93 research outputs found
Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) on the Global Market: What Are the Implications for Products' Quality?
Background: Danshen (Radix et rhizoma Salviae miltiorrhizae; Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, Lamiaceae) is commonly used in Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea with markets in America and Europe growing substantially. It is included in multiple pharmacopeias and salvianolic acid B and tanshinone IIA are used as quality markers. However, on the markets, substitutes and different processing methods often are a concern. a concern regarding patients’ safety and expected outcomes.
Aims: This study aims at understanding the quality of Danshen-derived products on the market, and the relationship between the chemistry, biological activity and the processing and storage methods.
Methods: For heavy metal analysis, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was used. High performance thin-layer chromatography and proton nuclear magnetic resonance coupled with principal component analysis were used to understand the variation of metabolite composition. MTT assay and LPS induced NO production assay were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity effect and anti-inflammatory activity, respectively.
Result and Discussion: Six out of sixty samples exceed the limits of cadmium according to the Chinese or United States Pharmacopoeia. Arsenic, lead and copper contents are all below pharmacopoeial thresholds. With more complex processing procedure, the risk of heavy metal contamination increases, especially with arsenic and cadmium. The metabolite compositions show a variability linked to processing and storage methods. Authenticated samples and Vietnamese primary samples contain higher salvianolic acid B, and their chemical compositions are more consistent compared to Chinese online store samples. Overall, a significant chemical variation can be observed in Danshen products directly linked to processing and storage method. In the MTT assay, fourteen samples show cytotoxicity while seven samples increase the proliferation of RAW264.7. In the LPS induced NO production of RAW 264.7, only seven samples show significant inhibitory effects.
Conclusion: This is the first interdisciplinary investigation focusing on understanding the current market and the quality of Danshen. The quality of Danshen products on the high street are inferior to the authenticated samples. The results of the bioassays selected is not useful to differentiate the quality and composition according to the current definition in the pharmacopoeias. Overall, this approach highlights the tremendous variability of the products linked to processing and the need for more systematic and stringent quality assurance
Soil and Vegetation Drive Sesquiterpene Lactone Content and Profile in Arnica montana L. Flower Heads From Apuseni-Mountains, Romania
Arnica montana L. (AM, Asteraceae) is a perennial, herbaceous vascular plant species of commercial importance. The flower heads’ pharmacological properties are attributed mainly to sesquiterpene lactones (SLs), with phenolic acids and flavonoids also considered of relevance. The botanical drug is still partly collected in different European mountain regions. The SL content can be influenced by genetic factors and environmental conditions (altitude, temperature and rainfall). Surprisingly, the influence of the soil on SL-content have rarely been investigated. However, the soil determines the occurrence, distribution and overall fitness of AM. Equally, environmental factors are crucial determinants for the biosynthesis and fluctuations in plant secondary metabolites. Therefore, different abiotic (pH, C/N ratio, base saturation, cation exchange capacity) and biotic (species richness, vegetation cover) parameters need to be assessed as potential drivers of the variable content of AM’s secondary metabolites. Consequently, we developed an in situ experimental design aiming to cover a wide range of soil pH conditions. We detected and investigated different AM populations growing in grassland on acidic soils, on siliceous as well as calcareous geologies within the same geographical region and altitudinal belt. The total SL content and most single SL contents of the AM flower heads differed significantly between the two geologies. AM flower heads of plants growing on loam on limestone showed a significant higher total SL content than the flower heads of plants growing in siliceous grasslands. Furthermore, the SL contents were significantly correlated with geobotanical species richness and vegetation cover pointing toward an effect of species interactions on the production of SLs. Moreover, the ratios of the main SLs helenalin to dihydrohelenalin esters were significantly correlated to environmental parameters indicating that SL composition might be a function of habitat conditions. The findings of this study shed light upon the often ignored, complex interactions between environmental conditions and plant secondary metabolites. We highlight the importance of both abiotic and biotic habitat parameters for SLs in AM
ZKSMT: A VM for Proving SMT Theorems in Zero Knowledge
Verification of program safety is often reducible to proving the unsatisfiability (i.e., validity) of a formula in Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT): Boolean logic combined with theories that formalize arbitrary first-order fragments. Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs allow SMT formulas to be validated without revealing the underlying formulas or their proofs to other parties, which is a crucial building block for proving the safety of proprietary programs. Recently, Luo et al. (CCS 2022) studied the simpler problem of proving the unsatisfiability of pure Boolean formulas, but it does not support safety proofs generated by SMT solvers. This work presents ZKSMT, a novel framework for proving the validity of SMT formulas in ZK. We design a virtual machine (VM) tailored to efficiently represent the verification process of SMT validity proofs in ZK. Our VM can support the vast majority of popular theories when proving program safety while being complete and sound. To demonstrate this, we instantiate the commonly used theories of equality and linear integer arithmetic in our VM with theory-specific optimizations for proving them in ZK. ZKSMT achieves high practicality even when running on realistic SMT formulas generated by Boogie, a common tool for software verification. It achieves a three-order-of-magnitude improvement compared to a baseline that executes the proof verification code in a general ZK system
Genetic Traces of Recent Long-Distance Dispersal in a Predominantly Self-Recruiting Coral
Understanding of the magnitude and direction of the exchange of individuals among geographically separated subpopulations that comprise a metapopulation (connectivity) can lead to an improved ability to forecast how fast coral reef organisms are likely to recover from disturbance events that cause extensive mortality. Reef corals that brood their larvae internally and release mature larvae are believed to show little exchange of larvae over ecological times scales and are therefore expected to recover extremely slowly from large-scale perturbations.Using analysis of ten DNA microsatellite loci, we show that although Great Barrier Reef (GBR) populations of the brooding coral, Seriatopora hystrix, are mostly self-seeded and some populations are highly isolated, a considerable amount of sexual larvae (up to approximately 4%) has been exchanged among several reefs 10 s to 100 s km apart over the past few generations. Our results further indicate that S. hystrix is capable of producing asexual propagules with similar long-distance dispersal abilities (approximately 1.4% of the sampled colonies had a multilocus genotype that also occurred at another sampling location), which may aid in recovery from environmental disturbances.Patterns of connectivity in this and probably other GBR corals are complex and need to be resolved in greater detail through genetic characterisation of different cohorts and linkage of genetic data with fine-scale hydrodynamic models
Figure S6: Ratio of number of eukaryotic to prokaryotic reads during the wet season 2011 near the Tully River mouth
Geobotanical survey of wood-pasture habitats in Europe: diversity, threats and conservation
Recommended from our members
Digesta passage rates in the rat
The movements of digestion markers in the gut of the rat were investigated and
the results of the investigation are reported in two manuscripts. The objective of
the first study was to determine the influence of particle size of dietary wheat
bran, chosen as a representative insoluble fiber, on the mean retention time
(MRT) of digesta in the rat. The study design included a control group to detect
the influence of particle size of digestion marker on the observed retention
times. Additionally, a comparison was made between bran and the soluble fiber
pectin. Both the soluble cobalt EDTA (Co EDTA) and insoluble chromium
mordanted bran (CrMB), of two size ranges were administered to 4 groups of
rats fed a semi-purified diet supplemented with wheat bran or pectin (10%
dilution). Bran size and particulate marker size were large/large, large/small,
small/small and pectin/small for the 4 groups. Mean retention times for CrMB
were significantly longer in the pectin than the bran supplemented groups.
Differences were not significantly different within the bran supplemented group.
No significant differences were found between the rate of passage of CrMB and
Co EDTA in any group.
The second study was designed to identify pooling of markers in the rat gut. A
mathematical model was developed as a system of equations which predicted
the marker distribution along the gut following dosing. The model assumed that
two pools, the stomach and cecum, were kinetically recognizable in the rat. The
predicted distribution of CrMB and Co EDTA was compared to in vivo
distribution at 4 h intervals by sequential termination and dissection of the
animals. The smaller particle bran had a longer MRT in the cecum and a shorter
MRT in the proximal colon. Total MRT to the mid-colon was similar in all bran
supplemented groups. Pectin fed animals had significantly enlarged gut organs
which explained the slower movement of marker in these animals. The cecum
was found to delay the transit of marker from the small intestine to the proximal
colon as much as 2.1 h. This delay resulted in the gut appearing as a single
pool overall and therefore led the model to overpredict the initial rate of
appearance of marker distal to the cecum.
A streamlined system was developed to digest the fecal samples in preparation
for atomic absorption spectroscopy, the method used to quantify digestion
marker recovery. The development of the method is discussed and supporting
data are presented on the reproducibility and limits of the method
- …