Development of an open-architecture temperature data logger for hydro-distillation agarwood oil extractor

Microcontroller based data logger system recently emerged as a powerful, flexible and cost-effective measurement solution to many innovative field applications in environmental monitoring, agriculture and solar energy. Real-time temperature is vital to provide discrete knowledge in the process of distillation as it involves mixture boiling, evaporation and condensation at the difference in liquid phases. The development of a data logger namely OCTATherm for use in the Agarwood extraction industry is realized by designing an electronic enclosure to protect an Arduino-based microcontroller system that can acquire eight (8) thermocouples readings for monitoring the hydro-distillation process. The accuracy and reliability of the data logger have been evaluated by assessing the hydro-distillation (HD) process on a laboratory scale by comparing its performance to the commercial data logger (HOBO UX120). Finally, the assessment in the industry with multi-boiler operate simultaneously shows that real-time monitoring of the temperature measurements at critical points of the conventional HD system can improve the yield of the extracted Agarwood essential oil by three (3) times higher from 0.027% to 0.101%. The implementation of real-time thermal management technology in the HD system in the Agarwood essential oil production industry is therefore of great importance. This developed data logger is significant to produce a real-time data acquisition and monitoring platform of temperature measurement, which aims to facilitate agriculture industry process monitoring as well as academic research purpose in another area. The open-architecture based system design is also highlighted in which provides future upgrades of expansion and extension features of the data logger

Botanical sources, chemistry, analysis, and biological activity of furanocoumarins of pharmaceutical interest

The aim of this work is to provide a critical review of plant furanocoumarins from different points of view, including their chemistry and biosynthetic pathways to their extraction, analysis, and synthesis, to the main biological activities found for these active compounds, in order to highlight their potential within pharmaceutical science. The limits and the possible improvements needed for research involving these molecules are also highlighted and discussed

Physcion and Physcion 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside: Natural Anthraquinones with Potential Anti-cancer Activities.

Nature has provided prodigious reservoirs of pharmacologically active compounds for drug development since times. Physcion and physcion 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (PG) are bioactive natural anthraquinones which exert anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties with minimum or no adverse effects. Moreover, physcion also exhibits anti-microbial and hepatoprotective properties while PG is known to have anti-sepsis as well as ameliorative activities against dementia. This review aims to highlight the natural sources and anti-cancer activities of physcion and PG along with asso-ciated mechanisms of actions. On the basis of the literature, physcion and PG regulate multitudinous cell signaling path-ways through the modulation of various regulators of cell cycle, protein kinases, microRNAs, transcriptional factors, and apoptosis linked proteins resulting in the effective killing of cancerous cells in vitro as well as in vivo. Both compounds effectively suppress metastasis, furthermore, physcion acts as inhibitor of 6PGD and also play an important role in chemosensitization. This review article suggests that physcion and PG are potent anti-cancer drug candidates but further investigations on their mechanism of action and pre-clinical trials are mandatory in order to comprehend the full potential of these natural cancer killers in anti-cancer remedies