Peroxyl radical scavenging capacity, polyphenolics, and lipophilic antioxidant profiles of mulberry fruits cultivated in southern China

Twenty-seven cultivars of mulberry fruits ( Morus atropurpurea Roxb) were analyzed for their total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content, and peroxyl radical scavenging capacities. The proanthocyanidin contents of the fruit were also quantified using 4-dimethylamino-cinnamaldehyde assay, and characterization was attempted using electrospray ionization mass spectra. The phenolic compounds of mulberry fruits were characterized using HPLC with ESI-MS and diode array detection. Results showed that the content of mulberry fruits varied with different cultivars with total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content, total proanthocyanidin content, and peroxyl radical scavenging capacities ranging from 0.060-0.244, 0.001-0.056, 0.001-0.015, and 0.301-1.728, respectively. Good correlations were observed among the phenolic, anthocyanin, and proanthocyanidin contents and the radical scavenging capacities of mulberry fruits. Mulberry fruits were found to contain low amount of proanthocyanidins. The high total phenolic content of mulberry fruits were mainly contributed by anthocyanins, rutin, and chlorogenic acids. The lipid soluble antioxidants are profiled by an HPLC method developed in-house, and the results of selected mulberry fruits revealed significant amounts of lutein and delta- and gamma-tocopherols but low alpha-tocopherol. Our results provide useful antioxidant nutritional information of a mulberry cultivar that has potential for large scale plantations.     

Biotransformation of vinclozolin in rat precision-cut liver slices: comparison with in vivo metabolic pattern

Vinclozolin is a dicarboxymide fungicide that presents antiandrogenic properties through its two hydrolysis products M1 and M2, which bind to the androgen receptor. Because of the lack of data on the biotransformation of vinclozolin, its metabolism was investigated in vitro in precision-cut rat liver slices and in vivo in male rat using [ (14)C]-vinclozolin. Incubations were performed using different concentrations of substrate, and the kinetics of formation of the major metabolites were studied. Three male Wistar rats were fed by gavage with [ (14)C]-VZ. Urine was collected for 24 h and analyzed by radio-HPLC for metabolic profiling. Metabolite identification was carried out on a LCQ ion trap mass spectrometer. In rat liver slices and in vivo, the major primary metabolite has been identified as 3',5'-dichloro-2,3,4-trihydroxy-2-methylbutyranilide (M5) and was mainly present as glucuronoconjugates. M5 is produced by dihydroxylation of the vinyl group of M2. Other metabolites have been identified as 3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-methyl-5-(1,2-dihydroxyethyl)-1,3-oxazolidine-2,4-dione (M4), a dihydroxylated metabolite of vinclozolin, which undergoes further conjugation to glucuronic acid, and 2-[[(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-carbamoyl]oxy]-2-methyl-3,4-dihydroxy-butanoic acid (M6), a dihydroxylated metabolite of M1.     

Dualisms shaping human-nature relations: discovering the multiple meanings of social-ecological change in Wayanad

This paper reflects on the impacts of agrarian change and social reorganisation on gender-nature relations through the lens of an indigenous group named the Kuruma in South India. Building upon recent work of feminist political ecology, I uncover a number of dualisms attached to the gender-nature nexus and put forward that gender roles are constituted by social relations which need to be analysed with regard to the transformative potential of gender-nature relations. Three main themes are at the centre of the empirical inquiry: gender subjectivities, rural off-farm employment and the human-nature nexus. I seek to show that, first, the production of gendered subjectivities cannot be simplified through essentialist assumptions that romanticise women’s relationships with nature; second, off-farm employment strategies both reinforce the social hierarchy in gender and contradict the Kuruma’s moral economies; and, finally, environmental and agrarian change redefine the use of agrobiodiversity and are related to ideas on progressive versus nonprogressive cultivation practices. The research is informed by qualitative research methods and offers a conceptual approach to the deconstruction of gender-nature relations from a poststructuralist feminist perspective.     

Potential of combined biological control agents to cope with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytophthora parasitica,</Emphasis> a major pathogen of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Choisya ternata</Emphasis>

The Cook Agronomy Farm of Washington State University is a long-term precision agriculture study site. Since 2000, the farm has been in various three-year no-till rotations with winter wheat, spring wheat, and various rotation crops such as barley, canola, peas, lentils, and chickpea. The spatial distribution of root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) and their relationships with soil and terrain variables were studied by collecting soil samples at 127 and 124 geo-referenced points in two 12-ha fields during the spring of 2010 and 2011, respectively. Pratylenchus spp. were detected in more than 85% of the sampled locations in both fields. Nematode densities spatially mapped using ArcGIS software occurred in an aggregated pattern. Previous rotation crops had no effect on the spatial distribution. Classification and regression tree analysis (CART) using soil and terrain variables, and nematode density, explained 61 and 34% of the variability associated with nematode density in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Soil edaphic factors, such as organic matter, were stronger predictors of nematode populations than rotation effects.