Comparative evaluation of flavonoid content in assessing quality of wild and cultivated vegetables for human consumption

BACKGROUND: Owing to the demand for ‘health foods’, commercial development of wild vegetables may find a sizable market niche if adequate agricultural methods are used to domesticate such species. Available techniques of cultivation (even in traditional farming) may provide many advantages, such as enhancement of the content of active principles in plants and improvement in the quality of the raw material to be processed on an industrial scale. In this context, the flavonoid composition and content of roots and leaves from five varieties of wild herbs (Cichorium intybus, Portulaca oleracea, Tragopogon porrifolius, Urtica dioica and Valerianella eriocarpa) and their cultivated relatives in central Italy were compared. The aims of the study were (i) to reveal the metabolic profile of particular bioactive metabolites present in some unusual food species by using a simple method of analysis, (ii) to quantify and compare the amount of polyphenolic metabolites in wild and cultivated plants and (iii) to evaluate the effect of growing conditions on polyphenolic variability. Data were subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS: Each herb possessed a specific flavonoid fingerprint as indicated by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) data. The total phenolic content in cultivated leaves was greater than that in wild leaves for all herbs examined (P < 0.05), with the exception of P. oleracea. CONCLUSION: The results show that the polyphenolic content of the majority of the cultivated herbs (edible parts) is no lower than that of their wild relatives, thus indicating that these species are suitable for cultivation. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

An Analysis of the Published Literature on the Effects of Edible Coatings Formed by Polysaccharides and Essential Oils on Postharvest Microbial Control and Overall Quality of Fruit

Consumers have shown increased concern about the importance of adopting regular fresh fruit consumption. Because fresh fruit are highly susceptible to postharvest decay, several studies have focused on the development of alternative technologies to extend their market period. The application of polysaccharides in combination with essential oils (EOs) to formulate edible coatings has been considered an innovative strategy to reduce postharvest losses in fruit. However, available studies have used different methodological procedures related to the production and application of these coatings on fruit, which could be potential influential factors on the achievement of the desired effects in coated fruit. This review summarized the studies focusing on the application of edible coatings formed by polysaccharides and EOs to preserve fruit, in addition to examine and discuss possible factors affecting their functionalities. The approach given in this review envisages to contribute to research in edible coatings formed by polysaccharides and EOs and help to their optimized application as a postharvest treatment of fruit. Despite of the different methods selected for use in experimental assays, data of available literature demonstrate that coatings formed by polysaccharides (that is, chitosan—the only polysaccharide used as an antimicrobial, cassava starch, flaxseed gum, gum arabic, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, locust bean gum, mesquite gum, pectin, pullulan, and sodium alginate) and different EOs (or their individual constituents) are effective to reduce postharvest losses in fruit and generally do not adversely affected their physicochemical and sensory characteristics during storage.     

Photoluminescence of Eu<Superscript>3+</Superscript> ion in SnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> obtained by sol–gel

Photoluminescence data of Eu-doped SnO₂ xerogels are presented, yielding information on the symmetry of Eu³⁺ luminescent centers, which can be related to their location in the matrix: at lattice sites, substituting to Sn⁴⁺, or segregated at particles surface. Influence of doping concentration and/or particle size on the photoluminescence spectra obtained by energy transfer from the matrix to Eu³⁺ sites is investigated. Results show that a better efficiency in the energy transfer processes is obtained for high symmetry Eu³⁺ sites and low doping levels. Emission intensity from ⁵D₀→⁷F₁ transition increases as the temperature is raised from 10 to 240 K, under excitation at 266 nm laser line, because in this transition the multiphonon emission becomes significant only above 240 K. As an extension of this result, we predict high effectiveness for room temperature operation of Eu-based optical communication devices. X-ray diffraction data show that the impurity excess inhibits particle growth, which may influence the asymmetry ratio of luminescence spectra.     

Is there a ��gender gap�� in authorship of the main Brazilian psychiatric journals at the beginning of the 21st century?

The aim of this study was to investigate the existence of a ??gender gap?? in the authorship of the four most important peer-reviewed psychiatric journals in Brazil and to quantify its magnitude. In addition, we examined the patterns of change in this gap during the period extending from 2001 to 2008 and variations according to the total number of authors, the type of article (original vs. non-original studies), and the journals themselves. A total of 1,036 articles were analyzed. We found that the proportion of female overall participation has increased from 2001 to 2008. Nevertheless, the incremental rate was accounted mostly by the growth of the participation in non-original articles. While the average annual increment for original articles was virtually null (.01%), for the non-original articles the corresponding figure was 3.7%. We also found that the chance of a woman being first author was about three times greater in original papers as compared to non-original ones at the beginning of the study period; this differential declined by 11% per year during this period. A different pattern emerged from the analysis of female last authorship. Year of publication and type of study were still associated with the chance of a woman being the last author but without interaction. Further, the journals themselves were found to be related with female last authorship: the chance of a woman being the last author in an article published in the Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria was significantly smaller than in the other three journals. Our findings indicate clearly that some progress in being achieved in eliminating the gender gap also in field of Psychiatry and highlight the need for further research in this area.     

RetriBlog: An architecture-centered framework for developing blog crawlers

Blogs have become an important social tool. It allows the users to share their tastes, express their opinions, report news, form groups related to some subject, among others. The information obtained from the blogosphere may be used to create several applications in various fields. However, due to the growing number of blogs posted every day, as well as the dynamicity of the blogosphere, the task of extracting relevant information from the blogs has become difficult and time consuming. In this paper, we use information retrieval and extraction techniques to deal with this problem. Furthermore, as blogs have many variation points is required to provide applications that can be easily adapted. Faced with this scenario, the work proposes RetriBlog, an architecture-centered framework for the development of blog crawlers. Finally, it presents an evaluation of the proposed algorithms and three case studies.     

Management of Surface Drying Temperature to Increase Antioxidant Capacity of Thyme Leaf Extracts (Thymus vulgaris L.)

Thyme leaves are an important source of essential oils with antioxidant activity; these compounds are located in trichomes on the leaf surface. The drying conditions affect not only the drying time but also the antioxidant activity. In the literature, a drying temperature of 70°C appears to be the best for drying thyme leaves according to their antioxidant capacity. Considering drying periods at different temperatures also could be beneficial. With these considerations, the goal of this work was to establish a drying strategy with which to manage a drying temperature on the leaf surface that will enable the drying time to be shortened and improve the antioxidant capacity (AC) of the extract of dried thyme leaves. The drying strategy consisted of two consecutive drying periods in order to manage the drying temperature on the leaf surface. The first drying period was carried out at 80°C (T _a1) until the sample surface reached a temperature of 70°C, and the temperature was then immediately set to 70, 60, 50, and 40°C (second drying period, T _a2) at different air velocities (v; 1 and 2 m s^?1). Compared to constant drying conditions, two consecutive drying periods were found to improve the drying kinetics: the AC increased from 10.5 to 27.4% while reducing the drying time by 14.5 to 39.2%. The use of this drying strategy was found to be an interesting means of intensifying the convective drying of thyme leaves and its application should be considered when drying similar materials with bioactive compounds on the surface.     

Searching for a mesh-independent sub-grid model for CFD simulation of gas-solid riser flows

This work aims to examine the effects of grid size in applying the two-fluid model (TFM), and thereby attempts to search for a mesh-independent sub-grid model for simulating gas-solid riser flows. To this end, we performed a series of TFM simulations over a periodic domain with various grid resolutions and drag closures. Of these drag models, EMMS/matrix model in its simplified version was chosen to be the focus of discussion. It was found that TFM simulation with a homogeneous drag model reaches its numerically asymptotic solution when the grid scale is as small as 10 times the particle diameter, but it still fails to capture the characteristic S-shaped axial voidage profile and highly over-predicts the solids flux. By comparison, EMMS/matrix model seems to reach a mesh-independent solution of the effect of sub-grid structures on the drag force, and predict successfully the axial voidage profile and the solids flux with even coarse grid. Therefore, the fine-grid TFM simulation is inadequate for gas-solid riser flows. We need sub-grid modeling of the heterogeneous structure.     

Engineering Liganded Gold Nanoclusters as Efficient Theranostic Agents for Cancer Applications

Luminescent gold nanoclusters are rapidly gaining attention as efficient theranostic targets for imaging and therapeutics. Indeed, their ease of synthesis, their tunable optical properties and tumor targeting make them potential candidates for sensitive diagnosis and efficacious therapeutic applications. This concept highlights the key components for designing gold nanoclusters as efficient theranostics focusing on application in the field of oncology.     

Are protected areas effective in preserving Alpine stream morphology and biodiversity? A field study in the oldest Italian National Park

Global changes and local pressures related to the exploitation of water resources are significantly reducing streams' biodiversity and threatening their ecological balance. This trend concerns both the lowland rivers flowing in densely populated areas and the mountain headwaters, where the effects of global change are dramatically evident and often accompanied by alterations in river hydro-morphology. From mountains to lowlands, regulation and morphological alterations such as bank reinforcement, water abstractions, dams, and weirs are among the most significant threats for river ecosystems. Protected areas and especially large national parks constitute an effective strategy to face the loss of biodiversity, but little is known about their effectiveness regarding lotic environments. To examine the recent trend in aquatic communities in Alpine protected areas, we carried out biological sampling of benthic communities and hydro-morphological status assessment in 12 high-altitude streams within the oldest Italian National Park, that is, the Gran Paradiso National Park, located in the heart of the Western Alps, and we compared results with a previous survey performed in 2005, by keeping the same experimental design. Our results detected minimal changes in the hydro-morphology of the studied watercourses. Biomonitoring indices associated with benthic communities likewise did not provide evidence of significant differences. Conversely, diatom communities were more uniform in 2020 compared to 2005, and a slight species turnover occurred over the 15-year interval. Despite this, our findings underline the effectiveness of protected areas for the conservation of running water environments because they limit hydro-morphological alterations, thus increasing the resilience of aquatic communities to climate change.