Profile, antioxidant potential, and applicability of phenolic compounds extracted from Spirulina platensis

This work aimed at an investigation of the profile of free phenolic compounds (PC) of Spirulina platensis and assesses their antioxidant potential, applying them as a natural conservative in minimally processed apples. The phenolic extract showed 396 &µg g-1 gallic acid, 347 µg g-1 of caffeic acid, 54 µg g-1 salicylic acid and 3.5 µg g-1 trans-1-cinmamic a total of 608 µg PC g-1 of S. platensis. With the use of PC, it was possible to inhibit the radical DPPH over 180 min with IC50 of PC 202 µg mL-1. The inhibition of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase of PC were 19.9 and 9.7%. In addition, verifying the constants Km and Vmax, it was concluded that  inhibition of the peroxidase and polyphenol occurs in an uncompetitive manner. Application of crude extract of PC under minimally processed apples showed  inhibition of browning by 40%. The general acceptance of apples was not affected by the addition of PC.Key words: Apple, enzymatic browning, peroxidase, phenols, polyphenol oxidase

Carotenoids from Phaffia rhodozyma: Antioxidant activity and stability of extracts

The main goal of this work was to establish the stability and antioxidant activity of the extracts obtained through different techniques for recovering carotenoids from Phaffia rhodozyma NRRL-Y 17268. The best conditions for extracting carotenoids through cell rupture with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) were found to be a particle size of 0.125 mm submitted to freezing temperature (-18°C) for 48 h (272 μg/g). For DMSO extracts, freezing negatively affected the antioxidant activity by 2,2 '-azinobis (3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) methods. The carotenogenic extracts obtained by enzymatic disruption proved to be more promising in relation to its antioxidant activity.Key words: Microbial carotenoids, antioxidant properties, cell wall disruption

Discovery and replication of SNP-SNP interactions for quantitative lipid traits in over 60,000 individuals

Background The genetic etiology of human lipid quantitative traits is not fully elucidated, and interactions between variants may play a role. We performed a gene-centric interaction study for four different lipid traits: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG). Results Our analysis consisted of a discovery phase using a merged dataset of five different cohorts (n = 12,853 to n = 16,849 depending on lipid phenotype) and a replication phase with ten independent cohorts totaling up to 36,938 additional samples. Filters are often applied before interaction testing to correct for the burden of testing all pairwise interactions. We used two different filters: 1. A filter that tested only single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with a main effect of p < 0.001 in a previous association study. 2. A filter that only tested interactions identified by Biofilter 2.0. Pairwise models that reached an interaction significance level of p < 0.001 in the discovery dataset were tested for replication. We identified thirteen SNP-SNP models that were significant in more than one replication cohort after accounting for multiple testing. Conclusions These results may reveal novel insights into the genetic etiology of lipid levels. Furthermore, we developed a pipeline to perform a computationally efficient interaction analysis with multi-cohort replication

STOPPIT Baby Follow-Up Study:The Effect of Prophylactic Progesterone in Twin Pregnancy on Childhood Outcome

Funding: This study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office, Scotland (grant number CZH/2/575) and the charity, Tommy’s. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Data Availability: The STOPPIT Baby Follow-up Study uses two linked datasets, the STOPPIT clinical trial data and routine NHS data collected by Information Services Division (ISD), NHS Scotland. The governance and ethics approvals for this project around anonymity for the participants do not permit us to deposit the linked dataset on a publicly available website. Individuals wishing to access the STOPPIT clinical trial data should contact Professor Jane E Norman [email protected] or Professor John Norrie [email protected] for access. General information on how to access data held by ISD for research purposes is available from ISD’s research coordination team – see http://www.isdscotland.org/Products-and-​Services/eDRIS. Please contact Rachael Wood [email protected] for queries about the specific ISD data used in this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mycotoxins and fungi in wheat harvested during 1990 in test plots in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Wheat from two cultivars with contrasting characteristics were harvested in ten experimental plots located in wheat producing areas of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The samples (10 of each cultivar) were analyzed by a gas-chromatographic method for deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), toxins T-2 (T-2) and HT-2, T-2 tetraol, T-2 triol, and by a thin-layer chromatographic method for zearalenone (ZEN), aflatoxins B-1, B-2, G(1), G(2), ochratoxin A and sterigmatocystin. No mycotoxins were detected in 13 samples. DON was found in four samples (0.47-0.59 mu g/g), NIV in three samples (0.16-0.40 mu g/g), T-2 in two samples (0.40, 0.80 mu g/g), DAS in one sample (0.60 mu g/g), and ZEN in three samples (0.04-0.21 mu g/g). The wheat samples were also examined for the incidence of fungi. Alternaria, Drechslera, Epicoccum and Cladosporium were the prevailing genera. Among the Fusarium spp., F. semitectum was present in 19 samples and F. moniliforme in 18 samples. No F. graminearum was isolated in the samples.131318519

The activity of flavones and oleanolic acid from Lippia lacunosa against susceptible and resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the world’s number one killer among infectious diseases. The search for new natural products that can act as drugs against TB has received increased attention during the last years. In this work we describe the isolation and identification of the active antimycobacterial principles of the dichloromethane extract from Lippia lacunosa Mart. & Schauer, Verbenaceae. Compounds were evaluated for their in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (susceptible and rifampicin resistant strain) using a redox bioassay. From the dichloromethane extract of L. lacunosa leaves, seven methoxy-flavones named cirsimaritin (1), eupatilin (2), eupatorin (3), salvigenin (4), 3′-O-methyl-eupatorin (5), 3′,7-dimethoxy-5,6,4′- trihydroxyflavone (6), and 7′-O-methylapigenin (7), and one triterpene, named oleanolic acid (8), were isolated. All compounds were found to display antimycobacterial activity against susceptible strain, with MIC ranging from 25 to 200 μg/mL. None of them was active against rifampicin resistant strain. This is the first report in the antimycobacterial activity of 6-substituted flavones, as well as the first report of the occurrence of these substances in L. lacunosa