Antioxidant activity and mineral composition of three Mediterranean common seaweeds from Abu-Qir Bay, Egypt

AbstractAntioxidant activity and mineral composition were evaluated seasonally from spring to autumn 2010 in the three common seaweeds Ulva lactuca Linnaeus (Chlorophyta), Jania rubens (Linnaeus) J.V. Lamouroux and Pterocladia capillacea (S.G. Gmelin) Bornet (Rhodophyta). The antioxidant activity was measured with β-carotene, total phenol content and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl). Seaweeds were collected from the rocky site near Boughaz El-Maadya Abu-Qir Bay of Alexandria, Egypt. The results showed maximum increase of β-carotene in P. capillacea during summer. A significant increase in total phenolic content at P⩽0.05 was found in the red alga (J. rubens) during summer. Also, U. lactuca showed the maximum antioxidant scavenging activity especially during summer. Minerals in all investigated samples were higher than those in conventional edible vegetables. Na/K ratio ranged between 0.78 and 2.4mg/100g, which is a favorable value. All trace metals exceeded the recommended doses by Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI). During summer season, it was found that Cu=2.02±0.13 and Cr=0.46±0.14mg/100g in U. lactuca and Fe had a suitable concentration (18.37±0.5mg/100g) in P. capillacea. The studied species were rich in carotenoids, phenolic compounds, DPPH free radicals and minerals, therefore, they can be used as potential source of health food in human diets and may be of use to food industry

A Novel Photosynthesis of Carboxymethyl Starch-Stabilized Silver Nanoparticles

The water soluble photoinitiator (PI) 4-(trimethyl ammonium methyl) benzophenone chloride is used for the first time in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). A new green synthesis method involves using PI/UV system, carboxymethyl starch (CMS), silver nitrate, and water. A mechanism of the reduction of silver ions to AgNPs by PI/UV system as well as by the newly born aldehydic groups was proposed. The synthesis process was assessed by UV-vis spectra and TEM of AgNPs colloidal solution. The highest absorbance was obtained using CMS, PI and AgNO3 concentrations of 10 g/L, 1 g/L, and 1 g/L, respectively; 40°C; 60 min; pH 7; and a material : liquor ratio 1 : 20. AgNPs so-obtained were stable in aqueous solution over a period of three weeks at room temperature (~25°C) and have round shape morphology. The sizes of synthesized AgNPs were in the range of 1–21 nm and the highest counts % of these particles were for particles of 6–10 and 1–3 nm, respectively

Heat and freezing pre-thermal treatments as a means of freeing potatoes from mosaic virus and its effects on potato plants quality characters

The aim of the study was to control of potato mosaic virus by using hot-air, hot-water and freezing as a physical pre-thermal treatments. Infected tubers of Lady Rosetta and Mondial potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars were treated by hot-air and hot-water treatments at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours.  Hot-air and freezing treatments showed complete elimination of mosaic virus from treated tubers. Hot-water treatment caused tuber damage at different exposure times. In this respect, hot-air treatment at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for two hours gave the best results of eliminating the virus from tubers and did not affect on economic characters of potato cultivars.

On the stationary vibrations of a rectangular plate subjected to stress prescribed partially at the circumference

The stationary periodical problem of a vibrating rectangular plate, stressed at a segment while fixed elsewhere at one of its edges, is considered. Using the finite Fourier transformation, the problem is converted to a singular integral equation that in turn can be reduced to an infinite system of algebraic equations. The truncation of the algebraic system is justified

SENSITIVE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC ASSAY OF MUSCARINIC RECEPTOR ANTAGONIST TOLTERODINE TARTRATE IN BULK DRUG AND PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATIONS

Objective: Simple, sensitive, and accurate spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the assay of tolterodine tartrate (TOL) in bulk drugand pharmaceutical formulations.Methods: The proposed methods are based on oxidation reaction of TOL with a known excess of cerium(IV) ammonium sulfate as an oxidizing agentin acid medium followed by determination of unreacted oxidant by adding a fixed amount of dye, e.g., amaranth (AM), rhodamine 6G (Rh6G), andindigo carmine (IC) followed by measuring the absorbance at 520, 530, and 610 nm, respectively. The effect of experimental conditions was studiedand optimized.Results: The Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration ranges of 1.0-10, 1.0-12, and 0.5-9.0 μg/mL using AM, Rh6G, and IC dyes, respectively, witha correlation coefficient ≥0.9995. The calculated molar absorptivity values are 1.868×104, 1.008×104, and 1.623×104 L/mol/cm using AM, Rh6G, andIC dyes, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were reported. Intraday and interday accuracy and precision of the methods have beenevaluated. No interference was observed from the additives.Conclusion: The proposed methods were successfully applied to the assay of TOL in tablets preparations, and the results were statistically comparedwith those of the reported method by applying Student's t-test and F-test. The reliability of the methods was further ascertained by performingrecovery studies using the standard addition method

POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF SODIUM SALICYLATE NANOEMULSION AND GINGER ON CISPLATIN‑INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS (BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY)

Objective: To describe the preparation and characterization of nanoemulsion of sodium salicylate loaded butane tetracarboxylic acid (Bt-Sc-NPs). It also investigates the possible protective effects of Bt-Sc-NPs and\or medicinal plant ginger to evaluate the changes of liver functions, oxidative stress and histopathological investigations against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity. Methods: Serum was used to determine alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), δ-glutamyl transferase (δGT), serum human laminin (LN) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase1 (TIMP1). Liver tissue samples collected from the rats were used for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and paraoxonase 1 (PON1). Results: The beneficial effects of Bt-Sc-NPs with its anti-inflammatory effect and the medicinal ginger with its antioxidant effect were observed. Injection of rats with cisplatin significantly increased serum ALT, AST, ɤGT, TIMP1 and LN. It also increased cisplatin-induced oxidative stress by a significant elevation in liver MDA, NO content; however, a significant decrease of PON1 content. While protection with Bt-Sc-NPs or ginger significantly improved these parameters. In addition, combination of both Bt-Sc-NPs and ginger significantly induced a decrease in serum ALT, AST, ɤGT, TIMP1 and LN. It also reduced cisplatin-induced oxidative stress by the significant reduction in liver MDA, NO content and elevation of PON1 content much more than protection with Bt-Sc-NPs or ginger alone. Conclusion: Bt-Sc-NPs were synthesized using nanoemulsion with the help of homogenization and ultra-sonication waves. Combination with both of Bt-Sc-NPs and ginger showed a hepatoprotective role in ameliorating cisplatin‑induced hepatotoxicity due to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects

Evaluation of certain Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria against Fusarium spp. infected peanut

In this study, the inhibition of soil borne pathogenic fungi Fusarium spp. that cause root and pod rot diseases in peanut (Arachis hypogaea) was investigated by using  soil-isolated Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), (Azotobacter and Azospirillum) and root-nodule Brady- Rhizobium as biological agents. Twenty seven isolates of  Azotobacter  and  26 isolates of  Azospirillum obtained from rhizosphere of peanut plants, The efficiency of the nitrogenase activity was estimated and the best four  Azotobacter isolates including (A3, A7, A11, and A20) and three Azospirillum isolates including (AZ2, AZ14 and AZ18) were selected as the most efficient in  nitrogenase activity. These isolates were subjected to test their ability in solubilizing zinc and phosphate and their strength in direct antagonism. The isolates A7 and Az18 were more efficient in solubilizing Phosphate and zinc. Azospirillum sp. AZ18, Azotobacter sp. A7 and Brady-Rhizobium sp. B-Rh1 achieved the highest reduction percentage in mycelia linear growth of pathogenic fungi in vitro. Under greenhouse conditions, Azotobacter sp. A7 recorded the highest disease reduction percentage of peanut root rot (44.38 %). Furthermore, Brady-Rhizobium sp. B-Rh1 recorded the highest disease reduction of peanut pod rot (50.6%) followed by Azotobacter sp. A7 (47.62%). In addition, our results showed that inoculation with the tested nitrogen fixing bacteria gave remarkable increase in the yield parameters of peanut plants such as number and weight of pods and  increased the vegetative biomass overall

Review: The Stochastic Approach and Systems of Index Numbers

The main objective of the paper is to review a number of widely used multilateral index numbers for International comparisons of purchasing power parities (PPPs) and real incomes that can be derived using the stochastic approach. The paper discuss that price index numbers from commonly used methods like the Ikleacute, the Rao-weighted, and an additive multilateral system are all estimators of the parameters of the countryndashproductndashdummy (CPD) model. The paper also presents the method of moments (MOM) as an approach to estimate PPPs under the stochastic approach and shows how the GearyndashKhamis system of multilateral index numbers is a method of moments estimator of the parameters of the CPD model.nbs

Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Decoupler for Nonlinear Multi-Input Multi-Output Distillation Columns

The distillation process is vital in many fields of chemical industries, such as the two-coupled distillation columns that are usually highly nonlinear Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) coupled processes. The control of MIMO process is usually implemented via a decentralized approach using a set of Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) loop controllers. Decoupling the MIMO process into group of single loops requires proper input-output pairing and development of decoupling compensator unit. This paper proposes a novel intelligent decoupling approach for MIMO processes based on new MIMO brain emotional learning architecture. A MIMO architecture of Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Controller (BELBIC) is developed and applied as a decoupler for 4 input/4 output highly nonlinear coupled distillation columns process. Moreover, the performance of the proposed Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Decoupler (BELBID) is enhanced using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. The performance is compared with the PSO optimized steady state decoupling compensation matrix. Mathematical models of the distillation columns and the decouplers are built and tested in simulation environment by applying the same inputs. The results prove remarkable success of the BELBID in minimizing the loops interactions without degrading the output that every input has been paired with

Petrographic Study of Sedimentary Iron Ore in Shendi-Atbara Basin,River Nile State, Sudan

This paper presents the results of petrographic study of sedimentary iron ore from surface strata of the Shendi-Atbara Basin, River Nile State, Sudan. The aims of this study are to investigate the geological behavior and geological conditions affecting precipitation of sedimentary iron ore. The methodologies have been used to realize the objectives of this study include field work, office work and laboratory work including thin sections and polished sections analysis. According to field observation sedimentary iron ore can broadly be considered as occurring in three major classes:Ferribands iron, ferricrete iron and oolitic iron ores. The modes of occurrence of iron ore were described at the outcrops and vertical sedimentary profiles revealed that the iron occurred in the study area at different types in stratigraphic sequence such as cap, bedded and interbedded conformable with Shendi Formation. Petrographic study of iron ore in collected samples using polarized microscope and ore microscope includes study of the textures and structures of ores to obtain ore history. The main types of textures and structures in studied samples are oolitic, granular, lamellar and bands.According to these results the origin of iron ore is formed by chemical precipitation during chemical weathering of surrounding areas in continental lacustrine environment. The iron ore in study area is potential for future mining works and steel industr