Evaluation the Antioxidant Activity Of Syrian Ficus And Olive Leaf Extracts And their Inhibitory Effects On α -Glucosidase In Vitro

In this work we examined the effectiveness of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Syrian ficus leaf and their mixes with Syrian olive leaf extracts (1:1, 5:1, 7:1) (olive: ficus) in inhibition of both of 2,2-diphenyl-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH.), 2.2,-azino-bis-[3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-Sulfonic Acid] (ABTS+.). The study also investigated the inhibition of both of ficus and olive leaf extracts and their mixe (1:1) on α-glucosidase in order to investigate the ability of these extracts to reduce blood sugar in vitro. The results showed that there were significant differences in the ability of the mixes to inhibit DPPH., the lower IC50 value was 0.24±0.01 mg/ml for the mix (1:1), as oppose to the results with the ABTS+., there is no significant differences in the ability of the mixes (1:1, 5:1) and ethanolic olive leaf extract to inhibit ABTS+., (IC50=0.47±0.01 mg/ml). The Inhibition percentage of α-glucosidase reached 98.5% at 7.69 mg/ml and 81.34% at 3.85 mg/ml for aqueous ficus and ethanolic olive leaf extracts, respectively. The ethanolic olive leaf extract gave the lower value (IC50 = 0.34±0.12 mg/ml). The α-glucosidase inhibition mode was also tested, the max velocity Vmax and Micheles-Menten constant Km were calculated from the Lineweaver-Burk equation. The result showed that inhibition modes were non-competitive and competitive types for ficus and olive leaf extracts, respectively

Significance of nutrient and water sustainability: Effect of land leveling, cut off irrigation and N- fertilization on maize yield

A wide variety of soil, nutrient, and irrigation management practices are available to farmers, most of them concerned with the basic building block of agriculture, the soil. Soil management practices include the tillage and cropping systems and crop rotations used on a farm. Therefore, sustainable crop production should be managed to enhance soil ecosystems, improving soil health and fertility and reversing degradation and pollution of land. As well as, it should be contributed to maintaining and improving, and efficiently utilizing, water resources (quantity, access, stability and quality), especially promoting practices that minimize risks of water pollution from agrochemicals and save water. It is well documented that fertilizer N is the most costly input in maize production and its effective management is a major challenge for improving productivity and environmental sustainability. In present study, the effect of land leveling, cut off irrigation and N- fertilizer on yield and yield components of maize have been studied. The results showed that the highest yield of grain and straw of maize was obtained with using N-fertilization rate 288 kg N ha-1, land levelling rate 0.01 % of surface slope and cut off stream of irrigation rate 75%. The results of this study suggest that, irrigation application efficiency (%) increased from 71 % (for control) to 80 % for cut off 75 % of stream irrigation and land leveling with 0.01 % slope. Thus, about 20 % from the applied water for irrigation is saved by the previous treatments

Enhancing Virtual Reality Systems with Smart Wearable Devices

The proliferation of wearable and smartphone devices with embedded sensors has enabled researchers and engineers to study and understand user behavior at an extremely high fidelity, particularly for use in industries such as entertainment, health, and retail. However, identified user patterns are yet to be integrated into modern systems with immersive capabilities, such as VR systems, which still remain constrained by limited application interaction models exposed to developers. In this paper, we present SmartVR, a platform that allows developers to seamlessly incorporate user behavior into VR apps. We present the high-level architecture of SmartVR, and show how it facilitates communication, data acquisition, and context recognition between smart wearable devices and mediator systems (e.g., smartphones, tablets, PCs). We demonstrate SmartVR in the context of a VR app for retail stores to show how it can be used to substitute the requirement of cumbersome input devices (e.g., mouse, keyboard) with more natural means of user-app interaction (e.g., user gestures such as swiping and tapping) to improve user experience

In vitro regeneration of parsley and coriander plants: uptake, translocation and accumulation of nicotine

It is well known that, nicotine is a type of alkaloids found in some plants of family Solanaceae but some other plants can produce it under different stresses. Medicinal and spice plants cannot synthesize nicotine under normal growth conditions as well as the fate and behavior of nicotine in plant tissues are not understood totally. Many medicinal plants and plant derived products as spices may be contaminated by nicotine from different sources. This contamination could be considered the main problem facing the exportation of these plant products. On the other hand, determining of nicotine putative sources and detecting its uptake from nicotine contaminated soils and tobacco smoke using peppermint plants have been already studied under greenhouse conditions in Germany. These results from pot experiments demonstrated that, peppermint had the ability to uptake and metabolize nicotine endogenously. So, some plants including parsley and coriander were selected to investigate the nicotine uptake mechanism from culture media supplemented with different nicotine concentrations, which extracted from cigarette tobacco (Matosian Egyptian Spirit) comparing with nicotinic acid (as a pure chemical of nicotine) in Egypt. Moreover, this in vitro study aimed to focus on the translocation and accumulation of nicotine in plant tissues. Hence, in virto research has been already begun using parsley and coriander plants. The preliminary results indicated that, regenerated plants of parsley and coriander were successfully obtained on MS medium supplemented with 1 mg L-1 benzyl adenine + 0.01 mg L-1 naphthalene acetic acid. Furthermore, callus cultures have been initiated on MS medium fortified with 1 mg L-1 benzyl adenine + 1 mg L-1 naphthalene acetic acid. Regenerated plants and obtained callus of these plants will be transferred onto MS media supplemented with different concentrations of nicotine and nicotinic acid as mentioned above. In parallel, some field experiments in Egypt have been conducted to get a holistic overview for the object under investigation. Therefore, different experiments including field, pots and in vitro experiments have been conducted in order to reduce the contamination of plants with nicotine

Boistimulator effect of stress tolerant rhizobacteria on horticultural models

The tolerant bacteria for abiotic stresses such salinity, drought, and different pH have been used as a good tool toimprove plant growth in sustainable agriculture. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of isolated stresstolerantbacteria for red mud-polluted soil on growth performance of giant reed plants with increasing concentrations of NaCl0.0; 0.1; 0.2; 0.3; 0.5; 1.0% under gnotobiotic conditions. At the same time biostimulator potential of isolated bacteria wasobserved in case of radish in vitro germination experiment under salt stress. It was found that the observed bacterial straincan tolerate the salt and pH moderately however it is resistant against hydrogen-peroxide caused oxidative stress in highconcentration (up to 2640 mM). Molecular identification, basis on 16S rDNA showed 98% similarity to the Bacillus aryabhattaibacterial strain. The isolated strain alleviated the negative effect of salt (0.05%) for the radish seed germination. However inhigher salt concentration (≥0.1%) the bacterial mitigating effect vanished. The inhibition of increasing salt concentration forgiant reed plantlets was also alleviated by halotolerant bacteria treatment (≥0.5%)

Boistimulator effect of stress tolerant rhizobacteria on horticultural models

The tolerant bacteria for abiotic stresses such salinity, drought, and different pH have been used as a good tool to improve plant growth in sustainable agriculture. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of isolated stresstolerant bacteria for red mud-polluted soil on growth performance of giant reed plants with increasing concentrations of NaCl 0.0; 0.1; 0.2; 0.3; 0.5; 1.0% under gnotobiotic conditions. At the same time biostimulator potential of isolated bacteria was observed in case of radish in vitro germination experiment under salt stress. It was found that the observed bacterial strain can tolerate the salt and pH moderately however it is resistant against hydrogen-peroxide caused oxidative stress in high concentration (up to 2640 mM). Molecular identification, basis on 16S rDNA showed 98% similarity to the Bacillus aryabhattai bacterial strain. The isolated strain alleviated the negative effect of salt (0.05%) for the radish seed germination. However in higher salt concentration (≥0.1%) the bacterial mitigating effect vanished. The inhibition of increasing salt concentration for giant reed plantlets was also alleviated by halotolerant bacteria treatment (≥0.5%)

Contamination of Plant Foods with Nicotine: An Overview

It is well known that, the explorer "Christopher Columbus" encountered tobacco in the 1400s during his earliest journey to the New World. Tobacco plant is native to North America and other parts of the Western Hemisphere. Furthermore, plant of tobacco contains nicotine and its use has a history that dates back to the earliest records of settlers arriving in America. Moreover, American Indians introduced these settlers to the tobacco plant. In various recent publications elevated nicotine concentrations have been reported to occur in many different foods and plant derived commodities (such as fungi, tea, fruit teas, spices and medicinal plants). Whereas, it is recorded that, high nicotine contaminations are also present in many plant derived products. Up till now, the causes of these contaminations are unknown and they are found in both conventional and in organic products. Thus, field and in vitro experiments are required to elucidate the origin for these nicotine contaminations. Therefore, this work aims to highlight on the nicotine contamination in some different food plants

Refining high-quality leaf protein and valuable co-products from green biomass of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) for sustainable protein supply

L

Fermented Alfalfa Brown Juice Significantly Stimulates the Growth and Development of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Plants

L

Identification of Bioactive Phytochemicals in Leaf Protein Concentrate of Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.)

Jerusalem artichoke (JA) is widely known to have inulin-rich tubers. However, its fresh aerial biomass produces significant levels of leaf protein and economic bioactive phytochemicals. We have characterized leaf protein concentrate (JAPC) isolated from green biomass of three Jerusalem artichoke clones, Alba, Fuseau, and Kalevala, and its nutritional value for the human diet or animal feeding. The JAPC yield varied from 28.6 to 31.2 g DM k