Evaluation of antioxidant, photoprotective and antinociceptive activities of Marcetia macrophylla extract: potential for formulation of sunscreens

The antioxidant, photoprotective and antinociceptive Marcetia macrophylla active extract was investigated as an active ingredient in a sunscreen cream formulation. Thus, the M. macrophylla extract showed IC50 of 3.43 mg/ml of the antioxidant (DPPH∙ scavenging test) and Sun Protection Factor of 20.25 (SPF/UV-B, at 250 µg/ml) and UV-A of 78.09% (photobleaching trans-resveratrol test). The antinociceptive activity was superior to all standards tested using the in vivo acetic acid-induced writhing test (99.14% at the dose of 200 mg/kg) and the high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and mass spectroscopy multi-stage (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) enabled the structural characterization of the quercetin-3-O-hexoside, quercetin-3-O-pentoside and quercetin-3-O-desoxihexoside. The pharmaceutical formulation containing the Marcetia macrophylla crude active extract was prepared and the physicochemical tests (organoleptic characteristics, pH analysis and centrifugation), the in vitro UVB (sun protection factor, SPF) and UVA (β-carotene) using the spectroscopic method were investigated. The formulation showed satisfactory results concerning the physicochemical parameters evaluated and active against the UV test. Thus, M. macrophylla showed biological activities with potential use in pharmaceutical preparations.

In Vitro Assessment of Organic and Residual Fractions of Nematicidal Culture Filtrates from Thirteen Tropical Trichoderma Strains and Metabolic Profiles of Most-Active

The nematicidal properties of Trichoderma species have potential for developing safer biocontrol agents. In the present study, 13 native Trichoderma strains from T. citrinoviride, T. ghanense (2 strains), T. harzianum (4), T. koningiopsis, T. simmonsii, and T. virens (4) with nematicidal activity were selected and cultured in potato dextrose broth to obtain a culture filtrate (CF) for each. Each CF was partitioned with ethyl acetate to obtain organic (EA) and residual filtrate (RF) fractions, which were then tested on second-stage juveniles (J2s) of the nematodes Meloidogyne javanica and M. incognita in a microdilution assay. The most lethal strains were T. harzianum Th43-14, T. koningiopsis Th41-11, T. ghanense Th02-04, and T. virens Th32-09, which caused 51–100% mortality (%M) of J2s of both nematodes, mainly due to their RF fractions. Liquid chromatography–diode array detector-electrospray-high resolution mass spectrometry analysis of the most-active fractions revealed sesquiterpene and polyketide-like metabolites produced by the four active strains. These native Trichoderma strains have a high potential to develop safer natural products for the biocontrol of Meloidogyne species.

Fermentation with Tea Residues Enhances Antioxidant Activities and Polyphenol Contents in Kombucha Beverages

Kombucha is a popular beverage with various bioactivities (such as antioxidant activity), which can be attributed to its abundant bioactive compounds, especially polyphenols. Kombucha is conventionally prepared by fermentation of a sugared black tea infusion without tea residue. In this study, the effects of black tea residue and green tea residue on kombucha were studied, and its antioxidant activities, total phenolic contents, as well as concentrations of polyphenols at different fermentation stages were evaluated using ferric-reducing antioxidant power, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, Folin-Ciocalteu method and high-performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector. The results showed that fermentation with tea residue could markedly increase antioxidant activities (maximum 3.25 times) as well as polyphenolic concentrations (5.68 times) of kombucha. In addition, green tea residue showed a stronger effect than black tea residue. Overall, it is interesting to find that fermentation with tea residues could be a better strategy to produce polyphenol-rich kombucha beverages.

Treatment of Wastewater Containing Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Using Activated Carbon Material

This study presents an adsorbent material (activated carbon) used in the treatment of wastewater with the role of removing ibuprofen, acetaminophen, diclofenac and ketoprofen pollutants. The wastewater treatment efficiencies of the activated carbon were systematically investigated using adsorption kinetics. The parameters studied were: pH (4 and 6 values of pH), initial concentration of wastewater (1, 5, and 10 mg/L), contact time (10 min), adsorbent quantity (0.1, 0.5, and 1 g), and isotherm models (Langmuir and Freundlich). The highest wastewater treatment efficiency was obtained at the 6 pH value. The determination of four anti-inflammatory drugs, frequently monitored in wastewater, was performed by a simple and fast method using the HPLC-technique-type DAD (diode array detector). The method was linear when the concentration ranged between 0.5 and 20 m/L for all compounds. The equilibrium concentration was obtained after 8 min. The octanol/water coefficient influenced the removal efficiency of the four drugs by the adsorbent material (activated carbon). The dose of activated carbon (0.1 to 1 g) significantly influenced the efficiency of wastewater treatment, which increased considerably when the dose of the adsorbent material increased. Using 1 g of the adsorbent material for the treatment of wastewater containing 1 mg/L initial concentration of pollutant compounds, the efficiencies were 98% for acetaminophen, 92% for diclofenac, 88% for ketoprofen and 96% for ibuprofen.

Phytochemical Profile of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill Fruits (cv. ‘Orito’) Stored at Different Conditions

This research analyzed the phytochemical profile of prickly pear fruits from ‘Orito’ cultivar stored under cold conditions (2 °C, 85–90% RH) and shelf-life conditions at room temperature (stored at 20 °C for three days after cold storage) for 28 days, mimicking the product life cycle. A total of 18 compounds were identified and quantitated through HPLC-DAD-MS/MS (High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic -Diode Array Detector- Mass Spectrometry) analyses. Phenolic acids such as eucomic acid and betalains such as indicaxanthin were the predominant chemical families, and piscidic acid was the most abundant compound. During cold storage, the content of eucomic acid isomer/derivative and syringaresinol increased, and citric acid decreased, which could be caused by the cold activation of the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes. However, no significant differences were found in the content of these compounds during shelf-life storage. These results showed that ‘Orito’ fruit marketability would be possible up to 28 days after harvesting, retaining its profile, which is rich in bioactive compounds.

A Large Area Pixelated Silicon Array Detector for Independent Transit In Vivo Dosimetry

A large area pixelated silicon array detector named “MP987” has been developed for in vivo dosimetry. The detector was developed to overcome the non-water equivalent response of EPID (Electronic Portal Imaging Device) dosimetry systems, due to the shortfalls of the extensive corrections required. The detector, readout system and software have all been custom designed to be operated independently from the linac with the array secured directly above the EPID, to be used in combination with the 6 MV imaging system. Dosimetry characterisation measurements of percentage depth dose (PDD), dose rate dependence, radiation damage, output factors (OF), profile measurements, linearity and uniformity were performed. Additionally, the first pre-clinical tests with this novel detector of a transit dosimetry characterization and a collapsed IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy) study are presented. Both PDD and OF measurements had a percentage difference of less than 2.5% to the reference detector. A maximum change in sensitivity of 4.3 ± 0.3% was observed after 30 kGy of gamma accumulated dose. Transit dosimetry measurements through a homogeneous Solid Water phantom had a measured dose within error of the TPS calculations, for field sizes between 3 × 3 cm2 and 10 × 10 cm2. A four-fraction collapsed IMRT plan on a lung phantom had absolute dose pass fractions between the MP987 and TPS (treatment planning system) from 94.2% to 97.4%, with a 5%/5 mm criteria. The ability to accurately measure dose at a transit level, without the need for correction factors derived from extensive commissioning data collection procedures, makes the MP987 a viable alternative to the EPID for in vivo dosimetry. This MP987 is this first of its kind to be successfully developed specifically for a dual detector application.

The CirPAD, a circular 1.4 M hybrid pixel detector dedicated to X-ray diffraction measurements at Synchrotron SOLEIL

One of the challenges of all synchrotron facilities is to offer the highest performance detectors for all their specific experiments, in particular for X-ray diffraction imaging and its high throughput data collection. In that context, the DiffAbs beamline, the Detectors and the Design and Engineering groups at Synchrotron SOLEIL, in collaboration with ImXPAD and Cegitek companies, have developed an original and unique detector with a circular shape. This detector is based on the hybrid pixel photon-counting technology and consists of the specific assembly of 20 hybrid pixel array detector (XPAD) modules. This article aims to demonstrate the main characteristics of the CirPAD (for Circular Pixel Array Detector) and its performance – i.e. excellent pixel quality, flat-field correction, high-count-rate performance, etc. Additionally, the powder X-ray diffraction pattern of an LaB6 reference sample is presented and refined. The obtained results demonstrate the high quality of the data recorded from the CirPAD, which allows the proposal of its use to all scientific communities interested in performing experiments at the DiffAbs beamline.

Beta-Cyclodextrin-Decorated Magnetic Activated Carbon as a Sorbent for Extraction and Enrichment of Steroid Hormones (Estrone, β-Estradiol, Hydrocortisone and Progesterone) for Liquid Chromatographic Analysis

A β-cyclodextrin-decorated magnetic activated carbon adsorbent was prepared and characterized using various analytical techniques (X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy–electron diffraction spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)), and the adsorbent was used in the development of a magnetic solid-phase microextraction (MSPE) method for the preconcentration of estrone, β-estradiol, hydrocortisone and progesterone in wastewater and river water samples. This method was optimized using the central composite design in order to determine the experimental parameters affecting the extraction procedure. The quantification of hormones was achieved using high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Under optimum conditions, the linearity ranged from 0.04 to 300 µg L−1 with a correlation of determinations of 0.9969–0.9991. The limits of detection and quantification were between 0.01–0.03 and 0.033–0.1 µg L−1, with intraday and interday precisions at 1.1–3.4 and 3.2–4.2. The equilibrium data were best described by the Langmuir isotherm model, and high adsorption capacities (217–294 mg g−1) were obtained. The developed procedure demonstrated high potential as an effective technique for use in wastewater samples without significant interferences, and the adsorbent could be reused up to eight times.

Antimicrobial efficacy and biocompatibility of extracts from Cryptocarya species

This study evaluated the efficacy of Cryptocarya spp extracts on biofilm of Candida albicans and its biocompatibility. Mature biofilm of C. albicans was formed on denture base acrylic resin samples and the fungicidal effect of the extracts was evaluated by Alamar Blue® assay, counting colony-forming units (CFU/mL) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Cytotoxicity of extracts from Cryptocarya species was evaluated by AlamarBlue® assay, using normal oral keratinocytes (NOK) cells. In additional, Analysis of plant extracts by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD-MS) was performed. The results showed significant reduction in the cellular metabolism and in the number of CFU/mL of C. albicans (p<0.05). The concentration of 0.045 g/mL completely inhibited the number of CFU/mL. Regarding cytotoxicity, all extracts decreased cell viability compared to the control group. CLSM analysis showed predominance of live cells, but with a great difference between the groups. Antimicrobial activity of extracts from Cryptocarya on C. albicans biofilm was confirmed. However, all extracts showed toxicity on NOK cells.