Eco-friendly Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Camellia sinensis Phytoextracts

Biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles using plant materials involves a fairly rapid reduction of metallic materials. The reduction potential of phytochemicals in a tea extract to reduce gold salt (NaAuCl4) to the highly homogenous gold nanoparticles is presented. Phytoextracts were derived from the mixture of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and Camellia sinensis var. assamica (green tea) leaves. The appearance of the phytoextract's sloping absorption peak with Au salt at the wavelength range 530-550 nm corresponded to the absorption of gold nanoparticles. Obtained nanoparticles were purified from phytoextract excess by centrifugation. Then they were studied by Raman and FTIR spectroscopy and AFM. It was found that the size of produced gold nanoparticles was in the range from 3 nm to 10 n

CHANGE IN CONTENT OF GLYCOPROTEINS ON THE SURFACE OF ENDOTHELIAL CELL CULTURE EA.HY 926 AND INTIMA OF INTERNAL CAROTID ARTERIES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MAGNESIUM OROTATE

Aim. To study changes in the glycoproteins content in the glycocalyx of endothelial cells under the influence of magnesium orotate.Material and methods. Endotheliocytes of cell culture EA.hy 926 were examined before  and after addition of the magnesium orotate to the culture medium. Intimal endothelium of internal carotid arteries, fragments of which were obtained by sequential execution of bilateral resection of the arteries before  and after course of treatment with magnesium orotate was also investigated. Anthony’ method (1931), designed for the study of glycoproteins in the bacteria capsule and adapted by L.V. Didenko (2013) for eukaryotes was used to detect glycoproteins. The scanning electron microscopy with simultaneous x-ray microanalysis was applied.Results. Total number of Cu2+-signals per one scanning field in the mapping of samples for Cu2+ as the indirect index of proteoglycan content in EA.hy 926 endothelial cell culture before incubation with magnesium orotate was 6928±124, and after incubation with magnesium orotate – 7592±131. Number of Cu2+-signals on the surface of the internal carotid artery intima before treatment with magnesium orotate was 5015±407, and after treatment – 6100±152 per one scanning field.Conclusion. A significant increase in the content of glycoproteins on the surface of EA.hy926 endothelial cell culture (+10%) and internal carotid artery intima (+22%) under the influence of magnesium orotate was found

Sepharadim/conversos and premodern Global Hispanism

Sepharadim participated in the Hispanic vernacular culture of the Iberian Peninsula. Even in the time of al-Andalus many spoke Hispano-Romance, and even their Hebrew literature belies a deep familiarity with and love of their native Hispano-Romance languages. However, since the early sixteenth century the vast majority of Sepharadim have never lived in the Hispanic world. Sepharadim lived not in Spanish colonies defined by Spanish conquest, but in a network of Mediterranean Jewish communities defined by diasporic values and institutions. By contrast, the conversos, those Sepharadim who converted to Catholicism, whether in Spain or later in Portugal, Italy, or the New World, lived mostly in Spanish Imperial lands, were officially Catholic, and spoke normative Castilian. Their connections, both real and imagined, with Sephardic cultural practice put them at risk of social marginalization, incarceration, even death. Some were devout Catholics whose heritage and family history doomed them to these outcomes. Not surprisingly, many Spanish and Portugese conversos sought refuge in lands outside of Spanish control where they might live openly as Jews. This exodus (1600s) from the lands formerly known as Sefarad led to a parallel Sephardic community of what conversos who re-embraced Judaism in Amsterdam and Italy by a generation of conversos trained in Spanish universities. The Sephardic/Converso cultural complex exceeds the boundaries of Spanish imperial geography, confuses Spanish, Portuguese, Catholic, and Jewish subjectivities, and defies traditional categories practiced in Hispanic studies, and are a unique example of the Global Hispanophone

EFFECT OF MAGNESIUM OROTATE ON CONNECTIVE TISSUE MATRIX AND CARDIAC INOTROPIC FUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH MITRAL VALVE PROLAPSE. CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY

Aim. To study the morphological features of loose fibrous connective tissue (LFCT) and myocardial contractility in patients with mitral valve prolapse before and after magnesium orotate course.Material and methods. Patients (n=59) with mitral valve prolapse and the phenotype of undifferentiated connective tissue dysplasia (UCTD) were included into the study. A comprehensive morphological analysis of skin biopsy samples was performed to assess morphological and functional changes of LFCT. Standard echocardiography with the assessment of mitral flow was performed in all participants at baseline and after 8 weeks of magnesium orotate intake.Results. According to morphometry increase in proportion of amorphous matrix was found in LFCT sections after 8-week magnesium orotate course compared to baseline (38.6±0.4% and 23.9 ± 0.4%, respectively; p&lt;0.001). According to the echocardiography increase in the end-diastolic (from 4.9±0.04 cm to 5.05±0.03 cm; p&lt;0.05), and the end-sys- tolic (from 2.9±0.04 cm to 3.0±0.03 cm; p&lt;0.01) left ventricular diameters was observed after 8 weeks of treatment as well as improvement of left ventricular diastolic func- tion (E/A raised from 1.42±0.02 to 1.79±0.04; p&lt;0.01).Conclusion. In patients with mitral valve prolapse and UCTD the 8-week magnesium orotate course led to a significant increase in amorphous part of the matrix, improvement of diffusion ability and architectonics of the connective tissue that determines the improvement of flexibility and extensibility.</p