosterol and campesterol was observed after PAW treatment, except for PAW-10, which showed a non-significant reduction in both compounds. A significant increase in β carotene, luteolin, and chlorophyll b was observed after the shortest treatment time of PAW-2. A reduction in chlorophyll content was also observed, which is significant only at longer treatment, or PAW-20. Overall, PAW has proven to be a safe alternative for rocket decontamination.

Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Perestrelo ◽  
Catarina Silva ◽  
Pedro Silva ◽  
Sonia Medina ◽  
José Câmara

In the current study, a comprehensive approach based on headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), combined with gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-qMS), was used to establish the volatile signature of fresh and processed fruit juices, obtained from the same batch of grapes, red fruits, orange, pear, and apple. This is a powerful tool for evaluating the impact of the production process on the volatomic pattern of fruit juice. A total of 169 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) belonging to different chemical groups were identified. Esters, carbonyl compounds, terpenoids, and alcohols are the major chemical groups in the investigated fruit juices. However, their contribution to the total volatile profile varied. Special attention should be paid to processed fruit juices to avoid the possible deleterious effects associated with the formation of furanic compounds (e.g., heat treatment), since their furanic content was significantly higher in comparison to that of fresh fruit juices. The knowledge obtained in the current study will allow for the introduction of modifications to the process involved in processing juice, which will improve the organoleptic characteristics of processed juices, contributing to a better acceptance by consumers. Furthermore, more assays should be performed to assess the effect of harvests, geography, and agronomy on the volatile profile of juices.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 920
Author(s):  
Corina Popitanu ◽  
Andreea Lupitu ◽  
Lucian Copolovici ◽  
Simona Bungău ◽  
Ülo Niinemets ◽  
...  

Persian walnut (Juglans regia L., Juglandaceae), one of the essential nut crops, is affected by different diseases, including mite attacks which result in gall and erineum formation. As the proportion of leaf area covered by mite galls or erineum is typically relatively low, the impact on tree photosynthetic productivity is often considered minor, and no pest control management is usually suggested. However, the effect of erineum-forming mites on walnut photosynthesis might be disproportionately larger than can be predicted from the leaf area impacted. In the present study, we studied how the foliage photosynthetic characteristics, pigment contents, and stress-induced volatile organic compounds scaled with the severity of infection varied from 0% (control trees) to 9.9%, by erineum-forming mite Aceria erinea in J. regia. Both leaf net assimilation rate (up to 75% reduction) and stomatal conductance (up to 82%) decreased disproportionately, increasing infection severity. Leaf total chlorophyll and β-carotene contents also decreased with infection severity, although the reduction was less than for photosynthetic characteristics (28% for chlorophyll and 25% for β-carotene). The infection induced significant emissions of green leaves volatiles ((Z)-3-hexenol, (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and 1-hexanol), monoterpenes and the homoterpene 3-(E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, and these emissions scaled positively with the percentage of leaf area infected. These results collectively indicate that erineum-forming mite infection of walnut leaves results in profound modifications in foliage physiological characteristics that can significantly impact tree photosynthetic productivity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 156 (15) ◽  
pp. 592-597
Author(s):  
László Szerafin ◽  
János Jakó ◽  
Ferenc Riskó

Introduction: The low peripheral absolute lymphocyte and high monocyte count have been reported to correlate with poor clinical outcome in various lymphomas and other cancers. However, a few data known about the prognostic value of absolute monocyte count in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Aim: The aim of the authors was to investigate the impact of absolute monocyte count measured at the time of diagnosis in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia on the time to treatment and overal survival. Method: Between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2012, 223 patients with newly-diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukaemia were included. The rate of patients needing treatment, time to treatment, overal survival and causes of mortality based on Rai stages, CD38, ZAP-70 positivity and absolute monocyte count were analyzed. Results: Therapy was necessary in 21.1%, 57.4%, 88.9%, 88.9% and 100% of patients in Rai stage 0, I, II, III an IV, respectively; in 61.9% and 60.8% of patients exhibiting CD38 and ZAP-70 positivity, respectively; and in 76.9%, 21.2% and 66.2% of patients if the absolute monocyte count was <0.25 G/l, between 0.25–0.75 G/l and >0.75 G/l, respectively. The median time to treatment and the median overal survival were 19.5, 65, and 35.5 months; and 41.5, 65, and 49.5 months according to the three groups of monocyte counts. The relative risk of beginning the therapy was 1.62 (p<0.01) in patients with absolute monocyte count <0.25 G/l or >0.75 G/l, as compared to those with 0.25–0.75 G/l, and the risk of overal survival was 2.41 (p<0.01) in patients with absolute monocyte count lower than 0.25 G/l as compared to those with higher than 0.25 G/l. The relative risks remained significant in Rai 0 patients, too. The leading causes of mortality were infections (41.7%) and the chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (58.3%) in patients with low monocyte count, while tumours (25.9–35.3%) and other events (48.1 and11.8%) occurred in patients with medium or high monocyte counts. Conclusions: Patients with low and high monocyte counts had a shorter time to treatment compared to patients who belonged to the intermediate monocyte count group. The low absolute monocyte count was associated with increased mortality caused by infectious complications and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The absolute monocyte count may give additional prognostic information in Rai stage 0, too. Orv. Hetil., 2015, 156(15), 592–597.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 567-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Vinicius Nora de Souza ◽  
Thais Cristina Mendonça Nogueira

Nowadays, tuberculosis (TB) is an important global public health problem, being responsible for millions of TB-related deaths worldwide. Due to the increased number of cases and resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to all drugs used for the treatment of this disease, we desperately need new drugs and strategies that could reduce treatment time with fewer side effects, reduced cost and highly active drugs against resistant strains and latent disease. Considering that, 4H-1,3-benzothiazin-4-one is a promising class of antimycobacterial agents in special against TB-resistant strains being the aim of this review the discussion of different aspects of this chemical class such as synthesis, mechanism of action, medicinal chemistry and combination with other drugs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xupeng Yuan ◽  
Jiahao Yan ◽  
Ruizhi Hu ◽  
Yanli Li ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
...  

Recent evidences suggest that gut microbiota plays an important role in regulating physiological and metabolic activities of pregnant sows, and β-carotene has a potentially positive effect on reproduction, but the impact of β-carotene on gut microbiota in pregnant sows remains unknown. This study aimed to explore the effect and mechanisms of β-carotene on the reproductive performance of sows from the aspect of gut microbiota. A total of 48 hybrid pregnant sows (Landrace × Yorkshire) with similar parity were randomly allocated into three groups (n = 16) and fed with a basal diet or a diet containing 30 or 90 mg/kg of β-carotene from day 90 of gestation until parturition. Dietary supplementation of 30 or 90 mg/kg β-carotene increased the number of live birth to 11.82 ± 1.54 and 12.29 ± 2.09, respectively, while the control group was 11.00 ± 1.41 (P = 0.201). Moreover, β-carotene increased significantly the serum nitric oxide (NO) level and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity (P &lt; 0.05). Characterization of fecal microbiota revealed that 90 mg/kg β-carotene increased the diversity of the gut flora (P &lt; 0.05). In particular, β-carotene decreased the relative abundance of Firmicutes including Lachnospiraceae AC2044 group, Lachnospiraceae NK4B4 group and Ruminococcaceae UCG-008, but enriched Proteobacteria including Bilophila and Sutterella, and Actinobacteria including Corynebacterium and Corynebacterium 1 which are related to NO synthesis. These data demonstrated that dietary supplementation of β-carotene may increase antioxidant enzyme activity and NO, an important vasodilator to promote the neonatal blood circulation, through regulating gut microbiota in sows.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 801
Author(s):  
Maria Detopoulou ◽  
Agathi Ntzouvani ◽  
Filio Petsini ◽  
Labrini Gavriil ◽  
Εlizabeth Fragopoulou ◽  
...  

Platelet-activating factor (PAF), a proinflammatory lipid mediator, plays a crucial role in the formation of the atherosclerotic plaque. Therefore, the inhibition of endothelium inflammation by nutraceuticals, such as PAF inhibitors, is a promising alternative for preventing cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a new functional yogurt enriched with PAF inhibitors of natural origin from olive oil by-products on PAF metabolism. Ninety-two apparently healthy, but mainly overweight volunteers (35–65 years) were randomly allocated into three groups by block-randomization. The activities of PAF’s biosynthetic and catabolic enzymes were measured, specifically two isoforms of acetyl-CoA:lyso-PAF acetyltransferase (LPCATs), cytidine 5′-diphospho-choline:1-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol cholinephosphotransferase (PAF-CPT) and two isoforms of platelet activating factor acetylhydrolase in leucocytes (PAF-AH) and plasma (lipoprotein associated phospholipase-A2, LpPLA2). The intake of the enriched yogurt resulted in reduced PAF-CPT and LpPLA2 activities. No difference was observed in the activities of the two isoforms of lyso PAF-AT. In conclusion, intake of yogurt enriched in PAF inhibitors could favorably modulate PAF biosynthetic and catabolic pathways.


Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Sarah Fruehwirth ◽  
Sandra Egger ◽  
Dennis Kurzbach ◽  
Jakob Windisch ◽  
Franz Jirsa ◽  
...  

This study reports the impact of margarine-representative ingredients on its oxidative stability and green tea extract as a promising antioxidant in margarine. Oil-in-water emulsions received much attention regarding factors that influence their oxidative stability, however, water-in-oil emulsions have only been scarcely investigated. Margarine, a widely consumed water-in-oil emulsion, consists of 80–90% fat and is thermally treated when used for baking. As different types of margarine contain varying additives, their impact on the oxidative stability of margarine during processing is of pressing importance. Thus, the influence of different ingredients, such as emulsifiers, antioxidants, citric acid, β-carotene and NaCl on the oxidative stability of margarine, heated at 80 °C for 1 h to accelerate lipid oxidation, was analyzed by the peroxide value and oxidation induction time. We found that monoglycerides influenced lipid oxidation depending on their fatty acyl chain. α-Tocopheryl acetate promoted lipid oxidation, while rosemary and green tea extract led to the opposite. Whereas green tea extract alone showed the most prominent antioxidant effect, combinations of green tea extract with citric acid, β-carotene or NaCl increased lipid oxidation in margarine. Complementary, NMR data suggested that polyphenols in green tea extracts might decrease lipid mobility at the surface of the water droplets, which might lead to chelating of transition metals at the interface and decreasing lipid oxidation.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1497
Author(s):  
Pansong Zhang ◽  
Qiao Guo ◽  
Zhihua Wei ◽  
Qin Yang ◽  
Zisheng Guo ◽  
...  

Therapeutics that target the virulence of pathogens rather than their viability offer a promising alternative for treating infectious diseases and circumventing antibiotic resistance. In this study, we searched for anti-virulence compounds against Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Chinese herbs and investigated baicalin from Scutellariae radix as such an active anti-virulence compound. The effect of baicalin on a range of important virulence factors in P. aeruginosa was assessed using luxCDABE-based reporters and by phenotypical assays. The molecular mechanism of the virulence inhibition by baicalin was investigated using genetic approaches. The impact of baicalin on P. aeruginosa pathogenicity was evaluated by both in vitro assays and in vivo animal models. The results show that baicalin diminished a plenty of important virulence factors in P. aeruginosa, including the Type III secretion system (T3SS). Baicalin treatment reduced the cellular toxicity of P. aeruginosa on the mammalian cells and attenuated in vivo pathogenicity in a Drosophila melanogaster infection model. In a rat pulmonary infection model, baicalin significantly reduced the severity of lung pathology and accelerated lung bacterial clearance. The PqsR of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) system was found to be required for baicalin’s impact on T3SS. These findings indicate that baicalin is a promising therapeutic candidate for treating P. aeruginosa infections.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 674
Author(s):  
Óscar Darío García-García ◽  
Marwa El Soury ◽  
David González-Quevedo ◽  
David Sánchez-Porras ◽  
Jesús Chato-Astrain ◽  
...  

Acellular nerve allografts (ANGs) represent a promising alternative in nerve repair. Our aim is to improve the structural and biomechanical properties of biocompatible Sondell (SD) and Roosens (RS) based ANGs using genipin (GP) as a crosslinker agent ex vivo. The impact of two concentrations of GP (0.10% and 0.25%) on Wistar rat sciatic nerve-derived ANGs was assessed at the histological, biomechanical, and biocompatibility levels. Histology confirmed the differences between SD and RS procedures, but not remarkable changes were induced by GP, which helped to preserve the nerve histological pattern. Tensile test revealed that GP enhanced the biomechanical properties of SD and RS ANGs, being the crosslinked RS ANGs more comparable to the native nerves used as control. The evaluation of the ANGs biocompatibility conducted with adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells cultured within the ANGs confirmed a high degree of biocompatibility in all ANGs, especially in RS and RS-GP 0.10% ANGs. Finally, this study demonstrates that the use of GP could be an efficient alternative to improve the biomechanical properties of ANGs with a slight impact on the biocompatibility and histological pattern. For these reasons, we hypothesize that our novel crosslinked ANGs could be a suitable alternative for future in vivo preclinical studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6074
Author(s):  
Esther Khayanga Sumbule ◽  
Mary Kivali Ambula ◽  
Isaac Maina Osuga ◽  
Janice Ghemoh Changeh ◽  
David Miano Mwangi ◽  
...  

The acceptance of eco-friendly black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFLM) as sustainable alternative protein ingredient in poultry feeds continues to gain momentum worldwide. This study evaluates the impact of BSFLM in layer chick and grower diets on the growth, carcass quality and economic returns. Mean weekly weight gain and total live weight per chick and grower varied significantly. The highest final weight gain was achieved when birds were provided diet with 25.6% BSFLM. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gain (ADG) and overall weight gain of the chick varied significantly, except for the feed conversion ratio (FCR). For grower birds, ADFI, ADG, FCR and overall weight gain did not vary significantly across the various feeding regimes. The weight of the wings and drumsticks had a quadratic response with a maximum weight obtained at 33% inclusion of BSFLM. The weight of the internal organs were not significantly affected by dietary types. Positive cost–benefit ratio and return on investment was recorded for diet types with higher BSFLM inclusion levels (>75%). Diets with 25% and 100% BSFLM inclusion were the most suitable and cost-effective, respectively. Thus, BSFLM represents a promising alternative source of protein that could be sustainably used in the poultry industries.


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