GC/MS analysis of the essential oils of Cupressus arizonica Greene, Juniperus communis L. and Mentha longifolia L.

ABSTRACT. The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Cupressus arizonica Greene, Juniperus communis L. and Mentha longifolia L. were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The chemical composition of the essential oils were identified by GC/MS. Eicosane (27.4%), umbellulone (13%) and α-pinene (10.51%) were the major components of C. arizonica oil; sabinene (32%), limonene (26%) and bornyl acetate (7.4%) were the major components of J. communis oil and pulegone (26%), L-menthone (13.4%) and cis-para-menthan-3,8-diol (10.2%) were the major components of M. longifolia oil. The percentage of monoterpenes in the three essential oils was compared. The percentage of monoterpenes in C.arizonica is about 5.2%, J. communis 46%, and M. longifolia is 50.1%. The percentage of terpenes in C. Arizonica (16.3%), J. communis (5.2%) and M. longifolia (9.3%) were reported. But the percentage of cyclic monoterpenes in C. arizonica is about 6%, J. communis 26.1%, and M. longifolia is 3%. Monoterpenes are the most components that make up essential oils.               KEY WORDS: Cupressus arizonica, Juniperus communis, Mentha longifolia, Essential oil, Chemical composition Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2019, 33(3), 389-400.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v33i3.

DFT Studies of Graphene-Functionalised Derivatives of Capecitabine

Cancer is one of the major problems for so many people around the world; therefore, dedicating efforts to explore efficient therapeutic methodologies is very important for researchers of life sciences. In this case, nanostructures are expected to be carriers of medicinal compounds for targeted drug design and delivery purposes. Within this work, the graphene (Gr)-functionalised derivatives of capecitabine (CAP), as a representative anticancer, have been studied based on density functional theory calculations. Two different sizes of Gr molecular models have been used for the functionalisation of CAP counterparts, CAP-Gr3 and CAP-Gr5, to explore the effects of Gr-functionalisation on the original properties of CAP. All singular and functionalised molecular models have been optimised and the molecular and atomic scale properties have been evaluated for the optimised structures. Higher formation favourability has been obtained for CAP-Gr5 in comparison with CAP-Gr3 and better structural stability has been obtained in the water-solvated system than the isolated gas-phase system for all models. The CAP-Gr5 model could play a better role of electron transferring in comparison with the CAP-Gr3 model. As a concluding remark, the molecular properties of CAP changed from singular to functionalised models whereas the atomic properties remained almost unchanged, which is expected for a carrier not to use significant perturbations to the original properties of the carried counterpart. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2017

Nociceptive Afferents to the Premotor Neurons That Send Axons Simultaneously to the Facial and Hypoglossal Motoneurons by Means of Axon Collaterals

It is well known that the brainstem premotor neurons of the facial nucleus and hypoglossal nucleus coordinate orofacial nociceptive reflex (ONR) responses. However, whether the brainstem PNs receive the nociceptive projection directly from the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus is still kept unclear. Our present study focuses on the distribution of premotor neurons in the ONR pathways of rats and the collateral projection of the premotor neurons which are involved in the brainstem local pathways of the orofacial nociceptive reflexes of rat. Retrograde tracer Fluoro-gold (FG) or FG/tetramethylrhodamine-dextran amine (TMR-DA) were injected into the VII or/and XII, and anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was injected into the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus (Vc). The tracing studies indicated that FG-labeled neurons receiving BDA-labeled fibers from the Vc were mainly distributed bilaterally in the parvicellular reticular formation (PCRt), dorsal and ventral medullary reticular formation (MdD, MdV), supratrigeminal nucleus (Vsup) and parabrachial nucleus (PBN) with an ipsilateral dominance. Some FG/TMR-DA double-labeled premotor neurons, which were observed bilaterally in the PCRt, MdD, dorsal part of the MdV, peri-motor nucleus regions, contacted with BDA-labeled axonal terminals and expressed c-fos protein-like immunoreactivity which induced by subcutaneous injection of formalin into the lip. After retrograde tracer wheat germ agglutinated horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was injected into VII or XII and BDA into Vc, electron microscopic study revealed that some BDA-labeled axonal terminals made mainly asymmetric synapses on the dendritic and somatic profiles of WGA-HRP-labeled premotor neurons. These data indicate that some premotor neurons could integrate the orofacial nociceptive input from the Vc and transfer these signals simultaneously to different brainstem motonuclei by axonal collaterals

Association between i.v. thrombolysis volume and door-to-needle times in acute ischemic stroke

Centralization of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute ischemic stroke in high-volume centers is believed to improve the door-to-needle times (DNT), but limited data support this assumption. We examined the association between DNT and IVT volume in a large Dutch province. We identified consecutive patients treated with IVT between January 2009 and 2013. Based on annualized IVT volume, hospitals were categorized as low-volume (≤ 24), medium-volume (25-49) or high-volume (≥ 50). In logistic regression analysis, low-volume hospitals were used as reference category. Of 17,332 stroke patients from 11 participating hospitals, 1962 received IVT (11.3 %). We excluded 140 patients because of unknown DNT (n = 86) or in-hospital stroke (n = 54). There were two low-volume (total 101 patients), five medium-volume (747 patients) and four high-volume hospitals (974 patients). Median DNT was shorter in high-volume hospitals (30 min) than in medium-volume (42 min, p < 0.001) and low-volume hospitals (38 min, p < 0.001). Patients admitted to high-volume hospitals had a higher chance of DNT < 30 min (adjusted OR 3.13, 95 % CI 1.70-5.75), lower risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (adjusted OR 0.39, 95 % CI 0.16-0.92), and a lower mortality risk (adjusted OR 0.45, 95 % CI 0.21-1.01), compared to low-volume centers. There was no difference in DNT between low- and medium-volume hospitals. Onset-to-needle times (ONT) did not differ between the groups. Hospitals in this Dutch province generally achieved short DNTs. Despite this overall good performance, higher IVT volumes were associated with shorter DNTs and lower complication risks. The ONT was not associated with IVT volum

Water Relations of Flowering Stem, Microbial Activity of Preservative Solution and Postharvest Quality of Alstroemeria Cut Flower under Peppermint’s Essential Oil and Sucrose Treatments

Postharvest improvement of water relations and water uptake of cut flowers and control of microbial contamination of preservative solutions is one of the most important strategies in maintaining postharvest quality and prolonging of cut flowers vase life; especially for leafy flowering stems such as alstroemeria. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different peppermint&rsquo;s essential oil concentrations (0, 300, 600 and 900 ppm) along with sucrose levels (0, 3 and 6%) in a factorial experiment based on the completely randomized design with three replications. Water relations, cell membrane integrity, leaf yellowing disorder and bacterial contaminations of preservative solution of alstroemeria cut flower were evaluated under different treatments. Based on the results, application of essential oil (600 ppm) and sucrose (6%) significantly increased water uptake, cell membrane integrity and photosynthetic pigments, and decreased leaf yellowing disorder and bacterial pollutions, leading, consequently, to higher vase life (14 days) relative to the control cut flowers. It appears that application of peppermint&rsquo;s essential oil (due to anti bacterial compounds such as menthone and menthol) and sucrose (due to food supply and cell membrane maintenance) could be recommended for addition to the preservative solutions of alstroemeria cut flowers

Neurophysiological aspects of eye and eyelid movements during blinking in humans

The neural relationships between eyelid movements and eye movements during spontaneous, voluntary, and reflex blinking in a group of healthy subjects were examined. Electromyographic (EMG) recording of the orbicularis oculi (OO) muscles was performed using surface electrodes. Concurrently, horizontal and vertical eye positions were recorded by means of the double magnetic induction (DMI) ring method. In addition, movement of the upper eyelid was measured by a specially designed search coil, placed on the upper eyelid. The reflex blink was elicited electrically by supraorbital nerve stimulation either on the right or the left side. It is found that disconjugate oblique eye movements accompany spontaneous, voluntary as well as reflex blinking. Depending on the gaze position before blinking, the amplitude of horizontal and vertical components of the eye movement during blinking varies in a systematic way. With adduction and downward gaze the amplitude is minimal. With abduction the horizontal amplitude increases, whereas with upward gaze the vertical amplitude increases. Unilateral electrical supraorbital nerve stimulation at low currents elicits eye movements with a bilateral late component. At stimulus intensities approximately two to three times above the threshold, the early ipsilateral blink reflex response (R(1)) in the OO muscle can be observed together with an early ipsilateral eye movement component at a latency of approximately 15 ms. In addition, during the electrical blink reflex, early ipsilateral and late bilateral components can also be identified in the upper eyelid movement. In contrast to the late bilateral component of upper eyelid movement, the early ipsilateral component of upper eyelid movement appears to open the eye to a greater degree. This early ipsilateral component of upper eyelid movement occurs more or less simultaneously with the early eye movement component. It is suggested that both early ipsilateral movements following electrical stimulation do not have a central neural origin. Late components of the eye movements slightly precede the late components of the eyelid movement. Synchrony between late components of eyelid movements and eye movements as well as similarity of oblique eye movement components in different types of blinking suggest the existence of a premotor neural structure acting as a generator that coordinates impulses to different subnuclei of the oculomotor nucleus as well as the facial nerve nucleus during blinking independent from the ocular saccadic and/or vergence system. The profile and direction of the eye movement rotation during blinking gives support to the idea that it may be secondary to eyeball retraction; an extra cocontraction of the inferior and superior rectus muscle would be sufficient to explain both eye retraction and rotation in the horizontal vertical and torsional plane