Numerical Properties Research Articles

A novel image expression-driven modeling strategy for coke quality prediction in the smart cokemaking process

In pursuit of carbon neutrality and advancing energy-efficient practices within the steel and coking industries, the traditional cokemaking process is progressively evolving towards intelligence, with coke quality prediction emerging as a pivotal technology at its core. Nevertheless, the intricacy of the coke production process presents a formidable challenge in accurately forecasting it. This study is the first to propose a novel image expression-driven modeling approach that transforms the numerical coal properties into image expressions and uniquely integrates the utilization of the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for predicting coke quality including Coke Strength after Reaction (CSR) and Coke Reactivity Index (CRI). Utilizing the collected 729 Chinese coal properties and corresponding coke quality indexes, the dimensionality reduction technique was employed to transform numerical coal properties into image expressions. A convolutional neural network combined with the random forest model was subsequently developed for learning and prediction, with its performance evaluated on Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and R2 metrics. The results suggested that the proposed groundbreaking model outperformed existing numerical properties-based coke quality prediction models and typical regression models, achieving MAE of 1.57, RMSE of 2.22, and 0.86 for R2 metric, along with MAE of 1.82 and RMSE of 2.42 as well as 0.91 for R2 metric in CRI and CSR prediction, respectively. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis was also undertaken to identify the pivotal factors influencing the efficacy of coke quality prediction based on the proposed approach.

POMPEY'S APULIAN ESTATES

Pompey owned numerous properties in Italy, but except for a few residential villas little is known of their location or economic function. However, two amphora stamps have been attributed to him, which show that he was involved in the manufacture of amphorae, and probably in the production of the wine. Four tile stamps, found in the vicinity of Gravina in Puglia and at a villa at San Gilio in the upper Bradano valley, can also be attributed to Pompey for reasons discussed in detail in this paper. Since they were found in locations close to a drove road, it is inferred that Pompey had invested in properties which could be used as pasture for transhumant sheep. The circumstances in which he acquired the estate near Gravina are discussed, and it is suggested that it fell within the territory of Silvium and is likely to have been acquired by him after the War of Spartacus in which the settlement was destroyed. It is also suggested that the estate was bought by Octavian in the sale of Pompey's properties, which was still ongoing in 44 BC.

Spin-Cluster Glassy and Long-Range Ordered Magnetic States in Honeycomb-Layered Compositionally Complex Oxides Na3-xLixT2SbO6 (T = Cu1/3Ni1/3Co1/3).

The concept of high-entropy oxides has triggered extensive research of this novel class of materials because their numerous functional properties are usually not mere linear combinations of those of the components. Here, we introduce the new series of compositionally complex honeycomb-layered magnets Na3-xLixT2SbO6 (T = Cu1/3Ni1/3Co1/3). An unusual feature of the system is its nonmonotonous dependences of the monoclinic lattice parameters b and β on x. Rietveld refinement of the crystal structures of the Na and Li end members reveals apparent Sb-T site inversion in the former and considerable Li-Cu site inversion in the latter. The materials are characterized by measurements of specific heat Cp, magnetization M, and ac and dc magnetic susceptibility χ. Na3T2SbO6 exhibits sharp long-range antiferromagnetic order (TN = 10.2 K) preceded by noticeable correlation effects at elevated temperatures. The magnetic phase diagram of Na3T2SbO6 is established. Introduction of Li, just at x = 0.8, destroys AFM order, resulting in spin-cluster glass behavior attributed to Li/Cu inversion, with TG growing with x to 10.4 K at x = 3.

Measuring data drift with the unstable population indicator1

Measuring data drift is essential in machine learning applications where model scoring (evaluation) is done on data samples that differ from those used in training. The Kullback-Leibler divergence is a common measure of shifted probability distributions, for which discretized versions are invented to deal with binned or categorical data. We present the Unstable Population Indicator, a robust, flexible and numerically stable, discretized implementation of Jeffrey’s divergence, along with an implementation in a Python package that can deal with continuous, discrete, ordinal and nominal data in a variety of popular data types. We show the numerical and statistical properties in controlled experiments. It is not advised to employ a common cut-off to distinguish stable from unstable populations, but rather to let that cut-off depend on the use case.

Lignosulfonate/silica hybrid nanoparticles as a novel biobased filler in polybenzoxazine matrix

AbstractLignin is an abundant and sustainable resource that exhibits numerous attractive functional properties as a reinforcing agent for benzoxazine‐based composites, due to its stiffness, thermal stability, and high carbon content. However, the low quality of lignin particles dispersions associated with the weak particles‐matrix interactions reduces the reinforcement capability. In this work, hybrid lignin/silica (NaLS/SiO2) nanoparticles were obtained from sodium lignosulfonate (NaLS) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) under basic conditions. The particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirming their spherical morphology and narrow nanometric‐size distributions. The hybrid particles were incorporated into conventional benzoxazine (BA‐a) and a difuran biobased benzoxazine (SA‐dfda) to prepare nanocomposites with different mass compositions (3, 5, and 10 wt%). Morphological, mechanical, dynamo‐mechanical, and thermal properties of the obtained composites were assessed. All the materials exhibited a homogenous filler dispersion that contributed to improve the reinforcement properties. Hybrid nanoparticles proved to be an interesting alternative as a filler in the benzoxazine matrix to prepare high‐performance thermosetting composites.

Numerical properties of solutions of LASSO regression

The determination of a concise model of a linear system when there are fewer samples m than predictors n requires the solution of the equation Ax=b, where A∈Rm×n and rankA=m, such that the selected solution from the infinite number of solutions is sparse, that is, many of its components are zero. This leads to the minimisation with respect to x of f(x,λ)=‖Ax−b‖22+λ‖x‖1, where λ is the regularisation parameter. This problem, which is called LASSO regression, yields a family of functions xlasso(λ) and it is necessary to determine the optimal value of λ, that is, the value of λ that balances the fidelity of the model, ‖Axlasso(λ)−b‖≈0, and the satisfaction of the constraint that xlasso(λ) be sparse. The aim of this paper is an investigation of the numerical properties of xlasso(λ), and the main conclusion of this investigation is the incompatibility of sparsity and stability, that is, a sparse solution xlasso(λ) that preserves the fidelity of the model exists if the least squares (LS) solution xls=A†b is unstable. Two methods, cross validation and the L-curve, for the computation of the optimal value of λ are compared and it is shown that the L-curve yields significantly better results. This difference between stable and unstable solutions xls of the LS problem manifests itself in the very different forms of the L-curve for these two solutions. The paper includes examples of stable and unstable solutions xls that demonstrate the theory.

D4R: Doubly robust reduced rank regression in high dimension

In this paper, we study high-dimensional reduced rank regression and propose a doubly robust procedure, called D4R, meaning concurrent robustness to both outliers in predictors and heavy-tailed random noise. The proposed method uses the composite gradient descent based algorithm to solve the nonconvex optimization problem resulting from combining Tukey’s biweight loss with spectral regularization. Both theoretical and numerical properties of D4R are investigated. We establish non-asymptotic estimation error bounds under both the Frobenius norm and the nuclear norm in the high-dimensional setting. Simulation studies and real example show that the performance of D4R is better than that of several existing estimation methods.

The Bioactivity and Phytochemicals of Muscari comosum (Leopoldia comosa), a Plant of Multiple Pharmacological Activities.

Leopoldia comosa (LC), popularly known as Muscari comosum, spontaneously grows in the Mediterranean region and its bulbs are used as a vegetable. Traditionally, they are also used to treat various diseases and conditions, which has inspired the study of the pharmacological activities of different parts of LC. These studies revealed the numerous biological properties of LC including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetes, anti-obesity, anti-cancer, anti-Alzheimer's disease, antibacterial, and immune stimulant. High antioxidant activity compared to other non-cultivated plants, and the potential role of antioxidant activity in other reported activities make LC an excellent candidate to be developed as an antioxidant plant against important associated diseases. The presence of a diverse class of phytochemicals (n = 85), especially flavonoids and homoisoflavones, in LC, also imparts significance to the nutraceutical candidature of the plant. However, limited animal studies and the lack of a directional approach have limited the further design of effective clinical studies for the development of LC. The current study is the first attempt to comprehensively compile information regarding the phytochemicals and pharmacological activities of LC, emphasize the targets/markers targeted by LC, important in other activities, and also highlight the current gaps and propose possible bridges for the development of LC as a therapeutic and/or supplement against important diseases.

Link between glacial striation morphology and induced drag

Abrasion acts to smooth glacial terrains and leaves behind linear scratch-like features (striations) on bedrock landscapes. Striations are often used as measures of glacier flow directions, but their morphology can also provide information about the subglacial stress conditions that produced the features. While striations are often abundant in the field, the processes that create them can be opaque and hard to examine in situ because they occur under thick layers of flowing ice. To alleviate that difficulty and provide information for interpretation of the populations of striations that are observed in the field, we conducted a set of laboratory experiments in which a ring of temperate debris-laden ice was slid atop a planar marble bed under various contact force conditions that led to the creation of hundreds of striations. During the experiment, numerous glaciological properties were continuously measured, including the resistive drag. Following the completion of the experiments, the marble beds were extracted, and the striations were measured for length and categorized by morphological type, and a subset was measured using a high-resolution white-light profilometer. These experiments showed that, similar to field observations, type 2 striations were initially the most abundant; however, we found that type 3 striations became the most abundant at large displacements. We found good correlation between the abundance of striations as a function of displacement and measured drag as a function of displacement. When taken together, these results suggest that, in natural settings, ice flow around small roughness elements in glacier beds can “reset” the basal debris field, causing striations to become more abundant in their wake. As roughness is linked to quarrying, abrasion rates may increase in areas of increased quarrying.

Incommensurate Spin Density Wave in Antiferromagnetic RuO_{2} Evinced by Abnormal Spin Splitting Torque.

Since the discovery of antiferromagnetism, metallic oxide RuO_{2} has exhibited numerous intriguing spintronics properties such as the anomalous Hall effect and anisotropic spin splitting effect. However, the microscopic origin of its antiferromagnetism remains unclear. By investigating the spin splitting torque in RuO_{2}/Py, we found that metallic RuO_{2} exhibits a spatially periodic spin structure which interacts with the spin waves in Py through interfacial exchange coupling. The wavelength of such structure is evaluated within 14-20nm depending on the temperature, which is evidence of an incommensurate spin density wave state in RuO_{2}. Our work not only provides a dynamics approach to characterize the antiferromagnetic ordering in RuO_{2}, but also offers fundamental insights into the spin current generation due to anisotropic spin splitting effect associated with spin density wave.

Error Analysis and Condition Estimation of the Pyramidal Form of the Lucas-Kanade Method in Optical Flow

Optical flow is the apparent motion of the brightness patterns in an image. The pyramidal form of the Lucas-Kanade (LK) method is frequently used for its computation but experiments have shown that the method has deficiencies. Problems arise because of numerical issues in the least squares (LS) problem minAx−b22, A∈Rm×2 and m≫2, which must be solved many times. Numerical properties of the solution x0=A†b = (ATA)−1ATb of the LS problem are considered and it is shown that the property m≫2 has implications for the error and stability of x0. In particular, it can be assumed that b has components that lie in the column space (range) R(A) of A, and the space that is orthogonal to R(A), from which it follows that the upper bound of the condition number of x0 is inversely proportional to cosθ, where θ is the angle between b and its component that lies in R(A). It is shown that the maximum values of this condition number, other condition numbers and the errors in the solutions of the LS problems increase as the pyramid is descended from the top level (coarsest image) to the base (finest image), such that the optical flow computed at the base of the pyramid may be computationally unreliable. The extension of these results to the problem of total least squares is addressed by considering the stability of the optical flow vectors when there are errors in A and b. Examples of the computation of the optical flow demonstrate the theoretical results, and the implications of these results for extended forms of the LK method are discussed.

Design of polymeric carriers to enhance antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation

Mixed polymeric micelles are a promising tool for the design of nanocarriers with pharmaceutical properties. These micellar systems allow reversing numerous properties of lipophilic drugs. Particularly, when applied to transport photosensitizers (PSs), they give rise to a wide variety of nanophotosensitizers (nPSs). These compounds are used to inactivate numerous bacteria resistant to conventional antibiotics. This research proposes the development of new mixed micelles, with better properties than simple micelles, for the trapping of Neutral Red (NR) and its monobrominated derivative (NRBr). Based on the combination of Pluronic P-123 with Pluronic F-108, Pluronic L-61 and Tween 80, 15 binary micellar systems were obtained. These mixed micelles presented a single population of homogeneous particles, with a diameter less than 70 nm. Moreover, several mixed micelles show smaller CMC than the simple system. These properties are predictors of high micellar stability and good anti-dilution properties, favoring their drug delivery applications. For these reasons, were loaded with NR and NRBr, showing good encapsulation efficiency. The 30 new nPSs presented an adequate size for pharmaceutical use and markedly enhanced the photochemical reactivity of the free PSs. Many of the mixed micellar systems showed greater production of singlet oxygen than the simple micelles of Pluronic P-123. Furthermore, all micellar systems increased the chemical stability of NRBr, which degrades in pH 7.4 buffer solution. Finally, all nPSs presented greater phototoxic activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus than free PSs. The nPSs formed by P-123: F-108 (90:10) + NR, P-123: F-108 (90:10) + NRBr, P-123: L-61 (80:20) + NRBr and P −123: T80 (80:20) + NRBr caused greater photodynamic inactivation of the microorganism than simple P-123 micellar systems. These nPSs could be considered excellent candidates for application in the treatment of infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

Benthic habitat sediments mapping in coral reef area using amalgamation of multi-source and multi-modal remote sensing data

Scientific management of coral reefs is a global research topic due to their latent economic value and ecological significance. This research benefits from optical and acoustic remote sensing technology with high spatial resolution, sufficient coverage, and stable repeatability. However, each sensor with its own set of limitations, such as insufficient penetration ability, limited sensor resolution and range, which often hinder their applications in the precise classification of coral reef habitats. To address these issues, a novel scheme integrating airborne laser bathymetry (ALB), multibeam echo sounder (MBES) and the multispectral image is designed to serve large-scale and high-precision coral reef habitat sediments research. This scheme focuses on valuable attribute mining, inconsistent coverage, feature default, and redundancy according to multi-source data used in engineering demands. After per-system pretreating, numerous properties, including band, waveform, intensity, terrain, and derivative characteristics, are extracted and quantitatively analyzed to be responsible for habitat description. Subsequently, a complete seabed terrain is generated using the LightGBM regression model to establish the conversion relationship between satellite images and depth. Eventually, a new benthic habitat sediments classification method called RF-SAPSO-LightGBM is introduced with a powerful generalization ability. The unique functions of automatic default feature completion and optimal parameter search improve the discrimination ability of complex sediments. The results indicate that the new method outperforms five other approaches in sediment classification accuracy, and the combination of multi-source data provides more extensive coverage and higher accuracy with an overall of 87. 9%. In comparison, the accuracy values for multispectral image and terrain data alone are 74.5% and 54.7% respectively.

A Review on Pharmacological Activities of Eclipta alba (Keekirindiya-Bhringarāja)

This review article contributes to clarifying the pharmacological properties of Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja) which is traditionally used in medicaments in so many countries such as Sri Lanka, India, China, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Pakistan, etc. Pharmaceutical products containing Eclipta alba have been used for different kinds of diseases and Bhringarāja had been mentioned in different types of prescriptions; especially in Samhitha Grantha. The main objective of this literature review is a discussion about pharmacological activities of Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja) and to provide an integrated, synthesized overview of the current state of knowledge on Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja) with Ayurvedic and traditional medical knowledge. The systemic literature review was carried out to gather authentic information on Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja). Relevant data for this study were gathered from Ayurveda textbooks, research papers, peer-reviewed indexed scientific journals, and authentic websites. Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja) is a small branched perennial herb, found in sandy and clay soils (waterlogged areas). Research article shows that Eclipta alba (Bhringarāja) has numerous medicinal properties such as Hepatoprotective, Hair growthpromoting, Antidiabetic, Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory, Neuropharmacological, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Cardiovascular, Immunomodulatory, Anti-epilepsy, Anti-venom, Anticancer, Antiulcer, Anthelmintic and Anti- hyperlipedic properties. The reason for these properties is stated to be its major chemical compounds such as wedelolactone, dimethyl wedeloctone, ecliptal, etc. I found through this research that most of the therapeutic actions such as Śōthara, Vedanāsthāpana, Vraṇaśodhana, Vraṇarōpaṇa, Savarṇakaraṇa, Chakshushya, Keśavardhana, Keśaranjana, etc. have been mentioned in Samhitha Grantha and Ayurveda pharmacopeia. Those actions have been confirmed by modern laboratory tests, clinical trials, and animal trials. 
 Keywords: Eclipta alba, Bhringarāja, Ayurveda, Pharmacological activities.

Parallel Acyclic Joins: Optimal Algorithms and Cyclicity Separation

We study equi-join computation in the massively parallel computation (MPC) model. Currently, a main open question under this topic is whether it is possible to design an algorithm that can process any join with load O(N polylog N/p 1/ρ* ) — measured in the number of words communicated per machine — where N is the total number of tuples in the input relations, ρ * is the join’s fractional edge covering number, and p is the number of machines. We settle the question in the negative for the class of tuple-based algorithms (all the known MPC join algorithms fall in this class) by proving the existence of a join query with ρ * = 2 that requires a load of Ω ( N/p 1/3 ) to evaluate. Our lower bound provides solid evidence that the “AGM bound” alone is not sufficient for characterizing the hardness of join evaluation in MPC (a phenomenon that does not exist in RAM). The hard join instance identified in our argument is cyclic, which leaves the question of whether O(N polylog N/p 1/ρ* ) is still possible for acyclic joins. We answer this question in the affirmative by showing that any acyclic join can be evaluated with load O(N / p 1/ρ* ), which is asymptotically optimal (there are no polylogarithmic factors in our bound). The separation between cyclic and acyclic joins is yet another phenomenon that is absent in RAM. Our algorithm owes to the discovery of a new mathematical structure — we call “canonical edge cover” — of acyclic hypergraphs, which has numerous non-trivial properties and makes an elegant addition to database theory.

A unified framework for time‐to‐detection occupancy and abundance models

Abstract Time‐to‐detection (TTD) occupancy models are increasingly used to study site occupancy of organisms. Occupancy is a reduced representation of abundance (distinguishing only between and individuals), which is also often a quantity of interest. In this paper, we present a novel framework for TTD occupancy models that address limitations of existing approaches. Our approach incorporates factors that accommodate detection heterogeneity among sites/visits and inter‐visit dependency, allowing for the relaxation of some restrictive assumptions inherent in previous models. As a result, our framework offers a robust and versatile tool for analysing various ecological data sets. We employ a maximum likelihood approach to estimate model parameters and conduct inference for the proposed TTD occupancy models. A key feature of these models is the introduction of a community parameter. This parameter characterizes the similarity of detectabilities, ranging from complete independence to complete identity, across multiple site visits. This framework disentangles the detection rate, abundance and occupancy, similar to the popular N‐mixture model. For situations where abundance estimation is not the primary goal, a family of mixed gamma exponential TTD models is developed, which generally exhibit more stable numerical properties compared to N‐mixture type TTD models. The performance of the proposed models and some reduced models is evaluated through simulation studies. The results indicate that the N‐mixture TTD model tends to considerably overestimate the occupancy probability when the community parameter is less than one, a condition necessary to satisfy the strict closure population assumption. On the other hand, the standard exponential TTD occupancy model underestimates the occupancy probability in the presence of unobserved detection heterogeneity and inter‐visit dependency. An analysis of bird species in the Karoo region of South Africa demonstrates the enhanced flexibility of the proposed TTD occupancy models for data fitting. This paper demonstrates the importance of employing more flexible and general models to accurately capture the complexities of ecological systems or survey data. We provide R‐code to fit all considered models to data. The proposed TTD model framework contributes to enhancing our understanding of species occupancy distributions.

Fractionation and phytochemical composition of an ethanolic extract of Ziziphus nummularia leaves: antioxidant and anticancerous properties in human triple negative breast cancer cells.

Natural products have long been utilized in traditional medicine as remedies to improve health and treat illnesses, and have had a key role in modern drug discovery. Recently, there has been a revived interest in the search for bioactives from natural sources as alternative or complementary modalities to synthetic medicines; especially for cancer treatment, which incidence and mortality rates are on the rise worldwide. Ziziphus nummularia has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Its traditional uses and numerous ethnopharmacological properties may be attributed to its richness in bioactive metabolites. However, its phytochemical composition or chemopreventive effects against the aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are still poorly explored. Here, phytochemical composition of an ethanolic extract of Z. nummularia leaves (ZNE) and its chromatographically isolated fractions was identified both qualitatively by spectrophotometric assays and analytically by HPLC-PDA-MS/MS. The anti-proliferative effects of ZNE were tested in several cancer cell lines, but we focused on its anti-TNBC effects since they were not explored yet. The anti-cancerous potential of ZNE and its fractions was tested in vitro in MDA-MB-231, a TNBC cell line. Results showed that ZNE and its Fraction 6 (F6) reduced the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells. F6 decreased MDA-MB-231 viability more than crude ZNE or its other fractions. ZNE and F6 are rich in phytochemicals and HPLC-PDA-MS/MS analysis identified several metabolites that were previously reported to have anti-cancerous effects. Both ZNE and F6 showed potent antioxidant capacity in the DPPH assay, but promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in MDA-MB-231 cells; an effect which was blunted by the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). NAC also blunted ZNE- and F6-induced reduction in TNBC cell viability. We also demonstrated that ZNE and F6 induced an arrest of the cell cycle, and triggered apoptosis- and autophagy-mediated cell death. ZNE and F6 inhibited metastasis-related cellular processes by modifying cell migration, invasion, and adhesion. Taken together, our findings reveal that Z. nummularia is rich in phytochemicals that can attenuate the malignant phenotype of TNBC and may offer innovative avenues for the discovery of new drug leads for treatment of TNBC and other cancers.

Chemical composition and biological properties of Thymus capitatus plants from Algerian high plains: A comparative and analytical study

Abstract The Lamiaceae family contains bioactive medicinal compounds mostly used as ornamental plants and traditional medicine, as well as in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical sectors. Common uses include treating high cholesterol, diabetes, respiratory diseases, heart disease, and food poisoning. These medicinal uses were linked to their components and numerous biological properties, including antimicrobial and antioxidants. The goal of this study was to investigate the phytochemicals and biological activities of the petroleum ether extract of Thymus capitatus plant from two different regions of eastern Algeria (Souk ahras and Guelma), as well as to extract volatile oils using a Clevenger device and then analyze by using GC-MS. The results revealed that the total amount of phenolic compounds was better in the phenolic extract of Souk Ahras (3.41 mg GAE g−1), while the amount of flavonoid compounds was higher in the region of Guelma (26.31 mg QE g−1). Following the quantification of phenolic compounds by HPLC, we observed that the phenolic extracts contained most of the standard compounds in variable proportions. Furthermore, we tested the antioxidant activity of the phenolic compounds electrochemically with the cyclic voltammetry method. We concluded that the highest antioxidant content was recorded in the Guelma region extract (3.17 mg GAE g−1). We have also evaluated the antioxidant activity by a chemical method using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, and the results showed that the Guelma extract exhibited a high effectiveness in terms of IC50% values. When extracting the volatile oils, it was found that the highest yield was in the Guelma region

Chemical Characterization and Antioxidant Activity of Apilarnil, Royal Jelly, and Propolis Collected in Banat Region, Romania

Bee products have a millennia-old tradition in human apitherapy, thanks to their numerous curative properties. The aim of this study was to perform a physicochemical characterization, including the percentage of water content, dry matter, pH, acidity, impurity content, protein, ash, and macro and micro minerals, and to evaluate the antioxidant activity of apiculture products, including apilarnil, royal jelly, and propolis. Samples were collected from our apiary in the Banat region of Romania in 2022 as well as from the market. Apilarnil and royal jelly were analyzed in pure and freeze-dried form, and propolis in pure and tincture form. Our results show that there is a large variability in the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the three bee products studied, depending on the form of presentation and source of origin. In the case of commercial bee products, the best results were obtained in terms of chemical composition, including the content of macro and micro nutrients. All the samples analyzed showed acidity, pH, and impurity content values within the limits allowed by the quality standards. Apilarnil from our own apiary recorded the highest values for antioxidant activity, followed by propolis tincture and fresh propolis from own apiary.

Rutin Linoleate Triggers Oxidative Stress-Mediated Cytoplasmic Vacuolation in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells.

Lung cancer (LC) represents one of the most prevalent health issues globally and is a leading cause of tumor-related mortality. Despite being one the most attractive compounds of plant origin due to its numerous biological properties, the therapeutic applications of rutin (RUT) are limited by its disadvantageous pharmacokinetics. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate in vitro the application of two RUT fatty acids bioconjugates, rutin oleate (RUT-O) and rutin linoleate (RUT-L), as potential improved RUT-based chemotherapeutics in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. The results indicate that both compounds lacked cytotoxic potential in EpiAirway™ tissues at concentrations up to 125 µM. However, only RUT-L exerted anti-tumorigenic activity in NCI-H23 NSCLC cells after 24 h of treatment by reducing cell viability (up to 47%), proliferation, and neutral red uptake, causing cell membrane damage and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, affecting cytoskeletal distribution, inducing cytoplasmic vacuolation, and increasing oxidative stress. The cytopathic effects triggered by RUT-L at 100 and 125 µM are indicators of a non-apoptotic cell death pathway that resembles the characteristics of paraptosis. The novel findings of this study stand as a basis for further investigations on the anti-cancer properties of RUT-L and their underlying mechanisms.