Sharp Decrease In Content Research Articles

Comprehensive Analysis of Phenolic Constituents, Biological Activities, and Derived Aroma Differences of Penthorum chinense Pursh Leaves after Processing into Green and Black Tea

Penthorum chinense Pursh (Penthoraceae) is a traditional herb used in Miao medical systems that is also processed into foods (e.g., tea products) in China. Different processing methods significantly affect the volatile compounds, phenolic constituents, and biological activities. This study aimed to produce P. chinense green tea leaves (GTL), black tea leaves (BTL), and untreated leaves (UL) to investigate differences in their flavor substances, functional components, antioxidant activity, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity, and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity. The results showed that 63, 56, and 56 volatile compounds were detected in UL, GTL, and BTL, respectively, of which 43 volatile compounds were identified as differential metabolites among them. The total phenolic content (97.13–179.34 mg GAE/g DW), flavonoid content (40.07–71.93 mg RE/g DW), and proanthocyanidin content (54.13–65.91 mg CE/g DW) exhibited similar trends, decreasing in the order of UL > BTL > GTL. Fourteen phenolic compounds were determined, of which gallic acid, (−)-epicatechin, and pinocembrin 7-O-glucoside showed a sharp decrease in content from UL to BTL, while the content of pinocembrin 7-O-(3″-O-galloy-4″, 6″-hexahydroxydiphenoyl)-glucoside and pinocembrin significantly increased. GTL showed better DPPH/ABTS·+ scavenging ability and ferric-reducing ability than UL. The ADH and ALDH activities decreased in the order of GTL > UL > BTL. Therefore, tea products made with P. chinense leaves contained an abundance of functional compounds and showed satisfactory antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities, which are recommended for daily consumption.

A study on the classification of geological background source cadmium migration phases in Zhejiang Province, China

The release of cadmium during the natural weathering process of cadmium-containing strata is a significant source of cadmium pollution in both water and soil. The Hetang formations, wildly located in Jiangxi Province Zhejiang Province and Anhui Province in China, is a typical example of a cadmium-rich black shale stratum and is one of the primary sources of soil cadmium contamination. The bottom coal seam of this formation has been found to contain high levels of cadmium, with concentrations up to 11.26 mg/kg. As a result of water flow eroding the riverbed, parent rocks containing cadmium undergo continuous weathering, releasing cadmium elements. This process contributes to cadmium pollution in downstream soil, originating from the geological background. By utilizing techniques such as FE-SEM, EDS, and optical microscopy, this study investigates the distribution of iron in rock fragments with varying degrees of weathering in the riverbed. The research aims to examine the influence of iron distribution on the migration of cadmium originating from geological background sources. Based on the co-occurrence and co-migration characteristics of iron and cadmium in the study area, this research aims to reveal the migration features of geological background source cadmium by exploring the distribution patterns of iron sediment within rock fragments. By comparing sediment samples from both upstream and downstream river channels, we were able to identify three distinct stages that indicate the presence of cadmium originating from geological sources under weathering conditions: the unweathered stage; the intra-detritus migration stage, and the completely weathered stage; intra-detritus migration stage; and completely weathered stage. Furthermore, after leaving the Hetang formations shale outcrop area, there was a sharp decrease in content for Hetang formations detritus. At this point geological background source cadmium had largely escaped from constraints imposed by rock microstructure and had come into full contact with water. The findings from this research deepen our understanding regarding migration patterns for geological background source cadmium. They also reveal formation processes for geological background source cadmium pollution and provide a theoretical basis for identification and treatment for geological background source cadmium pollution.

Ethylene-Inducible AP2/ERF Transcription Factor Involved in the Capsaicinoid Biosynthesis in Capsicum.

Ethylene is very important in the process of plant development and regulates the biosynthesis of many secondary metabolites. In these regulatory mechanisms, transcription factors (TFs) that mediate ethylene signals play a very important role. Capsaicinoids (CAPs) are only synthesized and accumulated in Capsicum species, causing their fruit to have a special pungent taste, which can protect against attack from herbivores and pathogens. In this study, we identified the TF CcERF2, which is induced by ethylene, and demonstrated its regulatory effect on CAPs biosynthesis. Transcriptome sequencing analysis revealed that the expression patterns of CcERF2 and multiple genes associated with CAPs biosynthesis were basically the same. The spatiotemporal expression results showed CcERF2 was preferentially expressed in the placenta of the spicy fruit. Ethylene can induce the expression of CcERF2 and CAPs biosynthesis genes (CBGs). CcERF2 gene silencing and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and pyrazinamide (PZA) treatments caused a decrease in expression of CBGs and a sharp decrease in content of CAPs. The results indicated that CcERF2 was indeed involved in the regulation of structural genes of the CAPs biosynthetic pathway.

Structural and aggregate composition features of southern variant natural forest edaphotopes of Ukrainian steppe zone

The natural forests of the southern variant of the steppe zone of Ukraine (according to the classification of O. L. Belgard) are located on the territory of the former porous part of the Dnieper. The properties of edaphotopes of these forests were studied in detail by the staff of the Comprehensive expedition of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University for the study of forests in the steppe zone of Ukraine (A. P. Travleev, N. A. Bilova, A. A. Dubina, K. M. Bozhko). However, there are no data on the structural and aggregate composition of the genetic horizons of edaphotopes of natural forests of the southern variant of the steppe zone of Ukraine, established by classical methods of determination. This work is devoted to the coverage of these features. As a result of research it is established that the best conditions for the formation of structural aggregates are characteristic of the upper horizons of all studied soils and especially for the forest chernozem in the conditions of northern exposure. The highest content of agronomically valuable structural aggregates is characterized by forest chernozem in the conditions of northern exposure of the ravine, the lowest – meadow-forest soil of thalweg, and forest chernozem in the conditions of southern exposure occupies an intermediate value. The eluvial horizons of ravine edaphotopes differ most contrastingly from the illuvial horizons in the conditions of northern and southern exposures. Eluvial horizons are characterized by a reduced fraction content of > 10 mm and increased values ​​of the structural coefficient compared to illuvial horizons. In the thalweg, these differences are not so clear. The upper horizons have an increased content of water-resistant fraction size > 5 mm compared to the horizons below. With depth in all studied edaphotopes there is an increase in the content of the fraction size < 0.25 mm with depth. Among the upper horizons, the highest content of water-resistant fraction size > 5 mm and the lowest content of fraction < 0.25 mm differs meadow-forest soil in thalweg conditions. Very close to the meadow-forest soil in terms of the values ​​of the respective fractions is forest chernozem in the conditions of northern exposure. Forest chernozem in the conditions of southern exposure differs by the lowest content of water-resistant fraction size > 5 mm and the highest content of fraction size < 0.25 mm among all studied soils. Eluvial horizons of forest chernozems of northern and southern exposures differ from illuvial horizons by reduced content of water-resistant fractions of > 5 and 5–3 mm. The eluvial horizons of the meadow-forest soil of the thalweg differ from the illuvial horizon by a sharp decrease in the content of the water-resistant fraction of 1–0.5 mm. A comparative analysis of the structural and aggregate composition of the studied edaphotopes revealed that the best conditions for the formation of agronomically valuable fractions are characteristic of the forest chernozem of the northern exposure. As a result of comparing the characteristics of eluvial and illuvial horizons, it was found that the change of eluvial process to illuvial is accompanied by a sharp decrease in forest chernozems content of agronomically valuable fractions during dry sieving, as well as an increase in water resistance. In meadow-forest soils, this transition is characterized by a sharp decrease in the content of agronomically valuable fractions in the illuvial horizon during wet sieving compared to the eluvial horizon.

Effect of detoxification (tadbeer) in content of toxic metabolites of Strychnos nux-vomica: A Unani approach for its use in human.

Background:Azaraqi (Strychnos nux-vomica, Loganiaceae) has been the important Unani medicine since long time as a stimulant, anti-inflammatory, and blood purifier. It has been used very frequently by the Unani practitioner. But the Unani system recommends application of azaraqi in medicine only after its detoxification (tadbeer) may be because of the presence of its deadly poisonous alkaloids (strychnine and brucine). In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to quantify the actual content of their toxic alkaloids before and after the tadbeer.Materials and Methods:A sensitive high-performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been developed for estimation of strychnine and brucine in different samples of azaraqi before and after tadbeer. Precoated HPTLC silica gel plates were used as stationary phase and (toluene: Ethyl acetate: Dietylamine 7:2:1 v/v/v) was used as mobile phase.Result:The Rf value of strychnine and brucine was found as 0.53 and 0.41, respectively. Detection and quantification were performed by densitometry at 270 nm. The calibration plot was linear in the range of 50–1000 ng of strychnine and brucine, respectively, with the correlation coefficient (r2) 0.993 and 0.991 for strychnine and brucine, respectively, which confirms good linearity. The content of strychnine was 0.175, 0.07, 0.18, 0.051, and 0.075% w/w whereas brucine was 0.16, 0.117, 0.061, 0.045, and 0.057 in crude azaraqi, azaraqi without outer cover, azaraqi outer cover only, azaraqi mudabbar and azaraqi mudabbar by fried in ghee, respectively.Conclusion:The detoxification results in sharp decrease in content of toxic metabolites. The process by boiling in milk was found much effective but tedious as compare to frying method.

Comparative Genomic Studies of Influenza a Viruses Performed on Bluegene P Supercomputer: Part 1. Conservative Nucleotide Sequences in Influenza a Virus Genomes Revealed by Multiple Sequence Alignment

ABSTRACTThere are three types of influenza virus (A, B and C) of which type A causes worldwide epidemics and pandemics, type B causes epidemics and type C is responsible for minor upper respiratory illnesses. Changeability, evolution and adaptation are crucial for influenza virus A to survive. Three times in the last century it has undergone drastic genetic changes which led to global pandemics with devastating effects. The “Spanish Flu” alone affected up to 25% of the world population and killed over 40 million people in 1918–1919.The present study aimed to shed more light on the structure, organization, changeability, evolution and adaptation of the influenza virus A genome as well as to reveal the role of the host in these processes. To this end influenza virus A genomic sequences belonging to different strains and isolates were downloaded from the NCBI Database and were investigated for the presence of conservative and variable regions applying multiple sequence alignment software adapted to the supercomputer BlueGene P. Based on the obtained results we concluded that the changeability of influenza virus A depends on both viral host and strain. The contribution of the host is very well illustrated with flu virus A/H1N1 propagated in humans and swine. In the latter host it is stable and in humans it is extremely changeable. Highest stability was documented with the equine viral strain A/H7N7, where only single nucleotide variations (SNPs) were observed. The genetic alterations accompanying viral propagation were not randomly distributed amongst the subgenomic RNAs in all investigated viruses. The eight genomic RNA segments showed strain and host specific changeability. The most changeable segments were No 4 and 6 coding for the surface proteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) respectively. The evolution of the pandemic influenza virus A/H3N2 during a period of 9 years (1968–1977) was found to be associated with a sharp decrease in content of conservative domains (from 95% to 54%) in the viral genome and also in the viral proteins HA, M2 and PB1-F2. No conservative regions were identified in the smallest viral protein PB1-F2 in 1977 isolates, i.e. at the end of virus circulation.