Juglans mandshurica Maxim extracts exhibit antitumor activity on HeLa cells in vitro.

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Xin, Nian; Hasan, Murtaza; Li, Wei; Li, Yan

2014-04-01

The present study examined the potential application of Juglans mandshurica Maxim extracts (HT) for cancer therapy by assessing their anti‑proliferative activity, reduction of telomerase activity, induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in S phase in HeLa cells. From the perspective of using HT as a herbal medicine, photomicroscopy and florescent microscopy techniques were utilized to characterize the effect of the extracts on telomerase activity and cell morphology. Flow cytometry was employed to study apoptosis and cell cycle of HeLa cells, and DNA laddering was performed. The results showed that HT inhibited cell proliferation and telomerase activity, induced apoptosis and caused S phase arrest of HeLa cells in vitro. HT inhibited HeLa cell proliferation significantly, and the highest inhibition rate was 83.7%. A trap‑silver staining assay showed that HT was capable of markedly decreasing telomerase activity of HeLa cells and this inhibition was enhanced in a time‑ and dose‑dependent manner. Results of a Hoechst 33258 staining assay showed that HeLa cells treated by HT induced cell death. Through DNA agarose gel electrophoresis, DNA ladders of HeLa cells treated with HT were observed, indicating apoptosis. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that HT exhibited anti‑tumor effects comprising the inhibition of growth and telomerase activity as well as apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in HeLa cells.

Stem Bark Extract and Fraction of Persea americana (Mill. Exhibits Bactericidal Activities against Strains of Bacillus cereus Associated with Food Poisoning

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David A. Akinpelu

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The study investigates the in vitro antibacterial potentials of stem bark extracts of Persea americana on strains of Bacillus cereus implicated in food poisoning. The crude stem bark extracts and butanolic fraction at a concentration of 25 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL, respectively, exhibited antibacterial activities against test isolates. The zones of inhibition exhibited by the crude extract and the fraction ranged between 10 mm and 26 mm, while the minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged between 0.78 and 5.00 mg/mL. The minimum bactericidal concentrations ranged between 3.12 mg/mL–12.5 mg/mL and 1.25–10 mg/mL for the extract and the fraction, respectively. The butanolic fraction killed 91.49% of the test isolates at a concentration of 2× MIC after 60 min of contact time, while a 100% killing was achieved after the test bacterial cells were exposed to the butanolic fraction at a concentration of 3× MIC after 90 min contact time. Intracellular protein and potassium ion leaked out of the test bacterial cells when exposed to certain concentrations of the fraction; this is an indication of bacterial cell wall disruptions by the extract’s butanolic fraction and, thus, caused a biocidal effect on the cells, as evident in the killing rate test results.

Aqueous extracts of avocado pear (Persea americana Mill.) leaves and seeds exhibit anti-cholinesterases and antioxidant activities in vitro.

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Oboh, Ganiyu; Odubanjo, Veronica O; Bello, Fatai; Ademosun, Ayokunle O; Oyeleye, Sunday I; Nwanna, Emem E; Ademiluyi, Adedayo O

2016-03-01

Avocado pear (Persea americana Mill.) leaves and seeds are used in traditional medicine for the treatment/management of Alzheimer disease (AD); however, information on the mechanism of actions is limited. This study sought to investigate the effect of P. americana leaf and seed aqueous extracts on some enzymes linked with AD (acetylcholinesterase [AChE] and butyrylcholinesterase [BChE] activities) and their antioxidant potentials in vitro. The inhibitory effects of extracts on AChE and BChE activities and antioxidant potentials (inhibition of Fe2+- and sodium nitroprusside-induced thiobarbiturate reactive species [TBARS] production in rat brain homogenates, radicals [1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyl, and nitric oxide] scavenging and iron [Fe] chelation abilities) were investigated. Phenolic content and phytochemical screening were carried out. Alkaloid profile was also determined using gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The extracts inhibited AChE and BChE activities and prooxidant-induced TBARS production in a dose-dependent manner, with the seed extract having the highest inhibitory effect and the leaf extract exhibiting higher phenolic content and radical scavenging abilities, but lower Fe chelation ability compared with that of the seed. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of saponins, alkaloids, and terpenoids in both extracts, whereas the total alkaloid profile was higher in the seed extract than in the leaf extract, as revealed by GC-FID. The anti-cholinesterase and antioxidant activities of avocado leaf and seed could be linked to their phytoconstituents and might be the possible mechanisms underlying their use as a cheap and natural treatment/management of AD. However, these extracts should be further investigated in vivo.

Activities and prevalence of proteobacteria members colonizing Echinacea purpurea fully account for in vitro macrophage activation exhibited by extracts of this botanical

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Evidence supports the theory that bacterial communities colonizing Echinacea purpurea contribute to the innate immune enhancing activity of this botanical. Previously we reported that only about half of the variation in in vitro monocyte stimulating activity exhibited by E. purpurea extracts could ...

Are extracted materials truly representative of original samples? Impact of C18 extraction on CDOM optical and chemical properties

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Andrea A Andrew

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Some properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM can be easily measured directly on whole waters, while others require sample concentration and removal of natural salts. To increase CDOM content and eliminate salts, solid phase extraction is often employed. Biases following extraction and elution are inevitable, thus raising the question of how truly representative the extracted material is of the original. In this context, we investigated the wavelength dependence of extraction efficiency for C18 cartridges with respect to CDOM optical properties using samples obtained from the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB and the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean (EAO. Further, we compared the optical changes of C18 extracts and the corresponding whole water following chemical reduction with sodium borohydride (NaBH4.C18 cartridges preferentially extracted long-wavelength absorbing/emitting material for samples impacted by riverine input. Extraction efficiency overall decreased with offshore distance away from riverine input. Spectral slopes of C18-OM samples were also almost always lower than those of their corresponding CDOM samples supporting the preferential extraction of higher molecular weight absorbing material. The wavelength dependence of the optical properties (absorption, fluorescence emission and quantum yield of the original water samples and their corresponding extracted material were very similar. C18 extracts and corresponding water samples further exhibited comparable optical changes following NaBH4 reduction, thus suggesting a similarity in nature (structure of the optically active extracted material, independent of geographical locale. Altogether, these data suggested a strong similarity between C18 extracts and corresponding whole waters, thus indicating that extracts are representative of the CDOM content of original waters.

Are Extracted Materials Truly Representative of Original Samples? Impact of C18 Extraction on CDOM Optical and Chemical Properties.

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Andrew, Andrea A; Del Vecchio, Rossana; Zhang, Yi; Subramaniam, Ajit; Blough, Neil V

2016-01-01

Some properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) can be easily measured directly on whole waters, while others require sample concentration and removal of natural salts. To increase CDOM content and eliminate salts, solid phase extraction (SPE) is often employed. Biases following extraction and elution are inevitable, thus raising the question of how truly representative the extracted material is of the original. In this context, we investigated the wavelength dependence of extraction efficiency for C18 cartridges with respect to CDOM optical properties using samples obtained from the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) and the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean (EAO). Further, we compared the optical changes of C18 extracts and the corresponding whole water following chemical reduction with sodium borohydride (NaBH4). C18 cartridges preferentially extracted long-wavelength absorbing/emitting material for samples impacted by riverine input. Extraction efficiency overall decreased with offshore distance away from riverine input. Spectral slopes of C18-OM samples were also almost always lower than those of their corresponding CDOM samples supporting the preferential extraction of higher molecular weight absorbing material. The wavelength dependence of the optical properties (absorption, fluorescence emission, and quantum yield) of the original water samples and their corresponding extracted material were very similar. C18 extracts and corresponding water samples further exhibited comparable optical changes following NaBH4 reduction, thus suggesting a similarity in nature (structure) of the optically active extracted material, independent of geographical locale. Altogether, these data suggested a strong similarity between C18 extracts and corresponding whole waters, thus indicating that extracts are representative of the CDOM content of original waters.

Are extracted materials truly representative of original samples? Impact of C18 extraction on CDOM optical and chemical properties

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Andrew, Andrea; Del Vecchio, Rossana; Zhang, Yi; Subramaniam, Ajit; Blough, Neil

2016-02-01

Some properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) can be easily measured directly on whole waters, while others require sample concentration and removal of natural salts. To increase CDOM content and eliminate salts, solid phase extraction is often employed. Biases following extraction and elution are inevitable, thus raising the question of how truly representative the extracted material is of the original. In this context, we investigated the wavelength dependence of extraction efficiency for C18 cartridges with respect to CDOM optical properties using samples obtained from the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) and the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean (EAO). Further, we compared the optical changes of C18 extracts and the corresponding whole water following chemical reduction with sodium borohydride (NaBH4). C18 cartridges preferentially extracted long-wavelength absorbing/emitting material for samples impacted by riverine input. Extraction efficiency overall decreased with offshore distance away from riverine input. Spectral slopes of C18-OM samples were also almost always lower than those of their corresponding CDOM samples supporting the preferential extraction of higher molecular weight absorbing material. The wavelength dependence of the optical properties (absorption, fluorescence emission and quantum yield) of the original water samples and their corresponding extracted material were very similar. C18 extracts and corresponding water samples further exhibited comparable optical changes following NaBH4 reduction, thus suggesting a similarity in nature (structure) of the optically active extracted material, independent of geographical locale. Altogether, these data suggested a strong similarity between C18 extracts and corresponding whole waters, thus indicating that extracts are representative of the CDOM content of original waters.

Analysis and identification of two similar traditional Chinese medicines by using a three-stage infrared spectroscopy: Ligusticum chuanxiong, Angelica sinensis and their different extracts

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Xiang, Li; Wang, Jingjuan; Zhang, Guijun; Rong, Lixin; Wu, Haozhong; Sun, Suqin; Guo, Yizhen; Yang, Yanfang; Lu, Lina; Qu, Lei

2016-11-01

Rhizoma Chuanxiong (CX) and Radix Angelica sinensis (DG) are very important Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and usually used in clinic. They both are from the Umbelliferae family, and have almost similar chemical constituents with each other. It is complicated, time-consuming and laborious to discriminate them by using the chromatographic methods such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC). Therefore, to find a fast, applicable and effective identification method for two herbs is urged in quality research of TCM. In this paper, by using a three-stage infrared spectroscopy (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), the second derivative infrared spectroscopy (SD-IR) and two-dimensional correlation infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR)), we analyzed and discriminated CX, DG and their different extracts (aqueous extract, alcoholic extract and petroleum ether extract). In FT-IR, all the CX and DG samples' spectra seemed similar, but they had their own unique macroscopic fingerprints to identify. Through comparing with the spectra of sucrose and the similarity calculation, we found the content of sucrose in DG raw materials was higher than in CX raw materials. The significant differences in alcoholic extract appeared that in CX alcoholic extract, the peaks at 1743 cm-1 was obviously stronger than the peak at same position in DG alcoholic extract. Besides in petroleum ether extract, we concluded CX contained much more ligustilide than DG by the similarity calculation. With the function of SD-IR, some tiny differences were amplified and overlapped peaks were also unfolded in FT-IR. In the range of 1100-1175 cm-1, there were six peaks in the SD-IR spectra of DG and the intensity, shape and location of those six peaks were similar to that of sucrose, while only two peaks could be observed in that of CX and those two peaks were totally different from sucrose in shape and relative intensity. This result was consistent with that of the

Extending the applicability of pressurized hot water extraction to compounds exhibiting limited water solubility by pH control: curcumin from the turmeric rhizome.

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Euterpio, Maria Anna; Cavaliere, Chiara; Capriotti, Anna Laura; Crescenzi, Carlo

2011-11-01

Pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE, also known as subcritical water extraction) is commonly considered to be an environmentally friendly extraction technique that could potentially replace traditional methods that use organic solvents. Unfortunately, the applicability of this technique is often limited by the very low water solubility of the target compounds, even at high temperatures. In this paper, the scope for broadening the applicability of PHWE by adjusting the pH of the water used in the extraction is demonstrated in the extraction of curcumin (which exhibits very limited water solubility) from untreated turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) rhizomes. Although poor extraction yields were obtained, even at high temperatures when using degassed water or neutral phosphate buffer as the extraction medium, yields exceeding those obtained by Soxhlet extraction were achieved using highly acidic pH buffers due to curcumin protonation. The influence of the temperature, pH, and buffer concentration on the extraction yield were investigated in detail by means of a series of designed experiments. Optimized conditions for the extraction of curcumin from turmeric by PHWE were estimated at 197 °C using 62 g/L buffer concentration at pH 1.6. The relationships between these variables were subjected to statistical analysis using response surface methodology.

Meliae cortex extract exhibits anti-allergic activity through the inhibition of Syk kinase in mast cells

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Lee, Jun Ho; Ko, Na Young; Kim, Nam Wook; Mun, Se Hwan; Kim, Jie Wan; Her, Erk; Kim, Bo Kyung; Seo, Dong Wan; Chang, Hyun Wook; Moon, Tae Chul; Han, Jeung Whan; Kim, Young Mi; Choi, Wahn Soo

2007-01-01

The anti-allergic action of various Oriental medicinal herbs was investigated using in vitro and in vivo experimental models. Of these extracts, the ethanol extract of Meliae cortex (MC) exhibited the most potent activity in mast cells; its IC 50 values were 29 ± 1.5 μg/ml for antigen stimulation and 57 ± 3.4 μg/ml for thapsigargin stimulation. It inhibited compound-48/80-induced systemic anaphylaxis by 52.9% at a dose of 300 mg/kg in mice; it also inhibited the expression of the proinflammatory mediator TNF-α. With regard to its mechanism of action, MC suppressed the activating phosphorylation of Syk, a key enzyme in mast-cell signaling processes and that of Akt in a dose-dependent manner. It also inhibited the MAP kinase ERK1/2, which is critical for the production of inflammatory cytokines in mast cells, as indicated by the suppression of the activating phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Taken together, these results suggest that the anti-allergic activity of MC may be due to the inhibition of histamine secretion and cytokine expression through the Syk inhibition in mast cells

ClusTrack: feature extraction and similarity measures for clustering of genome-wide data sets.

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Halfdan Rydbeck

Full Text Available Clustering is a popular technique for explorative analysis of data, as it can reveal subgroupings and similarities between data in an unsupervised manner. While clustering is routinely applied to gene expression data, there is a lack of appropriate general methodology for clustering of sequence-level genomic and epigenomic data, e.g. ChIP-based data. We here introduce a general methodology for clustering data sets of coordinates relative to a genome assembly, i.e. genomic tracks. By defining appropriate feature extraction approaches and similarity measures, we allow biologically meaningful clustering to be performed for genomic tracks using standard clustering algorithms. An implementation of the methodology is provided through a tool, ClusTrack, which allows fine-tuned clustering analyses to be specified through a web-based interface. We apply our methods to the clustering of occupancy of the H3K4me1 histone modification in samples from a range of different cell types. The majority of samples form meaningful subclusters, confirming that the definitions of features and similarity capture biological, rather than technical, variation between the genomic tracks. Input data and results are available, and can be reproduced, through a Galaxy Pages document at http://hyperbrowser.uio.no/hb/u/hb-superuser/p/clustrack. The clustering functionality is available as a Galaxy tool, under the menu option "Specialized analyzis of tracks", and the submenu option "Cluster tracks based on genome level similarity", at the Genomic HyperBrowser server: http://hyperbrowser.uio.no/hb/.

Turmeric and laurel aqueous extracts exhibit in vitro anti-atherosclerotic activity and in vivo hypolipidemic effects in a zebrafish model.

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Jin, Seori; Hong, Joo-Heon; Jung, Seung-Hyeon; Cho, Kyung-Hyun

2011-03-01

Culinary herbs and spices have been widely used for their hypoglycemic, lipid-lowering, and anti-inflammatory activities. This study examined the physiologic activity of hydrophilic components using extracts of turmeric or laurel leaf powder. Aqueous extracts of turmeric and laurel showed potent inhibitory activity against fructose-mediated glycation with antioxidant ability against low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and radical scavenging activity. The turmeric and laurel extracts had potent cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitory ability (up to 23% and 40% inhibition, respectively) at a final concentration of 10 μg/mL. The turmeric and laurel extracts inhibited the cellular uptake of oxidized LDL into macrophages, which is the initial step in atherogenesis. For in vivo testing, zebrafish consumed a high cholesterol diet (HCD) (final concentration, 4% [wt/wt]) with or without turmeric or laurel powder (final concentration, 10% [wt/wt]). The turmeric and laurel groups had a 14% and 12% decrease, respectively, in the weight and height ratios compared to the HCD group. The plasma total cholesterol level was significantly lower in the turmeric and laurel groups (48% and 28% less, respectively, than in the HCD group). Plasma triglycerides were more markedly reduced in the turmeric and laurel groups than in the HCD group (68% and 56% less, respectively, than the HCD group). In conclusion, the hydrophilic extracts of turmeric and laurel potently suppressed the incidence of atherosclerosis via a strong antioxidant potential, prevention of apolipoprotein A-I glycation and LDL phagocytosis, and inhibition of CETP. Consumption of turmeric and laurel extracts exhibited hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities in a hypercholesterolemic zebrafish model.

Effects of moisture content in cigar tobacco on nicotine extraction. Similarity between soxhlet and focused open-vessel microwave-assisted techniques.

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Ng, Lay-Keow; Hupé, Michel

2003-09-05

The effects of tobacco moisture on nicotine yield were investigated in this study. Soxhlet and microwave-assisted techniques were used to extract nicotine from cigar fillers of varying moisture contents (5-20%), using a polar (methanol) and a non-polar (isooctane) solvent. The extracts were analyzed by a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame-ionization detector. For both extraction techniques, higher nicotine yields were consistently obtained with methanol than with isooctane from the same samples. Solubility of nicotine salts in methanol but not in isooctane is the major cause of this observation. Moreover, pronounced effects of the tobacco moisture content on extraction efficiency were observed with isooctane but not with methanol. For microwave assisted extraction (MAE) with isooctane, nicotine yield increased from 3 to 70% as the moisture level in tobacco was raised from 3 to 13%, and leveled off thereafter. Similar observations were made with Soxhlet extraction. While MAE results were rationalized by the known cell-rupture process, a mechanism based on the interaction between the solvents and the structural components of the plant cells has been proposed to account for the observations made with Soxhlet extraction.

Extraction of DNA from plant and fungus tissues in situ

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Abu Almakarem Amal S

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background When samples are collected in the field and transported to the lab, degradation of the nucleic acids contained in the samples is frequently observed. Immediate extraction and precipitation of the nucleic acids reduces degradation to a minimum, thus preserving accurate sequence information. An extraction method to obtain high quality DNA in field studies is described. Findings DNA extracted immediately after sampling was compared to DNA extracted after allowing the sampled tissues to air dry at 21°C for 48 or 72 hours. While DNA extracted from fresh tissues exhibited little degradation, DNA extracted from all tissues exposed to 21°C air for 48 or 72 hours exhibited varying degrees of degradation. Yield was higher for extractions from fresh tissues in most cases. Four microcentrifuges were compared for DNA yield: one standard electric laboratory microcentrifuge (max rcf = 16,000×g, two battery-operated microcentrifuges (max rcf = 5,000 and 3,000 ×g, and one manually-operated microcentrifuge (max rcf = 120×g. Yields for all centrifuges were similar. DNA extracted under simulated field conditions was similar in yield and quality to DNA extracted in the laboratory using the same equipment. Conclusions This CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide DNA extraction method employs battery-operated and manually-operated equipment to isolate high quality DNA in the field. The method was tested on plant and fungus tissues, and may be adapted for other types of organisms. The method produced high quality DNA in laboratory tests and under simulated field conditions. The field extraction method should prove useful for working in remote sites, where ice, dry ice, and liquid nitrogen are unavailable; where degradation is likely to occur due to the long distances between the sample site and the laboratory; and in instances where other DNA preservation and transportation methods have been unsuccessful. It may be possible to adapt

Withanolide D Exhibits Similar Cytostatic Effect in Drug-Resistant and Drug-Sensitive Multiple Myeloma Cells

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Mark E. Issa

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In spite of recent therapeutic advances, multiple myeloma (MM remains a malignancy with very low curability. This has been partly attributed to the existence of a drug-resistant subpopulation known as cancer stem cells (CSCs. MM-CSCs are equipped with the necessary tools that render them highly resistant to virtually all conventional therapies. In this study, the growth inhibitory effects of withanolide D (WND, a steroidal lactone isolated from Withania somnifera, on drug-sensitive tumoral plasma cells and drug-resistant MM cells have been investigated. In MTT/XTT assays, WND exhibited similar cytostatic effects between drug-resistant and drug-sensitive cell lines in the nM range. WND also induced cell death and apoptosis in MM-CSCs and RPMI 8226 cells, as examined by the calcein/ethidium homodimer and annexin V/propidium iodide stainings, respectively. To determine whether P-glycoprotein (P-gp efflux affected the cytostatic activity of WND, P-gp was inhibited with verapamil and results indicated that the WND cytostatic effect in MM-CSCs was independent of P-gp efflux. Furthermore, WND did not increase the accumulation of the fluorescent P-gp substrate rhodamine 123 in MM-CSCs, suggesting that WND may not inhibit P-gp at the tested relevant doses. Therefore, the WND-induced cytostatic effect may be independent of P-gp efflux. These findings warrant further investigation of WND in MM-CSC animal models.

Alpha-Fetoprotein, Identified as a Novel Marker for the Antioxidant Effect of Placental Extract, Exhibits Synergistic Antioxidant Activity in the Presence of Estradiol

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Choi, Hye Yeon; Kim, Seung Woo; Kim, BongWoo; Lee, Hae Na; Kim, Su-Jeong; Song, Minjung; Kim, Sol; Kim, Jungho; Kim, Young Bong; Kim, Jin-Hoi; Cho, Ssang-Goo

2014-01-01

Placenta, as a reservoir of nutrients, has been widely used in medical and cosmetic materials. Here, we focused on the antioxidant properties of placental extract and attempted to isolate and identify the main antioxidant factors. Porcine placental extracts were prepared through homogenization or acid hydrolysis, and their antioxidant activity was investigated in the human keratinocyte HaCaT cell line. Treatment with homogenized placental extract (H-PE) increased the cell viability of H2O2-treated HaCaT cells more than two-fold. H-PE treatment suppressed H2O2-induced apoptotic and necrotic cell death and decreased intracellular ROS levels in H2O2-treated HaCaT cells. The antioxidant factors in H-PE were found to be thermo-unstable and were thus expected to include proteins. The candidate antioxidant proteins were fractionated with cation-exchange, anion-exchange, and size-exclusion chromatography, and the antioxidant properties of the chromatographic fractions were investigated. We obtained specific antioxidant fractions that suppressed ROS generation and ROS-induced DNA strand breaks. From silver staining and MALDI-TOF analyses, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) precursor was identified as a main marker for the antioxidant effect of H-PE. Purified AFP or ectopically expressed AFP exhibited synergistic antioxidant activity in the presence of estradiol. Taken together, our data suggest that AFP, a serum glycoprotein produced at high levels during fetal development, is a novel marker protein for the antioxidant effect of the placenta that exhibits synergistic antioxidant activity in the presence of estradiol. PMID:24922551

Alpha-fetoprotein, identified as a novel marker for the antioxidant effect of placental extract, exhibits synergistic antioxidant activity in the presence of estradiol.

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Hye Yeon Choi

Full Text Available Placenta, as a reservoir of nutrients, has been widely used in medical and cosmetic materials. Here, we focused on the antioxidant properties of placental extract and attempted to isolate and identify the main antioxidant factors. Porcine placental extracts were prepared through homogenization or acid hydrolysis, and their antioxidant activity was investigated in the human keratinocyte HaCaT cell line. Treatment with homogenized placental extract (H-PE increased the cell viability of H2O2-treated HaCaT cells more than two-fold. H-PE treatment suppressed H2O2-induced apoptotic and necrotic cell death and decreased intracellular ROS levels in H2O2-treated HaCaT cells. The antioxidant factors in H-PE were found to be thermo-unstable and were thus expected to include proteins. The candidate antioxidant proteins were fractionated with cation-exchange, anion-exchange, and size-exclusion chromatography, and the antioxidant properties of the chromatographic fractions were investigated. We obtained specific antioxidant fractions that suppressed ROS generation and ROS-induced DNA strand breaks. From silver staining and MALDI-TOF analyses, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP precursor was identified as a main marker for the antioxidant effect of H-PE. Purified AFP or ectopically expressed AFP exhibited synergistic antioxidant activity in the presence of estradiol. Taken together, our data suggest that AFP, a serum glycoprotein produced at high levels during fetal development, is a novel marker protein for the antioxidant effect of the placenta that exhibits synergistic antioxidant activity in the presence of estradiol.

Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Coleus amboinicus Lour Exhibited Antimicrobial Activity.

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Astuti, Puji; Sudarsono, Sudarsono; Nisak, Khoirun; Nugroho, Giri Wisnu

2014-12-01

Coleus amboinicus is a medicinal plant traditionally used to treat various diseases such as throat infection, cough and fever, diarrhea, nasal congestion and digestive problems. The plant was explored for endophytic fungi producing antimicrobial agents. Screening for endophytic fungi producing antimicrobial agents was conducted using agar plug method and antimicrobial activity of promising ethyl acetate extracts was determined by disc diffusion assay. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) - bioautography was performed to localize the bioactive components within the extract. TLC visualization detection reagents were used to preliminary analyze phytochemical groups of the bioactive compounds. Three endophytic fungi were obtained, two of them showed promising potential. Agar diffusion method showed that endophytic fungi CAL-2 exhibited antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, S. aureus and S. thypi, whilst CAS-1 inhibited the growth of B. subtilis. TLC bioautography of ethyl acetate extract of CAL-2 revealed at least three bands exhibited antimicrobial activity and at least two bands showed inhibition of B. subtilis growth. Preliminary analysis of the crude extracts suggests that bioactive compounds within CAL-2 extract are terpenoids, phenolics and phenyl propanoid compounds whilst the antimicrobial agents within CAS-1 extract are terpenoids, propylpropanoids, alkaloids or heterocyclic nitrogen compounds. These data suggest the potential of endophytic fungi of C. amboinicus as source for antimicrobial agents.

Antibacterial Activity of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton Hassk. Leaf Extract against Clinical Isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes

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Surasak Limsuwan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Ethanol extract of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton Hassk. leaf was evaluated for antibacterial activity against 47 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes. The extract exhibited good anti-S. pyogenes activity against all the tested isolates with similar minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC, 3.91–62.5 μg mL−1 and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC, 3.91–62.5 μg mL−1 ranges. No surviving cells were detected at 16 h after treatment with 8 × MIC of the extract. The extract-treated cells demonstrated no lysis and cytoplasmic leakage through the bacterial membrane. Electron micrographs further revealed that the extract did not cause any dramatic changes on the treated cells. Rhodomyrtone, an isolated compound, exhibited good anti-S. pyogenes activity (14 isolates, expressed very low MIC (0.39–1.56 μg mL−1 and MBC (0.39-1.56 μg mL−1 values. Rhodomyrtus tomentosa leaf extract and rhodomyrtone displayed promising antibacterial activity against clinical isolates of S. pyogenes.

Extracts Obtained from Pterocarpus angolensis DC and Ziziphus mucronata Exhibit Antiplasmodial Activity and Inhibit Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70 Function

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Tawanda Zininga

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Malaria parasites are increasingly becoming resistant to currently used antimalarial therapies, therefore there is an urgent need to expand the arsenal of alternative antimalarial drugs. In addition, it is also important to identify novel antimalarial drug targets. In the current study, extracts of two plants, Pterocarpus angolensis and Ziziphus mucronata were obtained and their antimalarial functions were investigated. Furthermore, we explored the capability of the extracts to inhibit Plasmodium falciparum heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70 function. Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70 are molecular chaperones whose function is to facilitate protein folding. Plasmodium falciparum the main agent of malaria, expresses two cytosol-localized Hsp70s: PfHsp70-1 and PfHsp70-z. The PfHsp70-z has been reported to be essential for parasite survival, while inhibition of PfHsp70-1 function leads to parasite death. Hence both PfHsp70-1 and PfHsp70-z are potential antimalarial drug targets. Extracts of P. angolensis and Z. mucronata inhibited the basal ATPase and chaperone functions of the two parasite Hsp70s. Furthermore, fractions of P. angolensis and Z. mucronata inhibited P. falciparum 3D7 parasite growth in vitro. The extracts obtained in the current study exhibited antiplasmodial activity as they killed P. falciparum parasites maintained in vitro. In addition, the findings further suggest that some of the compounds in P. angolensis and Z. mucronata may target parasite Hsp70 function.

Comparison of methods for conducting marine and estuarine sediment porewater toxicity tests—extraction, storage, and handling techniques

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Carr, R.S.; Chapman, D.C.

1995-01-01

A series of studies was conducted to compare different porewater extraction techniques and to evaluate the effects of sediment and porewater storage conditions on the toxicity of pore water, using assays with the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata. If care is taken in the selection of materials, several different porewater extraction techniques (pressurized squeezing, centrifugation, vacuum) yield samples with similar toxicity. Where the primary contaminants of concern are highly hydrophobic organic compounds, centrifugation is the method of choice for minimizing the loss of contaminants during the extraction procedure. No difference was found in the toxicity of pore water obtained with the Teflon® and polyvinyl chloride pressurized extraction devices. Different types of filters in the squeeze extraction devices apparently adsorbed soluble contaminants to varying degrees. The amount of fine suspended particulate material remaining in the pore water after the initial extraction varied among the methods. For most of the sediments tested, freezing and thawing did not affect the toxicity of porewater samples obtained by the pressurized squeeze extraction method. Pore water obtained by other methods (centrifugation, vacuum) and frozen without additional removal of suspended particulates by centrifugation may exhibit increased toxicity compared with the unfrozen sample.The toxicity of pore water extracted from refrigerated (4°C) sediments exhibited substantial short-term (days, weeks) changes. Similarly, sediment pore water extracted over time from a simulated amphipod solid-phase toxicity test changed substantially in toxicity. For the sediments tested, the direction and magnitude of change in toxicity of pore water extracted from both refrigerated and solid-phase test sediments was unpredictable.

Autoreactive effector/memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells infiltrating grafted and endogenous islets in diabetic NOD mice exhibit similar T cell receptor usage.

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Ramiro Diz

Full Text Available Islet transplantation provides a "cure" for type 1 diabetes but is limited in part by recurrent autoimmunity mediated by β cell-specific CD4(+ and CD8(+ T cells. Insight into the T cell receptor (TCR repertoire of effector T cells driving recurrent autoimmunity would aid the development of immunotherapies to prevent islet graft rejection. Accordingly, we used a multi-parameter flow cytometry strategy to assess the TCR variable β (Vβ chain repertoires of T cell subsets involved in autoimmune-mediated rejection of islet grafts in diabetic NOD mouse recipients. Naïve CD4(+ and CD8(+ T cells exhibited a diverse TCR repertoire, which was similar in all tissues examined in NOD recipients including the pancreas and islet grafts. On the other hand, the effector/memory CD8(+ T cell repertoire in the islet graft was dominated by one to four TCR Vβ chains, and specific TCR Vβ chain usage varied from recipient to recipient. Similarly, islet graft- infiltrating effector/memory CD4(+ T cells expressed a limited number of prevalent TCR Vβ chains, although generally TCR repertoire diversity was increased compared to effector/memory CD8(+ T cells. Strikingly, the majority of NOD recipients showed an increase in TCR Vβ12-bearing effector/memory CD4(+ T cells in the islet graft, most of which were proliferating, indicating clonal expansion. Importantly, TCR Vβ usage by effector/memory CD4(+ and CD8(+ T cells infiltrating the islet graft exhibited greater similarity to the repertoire found in the pancreas as opposed to the draining renal lymph node, pancreatic lymph node, or spleen. Together these results demonstrate that effector/memory CD4(+ and CD8(+ T cells mediating autoimmune rejection of islet grafts are characterized by restricted TCR Vβ chain usage, and are similar to T cells that drive destruction of the endogenous islets.

Self-Similarity Based Corresponding-Point Extraction from Weakly Textured Stereo Pairs

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Min Mao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For the areas of low textured in image pairs, there is nearly no point that can be detected by traditional methods. The information in these areas will not be extracted by classical interest-point detectors. In this paper, a novel weakly textured point detection method is presented. The points with weakly textured characteristic are detected by the symmetry concept. The proposed approach considers the gray variability of the weakly textured local regions. The detection mechanism can be separated into three steps: region-similarity computation, candidate point searching, and refinement of weakly textured point set. The mechanism of radius scale selection and texture strength conception are used in the second step and the third step, respectively. The matching algorithm based on sparse representation (SRM is used for matching the detected points in different images. The results obtained on image sets with different objects show high robustness of the method to background and intraclass variations as well as to different photometric and geometric transformations; the points detected by this method are also the complement of points detected by classical detectors from the literature. And we also verify the efficacy of SRM by comparing with classical algorithms under the occlusion and corruption situations for matching the weakly textured points. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed weakly textured point detection algorithm.

Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Coleus amboinicus Lour Exhibited Antimicrobial Activity

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Puji Astuti

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Coleus amboinicus is a medicinal plant traditionally used to treat various diseases such as throat infection, cough and fever, diarrhea, nasal congestion and digestive problems. The plant was explored for endophytic fungi producing antimicrobial agents. Methods: Screening for endophytic fungi producing antimicrobial agents was conducted using agar plug method and antimicrobial activity of promising ethyl acetate extracts was determined by disc diffusion assay. Thin layer chromatography (TLC - bioautography was performed to localize the bioactive components within the extract. TLC visualization detection reagents were used to preliminary analyze phytochemical groups of the bioactive compounds. Results: Three endophytic fungi were obtained, two of them showed promising potential. Agar diffusion method showed that endophytic fungi CAL-2 exhibited antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, S. aureus and S. thypi, whilst CAS-1 inhibited the growth of B. subtilis. TLC bioautography of ethyl acetate extract of CAL-2 revealed at least three bands exhibited antimicrobial activity and at least two bands showed inhibition of B. subtilis growth. Preliminary analysis of the crude extracts suggests that bioactive compounds within CAL-2 extract are terpenoids, phenolics and phenyl propanoid compounds whilst the antimicrobial agents within CAS-1 extract are terpenoids, propylpropanoids, alkaloids or heterocyclic nitrogen compounds. Conclusion: These data suggest the potential of endophytic fungi of C. amboinicus as source for antimicrobial agents.

Screening of Six Medicinal Plant Extracts Obtained by Two Conventional Methods and Supercritical CO₂ Extraction Targeted on Coumarin Content, 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl Radical Scavenging Capacity and Total Phenols Content.

Science.gov (United States)

Molnar, Maja; Jerković, Igor; Suknović, Dragica; Bilić Rajs, Blanka; Aladić, Krunoslav; Šubarić, Drago; Jokić, Stela

2017-02-24

Six medicinal plants Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don, Angelica archangelica L., Lavandula officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L., Melilotus officinalis L., and Ruta graveolens L. were used. The aim of the study was to compare their extracts obtained by Soxhlet (hexane) extraction, maceration with ethanol (EtOH), and supercritical CO₂ extraction (SC-CO₂) targeted on coumarin content (by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection, HPLC-UV), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging capacity, and total phenols (TPs) content (by Folin-Ciocalteu assay). The highest extraction yields were obtained by EtOH, followed by hexane and SC-CO₂. The highest coumarin content (316.37 mg/100 g) was found in M. officinalis EtOH extracts, but its SC-CO₂ extraction yield was very low for further investigation. Coumarin was also found in SC-CO₂ extracts of S. officinalis , R. graveolens , A. archangelica , and L. officinalis . EtOH extracts of all plants exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging capacity. SC-CO₂ extracts exhibited antiradical capacity similar to hexane extracts, while S. officinalis SC-CO₂ extracts were the most potent (95.7%). EtOH extracts contained the most TPs (up to 132.1 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g from H. italicum ) in comparison to hexane or SC-CO₂ extracts. TPs content was highly correlated to the DPPH scavenging capacity of the extracts. The results indicate that for comprehensive screening of different medicinal plants, various extraction techniques should be used in order to get a better insight into their components content or antiradical capacity.

Antioxidant, Anti-microbial Properties and Chemical Composition of Cumin Essential Oils Extracted by Three Methods

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Fang Lianying

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant and anti-bacterial activity of cumin essential oils (CEOs extracted by different techniques, including supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE, subcritical butane extraction (SBE and traditional solvent extraction (SE. Our results indicated that CEOs are a valuable source of bioactive compounds, including cumin aldehyde, γ-terpinene and β-pinene. The most abundant components found in CEOs obtained by SCE and SBE were similar, while the abundant components in SE, β-Cumic aldehyde (19.31% and α-phellandrene (9.49%, were distinctive. CEOs obtained by SCE exhibited higher antioxidant activity, followed by those extracted by SE and SBE. Moreover, the anti-microbial properties of CEOs obtained by SCE and SBE were higher than that of CEOs collected by SE. In conclusion, CEOs exhibit strong antioxidant and anti-microbial properties, which suggests a potential role of CEOs in preventing diseases associated with aging and oxidative stress, and our results highlight the potential usage of CEOs in the food industry.

Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Hibiscus cannabinus L. Seed Extracts after Sequential Solvent Extraction

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Shahid Iqbal

2012-10-01

Full Text Available A sequential solvent extraction scheme was employed for the extraction of antioxidant compounds from kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L. seeds. Yield of extracts varied widely among the solvents and was the highest for hexane extract (16.6% based on dry weight basis, while water extract exhibited the highest total phenolic content (18.78 mg GAE/g extract, total flavonoid content (2.49 mg RE/g extract, and antioxidant activities (p < 0.05. DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging, β-carotene bleaching, metal chelating activity, ferric thiocyanate and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assays were employed to comprehensively assess the antioxidant potential of different solvent extracts prepared sequentially. Besides water, methanolic extract also exhibited high retardation towards the formation of hydroperoxides and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in the total antioxidant activity tests (p < 0.05. As conclusion, water and methanol extracts of kenaf seed may potentially serve as new sources of antioxidants for food and nutraceutical applications.

Screening of Six Medicinal Plant Extracts Obtained by Two Conventional Methods and Supercritical CO2 Extraction Targeted on Coumarin Content, 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl Radical Scavenging Capacity and Total Phenols Content

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Maja Molnar

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Six medicinal plants Helichrysum italicum (Roth G. Don, Angelica archangelica L., Lavandula officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L., Melilotus officinalis L., and Ruta graveolens L. were used. The aim of the study was to compare their extracts obtained by Soxhlet (hexane extraction, maceration with ethanol (EtOH, and supercritical CO2 extraction (SC-CO2 targeted on coumarin content (by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection, HPLC-UV, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH scavenging capacity, and total phenols (TPs content (by Folin–Ciocalteu assay. The highest extraction yields were obtained by EtOH, followed by hexane and SC-CO2. The highest coumarin content (316.37 mg/100 g was found in M. officinalis EtOH extracts, but its SC-CO2 extraction yield was very low for further investigation. Coumarin was also found in SC-CO2 extracts of S. officinalis, R. graveolens, A. archangelica, and L. officinalis. EtOH extracts of all plants exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging capacity. SC-CO2 extracts exhibited antiradical capacity similar to hexane extracts, while S. officinalis SC-CO2 extracts were the most potent (95.7%. EtOH extracts contained the most TPs (up to 132.1 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE/g from H. italicum in comparison to hexane or SC-CO2 extracts. TPs content was highly correlated to the DPPH scavenging capacity of the extracts. The results indicate that for comprehensive screening of different medicinal plants, various extraction techniques should be used in order to get a better insight into their components content or antiradical capacity.

Enhancement of anti-candidal activity of endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. ED2, isolated from Orthosiphon stamineus Benth, by incorporation of host plant extract in culture medium.

Science.gov (United States)

Yenn, Tong Woei; Lee, Chong Chai; Ibrahim, Darah; Zakaria, Latiffah

2012-08-01

This study examined the effect of host extract in the culture medium on anti-candidal activity of Phomopsis sp. ED2, previously isolated from the medicinal herb Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. Interestingly, upon addition of aqueous host extract to the culture medium, the ethyl acetate extract prepared from fermentative broth exhibited moderate anti-candidal activity in a disc diffusion assay. The minimal inhibitory concentration of this extract was 62.5 μg/ml and it only exhibited fungistatic activity against C. albicans. In the time-kill study, a 50% growth reduction of C. albicans was observed at 31.4 h for extract from the culture incorporating host extract. In the bioautography assay, only one single spot (Rf 0.59) developed from the extract exhibited anti-candidal activity. A spot with the a similar Rf was not detected for the crude extract from YES broth without host extract. This indicated that the terpenoid anti-candidal compound was only produced when the host extract was introduced into the medium. The study concluded that the incorporation of aqueous extract of the host plant into the culture medium significantly enhanced the anti-candidal activity of Phomopsis sp. ED2.

Supercritical carbon dioxide extract exhibits enhanced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Physalis peruviana.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, S J; Tsai, J Y; Chang, S P; Lin, D L; Wang, S S; Huang, S N; Ng, L T

2006-12-06

Physalis peruviana L. (PP) is a medicinal herb widely used in folk medicine. In this study, supercritical carbon dioxide (SFE-CO2) method was employed to obtain three different PP extracts, namely SCEPP-0, SCEPP-4 and SCEPP-5. The total flavonoid and phenol concentrations, as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of these extracts were analyzed and compared with aqueous and ethanolic PP extracts. Among all the extracts tested, SCEPP-5 demonstrated the highest total flavonoid (234.63+/-9.61 mg/g) and phenol (90.80+/-2.21 mg/g) contents. At concentrations 0.1-30 microg/ml, SCEPP-5 also demonstrated the strongest superoxide anion scavenging activity and xanthine oxidase inhibitory effect. At 30 microg/ml, SCEPP-5 significantly prevented lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1 microg/ml)-induced cell cytotoxicity in murine macrophage (Raw 264.7) cells. At 10-50 microg/ml, it also significantly inhibited LPS-induced NO release and PGE2 formation in a dose-dependent pattern. SCEPP-5 at 30 microg/ml remarkably blocked the LPS induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. Taken together, these results suggest that SCEPP-5, an extract of SFE-CO2, displayed the strongest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities as compared to other extracts. Its protection against LPS-induced inflammation could be through the inhibition of iNOS and COX-2 expression.

Similar Symmetries: The Role of Wallpaper Groups in Perceptual Texture Similarity

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Fraser Halley

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Periodic patterns and symmetries are striking visual properties that have been used decoratively around the world throughout human history. Periodic patterns can be mathematically classified into one of 17 different Wallpaper groups, and while computational models have been developed which can extract an image's symmetry group, very little work has been done on how humans perceive these patterns. This study presents the results from a grouping experiment using stimuli from the different wallpaper groups. We find that while different images from the same wallpaper group are perceived as similar to one another, not all groups have the same degree of self-similarity. The similarity relationships between wallpaper groups appear to be dominated by rotations.

Visual reconciliation of alternative similarity spaces in climate modeling

Science.gov (United States)

J Poco; A Dasgupta; Y Wei; William Hargrove; C.R. Schwalm; D.N. Huntzinger; R Cook; E Bertini; C.T. Silva

2015-01-01

Visual data analysis often requires grouping of data objects based on their similarity. In many application domains researchers use algorithms and techniques like clustering and multidimensional scaling to extract groupings from data. While extracting these groups using a single similarity criteria is relatively straightforward, comparing alternative criteria poses...

The "Gravity-Powered Calculator," a Galilean Exhibit

Science.gov (United States)

Cerreta, Pietro

2014-01-01

The Gravity-Powered Calculator is an exhibit of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It is presented by its American creators as an amazing device that extracts the square roots of numbers, using only the force of gravity. But if you analyze his concept construction one can not help but recall the research of Galileo on falling bodies, the inclined…

Characterization of Catalase from Psychrotolerant Psychrobacter piscatorii T-3 Exhibiting High Catalase Activity

OpenAIRE

Kimoto, Hideyuki; Yoshimune, Kazuaki; Matsuyma, Hidetoshi; Yumoto, Isao

2012-01-01

A psychrotolerant bacterium, strain T-3 (identified as Psychrobacter piscatorii), that exhibited an extraordinarily high catalase activity was isolated from the drain pool of a plant that uses H2O2 as a bleaching agent. Its cell extract exhibited a catalase activity (19,700 U·mg protein−1) that was higher than that of Micrococcus luteus used for industrial catalase production. Catalase was approximately 10% of the total proteins in the cell extract of the strain. The catalase (PktA) was purif...

Comparative Study of Erythrina indica Lam. (Febaceae) Leaves Extracts for Antioxidant Activity

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Sakat, SS; Juvekar, AR

2010-01-01

The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant activity of aqueous and methanol extracts of Erythrina indica Lam leaves by in vitro methods viz. 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-Picrylhydrazyl, nitric oxide radical scavenging activity, and inhibition of lipid peroxidation by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) method on isolated rat liver tissues. Quantitative analysis of antioxidative components like total amount of phenolics, flavonoids, and flavonols were estimated using the spectrophotometric method. Linear regression analysis was used to calculate the IC50 value. Results showed that the aqueous and methanol extracts exhibited significant DPPH radicals scavenging activity with an IC50 value 342.59 ± 19.59, 283.24 ± 12.28 µg/mL respectively. Nitric oxide radicals were significantly scavenged by the aqueous and methanol extracts (IC50 = 250.12 ± 10.66; 328.29 ± 3.74 µg/mL). Lipid peroxidation induced by the Fe2+ was inhibited by the aqueous extract with low IC50 value (97.29 ± 2.05 µg/mL) as compared to methanol extract (IC50 = 283.74 ± 5.70 µg/mL). Both the extracts were exhibited similar quantities of total phenolics. Total flavonoids were found to be in higher quantities than total flavonols in aqueous extract as compared to methanol extract. From the results, it is concluded that the aqueous and methanol extracts of E. indica leaves possesses significant antioxidant activity that may be due to the presence of flavonoids and related polyphenolic compounds. PMID:21331194

Algorithmic prediction of inter-song similarity in Western popular music

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Novello, A.; Par, van de S.L.J.D.E.; McKinney, M.F.; Kohlrausch, A.G.

2013-01-01

We investigate a method for automatic extraction of inter-song similarity for songs selected from several genres of Western popular music. The specific purpose of this approach is to evaluate the predictive power of different feature extraction sets based on human perception of music similarity and

From undefined red smear cheese consortia to minimal model communities both exhibiting similar anti-listerial activity on a cheese-like matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Imran, M; Desmasures, N; Vernoux, J-P

2010-12-01

Starting from one undefined cheese smear consortium exhibiting anti-listerial activity (signal) at 15 °C, 50 yeasts and 39 bacteria were identified by partial rDNA sequencing. Construction of microbial communities was done either by addition or by erosion approach with the aim to obtain minimal communities having similar signal to that of the initial smear. The signal of these microbial communities was monitored in cheese microcosm for 14 days under ripening conditions. In the addition scheme, strains having significant signals were mixed step by step. Five-member communities, obtained by addition of a Gram negative bacterium to two yeasts and two Gram positive bacteria, enhanced the signal dramatically contrary to six-member communities including two Gram negative bacteria. In the erosion approach, a progressive reduction of 89 initial strains was performed. While intermediate communities (89, 44 and 22 members) exhibited a lower signal than initial smear consortium, eleven- and six-member communities gave a signal almost as efficient. It was noteworthy that the final minimal model communities obtained by erosion and addition approaches both had anti-listerial activity while consisting of different strains. In conclusion, some minimal model communities can have higher anti-listerial effectiveness than individual strains or the initial 89 micro-organisms from smear. Thus, microbial interactions are involved in the production and modulation of anti-listerial signals in cheese surface communities. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inter Genre Similarity Modelling For Automatic Music Genre Classification

OpenAIRE

Bagci, Ulas; Erzin, Engin

2009-01-01

Music genre classification is an essential tool for music information retrieval systems and it has been finding critical applications in various media platforms. Two important problems of the automatic music genre classification are feature extraction and classifier design. This paper investigates inter-genre similarity modelling (IGS) to improve the performance of automatic music genre classification. Inter-genre similarity information is extracted over the mis-classified feature population....

In vitro and in vivo anthelmintic activity of pumpkin seeds and pomegranate peels extracts against Ascaridia galli

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Amer R. Abdel Aziz

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo and Pomegranate peel (Punica granatum have anthelmintic properties. The aim of this study was to compare the anthelmintic efficacy of pumpkin seeds ethanolic extract and pomegranate peel aqueous extract against Ascaridia galli in vitro and in vivo in Baladi chicks. On adult worms, the extracts of the two herbs were compared in vitro at concentrations of 25, 50, and 75 mg/ml with fenbendazole at a concentration of 5 mg/ml. Chicks were infected with Ascaridia galli eggs containing second stage larva and treated with 2000 mg/kg of each of the extracts compared with 100 mg/kg fenbendazole. In vitro, all concentrations of pumpkin seed extract and the concentration of 75 mg/ml pomegranate peel extract exhibited a nearly similar effect to fenbendazole. In vivo, the mortality rate of the worms extracted from the 2000 mg/kg pumpkin seeds extract-treated chicken was non-significantly different from that of fenbendazole for 48 h. While pomegranate peels extract exhibited a lower lethal effect than fenbendazole. The anthelmintic efficacy was dependent on time and concentration. The study presented the anthelmintic efficacy of the pumpkin seeds and pomegranate peel extracts on Ascaridia galli. Pumpkin seed extract was more effective than pomegranate peel extract. Future studies to determine the optimal dose to maximize their effectiveness especially for pumpkin seeds as anthelmintic therapeutic are required. Keywords: Pomegranate peel, Pumpkin seeds, Anthelmintic, Ascaridia galli, In vitro, In vivo

Extracts of Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt. Flower Exhibit Antidiabetic Effects via the Inhibition of α-Glucosidase Activity

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Wujie Cai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to assay the effects of Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt. flower extracts on hyperglycemia of diet-induced obese mice and the underlying mechanisms. Coreopsis tinctoria flower was extracted with ethanol and water, respectively. The total phenol, flavonoid levels, and the constituents of the extracts were measured. For the animal experiments, C57BL/6 mice were fed with a chow diet, high-fat diet, or high-fat diet mixed with 0.4% (w/w water and ethanol extracts of Coreopsis tinctoria flower for 8 weeks. The inhibitory effects of the extracts on α-glucosidase activity and the antioxidant properties were assayed in vitro. We found that the extracts blocked the increase of fasting blood glucose, serum triglyceride (TG, insulin, leptin, and liver lipid levels and prevented the development of glucose tolerance impairment and insulin resistance in the C57BL/6 mice induced by a high-fat diet. The extracts inhibited α-glycosidase activity and increased oxidant activity in vitro. In conclusion, Coreopsis tinctoria flower extracts may ameliorate high-fat diet-induced hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. The underling mechanism may be via the inhibition of α-glucosidase activity. Our data indicate that Coreopsis tinctoria flower could be used as a beverage supplement and a potential source of drugs for treatment of diabetics.

Anniversary Exhibition. Nechvolodov.

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- -

2006-03-01

Full Text Available On the 10th of August, 2005 in Tartu (the second biggest educational and cultural city in Estonia Stanislav Nechvolodov's exhibition was opened to show the 5-year cycle of his work, traditional for the author and his admirers. At the opening ceremony Nechvolodov said that the exhibition was the last one and appointed on his 70th anniversary.The architectural and building society in Irkutsk remembers Stanislav Nechvolodov as an architect working on dwelling and civil buildings in 1960-70s. Below are some extracts from the Estonian press.«Postimees» newspaper, December 1993. The interview «Expressionistic naturalist, conservative Nechvolodov» by journalist Eric Linnumyagi. He asks about all the details and describes the troubles experienced by Nechvolodov during the perestroika period in Estonia, for example: the Tartu University refused to install the sculpture of Socrat, the art school refused to engage him as an instructor, the sculpture of Socrat moved to Vrotzlav, Poland, and Nechvolodov moved to Poland to read lectures there.«Tartu» newspaper, November 2000. Mats Oun, artist, says in the article «Nechvolodov: a man of Renaissance»: «Nechvolodov works in Estonia, his works are placed in many local and foreign museums. Regardless some insignificant faults, he deserves a high estimation, and his manysided open exhibition can be an example for other artists. He is a man of Renaissance».

Selective Separation of Fluorite, Barite and Calcite with Valonea Extract and Sodium Fluosilicate as Depressants

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Zijie Ren

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Fluorite, barite and calcite are important industry minerals. However, they often co-exist, presenting difficulty in selectively separating them due to their similar surface properties. In this study, valonea extract and sodium fluosilicate were used as depressants to selectively separate them by flotation, with sodium oleate as the collector. The single mineral flotation results showed that valonea extract displayed the strongest depression on calcite, while sodium fluosilicate displayed the strongest depression on barite. These two depressants allowed selective separation of the three minerals through sequential flotation. The flotation of mixed minerals showed that 94% of the calcite was successfully depressed by the valonea extract, and 95% recovery of the fluorite was achieved in the subsequent flotation with sodium fluosilicate depressing barite. The different depressant–mineral interactions were investigated via electro-kinetic studies and molecular dynamics (MD simulations using the Materials Studio 6.0 program. The valonea extract exhibited the strongest adsorption on the calcite surface, and sodium fluosilicate exhibited the strongest adsorption on the barite surface, which prevented oleate species from reacting with Ca2+ or Ba2+ surface sites. This study provides useful guidance for how to process fluorite, barite and calcite resources.

DNA excision repair in cell extracts from human cell lines exhibiting hypersensitivity to DNA-damaging agents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansson, J.; Keyse, S.M.; Lindahl, T.; Wood, R.D.

1991-01-01

Whole cell extracts from human lymphoid cell lines can perform in vitro DNA repair synthesis in plasmids damaged by agents including UV or cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cis-DDP). Extracts from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) cells are defective in repair synthesis. We have now studied in vitro DNA repair synthesis using extracts from lymphoblastoid cell lines representing four human hereditary syndromes with increased sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents. Extracts of cell lines from individuals with the sunlight-sensitive disorders dysplastic nevus syndrome or Cockayne's syndrome (complementation groups A and B) showed normal DNA repair synthesis in plasmids with UV photoproducts. This is consistent with in vivo measurements of the overall DNA repair capacity in such cell lines. A number of extracts were prepared from two cell lines representing the variant form of XP (XP-V). Half of the extracts prepared showed normal levels of in vitro DNA repair synthesis in plasmids containing UV lesions, but the remainder of the extracts from the same cell lines showed deficient repair synthesis, suggesting the possibility of an unusually labile excision repair protein in XP-V. Fanconi's anemia (FA) cells show cellular hypersensitivity to cross-linking agents including cis-DDP. Extracts from cell lines belonging to two different complementation groups of FA showed normal DNA repair synthesis in plasmids containing cis-DDP or UV adducts. Thus, there does not appear to be an overall excision repair defect in FA, but the data do not exclude a defect in the repair of interstrand DNA cross-links

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, TOTAL PHENOLIC AND FLAVONOID CONTENT OF MORINDA CITRIFOLIA FRUIT EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS EXTRACTION PROCESSES

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PRAVEEN K. RAMAMOORTHY

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Soxhlet, Ultrasonic extract of Morinda citrifolia L. fruit and four extracts from high pressure extraction at 10 MPa using ethanol, ethyl acetate as solvent and dried by vacuum oven and spray dryer were analyzed for their antioxidant activity by peroxide value method and diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radical scavenging method. The five extracts along with the reference samples, butylated hydroxyl toluene and tannic acid were further analyzed to determine their total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteau method and total flavonoid content by Dowd method. The M. citrifolia extract by high pressure extraction with ethyl acetate as solvent and spray dried was found to exhibit highest antioxidant activity and total flavonoid content. High total phenolic content was determined in the high pressure extract using ethyl acetate as solvent and vacuum dried. It was interesting to note that ultrasonic extract exhibited significant antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid content. High pressure extracted M. citrifolia in ethanol was found to express lesser values comparatively. The significant difference in activity among the high pressure extracts was found to be due to the polarity of the solvents used for extraction as M. citrifolia fruit contains relatively larger quantity of non-polar antioxidant compounds. It was also found that the drying methods had significant impact on the antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid content of the extracts.

Antibacterial activity of root and leaf extracts of Jatropha zeyheri ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Acetone extract of the root exhibited minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.39 mg/ml against Salmonella spp. followed by methanol and acetone extracts of the root (0.78 mg/ml) against Serratia marcescens. Methanol extract of the leaf exhibited MIC of 3.13 mg/ml against Staphylococcus aureus. This study validates the ...

Identification of novel human dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors of natural origin (Part II: in silico prediction in antidiabetic extracts.

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Laura Guasch

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Natural extracts play an important role in traditional medicines for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and are also an essential resource for new drug discovery. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV inhibitors are potential candidates for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and the effectiveness of certain antidiabetic extracts of natural origin could be, at least partially, explained by the inhibition of DPP-IV. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using an initial set of 29,779 natural products that are annotated with their natural source and an experimentally validated virtual screening procedure previously developed in our lab (Guasch et al.; 2012 [1], we have predicted 12 potential DPP-IV inhibitors from 12 different plant extracts that are known to have antidiabetic activity. Seven of these molecules are identical or similar to molecules with described antidiabetic activity (although their role as DPP-IV inhibitors has not been suggested as an explanation for their bioactivity. Therefore, it is plausible that these 12 molecules could be responsible, at least in part, for the antidiabetic activity of these extracts through their inhibitory effect on DPP-IV. In addition, we also identified as potential DPP-IV inhibitors 6 molecules from 6 different plants with no described antidiabetic activity but that share the same genus as plants with known antidiabetic properties. Moreover, none of the 18 molecules that we predicted as DPP-IV inhibitors exhibits chemical similarity with a group of 2,342 known DPP-IV inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study identified 18 potential DPP-IV inhibitors in 18 different plant extracts (12 of these plants have known antidiabetic properties, whereas, for the remaining 6, antidiabetic activity has been reported for other plant species from the same genus. Moreover, none of the 18 molecules exhibits chemical similarity with a large group of known DPP-IV inhibitors.

Antioxidant, antifungal and anticancer activities of se-enriched Pleurotus spp. mycelium extracts

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Milovanović Ivan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this study was the evaluation of antifungal, antioxidant and anticancer potentials of Pleurotus eryngii, P. ostreatus and P. pulmonarius mycelial extracts, and the influence of mycelium enrichment with selenium on these activities. Both Se-amended and non-amended extracts showed the same or similar minimal inhibitory concentration for 14 studied micromycetes, while a fungicidal effect was not noted, contrary to ketoconazole, which had inhibitory and fungicidal effects at very low concentrations. Se-non-amended extracts exhibited antioxidant activity, especially at higher concentrations. Selenium enrichment influenced activity, its effects decreasing in P. eryngii and P. pulmonarius, while in P. ostreatus no effect was noted. The DPPH• radical scavenging capacity of the extracts was in direct correlation with their phenol and flavonoid contents. Cytotoxic activity against both HeLa and LS174 cell lines was very low compared with cis-DDP. These features suggest that mycelium should be an object of intensive studies. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 173032

Automatic extraction of property norm-like data from large text corpora.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Colin; Devereux, Barry; Korhonen, Anna

2014-01-01

Traditional methods for deriving property-based representations of concepts from text have focused on either extracting only a subset of possible relation types, such as hyponymy/hypernymy (e.g., car is-a vehicle) or meronymy/metonymy (e.g., car has wheels), or unspecified relations (e.g., car--petrol). We propose a system for the challenging task of automatic, large-scale acquisition of unconstrained, human-like property norms from large text corpora, and discuss the theoretical implications of such a system. We employ syntactic, semantic, and encyclopedic information to guide our extraction, yielding concept-relation-feature triples (e.g., car be fast, car require petrol, car cause pollution), which approximate property-based conceptual representations. Our novel method extracts candidate triples from parsed corpora (Wikipedia and the British National Corpus) using syntactically and grammatically motivated rules, then reweights triples with a linear combination of their frequency and four statistical metrics. We assess our system output in three ways: lexical comparison with norms derived from human-generated property norm data, direct evaluation by four human judges, and a semantic distance comparison with both WordNet similarity data and human-judged concept similarity ratings. Our system offers a viable and performant method of plausible triple extraction: Our lexical comparison shows comparable performance to the current state-of-the-art, while subsequent evaluations exhibit the human-like character of our generated properties.

Volatile compounds of Lamiaceae exhibit a synergistic antibacterial activity with streptomycin

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Sthéfane G. Araújo

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Bacterial infections cause thousands of deaths in the world every year. In most cases, infections are more serious because the patient is already weakened, and often, the bacteria are already resistant to the antibiotics used. Counterparting this negative scenario, the interest in medicinal plants as an alternative to the synthetic antimicrobial drugs is blossoming worldwide. In the present work, we identified the volatile compounds of ethanol extracts of Melissa officinalis, Mentha sp., Ocimum basilicum, Plectranthus barbatus, and Rosmarinus officinalis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS. Also was evaluated antimicrobial activity of ethanol extracts against 6 bacteria of clinical interest, and was tested the interaction of these extracts with a commercial antibiotic streptomycin. Phytol was a compound identified in all extracts by GC/MS, being majoritary component in Plectranthus barbatus and Rosmarinus officinalis. The Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to ethanol extracts, and Plectranthus barbatus and Rosmarinus officinalis were the most active extracts. Ethanol extracts exhibited a synergetic effect with streptomycin. These results encourage additional studies, in order to evaluate the possibilities of using ethanol extracts of Lamiaceae family as natural source for antibacterial activity.

Anticonvulsant potentials of ethanolic extract of Eleusine indica

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Ette Okon Ettebong

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To assess the anticonvulsant potentials of ethanolic extract of Eleusine indica. Methods: Albino Wistar mice were separated into five groups with six animals in each group and thereafter pretreated with distilled water, various doses of the extract (200–600 mg/kg and standard drug diazepam (0.5 mg/kg. Thirty minutes later, pentylenetetrazole (70 mg/kg, aminophylline (280 mg/kg and isoniazid (250 mg/kg were used to induce convulsions by intraperitoneal administration. These mice were then placed in plexiglas cages and monitored for the occurrence of seizures over a thirty-minute time period. The latency of convulsions, duration of tonic convulsions and mortality protection were recorded. Data obtained were analyzed using GraphPad InStat 3.10. Results: The results showed that the extract exhibited a dose-dependent increase in the latency of clonic convulsions and decrease in duration of tonic convulsions as compared to the control and these effects were statistically significant (P < 0.001. The extract also provided protection against the mortality which was similar to that produced by the standard drug diazepam. Conclusions: The significant increase in the latency of clonic convulsions and decrease in duration of tonic convulsions caused by the extract show anticonvulsant activity and corroborate with the claims of the traditional use of the plant as an anticonvulsant remedy.

Optimum Extraction, Characterization, and Antioxidant Activities of Polysaccharides from Flowers of Dendrobium devonianum

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Donghui Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Response surface methodology (RSM was employed to optimize the conditions for the ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE of polysaccharides from the flowers of Dendrobium devonianum. The optimal conditions for the maximum yields of DDFPs are as follows: an extraction temperature of 63.13°C, an extraction time of 53.10 min, and a water-to-raw material ratio of 22.11 mL/g. Furthermore, three fractions (DDFPs30, DDFPs50, and DDFPs70 were prepared from Dendrobium devonianum flowers polysaccharides (DDFPs by the stepwise ethanol precipitation method. The DDFPs50 exhibited the highest antioxidant activity compared to the other fractions. The molecular weight, polydispersity, and conformation of these fractions were also characterized. In particular, the monosaccharide composition analysis of the DDFPs indicates that mannose and glucose are the primary components, similar to those of the D. officinale plant. This study provides a rapid extraction technology and essential information for the production of DDFPs, which could be potentially used as healthcare food.

Exhibits Recognition System for Combining Online Services and Offline Services

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, He; Liu, Jianbo; Zhang, Yuan; Wu, Xiaoyu

2017-10-01

In order to achieve a more convenient and accurate digital museum navigation, we have developed a real-time and online-to-offline museum exhibits recognition system using image recognition method based on deep learning. In this paper, the client and server of the system are separated and connected through the HTTP. Firstly, by using the client app in the Android mobile phone, the user can take pictures and upload them to the server. Secondly, the features of the picture are extracted using the deep learning network in the server. With the help of the features, the pictures user uploaded are classified with a well-trained SVM. Finally, the classification results are sent to the client and the detailed exhibition’s introduction corresponding to the classification results are shown in the client app. Experimental results demonstrate that the recognition accuracy is close to 100% and the computing time from the image uploading to the exhibit information show is less than 1S. By means of exhibition image recognition algorithm, our implemented exhibits recognition system can combine online detailed exhibition information to the user in the offline exhibition hall so as to achieve better digital navigation.

Inhibition of microbial growth by spice extracts and their effect of irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Hitoshi; Meixu, G.

1994-01-01

The antimicrobial activity of black pepper, rosemary and red pepper has been tested against 12 microorganisms. Alcoholic extracts of these spices were not exhibited strong activity against gram-negative bacteria in laboratory media. The growth of Bacillus subtilis and Clostridium botulinum type A was inhibited by 1% of black pepper, 0.5% rosemary and 0.03% red pepper. A little reduction of antimicrobial activity to B. subtilis was observed on extracts of gamma-irradiated black pepper or rosemary at 10 and 50 kGy. In the case of red pepper, irradiation of 10 or 50 kGy enhanced a little of antimicrobial activity to B. subtilis. Similar effect of irradiation was also observed on the inhibition of aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus in SL broth. (author)

In vitro antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of crude extract ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The crude extract of the stem bark of the plant exhibited antimicrobial activities at a concentration of 25 mg/ml against twenty-one of the bacterial isolates, (i.e. 72.41% of the tested isolates) comprising both Gram positive and Gram negative strains. The zones of inhibition exhibited by the extract against the test bacterial ...

A Measure of Similarity Between Trajectories of Vessels

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Le QI

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The measurement of similarity between trajectories of vessels is one of the kernel problems that must be addressed to promote the development of maritime intelligent traffic system (ITS. In this study, a new model of trajectory similarity measurement was established to improve the data processing efficiency in dynamic application and to reflect actual sailing behaviors of vessels. In this model, a feature point detection algorithm was proposed to extract feature points, reduce data storage space and save computational resources. A new synthesized distance algorithm was also created to measure the similarity between trajectories by using the extracted feature points. An experiment was conducted to measure the similarity between the real trajectories of vessels. The growth of these trajectories required measurements to be conducted under different voyages. The results show that the similarity measurement between the vessel trajectories is efficient and correct. Comparison of the synthesized distance with the sailing behaviors of vessels proves that results are consistent with actual situations. The experiment results demonstrate the promising application of the proposed model in studying vessel traffic and in supplying reliable data for the development of maritime ITS.

Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of extracts from Musa sapientum peel.

Science.gov (United States)

Phuaklee, Pathompong; Ruangnoo, Srisopa; Itharat, Arunporn

2012-01-01

Many parts of Musa sapientum Linn. (Musaceae) are used in Thai traditional medicine as drugs, food supplements and cosmetics. The banana peel is used as an astringent in foot care, the unripe fruit is used to treat diarrhea and, the ripe fruit is used as tonic. To evaluate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of banana peel extracts obtained from different extraction methods and to determine their total phenolic content. Four extraction methods were used to extract unripe and ripe peels. Nitric oxide inhibitory and DPPH scavenging assays were used to evaluate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, respectively. Folin-Ciocalteu's reagent was used to determine total phenolic content. The water extract of fresh ripe peel exhibited the most potent NO inhibitory activity (IC50 = 6.68 +/- 0.34 microg/ml), but apparently exhibited no antioxidant activity. The decoction extract of fresh unripe peel exhibited strong antioxidant activity as well as had the highest total phenolic compound. The antioxidant activity exhibited a correlation with the total phenolic content. This study supports the use of Musa sapientum peel in Thai Traditional Medicine for treatment of inflammatory-related diseases.

Anthelmintic activity of ethanolic leaf extract of Jasminum mesnyi

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Vibhuti Dullu

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the anthelmintic activity of ethanolic extract of leaves of Jasminum mesnyi. Methods: Anthelmintic activity was carried out on adult Indian earthworm Eisenia fetida. In this study, 20 mg/mL and 40 mg/mL concentrations of plant extract were tested which involved the time of paralysis and time of death of worm. Albendazole (10 mg/mL was taken as reference standard drug whereas distilled water was used as control. Results: The extract exhibited significant anthelmintic acitivity which was more in higher concentration extract. Conclusions: It was concluded from the present study that the plant exhibited significant anthelmintic activity.

Characterization of Arachis hypogaea L. oil obtained from different extraction techniques and in vitro antioxidant potential of supercritical fluid extraction extract

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Rishika Chauhan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: The present investigation was aimed to characterize the fixed oil of Arachis hypogaea L. using five different extraction methods: Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE, ultrasound assistance extraction, soxhlet extraction, solvent extraction, and three phase partitioning method. Materials and Methods: The SFE conditions (temperature, pressure, and volume of CO 2 were optimized prior for better yield. The extracted oils were analyzed and compared for their physiochemical parameters, high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR fingerprinting. Anti-oxidant activity was also determined using DPPH and superoxide scavenging method. Results: The main fatty acids were oleic, linoleic, palmitic, and stearic acids as obtained by GC-MS. HPTLC analysis revealed the presence of similar major components in chromatograms. Similarly, the pattern of peaks as obtained in FT-IR and GC-MS spectra of same oils by different extraction methods was superimposable. Conclusion: Analysis reported that the fixed oil of A. hypogaea L. is a good source of unsaturated fatty acid, mainly n-6 and n-9 fatty acid with a significant antioxidant activity of oil obtained from SFE extraction method.

Immersive Exhibitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achiam, Marianne

2015-01-01

The immersive exhibition is a specialized exhibition genre in museums, which creates the illusion of time and place by representing key characteristics of a reference world and by integrating the visitor in this three-dimensionally reconstructed world (Mortensen 2010). A successful representation...... of the reference world depends on three criteria: whether the exhibition is staged as a coherent whole with all the displayed objects supporting the representation, whether the visitor is integrated as a component of the exhibition, and whether the content and message of the exhibition become dramatized...

Anethum Graveolens Linn (Umbelliferae) Extract Attenuates Stress ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Anethum Graveolens Linn (Umbelliferae) Extract Attenuates Stress-induced Urinary Biochemical Changes and Improves Cognition in Scopolamineinduced Amnesic Rats. ... Conclusion: The aqueous extract of A. graveolens exhibited significant anti-stress, antioxidant and memory enhancing activities. The study provides a ...

Coffee and spent coffee extracts protect against cell mutagens and inhibit growth of food-borne pathogen microorganisms

OpenAIRE

Cid, C. (Concepción); Peña, M.P. (María Paz) de; Arbillaga, L. (Leire); Vitas, A.I. (Ana Isabel); Bravo, J. (Jimena); Monente, C. (Carmen)

2015-01-01

Coffee consumption decreases the risk of oxidative stress-related diseases. The by-product obtained after brewing process (spent coffee) also has antioxidant capacity. Spent coffee and coffee brews (filter and espresso) extracts were obtained from Arabica and Robusta coffees, respectively. Spent coffee showed slightly high amounts in chlorogenic acids, but caffeine content was similar to their respective coffee brew. All samples exhibited strong protection activity against indirect acting mut...

Analgesic properties of the aqueous and ethanol extracts of the leaves of Kalanchoe crenata (Crassulaceae).

Science.gov (United States)

Nguelefack, T B; Fotio, A L; Watcho, P; Wansi, S L; Dimo, T; Kamanyi, A

2004-05-01

The aqueous and ethanol extracts of the dry leaves of Kalanchoe crenata (300 and 600 mg/kg) were evaluated for their analgesic properties on the pain induced by acetic acid, formalin and heat in mice and by pressure on rats. The ethanol extract of K. crenata at a dose of 600 mg/kg produced an inhibition of 61.13% on pain induced by acetic acid and 50.13% for that induced by formalin. An inhibition of 67.18% was observed on pain induced by heat 45 min after the administration of the extract. The aqueous extract administered at a dose of 600 mg/kg produced a maximum effect of 25% on pain induced by pressure. These activities were similar to those produced by a paracetamol-codeine association, while indomethacin exhibited a protective effect only against the writhing test. Our results suggest that the leaves of K. crenata could be a source of analgesic compounds. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Similar or different? The role of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in similarity detection.

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Béatrice Garcin

Full Text Available Patients with frontal lobe syndrome can exhibit two types of abnormal behaviour when asked to place a banana and an orange in a single category: some patients categorize them at a concrete level (e.g., "both have peel", while others continue to look for differences between these objects (e.g., "one is yellow, the other is orange". These observations raise the question of whether abstraction and similarity detection are distinct processes involved in abstract categorization, and that depend on separate areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC. We designed an original experimental paradigm for a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study involving healthy subjects, confirming the existence of two distinct processes relying on different prefrontal areas, and thus explaining the behavioural dissociation in frontal lesion patients. We showed that: 1 Similarity detection involves the anterior ventrolateral PFC bilaterally with a right-left asymmetry: the right anterior ventrolateral PFC is only engaged in detecting physical similarities; 2 Abstraction per se activates the left dorsolateral PFC.

Chemical composition of the volatile extract and antioxidant activities of the volatile and nonvolatile extracts of Egyptian corn silk (Zea mays L.).

Science.gov (United States)

El-Ghorab, Ahmed; El-Massry, Khaled F; Shibamoto, Takayuki

2007-10-31

A total of 36 compounds, which comprised 99.4% of the extract, were identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the volatile dichloromethane extract obtained from Egyptian corn silk. The main constituents of the volatile extract were cis-alpha-terpineol (24.22%), 6,11-oxidoacor-4-ene (18.06%), citronellol (16.18%), trans-pinocamphone (5.86%), eugenol (4.37%), neo-iso-3-thujanol (2.59%), and cis-sabinene hydrate (2.28%). Dried Egyptian corn silk was also directly extracted with petroleum ether, ethanol, and water. All extracts from solvent extraction and the volatile extract described above exhibited clear antioxidant activities at levels of 50-400 microg/mL in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)/linoleic acid assay. The ethanol extract inhibited DPPH activity by 84% at a level of 400 microg/mL. All samples tested via the beta-carotene bleaching assay also exhibited satisfactory antioxidant activity with clear dose responses. This study indicates that corn silk could be used to produce novel natural antioxidants as well as a flavoring agent in various food products.

Using Semantic Similarity In Automated Call Quality Evaluator For Call Centers

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Ria A. Sagum

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Conversation between the agent and client are being evaluated manually by a quality assurance officer QA. This job is only one of the responsibilities being done by a QA and particularly eat ups a lot of time for them which lead to late evaluation results that may cause untimely response of the company to concerns raised by their clients. This research developed an application software that automates and evaluates the quality assurance in business process outsourcing companies or customer service management implementing sentence similarity. The developed system includes two modules speaker diarization which includes transcription and question and answer extraction and similarity checker which checks the similarity between the extracted answer and the answer of the call center agent to a question. The system was evaluated for Correctness of the extracted answers and accurateness of the evaluation for a particular call. Audio conversations were tested for the accuracy of the transcription module which has an accuracy of 27.96. The Precision Recall and F-measure of the extracted answer was tested as 78.03 96.26 and 86.19 respectively. The Accuracy of the system in evaluating a call is 70.

Microwave-assisted extraction of silkworm pupal oil and evaluation of its fatty acid composition, physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Bin; Li, Cheng; Zhang, Zhiqing; Zhao, Qing; Zhu, Yadong; Su, Zhao; Chen, Yizi

2017-09-15

Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of oil from silkworm pupae was firstly performed in the present research. The response surface methodology was applied to optimize the parameters for MAE. The yield of oil by MAE was 30.16% under optimal conditions of a mixed solvent consisting of ethanol and n-hexane (1:1, v/v), microwave power (360W), liquid to solid ratio (7.5/1mL/g), microwave time (29min). Moreover, oil extracted by MAE was quantitatively (yield) and qualitatively (fatty acid profile) similar to those obtained using Soxhlet extraction (SE), but oil extracted by MAE exhibited favourable physicochemical properties and oxidation stability. Additionally, oil extracted by MAE had a higher content of total phenolic, and it showed stronger antioxidant activities. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that microwave technique efficiently promoted the release of oil by breaking down the cell structure of silkworm pupae. Therefore, MAE can be an effective method for the silkworm pupal oil extraction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential of mangrove Avicennia rumphiana extract as an antioxidant agent using multilevel extraction

Science.gov (United States)

Sulmartiwi, L.; Pujiastuti, D. Y.; Tjahjaningsih, W.; Jariyah

2018-04-01

Avicennia rumphiana is one of abundant mangrove found in Indonesia. Multilevel extraction methods were simultaneously conducted to screen the antioxidant activity from mangrove. The leaves, fruits and barks were consequently extracted using n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol. The presence of phenolic, flavonoids and tannins compounds were characterized by quantitative and qualitative phytochemical assay as well as the antioxidant activity was examined using DPPH-free radical scavenging assay. The phytochemical test revealed that all of the extracts showed positive result. The fruits extract exhibited the highest phenolic, flavonoid and tannin (23.86 mg/g, 13.77 mg/g and 74.63 mg/g), respectively. The extracts were further confirmed for antioxidant using IC50 value and revealed that ethyl acetate extract has antioxidant activity better than n-hexane and ethyl acetate extract. Furthermore, this study indicated that mangrove Avicennia rumphiana could be subsequently explored for other biological activities due to their potential secondary metabolites.

Exhibit Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Marianne Foss

Science museums define the objectives of their exhibitions in terms of visitor learning outcomes. Yet, exhibit designers lack theoretical and empirical research findings on which to base the creation of such educational environments. Here, this shortcoming is addressed through the development...... of tools and processes to guide the design of educational science exhibits. The guiding paradigm for this development is design-based research, which is characterised by an iterative cycle of design, enactment, and analysis. In the design phase, an educational intervention is planned and carried out based...... on the generation of theoretical ideas for exhibit design is offered in a fourth and parallel research undertaking, namely the application of the notion of cultural border-crossing to a hypothetical case of exhibit design....

Biofertilizing efficiency of Sargassum polycystum extract on growth and biochemical composition of Vigna radiata and Vigna mungo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B Bharath

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the effect of marine brown alga Sargassum polycystum extract on growth and biochemical parameters of Vigna radiata and Vigna mungo.Methods: Different concentrations of algal extracts (0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%, 3.0%, 4.0%, and 5.0% were prepared and applied to the crops at every 10-day intervals under natural conditions. After 30 d, the plants were harvested to evaluate the growth and biochemical parameters.Results: Seaweed liquid fertilizers treated seedlings showed maximum growth in 3.0% concentration when compared to the untreated seedlings. Similarly, biochemical parameters such as photosynthetic pigments, protein, reducing sugar, total sugar and amino acids exhibited increases in 3.0% concentration seaweed extract. Decreases in growth and biochemical parameters were noticed in concentrations higher than 3.0%.Conclusions: Presence of micronutrients and growth regulating substances in the liquid extract help healthier and faster productivity of the crop.

Formulation of a fish feed for goldfish with natural astaxanthin extracted from shrimp waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Weeratunge, W K O V; Perera, B G K

2016-01-01

Astaxanthin is a xanthophyll carotenoid, which exhibits many important biological activities including a high degree of antioxidant capacity (AOC) and antibacterial activity, hence has a significant applicability in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. An attempt was made towards optimization of astaxanthin extraction conditions using three different extraction conditions and a solvent series, from uncooked, cooked and acid-treated shrimp waste, which is a readily available and cheap source of the pigment. The astaxanthin extracts were analyzed by comparing their UV-visible absorbance spectra and thin layer chromatograms with a standard astaxanthin sample. The percentage of astaxanthin in each crude sample was determined using the Beer-Lambert law. The Folin-Ciocalteu assay and the disk diffusion assay were used to investigate the antioxidant capacities and antibacterial activities of extracted astaxanthin samples respectively. The extracted astaxanthin was incorporated into fish feeds to test its ability to enhance the skin color of goldfish. The best astaxanthin percentage of 68 % was observed with the acetone:ethyl acetate (1:1) solvent system facilitated by maceration of cooked and acid treated shrimp, whereas the best crude yield of 33 % was found to be in the acetone extract of the acid-treated shrimp sample. The highest AOC of 65 µg pyrogallol equivalents/mg was observed for the EtOAc extract obtained by maceration of acid-treated shrimp waste. The highest AOC by sonication and soxhlet extraction methods were also obtained with the EtOAc solvent. The extracts exhibited antibacterial activity against four selected bacterial strains. The newly formulated astaxanthin enriched fish feed was economical and indicated a significant improvement of the skin color and healthiness of goldfish compared to the control feeds. Biologically active astaxanthin can be successfully extracted from shrimp waste in higher percentages. The extraction technique and the

Streptomyces colonosanans sp. nov., A Novel Actinobacterium Isolated from Malaysia Mangrove Soil Exhibiting Antioxidative Activity and Cytotoxic Potential against Human Colon Cancer Cell Lines

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Jodi Woan-Fei; Ser, Hooi-Leng; Duangjai, Acharaporn; Saokaew, Surasak; Bukhari, Sarah I.; Khan, Tahir M.; Ab Mutalib, Nurul-Syakima; Chan, Kok-Gan; Goh, Bey-Hing; Lee, Learn-Han

2017-01-01

Streptomyces colonosanans MUSC 93JT, a novel strain isolated from mangrove forest soil located at Sarawak, Malaysia. The bacterium was noted to be Gram-positive and to form light yellow aerial and vivid yellow substrate mycelium on ISP 2 agar. The polyphasic approach was used to determine the taxonomy of strain MUSC 93JT and the strain showed a range of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of the members of the genus Streptomyces. Phylogenetic and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that closely related strains include Streptomyces malachitofuscus NBRC 13059T (99.2% sequence similarity), Streptomyces misionensis NBRC 13063T (99.1%), and Streptomyces phaeoluteichromatogenes NRRL 5799T (99.1%). The DNA–DNA relatedness values between MUSC 93JT and closely related type strains ranged from 14.4 ± 0.1 to 46.2 ± 0.4%. The comparison of BOX-PCR fingerprints indicated MUSC 93JT exhibits a unique DNA profile. The genome of MUSC 93JT consists of 7,015,076 bp. The DNA G + C content was determined to be 69.90 mol%. The extract of strain MUSC 93JT was demonstrated to exhibit potent antioxidant activity via ABTS, metal chelating, and SOD assays. This extract also exhibited anticancer activity against human colon cancer cell lines without significant cytotoxic effect against human normal colon cells. Furthermore, the chemical analysis of the extract further emphasizes the strain is producing chemo-preventive related metabolites. Based on this polyphasic study of MUSC 93JT, it is concluded that this strain represents a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces colonosanans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MUSC 93JT (= DSM 102042T = MCCC 1K02298T). PMID:28559892

Streptomyces colonosanans sp. nov., A Novel Actinobacterium Isolated from Malaysia Mangrove Soil Exhibiting Antioxidative Activity and Cytotoxic Potential against Human Colon Cancer Cell Lines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jodi Woan-Fei Law

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Streptomyces colonosanans MUSC 93JT, a novel strain isolated from mangrove forest soil located at Sarawak, Malaysia. The bacterium was noted to be Gram-positive and to form light yellow aerial and vivid yellow substrate mycelium on ISP 2 agar. The polyphasic approach was used to determine the taxonomy of strain MUSC 93JT and the strain showed a range of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of the members of the genus Streptomyces. Phylogenetic and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that closely related strains include Streptomyces malachitofuscus NBRC 13059T (99.2% sequence similarity, Streptomyces misionensis NBRC 13063T (99.1%, and Streptomyces phaeoluteichromatogenes NRRL 5799T (99.1%. The DNA–DNA relatedness values between MUSC 93JT and closely related type strains ranged from 14.4 ± 0.1 to 46.2 ± 0.4%. The comparison of BOX-PCR fingerprints indicated MUSC 93JT exhibits a unique DNA profile. The genome of MUSC 93JT consists of 7,015,076 bp. The DNA G + C content was determined to be 69.90 mol%. The extract of strain MUSC 93JT was demonstrated to exhibit potent antioxidant activity via ABTS, metal chelating, and SOD assays. This extract also exhibited anticancer activity against human colon cancer cell lines without significant cytotoxic effect against human normal colon cells. Furthermore, the chemical analysis of the extract further emphasizes the strain is producing chemo-preventive related metabolites. Based on this polyphasic study of MUSC 93JT, it is concluded that this strain represents a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces colonosanans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MUSC 93JT (= DSM 102042T = MCCC 1K02298T.

An open source high-performance solution to extract surface water drainage networks from diverse terrain conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Stanislawski, Larry V.; Survila, Kornelijus; Wendel, Jeffrey; Liu, Yan; Buttenfield, Barbara P.

2018-01-01

This paper describes a workflow for automating the extraction of elevation-derived stream lines using open source tools with parallel computing support and testing the effectiveness of procedures in various terrain conditions within the conterminous United States. Drainage networks are extracted from the US Geological Survey 1/3 arc-second 3D Elevation Program elevation data having a nominal cell size of 10 m. This research demonstrates the utility of open source tools with parallel computing support for extracting connected drainage network patterns and handling depressions in 30 subbasins distributed across humid, dry, and transitional climate regions and in terrain conditions exhibiting a range of slopes. Special attention is given to low-slope terrain, where network connectivity is preserved by generating synthetic stream channels through lake and waterbody polygons. Conflation analysis compares the extracted streams with a 1:24,000-scale National Hydrography Dataset flowline network and shows that similarities are greatest for second- and higher-order tributaries.

Antioxidative activities and phenolic compounds of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) seeds and amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus) grain extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Peiretti, Pier Giorgio; Meineri, Giorgia; Gai, Francesco; Longato, Erica; Amarowicz, Ryszard

2017-09-01

Phenolic compounds were extracted from pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) seed and amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus) grain into 80% (v/v) methanol. The extracts obtained were characterised by the contents of total phenolic compounds (TPC), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and antiradical activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH · ) radical. The content of individual phenolic compounds was determined by HPLC-DAD method. Pumpkin seeds showed the higher content of TPC than that from amaranth. The TEAC values of both extracts were similar each other. The lower value of FRAP was observed for pumpkin seed. Phenolic compound present in amaranth grain exhibited strongest antiradical properties against DPPH radical. Several peaks were present on the HPLC chromatograms of two extracts. The UV-DAD spectra confirmed the presence of vanillic acid derivatives in the amaranth grain. The three main phenolic compound present in pumpkin seed were characterised by UV-DAD spectra with maximum at 258, 266 and 278 nm.

Evaluation of in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflmmatory activities of Ximenia americana extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arun Kashivishwanath Shettar

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Ximenia americana extracts. Methods: Herbal extraction was done by Soxhlet extraction method with increasing polarity of solvents viz., chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol, ethanol and water. Phytochemical analysis was done using different biochemical tests. Antioxidant potential of plant extracts were analyzed by ferric ion reducing antioxidant power, phosphomolybdenum and 2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl, and anti-inflammatory activity by using protein denaturation in vitro bioassay. Total phenolic content of each extract was also determined to assess their corresponding effect on antioxidant capacity of plant. Results: Phytochemical analysis showed that each solvent extract contained broad spectrum of secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins and glycosides, whereas compared to other solvent extracts, chloroform extract showed negative result for phenolic compounds whereas aqueous extract exhibited the highest phenolic content and the significant antioxidant capacity based on the test performed. Out of all extracts, methanol extract showed high anti-inflammatory activity. Conclusions: The present study revealed that different solvent extracts of Ximenia americana leaves contain broad spectrum of bioactive compounds. Results confirm that aqueous extract exhibited high antioxidant activity and methanol extract exhibited high antiinflammatory activity. Further study requires purification, characterization and structural elucidation of phenolic compounds in both extracts that may help in the development of new phytopharmaceuticals.

Anti-inflammatory and Antinociceptive Effects of the Alcoholic Extract ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The alcoholic extract of Polygala arvensis (family Polygalaceae) was screened for antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities in experimental animals. The extract was administered for three consecutive days. Following an oral dose of 25 - 100 mg/kg, the extract exhibited graded dose response equivalent to 16.24% ...

Analysis of essential oils from Voacanga africana seeds at different hydrodistillation extraction stages: chemical composition, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiong; Yang, Dongliang; Liu, Jiajia; Ren, Na

2015-01-01

In this study, essential oils from Voacanga africana seeds at different extraction stages were investigated. In the chemical composition analysis, 27 compounds representing 86.69-95.03% of the total essential oils were identified and quantified. The main constituents in essential oils were terpenoids, alcohols and fatty acids accounting for 15.03-24.36%, 21.57-34.43% and 33.06-57.37%, respectively. Moreover, the analysis also revealed that essential oils from different extraction stages possessed different chemical compositions. In the antioxidant evaluation, all analysed oils showed similar antioxidant behaviours, and the concentrations of essential oils providing 50% inhibition of DPPH-scavenging activity (IC50) were about 25 mg/mL. In the antimicrobial experiments, essential oils from different extraction stages exhibited different antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activity of oils was affected by extraction stages. By controlling extraction stages, it is promising to obtain essential oils with desired antimicrobial activities.

Technology Exhibition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1979-09-15

Linked to the 25th Anniversary celebrations, an exhibition of some of CERN's technological achievements was opened on 22 June. Set up in a new 600 m{sup 2} Exhibition Hall on the CERN site, the exhibition is divided into eight technology areas — magnets, vacuum, computers and data handling, survey and alignment, radiation protection, beam monitoring and handling, detectors, and workshop techniques.

chemical studies on the reactivity of some organic extractants for extraction and separation of certain elements from aqueous solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aly, M.M.I.

2010-01-01

Lanthanide elements such as lanthanum and neodymium are important elements in photo-electronic and metallurgical industries as well as in nuclear technology. The main constituents of the spent nuclear fuel are actinides like uranium, thorium and various fission products including lanthanides. The co-ordination compounds of the trivalent lanthanum and neodymium continues to be an active research area, which includes the specific spectroscopic and magnetic properties of rare earth ions and their applications as super molecular device, contrast-enhancing agents in magnetic resonance imaging, optical signal amplifiers and electroluminescent (EL) devices. Hence, the separation and purification of these elements is of great concern. Solvent extraction technique is employed to separate and purify rare earth elements in an industrial scale, but the separation of lanthanum and neodymium is a difficult task, as lanthanide ions exhibit similar chemical and physical properties. They have generally common and stable +3 oxidation state that requires synthesis of certain extractants which are able to extract them from different aqueous solutions. During the last twenty years, different publications have pointed out the remarkable properties of alkyl amide in the field of separation chemistry. These extractants are able to form stable co-ordination compounds with different metallic ions. In this concern, this thesis deals with the synthesis of different amide extractants namely N, N diethylacetoamide (DEAA), N, N Teteraphenyl malonamide (TPMA), N, N diphenylbenzamide (DPBA), N, N' diphenylacetoamide (DPAA), and N, N' Teteraethyl malonamide (TEMA), which were synthesized, characterized and compared with Aliquat-336 in kerosene for extraction and separation of La (III) and Nd (III). The effect of the different parameters affecting the extraction of these metals from aqueous nitric acid medium in the different systems has been studied in terms of shaking time, nitric acid, hydrogen

Extraction of Glycyrrhizic Acid from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Using Ultrasound and Its Process Extraction Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangqing Liao

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This work focused on the intensification of extraction process of glycyrrhizic acid (GA from Glycyrrhiza uralensis using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE method. Various process parameters such as ultrasonic power, ultrasonic frequency, extraction temperature, and extraction time which affect the extraction yield were optimized. The results showed that all process parameters had exhibited significant influences on the GA extraction. The highest GA yield of 217.7 mg/g was obtained at optimized parameters of 125 W, 55 kHz, 25 °C, and 10 min. Furthermore, the extraction kinetics model of this process was also investigated based on Fick’s first law available in the literature. Kinetic parameters such as equilibrium concentration (Ce and integrated influence coefficient (λ for different ultrasonic powers, ultrasonic frequencies, and extraction temperatures were predicted. Model validations were done successfully with the average of relative deviation between 0.96% and 4.36% by plotting experimental and predicted values of concentration of GA in extract. This indicated that the developed extraction model could reflect the effectiveness of the extraction of GA from Glycyrrhiza uralensis and therefore serve as the guide for comprehending other UAE process.

Studies on rye (Secale cereale L.) lines exhibiting a range of extract viscosities. 2. Rheological and baking characteristics of rye and rye/wheat blends and feeding value for chicks of wholemeals and breads.

Science.gov (United States)

Ragaee, S M; Campbell, G L; Scoles, G J; McLeod, J G; Tyler, R T

2001-05-01

Five rye lines exhibiting a wide range of extract viscosities were evaluated for the rheological and baking properties of their flours, individually and in blends with hard red spring wheat flour. Commercial cultivars of rye and triticale were included in the study as controls. Extract viscosities of rye flours were higher than those of corresponding wholemeals, indicating shifting of water-extractable arabinoxylan into flour during roller milling. Falling numbers of the rye flours correlated positively with their extract viscosities in the presence (r = 0.73, p < 0.05) or absence (r = 0.65, p < 0.05) of an enzyme inhibitor. Farinograms revealed the weakness of rye and triticale flours compared to wheat flour. Extract viscosities of rye flours were negatively correlated (r = -0.65, p < 0.05) with mixing tolerance index and positively correlated (r = 0.64, p < 0.05) with dough stability, suggesting a positive impact of extract viscosity on dough strength. Extract viscosity was negatively correlated (r = -0.74, p < 0.05) with loaf volume and specific volume (r = -0.73, p < 0.05) and positively correlated (r = 0.73, p < 0.05) with loaf weight of rye/wheat bread. Overall, the results indicated that 30% of flour from high or low extract viscosity rye could be incorporated into rye/wheat breads without seriously compromising bread quality. Inclusion of rye, particularly high extract viscosity rye, in chick diets seriously impeded growth performance and feed efficiency. Part of the arabinoxylan survived bread-making and exerted an effect on chicks, although substantially lower digesta viscosities were observed in chicks fed rye bread diets than in those fed rye wholemeals.

Peringkasan Sentimen Esktraktif di Twitter Menggunakan Hybrid TF-IDF dan Cosine Similarity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Devid Haryalesmana Wahid

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The using of Twitter by selebrities has become a new trend of impression management strategy. Mining public reaction in social media is a good strategy to obtain feedbacks, but extracting it are not trivial matter. Reads hundred of tweets while determine their sentiment polarity are time consuming. Extractive sentiment summarization machine are needed to address this issue. Previous research generally do not include sentiment information contained in a tweet as weight factor, as a results only general topics of discussion are extracted. This research aimed to do an extractive sentiment summarization on both positive and negative sentiment mentioning Indonesian selebrity, Agnes Monica, by combining SentiStrength, Hybrid TF-IDF, and Cosine Similarity. SentiStrength is used to obtain sentiment strength score and classify tweet as a positive, negative or neutral. The summarization of posisitve and negative sentiment can be done by rank tweets using Hybrid TF-IDF summarization and sentiment strength score as additional weight then removing similar tweet by using Cosine Similarity. The test results showed that the combination of SentiStrength, Hybrid TF-IDF, and Cosine Similarity perform better than using Hybrid TF-IDF only, given an average 60% accuracy and 62% f-measure. This is due to the addition of sentiment score as a weight factor in sentiment summ­ari­zation.

Application of Box-Behnken design for ultrasonic-assisted extraction of polysaccharides from Paeonia emodi.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Ajaz; Alkharfy, Khalid M; Wani, Tanveer A; Raish, Mohammad

2015-01-01

The objective of the present work was to study the ultrasonic assisted extraction and optimization of polysaccharides from Paeonia emodi and evaluation of its anti-inflammatory response. Specifically, the optimization of polysaccharides was carried out using Box-Behnken statistical experimental design. Response surface methodology (RSM) of three factors (extraction temperature, extraction time and liquid solid ratio) was employed to optimize the percentage yield of the polysaccharides. The experimental data were fitted to quadratic response surface models using multiple regression analysis with high coefficient of determination value (R) of 0.9906. The highest polysaccharide yield (8.69%) as per the Derringer's desirability prediction tool was obtained under the optimal extraction condition (extraction temperature 47.03 °C, extraction time 15.68 min, and liquid solid ratio 1.29 ml/g) with a desirability value of 0.98. These optimized values of tested parameters were validated under similar conditions (n = 6), an average of 8.13 ± 2.08% of polysaccharide yield was obtained in an optimized extraction conditions with 93.55% validity. The anti-inflammatory effect of polysaccharides of P. emodi were studied on carrageenan induced paw edema. In vivo results showed that the P. emodi 200mg/kg of polysaccharide extract exhibited strong potential against inflammatory response induced by 1% suspension of carrageenean in normal saline. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Similarity score computation for minutiae-based fingerprint recognition

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Khanyile, NP

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper identifies and analyses the factors that contribute to the similarity between two sets of minutiae points as well as the probability that two sets of minutiae points were extracted from fingerprints of the same finger. Minutiae...

Screening for bioactivity of Mutinus elegans extracts

Science.gov (United States)

Gajendiran, A.; Cyriac, RE; Abraham, J.

2017-11-01

Mutinus elegans is a species of fungi that is commonly called as Elegant Stinkhorn. The aim of this study was to screen the crude extracts of the fungus for phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant assay and anticancer activity. Extraction of the fungal sample in Soxhlet apparatus was done with n-hexane and methanol as the solvent. Stock solutions of the crude methanol extract were prepared and used for microbiological assay. Thin layer chromatography was performed in order to determine the number of active components in n-hexane, and methanol solvent system for the fungus Mutinus elegans. Further, antioxidant assay was performed using DPPH radical scavenging assay. The fungal sample was then tested for cytotoxicity assay against MG63 osteosarcoma cell lines. The antimicrobial assay of Mutinus elegans extract exhibited activity against five pathogens. The zone of inhibition was measured with respect to standard antibiotics. Gas chromatography and Mass spectrometry (GC/MS analysis), revealed the presence of dibromo-tetradecan-1-ol-acetate, 2-myristynoyl-glycinamide, fumaric acid, and cyclohexylmethyldecyl ester compounds were presented in methanol and n-hexane extract of Mutinus elegans. The present study concludes the presence of bioactive compound in the extract which exhibited antimicrobial and antioxidant activity in Mutinus elegans.

Application of supercritical fluid extraction in analytical science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Pradeep

2015-01-01

In the recent years, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional solvent extraction process owing to its potential to minimize the generation of the liquid volume and simplification of the extraction process.This technology is some times referred to as 'green technology' and 'clean technology'. Supercritical fluid extraction process assumes significance as it exhibits practical advantages such as enhanced extraction rate due to rapid mass transfer in supercritical fluid medium and change of solvent properties such as density by tuning pressure/temperature conditions. Supercritical fluids (SCF) offer faster, cleaner and efficient extraction owing to low viscosity, high density, low surface tension and better diffusivity properties. Higher diffusivity than liquids facilitates rapid mass transfer and faster completion of reaction. Due to low viscosity and surface tension, SCF can penetrate deep inside the material, extracting the component of interest. Liquid like solvating characteristics of SCFs enable dissolution of compounds whereas gas like diffusion characteristics provide conditions for high degree of extraction in shorter time duration. CO 2 has been widely employed as supercritical fluid owing to its moderate critical constants (Pc= 72.9 atm, Tc =304.3 K, ñ c = 0.47 g mL -1 ) and attractive properties such as being easily available, recyclable, non-toxic, chemically inert, non inflammable and radio-chemically stable. SCF finds application in variety of fields. In nuclear industry for separation and purification of actinides from liquids and solid matrices. In food industry, Decaffeination of coffee is done by SCF. Pharmaceutical industry, organic compounds can be extracted from plants by SC CO 2 avoiding liquid solvent usage. SCF may also be utilised for the production of fine powders. In polymer and plastics industries, examples of applications include the impregnation of medical material

Evaluating the complexation behavior and regeneration of boron selective glucaminium-based ionic liquids when used as extraction solvents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshi, Manishkumar D.; Steyer, Daniel J.; Anderson, Jared L.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Glucaminium-based ILs exhibit high selectivity for boron species using DLLME. ► The concentration of glucaminium-based IL affects type of boron complex formed. ► Use of 0.1 M HCl allows for regeneration of the IL solvent following extraction. ► Selectivity of the glucaminium-based ILs for boron species in seawater is similar to Milli-Q water. - Abstract: Glucaminium-based ionic liquids are a new class of solvents capable of extracting boron-species from water with high efficiency. The complexation behavior of these ILs with borate was thoroughly studied using 11 B NMR. Two different complexes, namely, monochelate complex and bischelate complex, were observed. 11 B NMR was used extensively to determine the formation constants for monochelate and bischelate complexes. The IL concentration was observed to have a significant effect on the IL–borate complexes. Using an in situ dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (in situ DLLME) method, the extraction efficiency for boron species was increased dramatically when lithium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (LiNTf 2 ) was used as the metathesis salt in an aqueous solution containing 0.1 M sodium chloride. IL regeneration after extraction was achieved using 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. The extraction efficiency of boron species was consistent when the IL was employed after three regeneration cycles. The selectivity of the IL for boron species in synthetic seawater samples was similar to performing the same extraction from Milli-Q water samples.

Comparison of salting-out and sugaring-out liquid-liquid extraction methods for the partition of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid in royal jelly and their co-extracted protein content.

Science.gov (United States)

Tu, Xijuan; Sun, Fanyi; Wu, Siyuan; Liu, Weiyi; Gao, Zhaosheng; Huang, Shaokang; Chen, Wenbin

2018-01-15

Homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction (h-LLE) has been receiving considerable attention as a sample preparation method due to its simple and fast partition of compounds with a wide range of polarities. To better understand the differences between the two h-LLE extraction approaches, salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SALLE) and sugaring-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SULLE), have been compared for the partition of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) from royal jelly, and for the co-extraction of proteins. Effects of the amount of phase partition agents and the concentration of acetonitrile (ACN) on the h-LLE were discussed. Results showed that partition efficiency of 10-HDA depends on the phase ratio in both SALLE and SULLE. Though the partition triggered by NaCl and glucose is less efficient than MgSO 4 in the 50% (v/v) ACN-water mixture, their extraction yields can be improved to be similar with that in MgSO 4 SALLE by increasing the initial concentration of ACN in the ACN-water mixture. The content of co-extracted protein was correlated with water concentration in the obtained upper phase. MgSO 4 showed the largest protein co-extraction at the low concentration of salt. Glucose exhibited a large protein co-extraction in the high phase ratio condition. Furthermore, NaCl with high initial ACN concentration is recommended because it produced high extraction yield for 10-HDA and the lowest amount of co-extracted protein. These observations would be valuable for the sample preparation of royal jelly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of root extract of pepper fruit (Dennetia tripetala), and it's potential for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Okolie, Ngozi Paulinus; Falodun, Abiodun; Davids, Oluseyi

2014-01-01

The antioxidant properties of ethanolic root extract of pepper fruit (Donnetia tripetala), and its effect on lipid peroxidation of some fresh beef tissues during frozen storage were investigated. The antioxidant parameters were assessed using standard methods, while malondialdehyde levels of different fresh beef tissue sections treated with the extract prior to freezing, were estimated in a colorimetric reaction with thiobarbituric acid. The H2O2-scavenging ability of the extract was similar to that of ascorbic acid, with a maximum scavenging power of 55.61 ±4.98%, and an IC50 value of 86µg/ml. The extract exhibited a concentration-dependent ferric ion-reducing power, although this was significantly lower relative to that of the ascorbic acid (p capacity of the extract to inhibit lipid peroxidation in frozen heart muscle slices was significantly higher than that of vitamin C (p extract of D. tripetala is rich in antioxidants which can be applied to meat preservation during refrigerated storage.

Curcuma DMSO extracts and curcumin exhibit an anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effect on human intervertebral disc cells, possibly by influencing TLR2 expression and JNK activity

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background As proinflammatory cytokines seem to play a role in discogenic back pain, substances exhibiting anti-inflammatory effects on intervertebral disc cells may be used as minimal-invasive therapeutics for intradiscal/epidural injection. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic potential of curcuma, which has been used in the Indian Ayurvedic medicine to treat multiple ailments for a long time. Methods Human disc cells were treated with IL-1β to induce an inflammatory/catabolic cascade. Different extracts of curcuma as well as curcumin (= a component selected based on results with curcuma extracts and HPLC/MS analysis) were tested for their ability to reduce mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines and matrix degrading enzymes after 6 hours (real-time RT-PCR), followed by analysis of typical inflammatory signaling mechanisms such as NF-κB (Western Blot, Transcription Factor Assay), MAP kinases (Western Blot) and Toll-like receptors (real-time RT-PCR). Quantitative data was statistically analyzed using a Mann Whitney U test with a significance level of p curcuma DMSO extract significantly reduced levels of IL-6, MMP1, MMP3 and MMP13. The DMSO-soluble component curcumin, whose occurrence within the DMSO extract was verified by HPLC/MS, reduced levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, MMP1, MMP3 and MMP13 and both caused an up-regulation of TNF-α. Pathway analysis indicated that curcumin did not show involvement of NF-κB, but down-regulated TLR2 expression and inhibited the MAP kinase JNK while activating p38 and ERK. Conclusions Based on its anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects, intradiscal injection of curcumin may be an attractive treatment alternative. However, whether the anti-inflammatory properties in vitro lead to analgesia in vivo will need to be confirmed in an appropriate animal model. PMID:22909087

Antimicrobial activity of seed, pomace and leaf extracts of sea ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The methanolic extract of leaves exhibited high total phenolic content (278.80 mg GAE/g extract) and had low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 125 μg/ml against Listeria monocytogenes. Salmonella typhimurium strain was found to be resistant against all tested extracts. The antilisterial activity of the ...

Phytochemical and Pharmacological Investigation of Ethanol Extract of Cissampelos pareira.

Science.gov (United States)

Reza, H M; Shohel, M; Aziz, Sadia B; Pinaz, Farzana I; Uddin, M F; Al-Amin, M; Khan, I N; Jain, Preeti

2014-09-01

In this study, the ethanol extract of Cissampelos pareira has been evaluated. The extract was tested for analgesic properties using both hot plate and acetic acid-induced writhing methods. Antiinflammatory effect was investigated using two different doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight on Evans rats by carrageenan-induced paw edema test. The antipyretic activity was evaluated using Brewer's yeast-induced pyrexia in Wistar rats. The phytochemical screening of the extract of Cissampelos pareira exhibited the presence of several phytochemical compounds including saponins, gums and carbohydrates, reducing sugars, alkaloids and terpenoids. Ethanol extract of Cissampelos pareira exhibited significant analgesic, antiinflammatory and antipyretic activity in a dose-dependent manner. The results obtained from these studies confirm its therapeutic value against diseases caused by various pain and fever.

Production and characterization of algae extract from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weston Kightlinger

2014-01-01

Conclusions: This study showed that algae extract derived from C. reinhardtii is similar, if not superior, to commercially available yeast extract in nutrient content and effects on the growth and metabolism of E. coli and S. cerevisiae. Bacto™ yeast extract is valued at USD $0.15–0.35 per gram, if algae extract was sold at similar prices, it would serve as a high-value co-product in algae-based fuel processes.

Semantic Annotation of Unstructured Documents Using Concepts Similarity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Pech

2017-01-01

Full Text Available There is a large amount of information in the form of unstructured documents which pose challenges in the information storage, search, and retrieval. This situation has given rise to several information search approaches. Some proposals take into account the contextual meaning of the terms specified in the query. Semantic annotation technique can help to retrieve and extract information in unstructured documents. We propose a semantic annotation strategy for unstructured documents as part of a semantic search engine. In this proposal, ontologies are used to determine the context of the entities specified in the query. Our strategy for extracting the context is focused on concepts similarity. Each relevant term of the document is associated with an instance in the ontology. The similarity between each of the explicit relationships is measured through the combination of two types of associations: the association between each pair of concepts and the calculation of the weight of the relationships.

Correlation between social proximity and mobility similarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Chao; Liu, Yiding; Huang, Junming; Rong, Zhihai; Zhou, Tao

2017-09-20

Human behaviors exhibit ubiquitous correlations in many aspects, such as individual and collective levels, temporal and spatial dimensions, content, social and geographical layers. With rich Internet data of online behaviors becoming available, it attracts academic interests to explore human mobility similarity from the perspective of social network proximity. Existent analysis shows a strong correlation between online social proximity and offline mobility similarity, namely, mobile records between friends are significantly more similar than between strangers, and those between friends with common neighbors are even more similar. We argue the importance of the number and diversity of common friends, with a counter intuitive finding that the number of common friends has no positive impact on mobility similarity while the diversity plays a key role, disagreeing with previous studies. Our analysis provides a novel view for better understanding the coupling between human online and offline behaviors, and will help model and predict human behaviors based on social proximity.

Characterization of Catalase from Psychrotolerant Psychrobacter piscatorii T-3 Exhibiting High Catalase Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Kimoto, Hideyuki; Yoshimune, Kazuaki; Matsuyma, Hidetoshi; Yumoto, Isao

2012-01-01

A psychrotolerant bacterium, strain T-3 (identified as Psychrobacter piscatorii), that exhibited an extraordinarily high catalase activity was isolated from the drain pool of a plant that uses H2O2 as a bleaching agent. Its cell extract exhibited a catalase activity (19,700 U·mg protein−1) that was higher than that of Micrococcus luteus used for industrial catalase production. Catalase was approximately 10% of the total proteins in the cell extract of the strain. The catalase (PktA) was purified homogeneously by only two purification steps, anion exchange and hydrophobic chromatographies. The purified catalase exhibited higher catalytic efficiency and higher sensitivity of activity at high temperatures than M. luteus catalase. The deduced amino acid sequence showed the highest homology with catalase of Psycrobacter cryohalolentis, a psychrotolelant bacterium obtained from Siberian permafrost. These findings suggest that the characteristics of the PktA molecule reflected the taxonomic relationship of the isolate as well as the environmental conditions (low temperatures and high concentrations of H2O2) under which the bacterium survives. Strain T-3 efficiently produces a catalase (PktA) at a higher rate than Exiguobacterium oxidotolerans, which produces a very strong activity of catalase (EktA) at a moderate rate, in order to adapt to high concentration of H2O2. PMID:22408420

anti-diarrhoeal and antispasmodic effects of leaf extract

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... diphenoxylate hydrochloride (5 mg/kg). The extract also at 200 mg/kg dose level showed a significant inhibition (P<0.05) on gastrointestinal motility when compared with the vehicle (3 % Tween 80). The extract also exhibited a dose dependent inhibition on the contraction induced by acetylcholine and histamine on rabbit ...

Method for extracting copper, silver and related metals

Science.gov (United States)

Moyer, Bruce A.; McDowell, W. J.

1990-01-01

A process for selectively extracting precious metals such as silver and gold concurrent with copper extraction from aqueous solutions containing the same. The process utilizes tetrathiamacrocycles and high molecular weight organic acids that exhibit a synergistic relationship when complexing with certain metal ions thereby removing them from ore leach solutions.

Exhibition

CERN Document Server

Staff Association

2017-01-01

A Look of Hope Islam Mahmoud Sweity From 19 to 30 June 2017 CERN Meyrin, Main Building Islam Mahmoud Sweity Islam Mahmoud Sweity was born in 1997 at Beit Awwa, Palestine. She is currently following a course to get an Art diploma of Painting at the college of Fine Arts at An-Najah National University under the supervision of Esmat Al As'aad. Her portraits, landscapes and still life paintings are full of life and shining colours. Charged of emotional empathy they catch the attention of the viewer and are reminding us that life is beautiful and worth living in spite of all difficulties we have to go through. She participated in many exhibitions and has exposed her drawings in 2015 at CERN and in France in the framework of the exhibition "The Origin“, and in 2017 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Palestina and Jordan. In this exhibition the oil paintings made in the past year will be presented. For more information : staff.association@cern.ch | T&eacu...

Influence of the extraction procedure on the antioxidative activity of lentil seed extracts in a β-carotene-linoleate model system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chavan, U.

2001-04-01

Full Text Available Phenolic compounds were extracted from lentil seeds using three solvent systems: 80% (v/v acetone, 80% (v/v methanol, and 80% (v/v ethanol. Each extract was subsequently separated into two fractions by chromatoghraphy on a column with Toyo Pearl HW-40 using water (fraction I and methanol (fraction II for elution. Antioxidative activity of extracts and their respective fractions were examined in a β-carotene-linoleate model system. All three extracts exhibited similar antioxidant activity. Considering the level of phenolic compounds in extracts it seems that phenolic compounds from the acetone extract were less active than those from either the methanolic and ethanolic ones. Because the content of phenolics was about 16-fold lower in fraction I of the methanolic and ethanolic extracts compared to fraction II, the phenolics in fraction I of the methanol and ethanol extracts from lentil seeds are much more active than these in fraction II. A stronger antioxidant activity of fraction I from the acetone extract compared to the crude acetone extract was observed during the latter incubation stage. The reason was a relatively high level of phenolic compounds in this fraction. UV spectra confirmed that the phenolic compounds from the acetone extract were different compared to methanolic and ethanolic extracts.Los compuestos fenólicos fueron extraídos de semillas de lenteja usando tres sistemas de disolventes: acetona del 80% (v/v, metanol del 80% (v/v, y etanol del 80% (v/v. Cada extracto fue separado posteriormente en dos fracciones por cromatografía en columna con Toyo Pearl HW-40 usando agua (fracción I y metanol (fracción II para la elución. La actividad antioxidante de los extractos y de sus fracciones respectivas fueron examinadas en un sistema modelo β-caroteno-linoleato. Los tres extractos exhibieron actividad antioxidante similar. Atendiendo al nivel de compuestos fenólicos en los extractos parece que los compuestos del extracto

Ethanolic Extract of Vitis thunbergii Exhibits Lipid Lowering Properties via Modulation of the AMPK-ACC Pathway in Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Hsu Pan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Vitis thunbergii (VT is a wild grape that has been shown to provide various cardioprotective effects. The present study was designed to examine whether a VT extract could reduce serum lipid levels and prevent atherogenesis in a hypercholesterolemic rabbit model. At the end of an 8-week study, our results showed that a VT extract supplement markedly suppressed the serum levels of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein, reduced lipid accumulation in liver tissues, and limited aortic fatty streaks. Our findings suggest that the VT extract activated AMPK (5′-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase with subsequent inhibition of the activation of ACC (acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Our results suggest that this VT extract could be further developed as a potential lipid-lowering agent and as a natural health food to prevent atherogenesis.

Phytochemical Composition And Effect Of Aqueous Extract Of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Phytochemical Composition And Effect Of Aqueous Extract Of Struchium sparganophora (L) On Cockroach Crude Extract – Induced Airway Inflammatory ... Similarly, mean percentages of neutrophils, lymphyocytes, and eosinophils in cockroach crude extract-induced rats administered with S. sparganophora crude extract ...

Antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic extract of Bryonopsis laciniosa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2009-08-04

Aug 4, 2009 ... cholera, colic, consumption, convulsions, cough, delirium, fertility, headache, megalospleny, paralysis, phthisis, snake bite. The chloroform extract of B. laciniosa has exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity (Gupta et al., 2003). Analgesic and antipyretic activity of methanol extract of B. laciniosa also ...

Phytotoxic activity of the methanol leaves extract of Paullinia pinnata ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The activity of the extract against the growth of Lemna minor was used to investigate the phytotoxic activity. The activity of the methanol extract of P. pinnata leaves against Lemna minor increased in a dose- dependent manner and was significant at 1000 μg/ml. Therefore, the methanol leaves extract of P. pinnata exhibited ...

Scrapie prion liposomes and rods exhibit target sizes of 55,000 Da

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellinger-Kawahara, C.G.; Kempner, E.; Groth, D.; Gabizon, R.; Prusiner, S.B.

1988-01-01

Scrapie is a degenerative neurologic disease in sheep and goats which can be experimentally transmitted to laboratory rodents. Considerable evidence suggests that the scrapie agent is composed largely, if not entirely, of an abnormal isoform of the prion protein (PrPSc). Inactivation of scrapie prions by ionizing radiation exhibited single-hit kinetics and gave a target size of 55,000 +/- 9000 mol wt. The inactivation profile was independent of the form of the prion. Scrapie agent infectivity in brain homogenates, microsomal fractions, detergent-extracted microsomes, purified amyloid rods, and liposomes exhibited the same inactivation profile. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the infectious particle causing scrapie contains approximately 2 PrPSc molecules

Exhibiting Epistemic Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tybjerg, Karin

2017-01-01

of exhibiting epistemic objects that utilize their knowledge-generating potential and allow them to continue to stimulate curiosity and generate knowledge in the exhibition. The epistemic potential of the objects can then be made to work together with the function of the exhibition as a knowledge-generating set...

A short review of headspace extraction and ultrasonic solvent extraction for honey volatiles fingerprinting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Marijanović

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Honey volatiles exhibit a potential role in distinguishing honeys as a function of botanical origin, but heating of honey generates artefacts such as compounds of Strecker degradation and Maillard reaction products. This short review is focused on the most recently applied methods for honey volatiles fingerprinting (without generation of thermal artefacts: headspace extraction (dynamic headspace extraction (DHE, headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE. These methods display a varying degree of selectivity and effectiveness depending upon the compounds involved and the extraction conditions. Recent developments of these methods are discussed, with application examples drawn from the literature as well from our own research. Flavour qualities of the honey are very much dependent on the volatile and semivolatile organic compounds present in both the sample matrix and the headspace aroma. Therefore the use of one single technique is not adequate for reliable honey volatiles profiling, but combined use of headspace extraction and ultrasonic solvent extraction could be a useful tool for the characterization of the honey and identification of its botanical source through typical volatile marker compounds.

Comparison of four kinds of extraction techniques and kinetics of microwave-assisted extraction of vanillin from Vanilla planifolia Andrews.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Zhizhe; Gu, Fenglin; Xu, Fei; Wang, Qinghuang

2014-04-15

Vanillin yield, microscopic structure, antioxidant activity and overall odour of vanilla extracts obtained by different treatments were investigated. MAE showed the strongest extraction power, shortest time and highest antioxidant activity. Maceration gave higher vanillin yields than UAE and PAE, similar antioxidant activity with UAE, but longer times than UAE and PAE. Overall odour intensity of different vanilla extracts obtained by UAE, PAE and MAE were similar, while higher than maceration extracts. Then, powered vanilla bean with a sample/solvent ratio of 4 g/100 mL was selected as the optimum condition for MAE. Next, compared with other three equations, two-site kinetic equation with lowest RMSD and highest R²(adj) was shown to be more suitable in describing the kinetics of vanillin extraction. By fitting the parameters C(eq), k₁, k₂, and f, a kinetics model was constructed to describe vanillin extraction in terms of irradiation power, ethanol concentration, and extraction time. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New Trident Molecule with Phosphoric Acid Functionality for Trivalent Rare Earth Extraction

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Keisuke Ohto

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Tripodal extraction reagent with three phosphoric acid groups, together with the corresponding monopodal molecule has been prepared to investigate some metals extraction behavior, in particular, trivalent rare earth elements (REEs. The tripodal reagent exhibited extremely high selectivity for metals with high valency such as Zr(IV, In(III, Lu(III, and Fe(III. Tripodal reagent also exhibited exceptionally high extraction ability compared with the corresponding monopodal one in the extraction of trivalent rare earths. The result for the stoichiometry of tripodal reagent to heavy rare earths showed the inflection point between Er (2:1 for a ligand with ion and Tm (1:1. The extraction reactions were determined for all rare earths with both reagents. The extraction equilibrium constants (Kex, the separation factors (β, half pH values (pH1/2, difference half pH values (ΔpH1/2 for extraction of REEs with both reagents are estimated.

Comparative study on the quality of oil extracted from two tucumã varieties using supercritical carbon dioxide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bárbara Elizabeth Teixeira COSTA

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The vast Amazon region has considerable territorial peculiarities and plant species diversity, sometimes from the same botanical family, which can exhibit significant differences in physicochemical properties. From this diversity, two species stand out – Amazonas tucumã (Astrocaryum aculeatum Meyer and Pará tucumã (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.. The research focus is to analyze, comparatively, these oleaginous fruits, their similarities, particularities and potentials regarding the oil quality extracted from two tucumã varieties from the states of Amazonas and Pará, obtained using supercritical carbon dioxide, under different extraction parameters. The results demonstrate the biometric particularities of each species, highlighting the Amazon fruit, which also showed higher oil yield using supercritical CO2 extraction. The fatty acid quality and profile aspects of the oils show their unsaturated predominance, considering carotenoid content and how the extraction temperature can influence the nutritional quality of the oils. The statistical analyses indicated that the Amazon tucumã oil is superior to the Pará tucumã oil. However, in terms of added value both oils have potential applications in various industrial segments.

Lichen Secondary Metabolites in Flavocetraria cucullata Exhibit Anti-Cancer Effects on Human Cancer Cells through the Induction of Apoptosis and Suppression of Tumorigenic Potentials

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Thanh Thi; Yoon, Somy; Yang, Yi; Lee, Ho-Bin; Oh, Soonok; Jeong, Min-Hye; Kim, Jong-Jin; Yee, Sung-Tae; Crişan, Florin; Moon, Cheol; Lee, Kwang Youl; Kim, Kyung Keun; Hur, Jae-Seoun; Kim, Hangun

2014-01-01

Lichens are symbiotic organisms which produce distinct secondary metabolic products. In the present study, we tested the cytotoxic activity of 17 lichen species against several human cancer cells and further investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-cancer activity. We found that among 17 lichens species, F. cucullata exhibited the most potent cytotoxicity in several human cancer cells. High performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that the acetone extract of F. cucullata contains usnic acid, salazinic acid, Squamatic acid, Baeomycesic acid, d-protolichesterinic acid, and lichesterinic acid as subcomponents. MTT assay showed that cancer cell lines were more vulnerable to the cytotoxic effects of the extract than non-cancer cell lines. Furthermore, among the identified subcomponents, usnic acid treatment had a similar cytotoxic effect on cancer cell lines but with lower potency than the extract. At a lethal dose, treatment with the extract or with usnic acid greatly increased the apoptotic cell population and specifically activated the apoptotic signaling pathway; however, using sub-lethal doses, extract and usnic acid treatment decreased cancer cell motility and inhibited in vitro and in vivo tumorigenic potentials. In these cells, we observed significantly reduced levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and phosphor-Akt, while phosphor-c-Jun and phosphor-ERK1/2 levels were only marginally affected. Overall, the anti-cancer activity of the extract is more potent than that of usnic acid alone. Taken together, F. cucullata and its subcomponent, usnic acid together with additional component, exert anti-cancer effects on human cancer cells through the induction of apoptosis and the inhibition of EMT. PMID:25360754

Extraction, scrub, and strip test results for the salt waste processing facility caustic side solvent extraction solvent example

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, T. B. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2017-08-01

An Extraction, Scrub, and Strip (ESS) test was performed on a sample of Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) solvent and salt simulant to determine cesium distribution ratios (D(Cs)), and cesium concentration in the strip effluent (SE) and decontaminated salt solution (DSS) streams; this data will be used by Parsons to help determine if the solvent is qualified for use at the SWPF. The ESS test showed acceptable performance of the solvent for extraction, scrub, and strip operations. The extraction D(Cs) measured 12.9, exceeding the required value of 8. This value is consistent with results from previous ESS tests using similar solvent formulations. Similarly, scrub and strip cesium distribution ratios fell within acceptable ranges.

Similarity index between irrigation water and soil saturation extract in the experimental field of Yachay University, Ecuador

Science.gov (United States)

Carrera-Villacrés, D. V.; Sánchez-Gómez, V. P.; Portilla-Bravo, O. A.; Bolaños-Guerrón, D. R.

2017-08-01

Soil monitoring is a job that demands a lot of time and money. therefore, measuring the same parameters in the water becomes simple because it can be done in situ. The objective of this work was to find a similarity index for the validation of mathematical correlation models based on physicochemical parameters to verify if there is a balance between irrigation water and soil saturation extract in the experimental field Yachay that is known as the city of knowledge that is located in Imbabura province, Ecuador, for which, the sampling of water was carried out in two representative periods (dry and rainy). Sampling of 10 soil profiles was also performed, covering the total area; these samples were obtained results of Electrical Conductivity (EC), pH and total dissolved salts (TDS). With correlation models between soils and water, it is possible to predict concentrations of elements in the irrigation water. It was concluded that there is a balance between soil and water, so that the salts present in the soil are highly soluble, in addition, there is a high probability that the elements in the irrigation water are in the soil. In sample water, the same concentrations were found in the soil, at their saturation point, and very close to the field capacity.

New extraction chromatographic material for rhenium separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucanikova, M.; Czech Technical University, Prague; Kucera, J.; Czech Technical University, Prague; Sebesta, F.

2008-01-01

Three types of the extraction chromatographic materials, composed from Aliquat R 336 deposited in the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) beads and prepared by different procedures, were compared for extraction of rhenium. The best properties were exhibited when the solid extractant was prepared by impregnation of the ready-made PAN beads. Solid extractant prepared by direct coagulation of the beads from the suspension of Aliquat R 336 in solution of PAN in nitric acid differs only by lower capacity in dynamic conditions. Material prepared from the PAN solution in dimethylsulfoxide was the worst because Aliquat R 336 was washed out from the beads during coagulation of the polymer and the extraction capacity was low. As it is shown, the first two solid extractants are fully comparable with the commercial TEVA Resin. (author)

In vivo antimicrobial inhibition of Punica granatum extracts as mouthwash

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dhifaf M. Al-Obaidi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background — Complex polysaccharides have been detected and characterized in Punica granatum or pomegranate constituents who may act as fungal and bacterial inhibitor as well as an anti-inflammatory effect. However, limited studies were reported on using pomegranate extracts as an anti-bacterial mouthwash. Objectives — To determine the effect of Punica granatum (pomegranate extract on microbial activity of some bacterial genus isolated from the mouth. Material and Methods — This study included preparation of three different concentrations of Punica granatum methanolic extract of 25%, 50%, and 75%. The inhibition activity of these extracts was tested on different strains such as Sm, Sa, Ec, Kp, Sg and Sf. Results — Results exhibited an effective inhibition of pomegranate extracts against most of the tested strains which were isolated from patients' mouths. The 50% and 75% concentrations of methanolic extract exhibited significant inhibition against four tested strains compared to mouthwash (P≤0.05, while the 25% concentration was less effective than the other concentrations and its antibacterial effect was non-significant in comparison with the mouthwash. Conclusions — This study indicates the inhibitory effectiveness of Punica granatum extracts of high percentage on microbial activity of some bacterial genus isolated from patients’ mouths and suggests the possibility prepare a mouthwash from pomegranate extract.

Impact of historical mining assessed in soils by kinetic extraction and lead isotopic ratios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camizuli, E.; Monna, F.; Bermond, A.; Manouchehri, N.; Besançon, S.; Losno, R.; Oort, F. van; Labanowski, J.; Perreira, A.; Chateau, C.; Alibert, P.

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to estimate the long-term behaviour of trace metals, in two soils differently impacted by past mining. Topsoils from two 1 km 2 zones in the forested Morvan massif (France) were sampled to assess the spatial distribution of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The first zone had been contaminated by historical mining. As expected, it exhibits higher trace-metal levels and greater spatial heterogeneity than the second non-contaminated zone, supposed to represent the local background. One soil profile from each zone was investigated in detail to estimate metal behaviour, and hence, bioavailability. Kinetic extractions were performed using EDTA on three samples: the A horizon from both soil profiles and the B horizon from the contaminated soil. For all three samples, kinetic extractions can be modelled by two first-order reactions. Similar kinetic behaviour was observed for all metals, but more metal was extracted from the contaminated A horizon than from the B horizon. More surprising is the general predominance of the residual fraction over the “labile” and “less labile” pools. Past anthropogenic inputs may have percolated over time through the soil profiles because of acidic pH conditions. Stable organo-metallic complexes may also have been formed over time, reducing metal availability. These processes are not mutually exclusive. After kinetic extraction, the lead isotopic compositions of the samples exhibited different signatures, related to contamination history and intrinsic soil parameters. However, no variation in lead signature was observed during the extraction experiment, demonstrating that the “labile” and “less labile” lead pools do not differ in terms of origin. Even if trace metals resulting from past mining and metallurgy persist in soils long after these activities have ceased, kinetic extractions suggest that metals, at least for these particular forest soils, do not represent a threat for biota. - Highlights: • Trace

Impact of historical mining assessed in soils by kinetic extraction and lead isotopic ratios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Camizuli, E., E-mail: estelle.camizuli@u-bourgogne.fr [UMR 6298, ArTeHiS, Université de Bourgogne — CNRS — Culture, 6 bd Gabriel, Bat. Gabriel, 21000 Dijon (France); Monna, F. [UMR 6298, ArTeHiS, Université de Bourgogne — CNRS — Culture, 6 bd Gabriel, Bat. Gabriel, 21000 Dijon (France); Bermond, A.; Manouchehri, N.; Besançon, S. [Institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l' environnement (AgroParisTech), Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique, 16, rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 05 (France); Losno, R. [UMR 7583, LISA, Universités Paris 7-Paris 12 — CNRS, 61 av. du Gal de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil Cedex (France); Oort, F. van [UR 251, Pessac, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Versailles-Grignon, RD 10, 78026 Versailles Cedex (France); Labanowski, J. [UMR 7285, IC2MP, Université de Poitiers — CNRS, 4, rue Michel Brunet, 86022 Poitiers (France); Perreira, A. [UMR 6298, ArTeHiS, Université de Bourgogne — CNRS — Culture, 6 bd Gabriel, Bat. Gabriel, 21000 Dijon (France); Chateau, C. [UFR SVTE, Université de Bourgogne, 6 bd Gabriel, Bat. Gabriel, 21000 Dijon (France); Alibert, P. [UMR 6282, Biogeosciences, Université de Bourgogne — CNRS, 6 bd Gabriel, Bat. Gabriel, 21000 Dijon (France)

2014-02-01

The aim of this study is to estimate the long-term behaviour of trace metals, in two soils differently impacted by past mining. Topsoils from two 1 km{sup 2} zones in the forested Morvan massif (France) were sampled to assess the spatial distribution of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The first zone had been contaminated by historical mining. As expected, it exhibits higher trace-metal levels and greater spatial heterogeneity than the second non-contaminated zone, supposed to represent the local background. One soil profile from each zone was investigated in detail to estimate metal behaviour, and hence, bioavailability. Kinetic extractions were performed using EDTA on three samples: the A horizon from both soil profiles and the B horizon from the contaminated soil. For all three samples, kinetic extractions can be modelled by two first-order reactions. Similar kinetic behaviour was observed for all metals, but more metal was extracted from the contaminated A horizon than from the B horizon. More surprising is the general predominance of the residual fraction over the “labile” and “less labile” pools. Past anthropogenic inputs may have percolated over time through the soil profiles because of acidic pH conditions. Stable organo-metallic complexes may also have been formed over time, reducing metal availability. These processes are not mutually exclusive. After kinetic extraction, the lead isotopic compositions of the samples exhibited different signatures, related to contamination history and intrinsic soil parameters. However, no variation in lead signature was observed during the extraction experiment, demonstrating that the “labile” and “less labile” lead pools do not differ in terms of origin. Even if trace metals resulting from past mining and metallurgy persist in soils long after these activities have ceased, kinetic extractions suggest that metals, at least for these particular forest soils, do not represent a threat for biota. - Highlights: • Trace

Development of an eco-protocol for seaweed chlorophylls extraction and possible applications in dye sensitized solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armeli Minicante, S; Ambrosi, E; Back, M; Barichello, J; Cattaruzza, E; Gonella, F; Scantamburlo, E; Trave, E

2016-01-01

Seaweeds are a reserve of natural dyes (chlorophylls a , b and c ), characterized by low cost and easy supply, without potential environmental load in terms of land subtraction, and also complying with the requirements of an efficient waste management policy. In particular, the brown seaweed Undaria pinnatifida is a species largely present in the Venice Lagoon area, and for it a removal strategy is actually mandatory. In this paper, we set-up an eco-protocol for the best extraction and preparation procedures of the pigment, with the aim of finding an easy and affordable method for chlorophyll c extraction, exploring at the same time the possibility of using these algae within local sustainable management integrated strategies, among which the possible use of chlorophylls as a dye source in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is investigated. Experimental results suggest that the developed protocols are useful to optimize the chlorophyll c extraction, as shown by optical absorption spectroscopy measurements. The DSSCs built with the chlorophyll extracted by the proposed eco-protocol exhibit solar energy conversion efficiencies are similar to those obtained following extraction protocols with larger environmental impacts. (paper)

Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEF) Exhibit a Similar but not Identical Phenotype to Bone Marrow Stromal Stem Cells (BMSC)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saeed, Hamid; Taipaleenmäki, Hanna; Aldahmash, Abdullah M

2012-01-01

Mouse embryonic fibroblasts have been utilized as a surrogate stem cell model for the postnatal bone marrow-derived stromal stem cells (BMSC) to study mesoderm-type cell differentiation e.g. osteoblasts, adipocytes and chondrocytes. However, no formal characterization of MEF phenotype has been...... by real-time PCR analysis. Compared to BMSC, MEF exhibited a more enhanced differentiation into adipocyte and chondrocyte lineages. Interestingly, both MEF and BMSC formed the same amount of heterotopic bone and bone marrow elements upon in vivo subcutaneous implantation with hydroxyapatite...... and differentiation to osteoblasts, adipocytes and chondrocytes....

Arctigenin exhibits relaxation effect on bronchus by affecting transmembrane flow of calcium.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhenying; Yin, Yongqiang; Wang, Zengyong; Fang, Runping; Wu, Hong; Jiang, Min; Bai, Gang; Luo, Guo'an

2013-12-01

Arctigenin, a lignan extract from Arctium lappa (L.), exhibits anti-inflammation, antioxidation, vasodilator effects, etc. However, the effects of arctigenin on bronchus relaxation are not well investigated. This study aimed to investigate how arctigenin regulates bronchus tone and calcium ion (Ca(2+)) flow. Trachea strips of guinea pigs were prepared for testing the relaxation effect of arctigenin to acetylcholine, histamine, KCl, and CaCl2, respectively. Furthermore, L-type calcium channel currents were detected by patch-clamp, and intracellular Ca(2+) concentration was detected by confocal microscopy. The results showed that arctigenin exhibited relaxation effect on tracheae to different constrictors, and this was related to decreasing cytoplasmic Ca(2+) concentration by inhibiting Ca(2+) influx partly through L-type calcium channel as well as promoting Ca(2+) efflux. In summary, this study provides new insight into the mechanisms by which arctigenin exhibits relaxation effect on bronchus and suggests its potential use for airway disease therapy.

Extraction of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Dibenzyl Disulfide from Transformer Oils using Polar Aprotic Solvents andReductive Dehalogenation of Extracted PCBs

OpenAIRE

Kaštánek, P. (Petr); Kaštánek, F. (František); Maléterová, Y. (Ywetta); Matějková, M. (Martina); Spáčilová, L. (Lucie); Šolcová, O. (Olga)

2014-01-01

Extractions of PCBs from mineral oils with polar aprotic solvents (PAS) acrylonitrile AC, dimethyl sulfoxide DMSO, dimethyl formamide DMF, N-methyl pyrrolidone NMP and propylene carbonate PC were performed in order to compare the extraction efficiencies. In a single-stage extraction performed at room temperature, the efficiencies ranged from the highest to the lowest as follows: NMP → DMF → DMSO → PC → AC. NMP exhibited the highest efficiency, around 70%. . Pyridine N-oxide was also used a...

Wound healing potential of ethanolic extract of Kalanchoe pinnata Lam. leaf--a preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nayak, B Shivananda; Marshall, Julien R; Isitor, Godwin

2010-06-01

The extract of K. pinnata was evaluated for its wound healing activity by using excision wound model in rats. On day 11, animals treated with the ethanolic leaf extract exhibited 86.33% reduction in the wound area, compared to petroleum jelly treated control (69.36%) and the mupirocin treated standard (85.49%). The hydroxyproline content of extract treated animals was higher, as compared to control and the standard groups. Histological analysis was also consistent with the proposal that K. pinnata leaf extract exhibits significant wound healing potential. The increased rate of wound contraction and hydroxyproline content in the extract treated animals supports the claims made by traditional healers of the benefits obtained from the medicinal use of K. pinnata.

Aggregation of dialkyl-substituted diphosphonic acids and its effect on metal ion extraction.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chiarizia, R.; Barrans, R. E., Jr.; Ferraro, J. R. Herlinger, A. W.; McAlister, D. R.

1999-10-22

Solvent extraction reagents containing the diphosphonic acid group exhibit an extraordinary affinity for tri-, tetra- and hexavalent actinides. Their use has been considered for actinide separation and pre-concentration procedures. Solvent extraction data obtained with P,P{prime}-di(2-ethylhexyl) methane-, ethane- and butanediphosphonic acids exhibit features that are difficult to explain without Knowledge of the aggregation state of the extractants. Information about the aggregation of the dialkyl-substituted diphosphonic acids in aromatic diluents has been obtained using the complementary techniques of vapor pressure osmometry (VPO), small angle neutron scattering (SANS), infrared spectroscopy and molecular mechanics. The results from these techniques provide an understanding of the aggregation behavior of these extractants that is fully compatible with the solvent extraction data. The most important results and their relevance to solvent extraction are reviewed in this paper.

Alkanna tinctoria leaves extracts: a prospective remedy against multidrug resistant human pathogenic bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Usman Ali; Rahman, Hazir; Qasim, Muhammad; Hussain, Anwar; Azizllah, Azizullah; Murad, Waheed; Khan, Zakir; Anees, Muhammad; Adnan, Muhammad

2015-04-23

Plants are rich source of chemical compounds that are used to accomplish biological activity. Indigenously crude extracts of plants are widely used as herbal medicine for the treatment of infections by people of different ethnic groups. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the biological potential of Alkanna tinctoria leaves extract from district Charsadda, Pakistan against multidrug resistant human pathogenic bacteria including Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Anti-multi-drug resistant bacterial activity of aqueous, chloroform, ethanol and hexane extracts of Alkanna tinctoria leaves were evaluated by well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) of different extracts were determined. Moreover qualitative phytochemicals screening of the studied extracts was performed. All four selected bacteria including A. baumannii, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were categorized as multi-drug resistant (MDR) as they were found to be resistant to 13, 10, 19 and 22 antibiotics belonging to different groups respectively. All the four extract showed potential activity against S. aureus as compare to positive control antibiotic (Imipenem). Similarly among the four extracts of Alkanna tinctoria leaves, aqueous extract showed best activity against A. baumannii (10±03 mm), P. aeruginosa (12±0.5 mm), and S. aureus (14±0.5 mm) as compare to Imipenem. The MICs and MBCs results also showed quantitative concentration of plant extracts to inhibit or kill MDR bacteria. When phytochemicals analysis was performed it was observed that aqueous and ethanol extracts showed phytochemicals with large number as well as volume, especially Alkaloides, Flavonoides and Charbohydrates. The undertaken study demonstrated that all the four extracts of Alkanna tinctoria leaves exhibited considerable antibacterial activity against MDR isolates. Finding from the

Kinetics Extraction Modelling and Antiproliferative Activity of Clinacanthus nutans Water Extract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farah Nadiah Mohd Fazil

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Clinacanthus nutans is widely grown in tropical Asia and locally known “belalai gajah” or Sabah snake grass. It has been used as a natural product to treat skin rashes, snake bites, lesion caused by herpes, diabetes, fever, and cancer. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to determine the maximum yield and time of exhaustive flavonoids extraction using Peleg’s model and to evaluate potential of antiproliferative activity on human lung cancer cell (A549. The extraction process was carried out on fresh and dried leaves at 28 to 30°C with liquid-to-solid ratio of 10 mL/g for 72 hrs. The extracts were collected intermittently analysed using mathematical Peleg’s model and RP-HPLC. The highest amount of flavonoids was used to evaluate the inhibitory concentration (IC50 via 2D cell culture of A549. Based on the results obtained, the predicted maximum extract density was observed at 29.20 ± 14.54 hrs of extraction (texhaustive. However, the exhaustive time of extraction to acquire maximum flavonoids content exhibited approximately 10 hrs earlier. Therefore, 18 hrs of extraction time was chosen to acquire high content of flavonoids. The best antiproliferative effect (IC50 on A549 cell line was observed at 138.82 ± 0.60 µg/mL. In conclusion, the flavonoids content in Clinacanthus nutans water extract possesses potential antiproliferative properties against A549, suggesting an alternative approach for cancer treatment.

SAM-VI RNAs selectively bind S-adenosylmethionine and exhibit similarities to SAM-III riboswitches.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirihana Arachchilage, Gayan; Sherlock, Madeline E; Weinberg, Zasha; Breaker, Ronald R

2018-03-04

Five distinct riboswitch classes that regulate gene expression in response to the cofactor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) or its metabolic breakdown product S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) have been reported previously. Collectively, these SAM- or SAH-sensing RNAs constitute the most abundant collection of riboswitches, and are found in nearly every major bacterial lineage. Here, we report a potential sixth member of this pervasive riboswitch family, called SAM-VI, which is predominantly found in Bifidobacterium species. SAM-VI aptamers selectively bind the cofactor SAM and strongly discriminate against SAH. The consensus sequence and structural model for SAM-VI share some features with the consensus model for the SAM-III riboswitch class, whose members are mainly found in lactic acid bacteria. However, there are sufficient differences between the two classes such that current bioinformatics methods separately cluster representatives of the two motifs. These findings highlight the abundance of RNA structures that can form to selectively recognize SAM, and showcase the ability of RNA to utilize diverse strategies to perform similar biological functions.

Anthelminthic activity of methanol extracts of Diospyros anisandra and Petiveria alliacea on cyathostomin (Nematoda: Cyathostominae) larval development and egg hatching.

Science.gov (United States)

Flota-Burgos, G J; Rosado-Aguilar, J A; Rodríguez-Vivas, R I; Arjona-Cambranes, K A

2017-12-15

Methanol extracts of plant structures are promising alternatives to traditional pharmaceutical anthelminthic treatments. An in vitro evaluation was done of how methanol extracts of Diospyros anisandra bark and leaves, and Petiveria alliacea stems and leaves, collected during the rainy and dry seasons, effected cyathostomin larval development and egg hatching. Seven concentrations (600, 300, 150, 75, 37.5, 18.7 and 9.3μg/ml) were tested using the egg hatch assay. An ANOVA was applied to identify differences between the concentrations and the controls. Fifty percent lethal concentration (LC 50 ) and the 95% confidence interval were calculated with a probit analysis. At and above 37.5μg/ml, the D. anisandra bark extracts from both seasons exhibited ≥95% egg hatch inhibition (EHI), while the D. anisandra leaf extracts had >90% EHI at and above 75μg/ml. For P. alliacea, the extracts from leaves and stems from either season exhibited >97% EHI at and above 300μg/ml, although similar efficacy was also observed at lower concentrations with the rainy season stems (75μg/ml) and leaves (150μg/ml). Values for LC 50 were lowest for the rainy season D. anisandra bark (10.2μg/ml) and leaf extracts (18.4μg/ml), followed by the rainy season P. alliacea stems extract (28.2μg/ml). In the D. anisandra extracts, EHI was largely due to its ovicidal activity (≥96% beginning at 37.5μg/ml), whereas in the P. alliacea extracts it was due to L 1 larval hatch failure (≥90% beginning at 75μg/ml). Overall, the rainy season D. anisandra bark extracts had a strong in vitro anthelminthic effect against cyathostomins by inhibiting larval development, and the rainy season P. alliacea stem extracts had a strong effect by preventing egg hatching. Both are possible control alternatives for these nematodes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of citrus pectin samples extracted under different conditions: influence of acid type and pH of extraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaya, Merve; Sousa, Antonio G.; Crepeau, Marie-Jeanne

2014-01-01

on the chemical and macromolecular characteristics of pectin samples. Methods Citrus peel (orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit) from a commercial supplier was used as raw material. Pectin samples were obtained on a bulk plant scale (kilograms; harsh nitric acid, mild nitric acid and harsh oxalic acid extraction......) and on a laboratory scale (grams; mild oxalic acid extraction). Pectin composition (acidic and neutral sugars) and physicochemical properties (molar mass and intrinsic viscosity) were determined. Key Results Oxalic acid extraction allowed the recovery of pectin samples of high molecular weight. Mild oxalic acid......-extracted pectins were rich in long homogalacturonan stretches and contained rhamnogalacturonan I stretches with conserved side chains. Nitric acid-extracted pectins exhibited lower molecular weights and contained rhamnogalacturonan I stretches encompassing few and/or short side chains. Grapefruit pectin was found...

Investigation of Time Series Representations and Similarity Measures for Structural Damage Pattern Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Swartz, R. Andrew

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the time series representation methods and similarity measures for sensor data feature extraction and structural damage pattern recognition. Both model-based time series representation and dimensionality reduction methods are studied to compare the effectiveness of feature extraction for damage pattern recognition. The evaluation of feature extraction methods is performed by examining the separation of feature vectors among different damage patterns and the pattern recognition success rate. In addition, the impact of similarity measures on the pattern recognition success rate and the metrics for damage localization are also investigated. The test data used in this study are from the System Identification to Monitor Civil Engineering Structures (SIMCES) Z24 Bridge damage detection tests, a rigorous instrumentation campaign that recorded the dynamic performance of a concrete box-girder bridge under progressively increasing damage scenarios. A number of progressive damage test case datasets and damage test data with different damage modalities are used. The simulation results show that both time series representation methods and similarity measures have significant impact on the pattern recognition success rate. PMID:24191136

Investigation of Time Series Representations and Similarity Measures for Structural Damage Pattern Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenjia Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the time series representation methods and similarity measures for sensor data feature extraction and structural damage pattern recognition. Both model-based time series representation and dimensionality reduction methods are studied to compare the effectiveness of feature extraction for damage pattern recognition. The evaluation of feature extraction methods is performed by examining the separation of feature vectors among different damage patterns and the pattern recognition success rate. In addition, the impact of similarity measures on the pattern recognition success rate and the metrics for damage localization are also investigated. The test data used in this study are from the System Identification to Monitor Civil Engineering Structures (SIMCES Z24 Bridge damage detection tests, a rigorous instrumentation campaign that recorded the dynamic performance of a concrete box-girder bridge under progressively increasing damage scenarios. A number of progressive damage test case datasets and damage test data with different damage modalities are used. The simulation results show that both time series representation methods and similarity measures have significant impact on the pattern recognition success rate.

Council Chamber exhibition

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2010-01-01

To complete the revamp of CERN’s Council Chamber, a new exhibition is being installed just in time for the June Council meetings.   Panels will showcase highlights of CERN’s history, using some of the content prepared for the exhibitions marking 50 years of the PS, which were displayed in the main building last November. The previous photo exhibition in the Council Chamber stopped at the 1970s. To avoid the new panels becoming quickly out of date, photos are grouped together around specific infrastructures, rather than following a classic time-line. “We have put the focus on the accelerators – the world-class facilities that CERN has been offering researchers over the years, from the well-known large colliders to the lesser-known smaller facilities,” says Emma Sanders, who worked on the content. The new exhibition will be featured in a future issue of the Bulletin with photos and an interview with Fabienne Marcastel, designer of the exhibit...

Similarity-based recommendation of new concepts to a terminology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chandar, Praveen; Yaman, Anil; Hoxha, Julia; He, Zhe; Weng, Chunhua

2015-01-01

Terminologies can suffer from poor concept coverage due to delays in addition of new concepts. This study tests a similarity-based approach to recommending concepts from a text corpus to a terminology. Our approach involves extraction of candidate concepts from a given text corpus, which are

Biological activity and chemical profile of Lavatera thuringiaca L. extracts obtained by different extraction approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Mašković, Pavle Z; Veličković, Vesna; Đurović, Saša; Zeković, Zoran; Radojković, Marija; Cvetanović, Aleksandra; Švarc-Gajić, Jaroslava; Mitić, Milan; Vujić, Jelena

2018-01-01

Lavatera thuringiaca L. is herbaceous perennial plant from Malvaceae family, which is known for its biological activity and richness in polyphenolic compounds. Despite this, the information regarding the biological activity and chemical profile is still insufficient. Aim of this study was to investigate biological potential and chemical profile of Lavatera thuringiaca L., as well as influence of applied extraction technique on them. Two conventional and four non-conventional extraction techniques were applied in order to obtain extracts rich in bioactive compound. Extracts were further tested for total phenolics, flavonoids, condensed tannins, gallotannins and anthocyanins contents using spectrophotometric assays. Polyphenolic profile was established using HPLC-DAD analysis. Biological activity was investigated regarding antioxidant, cytotoxic and antibacterial activities. Four antioxidant assays were applied as well as three different cell lines for cytotoxic and fifteen bacterial strain for antibacterial activity. Results showed that subcritical water extraction (SCW) dominated over the other extraction techniques, where SCW extract exhibited the highest biological activity. Study indicates that plant Lavatera thuringiaca L. may be used as a potential source of biologically compounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Anti-fungal activity of cold and hot water extracts of spices against fungal pathogens of Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) in vitro.

Science.gov (United States)

Touba, Eslaminejad Parizi; Zakaria, Maziah; Tahereh, Eslaminejad

2012-02-01

Crude extracts of seven spices, viz. cardamom, chilli, coriander, onion, garlic, ginger, and galangale were made using cold water and hot water extraction and they were tested for their anti-fungal effects against the three Roselle pathogens i.e. Phoma exigua, Fusarium nygamai and Rhizoctonia solani using the 'poisoned food technique'. All seven spices studied showed significant anti-fungal activity at three concentrations (10, 20 and 30% of the crude extract) in-vitro. The cold water extract of garlic exhibited good anti-fungal activity against all three tested fungi. In the case of the hot water extracts, garlic and ginger showed the best anti-fungal activity. Of the two extraction methods, cold water extraction was generally more effective than hot water extraction in controlling the pathogens. Against P. exigua, the 10% cold water extracts of galangale, ginger, coriander and cardamom achieved total (100%) inhibition of pathogen mycelial growth. Total inhibition of F. nygamai mycelial growth was similarly achieved with the 10% cold water extracts garlic. Against R. solani, the 10% cold water extract of galangale was effective in imposing 100% inhibition. Accordingly, the 10% galangale extract effectively controlled both P. exigua and R. solani in vitro. None of the hot water extracts of the spices succeeded in achieving 100% inhibition of the pathogen mycelial growth. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-similar drop-size distributions produced by breakup in chaotic flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muzzio, F.J.; Tjahjadi, M.; Ottino, J.M.; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

1991-01-01

Deformation and breakup of immiscible fluids in deterministic chaotic flows is governed by self-similar distributions of stretching histories and stretching rates and produces populations of droplets of widely distributed sizes. Scaling reveals that distributions of drop sizes collapse into two self-similar families; each family exhibits a different shape, presumably due to changes in the breakup mechanism

Simple Extraction and Molecular Weight Characterization of Fucoidan From Indonesian Sargassum SP.

OpenAIRE

Junaidi, Lukman

2013-01-01

Fucoidan is a complex polysaccharide compounds found in brown algae. Fucoidan exhibits various biological properties for disease prevention. There are various methods used to extract fucoidan from brown algae, such as using ethanol, acetone, HCl and microwave. This research aims to extract and characterize fucoidan from Sargassum sp. using simple methods with the variables on extracting solutions, temperature and time of extraction. Extraction solution used were water and HCl. Ttemperature us...

Antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of Ferula assafoetida and its essential oil composition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dehpour, A.; Ebrahimzadeh, A.; Seyed Fazel, N.; Seyed Mohammad, N.

2009-07-01

The antioxidant activity of the aerial parts of Ferula assafoetida was determined by employing various in vitro assay systems. IC{sub 5}0 for DPPH radical-scavenging activity was 380 {+-} 12 mg ml{sup -}1. The extracts showed good nitric oxide-scavenging activity (IC{sub 5}0 was 270 {+-}3) and Fe{sup 2}+ chelating ability (IC{sub 5}0 was 0.57 {+-} 0.02 mg ml-1). The peroxidation inhibition (antioxidant activity) of the extracts exhibited values from 82% (at 24 hrs) and 88% (at 72 hrs). The extract exhibited a fairy weak reducing power at 25-800 {mu}g ml-1 of extracts which was not comparable with Vitamin C (p < 0.001). The tested extracts exhibited very low antioxidant activity. In addition, the chemical composition of the essential oil of the aerial parts was determined. The major compounds were phenol, 2-methyl-5-(1-methyl ethyl) (18.2 %), {alpha}.-Bisabolol (10.4%) and Arsine triethyl (8.7 %). Total phenol compounds, as determined by the Folin Ciocalteu method, were 94.8 {+-} 5.9 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of extract powder and the total flavonoid content (by AlCl{sub 3} method) was 90.9 {+-} 6.3 mg quercetin equivalent/g of extract powder. (Author) 30 refs.

Phytochemical investigation on leaf extract of Cordia salicifolia Cham.

Science.gov (United States)

Menghini, Luigi; Epifano, Francesco; Leporini, Lidia; Pagiotti, Rita; Tirillini, Bruno

2008-03-01

The dichloromethane extract of leaves of Cordia salicifolia Cham. (Family Boraginaceae) was fractionated by SiO(2) column chromatography and analyzed by gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The apolar extract is characterized by a very high content of (+)-spathulenol (0.53%). The major component of the extract exhibited a very weak activity as an inhibitor of growth of Helicobacter pylori in vitro (minimum inhibitory concentration = 200 microg/mL).

Impact of extraction techniques on antioxidant capacities and phytochemical composition of polyphenol-rich extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro-López, Cecilia; Ventura-Sobrevilla, Janeth M; González-Hernández, María D; Rojas, Romeo; Ascacio-Valdés, Juan A; Aguilar, Cristóbal N; Martínez-Ávila, Guillermo C G

2017-12-15

In this work, impact of extraction methods (maceration, decoction, MAE, and UAE) on TPC, antioxidant activity, and the mass fraction of phenolics in several plant extracts (Punica granatum, Juglans regia, Moringa oleifera, and Cassia fistula) was investigated. The results showed that, despite the nature of matrix, the highest values of TPC in all samples were obtained by MAE as follows: PP (18.92±0.11), ML (15.19±0.11), HL (12.69±0.16), and WS (12.80±0.11) mg GAEg -1 respectively, and exhibited potent antioxidant activity (from 0.28±0.01 to 5.34±0.02mgGAEg -1 ), representing sources of powerful antioxidants. The LC-MS 2 analysis revealed a wide range of phenolics, highlighting their content in phenolic acids, flavonoids and lignans. The presence of different phenol molecules demonstrated that the extraction method had influence on phytochemical profile. Finally, due to its high extraction efficiency, MAE was the more effective extraction technique. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antioxidative and in vitro antiproliferative activity of Arctium lappa root extracts

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Arctium lappa, known as burdock, is widely used in popular medicine for hypertension, gout, hepatitis and other inflammatory disorders. Pharmacological studies indicated that burdock roots have hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging and antiproliferative activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate total phenolic content, radical scavenging activity by DPPH and in vitro antiproliferative activity of different A. lappa root extracts. Methods Hot and room temperature dichloromethanic, ethanolic and aqueous extracts; hydroethanolic and total aqueous extract of A. lappa roots were investigated regarding radical scavenging activity by DPPH, total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteau method and antiproliferative in vitro activity was evaluated in human cancer cell lines. The hydroethanolic extract analyzed by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy. Results Higher radical scavenging activity was found for the hydroethanolic extract. The higher phenolic contents were found for the dichloromethane, obtained both by Soxhlet and maceration extraction and hydroethanolic extracts. The HRESI-MS demonstrated the presence of arctigenin, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid compounds, which were identified by comparison with previous data. The dichloromethane extracts were the only extracts that exhibited activity against cancer cell lines, especially for K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 cell lines. Conclusions The hydroethanolic extracts exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging activity, while the highest phenolic content was observed in Soxhlet extraction. Moreover, the dichloromethanic extracts showed selective antiproliferative activity against K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 human cancer cell lines. PMID:21429215

Antioxidative and in vitro antiproliferative activity of Arctium lappa root extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Predes, Fabricia S; Ruiz, Ana L T G; Carvalho, João E; Foglio, Mary A; Dolder, Heidi

2011-03-23

Arctium lappa, known as burdock, is widely used in popular medicine for hypertension, gout, hepatitis and other inflammatory disorders. Pharmacological studies indicated that burdock roots have hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging and antiproliferative activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate total phenolic content, radical scavenging activity by DPPH and in vitro antiproliferative activity of different A. lappa root extracts. Hot and room temperature dichloromethanic, ethanolic and aqueous extracts; hydroethanolic and total aqueous extract of A. lappa roots were investigated regarding radical scavenging activity by DPPH, total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteau method and antiproliferative in vitro activity was evaluated in human cancer cell lines. The hydroethanolic extract analyzed by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy. Higher radical scavenging activity was found for the hydroethanolic extract. The higher phenolic contents were found for the dichloromethane, obtained both by Soxhlet and maceration extraction and hydroethanolic extracts. The HRESI-MS demonstrated the presence of arctigenin, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid compounds, which were identified by comparison with previous data. The dichloromethane extracts were the only extracts that exhibited activity against cancer cell lines, especially for K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 cell lines. The hydroethanolic extracts exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging activity, while the highest phenolic content was observed in Soxhlet extraction. Moreover, the dichloromethanic extracts showed selective antiproliferative activity against K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 human cancer cell lines. © 2011 Predes et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Antioxidative and in vitro antiproliferative activity of Arctium lappa root extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carvalho João E

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Arctium lappa, known as burdock, is widely used in popular medicine for hypertension, gout, hepatitis and other inflammatory disorders. Pharmacological studies indicated that burdock roots have hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging and antiproliferative activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate total phenolic content, radical scavenging activity by DPPH and in vitro antiproliferative activity of different A. lappa root extracts. Methods Hot and room temperature dichloromethanic, ethanolic and aqueous extracts; hydroethanolic and total aqueous extract of A. lappa roots were investigated regarding radical scavenging activity by DPPH, total phenolic content by Folin-Ciocalteau method and antiproliferative in vitro activity was evaluated in human cancer cell lines. The hydroethanolic extract analyzed by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy. Results Higher radical scavenging activity was found for the hydroethanolic extract. The higher phenolic contents were found for the dichloromethane, obtained both by Soxhlet and maceration extraction and hydroethanolic extracts. The HRESI-MS demonstrated the presence of arctigenin, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid compounds, which were identified by comparison with previous data. The dichloromethane extracts were the only extracts that exhibited activity against cancer cell lines, especially for K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 cell lines. Conclusions The hydroethanolic extracts exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging activity, while the highest phenolic content was observed in Soxhlet extraction. Moreover, the dichloromethanic extracts showed selective antiproliferative activity against K562, MCF-7 and 786-0 human cancer cell lines.

Antimicrobial activity of Antrodia camphorata extracts against oral bacteria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsiu-Man Lien

Full Text Available Antrodia camphorata (A. camphorata is a unique, endemic and extremely rare mushroom species native to Taiwan, and both crude extracts of and purified chemical compounds from A. camphorata have been reported to have a variety of significant beneficial effects, such as anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity. However, reports on the effects of A. camphorata against dental pathogens have been limited. Oral health is now recognized as important for overall general health, including conditions such as dental caries, periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis are the most common bacteria associated with dental plaque and periodontopathic diseases, respectively. Thus, our study examined the ability of five various crude extracts of A. camphorata to inhibit the growth of dental bacteria and anti-adherence in vitro. Among the extracts, the ethanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform extracts exhibited the lowest MICs against P. gingivalis and S. mutans (MIC = 4∼16 µg/mL. The MIC of the aqueous extract was greater than 2048 µg/mL against both P. gingivalis and S. mutans. In vitro adherence of S. mutans was significantly inhibited by the addition of either the ethyl acetate extract or chloroform extract (MIC = 16∼24 µg/mL, while the ethanol extract (MIC = 32∼64 µg/mL exhibited moderate inhibitory activity. Based on the result of this study, the ethyl acetate and chloroform extracts of A. camphorata may be good candidates for oral hygiene agents to control dental caries and periodontopathic conditions.

Application of cavitation system to accelerate aqueous enzymatic extraction of seed oil from Cucurbita pepo L. and evaluation of hypoglycemic effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiao-Juan; Li, Zhu-Gang; Wang, Xun; Han, Jun-Yan; Zhang, Bo; Fu, Yu-Jie; Zhao, Chun-Jian

2016-12-01

Cavitation-accelerated aqueous enzymatic extraction (CAEE) of seed oil from Cucurbita pepo was performed. An enzyme cocktail comprised of cellulose, pectinase and proteinase can work synergistically in releasing the oil. The CAEE extraction conditions were optimized by a Plackett-Burman design followed by a central composite methodology. A maximal extraction yield of 58.06% was achieved under optimal conditions of vacuum degree -0.07, enzyme amount 1.05% and extraction time 69min. As compared to soxhlet extraction (SE)-derived oil, CAEE-derived oil exhibited similar physical properties and better oxidation stability. In addition, chemical composition analyzing showed that the content of linoleic acid obtained by CAEE (47.67%) was higher than that of SE (44.51%). Moreover, the IC50 of oil obtained by CAEE and SE, as measured by α-amylase inhibition assay, were 40.68μg/mL and 45.46μg/mL. All results suggest that CAEE represents an excellent alternative protocol for production of oil from oil-bearing materials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antibacterial Effects of Natural Herbal Extracts on Streptococcus mutans: Can They Be Potential Additives in Dentifrices?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Spoorthi Banavar Ravi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Many plants or herbs exhibit potent antimicrobial activity against various microorganisms. They have no side effects and presumably act against and modulate the factors that are crucial for microbial survival or their activity. Streptococcus mutans is a pioneer bacteria implicated in dental caries. This study aims to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of garlic bulbs, pudina leaves, and mango and eucalyptus twig extracts on Streptococcus mutans by evaluating their zone of inhibition and determining their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC. Methods. Microbiological assay (well diffusion method to determine zone of inhibition against pure forms of Streptococcus mutans was performed. The antibacterial effects of methanolic extracts of mango twigs, eucalyptus twigs, pudina leaves, and garlic bulbs were studied. Test compounds were further evaluated for their MIC. Results. Extracts derived from mango and eucalyptus twigs showed significant antibacterial effects at test concentrations. Pudina and garlic extracts did not show any significant antibacterial effects at similar concentrations. Upon further evaluation of the 2 positive compounds for their MIC, mango twigs demonstrated more antimicrobial potential than eucalyptus twigs at a lower concentration. Conclusion. Our observations indicated that the mango twig extracts possess higher antibacterial effects against Streptococcus mutans than other compounds at specific test concentration.

Anti-aging activities of Pyrus pyrifolia var culta plant callus extract

African Journals Online (AJOL)

saline (PBS, pH 7.4) at 95 °C for 2 h and filtering through .... callus extract also exhibited dose-dependent .... toxic effects on the skin. ... copper-containing enzyme that catalyzes two .... herbal extract: implication for the mechanism underlying.

EXHIBITION: Accelerated Particles

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

An exhibition of plastic arts and two evenings of performances by sound and visual artists as part of CERN's 50th anniversary celebrations. Fifty candles for CERN, an international laboratory renowned for fundamental research, is a cause for celebration. Since March this year, Geneva and neighbouring parts of France have been the venues for a wealth of small and large-scale events, which will continue until November. Given CERN's location in the commune of Meyrin, the ForuMeyrin is hosting exhibitions of plastic arts and performances entitled: Accelerated Particles. Several works will be exhibited and performed in two 'salons'. Salon des matières: An exhibition of plastic arts From Tues 12 October to Wed 3 November 2004 Tuesdays to Fridays: 16:00 to 19:00 Saturdays: 14:00 to 18:00 Exhibition open late on performance nights, entrance free Salon des particules: Musical and visual performances Tues 12 and Mon 25 October from 20:00 to 23:00 Preview evening for both events: Tues 12 October from 18:...

Similarity estimation for reference image retrieval in mammograms using convolutional neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Muramatsu, Chisako; Higuchi, Shunichi; Morita, Takako; Oiwa, Mikinao; Fujita, Hiroshi

2018-02-01

Periodic breast cancer screening with mammography is considered effective in decreasing breast cancer mortality. For screening programs to be successful, an intelligent image analytic system may support radiologists' efficient image interpretation. In our previous studies, we have investigated image retrieval schemes for diagnostic references of breast lesions on mammograms and ultrasound images. Using a machine learning method, reliable similarity measures that agree with radiologists' similarity were determined and relevant images could be retrieved. However, our previous method includes a feature extraction step, in which hand crafted features were determined based on manual outlines of the masses. Obtaining the manual outlines of masses is not practical in clinical practice and such data would be operator-dependent. In this study, we investigated a similarity estimation scheme using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to skip such procedure and to determine data-driven similarity scores. By using CNN as feature extractor, in which extracted features were employed in determination of similarity measures with a conventional 3-layered neural network, the determined similarity measures were correlated well with the subjective ratings and the precision of retrieving diagnostically relevant images was comparable with that of the conventional method using handcrafted features. By using CNN for determination of similarity measure directly, the result was also comparable. By optimizing the network parameters, results may be further improved. The proposed method has a potential usefulness in determination of similarity measure without precise lesion outlines for retrieval of similar mass images on mammograms.

An efficient similarity measure for content based image retrieval using memetic algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mutasem K. Alsmadi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Content based image retrieval (CBIR systems work by retrieving images which are related to the query image (QI from huge databases. The available CBIR systems extract limited feature sets which confine the retrieval efficacy. In this work, extensive robust and important features were extracted from the images database and then stored in the feature repository. This feature set is composed of color signature with the shape and color texture features. Where, features are extracted from the given QI in the similar fashion. Consequently, a novel similarity evaluation using a meta-heuristic algorithm called a memetic algorithm (genetic algorithm with great deluge is achieved between the features of the QI and the features of the database images. Our proposed CBIR system is assessed by inquiring number of images (from the test dataset and the efficiency of the system is evaluated by calculating precision-recall value for the results. The results were superior to other state-of-the-art CBIR systems in regard to precision.

Curcuma longa and Curcuma mangga leaves exhibit functional food property.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yunbao; Nair, Muraleedharan G

2012-11-15

Although leaves of Curcuma mangga and Curcuma longa are used in food preparations, the bioactive components in it are not known. In this study, antioxidant, antiinflammatory and anticancer activities of leave extracts and its isolates were investigated using established bioassay procedures in our laboratory. The leaf extracts of both plants gave similar bioassay and chromatographic profiles. The methanolic and water extracts of C. mangga (CMM and CMW) and C. longa (CLM and CLW), at 100 μg/mL, inhibited lipid peroxidation (LPO) by 78%, 63%, 81% and 43%, cyclooxygenase enzymes COX-1 by 55%, 33%, 43% and 24% and COX-2 by 65%, 55%, 77% and 69%, respectively. At same concentration, CMM, CMW, CLM and CLW showed growth inhibition of human tumour cell lines by 0-46%. Therefore, a bioassay-guided isolation of water and methanolic extracts of C. longa was carried out and afforded nine isolates. At 25 μg/mL, these compounds inhibited LPO by 11-87%, COX-1 and -2 enzymes by 0-35% and 0-82% and growth of human tumour cells by 0-36%, respectively. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization of Ultrasound Extraction of Cactus Pear (Opuntia ficus indica Seed Oil Based on Antioxidant Activity and Evaluation of Its Antimicrobial Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María de los Angeles Ortega-Ortega

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to determine the optimal ultrasound conditions (amplitude level and time for the extraction of cactus pear seed oil with the highest antioxidant activity using a closed system. Seed oil was analyzed for yield, antioxidant activity by ABTS and DPPH, and antimicrobial activity. Conventional extraction methods were assessed for comparison. Amplitude level significantly affected antioxidant activity in linear terms (p < 0.0001 DPPH and p < 0.001 ABTS, resp. so, at lower amplitudes, the higher antioxidant activity was achieved. The optimum ultrasound extraction conditions were of 78% amplitude for 10 min and yielded antioxidant activity values of 66.25 mg AAE/100 g and 289 µmol TE/100 g for ABTS and DPPH, respectively. Compared with conventional extraction methods, ultrasound exhibited lower oil yield and antioxidant activity but had the potential to achieve comparable results if multiple ultrasound extractions are performed in the time needed by conventional methods. Seed oils showed similar antimicrobial activity despite the extraction method and were more effective against Escherichia coli. The results demonstrated that ultrasound can be an alternative extraction method of seed oils from fruits such as cactus pear.

Drug-Drug Interaction Extraction via Convolutional Neural Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shengyu Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Drug-drug interaction (DDI extraction as a typical relation extraction task in natural language processing (NLP has always attracted great attention. Most state-of-the-art DDI extraction systems are based on support vector machines (SVM with a large number of manually defined features. Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNN, a robust machine learning method which almost does not need manually defined features, has exhibited great potential for many NLP tasks. It is worth employing CNN for DDI extraction, which has never been investigated. We proposed a CNN-based method for DDI extraction. Experiments conducted on the 2013 DDIExtraction challenge corpus demonstrate that CNN is a good choice for DDI extraction. The CNN-based DDI extraction method achieves an F-score of 69.75%, which outperforms the existing best performing method by 2.75%.

Estimating the impact of seawater on the production of soil water-extractable organic carbon during coastal erosion.

Science.gov (United States)

Dou, Fugen; Ping, Chien-Lu; Guo, Laodong; Jorgenson, Torre

2008-01-01

The production of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) during arctic coastal erosion and permafrost degradation may contribute significantly to C fluxes under warming conditions, but it remains difficult to quantify. A tundra soil collected near Barrow, AK, was selected to evaluate the effects of soil pretreatments (oven drying vs. freeze drying) as well as extraction solutions (pure water vs. seawater) on WEOC yields. Both oven drying and freeze drying significantly increased WEOC release compared with the original moist soil samples; dried samples released, on average, 18% more WEOC than did original moist samples. Similar results were observed for the production of low-molecular-weight dissolved organic C. However, extractable OC released from different soil horizons exhibited differences in specific UV absorption, suggesting differences in WEOC quality. Furthermore, extractable OC yields were significantly less in samples extracted with seawater compared with those extracted with pure water, likely due to the effects of major ions on extractable OC flocculation. Compared with samples from the active horizons, upper permafrost samples released more WEOC, suggesting that continuously frozen samples were more sensitive than samples that had experienced more drying-wetting cycles in nature. Specific UV absorption of seawater-extracted OC was significantly lower than that of OC extracted using pure water, suggesting more aromatic or humic substances were flocculated during seawater extraction. Our results suggest that overestimation of total terrestrial WEOC input to the Arctic Ocean during coastal erosion could occur if estimations were based on WEOC extracted from dried soil samples using pure water.

EFFECT OF EXTRACTION METHODS ON ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF SEA CUCUMBER (Stichopus japonicus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Husni

2014-05-01

Both SM and CS exhibited their highest antifungal activity when extracted by HRE with 70% ethanol and by HRE with water, respectively, while their highest yields were obtained when extracted by PSE with water. SM has more antifungal than potassium sorbate but weaker than propyl paraben, while CS has more antifungal than the two antifungal agents. Keywords: Antifungal, heat reflux extraction, pressurized solvent extraction, Stichopus japonicus

Process Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Arabinogalactan from Dihydroquercetin Extracted Residues by Response Surface Methodology and Evaluation of Its Antioxidant Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaizhi Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Ultrasound was used for the extraction of larch arabinogalactan from Larix gmelinii. The optimal conditions for ultrasound extraction were determined by response surface methodology. Specifically, the Box-Behnken design was employed to evaluate the effects of three independent variables: ultrasound time, temperature, and liquid-solid ratio. The highest arabinogalactan yield (11.18% was obtained under the optimal extraction condition (extraction temperature 41.5°C, extraction time 24.3 min, and liquid-solid ratio 40 mL/g. In addition, the antioxidant activity of arabinogalactan that was extracted from dihydroquercetin extraction residues exhibited a moderate and concentration-dependent hydroxyl radical-scavenging capacity, ferric-reducing power, and reducing power. The wood material was characterized before and after processing by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.

Points of View: Herbert Bayer’s Exhibition Catalogue for the 1930 Section Allemande

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Wallis Miller

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sigfried Giedion called Herbert Bayer’s exhibition catalogue for the 1930 'Section Allemande' a “minor typographical masterpiece.” Like similar catalogues, it is inexpensive, provides an inventory list, has an introduction, functions as a guide, and is illustrated. However, the majority of its images are of installations, not their contents. Bayer accommodates the catalogue type for applied arts exhibitions by listing installations as objects, but he confronts the type by showing installations as display contexts that establish points of view, emulating, idealizing and interpreting the experience of the exhibition. By independently constructing ways of seeing and understanding the exhibition, the catalogue resists being an appendage to the exhibition, despite their close relationship. Giedion may have viewed Bayer’s catalogue as an important but secondary work of graphic design, but this article argues that it is of primary significance as an exhibition catalogue, an unusual essay on the book typology that is conscious of its history while moving outside — to other types of book design and to exhibitions — to transform it.

Methodology to unmix spectrally similar minerals using high order derivative spectra

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Debba, Pravesh

2009-07-01

Full Text Available pure vanilla extract milk Table: Chocolate cake ingredients Debba (CSIR) Unmixing spectrally similar minerals Rhodes University 2009 8 / 40 Introduction to Unmixing Ingredients Quantity unsweetened chocolate 120 grams unsweetened cocoa powder 28... grams boiling water 240 ml flour 315 grams baking powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon unsalted butter 226 grams white sugar 400 grams eggs 3 large pure vanilla extract 2 teaspoons milk 240 ml Table: Chocolate cake...

Extraction of trivalent lanthanides and actinides by a synergistic mixture of thenoyltrifluoroacetone and a linear polyether

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ensor, D.D.; Shah, A.H.

1984-01-01

Mixtures of a two component system, a linear polyether, 1,13-bis[8-quinolyl]-1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxatridecane, K-5, and thenoyltrifluoroacetone, HTTA, have been shown to exhibit synergistic character in the extraction of trivalent lanthanides and actinides. The effect of the addition of K-5 to the organic phase on the extractions of Ce(III), Eu(III), Tm(III), Am(III), Cm(III), Bk(III), and Cf(III) by HTTA in chloroform from 0.5M NaNO 3 at 25 0 C has been measured. These results indicate the extraction is enhanced by the formation of M(TTA) 3 K-5 adduct in the organic phase. The organic phase stability constants for the formation of these synergistic species have been calculated for all the metals studied. The magnitude of these organic phase stability constants for K-5 are similar to other common neutral donors. The order of stability does not follow the normal trend based on charge-to-radius ratio, but follows a pattern based on size, with Am(III) being the most stable

Extraction of Natural Antioxidants from the Thelephora ganbajun Mushroom by an Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction Technique and Evaluation of Antiproliferative Activity of the Extract against Human Cancer Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong-Ping Xu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The Thelephora ganbajun mushroom has been found to be a potential rich source of natural antioxidants. In this study, an ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE technique together with GRAS (generally recognized as safe solvents (ethanol and water was used to maximize the extraction of antioxidants from Thelephora ganbajun. Five extraction parameters (ethanol concentration, solvent to solid ratio, extraction time, temperature and ultrasound power were investigated by single-factor experiments, and then a central composite rotatable design was employed to study interaction of three key extraction parameters. The optimum conditions were as follows: 57.38% ethanol, 70.15 mL/g solvent to solid ratio, 10.58 min extraction time, 40 °C extraction temperature and 500 W ultrasound power. Under the optimum conditions, the antioxidant activity obtained was 346.98 ± 12.19 µmol Trolox/g DW, in accordance with the predicted value of 344.67 µmol Trolox/g DW. Comparison of UAE with conventional maceration and Soxhlet extraction, the UAE method showed stronger extract efficiency in a shorter extraction time. These results showed that UAE was an effective technique to extract antioxidants from Thelephora ganbajun. Furthermore, the extracts obtained under the optimized conditions exhibited antiproliferative activities toward human lung (A549, breast (MCF-7, liver (HepG2 and colon (HT-29 cancer cells, especially for liver and lung cancer cells. In addition, rutin, 2-hydrocinnamic acid and epicatechin were identified in the extract, which might contribute to antioxidant and antiproliferative activities.

Extraction of Natural Antioxidants from the Thelephora ganbajun Mushroom by an Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction Technique and Evaluation of Antiproliferative Activity of the Extract against Human Cancer Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Dong-Ping; Zheng, Jie; Zhou, Yue; Li, Ya; Li, Sha; Li, Hua-Bin

2016-10-01

The Thelephora ganbajun mushroom has been found to be a potential rich source of natural antioxidants. In this study, an ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) technique together with GRAS (generally recognized as safe) solvents (ethanol and water) was used to maximize the extraction of antioxidants from Thelephora ganbajun . Five extraction parameters (ethanol concentration, solvent to solid ratio, extraction time, temperature and ultrasound power) were investigated by single-factor experiments, and then a central composite rotatable design was employed to study interaction of three key extraction parameters. The optimum conditions were as follows: 57.38% ethanol, 70.15 mL/g solvent to solid ratio, 10.58 min extraction time, 40 °C extraction temperature and 500 W ultrasound power. Under the optimum conditions, the antioxidant activity obtained was 346.98 ± 12.19 µmol Trolox/g DW, in accordance with the predicted value of 344.67 µmol Trolox/g DW. Comparison of UAE with conventional maceration and Soxhlet extraction, the UAE method showed stronger extract efficiency in a shorter extraction time. These results showed that UAE was an effective technique to extract antioxidants from Thelephora ganbajun . Furthermore, the extracts obtained under the optimized conditions exhibited antiproliferative activities toward human lung (A549), breast (MCF-7), liver (HepG2) and colon (HT-29) cancer cells, especially for liver and lung cancer cells. In addition, rutin, 2-hydrocinnamic acid and epicatechin were identified in the extract, which might contribute to antioxidant and antiproliferative activities.

Britain exhibition at CERN

CERN Multimedia

Bertin; CERN PhotoLab

1969-01-01

The United Kingdom inaugurated the Industrial Exhibitions in 1968, and it wasn't till 1971 that other countries staged exhibitions at CERN. This photo was taken in 1969, at the second British exhibition, where 16 companies were present.

Scavenging Capacities of Some Wines and Wine Phenolic Extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioannis G. Roussis

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to assess the ability of different wines – a sweet red, a dry red, a sweet white, and a dry white – to scavenge the stable 1,1’-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH. and to determine their phenolic composition. Both red wines contained, apart from anthocyanins, also higher concentration of total phenolics, tartaric esters, and flavonols than the two white wines. All wines exhibited scavenging activity analogous to their total phenolic content. However, their phenolics differed in antiradical potency, which was visible in their EC50 values. The dry red wine, Xinomavro, had a lower EC50 value, indicating the higher antiradical potency of its phenolics. The scavenging capacities of phenolic extracts from Xinomavro red wine on hydroxyl radicals, superoxide radicals, and singlet oxygen were also assessed. Wine total extract was fractionated by extraction, and each of the three fractions was then subfractionated by column chromatography into two subfractions. Wine total extract, and its fractions and subfractions exhibited scavenging capacity on hydroxyl radicals, superoxide radicals, and singlet oxygen, indicating the activity of many wine phenolics. The most active wine extracts towards hydroxyl radicals were characterized by the high peaks of flavanols, anthocyanins and flavonols in their HPLC-DAD chromatograms. The most active extract towards superoxide radicals was rich in flavanols and anthocyanins. The characteristic phenolics of the most active wine extracts towards singlet oxygen were flavanols, flavonols and phenolic acids. The ability of all red wine phenolic extracts to scavenge singlet oxygen, along with hydroxyl and superoxide radicals, emphasizes its health functionality.

Antimicrobial Effect of Extracts of Cruciferous Vegetables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Hui Hu

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The cruciferous vegetables cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Chinese radish, Chinese kale, and Chinese kitam were used in this study to prepare water-soluble and methanol-water extracts. Crude protein extracts were also obtained by diethylaminoethyl (DEAE anion exchange chromatography. Water-soluble polysaccharides were prepared by ethanol precipitation followed by ultrafiltration. The antimicrobial effects of all these extracts were evaluated against Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and yeast. Crude protein extracts exhibited the greatest antimicrobial activity in monoculture experiments. The antimicrobial effects of cruciferous vegetables were also studied by steeping beef, carrot, and celery in chlorine (10 ppm or citric acid solution (1% containing the crude protein extract (500 ppm for different time periods. Total aerobic plate counts and coliform counts on these foods decreased significantly after 10 minutes in all steeping solutions (p < 0.05.

Antioxidant Activity of Mulberry Fruit Extracts

Science.gov (United States)

Arfan, Muhammad; Khan, Rasool; Rybarczyk, Anna; Amarowicz, Ryszard

2012-01-01

Phenolic compounds were extracted from the fruits of Morus nigra and Morus alba using methanol and acetone. The sugar-free extracts (SFEs) were prepared using Amberlite XAD-16 column chromatography. All of the SFEs exhibited antioxidant potential as determined by ABTS (0.75–1.25 mmol Trolox/g), DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) (EC50 from 48 μg/mL to 79 μg/mL), and reducing power assays. However, a stronger activity was noted for the SFEs obtained from Morus nigra fruits. These extracts also possessed the highest contents of total phenolics: 164 mg/g (methanolic SFE) and 173 mg/g (acetonic SFE). The presence of phenolic acids and flavonoids in the extracts was confirmed using HPLC method and chlorogenic acid and rutin were found as the dominant phenolic constituents in the SFEs. PMID:22408465

Antioxidant Activity of Mulberry Fruit Extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryszard Amarowicz

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Phenolic compounds were extracted from the fruits of Morus nigra and Morus alba using methanol and acetone. The sugar-free extracts (SFEs were prepared using Amberlite XAD-16 column chromatography. All of the SFEs exhibited antioxidant potential as determined by ABTS (0.75–1.25 mmol Trolox/g, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (EC50 from 48 μg/mL to 79 μg/mL, and reducing power assays. However, a stronger activity was noted for the SFEs obtained from Morus nigra fruits. These extracts also possessed the highest contents of total phenolics: 164 mg/g (methanolic SFE and 173 mg/g (acetonic SFE. The presence of phenolic acids and flavonoids in the extracts was confirmed using HPLC method and chlorogenic acid and rutin were found as the dominant phenolic constituents in the SFEs.

Urease inhibitory profile of extracts and chemical constituents of Pistacia atlantica ssp. cabulica Stocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Uddin, Ghias; Ismail; Rauf, Abdur; Raza, Muslim; Khan, Haroon; Nasruddin; Khan, Majid; Farooq, Umar; Khan, Ajmal; Arifullah

2016-06-01

The current study was designed to evaluate the urease inhibitory profile of extract and fractions of Pistacia atlantica ssp. cabulica Stocks followed by bioactivity-guided isolated compounds. The crude extract was found significantly active with urease inhibitor (95.40% at 0.2 mg/mL) with IC50 values of 32.0 ± 0.28 μg/mL. Upon fractionation, ethyl acetate fraction displayed 100% urease inhibition with IC50 values of 19.9 ± 0.51 μg/mL at 0.2 mg/mL. However, n-hexane and chloroform fractions exhibited insignificant urease inhibition. Similarly, the isolated compound, transilitin (1) and dihydro luteolin (2) demonstrated marked urease attenuation with 95 and 98% respectively, at 0.15 mg/mL. Both the isolated compounds showed marked potency with IC50 values of 8.54 ± 0.54 and 9.58 ± 2.22 μg/mL, respectively. In short, both the extract and fractions and isolated compounds showed marked urease inhibition and thus a useful natural source of urease inhibition.

Insecticidal activities and phytochemical screening of crude extracts and its derived fractions from three medicinal plants Nepeta leavigata, Nepeta kurramensis and Rhynchosia reniformis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, N.; Shinwari, Z.K.

2016-01-01

The extracts and its derived fractions from three medicinal plants species Nepeta leavigata, Nepeta kurramensis and Rhynchosia reniformis were tested for insecticidal activities and preliminary phytochemical evaluation with the intention of standardization and proper manage of bioactive principles in such heterogonous botanicals and to encourage drug finding work with plants. The crude extracts and fractions from Nepeta plants showed moderate to strong insecticidal activity. Among the fractions from Nepeta kurramensis the n-butanol fraction showed strongest insecticidal activity with 89% mortality rate against Tribolium castaneum followed by methanol extract with 88% mortality ratio and in case of Nepeta leavigata the potential activity was showed by methanol extracts with 93% mortality rate against the tested insect. Surprisingly none of the extract / fractions obtained from Rhynchosia reniformis plant exhibited any insecticidal activity. The phytochemicals screening results revealed that both species of Nepeta showed similar phytochemicals profile. The group of chemicals terpenes, flavonoids and glycosides were observed in all the extracts/fractions of Nepeta plants. While phenolic compounds, acidic compounds and alkaloids were found in methanolic extracts, chloroform fraction and ethyl acetate fraction. The Rhynchosia reniformis was observed to be a good source of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, terpenes, alkaloids and fats. (author)

Digital collections and exhibits

CERN Document Server

Denzer, Juan

2015-01-01

Today's libraries are taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies such as flat panel displays using touch, sound, and hands-free motions to design amazing exhibits using everything from simple computer hardware to advanced technologies such as the Microsoft Kinect. Libraries of all types are striving to add new interactive experiences for their patrons through exciting digital exhibits, both online and off. Digital Collections and Exhibits takes away the mystery of designing stunning digital exhibits to spotlight library trea

Distributional Similarity for Chinese: Exploiting Characters and Radicals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Jin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Distributional Similarity has attracted considerable attention in the field of natural language processing as an automatic means of countering the ubiquitous problem of sparse data. As a logographic language, Chinese words consist of characters and each of them is composed of one or more radicals. The meanings of characters are usually highly related to the words which contain them. Likewise, radicals often make a predictable contribution to the meaning of a character: characters that have the same components tend to have similar or related meanings. In this paper, we utilize these properties of the Chinese language to improve Chinese word similarity computation. Given a content word, we first extract similar words based on a large corpus and a similarity score for ranking. This rank is then adjusted according to the characters and components shared between the similar word and the target word. Experiments on two gold standard datasets show that the adjusted rank is superior and closer to human judgments than the original rank. In addition to quantitative evaluation, we examine the reasons behind errors drawing on linguistic phenomena for our explanations.

Chitosan Associated with the Extract of Unripe Banana Peel for Potential Wound Dressing Application

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Patrícia Bataglini Franco

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The authors report the preparation of chitosan membranes associated with the extract of unripe banana peel. Extracts were prepared by decoction, using boiling distilled water. The extraction process was repeated three times. First and third extracts served as solvent to prepare chitosan membranes by solvent evaporation technique. The chitosan membranes associated with the first and third extracts of unripe banana peel exhibit good flexibility, transparency, and uniformity. Scanning Electron Microscopy images showed dense membranes. Brownish color of membranes was observed due to the presence of tannins, which was confirmed by Infrared Spectroscopy analysis. Thermal properties of the membranes were evaluated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC, which exhibited good thermal stability at physiological temperature (37°C. At this temperature and pH 7.2, membranes were also able to absorb fluids. The hydrophilic character of the membranes was determined by contact angle measurements. The membranes demonstrated their capacity for gaseous exchange and exhibited water-vapor permeability (WVP rates comparable to injured skin one. Finally, high number of viable dermal fibroblasts was observed by indirect cytotoxicity assay suggesting potential application of these membranes as skin wound dressing.

Phytochemical Investigation of Antimicrobial Seed Extract of Citrus paradise Fruits

OpenAIRE

, R.M.O. Mohammed; , S.Mo.H. Ayob

2016-01-01

The seeds of Citrus paradise (Grapefruit) of the family Ructaceae are gaining grounds as important source for treatment in complementary medicine. The Sudanese varieties are one of the best in the market, which prompted investigation of seed extracts. The 96% ethanolic extract exhibited significant antimicrobial activity and highlighted the biological monitoring of activity in order to isolate the active metabolites from the chloroform extract of the seeds. The presence of sterols and triterp...

Use of micro-emulsions in liquid-liquid extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komornicki, Jacques

1982-01-01

As liquid-liquid extraction of metallic cations is an important method of separation and concentration of metals present in diluted aqueous solutions, and as the extraction rate is limited by one or several steps of matter transfer at the liquid-liquid interface, the extraction kinetics can be improved by creating a wide surface interface and by allowing an increased reactivity between species. In this research thesis, the author aims at determining to which extent systems of interface with a wide surface obtained by using for example amphiphile molecules to create micro-emulsions, can be used as reaction media for physical-chemical processes of liquid-liquid extraction. He also aims at identifying their applicability limitations and problems which might arise with their application. The author notably focuses of the liquid-liquid extraction of metallic cations exhibiting particularly slow extraction kinetics

Binary similarity measures for fingerprint analysis of qualitative metabolomic profiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Rácz, Anita; Andrić, Filip; Bajusz, Dávid; Héberger, Károly

2018-01-01

Contemporary metabolomic fingerprinting is based on multiple spectrometric and chromatographic signals, used either alone or combined with structural and chemical information of metabolic markers at the qualitative and semiquantitative level. However, signal shifting, convolution, and matrix effects may compromise metabolomic patterns. Recent increase in the use of qualitative metabolomic data, described by the presence (1) or absence (0) of particular metabolites, demonstrates great potential in the field of metabolomic profiling and fingerprint analysis. The aim of this study is a comprehensive evaluation of binary similarity measures for the elucidation of patterns among samples of different botanical origin and various metabolomic profiles. Nine qualitative metabolomic data sets covering a wide range of natural products and metabolomic profiles were applied to assess 44 binary similarity measures for the fingerprinting of plant extracts and natural products. The measures were analyzed by the novel sum of ranking differences method (SRD), searching for the most promising candidates. Baroni-Urbani-Buser (BUB) and Hawkins-Dotson (HD) similarity coefficients were selected as the best measures by SRD and analysis of variance (ANOVA), while Dice (Di1), Yule, Russel-Rao, and Consonni-Todeschini 3 ranked the worst. ANOVA revealed that concordantly and intermediately symmetric similarity coefficients are better candidates for metabolomic fingerprinting than the asymmetric and correlation based ones. The fingerprint analysis based on the BUB and HD coefficients and qualitative metabolomic data performed equally well as the quantitative metabolomic profile analysis. Fingerprint analysis based on the qualitative metabolomic profiles and binary similarity measures proved to be a reliable way in finding the same/similar patterns in metabolomic data as that extracted from quantitative data.

Musical structure analysis using similarity matrix and dynamic programming

Science.gov (United States)

Shiu, Yu; Jeong, Hong; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

2005-10-01

Automatic music segmentation and structure analysis from audio waveforms based on a three-level hierarchy is examined in this research, where the three-level hierarchy includes notes, measures and parts. The pitch class profile (PCP) feature is first extracted at the note level. Then, a similarity matrix is constructed at the measure level, where a dynamic time warping (DTW) technique is used to enhance the similarity computation by taking the temporal distortion of similar audio segments into account. By processing the similarity matrix, we can obtain a coarse-grain music segmentation result. Finally, dynamic programming is applied to the coarse-grain segments so that a song can be decomposed into several major parts such as intro, verse, chorus, bridge and outro. The performance of the proposed music structure analysis system is demonstrated for pop and rock music.

Estimation of Cross-Lingual News Similarities Using Text-Mining Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhouhao Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this research, two estimation algorithms for extracting cross-lingual news pairs based on machine learning from financial news articles have been proposed. Every second, innumerable text data, including all kinds news, reports, messages, reviews, comments, and tweets are generated on the Internet, and these are written not only in English but also in other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, etc. By taking advantage of multi-lingual text resources provided by Thomson Reuters News, we developed two estimation algorithms for extracting cross-lingual news pairs from multilingual text resources. In our first method, we propose a novel structure that uses the word information and the machine learning method effectively in this task. Simultaneously, we developed a bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM based method to calculate cross-lingual semantic text similarity for long text and short text, respectively. Thus, when an important news article is published, users can read similar news articles that are written in their native language using our method.

Characterization of Linum usitatissimum L. oil obtained from different extraction technique and in vitro antioxidant potential of supercritical fluid extract

Science.gov (United States)

Chauhan, Rishika; Chester, Karishma; Khan, Yasmeen; Tamboli, Ennus Tajuddin; Ahmad, Sayeed

2015-01-01

Aim: Present investigation was aimed to characterize the fixed oil of Linum usitatissimum L. using five different extraction methods: Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), ultrasound-assistance, soxhlet extraction, solvent extraction, and three phase partitioning method. Materials and Methods: The SFE conditions (temperature, pressure, and volume of CO2) were optimized prior for better yield. The extracted oils were analyzed and compared for their physiochemical parameters, high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) fingerprinting. Antioxidant activity was also determined using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and superoxide scavenging method. Result: The main fatty acids were α-linolenic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid as obtained by GC-MS. HPTLC analysis revealed the presence of similar major components in chromatograms. Similarly, the pattern of peaks, as obtained in FT-IR and GC-MS spectra of same oils by different extraction methods, were superimposable. Conclusion: Analysis reported that the fixed oil of L. usitatissimum L. is a good source of n-3 fatty acid with the significant antioxidant activity of oil obtained from SFE extraction method. PMID:26681884

Characterization of Linum usitatissimum L. oil obtained from different extraction technique and in vitro antioxidant potential of supercritical fluid extract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rishika Chauhan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: Present investigation was aimed to characterize the fixed oil of Linum usitatissimum L. using five different extraction methods: Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE, ultrasound-assistance, soxhlet extraction, solvent extraction, and three phase partitioning method. Materials and Methods: The SFE conditions (temperature, pressure, and volume of CO2 were optimized prior for better yield. The extracted oils were analyzed and compared for their physiochemical parameters, high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS, and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR fingerprinting. Antioxidant activity was also determined using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and superoxide scavenging method. Result: The main fatty acids were α-linolenic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid as obtained by GC-MS. HPTLC analysis revealed the presence of similar major components in chromatograms. Similarly, the pattern of peaks, as obtained in FT-IR and GC-MS spectra of same oils by different extraction methods, were superimposable. Conclusion: Analysis reported that the fixed oil of L. usitatissimum L. is a good source of n-3 fatty acid with the significant antioxidant activity of oil obtained from SFE extraction method.

Seed oil extraction from red prickly pear using hexane and supercritical CO2 : assessment of phenolic compound composition, antioxidant and antibacterial activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Koubaa, Mohamed; Mhemdi, Houcine; Barba, Francisco J; Angelotti, Armel; Bouaziz, Fatma; Chaabouni, Semia Ellouz; Vorobiev, Eugène

2017-01-01

Investigating Opuntia species for their seed oil content is of much importance owing to their potential use for food and in cosmetic applications. These oils have an important content in unsaturated fatty acids as well as antioxidant compounds (e.g. polyphenols, vitamin E), which have been associated with the prevention of some chronic diseases. Moreover, Opuntia stricta oils possess important antimicrobial activities. For instance, the main focus of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conventional (hexane extraction) and novel (supercritical (SC)-CO 2 ) extraction methods for the recovery of oil and phenolic compounds from O. stricta seeds. The oil yield of both extracts was then compared and the polyphenol content and composition of both extracts were determined by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Additionally, antioxidant (DPPH assay) and antimicrobial activities (disc diffusion method) of O. stricta seed oils were determined. The oil yield (based on Soxhlet's method) of O. stricta seeds was determined using SC-CO 2 (49.9 ± 2.2%), and hexane (49.0 ± 1.5%). Although obtaining similar oil extraction yields using the two methods, the extracted oil using SC-CO 2 was more enriched in polyphenols (172.2 ± 11.9 µg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) g -1 oil) than that extracted using hexane (76.0 ± 6.9 µg GAE g -1 of oil). Polyphenol profiles showed that the SC-CO 2 process led to the yield of more compounds (45) than that using hexane extraction (11). Moreover, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of SC-CO 2 extract showed a high percentage of inhibition. SC-CO 2 extraction of O. stricta seed oil led to extraction of oil with a similar yield to that with hexane extraction, but with higher polyphenol content. The extract containing polyphenols exhibited high antioxidant and antibacterial properties, demonstrating their great potential as feedstock for high-oil quality. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of

Color-Based Image Retrieval from High-Similarity Image Databases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Michael Adsetts Edberg; Carstensen, Jens Michael

2003-01-01

Many image classification problems can fruitfully be thought of as image retrieval in a "high similarity image database" (HSID) characterized by being tuned towards a specific application and having a high degree of visual similarity between entries that should be distinguished. We introduce...... a method for HSID retrieval using a similarity measure based on a linear combination of Jeffreys-Matusita (JM) distances between distributions of color (and color derivatives) estimated from a set of automatically extracted image regions. The weight coefficients are estimated based on optimal retrieval...... performance. Experimental results on the difficult task of visually identifying clones of fungal colonies grown in a petri dish and categorization of pelts show a high retrieval accuracy of the method when combined with standardized sample preparation and image acquisition....

Insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of bulb extracts of Allium sativum.

Science.gov (United States)

Meriga, Balaji; Mopuri, Ramgopal; MuraliKrishna, T

2012-05-01

To evaluate the insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of bulb extracts of Allium sativum (A. sativum). Dried bulbs of A. sativum were extracted with different solvents and evaluated for insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Aqueous and methanol extracts showed highest insecticidal activity (mortality rate of 81% and 64% respectively) against the larvae of Spodoptera litura (S. litura) at a concentration of 1 000 ppm. With regard to antimicrobial activity, aqueous extract exhibited antibacterial activity against gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureu,) and gram negative (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia) strains and antifungal activity against Candida albicans. While methanol extract showed antimicrobial activity against all the tested micro organisms except two (Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans), the extracts of hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate did not show any anti microbial activity. Minimum inhibitory concentration of aqueous and methanol extracts against tested bacterial and fungal strains was 100-150 μg/mL. Antioxidant activity of the bulb extracts was evaluated in terms of inhibition of free radicals by 2, 2'-diphenly-1-picrylhydrazyl. Aqueous and methanol extracts exhibited strong antioxidant activity (80%-90% of the standard). Antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of A. sativum against the tested organisms therefore, provides scientific basis for its utilization in traditional and folk medicine. Also, our results demonstrated the insecticidal efficacy of A. sativum against S. litura, a polyphagous insect. Copyright © 2012 Hainan Medical College. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of urinary excretion of cortisol by radioimmunoassay through two methods (extracted and non-extracted)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fonte Kohek, M.B. da.

1992-01-01

The radioimmunoassay of urinary cortisol extracted by organic solvent (free cortisol) has been used for along time in the hypercortisolism diagnosis. With the development of more specific antisera it became possible to measure urinary cortisol without extracting it. The objective of this paper is to compare the feasibility, sensitivity and specificity of both methods (extracted versus non-extracted) in the hypercortisolism diagnosis. It was used Gamma Coat 125 I - cortisol kit provided by Clinical Assay, Incstar, US, for both methods extracting it with methylene chloride in order to measure the extracted cortisol. The sensitivity of the methods were similar (100% and 98,1%, for non-extracted and extracted methods, respectively). A positive correlation between the two methods was noticed in all groups studied (p < 0.05). It was concluded that both methods are efficient for the investigation of hypercortisolism. However, it's suggested that non-extracted urinary cortisol measurement should be the method of choice since it's an easy-to-perform and affordable method to diagnose Cushing's syndrome. (author)

Extraction, Scrub, and Strip Test Results for the Salt Waste Processing Facility Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Solvent Sample

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, T. B. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2017-10-06

An Extraction, Scrub, and Strip (ESS) test was performed on a sample of Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) solvent and salt simulant to determine cesium distribution ratios (D(_Cs)), and cesium concentration in the strip effluent (SE) and decontaminated salt solution (DSS) streams; this data will be used by Parsons to help determine if the solvent is qualified for use at the SWPF. The ESS test showed acceptable performance of the solvent for extraction, scrub, and strip operations. The extraction D(_Cs) measured 12.5, exceeding the required value of 8. This value is consistent with results from previous ESS tests using similar solvent formulations. Similarly, scrub and strip cesium distribution ratios fell within acceptable ranges. This revision was created to correct an error. The previous revision used an incorrect set of temperature correction coefficients which resulted in slight deviations from the correct D(_Cs) results.

Discrimination? - Exhibition of posters

OpenAIRE

Jakimovska, Jana

2017-01-01

Participation in the exhibition with the students form the Art Academy. The exhibition consisted of 15 posters tackling the subjects of hate speech and discrimination. The exhibition happened thanks to the invitation of the Faculty of Law at UGD, and it was a part of a larger event of launching books on the aforementioned subjects.

EXHIBITION: Accelerated Particles

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

http://www.cern.ch/cern50/ An exhibition of plastic arts and two evenings of performances by sound and visual artists as part of CERN's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The fiftieth anniversary of a world famous organization like CERN, an international laboratory specializing in fundamental research, is a cause for celebration. Since March this year, Geneva and neighbouring parts of France have been the venues for a wealth of small and large-scale events, which will continue until November. Given CERN's location in the commune of Meyrin, the ForuMeyrin is hosting two "salons" consisting of an exhibition of plastic arts and evenings of music and visual arts performances with the collective title of "Accelerated Particles". Several works will be exhibited and performed. Salon des matières: An exhibition of plastic arts Until Wednesday 3 November 2004. Tuesdays to Fridays: 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Saturdays: 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. Doors open late on the evening of the performances. Salon des ...

Exhibiting the Human/Exhibiting the Cyborg: “Who Am I?”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophia C. Vackimes

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The role of the museum in shaping our relationship to science and technology, particularly cyborgization, is illuminated by a close examination of the Who Am I permanent exhibition in the Wellcome Wing of the Science Museum of London. This innovative exhibition raises real questions both about the human-technology-science relationship but also about museography. In the context of the history and current practices of museums engaging contemporary technological developments the evidence suggest that even as the Who am I? exhibit did break somewhat from previous approaches, especially the didactic presentation of the socially useful, it has not changed the feld as a whole.

Effect of leaf extract of Azadirachta indica and plant ash on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Seedlings of Vigna unguiculata L. Walp attacked by the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus were treated with water extracts of fresh leaves of Azadirachta indica A. Juss and plant ash separately. The extract was found to exhibit an insecticidal effect. It has an antifeedant and growth regulating effects on the pulse beetle.

Understanding disciplinary vocabularies using a full-text enabled domain-independent term extraction approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Erjia; Williams, Jake; Chen, Zheng

2017-01-01

Publication metadata help deliver rich analyses of scholarly communication. However, research concepts and ideas are more effectively expressed through unstructured fields such as full texts. Thus, the goals of this paper are to employ a full-text enabled method to extract terms relevant to disciplinary vocabularies, and through them, to understand the relationships between disciplines. This paper uses an efficient, domain-independent term extraction method to extract disciplinary vocabularies from a large multidisciplinary corpus of PLoS ONE publications. It finds a power-law pattern in the frequency distributions of terms present in each discipline, indicating a semantic richness potentially sufficient for further study and advanced analysis. The salient relationships amongst these vocabularies become apparent in application of a principal component analysis. For example, Mathematics and Computer and Information Sciences were found to have similar vocabulary use patterns along with Engineering and Physics; while Chemistry and the Social Sciences were found to exhibit contrasting vocabulary use patterns along with the Earth Sciences and Chemistry. These results have implications to studies of scholarly communication as scholars attempt to identify the epistemological cultures of disciplines, and as a full text-based methodology could lead to machine learning applications in the automated classification of scholarly work according to disciplinary vocabularies.

Application of an imaging system to a museum exhibition for developing interactive exhibitions

Science.gov (United States)

Miyata, Kimiyoshi; Inoue, Yuka; Takiguchi, Takahiro; Tsumura, Norimichi; Nakaguchi, Toshiya; Miyake, Yoichi

2009-10-01

In the National Museum of Japanese History, 215,759 artifacts are stored and used for research and exhibitions. In museums, due to the limitation of space in the galleries, a guidance system is required to satisfy visitors' needs and to enhance their understanding of the artifacts. We introduce one exhibition using imaging technology to improve visitors' understanding of a kimono (traditional Japanese clothing) exhibition. In the imaging technology introduced, one data projector, one display with touch panel interface, and magnifiers were used as exhibition tools together with a real kimono. The validity of this exhibition method was confirmed by results from a visitors' interview survey. Second, to further develop the interactive guidance system, an augmented reality system that consisted of cooperation between the projector and a digital video camera was also examined. A white paper board in the observer's hand was used as a projection screen and also as an interface to control the images projected on the board. The basic performance of the proposed system was confirmed; however continuous development was necessary for applying the system to actual exhibitions.

Screening antimicrobial activity of various extracts of Urtica dioica.

Science.gov (United States)

Modarresi-Chahardehi, Amir; Ibrahim, Darah; Fariza-Sulaiman, Shaida; Mousavi, Leila

2012-12-01

Urtica dioica or stinging nettle is traditionally used as an herbal medicine in Western Asia. The current study represents the investigation of antimicrobial activity of U. dioica from nine crude extracts that were prepared using different organic solvents, obtained from two extraction methods: the Soxhlet extractor (Method I), which included the use of four solvents with ethyl acetate and hexane, or the sequential partitions (Method II) with a five solvent system (butanol). The antibacterial and antifungal activities of crude extracts were tested against 28 bacteria, three yeast strains and seven fungal isolates by the disc diffusion and broth dilution methods. Amoxicillin was used as positive control for bacteria strains, vancomycin for Streptococcus sp., miconazole nitrate (30 microg/mL) as positive control for fungi and yeast, and pure methanol (v/v) as negative control. The disc diffusion assay was used to determine the sensitivity of the samples, whilst the broth dilution method was used for the determination of the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC). The ethyl acetate and hexane extract from extraction method I (EA I and HE I) exhibited highest inhibition against some pathogenic bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, MRSA and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A selection of extracts that showed some activity was further tested for the MIC and minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC). MIC values of Bacillus subtilis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using butanol extract of extraction method II (BE II) were 8.33 and 16.33mg/mL, respectively; while the MIC value using ethyl acetate extract of extraction method II (EAE II) for Vibrio parahaemolyticus was 0.13mg/mL. Our study showed that 47.06% of extracts inhibited Gram-negative (8 out of 17), and 63.63% of extracts also inhibited Gram-positive bacteria (7 out of 11); besides, statistically the frequency of antimicrobial activity was 13.45% (35 out of 342) which in this among 21.71% belongs to

Screening antimicrobial activity of various extracts of Urtica dioica

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Amir Modarresi-Chahardehi

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Urtica dioica or stinging nettle is traditionally used as an herbal medicine in Western Asia. The current study represents the investigation of antimicrobial activity of U. dioica from nine crude extracts that were prepared using different organic solvents, obtained from two extraction methods: the Soxhlet extractor (Method I, which included the use of four solvents with ethyl acetate and hexane, or the sequential partitions (Method II with a five solvent system (butanol. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of crude extracts were tested against 28 bacteria, three yeast strains and seven fungal isolates by the disc diffusion and broth dilution methods. Amoxicillin was used as positive control for bacteria strains, vancomycin for Streptococcus sp., miconazole nitrate (30µg/mL as positive control for fungi and yeast, and pure methanol (v/v as negative control. The disc diffusion assay was used to determine the sensitivity of the samples, whilst the broth dilution method was used for the determination of the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC. The ethyl acetate and hexane extract from extraction method I (EA I and HE I exhibited highest inhibition against some pathogenic bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, MRSA and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A selection of extracts that showed some activity was further tested for the MIC and minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC. MIC values of Bacillus subtilis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA using butanol extract of extraction method II (BE II were 8.33 and 16.33mg/mL, respectively; while the MIC value using ethyl acetate extract of extraction method II (EAE II for Vibrio parahaemolyticus was 0.13mg/mL. Our study showed that 47.06% of extracts inhibited Gram-negative (8 out of 17, and 63.63% of extracts also inhibited Gram-positive bacteria (7 out of 11; besides, statistically the frequency of antimicrobial activity was 13.45% (35 out of 342 which in this among 21.71% belongs to

Relationship between swelling and irradiation creep in cold-worked PCA stainless steel irradiated to similar 178 dpa at similar 400 C

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toloczko, M.B.; Garner, F.A.

1994-01-01

The eighth and final irradiation segment for pressurized tubes constructed from the fusion Prime Candidate Alloy (PCA) has been completed in FFTF. At 178 dpa and similar 400 C, the irradiation creep of 20% cold-worked PCA has become dominated by the ''creep disappearance'' phenomenon. The total diametral deformation rate has reached the limiting value of 0.33%/dpa at the three highest stress levels employed in this test. The stress-enhancement of swelling tends to camouflage the onset of creep disappearance, however, requiring the use of several non-traditional techniques to extract the creep coefficients. No failures occurred in these tubes, even though the swelling ranged from similar 20 to 40%. ((orig.))

Relationship between swelling and irradiation creep in cold-worked PCA stainless steel irradiated to similar 178 dpa at similar 400 C

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toloczko, M.B. (Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)); Garner, F.A. (Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States))

1994-09-01

The eighth and final irradiation segment for pressurized tubes constructed from the fusion Prime Candidate Alloy (PCA) has been completed in FFTF. At 178 dpa and similar 400 C, the irradiation creep of 20% cold-worked PCA has become dominated by the creep disappearance'' phenomenon. The total diametral deformation rate has reached the limiting value of 0.33%/dpa at the three highest stress levels employed in this test. The stress-enhancement of swelling tends to camouflage the onset of creep disappearance, however, requiring the use of several non-traditional techniques to extract the creep coefficients. No failures occurred in these tubes, even though the swelling ranged from similar 20 to 40%. ((orig.))

Mixing compatibilities of Aspergillus and American cockroach allergens with other high-protease fungal and insect extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Grier, Thomas J; Hall, Dawn M; Duncan, Elizabeth A; Coyne, Terrance C

2015-03-01

Recent studies have shown that Alternaria and German cockroach allergens can be degraded by endogenous proteases from other insect and fungal extracts when combined for immunotherapy, but data supporting the compatibilities of other high-protease products in comparable mixtures have not been reported. To assess the stabilities and compatibilities of Aspergillus fumigatus and American cockroach allergens after mixing with protease-rich extracts from other insects or fungi at concentrations similar to those recommended for subcutaneous immunotherapy. Mixtures containing A fumigatus, American cockroach, and other fungal or insect extracts were evaluated by quantitative (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays) and qualitative (immunoblotting) methods. Test mixtures and control samples at 10% to 50% glycerin concentrations were analyzed after storage for up to 12 months at 2°C to 8°C. Moderate to high recoveries of Aspergillus extract activities were retained in control samples and extract mixtures under all conditions examined. American cockroach extract controls were partly degraded at 10% to 25% glycerin, and cockroach allergen compatibilities were decreased significantly in mixtures with several fungal extracts at 25% glycerin. Mixing with other insects did not compromise the stability of American cockroach allergens at 25% to 50% glycerin. Aspergillus extracts exhibited favorable stabilities after mixing with other high-protease products. American cockroach extract potencies were unstable in less than 50% glycerin, even in the absence of other protease-containing allergens, and were destabilized in mixtures with several fungal extracts. Addition of fungal and insect extracts to separate treatment vials or preparation of fungal-insect mixtures at elevated glycerin concentrations might be necessary to produce compatible patient formulations for allergen immunotherapy injections. Copyright © 2015 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier

Topical Formulation Comprising Fatty Acid Extract from Cod Liver Oil: Development, Evaluation and Stability Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ilievska, Biljana; Loftsson, Thorsteinn; Hjalmarsdottir, Martha Asdis; Asgrimsdottir, Gudrun Marta

2016-06-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a pharmaceutical formulation containing fatty acid extract rich in free omega-3 fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid for topical use. Although the health benefits of cod liver oil and other fish oils taken orally as a dietary supplement have been acknowledged and exploited, it is clear that their use can be extended further to cover their antibacterial properties. In vitro evaluation showed that 20% (v/v) fatty acid extract exhibits good activity against strains of the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptoccoccus pyogenes and Streptoccoccus pneumonia. Therefore, free polyunsaturated fatty acids from cod liver oil or other fish oils can be used as safe and natural antibacterial agents. In this study, ointment compositions containing free fatty acids as active antibacterial agents were prepared by using various natural waxes and characterized. The effects of different waxes, such as carnauba wax, ozokerite wax, laurel wax, beeswax, rice bran wax, candelilla wax and microcrystalline wax, in the concentration range of 1% to 5% (w/w) on the ointment texture, consistency and stability were evaluated. The results showed significant variations in texture, sensory and rheological profiles. This was attributed to the wax's nature and chain composition. Microcrystalline wax gave the best results but laurel wax, beeswax and rice bran wax exhibited excellent texturing, similar sensory profiles and well-balanced rheological properties.

Exhibition; Image display agency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Normazlin Ismail

2008-01-01

This article touches on the role of Malaysian Nuclear Agency as nuclear research institutions to promote, develop and encourage the peaceful uses of nuclear technology in its agricultural, medical, manufacturing, industrial, health and environment for the development of the country running successfully. Maturity of Malaysian Nuclear Agency in dealing with nuclear technology that are very competitive and globalization cannot be denied. On this basis Malaysian Nuclear Agency was given the responsibility to strengthen the nuclear technology in Malaysia. One way is through an exhibition featuring the research, discoveries and new technology products of the nuclear technology. Through this exhibition is to promote the nuclear technology and introduce the image of the agency in the public eye. This article also states a number of exhibits entered by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency and achievements during the last exhibition. Authors hope that the exhibition can be intensified further in the future.

Improvement of Soybean Oil Solvent Extraction through Enzymatic Pretreatment

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F. V. Grasso

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to evaluate multienzyme hydrolysis as a pretreatment option to improve soybean oil solvent extraction and its eventual adaptation to conventional processes. Enzymatic action causes the degradation of the cell structures that contain oil. Improvements in terms of extraction, yield, and extraction rate are expected to be achieved. Soybean flakes and collets were used as materials and hexane was used as a solvent. Temperature, pH, and incubation time were optimized and diffusion coefficients were estimated for each solid. Extractions were carried out in a column, oil content was determined according to time, and a mathematical model was developed to describe the system. The optimum conditions obtained were pH 5.4, 38°C, and 9.7 h, and pH 5.8, 44°C, and 5.8h of treatment for flakes and collets, respectively. Hydrolyzed solids exhibited a higher yield. Diffusion coefficients were estimated between 10-11 and 10-10. The highest diffusion coefficient was obtained for hydrolyzed collets. 0.73 g oil/mL and 0.7 g oil/mL were obtained at 240 s in a column for collets and flakes, respectively. Hydrolyzed solids exhibited a higher yield. The enzymatic incubation accelerates the extraction rate and allows for higher yield. The proposed model proved to be appropriate.

Gait Recognition Using Image Self-Similarity

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Chiraz BenAbdelkader

2004-04-01

Full Text Available Gait is one of the few biometrics that can be measured at a distance, and is hence useful for passive surveillance as well as biometric applications. Gait recognition research is still at its infancy, however, and we have yet to solve the fundamental issue of finding gait features which at once have sufficient discrimination power and can be extracted robustly and accurately from low-resolution video. This paper describes a novel gait recognition technique based on the image self-similarity of a walking person. We contend that the similarity plot encodes a projection of gait dynamics. It is also correspondence-free, robust to segmentation noise, and works well with low-resolution video. The method is tested on multiple data sets of varying sizes and degrees of difficulty. Performance is best for fronto-parallel viewpoints, whereby a recognition rate of 98% is achieved for a data set of 6 people, and 70% for a data set of 54 people.

Isolation and pharmacological characterization of fatty acids from saw palmetto extract.

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, Masayuki; Ito, Yoshihiko; Suzuki, Asahi; Onoue, Satomi; Noguchi, Hiroshi; Yamada, Shizuo

2009-04-01

Saw palmetto extract (SPE) has been widely used for the treatment of lower urinary-tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia. The mechanisms of pharmacological effects of SPE include the inhibition of 5alpha-reductase, anti-androgenic effects, anti-proliferative effects, and anti-inflammatory effects. Previously, we showed that SPE bound actively to alpha(1)-adrenergic, muscarinic and 1,4-dihydropyridine calcium channel (1,4-DHP) receptors in the prostate and bladder of rats, whereas its active constituents have not been fully clarified. The present investigation is aimed to identify the main active components contained in hexane and diethyl ether extracts of SPE with the use of column chromatography and preparative HPLC. Based on the binding activity with alpha(1)-adrenergic, muscarinic, and 1,4-DHP receptors, both isolated oleic and lauric acids were deduced to be active components. Authentic samples of oleic and lauric acids also exhibited similar binding activities to these receptors as the fatty acids isolated from SPE, consistent with our findings. In addition, oleic and lauric acids inhibited 5alpha-reductase, possibly leading to therapeutic effects against benign prostatic hyperplasia and related lower urinary-tract symptoms.

Multidimensional Scaling Visualization using Parametric Similarity Indices

OpenAIRE

Machado, J. A. Tenreiro; Lopes, António M.; Galhano, A.M.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we apply multidimensional scaling (MDS) and parametric similarity indices (PSI) in the analysis of complex systems (CS). Each CS is viewed as a dynamical system, exhibiting an output time-series to be interpreted as a manifestation of its behavior. We start by adopting a sliding window to sample the original data into several consecutive time periods. Second, we define a given PSI for tracking pieces of data. We then compare the windows for different values of the parameter, an...

Bioactivity of Neem (Azadirachta indica) callus extract

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, I.M.

2008-04-01

This study was conducted in order to explore the possibility of utilizing plant tissue culture techniques for production of secondary metabolites from callus culture of Azadirachta indica (Neem) and to investigate the bioactivity of the established callus extract in comparison with the extract from the intact leaves. The presence of secondary metabolites in the extracts was detected by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). Both the callus and leaf extracts eluted five fraction of compounds and it were observed that callus extract had a good resolution. various extract concentration (5.10. and 20 mg/ml) were determined for the rate and extent of inhibition kinetics against staphylococcus aureus. Escherichia coli, and candida albicans. Results showed that callus extract of A. indica wiped out all viable cells of C. albicans within 18 hours and the subsequent concentration 5 and 10 mg/ m1 retard the growth after 24 h. A higher concentration of 20 mg/ ml had the same effect on S. aureus after 6 h and the E. coli cells were completely inhibited by the extracts after 24 h. Similar kinetics were showed by leaf extract but in slight rate as compared to the callus extract. In general both extract posses antimicrobial activity with notable efficient rates. For assaying of the inhibitory effect on some phyto pathogens the effect of different concentrations of the callus and leaf extracts on the radial growth of Drechslera rostrata. Fusarium oxysporum and Alterneria alternata were in vitro assessed. Obvious inhibitory effect was observed on the mycelia radial growth of the three treated fungi. The level of inhibition increased with the increase of te extract concentration. The maximum inhibitory effect (84%) was recorded with Drechslera rostrata when inoculated in media contain 20 mg/ ml of callus while the inhibition rate of mycelia growth of the same species reaches 61% when inoculated in a medium contain the same concentration of the neem leaf extract. The subsequent

Selected Enzyme Inhibitory Effects of Euphorbia characias Extracts

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Antonella Fais

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Extracts of aerial part of Euphorbia characias were examined to check potential inhibitors for three selected enzymes involved in several metabolic disorders. Water and ethanol extracts from leaves and flowers showed in vitro inhibitory activity toward α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and xanthine oxidase. IC50 values were calculated for all the extracts and the ethanolic extracts were found to exert the best effect. In particular, for the α-glucosidase activity, the extracts resulted to be 100-fold more active than the standard inhibitor. The inhibition mode was investigated by Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis. E. characias extracts display different inhibition behaviors toward the three enzymes acting as uncompetitive, noncompetitive, and mixed-type inhibitors. Moreover, ethanolic extracts of E. characias showed no cytotoxic activity and exhibited antioxidant capacity in a cellular model. The LC-DAD metabolic profile was also performed and it showed that leaves and flowers extracts contain high levels of quercetin derivatives. The results suggest that E. characias could be a promising source of natural inhibitors of the enzymes involved in carbohydrate uptake disorders and oxidative stress.

Common neighbour structure and similarity intensity in complex networks

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Lei; Liu, Kecheng

2017-10-01

Complex systems as networks always exhibit strong regularities, implying underlying mechanisms governing their evolution. In addition to the degree preference, the similarity has been argued to be another driver for networks. Assuming a network is randomly organised without similarity preference, the present paper studies the expected number of common neighbours between vertices. A symmetrical similarity index is accordingly developed by removing such expected number from the observed common neighbours. The developed index can not only describe the similarities between vertices, but also the dissimilarities. We further apply the proposed index to measure of the influence of similarity on the wring patterns of networks. Fifteen empirical networks as well as artificial networks are examined in terms of similarity intensity and degree heterogeneity. Results on real networks indicate that, social networks are strongly governed by the similarity as well as the degree preference, while the biological networks and infrastructure networks show no apparent similarity governance. Particularly, classical network models, such as the Barabási-Albert model, the Erdös-Rényi model and the Ring Lattice, cannot well describe the social networks in terms of the degree heterogeneity and similarity intensity. The findings may shed some light on the modelling and link prediction of different classes of networks.

Antimicrobial activity of Hibiscus sabdariffa aqueous extracts against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus in a microbiological medium and milk of various fat concentrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Higginbotham, Kristen L; Burris, Kellie P; Zivanovic, Svetlana; Davidson, P Michael; Stewart, C Neal

2014-02-01

Hibiscus sabdariffa L. calyces are widely used in the preparation of beverages. The calyces contain compounds that exhibit antimicrobial activity, yet little research has been conducted on their possible use in food systems as antimicrobials. Aqueous extracts prepared from the brand "Mi Costenita" were sterilized by membrane filtration (0.22-μm pore size) or autoclaving (121 °C, 30 min) and tested for antimicrobial activity against the foodborne pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains ATCC 43894 and Cider and Staphylococcus aureus strains SA113 and ATCC 27708 in a microbiological medium and ultrahigh-temperature-processed milk with various fat percentages. Extracts heated by autoclaving exhibited greater activity than did filtered extracts in a microbiological medium. Against E. coli, results of 20 mg/ml filtered extract were not different from those of the control, whereas autoclaved extracts reduced viable cells ca. 3 to 4 log CFU/ml. At 60 mg/ml, both extracts inactivated cells after 24 h. There were reduced populations of both strains of S. aureus (ca. 2.7 and 3 log CFU/ml, respectively) after 24 h of incubation in 40 mg/ml filtered extracts. When grown in autoclaved extracts at 40 mg/ml, both strains of S. aureus were inactivated after 9 h. Autoclaved extracts had decreased anthocyanin content (2.63 mg/liter) compared with filtered extracts (14.27 mg/liter), whereas the phenolic content (48.7 and 53.8 mg/g) remained similar for both treatments. Autoclaved extracts were then tested for activity in milk at various fat concentrations (skim [3.25%]) against a 1:1 mixture of the two strains of E. coli O157:H7 and a 1:1 mixture of the two strains of S. aureus. Extracts at 40 mg/ml inactivated S. aureus after 168 h in skim and whole milk, and E. coli was inactivated after 96 h in 60 mg/ml extract in all fat levels. These findings show the potential use of Hibiscus extracts to prevent the growth of pathogens in foods and beverages.

Comparison of continuously acquired resting state and extracted analogues from active tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganger, Sebastian; Hahn, Andreas; Küblböck, Martin; Kranz, Georg S; Spies, Marie; Vanicek, Thomas; Seiger, René; Sladky, Ronald; Windischberger, Christian; Kasper, Siegfried; Lanzenberger, Rupert

2015-10-01

Functional connectivity analysis of brain networks has become an important tool for investigation of human brain function. Although functional connectivity computations are usually based on resting-state data, the application to task-specific fMRI has received growing attention. Three major methods for extraction of resting-state data from task-related signal have been proposed (1) usage of unmanipulated task data for functional connectivity; (2) regression against task effects, subsequently using the residuals; and (3) concatenation of baseline blocks located in-between task blocks. Despite widespread application in current research, consensus on which method best resembles resting-state seems to be missing. We, therefore, evaluated these techniques in a sample of 26 healthy controls measured at 7 Tesla. In addition to continuous resting-state, two different task paradigms were assessed (emotion discrimination and right finger-tapping) and five well-described networks were analyzed (default mode, thalamus, cuneus, sensorimotor, and auditory). Investigating the similarity to continuous resting-state (Dice, Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), R(2) ) showed that regression against task effects yields functional connectivity networks most alike to resting-state. However, all methods exhibited significant differences when compared to continuous resting-state and similarity metrics were lower than test-retest of two resting-state scans. Omitting global signal regression did not change these findings. Visually, the networks are highly similar, but through further investigation marked differences can be found. Therefore, our data does not support referring to resting-state when extracting signals from task designs, although functional connectivity computed from task-specific data may indeed yield interesting information. © 2015 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Discrimination and similarity evaluation of tissue-cultured and wild Dendrobium species using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Nai-dong; Chen, Han; Li, Jun; Sang, Mang-mang; Ding, Shen; Yu, Hao

2015-04-01

The FTIR method was applied to evaluate the similarity of tissue-cultured and wild Dendrobium huoshanense C.Z. Tang et S.J. Cheng, Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo and Dendrobium moniliforme (Linn.) Sw and discriminate different Dendrobium species, especially D. huoshanense and its main goldbrick Dendrobium henanense J.L. Lu et L.X. Gao. Despite the general pattern of the IR spectra, different intensities, shapes and peak positions were found in the IR spectra of these samples, especially in the range of 1800-600 cm-1, which could be used to discriminate them. The methanol, aqueous extracting procedure and the second derivative transformation obviously enlarged the tiny spectral differences among these samples. The similarity evaluation based on the IR spectra and the second derivative IR spectrum revealed that the similarity of the methanol extracts between tissue-cultured and wild Dendrobiums might be lower than that between different Dendrobium species. The similarities of the powders and aqueous extracts between tissue-cultured and wild Dendrobiums were higher than those between different Dendrobium species. The further principal component analysis showed that the first three components explained 99.7%, 87.7% and 85.1% of data variance for powder, methanol extract and aqueous extract, respectively, demonstrating a good discrimination between samples. Our research suggested that the variations of secondary metabolites between different origins of the investigated Dendrobiums might be higher than what we had supposed. Tissue culture techniques were widely used in the conversation of rare and endangered medicinal amedica, however, our study suggested that the chemical constituents of tissue-cultured plants might be quite different from their wild correspondences.

Prostaglandin E 2 (PgE 2 ) Inhibition By Crude Extracts Of Selected ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was undertaken to assess anti-inflammatory activity of crude extracts of Cassine transvaalensis Burtt-Davy, Clerodendrum uncinatum Schinz and Commiphora glandulosa Schinz using COX inhibition assay. Water extract of C. transvaalensis root bark (125mg/ml) exhibited a (90%) PGE2 inhibition in ...

Self-similar structure in the distribution and density of the partition function zeros

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, M.-C.; Luo, Y.-P.; Liaw, T.-M.

2003-01-01

Based on the knowledge of the partition function zeros for the cell-decorated triangular Ising model, we analyze the similar structures contained in the distribution pattern and density function of the zeros. The two own the same symmetries, and the arising of the similar structure in the road toward the infinite decoration-level is exhibited explicitly. The distinct features of the formation of the self-similar structure revealed from this model may be quite general

Evaluation of urinary cortisol excretion by radioimmunoassay through two methods (extracted and non-extracted)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fonte Kohek, M.B. da; Mendonca, B.B. de; Nicolau, W.

1993-01-01

The objective of this paper is to compare the feasibility, sensitivity and specificity of both methods (extracted versus non-extracted) in the hypercortisolism diagnosis. It used Gamma Coat 125 cortisol Kit provided by Clinical Assays, Incstar, USA, for both methods extracting it with methylene chloride in order to measure the extracted cortisol. It was performed 32 assays from which it was obtained from 0.1 to 0.47 u g/d l of sensitivity. The intra-run precision was varied from 8.29 +- 3.38% and 8.19 +-4.72% for high and low levels, respectively for non-extracted cortisol, and 9.72 +- 1.94% and 9.54 +- 44% for high and low levels, respectively, for extracted cortisol. The inter-run precision was 15.98% and 16.15% for high level of non-extracted cortisol, respectively. For the low level it obtained 17.25% and 18.59% for non-extracted and extracted cortisol respectively. It was evaluated 24-hour urine basal samples from 43 normal subjects, and 53 obese (body mass index > 30) and 53 Cushing's syndrome patients. The sensitivity of the methods were similar (100% and 98.1% for non-extracted and extracted methods, respectively) and the specificity was the same for both methods (100%). It was noticed a positive correlation between the two methods in all the groups studied (p s syndrome. (author)

Alcoholic Extract of Eclipta alba Shows In Vitro Antioxidant and Anticancer Activity without Exhibiting Toxicological Effects

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Navneet Kumar Yadav

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As per WHO estimates, 80% of people around the world use medicinal plants for the cure and prevention of various diseases including cancer owing to their easy availability and cost effectiveness. Eclipta alba has long been used in Ayurveda to treat liver diseases, eye ailments, and hair related disorders. The promising medicinal value of E. alba prompted us to study the antioxidant, nontoxic, and anticancer potential of its alcoholic extract. In the current study, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic and antioxidant effect of the alcoholic extract of Eclipta alba (AEEA in multiple cancer cell lines along with control. We have also evaluated its effect on different in vivo toxicity parameters. Here, we found that AEEA was found to be most active in most of the cancer cell lines but it significantly induced apoptosis in human breast cancer cell lines by disrupting mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA damage. Moreover, AEEA treatment inhibited migration in both MCF 7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose dependent manner. Further, AEEA possesses robust in vitro antioxidant activity along with high total phenolic and flavonoid contents. In summary, our results indicate that Eclipta alba has enormous potential in complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of cancer.

New microwave-integrated Soxhlet extraction. An advantageous tool for the extraction of lipids from food products.

Science.gov (United States)

Virot, Matthieu; Tomao, Valérie; Colnagui, Giulio; Visinoni, Franco; Chemat, Farid

2007-12-07

A new process of Soxhlet extraction assisted by microwave was designed and developed. The process is performed in four steps, which ensures complete, rapid and accurate extraction of the samples. A second-order central composite design (CCD) has been used to investigate the performance of the new device. The results provided by analysis of variance and Pareto chart, indicated that the extraction time was the most important factor followed by the leaching time. The response surface methodology allowed us to determine optimal conditions for olive oil extraction: 13 min of extraction time, 17 min of leaching time, and 720 W of irradiation power. The proposed process is suitable for lipids determination from food. Microwave-integrated Soxhlet (MIS) extraction has been compared with a conventional technique, Soxhlet extraction, for the extraction of oil from olives (Aglandau, Vaucluse, France). The oils extracted by MIS for 32 min were quantitatively (yield) and qualitatively (fatty acid composition) similar to those obtained by conventional Soxhlet extraction for 8 h. MIS is a green technology and appears as a good alternative for the extraction of fat and oils from food products.

Crude extract and purified components isolated from the stems of Tinospora crispa exhibit positive inotropic effects on the isolated left atrium of rats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Praman, Siwaporn; Mulvany, Michael J.; Williams, David E.

2013-01-01

-butanol soluble material was concentrated and dried under reduced pressure and lyophilized to obtain a crude powder (Tinospora crispa extract). The active components of Tinospora crispa extract were separated by column chromatography and preparative HPLC. The effects and mechanisms of the n-butanol extract...

Antioxidant and Anti-quorum Sensing Potential of Acer monspessulanum subsp. monspessulanum Extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Ceylan, Ozgur; Sahin, Mehtap Donmez; Akdamar, Gultekin

2016-10-01

In this study, anti-quorum sensing, and antioxidant activities, and chemical composition of Acer monspessulanum subsp. monspessulanum extracts were evaluated. Determination of the antioxidant activity was revealed by DPPH radical scavenging activity, the total phenolic content assay, and the β -carotene/linoleic acid assay. The detection of phenolic compounds was determined using RP-HPLC. Anti-quorum sensing activity and violacein inhibition activity were determined using Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and C. violaceum ATCC 112 472, respectively. The determination of anti-swarming activity was carried out with Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01. In DPPH and total phenolic content assays, the water extract exhibited good antioxidant activity. In the β -carotene-linoleic acid assay, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts exhibited good lipid peroxidation inhibition activity, demonstrating 96.95 ± 0.03 % and 95.35 ± 0.00 % at 2.5 mg/mL concentrations, respectively. The predominant phenolic compounds of the extracts were determined as rutin, naringin, catechin hydrate, quercetin, and protocatechuic acid. Ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts were found to contain a high level of violacein inhibition and anti-quorum sensing activity. The ethanol extract also showed weak anti-swarming activity. In this first study that used Acer monspessulanum subsp. monspessulanum extracts, it was revealed that the water extract has antioxidant activity and the ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts have anti-quorum sensing activity depending on the phenolic compounds that it contained. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Oriented Growth of α-MnO₂ Nanorods Using Natural Extracts from Grape Stems and Apple Peels.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez-Botero, Lina; Herrera, Adriana P; Hinestroza, Juan P

2017-05-22

We report on the synthesis of alpha manganese dioxide (α-MnO₂) nanorods using natural extracts from Vitis vinifera grape stems and Malus domestica 'Cortland' apple peels. We used a two-step method to produce highly crystalline α-MnO₂ nanorods: (1) reduction of KMnO₄ in the presence of natural extracts to initiate the nucleation process; and (2) a thermal treatment to enable further solid-state growth of the nuclei. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images provided direct evidence of the morphology of the nanorods and these images were used to propose nucleation and growth mechanisms. We found that the α-MnO₂ nanorods synthesized using natural extracts exhibit structural and magnetic properties similar to those of nanoparticles synthesized via traditional chemical routes. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) shows that the particle growth of the α-MnO₂ nanorods appears to be controlled by the presence of natural capping agents during the thermal treatment. We also evaluated the catalytic activity of the nanorods in the degradation of aqueous solutions of indigo carmine dye, highlighting the potential use of these materials to clean dye-polluted water.

Considerations on a new fast extraction kicker concept for SPS

CERN Document Server

Barnes, M

2010-01-01

An alternative extraction kicker concept is investigated for the SPS, based on open C-type kickers and a fast-bumper system. The beam is moved into the kicker gap some tens of ms before extraction. The concept is illustrated in detail with the LSS4 extraction from the SPS – very similar parameters and considerations apply to LSS6. A similar concept could also be conceived for injection but is more difficult due to the larger beam size. The technical issues are presented and the potential impact on the machine impedance outlined.

The Impact of Similarity-Based Interference in Processing Wh-Questions in Aphasia

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Shannon Mackenzie

2014-04-01

than subject-extracted questions because the former are in non-canonical word order. Finally, the Intervener hypothesis suggests that only object-extracted Which-questions should be problematic, particularly for those participants with language disorders (e.g., Friedmann & Novogrodsky, 2011. An intervener is an NP that has similar properties to other NPs in the sentence, and thus results in similarity-based interference. Only object-extracted Which-questions contain an intervener (e.g., the fireman in (2b, which interferes with the chain consisting of the displaced Which-phrase, Which mailman, and its direct object gap occurring after the verb. Briefly here, only the Intervener Hypothesis was supported by our rich data set, and this was observed unambiguously for our participants with Broca’s aphasia. As an example (see Figure 1, we observed significantly greater proportion of gazes to the incorrect referent (i.e., the intervening NP in the object-extracted Which- relative to Who-questions beginning in the Verb-gap time window and extending throughout the remainder of the sentence and into the response period following the sentence. These patterns indicate lasting similarity-based interference effects during real-time sentence processing. The implications of our findings to extant accounts of sentence processing disruptions will be discussed, including accounts that root sentence comprehension impairments to memory-based interference.

Similar judgment method of brain neural pathway using DT-MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watashiba, Yasuhiro; Sakamoto, Naohisa; Sakai, Koji; Koyamada, Koji; Kanazawa, Masanori; Doi, Akio

2008-01-01

Nowadays, the visualization of brain neural pathway extracted by the tractography technology is thought as a useful effective tool for the detection of involved area and the analysis of sick cause by comparison of difference of normal and patient's nerve fiber configurations and for the support of the surgery planning and the forecast of progress after an operation. So far, for the observation of the brain neural pathway, the method of the user's subjectively judging the 3D shape of them displayed in the image has been used. However, in this kind of subjective observation, verification of the propriety for the diagnostic result is difficult, in addition it cannot obtain sufficient reliability. Therefore, we think that the system to compare the shape based on a quantitative evaluation is necessary. To resolve this problem, we propose the system that enables the shape of the brain neural pathway extracted by the tractography technology to be compared quantitatively. The proposed system realized to calculate similarity between two neural pathways, and to display the difference area according to the similarity. (author)

Estimating the extractability of potentially toxic metals in urban soils: A comparison of several extracting solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madrid, F.; Reinoso, R.; Florido, M.C.; Diaz Barrientos, E.; Ajmone-Marsan, F.; Davidson, C.M.; Madrid, L.

2007-01-01

Metals released by the extraction with aqua regia, EDTA, dilute HCl and sequential extraction (SE) by the BCR protocol were studied in urban soils of Sevilla, Torino, and Glasgow. By multivariate analysis, the amounts of Cu, Pb and Zn liberated by any method were statistically associated with one another, whereas other metals were not. The mean amounts of all metals extracted by HCl and by SE were well correlated, but SE was clearly underestimated by HCl. Individual data for Cu, Pb and Zn by both methods were correlated only if each city was considered separately. Other metals gave poorer relationships. Similar conclusions were reached comparing EDTA and HCl, with much lower values for EDTA. Dilute HCl extraction cannot thus be recommended for general use as alternative to BCR SE in urban soils. - Dilute HCl extraction is tested as an alternative to the BCR sequential extraction in urban soils

Comparative central effects of the aqueous leaf extract of two populations of Passiflora edulis

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Adriana S.F.S.J. Ayres

Full Text Available ABSTRACTPassiflora edulis Sims, Passifloraceae, has been used in Brazilian traditional folk medicine to the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. P. edulis is commonly known for its economic interests in Brazil. This species exhibits significant variability in the fruit rind color, then two subpopulations has been described (P. edulis fo. flavicarpa O. Deg. (PEF; P. edulis fo. edulis (PEE. This study compared phytochemical profile and biological actions of aqueous leaf extract of PEE and PEF. HPLC analysis showed marked distinct chromatograms to the P. edulisvarieties. However, in both extracts the major compounds observed were flavonoids C-glycosides. Behavioral studies showed that PEE (300 mg/kg, p.o. and PEF (100 and 300 mg/kg, p.o. reduced anxiety in the elevated plus maze test. PEE (300 and 1000 mg/kg, p.o. and PEF (1000 mg/kg, p.o. also induced antidepressant-like actions in the forced swimming test. PEE 1000 mg/kg significantly reduced distance moved, thus suggesting sedation. No alterations in sleeping time were observed with PEE and PEF extracts. In conclusion, despite the similarities between the biological actions observed for both P. edulis varieties, quite different phytochemical profile was herein reported. These data suggest that the anxiolytic and antidepressant actions are not due to a specific phytochemical component.

TOTAL PHENOLIC CONTENT, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE EXTRACT OF EPHEDRA PROCERA FISCH. ET MEY.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehkordi, Naser Vahed; Kachouie, Mehrdad Ataie; Pirbalouti, Abdollah Ghasemi; Malekpoor, Fatemeh; Rabei, Mohammad

2015-01-01

Ephedra prcera belonging to the family Ephedraceae is a poison and medicinal plant. The main aim of present study was to determine total phenolic content and antioxidant and antibacterial activities of ethanolic extract from the aerial parts of E. procera collected from a natural habitat in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province, Southwestern Iran. The total phenolic content of the extract by Folin-Ciocalteu method and the antioxidant activity using DPPH assay were determined. The antibacterial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extract were evaluated against five bacteria, including Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enteobacter aeogenes, Bacillus ceirus and Staphylococcus aureus. Total phenolic content in the extract of E. procera was 0.718 mg tannic acid/g dry weight extract. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of E. piocera exhibited radical scavenging activity. In addition, the results of this study confirmed that the ethanolic extract of E. procera exhibited antibacterial activity. In conclusion, the extract of E. piocera could be an important source of phenolic components with antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity.

Method of gentle extraction and subsequent concentration at low temperature of natural compounds in the extract from plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Norddahl, Birgir; Christensen, Knud Villy

2007-01-01

A unit performing a simple and effective way to extract active phytochemicals from the plant specimens has been developed. The unit is mobile enabling operation near the place of collection of plant specimens reducing waste of potential valuable phytochemicals. The design is based on counter...... as solid/liquid extraction is developed on the basis similar to sugar extraction from sugar beets, albeit in a much more compact form. The equipment has been tested on extraction of ethereal oils from dried, stored oregano and extraction of natural compounds from freshly harvested Artemesia with 96% Et......OH as the solvent. Preliminary results from a continuous oregano extraction show efficiency between 55% and 85% of a more ideal laboratory batch extraction of a marker compound like carvacrol, which is most abundant in the ethereal oil. The operation can be repeated with another liquid in order to extract compounds...

Comparative Antibacterial Efficacy of Vitellaria paradoxa (Shea Butter Tree Extracts Against Some Clinical Bacterial Isolates

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Kamoldeen Abiodun AJIJOLAKEWU

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The antibacterial activities of the ethanolic extracts of seed, leaf and stem bark of Vitellaria paradoxa were investigated. The extracts were tested against three clinical bacterial pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae using the agar diffusion and the broth dilution techniques. Ethanolic extracts of the plant parts showed activity against all the bacterial pathogens tested. At the highest extract concentration (200 mg/ml, the leaf extract exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity, while no activity was detected at the lowest concentration (3.13 mg/ml against the tested isolates. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were more susceptible to all extracts of V. paradoxa, while Klebsiella pneumoniae showed the least sensitivity. The efficacy of ethanolic extracts of Vitellaria paradoxa was compared to a commercial antibiotic streptomycin. There were differences in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC of all the Vitellaria paradoxa ethanolic extracts with respect to the type of organism. All extracts exhibited bacteriostatic effects against the tested organisms at the experimented concentrations. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the extracts revealed the presence of saponins, tannins and alkaloids as the active principles of Vitellaria paradoxa's antimicrobial activity. V. paradoxa could be used as a potential source of antibiotic substance for a drug development.

Extractability of Lanthanoids(III) into Solvents Contributing to Environmental Protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Y.; Hara, M.

1999-01-01

To perform effective mutual separation of lanthanoids(III) by solvent extraction with avoiding several problems caused by diffusion of organic solvents into air and into water , into commercial available mixed solvents, aliphatic and aromatic solvents consisting of carbon number of 9 to 12, which have high flash points, the extraction of lanthanoid(III) thiocyanates with trioctylphosphine oxide has been measured and the equilibrium constants have been determined across lanthanoid series. Then the extraction constants were compared with those of single solvents, hexane and benzene , widely being used as solvents for liquid-liquid extraction. The extraction constants obtained for the aliphatic mixed solvents are very similar to those for hexane across lanthanoid series. The variation of the constants for aromatic mixed solvents is also similar to that for benzene. The pattern of the variation of the distribution ratio under a constant condition across the series is similar to each other, either using the aliphatic solvents or using aromatic ones, except for in the middle of the series. Accordingly, the use of the high molecular weight mixed aromatic solvents would be recommendable as organic solvents in the mutual separation of lanthanoids from the point of view of safety for fire and health for the people handling the extraction

Extraction kinetics of uranium (VI) with polyurethane foam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Ting-Chia; Chen, Dong-Hwang; Huang, Shius-Dong; Huang, Ching-Tsven; Shieh, Mu-Chang.

1993-01-01

The extraction kinetics of uranium(VI) from aqueous nitrate solution with polyether-based polyurethane foam was investigated in a batch reactor with automatic squeezing. The extraction curves of uranium(VI) concentration in solution vs. extraction time exhibited a rather rapid exponential decay within the first few minutes, followed by a slower exponential decay during the remaining period. This phenomenon can be attributed to the presence of two-phase structure, hard segment domains and soft segment matrix in the polyurethane foam. A two-stage rate model expressed by a superposition of two exponential curves was proposed, according to which the experimental data were fitted by an optimization method. The extraction rate of uranium (VI) was also found to increase with increasing temperature, nitrate concentration, and hydration of the cation of nitrate salt. (author)

Antiviral Activity of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Skin Extract Against Human Influenza Viruses.

Science.gov (United States)

Makau, Juliann Nzembi; Watanabe, Ken; Mohammed, Magdy M D; Nishida, Noriyuki

2018-05-30

The high propensity of influenza viruses to develop resistance to antiviral drugs necessitates the continuing search for new therapeutics. Peanut skins, which are low-value byproducts of the peanut industry, are known to contain high levels of polyphenols. In this study, we investigated the antiviral activity of ethanol extracts of peanut skins against various influenza viruses using cell-based assays. Extracts with a higher polyphenol content exhibited higher antiviral activities, suggesting that the active components are the polyphenols. An extract prepared from roasted peanut skins effectively inhibited the replication of influenza virus A/WSN/33 with a half maximal inhibitory concentration of 1.3 μg/mL. Plaque assay results suggested that the extract inhibits the early replication stages of the influenza virus. It demonstrated activity against both influenza type A and type B viruses. Notably, the extract exhibited a potent activity against a clinical isolate of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which had reduced sensitivity to oseltamivir. Moreover, a combination of peanut skin extract with the anti-influenza drugs, oseltamivir and amantadine, synergistically increased their antiviral activity. These data demonstrate the potential application of peanut skin extract in the development of new therapeutic options for influenza management.

The Influence of pH of Extracting Water on the Composition of Seaweed Extracts and Their Beneficial Properties on Lepidium sativum.

Science.gov (United States)

Godlewska, Katarzyna; Michalak, Izabela; Tuhy, Łukasz; Chojnacka, Katarzyna

2017-01-01

Baltic seaweeds were used to obtain aqueous extracts (E) through changing initial pH of deionised water added to algal biomass (EpH3·H 2 O, EpH7·H 2 O, and EpH10·H 2 O) and through changing pH of the mixture of algae and deionised water (EpH3, EpH7, and EpH10). Algal extracts were characterized in terms of the concentration of polyphenols and micro- and macroelements. The highest concentration of polyphenols was determined in extract EpH3 and the lowest in extract EpH10·H 2 O. It was found that the obtained extracts had similar concentrations of elements (except EpH3). The phytotoxicity of algal extracts (0.5, 2.5, and 10%) was examined in the germination tests on Lepidium sativum . No phytotoxic effects were observed. It was found that they had beneficial effects on the cultivated plants (length and weight). The best biostimulant effect was observed in the groups treated with EpH3 (2.5%), EpH7 (2.5%), and EpH7 (10%). The dry weight of plants was similar in all the groups. Algal extract also improved the multielemental composition of plant. The greatest concentration of total chlorophyll in plants was obtained by using extract EpH10·H 2 O, 0.5%. These results proved that algal extracts have high potential to be applied in cultivation of plants.

Antimicrobial effects of herbal extracts on Streptococcus mutans and normal oral streptococci.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sung-Hoon

2013-08-01

Streptococcus mutans is associated with dental caries. A cariogenic biofilm, in particular, has been studied extensively for its role in the formation of dental caries. Herbal extracts such as Cudrania tricuspidata, Sophora flavescens, Ginkgo biloba, and Betula Schmidtii have been used as a folk remedy for treating diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the antibacterial activity of herbal extracts against normal oral streptococci, planktonic and biofilm of S. mutans. Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus sanguinis, and S. mutans were cultivated with brain heart infusion broth and susceptibility assay for the herbal extracts was performed according to the protocol of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. Also, S. mutans biofilm was formed on a polystyrene 12-well plate and 8-well chamber glass slip using BHI broth containing 2% sucrose and 1% mannose after conditioning the plate and the glass slip with unstimulated saliva. The biofilm was treated with the herbal extracts in various concentrations and inoculated on Mitis-Salivarius bacitracin agar plate for enumeration of viable S. mutans by counting colony forming units. Planktonic S. mutans showed susceptibility to all of the extracts and S. mutans biofilm exhibited the highest level of sensitivity for the extracts of S. flavescens. The normal oral streptococci exhibited a weak susceptibility in comparison to S. mutans. S. oralis, however, was resistant to all of the extracts. In conclusion, the extract of S. flavescens may be a potential candidate for prevention and management of dental caries.

Synsepalum dulcificum extracts exhibit cytotoxic activity on human colorectal cancer cells and upregulate c-fos and c-jun early apoptotic gene expression

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Jichang Seong

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To explore cytotoxicity of Synsepalum dulcificum (S. dulcificum Daniell (Sapotaceae on human colon cancer (HCT-116 and HT-29, human monocytic leukemia (THP-1 and normal (HDFn cell lines, and its effect on the expression of early apoptotic genes, c-fos and c-jun. Methods: Leaf, stem and berry of S. dulcificum were separately extracted by using 2 solvents, 10% ethanol (EtOH and 80% methanol (MeOH. PrestoBlue® cell viability assay and qRT-PCR assay were conducted to examine the above objectives respectively. Results: Stem MeOH, stem EtOH, and berry EtOH extracts of S. dulcificum were cytotoxic to HCT-116 and HT-29 human colon cancer cells. For HCT-116, IC50 values of these 3 extracts were not significantly different (P>0.05 from that of the positive control bleomycin (IC50 of 33.57 μg/mL, while for HT-29, IC50 values of these 3 extracts were significantly lower (P<0.05 than that of bleomycin (IC50 of 25.24 μg/mL. None of the extracts were cytotoxic to the THP-1 monocytic leukemia cells and HDFn normal human dermal fibroblasts. For both HCT-116 and HT-29, these extracts significantly up-regulated (P<0.05 the expression of c-fos and c-jun compared to the untreated negative control. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that cytotoxicity of stem MeOH, stem EtOH, and berry EtOH extracts of S. dulcificum on HCT-116 and HT-29 colon cancer cells is due to the induced apoptosis which is caused by the up-regulation of the expression of early apoptotic genes, c-fos and c-jun.

Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from young barley leaves

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Tian; Zhang, Min; Fang, Zhongxiang; Zhong, Qifeng

2017-01-01

A central composite design combined with response surface methodology was utilized to optimise microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from young barley leaves. The results showed that using water as solvent, the optimum conditions of microwave-assisted extraction were extracted twice at 1.27 W g-1 microwave power and liquid-solid ratio 34.02 ml g-1 for 11.12 min. The maximum extraction yield of flavonoids (rutin equivalents) was 80.78±0.52%. Compared with conventional extraction method, the microwave-assisted extraction was more efficient as the extraction time was only 6.18% of conventional extraction, but the extraction yield of flavonoids was increased by 5.47%. The main flavonoid components from the young barley leaf extract were probably 33.36% of isoorientin-7-O-glueoside and 54.17% of isovitexin-7-O-glucoside, based on the HPLC-MS analysis. The barley leaf extract exhibited strong reducing power as well as the DPPH radical scavenging capacity.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF OILS EXTRACTED BY TRADITIONAL AND HEXANE METHODS FROM TERMINALIA CATAPPA L. KERNELS

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Bérenger A. L. Ladele

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The comparative study of physico-chemical characteristics of Terminalia catappa L. kernel oils extracted by two methods has been done. The oil yields were 28.13 % and 61.78 % respectively for traditional and hexane methods and the fatty acid profiles showed palmitic acid (40.79 % and 40.03 % respectively oleic acid (25.55 % and 26.09 % respectively, linoleic acid (26.72 % and 26.64 % respectively and stearic acid (4.35 % and 4.49 % respectively as major components. The oils extracted by the two ways showed similar physico-chemical properties, good calorific values and non-toxicity against Artemia salina L. Oil obtained by traditional method exhibited more antioxidant capacity (1.40 than the hexane one (0.15. This traditional method helps to extract 45 % of the total oil. It gives oil free of organic solvent, with good physico-chemical properties that could be useful as edible oil and for industrial applications.

Influence of extractable soil manganese on oxidation capacity of different soils in Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Chon, Chul-Min; Kim, Jae Gon; Lee, Gyoo Ho; Kim, Tack Hyun

2008-08-01

We examined the relationship between soil oxidation capacity and extractable soil manganese, iron oxides, and other soil properties. The Korean soils examined in this study exhibited low to medium Cr oxidation capacities, oxidizing 0.00-0.47 mmol/kg, except for TG-4 soils, which had the highest capacity for oxidizing added Cr(III) [>1.01 mmol/kg of oxidized Cr(VI)]. TG and US soils, with high Mn contents, had relatively high oxidation capacities. The Mn amounts extracted by dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate (DCB) (Mnd), NH2OH·HCl (Mnh), and hydroquinone (Mnr) were generally very similar, except for the YS1 soils, and were well correlated. Only small proportions of either total Mn or DCB-extractable Mn were extracted by NH2OH·HCl and hydroquinone in the YS1 soils, suggesting inclusion of NH2OH·HCl and hydroquinone-resistant Mn oxides, because these extractants are weaker reductants than DCB. No Cr oxidation test results were closely related to total Mn concentrations, but Mnd, Mnh, and Mnr showed a relatively high correlation with the Cr tests ( r = 0.655-0.851; P Mnh were better correlated with the Cr oxidation tests than was the Mnr concentration, suggesting that the oxidation capacity of our soil samples can be better explained by Mnd and Mnh than by Mnr. The first component in principal components analysis indicated that extractable soil Mn was a main factor controlling net Cr oxidation in the soils. Total soil Mn, Fe oxides, and the clay fraction are crucial for predicting the mobility of pollutants and heavy metals in soils. The second principal component indicated that the presence of Fe oxides in soils had a significant relationship with the clay fraction and total Mn oxide, and was also related to heavy-metal concentrations (Zn, Cd, and Cu, but not Pb).

The World of Virtual Exhibitions

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Irena Eiselt

2013-09-01

Full Text Available EXTENDED ABSTRACTSpecial collections of the National and University Library (NUK hide a lot of items of precious value. The Slovenian cultural heritage is stored on paper or on other media as a part of the library’s Manuscripts, Incunabula and Rare Books Collection, Old Prints Collection, Maps and Pictorial Collection, Music Collection, Ephemera Collection, Serials Collection, and Slovenian Diaspora Publications Collection. Only a small part of the treasures is temporary revealed to the public on special exhibitions. The idea of virtual exhibitions of library treasures was born in 2005. The library aimed to exhibit precious items of special collections of high historical or artistic value. In 2008 the first two virtual exhibitions were created in-house offering access to the rich collections of old postcards of Ljubljana at the beginning of 20th century kept in the Maps and Pictorial Collection of NUK. They were soon followed by other virtual exhibitions. At the beginning they were organised in the same way as physical exhibitions, afterwards different programs were used for creation of special effects (for ex. 3D wall. About two years ago it was decided that the creation of virtual exhibitions will be simplified. Files of digitised and borndigital library materials in jpg format are imported to MS PowerPoint 2010. Each jpg file is now formatted by adding a frame, a description … to the slides which are saved as jpg files. The last step is the import of jpg files into Cooliris application used for NUK web exhibitions. In the paper the virtual exhibition design and creation, the technical point of view and criteria for the selection of exhibition content are explained following the example of the virtual exhibitions the Old Postcards of Ljubljana, Photo Ateliers in Slovenia, a collection of photographs Four Seasons by Fran Krašovec and photos of Post-Earthquake Ljubljana in 1895.

Analgesic effects of an ethanol extract of the fruits of Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal A. Rich (Annonaceae and the major constituent, xylopic acid in murine models

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Eric Woode

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Fruit extracts of Xylopia aethiopica are used traditionally in the management of pain disorders including rheumatism, headache, colic pain, and neuralgia. Little pharmacological data exists in scientific literature of the effect of the fruit extract and its major diterpene, xylopic acid, on pain. The present study evaluated the analgesic properties of the ethanol extract of X. aethiopica (XAE and xylopic acid (XA, in murine models. Materials and Methods: XAE and XA were assessed in chemical (acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing and formalin tests, thermal (Tail-flick and Hargreaves thermal hyperalgesia tests, and mechanical (Randall-Selitto paw pressure test pain models. Results: XAE and XA exhibited significant analgesic activity in all the pain models used. XAE (30-300 mg kg -1 , p.o. and XA (10-100 mg kg -1 , p.o. inhibited acetic acid-induced visceral nociception, formalin- induced paw pain (both neurogenic and inflammatory, thermal pain as well as carrageenan-induced mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia in animals. Morphine (1-10 mg kg -1 , i.p. and diclofenac (1-10 mg kg -1 , i.p., used as controls, exhibited similar anti-nociceptive activities. XAE and XA did not induce tolerance to their respective anti-nociceptive effects in the formalin test after chronic administration. Morphine tolerance did not also cross-generalize to the analgesic effects of XAE or XA. Conclusions: These findings establish the analgesic properties of the ethanol fruit extract of X. aethiopica and its major diterpene, xylopic acid.

Perception of similarity: a model for social network dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Javarone, Marco Alberto; Armano, Giuliano

2013-01-01

Some properties of social networks (e.g., the mixing patterns and the community structure) appear deeply influenced by the individual perception of people. In this work we map behaviors by considering similarity and popularity of people, also assuming that each person has his/her proper perception and interpretation of similarity. Although investigated in different ways (depending on the specific scientific framework), from a computational perspective similarity is typically calculated as a distance measure. In accordance with this view, to represent social network dynamics we developed an agent-based model on top of a hyperbolic space on which individual distance measures are calculated. Simulations, performed in accordance with the proposed model, generate small-world networks that exhibit a community structure. We deem this model to be valuable for analyzing the relevant properties of real social networks. (paper)

Herbicidal effects of aqueous extracts of three Chenopodium ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jane

2011-04-07

Apr 7, 2011 ... root extract of Sorghum halepense stimulated seedling shoot length of Parthenium hysterophorus. Similar effects of the aqueous extracts of Inula grantioides Boiss. and. Capsicum annuum L. on seedling growth of test species have also been demonstrated against various test species by Shaukat et al.

Flotation extraction of tributyl phosphate from s olutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skrylev, L.D.; Tkachenko, N.V.; Sazonova, V.F.

1983-01-01

Results of investigations, conducted for revealing the possibility of flotation extraction of emulsificated and actually dissolved extractants, tributyl phosphate (TBP) in particular, are given. The possibility of flotation extraction of emulsificated and actually dissolved TBP by its non-reagent flotation was established experimeptally. It was also established that the kinetics of flotation TBP extraction is described by the equation, similar to the reaction equation of the first order. The process of non-reagent TBP flotation proceeds most successfully in pH=6.5-7.5 range

Evaluation of Bifenthrin and Acorus calamus Linn. Extract against Aedes aegypti L. and Aedes albopictus (Skuse

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S Sulaiman

2008-12-01

Full Text Available "nBackground: Bifenthrin and Acorus calamus Linn extract were evaluated against dengue vectors in the laboratory."nMethods: Both Bifenthrin and Acorus calamus Linn crude hexane extract were bioassayed against the adults and larval stages of dengue vectors Aedes aegypti L. and Aedes albopictus(Skuse in the laboratory."nResults: The A. calamus crude hexane extract exhibited a larvicidal activity against 4th-instar Ae. aegypti larvae with LC50 and LC90 values of 0.4418 and 11.3935 ppm respectively. The plant crude extract exhibited against Ae. albopictus larvae with a higher LC50 and LC90 values of 21.2555 ppm and 36.1061 ppm, respectively. There was a significant difference on the effect of A. calamus extract on both Aedes spp. Larvae (P< 0.05. However, bifenthrin showed a significant difference on larvicidal effect to that of A. calamus hexane extract on both Aedes spp (P< 0.05. In testing the adulticidal activity, this plant extract exhibited the LC50 and LC90 values of 17.4075 and 252.9458 ppm against Ae .aegypti and a higher LC50 and LC90 values of 43.9952 and 446.1365 ppm respectively on Ae. albopictus. There was no significant difference on the effect of A. calamus extract on both Aedes spp adults (P> 0.05."nConclusion: Bifenthrin however showed a significant difference on both Aedes spp adults (P< 0.05. With the wide availability of A. calamus in Malaysia, it could be utilized for controlling dengue vectors. "n 

Exhibition at the AAA library

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2013-01-01

Sonnesgade 11 The exhibition at the AAA library presents selected work produced by students prior to the exhibition of installations in project and praxis constructing an archive at Sonnesgade 11. The exhibition at Sonnesgade 11 was the culmination of collaboration with SLETH architects and studio...

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Stevia leaves extracts

Science.gov (United States)

Laguta, Iryna; Stavinskaya, Oksana; Kazakova, Olga; Fesenko, Tetiana; Brychka, Sergey

2018-02-01

Three extracts of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) were prepared using different types of raw materials: leaves of plants grown ex situ, leaves of plants grown in vitro, callus culture formed on damaged leaves. Composition of the extracts was studied by means of high-performance liquid chromatography and laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry; total phenol content was estimated using Folin-Ciocalteau method. Flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acids were found to be the main groups of phenol antioxidants available in the Stevia leaves, with the amount of these compounds in the extract being dependent on the type of raw material. The reducing properties of phenol compounds identified in the extracts were characterized using quantum chemical method; flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acids were found to have similar redox parameters. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) colloids were synthesized using three Stevia extracts; AgNPs size distribution were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy. All the extracts revealed significant activity in AgNPs synthesis; the nanoparticles of predominantly spherical shape with the average sizes of 16-25 nm were formed. The reducing properties of the extracts were found to correlate with total phenol content; the activity of extracts from the leaves of plants grown ex situ and from callus culture in Ag+ ions reduction was similar to each other and exceeded the activity of extract from the leaves of plants grown in vitro.

Water extracts from winery by-products as tobacco defense inducers.

Science.gov (United States)

Benouaret, Razik; Goujon, Eric; Trivella, Aurélien; Richard, Claire; Ledoigt, Gérard; Joubert, Jean-Marie; Mery-Bernardon, Aude; Goupil, Pascale

2014-10-01

Water extracts from winery by-products exhibited significant plant defense inducer properties. Experiments were conducted on three marc extracts containing various amounts of polyphenols and anthocyanins. Infiltration of red, white and seed grape marc extracts into tobacco leaves induced hypersensitive reaction-like lesions with cell death evidenced by Evans Blue staining. The infiltration zones and the surrounding areas revealed accumulation of autofluorescent compounds under UV light. Leaf infiltration of the three winery by-product extracts induced defense gene expression. The antimicrobial PR1, β-1,3-glucanase PR2, and chitinase PR3 target genes were upregulated locally in tobacco plants following grape marc extract treatments. The osmotin PR5 transcripts accumulated as well in red marc extract treated-tobacco leaves. Overall, the winery by-product extracts elicited an array of plant defense responses making the grape residues a potential use of high value compounds.

Kinetic of liquid-liquid extraction for uranyl nitrate and actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates by amide extractants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toulemonde, V.; CEA Centre d'Etudes de la Vallee du Rhone, 30 -Marcoule

1995-01-01

The kinetics of liquid-liquid extraction by amide extractants have been investigated for uranyl nitrate (monoamide extractants), actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates (diamide extractants). The transfer of the metallic species from the aqueous phase to the organic phase was studied using two experimental devices: ARMOLLEX (Argonne Modified Lewis cell for Liquid Liquid Extraction) and RSC (Rotating Stabilized Cell). The main conclusions are: for the extraction of uranyl nitrate by DEHDMBA monoamide, the rate-controlling step is the complexation of the species at the interface of the two liquids. Thus, an absorption-desorption (according to Langmuir theory) reaction mechanism was proposed; for the extraction of actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates in nitric acid media by DMDBTDMA diamide, the kinetic is also limited by interfacial reactions. The behavior of Americium and Europium is very similar as fare as their reaction kinetics are concerned. (author)

Efficiency of Methanolic Extract of Gamma Irradiated Parsley as Antioxidant and Antimicrobial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdeldaiem, M.H.; Ali, H.G.M.; Mohamed, E.A.

2011-01-01

Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of methanolic extract of gamma irradiated parsley (Petroselinum crispum) at dose levels of 3, 6 and 9 kGy were determined, and the composition of methanolic extracts of non-irradiated and irradiated parsley were identified by GC-MS. The results showed that the methanolic extracts of non-irradiated and irradiated parsley had higher contents of total phenolic compounds and exhibited antioxidant of DPPH radical scavenging activity. Based on these results, the methanolic extracts of irradiated parsley at 6 kGy were selected for their higher activity as antioxidant as compared to other samples owing to their high content of total phenolic compounds and scavenging effect on DPPH radical. The analysis by GC-MS led to the identification of 23 and 24 components for non-irradiated and irradiated samples at 6 kGy, respectively. The main compound of the methanolic extract of non-irradiated parsley was acetic acid ethyl ester (28.5%). Meanwhile, the main compound of irradiated parsley at 6 kGy methanolic extract was phenol,2-methoxy-3(27.3 %). The antibacterial effect of methanolic extract of non-irradiated and irradiated parsley and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were assayed. The methanolic extract of irradiated parsley (6 kGy) was generally more effective against tested bacterial strains than the extract of non-irradiated parsley. The study exhibited that gram- negative bacteria under study were more sensitive than gram-positive one. The MIC values of tested bacteria of the methanolic extract of irradiated parsley (6 kGy) were in the range 4 to 20 μg/ml. It could be concluded that the methanolic extract of parsley can be used in food industry as natural food additive and in particular that extract from irradiated parsley at 6 kGy

Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

Science.gov (United States)

Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

2018-06-01

The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

Semantic Similarity between Web Documents Using Ontology

Science.gov (United States)

Chahal, Poonam; Singh Tomer, Manjeet; Kumar, Suresh

2018-03-01

The World Wide Web is the source of information available in the structure of interlinked web pages. However, the procedure of extracting significant information with the assistance of search engine is incredibly critical. This is for the reason that web information is written mainly by using natural language, and further available to individual human. Several efforts have been made in semantic similarity computation between documents using words, concepts and concepts relationship but still the outcome available are not as per the user requirements. This paper proposes a novel technique for computation of semantic similarity between documents that not only takes concepts available in documents but also relationships that are available between the concepts. In our approach documents are being processed by making ontology of the documents using base ontology and a dictionary containing concepts records. Each such record is made up of the probable words which represents a given concept. Finally, document ontology's are compared to find their semantic similarity by taking the relationships among concepts. Relevant concepts and relations between the concepts have been explored by capturing author and user intention. The proposed semantic analysis technique provides improved results as compared to the existing techniques.

Leishmanicidal and cytotoxic activity of extracts and saponins from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Results: Two saponins were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract. The ethyl acetate ... 57.7 ± 12.1 µg/mL). Saponin 2 exhibited high activity against intracellular amastigotes ..... implication, and technological consideration. J Food Sci. 2007 ...

Biogenic silver and gold nanoparticles synthesized using red ginseng root extract, and their applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Priyanka; Kim, Yeon Ju; Wang, Chao; Mathiyalagan, Ramya; El-Agamy Farh, Mohamed; Yang, Deok Chun

2016-05-01

In the present study, we report a green methodology for the synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles, using the root extract of the herbal medicinal plant Korean red ginseng. The silver and gold nanoparticles were synthesized within 1 h and 10 min respectively. The nanoparticles generated were not aggregated, and remained stable for a long time, which suggests the nature of nanoparticles. The phytochemicals and ginsenosides present in the root extract assist in reducing and stabilizing the synthesized nanoparticles. The red ginseng root extract-generated silver nanoparticles exhibit antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms including Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Candida albicans. In addition, the silver nanoparticles exhibit biofilm degrading activity against S. aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, the present study opens up a new possibility of synthesizing silver and gold nanoparticles in a green and rapid manner using Korean red ginseng root extract, and explores their biomedical applications.

Upcycling CERN Exhibitions

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2015-01-01

Summer is coming - and with it, a new Microcosm exhibition showcasing CERN (see here). But while the new exhibit is preparing to enchant visitors, many have been asking about the site's former content. Will it simply be out with the old and in with the new? Not as such!   The plasma ball from Microcosm is now on display at the LHCb site. As Microcosm's new content is moving in, its old content is moving up. From LHCb to IdeaSquare, former Microcosm displays and objects are being installed across the CERN site. "Microcosm featured many elements that were well suited to life outside of the exhibition," says Emma Sanders, Microcosm project leader in the EDU group. "We didn't want this popular content to go to waste, and so set out to find them new homes across CERN." The LHCb experiment has received a number of Microcosm favourites, including the Rutherford experiment, the cosmic ray display and the Thomson experiment. "We&...

TLC profiles and antibacterial activity of Glinus oppositifolius L. Aug. DC. (Molluginaceae leaf and stem extracts against bacterial pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juliana Janet R. Martin-Puzon

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: To determine the antibacterial activities and the thin-layer chromatography (TLC fingerprint profiles of leaf and stem extracts of Glinus oppositifolius L. Aug. DC (G. oppositifolius. Methods: The leaves and stems were extracted using chloroform, ethanol and methanol as solvents. The antibacterial activity of the extracts were evaluated through disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration and bactericidal concentration assays against methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, and metallo-β-lactamaseproducing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumanii (A. baumanii. The TLC separation was carried out on leaf and stem ethanol extracts in ethyl acetate: n-hexane solvent system. Distinct spots were examined under visible light, UV 254 nm, UV 366 nm and after spraying with vanillin-sulfuric acid. Results: The leaf extracts revealed antibacterial activities, inhibiting the growth of the nonresistant and multidrug-resistant strains of the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, P. aeruginosa and A. baumanii. The TLC fingerprint profiles demonstrated the presence of various phytochemicals in leaf and stem extracts. Leaf extracts exhibited more diverse constituents compared to stem extracts, but some constituents were similar in both plant parts. Conclusions: G. oppositifolius leaf extracts can be used as new, alternative sources of antimicrobials against non-resistant and multidrug-resistant strains of the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, P. aeruginosa and A. baumanii. The TLC profiles represent the chemical integrity of G. oppositifolius leaf and stem extracts which form an important and powerful tool for standardization, authentication, quality control and determination of bioactive components of G. oppositifolius in any formulation and in powder form.

Modeling of the Kinetics of Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Lipids from Microalgae with Emphasis on Extract Desorption

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Helena Sovová

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Microalgae contain valuable biologically active lipophilic substances such as omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoids. In contrast to the recovery of vegetable oils from seeds, where the extraction with supercritical CO2 is used as a mild and selective method, economically viable application of this method on similarly soluble oils from microalgae requires, in most cases, much higher pressure. This paper presents and verifies hypothesis that this difference is caused by high adsorption capacity of microalgae. Under the pressures usually applied in supercritical fluid extraction from plants, microalgae bind a large fraction of the extracted oil, while under extremely high CO2 pressures their adsorption capacity diminishes and the extraction rate depends on oil solubility in supercritical CO2. A mathematical model for the extraction from microalgae was derived and applied to literature data on the extraction kinetics in order to determine model parameters.

Cytotoxic activity of methanol extracts from Basidiomycete mushrooms on murine cancer cell lines.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomasi, S; Lohézic-Le Dévéhat, F; Sauleau, P; Bézivin, C; Boustie, J

2004-04-01

Crude methanol extracts of 58 mushroom species were screened for their cytotoxic activities against two murine cancer cell lines, L1210 and 3LL, using the tetrazolium assay. A majority of extracts (74%) exhibited IC50 > 100 microg/ml against both cell lines. A most marked activity against one of the cell lines was noted for nine species (14% of the tested species). While Amanitales and Russulales tested were not found active, Polyporales and Boletales gave better results. Four species exhibited a significant cytotoxic activity (IC50 Suillus granulatus, S. luteus). The last one had never been investigated for its cytotoxic compounds before.

Globe exhibit wins international acclaim

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2011-01-01

The Globe’s “Universe of Particles” exhibition has recently received four prestigious awards for its avant-garde design. This external praise is great encouragement for the CERN exhibitions currently on the drawing board.   The Universe of Particles exhibition has won 4 awards for its avant-garde design. Back in 2008, the design company Atelier Brückner was presented with a challenge: to design the layout of a new permanent exhibition for CERN, one that would epitomize both the Organization and its research. The brief was concise but complex: the exhibit had to be symbolic of the Organization, use modern technology, engage and immerse visitors, and, preferably, use touch-screen technology. With the help of IArt, an interactive technology firm, and based on the content provided by CERN’s Education Group, Atelier Brückner developed the “Universe of Particles” exhibit as it is today. Its principal concept centred on the s...

Similarity of fluctuations in correlated systems: The case of seismicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varotsos, P.A.; Sarlis, N.V.; Tanaka, H.K.; Skordas, E.S.

2005-01-01

We report a similarity of fluctuations in equilibrium critical phenomena and nonequilibrium systems, which is based on the concept of natural time. The worldwide seismicity as well as that of the San Andreas fault system and Japan are analyzed. An order parameter is chosen and its fluctuations relative to the standard deviation of the distribution are studied. We find that the scaled distributions fall on the same curve, which interestingly exhibits, over four orders of magnitude, features similar to those in several equilibrium critical phenomena (e.g., two-dimensional Ising model) as well as in nonequilibrium systems (e.g., three-dimensional turbulent flow)

ESIM: Edge Similarity for Screen Content Image Quality Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Zhangkai; Ma, Lin; Zeng, Huanqiang; Chen, Jing; Cai, Canhui; Ma, Kai-Kuang

2017-10-01

In this paper, an accurate full-reference image quality assessment (IQA) model developed for assessing screen content images (SCIs), called the edge similarity (ESIM), is proposed. It is inspired by the fact that the human visual system (HVS) is highly sensitive to edges that are often encountered in SCIs; therefore, essential edge features are extracted and exploited for conducting IQA for the SCIs. The key novelty of the proposed ESIM lies in the extraction and use of three salient edge features-i.e., edge contrast, edge width, and edge direction. The first two attributes are simultaneously generated from the input SCI based on a parametric edge model, while the last one is derived directly from the input SCI. The extraction of these three features will be performed for the reference SCI and the distorted SCI, individually. The degree of similarity measured for each above-mentioned edge attribute is then computed independently, followed by combining them together using our proposed edge-width pooling strategy to generate the final ESIM score. To conduct the performance evaluation of our proposed ESIM model, a new and the largest SCI database (denoted as SCID) is established in our work and made to the public for download. Our database contains 1800 distorted SCIs that are generated from 40 reference SCIs. For each SCI, nine distortion types are investigated, and five degradation levels are produced for each distortion type. Extensive simulation results have clearly shown that the proposed ESIM model is more consistent with the perception of the HVS on the evaluation of distorted SCIs than the multiple state-of-the-art IQA methods.

Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of acetonitrile and hexane extracts of Lentinus tigrinus and Pleurotus djamour

Science.gov (United States)

This paper highlighted the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Lentinus tigrinus and Pleurotus djamour. Extracts of mushroom fruiting bodies were obtained using hexane and acetonitrile solvents. Acetonitrile extracts of both mushrooms exhibited higher biological activities than hexane extrac...

Automatic Content Creation for Games to Train Students Distinguishing Similar Chinese Characters

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Kwong-Hung; Leung, Howard; Tang, Jeff K. T.

In learning Chinese, many students often have the problem of mixing up similar characters. This can cause misunderstanding and miscommunication in daily life. It is thus important for students learning the Chinese language to be able to distinguish similar characters and understand their proper usage. In this paper, we propose a game style framework in which the game content in identifying similar Chinese characters in idioms and words is created automatically. Our prior work on analyzing students’ Chinese handwriting can be applied in the similarity measure of Chinese characters. We extend this work by adding the component of radical extraction to speed up the search process. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more accurate and faster in finding more similar Chinese characters compared with the baseline method without considering the radical information.

Topical Formulation Comprising Fatty Acid Extract from Cod Liver Oil: Development, Evaluation and Stability Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Biljana Ilievska

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to develop a pharmaceutical formulation containing fatty acid extract rich in free omega-3 fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid for topical use. Although the health benefits of cod liver oil and other fish oils taken orally as a dietary supplement have been acknowledged and exploited, it is clear that their use can be extended further to cover their antibacterial properties. In vitro evaluation showed that 20% (v/v fatty acid extract exhibits good activity against strains of the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptoccoccus pyogenes and Streptoccoccus pneumonia. Therefore, free polyunsaturated fatty acids from cod liver oil or other fish oils can be used as safe and natural antibacterial agents. In this study, ointment compositions containing free fatty acids as active antibacterial agents were prepared by using various natural waxes and characterized. The effects of different waxes, such as carnauba wax, ozokerite wax, laurel wax, beeswax, rice bran wax, candelilla wax and microcrystalline wax, in the concentration range of 1% to 5% (w/w on the ointment texture, consistency and stability were evaluated. The results showed significant variations in texture, sensory and rheological profiles. This was attributed to the wax’s nature and chain composition. Microcrystalline wax gave the best results but laurel wax, beeswax and rice bran wax exhibited excellent texturing, similar sensory profiles and well-balanced rheological properties.

Phytochemicals Screening and In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Elaeis guineensis Leaves Extracts Against Human Pathogenic Bacteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noorshilawati Abdul Aziz; Umi Nadhirah Halim; Nur Suraya Abdullah

2015-01-01

Chloroform and methanol extracts of Elaeis guineensis leaves were investigated for in vitro antibacterial activity against the human pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Four different concentrations of both extracts consists of 50, 100, 200 and 300 mg/ ml were prepared for antibacterial activity using disc diffusion method. The results revealed that chloroform and methonal extract showed high toxicity against all bacterial strain tested. However, both extracts is more effective and exhibit better inhibiting activity against gram positive bacteria, S. aureus compared to gram negative bacteria (E. coli and P. aeruginosa). Methanol extract of Elaeis guineensis leaves shows greater inhibition zone compared to chloroform extract as phyto chemical screening revealed that this extracts contain terpenoids, tannins and saponin. The highest antibacterial activity was exhibited by 300 mg/ ml methanolic extracts against S. aureus which inhibited 10.67 ± 0.33 mm of the diameter zone. Followed by 200 mg/ ml methanolic extracts and 300 mg/ ml chloroform extracts against S. aureus which inhibited 9.17 ± 0.17 mm and 8.33 ± 1.67 mm respectively. This result revealed the potentials of Elaeis guineensis as antibacterial agent in combating infections from human pathogenic bacteria. However, further studies, including identification and purification of the active compounds, will need to be pursued. (author)

Cancer-suppressive potential of extracts of endemic plant Helichrysum zivojinii: effects on cell migration, invasion and angiogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Matić, Ivana Z; Aljancić, Ivana; Vajs, Vlatka; Jadranin, Milka; Gligorijević, Nevenka; Milosavljević, Slobodan; Juranić, Zorica D

2013-09-01

Helichrysum zivojinii Cernjavski & Soska is an endemic plant species that grows in the National Park Galicica in Macedonia. Five extracts were isolated as fractions from the aerial parts of the plant: a n-hexane extract (1), a dichloromethane extract (2), an ethyl-acetate extract (3), a n-butanol extract (4) and a methanol extract (5). A dose-dependent cytotoxic activity of the extracts on MDA-MB-231 and EA.hy926 cells was observed. Extracts exhibited more pronounced cytotoxic actions on MDA-MB-231 cells than on EA.hy926 cells. The n-hexane extract (1), at a non-toxic concentration, exhibited an inhibitory effect on the migration as well the invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 cells. The dichloromethane extract (2), at a non-toxic concentration, demonstrated inhibition of MDA-MB-231 cells invasion. Each of the five extracts applied at non-toxic concentrations inhibited migration of EA.hy926 cells. The prominent inhibitory effect of the n-hexane extract on EA.hy926 cells migration was associated with a notable anti-angiogenic action of this extract. The other four tested extracts demonstrated mild anti-angiogenic activity. Our data highlight the prominent anticancer potential of n-hexane (1) and dichloromethane (2) extracts, which could be attributed to their very pronounced and selective cytotoxic activities as well as their anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic properties.

Ge extraction from gasification fly ash

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oriol Font; Xavier Querol; Angel Lopez-Soler; Jose M. Chimenos; Ana I. Fernandez; Silvia Burgos; Francisco Garcia Pena [Institute of Earth Sciences ' Jaume Almera' , Barcelona (Spain)

2005-08-01

Water-soluble germanium species (GeS{sub 2}, GeS and hexagonal-GeO{sub 2}) are generated during coal gasification and retained in fly ash. This fact together with the high market value of this element and the relatively high contents in the fly ashes of the Puertollano Integrated Gasification in Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant directed our research towards the development of an extraction process for this element. Major objectives of this research was to find a low cost and environmentally suitable process. Several water based extraction tests were carried out using different Puertollano IGCC fly ash samples, under different temperatures, water/fly ash ratios, and extraction times. High Ge extraction yields (up to 84%) were obtained at room temperature (25{sup o}C) but also high proportions of other trace elements (impurities) were simultaneously extracted. Increasing the extraction temperature to 50, 90 and 150{sup o}C, Ge extraction yields were kept at similar levels, while reducing the content of impurities, the water/fly ash ratio and extraction time. The experimental data point out the influence of chloride, calcium and sulphide dissolutions on the Ge extraction. 16 refs., 9 figs., 6 tabs.

Egg extract of apple snail for eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their antibacterial activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Janthima, Ratima; Khamhaengpol, Arunrat; Siri, Sineenat

2018-03-01

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) provides the alternative method with cost effectiveness and the eco-friendly process by using natural biomolecules as reducing and stabilizing agents. Alternative to the most studies of plant extracts, this work demonstrated a use of egg extract of apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) for an eco-friendly production of AgNPs. The extract contained at least six proteins with the molecular weight in a range of 24-65 kDa that exhibited the reducing activity. The dispersive AgNPs were produced in the reaction containing only the extract and silver nitrate, as determined by the characteristic surface plasmon resonance peak of silver at 412 nm. The synthesized AgNPs were spherical with the average diameter of 9.0 ± 5.9 nm. The X-ray diffraction pattern and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analyses confirmed the face-cubic centre (fcc) unit cell structure of AgNPs. The synthesized AgNPs exhibited the antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Results of this work clearly showed the potential use of the egg extract of apple snail for a green synthesis of small size AgNPs exhibiting the antibacterial activity.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients exhibit impaired Candida albicans-specific Th17 responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishu, Shrinivas; Su, Ee Wern; Wilkerson, Erich R; Reckley, Kelly A; Jones, Donald M; McGeachy, Mandy J; Gaffen, Sarah L; Levesque, Marc C

2014-02-11

Accumulating data implicate the CD4+ T cell subset (Th17 cells) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IL-17 is an inflammatory cytokine that induces tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α, IL-1β and IL-6, all of which are targets of biologic therapies used to treat RA. RA patients are well documented to experience more infections than age-matched controls, and biologic therapies further increase the risk of infection. The Th17/IL-17 axis is vital for immunity to fungi, especially the commensal fungus Candida albicans. Therefore, we were prompted to examine the relationship between RA and susceptibility to C. albicans because of the increasing interest in Th17 cells and IL-17 in driving autoimmunity, and the advent of new biologics that target this pathway. We analyzed peripheral blood and saliva from 48 RA and 33 healthy control subjects. To assess C. albicans-specific Th17 responses, PBMCs were co-cultured with heat-killed C. albicans extract, and IL-17A levels in conditioned supernatants were measured by ELISA. The frequency of Th17 and Th1 cells was determined by flow cytometry. As a measure of IL-17A-mediated effector responses, we evaluated C. albicans colonization rates in the oral cavity, salivary fungicidal activity and levels of the antimicrobial peptide β-defensin 2 (BD2) in saliva. Compared to controls, PBMCs from RA subjects exhibited elevated baseline production of IL-17A (P = 0.004), although they had similar capacity to produce IL-17A in response to Th17 cell differentiating cytokines (P = 0.91). However RA PBMCs secreted less IL-17A in response to C. albicans antigens (P = 0.006). Significantly more RA patients were colonized with C. albicans in the oral cavity than healthy subjects (P = 0.02). Concomitantly, RA saliva had reduced concentrations of salivary BD2 (P = 0.02). Nonetheless, salivary fungicidal activity was preserved in RA subjects (P = 0.70). RA subjects exhibit detectable impairments in oral immune responses to C. albicans, a

Kinetic of liquid-liquid extraction for uranyl nitrate and actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates by amide extractants; Cinetique d`extraction liquide-liquide du nitrate d`uranyle et des nitrates d`actinides (III) et de lanthanides (III) par des extractants a fonction amide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toulemonde, V [CEA Centre d` Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay, 91 -Gif-sur-Yvette (France); [CEA Centre d` Etudes de la Vallee du Rhone, 30 -Marcoule (France). Dept. d` Exploitation du Retraitement et de Demantelement

1995-12-20

The kinetics of liquid-liquid extraction by amide extractants have been investigated for uranyl nitrate (monoamide extractants), actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates (diamide extractants). The transfer of the metallic species from the aqueous phase to the organic phase was studied using two experimental devices: ARMOLLEX (Argonne Modified Lewis cell for Liquid Liquid Extraction) and RSC (Rotating Stabilized Cell). The main conclusions are: for the extraction of uranyl nitrate by DEHDMBA monoamide, the rate-controlling step is the complexation of the species at the interface of the two liquids. Thus, an absorption-desorption (according to Langmuir theory) reaction mechanism was proposed; for the extraction of actinides (III) and lanthanides (III) nitrates in nitric acid media by DMDBTDMA diamide, the kinetic is also limited by interfacial reactions. The behavior of Americium and Europium is very similar as fare as their reaction kinetics are concerned. (author). 89 refs.

The Influence of pH of Extracting Water on the Composition of Seaweed Extracts and Their Beneficial Properties on Lepidium sativum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Godlewska

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Baltic seaweeds were used to obtain aqueous extracts (E through changing initial pH of deionised water added to algal biomass (EpH3·H2O, EpH7·H2O, and EpH10·H2O and through changing pH of the mixture of algae and deionised water (EpH3, EpH7, and EpH10. Algal extracts were characterized in terms of the concentration of polyphenols and micro- and macroelements. The highest concentration of polyphenols was determined in extract EpH3 and the lowest in extract EpH10·H2O. It was found that the obtained extracts had similar concentrations of elements (except EpH3. The phytotoxicity of algal extracts (0.5, 2.5, and 10% was examined in the germination tests on Lepidium sativum. No phytotoxic effects were observed. It was found that they had beneficial effects on the cultivated plants (length and weight. The best biostimulant effect was observed in the groups treated with EpH3 (2.5%, EpH7 (2.5%, and EpH7 (10%. The dry weight of plants was similar in all the groups. Algal extract also improved the multielemental composition of plant. The greatest concentration of total chlorophyll in plants was obtained by using extract EpH10·H2O, 0.5%. These results proved that algal extracts have high potential to be applied in cultivation of plants.

Inhibitory Effects of Standardized Extracts of Phyllanthus amarus and Phyllanthus urinaria and Their Marker Compounds on Phagocytic Activity of Human Neutrophils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuandani

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The standardized methanol extracts of Phyllanthus amarus and P. urinaria, collected from Malaysia and Indonesia, and their isolated chemical markers, phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin, were evaluated for their effects on the chemotaxis, phagocytosis and chemiluminescence of human phagocytes. All the plant extracts strongly inhibited the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs with the Malaysian P. amarus showing the strongest inhibitory activity (IC50 value, 1.1 µg/mL. There was moderate inhibition by the extracts of the bacteria engulfment by the phagocytes with the Malaysian P. amarus exhibiting the highest inhibition (50.8% of phagocytizing cells. The Malaysian P. amarus and P. urinaria showed strong reactive oxygen species (ROS inhibitory activity, with both extracts exhibiting IC50 value of 0.7 µg/mL. Phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin exhibited relatively strong activity against PMNs chemotaxis, with IC50 values slightly lower than that of ibuprofen (1.4 µg/mL. Phyllanthin exhibited strong inhibitory activity on the oxidative burst with an IC50 value comparable to that of aspirin (1.9 µg/mL. Phyllanthin exhibited strong engulfment inhibitory activity with percentage of phagocytizing cells of 14.2 and 27.1% for neutrophils and monocytes, respectively. The strong inhibitory activity of the extracts was due to the presence of high amounts of phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin although other constituents may also contribute.

Inhibitory Effects of Hydroethanolic Leaf Extracts of Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata (Crassulaceae) against Local Effects Induced by Bothrops jararaca Snake Venom.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, Júlia Morais; Félix-Silva, Juliana; da Cunha, Lorena Medeiros; Gomes, Jacyra Antunes Dos Santos; Siqueira, Emerson Michell da Silva; Gimenes, Luisa Possamai; Lopes, Norberto Peporine; Soares, Luiz Alberto Lira; Fernandes-Pedrosa, Matheus de Freitas; Zucolotto, Silvana Maria

2016-01-01

The species Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata, both known popularly as "Saião," are used interchangeably in traditional medicine for their antiophidic properties. Studies evaluating the anti-venom activity of these species are scarce. This study aims to characterize the chemical constituents and evaluate the inhibitory effects of hydroethanolic leaf extracts of K. brasiliensis and K. pinnata against local effects induced by Bothrops jararaca snake venom. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Detection and Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) were performed for characterization of chemical markers of the extracts from these species. For antiophidic activity evaluation, B. jararaca venom-induced paw edema and skin hemorrhage in mice were evaluated. In both models, hydroethanolic extracts (125-500 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally in different protocols. Inhibition of phospholipase enzymatic activity of B. jararaca was evaluated. The HPLC-DAD-MS/MS chromatographic profile of extracts showed some particularities in the chemical profile of the two species. K. brasileinsis exhibited major peaks that have UV spectra similar to flavonoid glycosides derived from patuletin and eupafolin, while K. pinnata showed UV spectra similar to flavonoids glycosides derived from quercetin and kaempferol. Both extracts significantly reduced the hemorrhagic activity of B. jararaca venom in pre-treatment protocol, reaching about 40% of inhibition, while only K. pinnata was active in post-treatment protocol (about 30% of inhibition). In the antiedematogenic activity, only K. pinnata was active, inhibiting about 66% and 30% in pre and post-treatment protocols, respectively. Both extracts inhibited phospholipase activity; however, K. pinnata was more active. In conclusion, the results indicate the potential antiophidic activity of Kalanchoe species against local effects induced by B. jararaca snake

Inhibitory Effects of Hydroethanolic Leaf Extracts of Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata (Crassulaceae against Local Effects Induced by Bothrops jararaca Snake Venom.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Júlia Morais Fernandes

Full Text Available The species Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata, both known popularly as "Saião," are used interchangeably in traditional medicine for their antiophidic properties. Studies evaluating the anti-venom activity of these species are scarce. This study aims to characterize the chemical constituents and evaluate the inhibitory effects of hydroethanolic leaf extracts of K. brasiliensis and K. pinnata against local effects induced by Bothrops jararaca snake venom. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC and High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Detection and Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS were performed for characterization of chemical markers of the extracts from these species. For antiophidic activity evaluation, B. jararaca venom-induced paw edema and skin hemorrhage in mice were evaluated. In both models, hydroethanolic extracts (125-500 mg/kg were administered intraperitoneally in different protocols. Inhibition of phospholipase enzymatic activity of B. jararaca was evaluated. The HPLC-DAD-MS/MS chromatographic profile of extracts showed some particularities in the chemical profile of the two species. K. brasileinsis exhibited major peaks that have UV spectra similar to flavonoid glycosides derived from patuletin and eupafolin, while K. pinnata showed UV spectra similar to flavonoids glycosides derived from quercetin and kaempferol. Both extracts significantly reduced the hemorrhagic activity of B. jararaca venom in pre-treatment protocol, reaching about 40% of inhibition, while only K. pinnata was active in post-treatment protocol (about 30% of inhibition. In the antiedematogenic activity, only K. pinnata was active, inhibiting about 66% and 30% in pre and post-treatment protocols, respectively. Both extracts inhibited phospholipase activity; however, K. pinnata was more active. In conclusion, the results indicate the potential antiophidic activity of Kalanchoe species against local effects induced by B

Assessing semantic similarity of texts - Methods and algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Rozeva, Anna; Zerkova, Silvia

2017-12-01

Assessing the semantic similarity of texts is an important part of different text-related applications like educational systems, information retrieval, text summarization, etc. This task is performed by sophisticated analysis, which implements text-mining techniques. Text mining involves several pre-processing steps, which provide for obtaining structured representative model of the documents in a corpus by means of extracting and selecting the features, characterizing their content. Generally the model is vector-based and enables further analysis with knowledge discovery approaches. Algorithms and measures are used for assessing texts at syntactical and semantic level. An important text-mining method and similarity measure is latent semantic analysis (LSA). It provides for reducing the dimensionality of the document vector space and better capturing the text semantics. The mathematical background of LSA for deriving the meaning of the words in a given text by exploring their co-occurrence is examined. The algorithm for obtaining the vector representation of words and their corresponding latent concepts in a reduced multidimensional space as well as similarity calculation are presented.

Anti-Inflammatory and Antinociceptive Activities of Untreated, Germinated, and Fermented Mung Bean Aqueous Extract

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Norlaily Mohd Ali

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of untreated mung bean (MB, germinated mung bean (GMB, and fermented mung bean (FMB was performed on both in vitro (inhibition of inflammatory mediator, nitric oxide(NO and in vivo (inhibition of ear oedema and reduction of response to pain stimulus studies. Results showed that both GMB and FMB aqueous extract exhibited potent anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro results showed that GMB and FMB were potent inflammatory mediator (NO inhibitors at both 2.5 and 5 mg/mL. Further in vivo studies showed that GMB and FMB aqueous extract at 1000 mg/kg can significantly reduce ear oedema in mice caused by arachidonic acid. Besides, both 200 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg concentrations of GMB and FMB were found to exhibit potent antinociceptive effects towards hotplate induced pain. With these, it can be concluded that GMB and FMB aqueous extract exhibited potential anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects.

Generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes and associated self-similar processes

CERN Document Server

Lim, S C

2003-01-01

We consider three types of generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes: the stationary process obtained from the Lamperti transformation of fractional Brownian motion, the process with stretched exponential covariance and the process obtained from the solution of the fractional Langevin equation. These stationary Gaussian processes have many common properties, such as the fact that their local covariances share a similar structure and they exhibit identical spectral densities at large frequency limit. In addition, the generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes can be shown to be local stationary representations of fractional Brownian motion. Two new self-similar Gaussian processes, in addition to fractional Brownian motion, are obtained by applying the (inverse) Lamperti transformation to the generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. We study some of the properties of these self-similar processes such as the long-range dependence. We give a simulation of their sample paths based on numerical Karhunan-Loeve expansi...

Generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes and associated self-similar processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, S C; Muniandy, S V

2003-01-01

We consider three types of generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes: the stationary process obtained from the Lamperti transformation of fractional Brownian motion, the process with stretched exponential covariance and the process obtained from the solution of the fractional Langevin equation. These stationary Gaussian processes have many common properties, such as the fact that their local covariances share a similar structure and they exhibit identical spectral densities at large frequency limit. In addition, the generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes can be shown to be local stationary representations of fractional Brownian motion. Two new self-similar Gaussian processes, in addition to fractional Brownian motion, are obtained by applying the (inverse) Lamperti transformation to the generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. We study some of the properties of these self-similar processes such as the long-range dependence. We give a simulation of their sample paths based on numerical Karhunan-Loeve expansion

Essential Oil Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of the Oil and Extracts of Bunium persicum (Boiss. B. Fedtsch.: Wild and Cultivated Fruits

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Arezoo Rustaie 1,2, Roya Keshvari 1, Nasrin Samadi 3, Farahnaz Khalighi-Sigaroodi 4, Mohammad Reza Shams Ardekani 1,5, Mahnaz Khanavi 1,2,6 *

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Fruits of Bunium persicum (Boiss. B. Fedtsch (Apiaceae has been used as spice, anti-flatulence and antiseptic agent for many years. In recent years the wild resources of the plant have been threatened by extinction. Domestication of such a plant saves its genetic resources from depletion. However, concerns remain about the possible changes due to development of chemotypes and changes in the composition and biological and pharmacological potentials. Methods: Analyses of essential oils from fruits of wild and cultivated types was performed using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy. Antimicrobial assessment was done by agar diffusion method Results: The main compounds of both oils were included γ-terpinene (30.77% and 27.57%, cuminaldehyde (20.49% and 21.1%, ρ-cymene (20.1% and 18.32% and γ-terpinen-7-al (8.29% and 7.84% respectively. Analytical results of both tested oils exhibited very close similarities in major compounds, whereas some differences in their percentages were observed. In vitro antimicrobial evaluation of volatile oils, total extract and the resultant fractions against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans demonstrated some similarities and differences. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs of wild grown fruits essential oils ranged between 0.375-1.5 mg/ml, while those of cultivated one were 0.75-6.25 mg/ml. All extracts and fractions showed similarly minor antibacterial potential while anti-Candida albicans activity was much remarkable with MICs calculated 2.5-5 mg/ml for cultivated and 5 mg/ml for wild grown extracts and fractions. Conclusion: In conclusion, despite the substantial similarities in composition of both oils, the alteration in antimicrobial results may be caused by variety in concentration of major and minor compounds and their synergism or antagonism in mixture.

Efficient data retrieval method for similar plasma waveforms in EAST

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Ying, E-mail: liuying-ipp@szu.edu.cn [SZU-CASIPP Joint Laboratory for Applied Plasma, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Huang, Jianjun; Zhou, Huasheng; Wang, Fan [SZU-CASIPP Joint Laboratory for Applied Plasma, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Wang, Feng [Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China)

2016-11-15

Highlights: • The proposed method is carried out by means of bounding envelope and angle distance. • It allows retrieving for whole similar waveforms of any time length. • In addition, the proposed method is also possible to retrieve subsequences. - Abstract: Fusion research relies highly on data analysis due to its massive-sized database. In the present work, we propose an efficient method for searching and retrieving similar plasma waveforms in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Based on Piecewise Linear Aggregate Approximation (PLAA) for extracting feature values, the searching process is accomplished in two steps. The first one is coarse searching to narrow down the search space, which is carried out by means of bounding envelope. The second step is fine searching to retrieval similar waveforms, which is implemented by the angle distance. The proposed method is tested in EAST databases and turns out to have good performance in retrieving similar waveforms.

In-vitro antioxidant activity of crataeva magna lour. dc bark extract

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Sridhar N

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The plant Crataeva magna belonging to family Capparaceae is used in anti spasmodic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, anti protozoal, analgesic purposes. The present study was carried out to evaluate appropriate animal model. The antioxidative potential of different solvent extracts of Crataeva magna were evaluated using 1,1-Diphenyl-2-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH, 2,2 ’-Azino-Bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-Sulphonic acid (ABTS, superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical, nitric oxide radical scavenging activities and lipid peroxidation inhibition assay. Among those solvent extracts, ethanolic extract of C. magna exhibited highest level of antioxidant activities. The ethanolic extract also inhibited H 2O2 mediated haemolysis and lipid peroxidation in human RBC.

Induction of seed germination in Orobanche spp. by extracts of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, YongQing; Zhang, Wei; Dong, ShuQi; Ren, XiangXiang; An, Yu; Lang, Ming

2012-03-01

The co-evolution of Orobanche spp. and their hosts within the same environment has resulted in a high degree of adaptation and effective parasitism whereby the host releases parasite germination stimulants, which are likely to be unstable in the soil. Our objective was to investigate whether extracts from non-host plants, specifically, Chinese medicinal plants, could stimulate germination of Orobanche spp. Samples of 606 Chinese medicinal herb species were extracted with deionized water and methanol. The extracts were used to induce germination of three Orobanche species; Orobanche minor, Orobanche cumana, and Orobanche aegyptiaca. O. minor exhibited a wide range of germination responses to the various herbal extracts. O. cumana and O. aegyptiaca exhibited an intermediate germination response to the herbal extracts. O. minor, which has a narrow host spectrum, showed higher germination rates in response to different herbal extracts compared with those of O. cumana and O. aegyptiaca, which have a broader host spectrum. Methanolic extracts of many Chinese herbal species effectively stimulated seed germination among the Orobanche spp., even though they were not the typical hosts. The effective herbs represent interesting examples of potential trap crops. Different countries can also screen extracts from indigenous herbaceous plants for their ability to induce germination of Orobanche spp. seeds. The use of such species as trap plants could diminish the global soil seed bank of Orobanche.

Antitumor effects and mechanisms of Ganoderma extracts and spores oil

OpenAIRE

Chen, Chun; Li, Peng; Li, Ye; Yao, Guan; Xu, Jian-Hua

2016-01-01

Ganoderma lucidum is a popular herbal medicine used in China to promote health. Modern studies have disclosed that the active ingredients of Ganoderma can exhibit several effects, including antitumor effects and immunomodulation. The present study evaluated the antitumor effects of self-prepared Ganoderma extracts and spores oil, and investigated the possible underlying mechanisms by observing the effects of the extracts and oil on topoisomerases and the cell cycle. The results showed that Ga...

Biomolecular Characterization of Putative Antidiabetic Herbal Extracts

Science.gov (United States)

Stadlbauer, Verena; Haselgrübler, Renate; Lanzerstorfer, Peter; Plochberger, Birgit; Borgmann, Daniela; Jacak, Jaroslaw; Winkler, Stephan M.; Schröder, Klaus; Höglinger, Otmar; Weghuber, Julian

2016-01-01

Induction of GLUT4 translocation in the absence of insulin is considered a key concept to decrease elevated blood glucose levels in diabetics. Due to the lack of pharmaceuticals that specifically increase the uptake of glucose from the blood circuit, application of natural compounds might be an alternative strategy. However, the effects and mechanisms of action remain unknown for many of those substances. For this study we investigated extracts prepared from seven different plants, which have been reported to exhibit anti-diabetic effects, for their GLUT4 translocation inducing properties. Quantitation of GLUT4 translocation was determined by total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy in insulin sensitive CHO-K1 cells and adipocytes. Two extracts prepared from purslane (Portulaca oleracea) and tindora (Coccinia grandis) were found to induce GLUT4 translocation, accompanied by an increase of intracellular glucose concentrations. Our results indicate that the PI3K pathway is mainly responsible for the respective translocation process. Atomic force microscopy was used to prove complete plasma membrane insertion. Furthermore, this approach suggested a compound mediated distribution of GLUT4 molecules in the plasma membrane similar to insulin stimulated conditions. Utilizing a fluorescent actin marker, TIRF measurements indicated an impact of purslane and tindora on actin remodeling as observed in insulin treated cells. Finally, in-ovo experiments suggested a significant reduction of blood glucose levels under tindora and purslane treated conditions in a living organism. In conclusion, this study confirms the anti-diabetic properties of tindora and purslane, which stimulate GLUT4 translocation in an insulin-like manner. PMID:26820984

Antiproliferative and Antioxidant Activities of Two Extracts of the Plant Species Euphorbia dendroides L.

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Agena Ghout

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background: These days, the desire for naturally occurring antioxidants has significantly increased, especially for use in foodstuffs, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products, to replace synthetic antioxidants that are regularly constrained due to their carcinogenicity. Methods: The study in hand aimed to appraise the antioxidant effect of two Euphorbia dendroides extracts using reducing power, anti-peroxidation, and DPPH (1,1 Diphenyl 2 Pycril Hydrazil scavenging essays, in addition to the anticancer activity against two tumor cell lines, namely C6 (rat brain tumorcells, and Hela (human uterus carcinomacell lines. Results: The results indicated that the ethyl acetate extract exhibited antiradical activity of 29.49%, higher than that of n-butanol extract (18.06% at 100 µg/mL but much lower than that of gallic acid (78.21%.The ethyl acetate extract exhibits better reducing capacity and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity compared to n-butanol extract but less than all tested standards. Moreover, the ethyl acetate extract was found to have an antiproliferative activity of more than 5-FU (5-fluoro-Uracil against C6 cells at 250 µg/mL with IC50 and IC75 of 113.97, 119.49 µg/mL, respectively, and good cytotoxic activity against the Hela cell lines at the same concentration. The HPLC-TOF-MS (high performance liquid chromatography-Time-of-flight-Mass Spectrometry analyses exposed the presence of various compounds, among which Gallic and Chlorogenic acids functioned as major compounds. Conclusions: The two extracts exhibited moderate anticancer abilities and behaved somewhat as average antioxidant agents. Based on the total phenolics and flavonoids contents, as well as HPLC results, it could be concluded that antiproliferative and antioxidant activities depend upon the content of different phenolics and flavonoids.

Antibacterial activity of seed extracts of Argemone mexicana L. on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PRECIOUS

2009-12-15

Dec 15, 2009 ... Chloroform extract of seeds exhibited varying level of antibacterial activity, with minimum ... et al., 1999; Scheck et al.,. 2006). The glycoside and saponins from Quillaja saponaria and Acacia auriculoformis were found to be.

Extracting intrinsic functional networks with feature-based group independent component analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Calhoun, Vince D; Allen, Elena

2013-04-01

There is increasing use of functional imaging data to understand the macro-connectome of the human brain. Of particular interest is the structure and function of intrinsic networks (regions exhibiting temporally coherent activity both at rest and while a task is being performed), which account for a significant portion of the variance in functional MRI data. While networks are typically estimated based on the temporal similarity between regions (based on temporal correlation, clustering methods, or independent component analysis [ICA]), some recent work has suggested that these intrinsic networks can be extracted from the inter-subject covariation among highly distilled features, such as amplitude maps reflecting regions modulated by a task or even coordinates extracted from large meta analytic studies. In this paper our goal was to explicitly compare the networks obtained from a first-level ICA (ICA on the spatio-temporal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data) to those from a second-level ICA (i.e., ICA on computed features rather than on the first-level fMRI data). Convergent results from simulations, task-fMRI data, and rest-fMRI data show that the second-level analysis is slightly noisier than the first-level analysis but yields strikingly similar patterns of intrinsic networks (spatial correlations as high as 0.85 for task data and 0.65 for rest data, well above the empirical null) and also preserves the relationship of these networks with other variables such as age (for example, default mode network regions tended to show decreased low frequency power for first-level analyses and decreased loading parameters for second-level analyses). In addition, the best-estimated second-level results are those which are the most strongly reflected in the input feature. In summary, the use of feature-based ICA appears to be a valid tool for extracting intrinsic networks. We believe it will become a useful and important approach in the study of the macro

Face and body recognition show similar improvement during childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Bank, Samantha; Rhodes, Gillian; Read, Ainsley; Jeffery, Linda

2015-09-01

Adults are proficient in extracting identity cues from faces. This proficiency develops slowly during childhood, with performance not reaching adult levels until adolescence. Bodies are similar to faces in that they convey identity cues and rely on specialized perceptual mechanisms. However, it is currently unclear whether body recognition mirrors the slow development of face recognition during childhood. Recent evidence suggests that body recognition develops faster than face recognition. Here we measured body and face recognition in 6- and 10-year-old children and adults to determine whether these two skills show different amounts of improvement during childhood. We found no evidence that they do. Face and body recognition showed similar improvement with age, and children, like adults, were better at recognizing faces than bodies. These results suggest that the mechanisms of face and body memory mature at a similar rate or that improvement of more general cognitive and perceptual skills underlies improvement of both face and body recognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BSSF: a fingerprint based ultrafast binding site similarity search and function analysis server

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Jiang Hualiang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Genome sequencing and post-genomics projects such as structural genomics are extending the frontier of the study of sequence-structure-function relationship of genes and their products. Although many sequence/structure-based methods have been devised with the aim of deciphering this delicate relationship, there still remain large gaps in this fundamental problem, which continuously drives researchers to develop novel methods to extract relevant information from sequences and structures and to infer the functions of newly identified genes by genomics technology. Results Here we present an ultrafast method, named BSSF(Binding Site Similarity & Function, which enables researchers to conduct similarity searches in a comprehensive three-dimensional binding site database extracted from PDB structures. This method utilizes a fingerprint representation of the binding site and a validated statistical Z-score function scheme to judge the similarity between the query and database items, even if their similarities are only constrained in a sub-pocket. This fingerprint based similarity measurement was also validated on a known binding site dataset by comparing with geometric hashing, which is a standard 3D similarity method. The comparison clearly demonstrated the utility of this ultrafast method. After conducting the database searching, the hit list is further analyzed to provide basic statistical information about the occurrences of Gene Ontology terms and Enzyme Commission numbers, which may benefit researchers by helping them to design further experiments to study the query proteins. Conclusions This ultrafast web-based system will not only help researchers interested in drug design and structural genomics to identify similar binding sites, but also assist them by providing further analysis of hit list from database searching.

Greenhouse Earth: A Traveling Exhibition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, W.H.; Caesar, S.

1992-09-01

The Franklin Institute Science Museum provided an exhibit entitled the Greenhouse Earth: A Traveling Exhibition. This 3500 square-foot exhibit on global climate change was developed in collaboration with the Association of Science-Technology Centers. The exhibit opened at The Franklin Institute on February 14, 1992, welcoming 291,000 visitors over its three-month stay. During its three-year tour, Greenhouse Earth will travel to ten US cities, reaching two million visitors. Greenhouse Earth aims to deepen public understanding of the scientific issues of global warming and the conservation measures that can be taken to slow its effects. The exhibit features hands-on exhibitry, interactive computer programs and videos, a theater production, a ''demonstration cart,'' guided tours, and lectures. supplemental educational programs at the Institute included a teachers preview, a symposium on climate change, and a ''satellite field trip.'' The development of Greenhouse Earth included front-end and formative evaluation procedures. Evaluation includes interviews with visitors, prototypes, and summative surveys for participating museums. During its stay in Philadelphia, Greenhouse Earth was covered by the local and national press, with reviews in print and broadcast media. Greenhouse Earth is the first large-scale museum exhibit to address global climate change

Blind deconvolution using the similarity of multiscales regularization for infrared spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Tao; Liu, Hai; Zhang, Zhaoli; Liu, Sanyan; Liu, Tingting; Shen, Xiaoxuan; Zhang, Jianfeng; Zhang, Tianxu

2015-01-01

Band overlap and random noise exist widely when the spectra are captured using an infrared spectrometer, especially since the aging of instruments has become a serious problem. In this paper, via introducing the similarity of multiscales, a blind spectral deconvolution method is proposed. Considering that there is a similarity between latent spectra at different scales, it is used as prior knowledge to constrain the estimated latent spectrum similar to pre-scale to reduce artifacts which are produced from deconvolution. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is able to obtain a better performance than state-of-the-art methods, and to obtain satisfying deconvolution results with fewer artifacts. The recovered infrared spectra can easily extract the spectral features and recognize unknown objects. (paper)

From SNOMED CT to Uberon: Transferability of evaluation methodology between similarly structured ontologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Elhanan, Gai; Ochs, Christopher; Mejino, Jose L V; Liu, Hao; Mungall, Christopher J; Perl, Yehoshua

2017-06-01

To examine whether disjoint partial-area taxonomy, a semantically-based evaluation methodology that has been successfully tested in SNOMED CT, will perform with similar effectiveness on Uberon, an anatomical ontology that belongs to a structurally similar family of ontologies as SNOMED CT. A disjoint partial-area taxonomy was generated for Uberon. One hundred randomly selected test concepts that overlap between partial-areas were matched to a same size control sample of non-overlapping concepts. The samples were blindly inspected for non-critical issues and presumptive errors first by a general domain expert whose results were then confirmed or rejected by a highly experienced anatomical ontology domain expert. Reported issues were subsequently reviewed by Uberon's curators. Overlapping concepts in Uberon's disjoint partial-area taxonomy exhibited a significantly higher rate of all issues. Clear-cut presumptive errors trended similarly but did not reach statistical significance. A sub-analysis of overlapping concepts with three or more relationship types indicated a much higher rate of issues. Overlapping concepts from Uberon's disjoint abstraction network are quite likely (up to 28.9%) to exhibit issues. The results suggest that the methodology can transfer well between same family ontologies. Although Uberon exhibited relatively few overlapping concepts, the methodology can be combined with other semantic indicators to expand the process to other concepts within the ontology that will generate high yields of discovered issues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Textual and chemical information processing: different domains but similar algorithms

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Peter Willett

2000-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the extent to which algorithms developed for the processing of textual databases are also applicable to the processing of chemical structure databases, and vice versa. Applications discussed include: an algorithm for distribution sorting that has been applied to the design of screening systems for rapid chemical substructure searching; the use of measures of inter-molecular structural similarity for the analysis of hypertext graphs; a genetic algorithm for calculating term weights for relevance feedback searching for determining whether a molecule is likely to exhibit biological activity; and the use of data fusion to combine the results of different chemical similarity searches.

Antimalarial Activity of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Piper betle L.

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Adel A. Amran

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The need for new compounds active against malaria parasites is made more urgent by the rapid spread of drug-resistance to available antimalarial drugs. The crude methanol extract of Piper betle leaves (50–400 mg/kg was investigated for its antimalarial activity against Plasmodium berghei (NK65 during early and established infections. The phytochemical and antioxidant potentials of the crude extract were evaluated to elucidate the possibilities of its antimalarial effects. The safety of the extract was also investigated in ICR mice of both sexes by the acute oral toxicity limit test. The leaf extract demonstrated significant (P < 0.05 schizonticidal activity in all three antimalarial evaluation models. Phytochemical screening showed that the leaf extract contains some vital antiplasmodial chemical constituents. The extract also exhibited a potent ability to scavenge the free radicals. The results of acute toxicity showed that the methanol extract of Piper betle leaves is toxicologically safe by oral administration. The results suggest that the Malaysian folklorical medicinal application of the extract of Piper betle leaf has a pharmacological basis.

Improved Antitumoral Activity of Extracts Derived from Cultured ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Antiproliferative activity was assayed in four cancer cell lines (Hep-2, HeLa, SiHa, and KB) while cytotoxic activity was evaluated on a normal cell line (MDCK). Results: The 10-day cultivation organic extract exhibited increased antiproliferative activity compared with the control on human carcinoma nasopharynx (KB) and ...

Determination of polyphenolic content, HPLC analyses and DNA cleavage activity of Malaysian Averrhoa carambola L. fruit extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zakia Khanam

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In developing countries, the increasing gap between population growth and food supply has created renewed interest in finding reliable and cheap natural resources of nutraceutical value and health promoting properties. Therefore, the present study deals with the phytochemical analyses and DNA cleavage activity of Averrhoa carambola L. fruit (starfruit extracts. The phytochemical studies involve colour tests and quantification of phenolics and flavonoids of the prepared ethanolic and aqueous extracts. Identification of phenolic acids and flavonoids present in the extracts were conducted by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC equipped with diode array detector (DAD. DNA cleavage activity of the extracts was evaluated through gel electrophoresis against plasmid Escherichia coli DNA at different concentrations (0.125–0.60 μg/μl. The results of the study exhibited that the starfruit is a rich source of polyphenols and all the extracts exhibited a dose dependent DNA cleavage activity, whereas ethanolic extract induced more cleavage as compared to the aqueous extract. In conclusion, the present study provides preliminary evidence with regard to nutraceutical value of the fruit. So, further extensive study is a prerequisite to exploit DNA cleaving properties of the fruit extracts for therapeutic application.

Key Frame Extraction in the Summary Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xuelong; Zhao, Bin; Lu, Xiaoqiang; Xuelong Li; Bin Zhao; Xiaoqiang Lu; Lu, Xiaoqiang; Li, Xuelong; Zhao, Bin

2018-06-01

Key frame extraction is an efficient way to create the video summary which helps users obtain a quick comprehension of the video content. Generally, the key frames should be representative of the video content, meanwhile, diverse to reduce the redundancy. Based on the assumption that the video data are near a subspace of a high-dimensional space, a new approach, named as key frame extraction in the summary space, is proposed for key frame extraction in this paper. The proposed approach aims to find the representative frames of the video and filter out similar frames from the representative frame set. First of all, the video data are mapped to a high-dimensional space, named as summary space. Then, a new representation is learned for each frame by analyzing the intrinsic structure of the summary space. Specifically, the learned representation can reflect the representativeness of the frame, and is utilized to select representative frames. Next, the perceptual hash algorithm is employed to measure the similarity of representative frames. As a result, the key frame set is obtained after filtering out similar frames from the representative frame set. Finally, the video summary is constructed by assigning the key frames in temporal order. Additionally, the ground truth, created by filtering out similar frames from human-created summaries, is utilized to evaluate the quality of the video summary. Compared with several traditional approaches, the experimental results on 80 videos from two datasets indicate the superior performance of our approach.

Exhibition

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2016-01-01

Encounters Hanne Blitz From February 1st to 12th 2016 CERN Meyrin, Main Building What is our reaction to a first encounter with a tourist attraction? Contemporary Dutch painter Hanne Blitz captures visitors' responses to art and architecture, sweeping vistas and symbolic memorials. Encounters, a series of oil paintings curated specially for this CERN exhibition, depicts tourists visiting cultural highlights around the world. A thought-provoking journey not to be missed, and a tip of the hat to CERN's large Hadron Collider.

Changes in the Position of Mandibular Third Molars Following Extraction and Non-Extraction Orthodontic Treatments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Poosti

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Impaction of third molars can be associated with a number of sequelae, each requiring a different type of treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the changes in the position of lower third molars following extraction and non-extraction orthodontic treatments. Methods: Pre- and post-treatment panoramic radiographs of 26 class I malocclusion patients (4 male and 22 female who were treated on a non-extraction basis were compared with those of 30 class I malocclusion patients (5 male and 25 female who received orthodontic treatment following the extraction of all first premolars. In each group, the lower third molar angulations and their distance from the lower border of the mandible were assessed. Results: Paired t-tests and independent t-tests detected significant changes in the position of the lower third molars in the extraction group. Both the left and right molars became more upright and their distance from the lower border of the mandible increased. Similar changes were only seen in the position of the right mandibular third molars in the non-extraction group. Conclusion: Tooth extractions can bring about favorable changes in the position of mandibular third molars and possibly reduce their incidence of impaction.

Changes in the Position of Mandibular Third Molars Following Extraction and Non-Extraction Orthodontic Treatments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Poosti

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Impaction of third molars can be associated with a number of sequelae, each requiring a different type of treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the changes in the position of lower third molars following extraction and non-extraction orthodontic treatments. Methods: Pre- and post-treatment panoramic radiographs of 26 class I malocclusion patients (4 male and 22 female who were treated on a non-extraction basis were compared with those of 30 class I malocclusion patients (5 male and 25 female who received orthodontic treatment following the extraction of all first premolars. In each group, the lower third molar angulations and their distance from the lower border of the mandible were assessed. Results: Paired t-tests and independent t-tests detected significant changes in the position of the lower third molars in the extraction group. Both the left and right molars became more upright and their distance from the lower border of the mandible increased. Similar changes were only seen in the position of the right mandibular third molars in the non-extraction group. Conclusion: Tooth extractions can bring about favorable changes in the position of mandibular third molars and possibly reduce their incidence of impaction

Mosquito larvicidal activity of Cassia tora seed extract and its key anthraquinones aurantio-obtusin and obtusin

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Valentine C. Mbatchou

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The edible and medicinal leguminous plant Cassia tora L. (Fabaceae is known to possess insecticidal properties against a wide range of plant-feeding insects. However, the bioactivity of extracts of this plant and their constituents against vectors of medical importance has been largely unexplored. We investigated the mosquito larvicidal activity of the seed extract and its major anthraquinones against larvae of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae (s.s.. Methods Third-fourth instar larval mortality was observed after 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of exposure to varying doses of the extracts, and two anthraquinones isolates identified using liquid chromatography- quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QtoF-MS. The mosquito larval mortality was evaluated relative to the natural insecticide azadirachtin. Results Fractionation of the crude extract decreased mosquito larvicidal activity, however, larvicidal activity increased with increasing dose of the treatment and exposure time. The known anthraquinones aurantio-obtusin and obtusin were identified as key larvicidal compounds. Aurantio-obtusin and obtusin, exhibited similar toxicity to larvae of A. gambiae (s.s. with LD50 values of 10 and 10.2 ppm, respectively. However, the two anthraquinones were four- and ~ six-fold less potent than that of the crude seed extract and azadirachtin, which had comparable LD50 values of 2.5 and 1.7 ppm, respectively. Conclusion Both aurantio-obtusin and obtusin showed mosquito larvicidal activity which were comparable to their respective fractions although they were less potent relative to the crude extract and azadirachtin. Further studies need to be conducted on C. tora for its exploitation as a potential eco-friendly tool in mosquito larval source reduction.

The impact of distracter-target similarity on contextual cueing effects of children and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yingying; Merrill, Edward C

2014-05-01

Contextual cueing reflects a memory-based attentional guidance process that develops through repeated exposure to displays in which a target location has been consistently paired with a specific context. In two experiments, we compared 20 younger children's (6-7 years old), 20 older children's (9-10 years old), and 20 young adults' (18-21 years old) abilities to acquire contextual cueing effects from displays in which half of the distracters predicted the location of the target and half did not. Across experiments, we varied the similarity between the predictive and nonpredictive distracters and the target. In Experiment 1, the predictive distracters were visually similar to the target and dissimilar from the nonpredictive distracters. In Experiment 2, the nonpredictive distracters were also similar to the target and predictive distracters. All three age groups exhibited contextual cueing in Experiment 1, although the effect was not as strong for the younger children relative to older children and adults. All participants exhibited weaker contextual cueing effects in Experiment 2, with the younger children not exhibiting significant contextual cueing at all. Apparently, when search processes could not be guided to the predictive distracters on the basis of salient stimulus features, younger children in particular experienced difficulty in implicitly identifying and using aspects of the context to facilitate with the acquisition of contextual cueing effects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Root Extracts of Abitulon indicum

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Krishna Rao MORTHA

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Antimicrobial activity of Abitulon indicum roots was studied against seven pathogenic bacteria and three fungal strains by agar well diffusion method. Antimicrobial activity was recorded for hexane, chloroform, methanol, ethanol and aqueous extracts. Alcohol (ethanol and methanol extracts exhibited the highest degree of antimicrobial activity compared to aqueous, chloroform and hexane extracts. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was turned out to be the most susceptible bacterium to the crude root chemical constituents, using the standard Tetracycline and Clotrimazole. Minimum inhibition concentration values of hexane, chloroform, methanol, ethanol and aqueous extracts were determined by the agar dilution method and ranged between 62.5 and 1,000 µg. The study suggested that the root extracts possess bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activity against the tested bacteria and fungi, revealing a significant scope to develop a novel broad spectrum of antimicrobial drug formulation from Abitulon indicum.

Similarity relations in visual search predict rapid visual categorization

Science.gov (United States)

Mohan, Krithika; Arun, S. P.

2012-01-01

How do we perform rapid visual categorization?It is widely thought that categorization involves evaluating the similarity of an object to other category items, but the underlying features and similarity relations remain unknown. Here, we hypothesized that categorization performance is based on perceived similarity relations between items within and outside the category. To this end, we measured the categorization performance of human subjects on three diverse visual categories (animals, vehicles, and tools) and across three hierarchical levels (superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels among animals). For the same subjects, we measured their perceived pair-wise similarities between objects using a visual search task. Regardless of category and hierarchical level, we found that the time taken to categorize an object could be predicted using its similarity to members within and outside its category. We were able to account for several classic categorization phenomena, such as (a) the longer times required to reject category membership; (b) the longer times to categorize atypical objects; and (c) differences in performance across tasks and across hierarchical levels. These categorization times were also accounted for by a model that extracts coarse structure from an image. The striking agreement observed between categorization and visual search suggests that these two disparate tasks depend on a shared coarse object representation. PMID:23092947

Nootropic Effects of Filipendula Vulgaris Moench Water Extract Fractions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shilova, I V; Suslov, N I; Amelchenko, V P

2015-07-01

Nootropic activity of water extract fractions from aerial parts of Filipendula vulgaris Moench was demonstrated on the models of hermetic volume hypoxia, conditioned passive avoidance response, open field test, and forced swimming with a load. The fractions stimulated hypoxic resistance, normalized orientation and exploratory behavior, improved conditioned response reproduction during testing after hypoxic injury, and increased exercise tolerance. Fractionation of the extract led to dissociation of the effect components, which suggests that individual constituents have specific characteristics. Ethylacetate fraction exhibited most pronounced nootropic activity and was superior to plant extract by some characteristics. The detected effects seemed to be caused by modulation of the hippocampus activity the under the effects of phenol and triterpene compounds.

Comparative study of physicochemical properties and bioactivity of Hericium erinaceus polysaccharides at different solvent extractions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Jing-Kun; Ding, Zhi-Chao; Gao, Xianli; Wang, Yao-Yao; Yang, Yan; Wu, Di; Zhang, He-Nan

2018-08-01

In this study, hot water, 0.9% NaCl, citric acid, and 1.25 M NaOH/0.05% NaBH 4 were separately used for the extraction of water-soluble H. erinaceus polysaccharides (HEPs; HEP-W, HEP-S, HEP-C, and HEP-A) from the fruit body of Hericium erinaceus. The physicochemical properties and biological activities were then investigated and compared. Results showed that the extraction solvents exhibited significant effects on the extraction yields, molecular weights, monosaccharide compositions, preliminary structural characteristics, microstructures of HEPs and on their contents, such as neutral sugar, uronic acid, protein, and β-(1 → 3)-glucan. In vitro antioxidant activity assays indicated that HEP-C extracted with citric acid solution showed stronger scavenging abilities on hydroxyl and DPPH radicals and antioxidant capacities than HEP-W and HEP-S. Moreover, HEP-C exhibited the strongest inhibitory effects on α-glycosidase and α-amylase activities. Therefore, HEP-C extracted with citric acid can be developed as a potential bioactive ingredient for applications in food, medicine, and cosmetics industries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extraction of lapachol from Tabebuia avellanedae wood with supercritical CO2: an alternative to Soxhlet extraction?

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Viana L.M.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The solubility of lapachol in supercritical CO2 was determined at 40°C and pressures between 90 and 210 bar. Supercritical fluid extraction of lapachol and some related compounds by CO2 from Tabebuia avellanedae wood is compared to Soxhlet extraction with different solvents. A standard macroscale (100-200 g wood and a microscale (~10 mg wood experimental setup are described and their results are compared. The latter involved direct spectrophotometric quantification in a high-pressure autoclave with an integrated optical path and a magnetic stirrer, fitted directly into a commercial spectrophotometer. The relative amount of lapachol extracted by supercritical CO2 at 40°C and 200 bar was about 1.7%, which is similar to the results of Soxhlet extractions. Lower contents of alpha- and beta-lapachone as well as dehydro-alpha-lapachone are also reported.

Lectin activity in mycelial extracts of Fusarium species.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhari, Ranjeeta; Kaur, Bhawanpreet; Singh, Ram S

2016-01-01

Lectins are non-immunogenic carbohydrate-recognizing proteins that bind to glycoproteins, glycolipids, or polysaccharides with high affinity and exhibit remarkable ability to agglutinate erythrocytes and other cells. In the present study, ten Fusarium species previously not explored for lectins were screened for the presence of lectin activity. Mycelial extracts of F. fujikuroi, F. beomiformii, F. begoniae, F. nisikadoi, F. anthophilum, F. incarnatum, and F. tabacinum manifested agglutination of rabbit erythrocytes. Neuraminidase treatment of rabbit erythrocytes increased lectin titers of F. nisikadoi and F. tabacinum extracts, whereas the protease treatment resulted in a significant decline in agglutination by most of the lectins. Results of hapten inhibition studies demonstrated unique carbohydrate specificity of Fusarium lectins toward O-acetyl sialic acids. Activity of the majority of Fusarium lectins exhibited binding affinity to d-ribose, l-fucose, d-glucose, l-arabinose, d-mannitol, d-galactosamine hydrochloride, d-galacturonic acid, N-acetyl-d-galactosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, 2-deoxy-d-ribose, fetuin, asialofetuin, and bovine submaxillary mucin. Melibiose and N-glycolyl neuraminic acid did not inhibit the activity of any of the Fusarium lectins. Mycelial extracts of F. begoniae, F. nisikadoi, F. anthophilum, and F. incarnatum interacted with most of the carbohydrates tested. F. fujikuroi and F. anthophilum extracts displayed strong interaction with starch. The expression of lectin activity as a function of culture age was investigated. Most species displayed lectin activity on the 7th day of cultivation, and it varied with progressing of culture age. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Selective solvation extraction of gold from alkaline cyanide solution by alkyl phosphorus esters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, J.D.; Wan, R.Y.; Mooiman, M.B.; Sibrell, P.L.

1987-01-01

Research efforts have shown that solvation extraction of gold from alkaline cyanide solution is possible by alkyl phosphorus esters. Both tributyl phosphate (TBP) and dibutyl butyl phosphonate (DBBP) appear to be effective extractants for gold and exhibit high loading capacities exceeding 30 gpl. Selective solvation extraction of gold from alkaline cyanide solution can be achieved with selectivity factors relative to other cyanoanions as high as 1000 under certain circumstances. Variables influencing the selectivity such as ionic strength, temperature, and extractant structure, are discussed in terms of the extraction chemistry, which seems to involve the solvation of a M dot, dot, dot Au(CN)2 ion pair.

Investigating the characteristic strength of flocs formed from crude and purified Hibiscus extracts in water treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Alfred Ndahi; Bridgeman, John

2016-10-15

The growth, breakage and re-growth of flocs formed using crude and purified seed extracts of Okra (OK), Sabdariffa (SB) and Kenaf (KE) as coagulants and coagulant aids was assessed. The results showed floc size increased from 300 μm when aluminium sulphate (AS) was used as a coagulant to between 696 μm and 722 μm with the addition of 50 mg/l of OK, KE and SB crude samples as coagulant aids. Similarly, an increase in floc size was observed when each of the purified proteins was used as coagulant aid at doses of between 0.123 and 0.74 mg/l. The largest floc sizes of 741 μm, 460 μm and 571 μm were obtained with a 0.123 mg/l dose of purified Okra protein (POP), purified Sabdariffa (PSP) and purified Kenaf (PKP) respectively. Further coagulant aid addition from 0.123 to 0.74 mg/l resulted in a decrease in floc size and strength in POP and PSP. However, an increase in floc strength and reduced d50 size was observed in PKP at a dose of 0.74 mg/l. Flocs produced when using purified and crude extract samples as coagulant aids exhibited high recovery factors and strength. However, flocs exhibited greater recovery post-breakage when the extracts were used as a primary coagulant. It was observed that the combination of purified proteins and AS improved floc size, strength and recovery factors. Therefore, the applications of Hibiscus seeds in either crude or purified form increases floc growth, strength, recoverability and can also reduce the cost associated with the import of AS in developing countries. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prebiotic Potential and Chemical Composition of Seven Culinary Spice Extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Qing-Yi; Summanen, Paula H; Lee, Ru-Po; Huang, Jianjun; Henning, Susanne M; Heber, David; Finegold, Sydney M; Li, Zhaoping

2017-08-01

The objective of this study was to investigate prebiotic potential, chemical composition, and antioxidant capacity of spice extracts. Seven culinary spices including black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger, Mediterranean oregano, rosemary, and turmeric were extracted with boiling water. Major chemical constituents were characterized by RP-HPLC-DAD method and antioxidant capacity was determined by measuring colorimetrically the extent to scavenge ABTS radical cations. Effects of spice extracts on the viability of 88 anaerobic and facultative isolates from intestinal microbiota were determined by using Brucella agar plates containing serial dilutions of extracts. A total of 14 phenolic compounds, a piperine, cinnamic acid, and cinnamaldehyde were identified and quantitated. Spice extracts exhibited high antioxidant capacity that correlated with the total amount of major chemicals. All spice extracts, with the exception of turmeric, enhanced the growth of Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. All spices exhibited inhibitory activity against selected Ruminococcus species. Cinnamon, oregano, and rosemary were active against selected Fusobacterium strains and cinnamon, rosemary, and turmeric were active against selected Clostridium spp. Some spices displayed prebiotic-like activity by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppressing the growth of pathogenic bacteria, suggesting their potential role in the regulation of intestinal microbiota and the enhancement of gastrointestinal health. The identification and quantification of spice-specific phytochemicals provided insight into the potential influence of these chemicals on the gut microbial communities and activities. Future research on the connections between spice-induced changes in gut microbiota and host metabolism and disease preventive effect in animal models and humans is needed. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Food Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Institute of

Destination-Promoted And Visitor-Generated Images – Do They Represent Similar Stories?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tussyadiah, Iis

2010-01-01

Drawing on the concept of mediation and scripting, this chapter applies a content-extraction method in an attempt to identify similarities and differences between images used by destination marketers and those shared by tourists at the visit and post-visit stages, and, most importantly, to identify...... the values created by the shared images for audiences in tourism settings. The official image data were selected from photo galleries of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) website (gophila.com), resulting in 412 samples. Similarities of images provided on the GoPhila photo...... galleries within and between categories prove that destination marketing organizations have typically used similar types of images to communicate notions of the tourist experience to reinforce the desired image in the minds of potential travellers. On the other hand, based on the high similarities...

[Establishment of the mathematic model of total quantum statistical moment standard similarity for application to medical theoretical research].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Fu-yuan; Deng, Kai-wen; Huang, Sheng; Liu, Wen-long; Shi, Ji-lian

2013-09-01

The paper aims to elucidate and establish a new mathematic model: the total quantum statistical moment standard similarity (TQSMSS) on the base of the original total quantum statistical moment model and to illustrate the application of the model to medical theoretical research. The model was established combined with the statistical moment principle and the normal distribution probability density function properties, then validated and illustrated by the pharmacokinetics of three ingredients in Buyanghuanwu decoction and of three data analytical method for them, and by analysis of chromatographic fingerprint for various extracts with different solubility parameter solvents dissolving the Buyanghanwu-decoction extract. The established model consists of four mainly parameters: (1) total quantum statistical moment similarity as ST, an overlapped area by two normal distribution probability density curves in conversion of the two TQSM parameters; (2) total variability as DT, a confidence limit of standard normal accumulation probability which is equal to the absolute difference value between the two normal accumulation probabilities within integration of their curve nodical; (3) total variable probability as 1-Ss, standard normal distribution probability within interval of D(T); (4) total variable probability (1-beta)alpha and (5) stable confident probability beta(1-alpha): the correct probability to make positive and negative conclusions under confident coefficient alpha. With the model, we had analyzed the TQSMS similarities of pharmacokinetics of three ingredients in Buyanghuanwu decoction and of three data analytical methods for them were at range of 0.3852-0.9875 that illuminated different pharmacokinetic behaviors of each other; and the TQSMS similarities (ST) of chromatographic fingerprint for various extracts with different solubility parameter solvents dissolving Buyanghuanwu-decoction-extract were at range of 0.6842-0.999 2 that showed different constituents

Protein structure similarity from principle component correlation analysis

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Chou James

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Owing to rapid expansion of protein structure databases in recent years, methods of structure comparison are becoming increasingly effective and important in revealing novel information on functional properties of proteins and their roles in the grand scheme of evolutionary biology. Currently, the structural similarity between two proteins is measured by the root-mean-square-deviation (RMSD in their best-superimposed atomic coordinates. RMSD is the golden rule of measuring structural similarity when the structures are nearly identical; it, however, fails to detect the higher order topological similarities in proteins evolved into different shapes. We propose new algorithms for extracting geometrical invariants of proteins that can be effectively used to identify homologous protein structures or topologies in order to quantify both close and remote structural similarities. Results We measure structural similarity between proteins by correlating the principle components of their secondary structure interaction matrix. In our approach, the Principle Component Correlation (PCC analysis, a symmetric interaction matrix for a protein structure is constructed with relationship parameters between secondary elements that can take the form of distance, orientation, or other relevant structural invariants. When using a distance-based construction in the presence or absence of encoded N to C terminal sense, there are strong correlations between the principle components of interaction matrices of structurally or topologically similar proteins. Conclusion The PCC method is extensively tested for protein structures that belong to the same topological class but are significantly different by RMSD measure. The PCC analysis can also differentiate proteins having similar shapes but different topological arrangements. Additionally, we demonstrate that when using two independently defined interaction matrices, comparison of their maximum

Towards novel organic high-Tc superconductors: Data mining using density of states similarity search

Science.gov (United States)

Geilhufe, R. Matthias; Borysov, Stanislav S.; Kalpakchi, Dmytro; Balatsky, Alexander V.

2018-02-01

Identifying novel functional materials with desired key properties is an important part of bridging the gap between fundamental research and technological advancement. In this context, high-throughput calculations combined with data-mining techniques highly accelerated this process in different areas of research during the past years. The strength of a data-driven approach for materials prediction lies in narrowing down the search space of thousands of materials to a subset of prospective candidates. Recently, the open-access organic materials database OMDB was released providing electronic structure data for thousands of previously synthesized three-dimensional organic crystals. Based on the OMDB, we report about the implementation of a novel density of states similarity search tool which is capable of retrieving materials with similar density of states to a reference material. The tool is based on the approximate nearest neighbor algorithm as implemented in the ANNOY library and can be applied via the OMDB web interface. The approach presented here is wide ranging and can be applied to various problems where the density of states is responsible for certain key properties of a material. As the first application, we report about materials exhibiting electronic structure similarities to the aromatic hydrocarbon p-terphenyl which was recently discussed as a potential organic high-temperature superconductor exhibiting a transition temperature in the order of 120 K under strong potassium doping. Although the mechanism driving the remarkable transition temperature remains under debate, we argue that the density of states, reflecting the electronic structure of a material, might serve as a crucial ingredient for the observed high Tc. To provide candidates which might exhibit comparable properties, we present 15 purely organic materials with similar features to p-terphenyl within the electronic structure, which also tend to have structural similarities with p

Evaluation of antioxidant potential of citrus peel extracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chatha, S.A.S.; Hussain, A.I.; Asi, M.R.

2011-01-01

The antioxidant potential of different solvent extracts of three different locally grown citrus varieties; grape fruit, lemon and mussambi, was assessed using some antioxidant assays like estimation of total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoids contents (TFC), percentage inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation and DPPH free radical scavenging capacity. The yield of extracts was found in the range of 17.92-30.8%. TPC, TFC, percent inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation and DPPH radical scavenging capacity of different citrus peel extracts were found in range of 2.72 - 3.77 g/100g as Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE), 2.20-2.98 g/100g as Catechine Equivalent (CE), 68.20 - 91.78% and 19.53 - 41.88 mg/mL, respectively. Statistical analysis showed significant (p < 0.05) variations in the yield and antioxidant potentials of the extracts with respect to different species and solvent systems. From the results it is reasonable to say that methanolic extracts of citrus peels have exhibited varying degree of antioxidant potentials. (author)

One exhibition, many goals. Combining scientific research and risk communication

Science.gov (United States)

Charrière, Marie; Bogaard, Thom; Junier, Sandra; Malet, Jean-Philippe; Mostert, Erik

2015-04-01

How effective is visual communication to increase awareness of natural hazards and risks? To answer this research question, we developed a research design that was at the same time an experimental setting and an actual communication effort. Throughout the full length of the 2-years project held in the Ubaye valley (southeastern France), we collaborated with local and regional stakeholders (politicians and technicians). During a consultation phase, the communication context was determined, the audience of the project was defined and finally the testing activity-communication effort was determined. We were offered the opportunity to design an exhibition for the local public library. In a consultation phase that corresponded to the design of the exhibition, the stakeholders contributed to its content as well as helping with the funding of the exhibition. Finally, during the experimentation phase, the stakeholders participated in advertising the activity, gathering of participants and designing the scientific survey. In order to assess the effects of the exhibition on risk awareness, several groups of children, teenagers and adults were submitted to a research design, consisting of 1) a pre-test, 2) the visit of the exhibition and 3) a post-test similar to the pre-test. In addition, the children answered a second post-test 3 months after the visit. Close ended questions addressed the awareness indicators mentioned in the literature, i.e. worry level, previous experiences with natural hazards events, exposure to awareness raising, ability to mitigate/respond/prepare, attitude to risk, and demographics. In addition, the post-test included several satisfaction questions concerning the visual tools displayed in the exhibition. A statistical analysis of the changes between the pre- and post- tests (paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and bootstrapping) allowed to verify whether the exhibition had an impact on risk awareness or not. In order to deduce which variable

Azimuthal anisotropy of light extraction from photonic crystal light-emitting diodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lai, Chun-Feng; Lu, T.C.; Wang, S.C. [Department of Photonics and Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan (China); Chao, C.H.; Hsueh, H.T.; Wang, J.F.T.; Yeh, W.Y.; Chi, J.Y. [Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan (China); Kuo, H.C.

2008-07-01

Photonic crystal (PhC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) exhibiting anisotropic light extraction have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is found that the anisotropic light extraction strongly depends on the lattice constant and orientation. Optical images of the anisotropy in the azimuthal direction are obtained using annular structure with triangular lattice. 6-fold symmetric light extraction patterns with varying number of petals are observed. More petals in multiple of 6 appear in the observed image with lattice constant increasing. This anisotropic behavior suggests a new means to optimize the PhC design of GaN LED for light extraction. (copyright 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Self-similarity of proton spin and asymmetry of jet production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tokarev, M.V.; Zborovsky, I.

2014-01-01

Self-similarity of jet production in polarized p + p collisions is studied. The concept of z-scaling is applied for description of inclusive spectra obtained with different orientations of proton spin. New data on the double longitudinal spin asymmetry, A LL , of jets produced in proton-proton collisions at √s = 200 GeV measured by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC are analyzed in the z-scaling approach. Hypotheses of self-similarity and fractality of internal spin structure are formulated. A possibility to extract information on spin-dependent fractal dimensions of proton from the asymmetry of jet production is justified. The spin-dependent fractal dimensions for the process p-bar+p-bar→jet+X are estimated.

Phytochemical screening and study of antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of extracts from stem wood of Pterocarpus marsupium Roxburgh.

Science.gov (United States)

Pant, Dipak Raj; Pant, Narayan Dutt; Saru, Dil Bahadur; Yadav, Uday Narayan; Khanal, Dharma Prasad

2017-01-01

The main aims of the study were to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and to study the antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities of extracts from stem wood of Pterocarpus marsupium . Ethanol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) (1:1) extracts of stem wood of P. marsupium were subjected to phytochemical screening and analysis of biological activities from August 2015 to January 2016. The antioxidant assay was carried out using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging method, antimicrobial activity testing by cup diffusion method, antidiabetic test evaluation by oral glucose tolerance test in mice, anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated by hind paw edema method in mice and analgesic test evaluation by a chemical writhing method in mice. The results of the study revealed that P. marsupium is a source of various phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, tannins, proteins, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, and terpenoids. Both the acetone and IPA extract as well as the ethanol extract of stem wood of P. marsupium exhibited a dose-dependent antioxidant activity. Acetone and IPA extract showed antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, while the ethanolic extract was found to possess antidiabetic activity. The antidiabetic activity of the extract was found to be time and dose-dependent. Similarly, the acetone and IPA extract was found to have anti-inflammatory activity, which was also time and dose-dependent. Furthermore, the ethanolic extract showed analgesic activity, which was dose-dependent. The ethanolic extract was found to be nontoxic. Thus, this study laid sufficient background for the further research on extracts from stem wood of P. marsupium for identification, subsequent purification and isolation of compounds having antibacterial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities.

Feature Extraction from 3D Point Cloud Data Based on Discrete Curves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi An

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Reliable feature extraction from 3D point cloud data is an important problem in many application domains, such as reverse engineering, object recognition, industrial inspection, and autonomous navigation. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for extracting the geometric features from 3D point cloud data based on discrete curves. We extract the discrete curves from 3D point cloud data and research the behaviors of chord lengths, angle variations, and principal curvatures at the geometric features in the discrete curves. Then, the corresponding similarity indicators are defined. Based on the similarity indicators, the geometric features can be extracted from the discrete curves, which are also the geometric features of 3D point cloud data. The threshold values of the similarity indicators are taken from [0,1], which characterize the relative relationship and make the threshold setting easier and more reasonable. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient and reliable.

Antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities of extracts from Rapistrum rugosum in Tunisia

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Omri Hichri Amel

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: To investigate the antioxidant potential and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity of Rapistrum rugosum extracts. Methods: The crude, ethyl acetate, butanol and water extracts prepared from flowers, roots, stems and leaves of Rapistrum rugosum were tested at 1 mg/mL to determine their total polyphenol content, total flavonoid content and total condensed tannin content. Their antioxidant activity was assessed at different concentrations (0.0312, 0.0625, 0.1250, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 mg/ mL by using DPPH, ABTS, reducing power and β-carotene bleAChIng inhibition activity. Antiacetylcholinesterase activity was also determined. Results: The extract of leaves and stems had the highest total phenolic content [(110.45依0.03 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight]. The ethyl acetate extract of flowers had the highest total flavonoid content [(24.62依0.13 mg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight]. The butanolic fraction of flowers had the highest total condensed tannin content [(317.85依0.01 mg catechin equivalent/g dry weight]. The crude extracts of flowers exhibited an interesting antioxidant activity for DPPH assay (93.00依0.01% at 1 mg/mL. The greatest acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity (IC50=1.60 mg/mL was exhibited by the crude extracts from the flowers. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that Rapistrum rugosum contains active constituents which possess antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities.

Antioxidant activity of flower, stem and leaf extracts of Ferula gummosa Boiss

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nabavi, S. F.; Ebrahimzadeh, M. A.; Nabavi, S. M.; Eslami, B.

2010-07-01

The Antioxidant and anti hemolytic activities of hydro alcoholic extracts of the flowers, stems and leaves of the Ferula gummosa Boiss were investigated employing different in vitro assay systems. Leaf extract showed better activity in DPPH radical scavenging. In addition it showed better activity in nitric oxide and H{sub 2}O{sub 2} scavenging and Fe{sup 2}+ chelating activity than the other parts. The extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity in linoleic acid system test but were not comparable with vitamin C (p< 0.001). The extracts showed weak reducing power activity. The F. gummosa stem extract showed better anti hemolytic activity against H{sub 2}O{sub 2} induced hemolysis. Among the extracts, the flowers had higher phenolic and flavonoid contents. This plant is very promising for further biochemical experiments. (Author) 43 refs.

Antioxidant, Antinociceptive, and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Carotenoids Extracted from Dried Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Ortega, Marcela; Ortiz-Moreno, Alicia; Hernández-Navarro, María Dolores; Chamorro-Cevallos, Germán; Dorantes-Alvarez, Lidia; Necoechea-Mondragón, Hugo

2012-01-01

Carotenoids extracted from dried peppers were evaluated for their antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Peppers had a substantial carotenoid content: guajillo 3406 ± 4 μg/g, pasilla 2933 ± 1 μg/g, and ancho 1437 ± 6 μg/g of sample in dry weight basis. A complex mixture of carotenoids was discovered in each pepper extract. The TLC analysis revealed the presence of chlorophylls in the pigment extract from pasilla and ancho peppers. Guajillo pepper carotenoid extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity and had the best scavenging capacity for the DPPH+ cation (24.2%). They also exhibited significant peripheral analgesic activity at 5, 20, and 80 mg/kg and induced central analgesia at 80 mg/kg. The results suggest that the carotenoids in dried guajillo peppers have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory benefits and could be useful for pain and inflammation relief. PMID:23091348

A Study of Wavelet Analysis and Data Extraction from Second-Order Self-Similar Time Series

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Leopoldo Estrada Vargas

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Statistical analysis and synthesis of self-similar discrete time signals are presented. The analysis equation is formally defined through a special family of basis functions of which the simplest case matches the Haar wavelet. The original discrete time series is synthesized without loss by a linear combination of the basis functions after some scaling, displacement, and phase shift. The decomposition is then used to synthesize a new second-order self-similar signal with a different Hurst index than the original. The components are also used to describe the behavior of the estimated mean and variance of self-similar discrete time series. It is shown that the sample mean, although it is unbiased, provides less information about the process mean as its Hurst index is higher. It is also demonstrated that the classical variance estimator is biased and that the widely accepted aggregated variance-based estimator of the Hurst index results biased not due to its nature (which is being unbiased and has minimal variance but to flaws in its implementation. Using the proposed decomposition, the correct estimation of the Variance Plot is described, as well as its close association with the popular Logscale Diagram.

Investigating Design Research Landscapes through Exhibition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jönsson, Li; Hansen, Flemming Tvede; Mäkelä, Maarit

2013-01-01

What characterizes a design research exhibition compared to a traditional design and art exhibition? How do you show the very materialities of the design experiments as a means for communicating knowledge of research and of practice? How do you present, review and utilize such an exhibition......? With those questions in mind, the intention and challenge for the Nordes 2013 Design Research Exhibition was to expand on current notions of staging research enquires in design research conference contexts. Artefacts, installations, performances, and other materialities that relate to the theme...... of the conference - Experiments in Design Research – were displayed as tools to express and communicate different design research enquires. Through this paper we will describe the Nordes exhibition as a specific case that renders questions visible in relation to how to utilize a design research exhibition...

Antimicrobial activities of essential oil and hexane extract of Florence fennel [Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum (Mill.) Thell.] against foodborne microorganisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Cetin, Bülent; Ozer, Hakan; Cakir, Ahmet; Polat, Taşkin; Dursun, Atilla; Mete, Ebru; Oztürk, Erdoğan; Ekinci, Melek

2010-02-01

The objective of this study was to determine the chemical compositions of the essential oil and hexane extract isolated from the inflorescence, leaf stems, and aerial parts of Florence fennel and the antimicrobial activities of the essential oil, hexane extract, and their major component, anethole, against a large variety of foodborne microorganisms. Gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that the essential oils obtained from inflorescence, leaf stems, and whole aerial parts contained (E)-anethole (59.28-71.69%), limonene (8.30-10.73%), apiole (trace to 9.23%), beta-fenchyl acetate (3.02-4.80%), and perillene (2.16-3.29%) as the main components. Likewise, the hexane extract of the plant sample exhibited a similar chemical composition, and it contained (E)-anethole (53.00%), limonene (27.16%), gamma-terpinene (4.09%), and perillene (3.78%). However, the hexane extract also contained less volatile components such as n-hexadecanoic acid (1.62%), methyl palmitate (1.17%), and linoleic acid (1.15%). The in vitro antimicrobial assays showed that the essential oil, anethole, and hexane extract were effective against most of the foodborne pathogenic, saprophytic, probiotic, and mycotoxigenic microorganisms tested. The results of the present study revealed that (E)-anethole, the main component of Florence fennel essential oil, is responsible for the antimicrobial activity and that the essential oils as well as the hexane extract can be used as a food preservative. This study is the first report showing the antimicrobial activities of essential oil and hexane extract of Florence fennel against probiotic bacteria.

Use of ethyl lactate to extract bioactive compounds from Cytisus scoparius: Comparison of pressurized liquid extraction and medium scale ambient temperature systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lores, Marta; Pájaro, Marta; Álvarez-Casas, Marta; Domínguez, Jorge; García-Jares, Carmen

2015-08-01

An important trend in the extraction of chemical compounds is the application of new environmentally friendly, food grade solvents. Ethyl lactate (ethyl 2-hydroxypropanoate), produced by fermentation of carbohydrates, is miscible with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds being a potentially good solvent for bioactive compounds. Despite its relatively wide use as a general solvent, the utilization of ethyl lactate as an extraction solvent has only recently been considered. Here, we evaluate the possible use of ethyl lactate to extract phenolic compounds from wild plants belonging to Cytisus scoparius, and we compare the characteristics of the extracts obtained by Pressurized Solvent Extraction (the total phenolics content, the antioxidant activity and the concentration of the major polyphenols) with those of other extracts obtained with methanol. In order to explore the industrial production of the ethyl lactate Cytisus extract, we also evaluate medium scale ambient temperature setups. The whole plant and the different parts (flowers, branches, and seed pods) were evaluated separately as potential sources of polyphenols. All extracts were analyzed by LC-MS/MS for accurate identification of the major polyphenols. Similar phenolic profiles were obtained when using ethyl lactate or methanol. The main bioactives found in the Cytisus extract were the non-flavonoid phenolic compounds caffeic and protocatechuic acids and 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde; the flavonoids rutin, kaempferol and quercetin; the flavones chrysin, orientin and apigenin; and the alkaloid lupanine. Regarding the comparison of the extraction systems, although the performance of the PLE was much better than that of the ambient-temperature columns, the energy consumption was also much higher. Ethyl lactate has resulted an efficient extraction solvent for polyphenols from C. scoparius, yielding extracts with high levels of plant phenolics and antioxidant activity. The antimicrobial activity of these

Self-similar perturbations of a Friedmann universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, B.J.; Yahil, A.

1990-01-01

The present analysis of spherically symmetric self-similar solutions to the Einstein equations gives attention to those solutions that are asymptotically k = 0 Friedmann at large z values, and possess finite but perturbed density at the origin. Such solutions represent nonlinear density fluctuations which grow at the same rate as the universe's particle horizon. The overdense solutions span only a narrow range of parameters, and resemble static isothermal gas spheres just within the sonic point; the underdense solutions may have arbitrarily low density at the origin while exhibiting a unique relationship between amplitude and scale. Their relevance to large-scale void formation is considered. 36 refs

Extraction behavior of Nb and Ta in HF solutions with tributyl phosphate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, M.; Tsuto, S.; Ooe, K.; Goto, S.; Kudo, H.; Haba, H.; Kanaya, J.

2013-01-01

Extraction behavior of carrier-free Nb and Ta with tributyl phosphate (TBP) from HF solutions was studied by a batch method. Tantalum is extracted well to an organic phase, while Nb is left in an aqueous phase at 0.053-1.0 M HF concentrations. The similar extraction trends of Nb and Ta are shown in the solid phase extraction using a TBP resin. The extraction equilibria in the solid phase extraction are attained within ∼10 s. (author)

HYPOTENSIVE AND CARDIOINHIBOTORY EFFECTS OF THE AQUEOUS AND ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF CELERY (APIUM GRAVEOLENS, APIACEAE

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Dragana Pavlović

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In this study we present the effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts of celery (Apium graveolens L., Apiaceae investigated on the mean blood pressure of anaesthetized rabbits and contractility of isolated atria of the rats. In our experiments were used rabbits and Wistar albino rats. The effects of extracts (0.5-15 mg/kg on blood pressure were recorded directly from the carotid artery. Rat isolated atria was mounted in 10 ml tissue bath. An equilibrium period of 30 min was given before the application of the extracts (0.02-0.75 mg/ml. In anesthetized rabbit, intravenous administration of aqueous extracts induced least hypotensive effects (14.35±2.94%, while the ethanol extract caused the greatest fall in the blood pressure (45.79±10.86%. Hypotensive effects of the extracts were partially blocked by atropine (0.3 mg/kg, an unselective muscarinic receptor antagonist. In isolated rat atria both aqueous and ethanolic extracts of celery, exhibit a negative chronotropic and an inotropic action. Aqueous extract decreased rate of contractions for 12.88±2.74% and amplitude for 8.73±0.89%. Ethanol extract inhibited rate of the atria contractions for 34.26±5.69%, and amplitude for 25.40±3.61%. Pretreatment of the atria with atropine (1μM partially blocked inhibitory response of aqueous and ethanol extracts. Ethanol extract of celery exhibited significantly greater hypotensive and cardio-depressant activities then aqueous extract (p<0.05. These data suggest that the aqueous and ethanol extracts of celery caused the hypotensive, negative inotropic and chronotropic effects, which could partially be mediated possibly via stimulation of muscarinic receptors. Inhibitory effect of ethanol extract was significant comparing to aqueous extract of celery.

Short communication Increase in metal extractability after liming of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... decreased in extractability (Statistically significant differences could not be determined for the trial due to the trial not having been designed for the results that were obtained). Similar results were reported in the literature for EDTA metal extraction but the phenomenon was not elaborated upon, except for Cr. The increased ...

Oriented Growth of α-MnO2 Nanorods Using Natural Extracts from Grape Stems and Apple Peels

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Lina Sanchez-Botero

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We report on the synthesis of alpha manganese dioxide (α-MnO2 nanorods using natural extracts from Vitis vinifera grape stems and Malus domestica ‘Cortland’ apple peels. We used a two-step method to produce highly crystalline α-MnO2 nanorods: (1 reduction of KMnO4 in the presence of natural extracts to initiate the nucleation process; and (2 a thermal treatment to enable further solid-state growth of the nuclei. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM images provided direct evidence of the morphology of the nanorods and these images were used to propose nucleation and growth mechanisms. We found that the α-MnO2 nanorods synthesized using natural extracts exhibit structural and magnetic properties similar to those of nanoparticles synthesized via traditional chemical routes. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR shows that the particle growth of the α-MnO2 nanorods appears to be controlled by the presence of natural capping agents during the thermal treatment. We also evaluated the catalytic activity of the nanorods in the degradation of aqueous solutions of indigo carmine dye, highlighting the potential use of these materials to clean dye-polluted water.

Antioxidant Capacities of Fractions of Bamboo Shaving Extract and Their Antioxidant Components.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Jinyan; Huang, Jun; Xiao, Gongnian; Chen, Feng; Lee, Bolim; Ge, Qing; You, Yuru; Liu, Shiwang; Zhang, Ying

2016-07-30

This research was conducted for evaluation of antioxidant activities of four fractions from bamboo shavings extract (BSE) and their antioxidant components. The antioxidant capacities of BSE and four fractions on ABTS, DPPH, FRAP and total antioxidant capacity assays exhibited the following descending order: DF > n-butanol fraction (BF) > BSE ≈ ethyl acetate fraction (AF) > water fraction (WF). Among the identified phenolic compounds, caffeic acid exhibited the highest antioxidant capacities on DPPH, FRAP and total antioxidant capacity assays. An extremely significant positive correlation between the antioxidant activities with the contents of total flavonoids, total phenolic acids, or total phenolics was observed in this study. The result indicated that the bamboo shaving extract and its solvent fractions could act as natural antioxidants in light of their potent antioxidant activities.

Ligand fishing from Dioscorea nipponica extract using human serum albumin functionalized magnetic nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Qinga, Lin-Sen; Xue, Ying; Zheng, Yi; Xiong, Jing; Liao, Xun; Ding, Li-Sheng; Li, Bo-Gang; Liu, Yi-Ming

2010-07-09

Dioscorea nipponica and the preparations made from it have been used for long to prevent and treat coronary heart disease in traditional Chinese medicine. A group of steroidal saponins present in the plant are believed to be the active ingredients. It has been a challenge to study the individual saponins separately due to the similarities in their chemical and physical properties. In this work, human serum albumin (HSA) functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used to isolate and identify saponin ligands that bind to HSA from D. nipponica extract. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was used for compound identification and semi-quantification. Three saponins, i.e. dioscin, gracillin, and pseudo-protodioscin showed affinity to HSA-MNPs and thus isolated effectively from the extract. The other two saponins detected in the extract (i.e. protodioscin and 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,20α,26-triol-25(R)-Δ(5,22)-dienofurostan-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1→2)-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1→4)]-β-D-glucopyranoside) exhibited no affinity at all. Among the three saponins fished out, dioscin bound to HSA much stronger than gracillin and pseudo-protodioscin did. The results indicated that affinity interaction between HSA immobilized on MNPs and small molecule compounds were highly dependent on chemical structures and, potentially, medicinal usefulness. The present work demonstrates a facile and effective way to isolate and identify ligands of receptors from medicinal plants.

Nanoindentation of HMX and Idoxuridine to Determine Mechanical Similarity

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Alexandra C. Burch

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Assessing the mechanical behavior (elastic properties, plastic properties, and fracture phenomena of molecular crystals is often complicated by the difficulty in preparing samples. Pharmaceuticals and energetic materials in particular are often used in composite structures or tablets, where the individual grains can strongly impact the solid behavior. Nanoindentation is a convenient method to experimentally assess these properties, and it is used here to demonstrate the similarity in the mechanical properties of two distinct systems: individual crystals of the explosive cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX and the pharmaceutical idoxuridine were tested in their as-precipitated state, and the effective average modulus and hardness (which can be orientation dependent were determined. Both exhibit a hardness of 1.0 GPa, with an effective reduced modulus of 25 and 23 GPa for the HMX and idoxuridine, respectively. They also exhibit similar yield point behavior. This indicates idoxuridine may be a suitable mechanical surrogate (or “mock” for HMX. While the methodology to assess elastic and plastic properties was relatively insensitive to specific crystal orientation (i.e., a uniform distribution in properties was observed for all random crystals tested, the indentation-induced fracture properties appear to be much more sensitive to tip-crystal orientation, and an unloading slope analysis is used to demonstrate the need for further refinement in relating toughness to orientation in these materials with relatively complex slip systems and crystal structures.

Phylogenetic similarity of the canine parvovirus wild-type isolates on the basis of VP1/VP2 gene fragment sequence analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rypul, K; Chmielewski, R; Smielewska-Loś, E; Klimentowski, S

2002-04-01

Biological material was taken from dogs with diarrhoea. Faecal samples were taken from within live animals and intestinal tract fragments (i.e. small intestine, and stomach) were taken from dead animals. In total, 18 specimens were investigated from dogs housed alone or in large groups. To test for the presence of the virus, latex (On Site Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) and direct immunofluorescence tests were performed. At the same time, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers complementary to a conservative region of VP1/VP2 was carried out. The products of amplification were analysed on 2% agarose gel. The purified products were cloned with the Template Generation System (Finnzymes, Espoo, Finland) using a transposition reaction and positive clones were searched using the 'colony screening by PCR' method. The sequencing gave 12 sequences of VP1/VP2 gene fragments that were of high similarity. Among the 12 analysed sequences, six exhibited 88% similarity, four exhibited 100% similarity and two exhibited 71% similarity.

A mini-exhibition with maximum content

CERN Multimedia

Laëtitia Pedroso

2011-01-01

The University of Budapest has been hosting a CERN mini-exhibition since 8 May. While smaller than the main travelling exhibition it has a number of major advantages: its compact design alleviates transport difficulties and makes it easier to find suitable venues in the Member States. Its content can be updated almost instantaneously and it will become even more interactive and high-tech as time goes by.   The exhibition on display in Budapest. The purpose of CERN's new mini-exhibition is to be more interactive and easier to install. Due to its size, the main travelling exhibition cannot be moved around quickly, which is why it stays in the same country for 4 to 6 months. But this means a long waiting list for the other Member States. To solve this problem, the Education Group has designed a new exhibition, which is smaller and thus easier to install. Smaller maybe, but no less rich in content, as the new exhibition conveys exactly the same messages as its larger counterpart. However, in the slimm...

Extract of corn silk (stigma of Zea mays) inhibits the tumour necrosis factor-alpha- and bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced cell adhesion and ICAM-1 expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Habtemariam, S

1998-05-01

Treatment of human endothelial cells with cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) or E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces the expression of several adhesion molecules and enhances leukocyte adhesion to endothelial cell surface. Interfering with this leukocyte adhesion or adhesion molecules upregulation is an important therapeutic target for the treatment of bacterial sepsis and various inflammatory diseases. In the course of screening marketed European anti-inflammatory herbal drugs for TNF antagonistic activity, a crude ethanolic extract of corn silk (stigma of Zea mays) exhibited significant activity. The extract at concentrations of 9-250 micrograms/ml effectively inhibited the TNF- and LPS-induced adhesiveness of EAhy 926 endothelial cells to monocytic U937 cells. Similar concentration ranges of corn silk extract did also block the TNF and LPS but not the phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced ICAM-1 expression on EAhy 926 endothelial cell surface. The extract did not alter the production of TNF by LPS-activated macrophages and failed to inhibit the cytotoxic activity of TNF. It is concluded that corn silk possesses important therapeutic potential for TNF- and LPS-mediated leukocyte adhesion and trafficking.

Antioxidative activity of extracts from fenugreek seeds (trigonella foenum-graecum)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bukhari, S B; Bhanger, M I; Memon, S [University of Sindh, Jamshoro (Pakistan). Dept. of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry

2008-12-15

Spices and herbs possess antioxidant activity and can be applied for preservation of lipid peroxidation in biological systems. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is an important spice; its dried seeds have wide application in food and beverages as a flavoring additive as well as in medicines. Crude extracts of fenugreek were prepared by soxhelt extraction method with different solvents such as methanol, ethanol, dichloromethane, acetone, hexane and ethyl acetate. Extracts were subjected for the measurement of total phenolic content (TPC) by Folin-Ciocalteu method as well as flavonoid content, chelating activity, reducing power and antioxidant/radical scavenging activity (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH degree) free radical scavenging activity). Results from different parameters were in agreement with each other. The results reveal that all extracts of the fenugreek exhibit antioxidant activity. These findings suggest that the fenugreek extracts could act as potent source of antioxidants. (author)

Antioxidative activity of extracts from fenugreek seeds (trigonella foenum-graecum)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bukhari, S.B.; Bhanger, M.I.; Memon, S.

2008-01-01

Spices and herbs possess antioxidant activity and can be applied for preservation of lipid peroxidation in biological systems. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is an important spice; its dried seeds have wide application in food and beverages as a flavoring additive as well as in medicines. Crude extracts of fenugreek were prepared by soxhelt extraction method with different solvents such as methanol, ethanol, dichloromethane, acetone, hexane and ethyl acetate. Extracts were subjected for the measurement of total phenolic content (TPC) by Folin-Ciocalteu method as well as flavonoid content, chelating activity, reducing power and antioxidant/radical scavenging activity (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH degree) free radical scavenging activity). Results from different parameters were in agreement with each other. The results reveal that all extracts of the fenugreek exhibit antioxidant activity. These findings suggest that the fenugreek extracts could act as potent source of antioxidants. (author)

Antioxidant Activity of Some Plant Extracts Towards Xanthine Oxidase, Lipoxygenase and Tyrosinase

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Pi-Yu Chen

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Natural products have the potential to be developed into new drugs for the treatment of various diseases. The aim of the present study was to screen the antioxidant activities of some common edible fruits, garden plants and medicinal plants indigenous to Taiwan. This was performed by assessing the activities of lipoxygenase, xanthine oxidase and tyrosinase following incubation with extracts from these plants. A further aim was to use HPLC-DAD and tyrosinase to chromatographically identify the antioxidative constituents obtained from an extract exhibiting strong antioxidative properties. The acetone extracts of 27 cultivated plant species from Taiwan were tested for antioxidant activities towards xanthine oxidase, tyrosinase and lipoxygenase using spectrophotometric assays. Koelreuteria henryi, Prunus campanulata, and Rhodiola rosea showed the highest xanthine oxidase inhibitory activities. Camellia sinensis, Rhodiola rosea, and Koelreuteria henryi exhibited good tyrosinase inhibitory activities and potent anti-lipoxygenase activities. As Koelreuteria henryi had notable significant inhibitory activities towards xanthine oxidase, tyrosinase, and lipoxygenase, it was further tested with tyrosinase and HPLC-DAD. The results from this part of the study revealed that the more powerful the antioxidant capability of the extracted component, the greater the decrease in peak height obtained after reacting with tyrosinase. Additional studies are warranted to further characterize the compounds responsible for the antioxidant properties of the examined extracts.

Task-specific ionic liquids for An and Ln extraction: unusual speciation and extraction mechanisms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Billard, Isabelle; Jobin, Emilie; Ouadi, Ali; Gaillard, Clotilde [IPHC-DRS, Chimie nucleaire, 23 rue du Loess, BP28, 67037 Strasbourg cedex 2 (France)

2008-07-01

Extraction mechanisms of uranium by TBP (tributylphosphate) diluted in an ionic liquid BumimTf{sub 2}N (1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(tri-fluoro-methyl-sulfonyl)imide) and by Task-Specific Ionic Liquids (TSILs) bearing a phosphoryl group were investigated. Great differences between these mechanisms and the one in the industrial solvent, dodecane, have been put in evidence. While in dodecane, the neutral species, UO{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}(TBP){sub 2}, is the major extracted complex, in BumimTf{sub 2}N and TSILs, at least two species are extracted with more or less similar proportions. Moreover, no uranyl species with two nitrates could be observed in these ionic liquids. Finally, the mechanisms vary from TBP in BumimTf{sub 2}N to TSILs. These results led to a so-to-say new kind of actinide chemistry. (authors)

Preparation of acellular scaffold for corneal tissue engineering by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yi-Hsun; Tseng, Fan-Wei; Chang, Wen-Hsin; Peng, I-Chen; Hsieh, Dar-Jen; Wu, Shu-Wei; Yeh, Ming-Long

2017-08-01

In this study, we developed a novel method using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2 ) to prepare acellular porcine cornea (APC). Under gentle extraction conditions using SCCO 2 technology, hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that cells were completely lysed, and cell debris, including nuclei, was efficiently removed from the porcine cornea. The SCCO 2 -treated corneas exhibited intact stromal structures and appropriate mechanical properties. Moreover, no immunological reactions and neovascularization were observed after lamellar keratoplasty in rabbits. All transplanted grafts and animals survived without complications. The transplanted APCs were opaque after the operation but became transparent within 2weeks. Complete re-epithelialization of the transplanted APCs was observed within 4weeks. In conclusion, APCs produced by SCCO 2 extraction technology could be an ideal and useful scaffold for corneal tissue engineering. We decellularized the porcine cornea using SCCO 2 extraction technology and investigated the characteristics, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility of the decellularized porcine cornea by lamellar keratoplasty in rabbits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the use of SCCO 2 extraction technology for preparation of acellular corneal scaffold. We proved that the cellular components of porcine corneas had been efficiently removed, and the biomechanical properties of the scaffold were well preserved by SCCO 2 extraction technology. SCCO 2 -treated corneas maintained optical transparency and exhibited appropriate strength to withstand surgical procedures. In vivo, the transplanted corneas showed no evidence of immunological reactions and exhibited good biocompatibility and long-term stability. Our results suggested that the APCs developed by SCCO 2 extraction technology could be an ideal and useful scaffold for corneal replacement and corneal tissue engineering. Copyright © 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by

Walk Through Solar System Times: An Exhibit with an Astrobiology Emphasis

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, C. Y.

2012-01-01

In this astrobiology outreach project, we attempt to present the research of the Goddard Center for Astrobiology (GCA) in the context of the history of the Solar System. GCA research emphasizes the origin and formation of complex pre-biotic organic materials in extraterrestrial environments and explores whether the delivery of these primordial materials and water to the early Earth enabled the emergence and evolution of life. The content expounds on areas that are usually not touched upon in a timeline of the Earth's formation. The exhibit addresses the questions: How did our solar system form? How is the formation of our solar systems similar or different from others? How did the organic molecules we observe in space get to the Earth? What conditions are most suitable for life? We will address the issues and challenges of designing the exhibit and of explaining advanced astrobiology research topics to the public.

Comparative study for antibacterial potential of in vitro and in vivo grown Ocimum basilicum L. plant extracts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shafique, M; Khan, S J [Pakistan Councile of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lahore (Pakistan). Dept. of Food and Biotechnology

2011-09-15

The antimicrobial activities of in vitro grown callus extract and in vivo grown Ocimum basilicum L. plant leaves extracts were studied and compared. Effect of extraction solvent was also assessed. These extracts were tested in vitro against eight bacterial strains following disc diffusion method. The results indicated that in vitro grown callus extracts of O. basilicum exhibited higher antimicrobial activity against tested Gram positive microorganisms as compared to in vivo grown plant material extract. These findings indicate towards potential use of biotechnology for natural therapeutic agent production. (author)

Comparative study for antibacterial potential of in vitro and in vivo grown Ocimum basilicum L. plant extracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shafique, M.; Khan, S.J.

2011-01-01

The antimicrobial activities of in vitro grown callus extract and in vivo grown Ocimum basilicum L. plant leaves extracts were studied and compared. Effect of extraction solvent was also assessed. These extracts were tested in vitro against eight bacterial strains following disc diffusion method. The results indicated that in vitro grown callus extracts of O. basilicum exhibited higher antimicrobial activity against tested Gram positive microorganisms as compared to in vivo grown plant material extract. These findings indicate towards potential use of biotechnology for natural therapeutic agent production. (author)

Effects of extraction methods of phenolic compounds from Xanthium strumarium L. and their antioxidant activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Scherer

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The effect of extraction methods and solvents on overall yield, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and the composition of the phenolic compounds in Xanthium strumarium extracts were studied. The antioxidant activity was determined by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH, and the composition of the phenolic compounds was determined by HPLC-DAD and LC/MS. All results were affected by the extraction method, especially by the solvent used, and the best results were obtained with the methanol extract. The methanolic and ethanolic extracts exhibited strong antioxidant activity, and the chlorogenic and ferulic acids were the most abundant phenolic compounds in the extracts.

Competitive solvent extraction of alkaline-earth cations into chloroform by lipophilic acyclic polyether dicarboxylic acids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, S.I.; Czech, A.; Czech, B.P.; Stewart, L.E.; Bartsch, R.A.

1985-01-01

Competitive solvent extraction of alkaline-earth cations from aqueous solutions into chloroform by a series of lipophilic acyclic polyether dicarboxylic acids is reported. The influence of polyether chain length and of terminal carboxylic acid group variation upon extraction selectivity and efficiency is assessed. In the competitive extraction of concentrated magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium chloride solutions, one complexing agent exhibits pronounced selectivity for barium with Ba 2+ /S 2+ = 50, Ba 2+ /Ca 2+ = 250, and no detectable Mg 2+ extraction. 20 references, 3 figures, 1 table

Hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of Ziziphus abyssinica Hochst Ex A. Rich (Rhamnaceae) exhibits anti-nociceptive effects in murine models.

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Boakye-Gyasi, Eric; Henneh, Isaac Tabiri; Abotsi, Wonder Kofi Mensah; Ameyaw, Elvis Ofori; Woode, Eric

2017-04-26

Despite substantial advances in pain research and treatment, millions of people continue to suffer from pain and this has been attributed mainly to the unavailability of effective and safer analgesics. The use of plants as medicines is still widespread and plants constitute a large source of novel phytocompounds that might become leads for the discovery of newer, effective and safer alternatives. Various parts of Ziziphus abyssinica have been used in folk medicine in several African countries as painkillers. However, there is no report on the possible anti-nociceptive effects of this plant especially the leaves, hence the need for this current study. The possible anti-nociceptive activity of hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of Ziziphus abyssinica (EthE) was assessed in rodents using chemical (acetic acid, formalin and glutamate), thermal (tail-immersion test) and mechanical/inflammatory (carrageenan) models of nociception. EthE (30-300 mg/kg, p.o.) dose-dependently and significantly inhibited chemical-induced nociception with a maximum inhibition of 86.29 ± 2.27%, 76.34 ± 5.67%, 84.97 ± 5.35%, and 82.81 ± 5.97% respectively for acetic acid, formalin (phase 1), formalin (phase 2) and glutamate tests at its highest dose. EthE also dose-dependently and significantly increased reaction times in both tail-immersion and carrageenan-induced hypernociceptive tests. The activities of the extract in the various models were comparable with the effect of morphine hydrochloride and diclofenac sodium used as standard analgesic drugs. Oral administration of hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of Ziziphus abyssinica ameliorates nocifensive behaviours associated with chemical-, thermal- and mechanical/inflammatory - induced nociceptive pain.

Antibacterial properties of extracts of Solidago canadensis and their potential use as dietary supplements in red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii

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Manhong YE,Lei ZHANG,Jiaqi GE,Haifeng SUN,Jingjing NI,Shengmei YANG,Wanhong WEI

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis is one of the most destructive invasive weeds in South-eastern China. To evaluate its potential application as dietary supplement in red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii, the antibacterial properties of aqueous and ethanol extracts of this plant against three major pathogenic bacteria in crayfish aquaculture were examined. Inhibition zone tests and determination of minimum inhibitory concentration revealed that the extracts had lower antibacterial activity than extracts from two traditional medicinal plants that possess antibacterial properties, garlic (Allium sativum and cortex phellodendri (Phellodendron chinense. However, they did exhibit greater antibacterial effects than extracts from another widely used medicinal plant, Sophora flavescens, and an aquatic weed, Alternanthera philoxeroides. Aqueous extracts of Canadian goldenrod gave greater inhibition than the ethanol extracts. Crayfish fed a diet with 2% these aqueous extracts exhibited significantly higher enzyme activity of alkaline phosphatase, catalase and phenoloxidase (P<0.05. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that aqueous extracts of Canadian goldenrod are highly promising for the development of new dietary supplement for use in crayfish aquaculture.

Metabolite extraction from adherently growing mammalian cells for metabolomics studies: optimization of harvesting and extraction protocols.

Science.gov (United States)

Dettmer, Katja; Nürnberger, Nadine; Kaspar, Hannelore; Gruber, Michael A; Almstetter, Martin F; Oefner, Peter J

2011-01-01

Trypsin/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) treatment and cell scraping in a buffer solution were compared for harvesting adherently growing mammalian SW480 cells for metabolomics studies. In addition, direct scraping with a solvent was tested. Trypsinated and scraped cell pellets were extracted using seven different extraction protocols including pure methanol, methanol/water, pure acetone, acetone/water, methanol/chloroform/water, methanol/isopropanol/water, and acid-base methanol. The extracts were analyzed by GC-MS after methoximation/silylation and derivatization with propyl chloroformate, respectively. The metabolic fingerprints were compared and 25 selected metabolites including amino acids and intermediates of energy metabolism were quantitatively determined. Moreover, the influence of freeze/thaw cycles, ultrasonication and homogenization using ceramic beads on extraction yield was tested. Pure acetone yielded the lowest extraction efficiency while methanol, methanol/water, methanol/isopropanol/water, and acid-base methanol recovered similar metabolite amounts with good reproducibility. Based on overall performance, methanol/water was chosen as a suitable extraction solvent. Repeated freeze/thaw cycles, ultrasonication and homogenization did not improve overall metabolite yield of the methanol/water extraction. Trypsin/EDTA treatment caused substantial metabolite leakage proving it inadequate for metabolomics studies. Gentle scraping of the cells in a buffer solution and subsequent extraction with methanol/water resulted on average in a sevenfold lower recovery of quantified metabolites compared with direct scraping using methanol/water, making the latter one the method of choice to harvest and extract metabolites from adherently growing mammalian SW480 cells.

Analytical procedures for identifying anthocyanins in natural extracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marco, Paulo Henrique; Poppi, Ronei Jesus; Scarminio, Ieda Spacino

2008-01-01

Anthocyanins are among the most important plant pigments. Due to their potential benefits for human health, there is considerable interest in these natural pigments. Nonetheless, there is great difficulty in finding a technique that could provide the identification of structurally similar compounds and estimate the number and concentration of the species present. A lot of techniques have been tried to find the best methodology to extract information from these systems. In this paper, a review of the most important procedures is given, from the extraction to the identification of anthocyanins in natural extracts. (author)

Effects of extracts of denervated muscles on the morphology of cultured muscle cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hooisma, J.; Krijger, J.de; Groot, D.M.G. de

1981-01-01

Previously tropic effects of extracts from whole chick embryos and from innervated muscles on cultured muscle cells were described. The present study demonstrated similar effects of extracts from 10-days denervated chick muscles. Extracts from innervated as well as from denervated muscles

Peer review and competition in the Art Exhibition Game.

Science.gov (United States)

Balietti, Stefano; Goldstone, Robert L; Helbing, Dirk

2016-07-26

To investigate the effect of competitive incentives under peer review, we designed a novel experimental setup called the Art Exhibition Game. We present experimental evidence of how competition introduces both positive and negative effects when creative artifacts are evaluated and selected by peer review. Competition proved to be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it fosters innovation and product diversity, but on the other hand, it also leads to more unfair reviews and to a lower level of agreement between reviewers. Moreover, an external validation of the quality of peer reviews during the laboratory experiment, based on 23,627 online evaluations on Amazon Mechanical Turk, shows that competition does not significantly increase the level of creativity. Furthermore, the higher rejection rate under competitive conditions does not improve the average quality of published contributions, because more high-quality work is also rejected. Overall, our results could explain why many ground-breaking studies in science end up in lower-tier journals. Differences and similarities between the Art Exhibition Game and scholarly peer review are discussed and the implications for the design of new incentive systems for scientists are explained.

Wheat germ oil extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide with ethanol: Fatty acid composition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parczewska-Plesnar, B.; Brzozowski, R.; Gwardiak, H.; Białecka-Florjańczyk, E.; Bujnowski, Z.

2016-01-01

In this work, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using CO2 with ethanol as entrainer was performed at a temperature of 40 o C under a pressure of 21 MPa. For comparison, a similar extraction without the entrainer was carried out. The extraction yield of wheat germ using supercritical CO2 with ethanol was slightly higher (10.7 wt%) than that of extraction without the entrainer (9.9 wt%). Fractions of SFE extracts were collected separately during the experiments and the composition of fatty acids in each fraction was analyzed. The SFE extracted oils were rich (63.4-71.3%) in the most valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and their content in all collected fractions was approximately constant. Similar PUFA contents were found in the reference samples of oils extracted by n-hexane (66.2-67.0%), while the commercial cold-pressed oil contained significantly less PUFA (60.2%). These results show a higher nutritional value of the oil obtained by extraction with supercritical CO2 than cold pressed oil which is generally considered to be very valuable. [es

Smokers exhibit biased neural processing of smoking and affective images.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Jason A; Jentink, Kade G; Drobes, David J; Evans, David E

2016-08-01

There has been growing interest in the role that implicit processing of drug cues can play in motivating drug use behavior. However, the extent to which drug cue processing biases relate to the processing biases exhibited to other types of evocative stimuli is largely unknown. The goal of the present study was to determine how the implicit cognitive processing of smoking cues relates to the processing of affective cues using a novel paradigm. Smokers (n = 50) and nonsmokers (n = 38) completed a picture-viewing task, in which participants were presented with a series of smoking, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral images while engaging in a distractor task designed to direct controlled resources away from conscious processing of image content. Electroencephalogram recordings were obtained throughout the task for extraction of event-related potentials (ERPs). Smokers exhibited differential processing of smoking cues across 3 different ERP indices compared with nonsmokers. Comparable effects were found for pleasant cues on 2 of these indices. Late cognitive processing of smoking and pleasant cues was associated with nicotine dependence and cigarette use. Results suggest that cognitive biases may extend across classes of stimuli among smokers. This raises important questions about the fundamental meaning of cognitive biases, and suggests the need to consider generalized cognitive biases in theories of drug use behavior and interventions based on cognitive bias modification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Cellulase-assisted extraction and antioxidant activity of the polysaccharides from garlic.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Saikun; Wu, Shengjun

2014-10-13

In the present study, the polysaccharides were prepared from garlic by using a cellulase-assisted extraction method and the antioxidant activity of garlic polysaccharides (GPs) was evaluated. To improve the yield of GPs, the influences of the several factors such as extraction time, temperature, pH, and cellulase amount on the extraction efficiency were studied. The optimal conditions for extraction of GPs were determined as follows: time, 80 min; temperature, 45 °C; pH, 5; cellulase amount, 8000 U/g. Under the optimised extraction conditions, the yield of GPS reached up to 35.34%. The GPs product exhibited strong antioxidant activity including hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, 2,2-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, and reducing power. The results suggest that the GPs could be used as potential antioxidants. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An in vitro study of anti-inflammatory activity of standardised Andrographis paniculata extracts and pure andrographolide.

Science.gov (United States)

Low, Mitchell; Khoo, Cheang S; Münch, Gerald; Govindaraghavan, Suresh; Sucher, Nikolaus J

2015-02-07

The anti-inflammatory activity of Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae), a traditional medicine widely used in Asia, is commonly attributed to andrographolide, its main secondary metabolite. Commercial A. paniculata extracts are standardised to andrographolide content. We undertook the present study to investigate 1) how selective enrichment of andrographolide in commercial A. paniculata extracts affects the variability of non-standardised phytochemical components and 2) if variability in the non-standardised components of the extract affects the pharmacological activity of andrographolide itself. We characterized 12 commercial, standardised (≥30% andrographolide) batches of A. paniculata extracts from India by HPLC profiling. We determined the antioxidant capacity of the extracts using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC) and a Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) antioxidant assays. Their anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by assaying their inhibitory effect on the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the human monocytic cell line THP-1. The andrographolide content in the samples was close to the claimed value (32.2 ± 2.1%, range 27.5 to 35.9%). Twenty-one non-standardised constituents exhibited more than 2-fold variation in HPLC peak intensities in the tested batches. The chlorogenic acid content of the batches varied more than 30-fold. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity varied ~3-fold, the ORAC and FC antioxidant capacity varied ~1.5 fold among batches. In contrast, the TNF-α inhibitory activity of the extracts exhibited little variation and comparison with pure andrographolide indicated that it was mostly due to their andrographolide content. Standardised A. paniculata extracts contained the claimed amount of andrographolide but exhibited considerable phytochemical background variation. DPPH radical scavenging activity of the extracts was mostly due to the flavonoid

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of phenolic compound extracted from new verbascum species growing in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saltan, F.Z.; Sokmen, M.; Akin, M.; Saracoglu, H.T.; Gokturk, R.S.; Ahmad, M.; Ali, M.; Shah, M.R.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant potential of the aerial parts of four new Verbascum L. (Scrophulariaceae) species namely, Verbascum bellum Hub.-Mor., Verbascum detersile Boiss. and Heldr., Verbascum myriocarpum Boiss. and Heldr. and Verbascum pestalozzae Boiss., growing in Turkey. Plant materials were extracted with chloroform, ethylacetate and methanol for antimicrobial tests. These extracts were assayed against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria by the microdilution method. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of the Verbascum species varied between 150-0.59 mg/ml. In general, ethylacetate extract was effective for E. coli (ATCC 25922, 1.88 mg/ml). Ethyl acetate extract of V. pestalozzae exhibited the highest effect on P. aeroginosa (ATCC 29853, 0.59 mg/ml). The antioxidant capacity of the studied species was only tested with methanol extracts. Their antioxidant action was tested by DPPH and beta-carotene-linoleic acid methods. While V. pestalozzae (IC/sub 50/=15 mu g/ml) exhibited the strongest activity in DPPH assay, V. detersile and V. pestalozzae provided an excellent inhibition effect (100% RAA) in the beta-caroten- linoleic acid system. HPLC analysis of methanol extracts was also carried out to determine the composition of the phenolic compounds responsible for the activity. Methanol extracts were also subjected to HPLC analysis to determine their phenolic compound profile. (author)

Rare earth elements in soil extracts by ICP-MS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tobler, L.; Furrer, V.; Wyttenbach, A. [Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland); Burger, M.; Jakob, A. [AC-Laboratorium Spiez (Switzerland)

1997-09-01

Three different horizons of a soil profile were extracted with water and with a complexing solution. 14 REEs were determined in the extracts. The distribution patterns obtained from the different horizons were rather similar and did not show the large fractionations observed between different plant species growing on this soil. (author) 2 figs., 1 ref.

Substituted polyethylene glycols in extraction of fission products and actinoids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smirnov, I.V.; Efremova, T.I.; Shadrin, A.Yu.; Baulin, V.E.; Tsvetkov, E.N.

1993-01-01

Europium and americium extraction from nitric acid media by solutions of phosphoryl-containing podands in o-nitroethylbenzene was studied. Extractive capacity of podands is determined by the length of polyether chain and the structure of terminal groups. Podand Ph 2 P(O)CH 2 CH 2 OCH 2 xCH 2 P(O)PH 2 as regards its extractive, capacity is similar to carbamoylphosphineoxides. Introduction of rigid o-phenylene fragments to polyether chain brigs, about a sharp decrease in extractive capacity of the podands

Antifungal activities of basil ( Ocimum basilicum L.) extract on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... and 29.27%, respectively) whereas other investigated Fusarium species exhibited much lower sensitivity. The basil extract completely inhibited the growth of investigated Fusarium spp. at the concentration of 1.50% (v/v). Higher concentrations (0.35 and 0.70% (v/v)) reduced growth of aerial mycelium in all tested species.

Antifungal potential of leaf extracts of leguminous trees against ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Brenan, Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. and Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. were evaluated for their antifungal activity against S. rolfsii and A. nilotica subsp. indica exhibited the maximum fungicidal potential. Materials and Methods: Two hundred grams dried leaf material of each of the three test plant species were extracted with ...

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Moringa oleifera leaf extract and its application to optical limiting.

Science.gov (United States)

Sathyavathi, R; Krishna, M Bala Murali; Rao, D Narayana

2011-03-01

The Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is evolving into an important branch of nanotechnology. The work presented here with the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Moringa oleifera leaf extract as reducing and stabilizing agent and its application in nonlinear optics. The aqueous silver ions when exposed to Moringa oleifera leaf extract are reduced resulting in silver nanoparticles demonstrating the biosynthesis. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Visible, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. TEM analysis shows a dispersion of the nanoparticles in a range of 5-80 nm with the average around 46 nm and are crystallized in face centred cubic symmetry. To show that these biosynthesized silver nanoparticles possess very good nonlinear properties similar to those nanoparticles synthesized by chemical route, we carried out the Z-scan studies with a 6 ns, 532 nm pulsed laser. We estimated the nonlinear absorption coefficient and compare it with the literature values of the nanoparticles synthesized through chemical route. The silver nanoparticles suspended in solution exhibited reverse saturable absorption with optical limiting threshold of 100 mJ/cm2.

Data mining technique for fast retrieval of similar waveforms in Fusion massive databases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vega, J.; Pereira, A.; Portas, A.; Dormido-Canto, S.; Farias, G.; Dormido, R.; Sanchez, J.; Duro, N.; Santos, M.; Sanchez, E.; Pajares, G.

2008-01-01

Fusion measurement systems generate similar waveforms for reproducible behavior. A major difficulty related to data analysis is the identification, in a rapid and automated way, of a set of discharges with comparable behaviour, i.e. discharges with 'similar' waveforms. Here we introduce a new technique for rapid searching and retrieval of 'similar' signals. The approach consists of building a classification system that avoids traversing the whole database looking for similarities. The classification system diminishes the problem dimensionality (by means of waveform feature extraction) and reduces the searching space to just the most probable 'similar' waveforms (clustering techniques). In the searching procedure, the input waveform is classified in any of the existing clusters. Then, a similarity measure is computed between the input signal and all cluster elements in order to identify the most similar waveforms. The inner product of normalized vectors is used as the similarity measure as it allows the searching process to be independent of signal gain and polarity. This development has been applied recently to TJ-II stellarator databases and has been integrated into its remote participation system

Science Fiction Exhibits as STEM Gateways

Science.gov (United States)

Robie, Samantha

Women continue to hold less than a quarter of all STEM jobs in the United States, prompting many museums to develop programs and exhibits with the express goal of interesting young girls in scientific fields. At the same time, a number of recent museum exhibits have harnessed the popularity of pop culture and science fiction in order to interest general audiences in STEM subject matter, as well as using the exhibits as springboards to expand or shift mission goals and focus. Because science fiction appears to be successful at raising interest in STEM fields, it may be an effective way to garner the interest of young girls in STEM in particular. This research seeks to describe the ways in which museums are currently using science fiction exhibits to interest young girls in STEM fields and careers. Research focused on four institutions across the country hosting three separate exhibits, and included staff interviews and content analysis of exhibit descriptions, promotional materials, a summative evaluation and supplementary exhibit productions. In some ways, science fiction exhibits do serve young girls, primarily through the inclusion of female role models, staff awareness, and prototype testing to ensure interactives are attractive to girls as well as to boys. However, STEM appears to be underutilized, which may be partly due to a concern within the field that the outcome of targeting a specific gender could be construed as "stereotyping".

Inhibitory effects of black pepper (Piper nigrum) extracts and compounds on human tumor cell proliferation, cyclooxygenase enzymes, lipid peroxidation and nuclear transcription factor-kappa-B.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yunbao; Yadev, Vivek R; Aggarwal, Bharat B; Nair, Muraleedharan G

2010-08-01

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) and hot pepper (Capsicum spp.) are widely used in traditional medicines. Although hot Capsicum spp. extracts and its active principles, capsaicinoids, have been linked with anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, whether black pepper and its active principle exhibit similar activities is not known. In this study, we have evaluated the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of extracts and compounds from black pepper by using proinflammatory transcription factor NF-kappaB, COX-1 and -2 enzymes, human tumor cell proliferation and lipid peroxidation (LPO). The capsaicinoids, the alkylamides, isolated from the hot pepper Scotch Bonnet were also used to compare the bioactivities of alkylamides and piperine from black pepper. All compounds derived from black pepper suppressed TNF-induced NF-kappaB activation, but alkyl amides, compound 4 from black pepper and 5 from hot pepper, were most effective. The human cancer cell proliferation inhibitory activities of piperine and alklyl amides in Capsicum and black pepper were dose dependant. The inhibitory concentrations 50% (IC50) of the alklylamides were in the range 13-200 microg/mL. The extracts of black pepper at 200 microg/mL and its compounds at 25 microg/mL inhibited LPO by 45-85%, COX enzymes by 31-80% and cancer cells proliferation by 3.5-86.8%. Overall, these results suggest that black pepper and its constituents like hot pepper, exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer activities.

Evaluation of the lemongrass plant (Cymbopogon citratus extracted in different solvents for antioxidant and antibacterial activity against human pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Balachandar Balakrishnan

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Objective: To test antibacterial and antioxidant activity of the lemongrass plant Cymbopogon citratus (C. citratus leaves extracted serially by the solvents (chloroform, methanol and water. Methods: The plant leaves extracts were used for antibacterial activity on Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Nocardia sp., Serratia sp., and Enterobacter aeruginosa microorganisms by the Kirby Bauer agar disc diffusion method. This study was carried out on lemongrass plant leaf extracts in different concentration of all solvents. The leaf extracts from different solvents were tested for their scavenging activity against the stable free radical DPPH in quantization using a spectrophotometric assay. Oxidative damage was induced in vitro by treating blood DNA and analyzing the effects of the leaf extracts. Results: The results showed that C. citratus extracts exhibited maximum zones of inhibition in chloroform, methanol and water extracts. It was Observed that the C. citratus extracts exhibited maximum zone of inhibition against Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris. Analyzed data in the present work suggested that antibacterial activity of C. citratus plant leaf extracts showed good results for Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. DPPH scavenging activity was highly elicited by the extract of C. citratus. Chloroform, methanol and water extracts of C. citratus leaves effectively decreased the extent of DNA damage. Conclusions: The present study suggested that the lemongrass plant extracts could offer various health benefits.

De la « Great Exhibition » à l’Esthétisme : entre production et poïétique From the Great Exhibition to Aestheticism: production and poetics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte Ribeyrol

2009-10-01

Full Text Available The opening of the Great Exhibition in May 1851 corresponded to the birth of a new culture of the manufactured object. In spite of its official aim to celebrate British industrial power, the Exhibition also brought together many works of art, including objects from Antiquity which were apparently remote from the preoccupations of modern Victorian Britain. And yet, throughout the second half of the 19th century, Antiquity seemed more and more bound to modernity. This paper will focus on the links between the art object and the commodity thanks to the many ekphraseis in the official exhibition catalogues (1851 and 1862. From the 1860s onwards, the Aesthetes began to show a similar interest in beautiful objects from Antiquity and other periods, while claiming at the same time to be modern stylistic craftsmen. Our aim will thus be to show how technè and poïesis, production and poetics were seen to interact through the presentation of the object as subject, as a work of art, beyond any material, moral or commercial concerns.

Phytochemical analysis and In-vitro Biochemical Characterization of aqueous and methanolic extract of Triphala, a conventional herbal remedy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romana Parveen

2018-03-01

Results revealed the presence of valuable bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, etc which might be responsible for biochemical activities. Extracts exhibited satisfactory radical-scavenging activity comparable with ascorbic acid. Methanolic extracts demonstrated higher antioxidant activity compared to aqueous extract. Extracts showed promising antibacterial potential against tested strain comparable to ampicillin. Hence, it can be concluded that triphala may be a promising candidate in pharmaceuticals and future medicine.

Patient Similarity in Prediction Models Based on Health Data: A Scoping Review

Science.gov (United States)

Sharafoddini, Anis; Dubin, Joel A

2017-01-01

Background Physicians and health policy makers are required to make predictions during their decision making in various medical problems. Many advances have been made in predictive modeling toward outcome prediction, but these innovations target an average patient and are insufficiently adjustable for individual patients. One developing idea in this field is individualized predictive analytics based on patient similarity. The goal of this approach is to identify patients who are similar to an index patient and derive insights from the records of similar patients to provide personalized predictions.. Objective The aim is to summarize and review published studies describing computer-based approaches for predicting patients’ future health status based on health data and patient similarity, identify gaps, and provide a starting point for related future research. Methods The method involved (1) conducting the review by performing automated searches in Scopus, PubMed, and ISI Web of Science, selecting relevant studies by first screening titles and abstracts then analyzing full-texts, and (2) documenting by extracting publication details and information on context, predictors, missing data, modeling algorithm, outcome, and evaluation methods into a matrix table, synthesizing data, and reporting results. Results After duplicate removal, 1339 articles were screened in abstracts and titles and 67 were selected for full-text review. In total, 22 articles met the inclusion criteria. Within included articles, hospitals were the main source of data (n=10). Cardiovascular disease (n=7) and diabetes (n=4) were the dominant patient diseases. Most studies (n=18) used neighborhood-based approaches in devising prediction models. Two studies showed that patient similarity-based modeling outperformed population-based predictive methods. Conclusions Interest in patient similarity-based predictive modeling for diagnosis and prognosis has been growing. In addition to raw/coded health

Semantic similarity measures in the biomedical domain by leveraging a web search engine.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Sheau-Ling; Chang, Wen-Yung; Chen, Chi-Huang; Weng, Yung-Ching

2013-07-01

Various researches in web related semantic similarity measures have been deployed. However, measuring semantic similarity between two terms remains a challenging task. The traditional ontology-based methodologies have a limitation that both concepts must be resided in the same ontology tree(s). Unfortunately, in practice, the assumption is not always applicable. On the other hand, if the corpus is sufficiently adequate, the corpus-based methodologies can overcome the limitation. Now, the web is a continuous and enormous growth corpus. Therefore, a method of estimating semantic similarity is proposed via exploiting the page counts of two biomedical concepts returned by Google AJAX web search engine. The features are extracted as the co-occurrence patterns of two given terms P and Q, by querying P, Q, as well as P AND Q, and the web search hit counts of the defined lexico-syntactic patterns. These similarity scores of different patterns are evaluated, by adapting support vector machines for classification, to leverage the robustness of semantic similarity measures. Experimental results validating against two datasets: dataset 1 provided by A. Hliaoutakis; dataset 2 provided by T. Pedersen, are presented and discussed. In dataset 1, the proposed approach achieves the best correlation coefficient (0.802) under SNOMED-CT. In dataset 2, the proposed method obtains the best correlation coefficient (SNOMED-CT: 0.705; MeSH: 0.723) with physician scores comparing with measures of other methods. However, the correlation coefficients (SNOMED-CT: 0.496; MeSH: 0.539) with coder scores received opposite outcomes. In conclusion, the semantic similarity findings of the proposed method are close to those of physicians' ratings. Furthermore, the study provides a cornerstone investigation for extracting fully relevant information from digitizing, free-text medical records in the National Taiwan University Hospital database.

In vitro Antibacterial activity of Pimpinella anisum fruit extracts against some pathogenic bacteria

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A.Akhtar

Full Text Available The antibacterial activities of the aqueous, 50% (v/v methanol,acetone and petroleum ether extracts of Pimpinella anisum (L fruits were studied. The extracts of Pimpinella anisum were tested in vitro against 4 bacterial species by the disc diffusion method. Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96, Streptococcus pyogenes (MTCC 442, Escherchia coli (MTCC 723 and Klebsiella Pneumoniae (MTCC 109 were used in this investigation. Only aqueous and 50% (v/v methanol extract exhibited fair antibacterial activity against all the test bacteria whereas acetone and petroleum ether extract were not observed to inhibit the growth of any of the test bacteria under study. [Veterinary World 2008; 1(9.000: 272-274

In vitro antimicrobial activity of methanolic leaf extract of Psidium guajava L.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhiman, Anju; Nanda, Arun; Ahmad, Sayeed; Narasimhan, B.

2011-01-01

Aim: This study was designed to examine the chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial potential of methanolic extract of Psidium guajava Linn (Myrtaceae). Materials and Methods: The inhibitory effect of methanolic extract of P. guajava was tested against three bacterial and two fungal strains by using the paper disc diffusion method. Results: The methanolic extract exhibited antibacterial activity against E. coli with minimum inhibitory concentration, 0.78 μg/ml, minimum bactericidal concentration of 50 μg/ml, and appreciable antifungal activity with minimum inhibitory concentration of 12.5 μg/ml. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of methanolic extract revealed the presence of antimicrobial compounds such as flavonoids, steroids, and tannins, which may contribute for the antimicrobial action of P. guajava. Conclusion: The extract was found to be bacteriostatic and fungistatic in action. PMID:21687350

In vitro antimicrobial activity of methanolic leaf extract of Psidium guajava L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anju Dhiman

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: This study was designed to examine the chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial potential of methanolic extract of Psidium guajava Linn (Myrtaceae. Materials and Methods: The inhibitory effect of methanolic extract of P. guajava was tested against three bacterial and two fungal strains by using the paper disc diffusion method. Results: The methanolic extract exhibited antibacterial activity against E. coli with minimum inhibitory concentration, 0.78 μg/ml, minimum bactericidal concentration of 50 μg/ml, and appreciable antifungal activity with minimum inhibitory concentration of 12.5 μg/ml. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of methanolic extract revealed the presence of antimicrobial compounds such as flavonoids, steroids, and tannins, which may contribute for the antimicrobial action of P. guajava. Conclusion: The extract was found to be bacteriostatic and fungistatic in action.

Assessment of Anti-inflammatory Activity of Taxus Baccata Linn. Bark Extract.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Satyajit; Mariappan, G; Sarkar, Dipankar; Sarkar, Piyali

2010-01-01

Taxus baccata (L) known as Sthauneyaka in Sanskrit(1) has wide range of biological activities including analgesic, anti-malarial, anti-rheumatic, sedative, anti-spasmodic, aphrodisiac and anti-asthmatic. In the present study, the dried and powdered bark of Taxus baccata (L) was extracted with 95% ethanol and ether at room temperature and screened for their anti--inflammatory activity by Carrageenan-induced paw edema method in rat. 95% ethanol extract exhibits potent anti-inflammatory activity at 200mg/kg four hours after administration in comparison with ether extract, as well reference standard, Aspirin. The observed pharmacological activities provide a scientific basis for the folklore use of the plant in treating acute inflammation.

Extracting solid carbonaceous materials with solvents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1936-02-08

Solvent extraction of solid carbonaceous materials is performed in the presence of powdered catalysts together with alkaline substances. Oxides of nickel or iron or nickel nitrate have been used together with caustic soda or potash solutions or milk of lime. Solvents used include benzenes, middle oils, tars, tetrahydronaphthalene. The extraction is performed at 200 to 500/sup 0/C under pressures of 20 to 200 atm. Finely ground peat was dried and mixed with milk of lime and nickel nitrate and an equal quantity of middle oil. The mixture was heated for 3 h at 380/sup 0/C at 90 atm. 88.5% of the peat was extracted. In a similar treatment brown coal was impregnated with solutions of caustic soda and ferric chloride.

Bactericidal activites of selected macrofungi extracts against Staphylococcus aureus

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Nikolovska-Nedelkoska Daniela A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The increasing of the antibiotic resistance exhibited by pathogenic microorganisms has resulted in research directed toward evaluation of novel sources of antimicrobial compounds. Previous studies have indicated that macrofungi, as a specific response to the natural hostile environment, produce secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties. In this study, antimicrobial activities of the extracts from six wild mushrooms: Amanita echinocephala, Russula medulata, Cerena unicolor, Hericium erinaceus, Ishnoderma benzoinum and Laetiporus sulphureus were evaluated against Grampositive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. The antimicrobial potential of the methanolic mushroom extracts was investigated by the microdilution method. Antimicrobial activity was observed in all species included in the study. All the extracts that demonstrated inhibitory activities were further tested for bactericidal activity and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC values were determined. The tested microorganism was most sensitive to the examined extracts from the polypore fungi C. unicolor and H. erinaceus. The highest bactericidal activity was obtained in the extracts from the species C. unicolor (MBC=1.563 mg/mL. The experimental results revealed that the methanolic extract of C. unicolor possessed significant bactericidal activity. The findings suggest the potential use of this wild mushroom as antimicrobial agent.

Antidiarrhoeal activity of aqueous extract of Mangifera indica L. leaves in female albino rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Yakubu, M T; Salimon, S S

2015-04-02

Mangifera indica L. leaves have a long history of indigenous use, as an antidiarrhoeal agent among others, without any scientific study that has substantiated or refuted this claim. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine the secondary metabolites in the aqueous extract of Mangifera indica leaves and its acclaimed antidiarrhoeal activity in rats. The aqueous leaf extract of Mangifera indica was screened for its constituent secondary plant metabolites. In each of the diarrhoeal models, female albino rats were assigned into 5 groups (A, B, C, D and E) containing five animals each such that rats in groups A and B were the positive and negative controls respectively while those in groups C, D and E received 25, 50 and 100mg/kg body weight of the extract respectively in addition to specific requirements of the model. The extract contained alkaloids (4.20mg/g), flavonoids (13.60mg/g), phenolics (1.50mg/g) and saponins (3.10mg/g) while tannins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides and steroids were not detected. In the castor oil-induced diarrhoeal model, the onset time of diarrhoea was significantly prolonged by the 25 and 50mg/kg body weight whereas there was no episode in the 100mg/kg body weight treated animals. The extract (25 and 50mg/kg body weight) decreased the number, water content, fresh weight and total number of wet feaces and increased the inhibition of defecations. All the doses of the extract significantly increased the Na(+) -K(+) ATPase activity in the small intestine. The extract dose dependently decreased the masses and volume of intestinal fluid with corresponding increase in inhibition of intestinal fluid content in the castor oil-induced enteropooling model. The extract also reduced the distance travelled by charcoal meal in the 30min gastrointestinal transit model. All these changes were similar to the reference drugs with the 100mg/kg body weight of the extract exhibiting the most profound antidiarrhoeal activity. The study concluded

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF IRIS HUNGARICA AND IRIS SIBIRICA

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Kovalev V. M.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Referring to the latest data, infectious diseases command a large part of among the total number of pathologies in the world and are an important problem in medicine. The leading role in prevention and treatment of diseases of microbial origin belongs to antibacterial chemotherapeutic agents. Advantages of antibiotics of synthetic origin are the high activity compared to phytogenic drugs. But it is known that microorganisms can release the resistance to synthetic antibiotics, so the use of drugs based on the plant materials is appropriate: phytogenic drugs more rarely induce the formation of resistance of the strains of microorganisms, they have a gentle action, can be used for a long-term, have the low cost. Therefore, it is appropriate to examine the drug plants with the aim of determination their antibacterial activity.Iris hungarica Waldst et Kit. and Iris sibirica L. are the representatives of the family Iridaceae, genus Iris and they have a wide spectrum of the pharmacological activity. Biologically active substances that were recovered from plants of the genus Iris (tectoridin, iristectorigenin B, nigracin, kaempferol, quercetin, etc. exhibited an antitumor, antimicrobial, estrogenic, insecticidal, antiplasmatic, anticholinesterase action, they were the inhibitors of enzymes and exhibited the immunomodulatory properties, which made these plants perspective for the research study. Raw materials Irises are constituent components of more than 9 medicines. Materials and Methods. The objects of the study were the leaves and rhizomes of Iris hungarica and Iris sibirica that were prepared during the growing season in 2014 in the M.M. Gryshko National botanical garden (Kiev, Ukraine. The dry and lipophilic extracts from the leaves and rhizomes of Irises were used to establish the antimicrobial activity. For the study of extracts antimicrobial activity was used agar well diffusion method. According to the WHO recommendations the

Antimicrobial activity of the root, stem bark and seed extracts of moringa oleifera lam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manoti Ondicho, J.; Mutai, C.; Rukunga, G.; Oketch, P.; Bii, C.

2009-01-01

Organic extracts (Hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol) and the aqueous extracts of Moringa oleifera Lam or horseradish (root, stem bark and seed) were tested against five bacterial strains using the disc diffusion method and against three fungal strains. The water extracts of the seed was active against a wide range of organisms tested. Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of the stem bark exhibited moderate activity. Of the fifteen extracts screened, five (33.3 percent) showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and against Trichophyton mentagrophytes while two were active against Microsporum gypseum. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for the water extracts ranged from 6.25 to 50 mg/ml. The good activity observed on the water extract explains the success in traditional use of Moringa oleifera for the treatment of infectious diseases.(author)

Antimicrobial activity of the root, stem bark and seed extracts of moringa oleifera lam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manoti Ondicho, J; Mutai, C; Rukunga, G; Oketch, P [Centre for Tradicional Medicine and Drug Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi (Kenya); Bii, C [Centre for Microbiology Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi (Kenya)

2009-07-01

Organic extracts (Hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol) and the aqueous extracts of Moringa oleifera Lam or horseradish (root, stem bark and seed) were tested against five bacterial strains using the disc diffusion method and against three fungal strains. The water extracts of the seed was active against a wide range of organisms tested. Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of the stem bark exhibited moderate activity. Of the fifteen extracts screened, five (33.3 percent) showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and against Trichophyton mentagrophytes while two were active against Microsporum gypseum. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for the water extracts ranged from 6.25 to 50 mg/ml. The good activity observed on the water extract explains the success in traditional use of Moringa oleifera for the treatment of infectious diseases.(author)

Photowalk Exhibition opens at Microcosm

CERN Document Server

Katarina Anthony

2011-01-01

The winning photographs from the 2010 Global Particle Physics Photowalk competition will go on display at Microcosm from 11 February to 2 April. The exhibition is part of a global photography event taking place over three continents, with Photowalk exhibitions opening simultaneously at Fermilab in the US, KEK in Japan and here at CERN.   DESY wire chamber - First place people's choice; second place global jury competition. Photographer: Hans-Peter Hildebrandt  If you were one of the 1,300 photography lovers who voted in last year’s Photowalk competition, this exhibition is your chance to see the winning entries in print. The exhibition will take place in the downstairs gallery of Microcosm, overlooking the garden. 15 photographs will be on display, with each of the laboratories that participated in Photowalk represented by their 3 winning entries. Among them will be the “people’s choice” sunburst photo of a particle detector at DESY (Photo 1), and...

Creating National Narrative: The Red Guard Art Exhibitions and the National Exhibitions in the Chinese Cultural Revolution 1966 - 1976

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Winnie Tsang

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The artistic development in China experienced drastic changes during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Traditional Chinese art was denounced, whereas propaganda art became predominant in shaping the public’s loyalty towards the Communist Party and the country. Two major groups of art exhibitions emerged during the Revolution—the unofficial Red Guard art exhibitions organized by student activists in collaboration with local communes and art schools between 1966 and 1968, and the state-run national exhibitions from 1972 to 1975. These exhibitions were significant to this period because they were held frequently in the capital city Beijing and occasionally elsewhere, and through art they presented unique revolutionary beliefs to the Chinese people in a public setting. While the Red Guard art exhibitions and the national exhibitions certainly created different national narratives, I argue that the national exhibitions were in fact an attempt to revise the national narrative created by the Red Guard art exhibitions in order to re-establish a more utopian, consistent, and official national narrative. This paper unravels the intricate relationship between the two groups of exhibitions by comparing their exhibition venues, ideological focuses, work selection and quality editing. 

Synergistic extraction of europium(III) in ammonium ionic liquid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rout, Alok; Venkatesan, K.A.; Antony, M.P.

2016-01-01

Room temperature ionic liquids have been receiving increased attention for possible applications in the area of nuclear fuel reprocessing and waste management due to their fascinating properties such as good ionicity, high solvation capability, properties tunable etc. Most of the studies in the literature on the extraction of metal ions with molecular extractants dissolved in ionic liquid diluents are making use of the hydrophobic ionic liquids containing imidazolium cations such as the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ion. From an environmental point of view, such ionic liquids are not suitable as the primary mode of the metal extraction is by cation exchange mechanism wherein ionic liquid cation is lost to the aqueous phase leading to aqueous contamination and issue of recyclability of organic phase. However, there are some hydrophobic ionic liquids such as trioctylmethylammonium chloride ((N 1888 )(Cl)), and trihexyl(tetradecyl)phoshonium chloride (Cyphos IL 101) that exhibit no cation exchange in the aqueous phase during extraction. In this context, the extraction behavior of europium(III) using a neutral extractant, octyl, phenyl-N.N-diisobutylmethylcarbamoylphophinoxide (CMPO) and/or an acidic extractant bis(ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) dissolved in the ammonium ionic liquid diluent, trioctylmethylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, (N 1888 )(NTf 2 ). The extraction behavior of CMPO (or D2EHPA)/(N 1888 )((Tf 2 ) system was investigated as a function of different extraction parameters such as feed acidity, extractant concentration, equilibration time etc.

Exhibition

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2016-01-01

The Elementary Particles of Painting Alfonso Fratteggiani Bianchi and Ermanno Imbergamo From September 26 to October 7, 2016 CERN Meyrin, Main Building With intentions similar to those of CERN physicists, the artist Alfonso Fratteggiani Bianchi investigates the color pigment, studying its interaction with light and with the support on which it is deposited. He creates monochrome paintings by spreading the color pigment in the pure state on stones, without using glue or any other type of adhesive. With intentions similar to artists, the physicist Ermanno Imbergamo investigates the use of luminescent wavelength shifters, materials commonly used in Particle Physics, for art. He creates other monochrome artworks, which disclose further aspects of interaction among light, color pigments and support. For more information: staff.association@cern.ch | Tel: 022 767 28 19

Screening for antibiofilm and antioxidant potential of turmeric (Curcuma longa) extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayat, Sumreen; Sabri, Anjum Nasim

2016-07-01

The antibiofilm and antioxidant activities associated with turmeric were the main focus of the study. Antibacterial activity was explored against bacteria isolated from dental plaques and dental unit water lines exhibiting resistance against antibiotics and biocides respectively. This study provides a comparison of the natural plant extract against synthetic mouthwash, chemicals and commonly prescribed antibiotics. Methanol extract was more effective as compared to other extracts. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranged from 2.5-10mg/ml. Time based killing kinetic assay showed a significant reduction of bacterial load with increasing concentration of turmeric. Micro titer plate assay indicated significant inhibition of biofilm formation in cells treated with turmeric extract. Phytochemical screening of plant extracts showed the presence of vital secondary metabolites. Flavonoid content and total phenolic content varied among extracts, phenolic content for methanolic extract was 61.669 mg GAE/ gm dry extract and flavonoid content was 3.119mg quercitin/gm dry extract. The values of ferric reducing power were in the range of 5.55- 15.55 mmol of FeSO4 equivalent/ liter of the extract. Antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of the turmeric extracts had significant positive correlation. On the basis of these results turmeric may confidently be recommended as natural antibiofilm and antioxidant agent.

Hierarchical Organization of Auditory and Motor Representations in Speech Perception: Evidence from Searchlight Similarity Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Samuel; Davis, Matthew H

2015-12-01

How humans extract the identity of speech sounds from highly variable acoustic signals remains unclear. Here, we use searchlight representational similarity analysis (RSA) to localize and characterize neural representations of syllables at different levels of the hierarchically organized temporo-frontal pathways for speech perception. We asked participants to listen to spoken syllables that differed considerably in their surface acoustic form by changing speaker and degrading surface acoustics using noise-vocoding and sine wave synthesis while we recorded neural responses with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found evidence for a graded hierarchy of abstraction across the brain. At the peak of the hierarchy, neural representations in somatomotor cortex encoded syllable identity but not surface acoustic form, at the base of the hierarchy, primary auditory cortex showed the reverse. In contrast, bilateral temporal cortex exhibited an intermediate response, encoding both syllable identity and the surface acoustic form of speech. Regions of somatomotor cortex associated with encoding syllable identity in perception were also engaged when producing the same syllables in a separate session. These findings are consistent with a hierarchical account of how variable acoustic signals are transformed into abstract representations of the identity of speech sounds. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Extraction methods and test techniques for detection of vegetable proteins in meat products. I. Qualitative detection of soya derivatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyslop, N S

1976-06-01

Extracts of 3 soya bean preparations, used commercially in certain countries to replace part of the meat in popular meat products, were made by treatment with (i) sodium dodecyl sulphate, (ii) Triton-X100 or (iii) n-Butanol. Similar extracts were made from beef and pork. All extracts were examined by electrophoretic and immunological techniques. Stained polyacrylamide gels revealed distinctive protein bands after electrophoresis. The migration rates of corresponding bands differed between beef and pork extracts. However, the migration rates of vegetable bands revealed certain similarities, but differed very greatly from those of animal origin. Characteristic fast-migrating S-bands were distinguishable only in extracts of vegetable protein. Immunodiffusion tests, using antisera produced in rabbits against each extract, revealed varying degrees of similarity between extracts of vegetable origin, but the antisera were specific for either vegetable or animal protein.

Antidepressant-Like Effects of Lindera obtusiloba Extracts on the Immobility Behavior of Rats in the Forced Swim Test

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Dong Wook Lim

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Lindera obtusiloba extracts are commonly used as an alternative medicine due to its numerous health benefits in Korea. However, the antidepressant-like effects of L. obtusiloba extracts have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we aimed to determine whether L. obtusiloba extracts exhibited antidepressant-like activity in rats subjected to forced swim test (FST-induced depression. Acute treatment of rats with L. obtusiloba extracts (200 mg/kg, p.o. significantly reduced immobility time and increased swimming time without any significant change in climbing. Rats treated with L. obtusiloba extracts also exhibited a decrease in the limbic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis response to the FST, as indicated by attenuation of the corticosterone response and decreased c-Fos immunoreactivity in the hippocampus CA3 region. In addition, L. obtusiloba extracts, at concentrations that were not affected by cell viability, significantly decreased luciferase activity in response to cortisol in a concentration-dependent manner by the glucocorticoid binding assay in HeLa cells. Our findings suggested that the antidepressant-like effects of L. obtusiloba extracts were likely mediated via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR. Further studies are needed to evaluate the potential of L. obtusiloba extracts as an alternative therapeutic approach for the treatment of depression.

Determination of the starch-phosphorylating enzyme activity in plant extracts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ritte, G.; Steup, M.; Kossmann, J.

2003-01-01

For quantification of alpha-glucan, water dikinase(GWD) activity in crude extracts of plant tissues a radio-labeling assay was established that uses soluble starch and P-33-labeled ATP as phosphate acceptor and donor, respectively. A constant rate of starch labeling was observed only if the ATP...... incorporation of phosphate whereas extracts from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber expressing a GWD antisense construct exhibited less activity than the wild-type control. To our knowledge this is the first time that a quantification of the starch-phosphorylating activity has been achieved in plant crude...

Designing immersion exhibits as border-crossing environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Marianne Foss

2010-01-01

be applied to achieve an understanding of the immersion exhibit form. The argument proceeds by demonstrating how the characteristics of immersion exhibits, and visitors to them, classify them as microcultures, and examining the implications of this for exhibit design using a hypothetical immersion exhibit...

Antibacterial activity of Thai herbal extracts on acne involved microorganism.

Science.gov (United States)

Niyomkam, P; Kaewbumrung, S; Kaewnpparat, S; Panichayupakaranant, P

2010-04-01

Ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of 18 Thai medicinal plants were investigated for their antibacterial activity against Propionibacterium acnes, Stapylococcus aureus, and S. epidermidis. Thirteen plant extracts were capable of inhibiting the growth of P. acnes and S. epidermidis, while 14 plant extracts exhibited an inhibitory effect on S. aureus. Based on the broth dilution method, the ethyl acetate extract of Alpinia galanga (L.) Wild. (Zingiberaceae) rhizome showed the strongest antibacterial effect against P. acnes, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of 156.0 and 312.0 microg/mL, respectively. On the basis of bioassay-guided purification, the ethyl acetate extract was isolated to afford the antibacterial active compound, which was identified as 1'-acetoxychavicol acetate (1'-ACA). 1'-ACA had a strong inhibitory effect on P. acnes with MIC and MBC values of 62.0 and 250.0 microg/mL, respectively. Thus, 1'-ACA was used as an indicative marker for standardization of A. galanga extract using high performance liquid chromatography. These results suggest that A. galanga extract could be an interesting agent for further studies on an alternative treatment of acne.

In vitro antibacterial and antitumor activities of some medicinal plant extracts, growing in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirim, Arzu Birinci; Karakas, Fatma Pehlivan; Turker, Arzu Ucar

2013-08-01

To investigate antibacterial and antitumor activities of 51 different extracts prepared with 3 types of solvents (water, ethanol and methanol) of 16 different plant species (Ajuga reptans (A. reptans) L., Phlomis pungens (P. pungens) Willd., Marrubium astracanicum (M. astracanicum) Jacq., Nepeta nuda (N. nuda) L., Stachys annua (S. annua) L., Genista lydia (G. lydia) Boiss., Nuphar lutea (N. lutea) L., Nymphaea alba (N. alba) L., Vinca minor (V. minor) L., Stellaria media (S. media) L., Capsella bursa-pastoris (C. bursa-pastoris) L., Galium spurium (G. spurium) L., Onosma heterophyllum (O. heterophyllum) Griseb., Reseda luteola (R. luteola) L., Viburnum lantana (V. lantana) L. and Mercurialis annua (M. annua) L.) grown in Turkey was conducted. Antibacterial activity was evaluated with 10 bacteria including Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis), Escheria coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium), Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens), Proteus vulgaris (P. vulgaris), Enterobacter cloacae (E. cloacea), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) by using disc diffusion method. Antitumor activity was evaluated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (A. tumefaciens)-induced potato disc tumor assay. Best antibacterial activity was obtained with ethanolic extract of P. pungens against S. pyogenes. Ethanolic and methanolic extract of N. alba and ethanolic extract of G. lydia also showed strong antibacterial activities. Results indicated that alcoholic extracts especially ethanolic extracts exhibited strong antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Best antitumor activity was obtained with methanolic extracts of N. alba and V. lantana (100% tumor inhibition). Ethanolic extract of N. alba, alcoholic extracts of N. lutea, A. reptans and V. minor flowers, methanolic extracts of G. lydia and O. heterophyllum and ethanolic

In Vitro Antiviral Activity of Rubia Cordifolia Aerial Part Extract Against Rotavirus

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Yuanyuan Sun

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The root of Rubia cordifolia (R. cordifolia has been used traditionally as a hemostatic agent, while the aerial part of the plant consisting of leaf and stem is known to exhibit anti-diarrheal properties and has been widely used as a remedy in many parts of China. As rotavirus is one of the most commonly associated diarrhea-causing pathogen, this study aims to investigate the anti-rotaviral effect of R. cordifolia aerial part (RCAP. The cytotoxicity of RCAP towards MA-104 cells was evaluated using the WST-8 assay. Colloidal gold method and real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR assay were used to confirm the findings of the antiviral assay. Then, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI staining method was subsequently used to investigate the mode of death among the cells. And the representative components of aqueous extract were isolated and identified. It was shown that both the viability of MA-104 cells and the viral load were reduced with increasing concentration of the extract. DAPI staining showed that virus-induced apoptosis was the cause of the low cell viability and viral load, an effect which was accelerated with incubation in the aqueous herbal extract. The major compounds postulated to exhibit this activity were isolated from the aqueous herbal extract and identified to be compounds Xanthopurpurin and Vanillic Acid. This study showed that RCAP extract effectively inhibited rotavirus multiplication by promoting virus-induced apoptosis in MA-104 cells.

Effects of Achyrocline satureioides Inflorescence Extracts against Pathogenic Intestinal Bacteria: Chemical Characterization, In Vitro Tests, and In Vivo Evaluation

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Karla Suzana Moresco

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Three Achyrocline satureioides (AS inflorescences extracts were characterized: (i a freeze-dried extract prepared from the aqueous extractive solution and (ii a freeze-dried and (iii a spray-dried extract prepared from hydroethanol extractive solution (80% ethanol. The chemical profile, antioxidant potential, and antimicrobial activity against intestinal pathogenic bacteria of AS extracts were evaluated. In vitro antioxidant activity was determined by the total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP assay. In vivo analysis and characterization of intestinal microbiota were performed in male Wistar rats (saline versus treated animals with AS dried extracts by high-throughput sequencing analysis: metabarcoding. Antimicrobial activity was tested in vitro by the disc diffusion tests. Moisture content of the extracts ranged from 10 to 15% and 5.7 to 17 mg kg−1 of fluorine. AS exhibited antioxidant activity, especially in its freeze-dried form which also exhibited a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity against intestinal pathogenic bacteria greater than those observed by the antibiotic, amoxicillin, when tested against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of AS extracts seemed to be positively correlated with the present amount of flavonoids. These findings suggest a potential use of AS as a coadjuvant agent for treating bacterial-induced intestinal diseases with high rates of antibiotic resistance.

A Cross-Lingual Similarity Measure for Detecting Biomedical Term Translations

Science.gov (United States)

Bollegala, Danushka; Kontonatsios, Georgios; Ananiadou, Sophia

2015-01-01

Bilingual dictionaries for technical terms such as biomedical terms are an important resource for machine translation systems as well as for humans who would like to understand a concept described in a foreign language. Often a biomedical term is first proposed in English and later it is manually translated to other languages. Despite the fact that there are large monolingual lexicons of biomedical terms, only a fraction of those term lexicons are translated to other languages. Manually compiling large-scale bilingual dictionaries for technical domains is a challenging task because it is difficult to find a sufficiently large number of bilingual experts. We propose a cross-lingual similarity measure for detecting most similar translation candidates for a biomedical term specified in one language (source) from another language (target). Specifically, a biomedical term in a language is represented using two types of features: (a) intrinsic features that consist of character n-grams extracted from the term under consideration, and (b) extrinsic features that consist of unigrams and bigrams extracted from the contextual windows surrounding the term under consideration. We propose a cross-lingual similarity measure using each of those feature types. First, to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space in each language, we propose prototype vector projection (PVP)—a non-negative lower-dimensional vector projection method. Second, we propose a method to learn a mapping between the feature spaces in the source and target language using partial least squares regression (PLSR). The proposed method requires only a small number of training instances to learn a cross-lingual similarity measure. The proposed PVP method outperforms popular dimensionality reduction methods such as the singular value decomposition (SVD) and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) in a nearest neighbor prediction task. Moreover, our experimental results covering several language pairs such as

A cross-lingual similarity measure for detecting biomedical term translations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danushka Bollegala

Full Text Available Bilingual dictionaries for technical terms such as biomedical terms are an important resource for machine translation systems as well as for humans who would like to understand a concept described in a foreign language. Often a biomedical term is first proposed in English and later it is manually translated to other languages. Despite the fact that there are large monolingual lexicons of biomedical terms, only a fraction of those term lexicons are translated to other languages. Manually compiling large-scale bilingual dictionaries for technical domains is a challenging task because it is difficult to find a sufficiently large number of bilingual experts. We propose a cross-lingual similarity measure for detecting most similar translation candidates for a biomedical term specified in one language (source from another language (target. Specifically, a biomedical term in a language is represented using two types of features: (a intrinsic features that consist of character n-grams extracted from the term under consideration, and (b extrinsic features that consist of unigrams and bigrams extracted from the contextual windows surrounding the term under consideration. We propose a cross-lingual similarity measure using each of those feature types. First, to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space in each language, we propose prototype vector projection (PVP--a non-negative lower-dimensional vector projection method. Second, we propose a method to learn a mapping between the feature spaces in the source and target language using partial least squares regression (PLSR. The proposed method requires only a small number of training instances to learn a cross-lingual similarity measure. The proposed PVP method outperforms popular dimensionality reduction methods such as the singular value decomposition (SVD and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF in a nearest neighbor prediction task. Moreover, our experimental results covering several language

Analytical and functional similarity of Amgen biosimilar ABP 215 to bevacizumab.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Neungseon; Polozova, Alla; Zhang, Mingxuan; Yates, Zachary; Cao, Shawn; Li, Huimin; Kuhns, Scott; Maher, Gwendolyn; McBride, Helen J; Liu, Jennifer

ABP 215 is a biosimilar product to bevacizumab. Bevacizumab acts by binding to vascular endothelial growth factor A, inhibiting endothelial cell proliferation and new blood vessel formation, thereby leading to tumor vasculature normalization. The ABP 215 analytical similarity assessment was designed to assess the structural and functional similarity of ABP 215 and bevacizumab sourced from both the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). Similarity assessment was also made between the US- and EU-sourced bevacizumab to assess the similarity between the two products. The physicochemical properties and structural similarity of ABP 215 and bevacizumab were characterized using sensitive state-of-the-art analytical techniques capable of detecting small differences in product attributes. ABP 215 has the same amino acid sequence and exhibits similar post-translational modification profiles compared to bevacizumab. The functional similarity assessment employed orthogonal assays designed to interrogate all expected biological activities, including those known to affect the mechanisms of action for ABP 215 and bevacizumab. More than 20 batches of bevacizumab (US) and bevacizumab (EU), and 13 batches of ABP 215 representing unique drug substance lots were assessed for similarity. The large dataset allows meaningful comparisons and garners confidence in the overall conclusion for the analytical similarity assessment of ABP 215 to both US- and EU-sourced bevacizumab. The structural and purity attributes, and biological properties of ABP 215 are demonstrated to be highly similar to those of bevacizumab.

In vivo antinociceptive and anticonvulsant activity of extracts of Heliotropium strigosum.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Haroon; Khan, Murad Ali; Hussain, Sajid; Gaffar, Rukhsana; Ashraf, Nadeem

2016-05-01

Natural healing agents are primarily focused to overcome unwanted side effects with synthetic drugs worldwide. In the proposed study, crude extracts and subsequent solvent fractions of Heliotropium strigosum were evaluated for antinociceptive and anticonvulsant activity in animal paradigms. In post acetic acid-induced writhing test, crude extract and fractions (hexane, ethyl acetate, and aqueous) demonstrated marked attenuation of nociception at test doses (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg i.p.). When challenged against thermally induced pain model, pretreatment of extracts exhibited prominent amelioration at test dose (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg i.p.). In both tests, inhibition of noxious stimulation was in a dose-dependent manner, and ethyl acetate fraction was most dominant. However, extracts did not antagonize the seizures and mortality induced by pentylenetetrazole. In conclusion, the extracts of H. strigosum illustrated significant antinociceptive effect in both centrally and peripherally acting pain models. © The Author(s) 2013.

Phytochemical analysis and gastroprotective activity of an olive leaf extract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

IVANA ARSIĆ

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Some medicinal features of olive leaf have been known for centuries. It has been traditionally used as an antimicrobial and to prevent and treat diabetes mellitus and heart disease. Whether olive leaf, a natural antioxidant, influences the gastric defense mechanism and exhibits gastroprotection against experimentally-induced gastric lesions remains unknown. In this study, the content of total phenols, total flavonoids and tannins in olive leaf extract (OLE were determined. Seven phenolic compounds were identified and quantified (oleuropein, caffeic acid, luteolin, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, quercetin, and chryseriol. Furthermore, the protective activity of the OLE in gastric mucosal injury induced by a corrosive concentration of ethanol was investigated. In relation to the control group, pretreatment with OLE (40, 80 and 120 mg kg-1 significantly (p < 0.001 attenuated the gastric lesions induced by absolute ethanol. The protective effect of the OLE was similar to that obtained with a reference drug, ranitidine. The results obtained indicate that OLE possesses significant gastroprotective activity, and that the presence of compounds with antioxidative properties would probably explain this effect.

Phenolic Extracts from Wild Olive Leaves and Their Potential as Edible Oils Antioxidants

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Theodora-Ioanna Lafka

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The kinetics solid-liquid extraction of phenolics from wild olive leaves was elaborated using different mathematical models (Peleg, second order, Elovich, and power law model. As solvents, methanol, ethanol, ethanol:water 1:1, n-propanol, isopropanol and ethyl acetate were used. The second order model best described the solvent extraction process, followed by the Elovich model. The most effective solvent was ethanol with optimum phenol extraction conditions 180 min, solvent to sample ratio 5:1 v/w and pH 2. Ethanol extract exhibited the highest antiradical activity among solvent and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE extracts, which in addition showed the highest antioxidant capacity compared to synthetic and natural food antioxidants such as BHT, ascorbyl palmitate and vitamin E. Antioxidant potential of SFE extract was quite high, although its phenolic potential was not. Leaf extracts were proven to be good protectors for olive and sunflower oils at levels of 150 ppm.

Antidiabetic activity of aqueous extract and non polysaccharide fraction of Cynodon dactylon Pers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarald, E E; Joshi, S B; Jain, D C

2008-09-01

Petroleum ether (60 degrees-80 degrees C), chloroform, acetone, ethanol, aqueous and crude hot water extracts of the whole plant of C. dactylon and the two fractions of aqueous extract were tested for antihyperglycaemic activity in glucose overloaded hyperglycemic rats and in alloxan induced diabetic model at two-dose levels, 200 and 400 mg/kg (po) respectively. The aqueous extract of C. dactylon and the non polysaccharide fraction of aqueous extract were found to exhibit significant antihyperglycaemic activity and only the non polysaccharide fraction was found to produce hypoglycemia in fasted normal rats. Treatment of diabetic rats with aqueous extract and non polysaccharide fraction of the plant decreased the elevated biochemical parameters, glucose, urea, creatinine, serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, haemoglobin and glycosylated haemoglobin significantly. Comparatively, the non polysaccharide fraction of aqueous extract was found to be more effective than the aqueous extract.

Exhibition

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2017-01-01

Sintropie Flavio Pellegrini From 13 to 24 March 2017 CERN Meyrin, Main Building Energia imprigionata - Flavio Pellegrini. The exhibition is composed by eleven wood artworks with the expression of movement as theme. The artworks are the result of harmonics math applied to sculpture. The powerful black colour is dominated by the light source, generating reflexes and modulations. The result is a continuous variation of perspective visions. The works generate, at a first approach, an emotion of mystery and incomprehension, only a deeper contemplation lets one discover entangling and mutative details, evidencing the elegance of the lines and letting the meaning emerge. For more information : staff.association@cern.ch | Tél: 022 766 37 38

Luteolin-7-O-Glucoside Present in Lettuce Extracts Inhibits Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Production and Viral Replication by Human Hepatoma Cells in Vitro

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Xiao-Xian Cui

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Hepatitis B virus (HBV infection is endemic in Asia and chronic hepatitis B (CHB is a major public health issue worldwide. Current treatment strategies for CHB are not satisfactory as they induce a low rate of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg loss. Extracts were prepared from lettuce hydroponically cultivated in solutions containing glycine or nitrate as nitrogen sources. The lettuce extracts exerted potent anti-HBV effects in HepG2 cell lines in vitro, including significant HBsAg inhibition, HBV replication and transcription inhibition, without exerting cytotoxic effects. When used in combination interferon-alpha 2b (IFNα-2b or lamivudine (3TC, the lettuce extracts synergistically inhibited HBsAg expression and HBV replication. By using differential metabolomics analysis, Luteolin-7-O-glucoside was identified and confirmed as a functional component of the lettuce extracts and exhibited similar anti-HBV activity as the lettuce extracts in vitro. The inhibition rate on HBsAg was up to 77.4%. Moreover, both the lettuce extracts and luteolin-7-O-glucoside functioned as organic antioxidants and, significantly attenuated HBV-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS accumulation. Luteolin-7-O-glucoside also normalized ROS-induced mitochondrial membrane potential damage, which suggests luteolin-7-O-glucoside inhibits HBsAg and HBV replication via a mechanism involving the mitochondria. Our findings suggest luteolin-7-O-glucoside may have potential value for clinical application in CHB and may enhance HBsAg and HBV clearance when used as a combination therapy.

On the Use of Normalized Compression Distances for Image Similarity Detection

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Dinu Coltuc

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the usefulness of the normalized compression distance (NCD for image similarity detection. Instead of the direct NCD between images, the paper considers the correlation between NCD based feature vectors extracted for each image. The vectors are derived by computing the NCD between the original image and sequences of translated (rotated versions. Feature vectors for simple transforms (circular translations on horizontal, vertical, diagonal directions and rotations around image center and several standard compressors are generated and tested in a very simple experiment of similarity detection between the original image and two filtered versions (median and moving average. The promising vector configurations (geometric transform, lossless compressor are further tested for similarity detection on the 24 images of the Kodak set subject to some common image processing. While the direct computation of NCD fails to detect image similarity even in the case of simple median and moving average filtering in 3 × 3 windows, for certain transforms and compressors, the proposed approach appears to provide robustness at similarity detection against smoothing, lossy compression, contrast enhancement, noise addition and some robustness against geometrical transforms (scaling, cropping and rotation.