Bioguided fractionation and isolation of free radical scavenging components from in vitro propagated chinese medicinal plants Dendrobium tosaense Makino and Dendrobium moniliforme SW

This study was performed to investigate the free radical scavenging active components from in vitro propagated medicinal herbs of the genus Dendrobium, namely, Dendrobium tosaense Makino and Dendrobium moniliforme SW, using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical antioxidative assay. Seeds of the capsules derived after 12 weeks of hand-pollination germinated asymbiotically (50-74%) on half-strength Murashige and Skoog's (MS) basal medium with 3% sucrose and solidified with 0.9% Difco agar. Active growth in the germinated seedlings was achieved by reculturing on full-strength MS basal medium supplemented with 8% banana homogenate, 8% potato homogenate, 8% coconut water, 1.5% sucrose, and 0.9% Difco agar. Healthy plantlets transferred to plastic trays containing moss or moss and tree fern successfully acclimatized (84-100%) in the greenhouse. Extracts were prepared from plants grown in the greenhouse for a period of 6 months. Methanolic extracts of D. tosaense and D. moniliforme scavenged DPPH at 95.9 and 83.4%, respectively, at a concentration of 0.4 mg/mL. Therefore, methanolic solubles of D. tosaense and D. moniliforme were subjected to bioguided fractionation and separation by column chromatographic methods individually. After chromatographic separation of these crude extracts, the obtained fractions (Dm 1, Dm 2, Dm 3, Dt 1, Dt 2, and Dt 3) were tested for their activity. Among them, fractions Dm 2 and Dt 1 showed significant antioxidant activity by DPPH radical antioxidative assay. Active fractions were purified further by column chromatography and resulted in identification of the antioxidant components alkyl ferulates from D. moniliforme and quercetin from D. tosaense.     

Pharmacokinetic studies of ivermectin: effects of formulation

Studies are reported which describe the effects of formulation, animal species, and route of administration on the pharmacokinetics of ivermectin. Biological half-life t1/2 increases in the order: swine (0.5 day) less than dogs (1.8 day) less than cattle approximately equal to sheep (2.8 day). Formulation modifications, based upon the solubility properties of the drug, have been directed towards the development of a nonaqueous injectable formulation for cattle and an aqueous vehicle for horses. Bioavailability following subcutaneous injection in cattle can be regulated by control of injection solvent composition: a vehicle composed of a mixed aqueous-organic solvent exhibits pharmacokinetic properties (i.e., Cp, t1/2, AUC, and F) intermediate between those furnished by an aqueous formulation and via a purely nonaqueous solvent. The longer apparent biological half-life from this latter vehicle (t1/2 = 8.3 days) confirms that a slow absorption process dominates the pharmacokinetics in the nonaqueous injectable product to produce an effective controlled-release formulation. These bioavailability results illustrate the increase in the concentration of an organic solvent and a concomitant decrease in surfactant concentration in a micellar aqueous system for prolonged drug delivery via injection.     

Molecular genetic and chemical assessment of radix Angelica (Danggui) in China

The roots of Angelica sinensis (Danggui), a traditional Chinese medicine, have been used for invigorating blood circulation for over 2000 years in China. Three common species of Angelica roots are found in Asia: A. sinensis from China, A. acutiloba from Japan, and A. gigas from Korea. By using a molecular genetic approach, the 5S-rRNA spacer domains of the three species of Angelica were amplified, and their nucleotide sequences were determined. Diversity in DNA sequences among various species was found in their 5S-rRNA spacer domains, which could serve as markers for authentic identification of Angelica roots. In chemical analyses, the main constituents of Angelica roots including ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide were determined by HPLC; roots of A. sinensis were clearly distinct in that they contained approximately 10-fold higher levels of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide as compared to roots of A. acutiloba and A. gigas. In addition, the amounts of main constituents in roots of A. sinensis varied according to different regions of cultivation and different methods of preservation. The chemical profile determined by HPLC therefore could serve as a fingerprint for quality control of Angelica roots.     

Unconditional security of quantum key distribution over arbitrarily long distances

Quantum key distribution is widely thought to offer unconditional security in communication between two users. Unfortunately, a widely accepted proof of its security in the presence of source, device, and channel noises has been missing. This long-standing problem is solved here by showing that, given fault-tolerant quantum computers, quantum key distribution over an arbitrarily long distance of a realistic noisy channel can be made unconditionally secure. The proof is reduced from a noisy quantum scheme to a noiseless quantum scheme and then from a noiseless quantum scheme to a noiseless classical scheme, which can then be tackled by classical probability theory.     

Determination of selenium in nuts by cathodic stripping potentiometry (CSP)

The aim of this work was to determine the selenium content in nut samples by cathodic stripping potentiometry. Dry-powdered nuts were digested by HNO(3) and dissolved with concentrated hydrochloric acid. To avoid the interference of natural oxygen, the potentiometric determination of selenium was carried out in an electrolyte solution consisting of 2 M CaCl(2) and 4 M HCl. The analysis was executed applying an electrolysis potential of -150 mV for 60 s and a constant current of -30 microA. Under these conditions, detection limits lower than 1.0 ng g(-)(1) were obtained for selenium analysis in nuts. The relative standard deviation of these measurements (expressed as rsd %) ranged from 0.44 to 0.88% while recoveries ranged from 90.2 to 95.3%. The results obtained with the proposed method were compared with those obtained via hydride vapor generation atomic absorption spectroscopy, a common method for determining selenium. The results of the two methods agreed within 5% for almond, hazelnut, and pistachio samples. The mean concentrations of selenium determined in Sicilian samples of almond, hazelnut, and pistachio were 531 +/- 1, 865 +/- 1, and 893 +/- 4 microg/kg, respectively.     

Determination of some heavy metals and selenium in Sicilian and Calabrian citrus essential oils using derivative stripping chronopotentiometry

This paper aims to bring some novelty about the concentration of some heavy metals and selenium in biological citrus essential oils (CEO) produced in Sicily and Calabria in different crop years. Derivative stripping chronopotentiometry has been used as an accurate, sensitive, and rapid technique for the determination of Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Se in hydrochloric acid extracts of CEO; in the optimized electrochemical conditions, detection limits of <1 microg kg(-1) were obtained for all of the studied metals. In particular, the concentrations of metals were determined in biological bergamot essential oils produced in Calabria in 1999 and 2000 and in biological CEO produced in Sicily in 2003 and 2004. The obtained results provided evidence that Mn was the most abundant metal in all of the studied CEO followed by Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, and Se; Cd concentrations were always lower than the limit of detection (0.6 microg kg(-1)).     

Steam-blanched highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) juice: phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity in relation to cultivar selection

High-quality standards in blueberry juice can be obtained only taking into account fruit compositional variability and its preservation along the processing chain. In this work, five highbush blueberry cultivars from the same environmental growing conditions were individually processed into juice after an initial blanching step and the influence was studied of the cultivar on juice phenolic content, distribution and relative antioxidant activity, measured as scavenging capacity on the artificial free-radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*). A chromatographic protocol was developed to separate all main phenolic compounds in berries. A total of 15 glycosylated anthocyanins, catechin, galactoside, glucoside, and rhamnoside quercetin 3-derivatives, and main benzoic and cinnamic acids were identified. The total content and relative distribution in anthocyanins, chlorogenic acid, and quercetin of each juice were dependent upon cultivar, and the total content was highly correlated (rxy=0.97) to the antioxidant capacity. A selective protective effect of berry blanching in juice processing can be observed on more labile anthocyanin compounds.     

Sensitivity and Error Limits of Two Tests for Distemper Virus Neutralizing Antibody: A Conventional Neutralization Test and the “Single Dilution-Probit Test”

The sensitivity and error limits of a conventional in ovo neutralization test for antibody to distemper virus were compared with the same parameters of a single dilution-probit test for neutralizing antibody.With the former test, antibody was demonstrable in ferrets 8 days following a single subcutaneous injection of virus while probit analysis of data from the single dilution test revealed the appearance of antibody as early as 4 days post-immunization. The error terms of the single dilution test were relatively large as compared to those of the conventional test for antibody.Distinctly biphasic antibody responses were observed in ferrets following a single subcutaneous injection of distemper virus.     

Evaluation of an antimicrobial resistance monitoring program for Campylobacter in poultry by simulation

An ideal national resistance monitoring program should deliver a precise estimate of the resistance situation for a given combination of bacteria and antimicrobial at a low cost. To achieve this, decisions need to be made on the number of samples to be collected at each of different possible sampling points. Existing methods of sample size calculation can not be used to solve this problem, because sampling decisions do not only depend on the prevalence of resistance and sensitivity and specificity of resistance testing, but also on the prevalence of the bacteria, and test characteristics of isolation of these bacteria. Our aim was to develop a stochastic simulation model that optimized a national resistance monitoring program, taking multi-stage sampling, imperfect sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests, and cost-effectiveness considerations into account. The process of resistance testing of Campylobacter spp. isolated from cloacal swab samples from poultry was modeled using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo model. Different sampling scenarios on the number of flocks to be tested, the number of birds from each flock, and the number of campylobacter colonies submitted to susceptibility testing were evaluated regarding the precision of the resulting prevalence estimate. Precision of the prevalence estimate was defined as the absolute difference between apparent and true prevalence of resistance. A partial budget approach was utilized to find the most cost-effective combination of samples to obtain a defined precision of the prevalence estimate. For a sampling scenario testing 100 flocks, five birds per flock, and one campylobacter colony per sample, the median error of the prevalence estimate was 2.5%, and 95% of the simulations resulted in an error of 7% or less. When the total number of samples was kept constant, maximizing the number of flocks tested, and only testing one bird per flock resulted in the most precise prevalence estimate. Submitting more than one campylobacter colony to resistance testing did not improve the prevalence estimate. Partial budget analysis indicated that the most cost-effective strategy was testing of two birds per flock, and submitting one colony per sample to resistance testing.