Phytochemical investigations on Artemisia alba Turra growing in the North-East of Italy

Artemisia alba Turra (Asteraceae) is an Euro-Mediterranean plant used in Veneto (North-East of Italy) as traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. A. alba is a taxonomically problematic species, characterized by common polymorphism leading to a quite high variability in secondary metabolites content. Nonetheless, the phytochemical knowledge on its phytoconstituents, especially non-volatile components, is limited. In the present paper, the phytochemical composition of a tincture obtained from the aerial parts of A. alba growing in Veneto is presented. Extensive chromatographic separations led to the isolation of three new sesquiterpene derivatives, whose structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR experiments and mass spectrometry. Furthermore, flavonoid composition and volatile constituents of the tincture of A. alba were preliminary studied by HPLC-MSn and GC-MS, respectivel

A threshold phenomenon for embeddings of H0mH^m_0 into Orlicz spaces

We consider a sequence of positive smooth critical points of the Adams-Moser-Trudinger embedding of $H^m_0$ into Orlicz spaces. We study its concentration-compactness behavior and show that if the sequence is not precompact, then the liminf of the $H^m_0$-norms of the functions is greater than or equal to a positive geometric constant.Comment: 14 Page

Supercritical CO2 drying of food matrices

[EN] This work explore the use of supercritical CO2 drying as alternative technique for the obtainment of pasteurized and high quality dried product. Several tests were conducted on animal, vegetable and fruit matrixes in order to investigate the effectiveness of SC-CO2 drying process at different process conditions. Design of experiment was performed to find the optimal process conditions for vegetable and fruit matrices, using the final water activity of the products as key indicator for the drying efficiency. The inactivation of naturally present microorganisms and inoculated pathogens demonstrated the capability of SC-CO2 drying process to assure a safe product. Moreover, retention of nutrients was compared with conventional drying methods. Results suggest that supercritical drying is a promising alternative technology for food drying.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Horizon 2020, Call H2020-SFS-2014-2 “Future Food” project and from the Progetto Strategico di Dipartimento SID of the Department of Industrial Engineering (University of Padua). M.T. and G.P. thank Regione Veneto that supported their fellowship through the grant FSE.Zambon, A.; Vizzotto, TM.; Morbiato, G.; Toffoletto, M.; Poloniato, G.; Dall’acqua, S.; De Bernard, M.... (2018). Supercritical CO2 drying of food matrices. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 17-23. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7753OCS172

A classification theorem for Helfrich surfaces

In this paper we study the functional \SW_{\lambda_1,\lambda_2}, which is the the sum of the Willmore energy, $\lambda_1$-weighted surface area, and $\lambda_2$-weighted volume, for surfaces immersed in $\R^3$. This coincides with the Helfrich functional with zero `spontaneous curvature'. Our main result is a complete classification of all smooth immersed critical points of the functional with $\lambda_1\ge0$ and small $L^2$ norm of tracefree curvature. In particular we prove the non-existence of critical points of the functional for which the surface area and enclosed volume are positively weighted.Comment: 21 page

Polyyne Hybrid Compounds from Notopterygium incisum with Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Agonistic Effects

[Image: see text] In the search for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) active constituents from the roots and rhizomes of Notopterygium incisum, 11 new polyacetylene derivatives (1–11) were isolated. Their structures were elucidated by NMR and HRESIMS as new polyyne hybrid molecules of falcarindiol with sesquiterpenoid or phenylpropanoid moieties, named notoethers A–H (1–8) and notoincisols A–C (9–11), respectively. Notoincisol B (10) and notoincisol C (11) represent two new carbon skeletons. When tested for PPARγ activation in a luciferase reporter assay with HEK-293 cells, notoethers A–C (1–3), notoincisol A (9), and notoincisol B (10) showed promising agonistic activity (EC(50) values of 1.7 to 2.3 μM). In addition, notoincisol A (9) exhibited inhibitory activity on NO production of stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages

Preliminary evaluation of Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) fruit as extraction source of antioxidant phytoconstituents for nutraceutical and functional food applications

Background Quince (Cydonia oblonga) fruits can be considered as starting material for the extraction of health-promoting phytochemicals, to be exploited in food and nutraceuticals. In the present work, LC-DAD-MSn analysis allowed to study the phytochemical composition of quince fruits and to compare it with those of six commercial apple varieties. Results Distribution and quantification of secondary metabolites in peel and pulp was studied and compared with six commercial apple varieties. Furthermore the in vitro antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH assay. Quince fruit showed significant amounts of shikimic and quinic acid derivatives, as well as flavonoids and procyanidins. Compared with apple, quince composition is charachterized by the presence of 4-caffeoylshikimic acid, 4-caffeoyl quinic acid, quercetin-3,7-diglucoside, kaempferol-3-O-rhamnoside and kaempferol-7-O-glucoside, while the dihydrochalcones are not detectable. Considering fruit parts,3-O-Caffeoylquinic acid is the most abundant compound both in peels and the pulp. Pearson correlation index indicated a positive relationships between the amount of phenolic constituents and the radical scavenging activity toward DPPH• both for peels and pulps extracts. Conclusions This study highlighted the presence of significant amounts of valuable secondary metabolites in quince and in particular procyanidins and caffeoyl esters with shikimic and quinic acid. Notably, due to the higher content in phenolic compounds and the stronger antioxidant capacity compared to the other considered fruits, the use of C. oblonga as source of antioxidant can be valuable in nutraceuticals , showing new possible applications of quince fruit