Chemical composition of the essential oils and extracts of Achillea species and their biological activities: A review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The Asteraceae (alt. Compositae) family incorporates a large number of flowering plants, which have been classified under ca. 1600 genera covering more than 23,000 species. The genus Achillea is one of the best-known genera of this family. The Achillea species are important for their uses in the chemical and pharmaceutical purposes, and traditional and folk medicines. From ethnobotanical point of view, they heve been recommended as effective tonic, sedative, diuretic and carminative remedies and extensively prescribed for the treatment of stomachache, inflammation, gastrointestinal, hemorrhoid, hay fever, and wound healing in indigenous medicines. They are also known as effective remedies that promote breast-feedings and regulate women menstruation. This review presents an overview on the ethnopharmacological knowledge of the Achillea genus and provides a deeper insight into medicinal and pharmaceutical applications of different Achillea species. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant data were obtained through systematic electronic searches from various scientific databases including the Institute of scientific information (ISI)-Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, Pubmed, other relevant texts and local books. RESULTS: A variety of ethnopharmacological properties of the Achillea have been documented, and a broad spectrum of medicinal applications, and phytochemicals of the essential oils and extracts of this genus have been identified. CONCLUSIONS: General correlations between the ethnopharmacological uses and medicinal properties identified through systematic research have been observed. Some of the medicinal properties could also be linked to the phytochemicals present in this genus. The findings of the studied reports in this review article represent therapeutic characteristics of Achillea species and account for their significant impact on the current and future modern medicine

Influence of palm oil fuel ash on fresh and mechanical properties of selfcompacting concrete

This paper presents experimental results of some fresh and hardened state properties of selfcompacting concrete (SCC) incorporating palm oil fuel ash (POFA). Three concrete mixes namely ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete i.e. concrete with 100% OPC as control, and concrete with 30% and 60% POFA having different water/binder (w/b) ratios of 0.4, 0.45 and 0.5 were prepared. Filling ability, passing ability and segregation resistance of SCC along with strength properties were determined and compared with those of the OPC based SCC. Test results revealed that replacement of POFA in general decreased the workability of concrete with acceptable range. The compressive strength, however, increased with lower w/b ratio and lower replacement of ash. The splitting tensile and flexural strength values have also followed the same trend. The results obtained and the observation made in this study suggest that POFA can suitably be used as supplementary cementing material in SCC

Influence of palm oil fuel ash on physico-mechanical properties of prepacked aggregate concrete

Prepacked aggregate concrete (PAC) is a special type of concrete which is made by placing coarse aggregate in a formwork and injecting a grout either by pump or under gravity force to fill the voids. Utilization of pozzolanic materials in traditional concrete has become increasingly extensive, and this trend is expected to continue in prepacked concrete as well. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is one of the pozzolanic ashes, which has been recognized as a good pozzolanic material. This paper presents the results of some experimental tests on the performance behavior of POFA in developing physical and mechanical properties of prepacked aggregate concrete. Four concrete mixes namely prepacked concrete with 100% OPC as control, and PAC with 10%, 20% and 30% POFA were cast, and the temperature growth due to heat of hydration in all the mixtures was recorded. It has been found that POFA significantly reduced the temperature rise in prepacked concrete. The compressive and tensile strength, however, increased with replacement of POFA. The results obtained and the observation made in this study suggest that the replacement of OPC by POFA is beneficial, particularly for prepacked mass concrete where thermal cracking due to extreme heat rise is of great concern

Green concrete composites production comprising metalized plastic waste fibers and palm oil fuel ash

Amongst the potential solutions to a cleaner environment is to minimize the consumption of non-biodegradable materials and to reduce wastes. The generation and disposal of waste plastics cause severe impacts on the environment. The utilization of solid waste in the sustainable constructions has concerned much attention due to the lower cost of wastes along with saving a necessary place of landfills. In this paper, the feasibility of metalized plastic waste (MPW) fibers and palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in the production of concrete composites was investigated by assessing the mechanical properties and ultrasonic pulse velocity. Six concrete mixes containing MPW fibers varying from 0 to 1.25% with a length of 20 mm were made of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). A different six concrete mixtures with the same fiber content were made, where 20% POFA substituted OPC. The results show that MPW fibers, together with POFA reduced the workability of concretes. It has also been found that by adding MPW fibers to the concrete mixtures, the compressive strength decreased for both OPC and POFA mixes at the early ages. Though at the curing period of 91 days, the mixes contain POFA attained compressive strength higher than those of OPC mixes. The mixture of MPW fibers and POFA subsequently enhanced the tensile and flexural strengths, thereby increasing the ductility. The study revealed that the MPW fibers are potential to be used in sustainable concrete by improving the mechanical properties

Strength, modulus of elasticity and shrinkage behaviour of concrete containing waste carpet fiber

This paper presents test results on some physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing fiber from recycled carpet waste. Five concrete mixes namely plain concrete (PC) i.e. concrete without carpet fiber, as control and carpet fiber reinforced concrete (CFRC) mixes containing 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% polypropylene (PP) waste carpet fibers were made and tested for compressive, tensile and flexural strengths, modulus of elasticity and shrinkage at curing periods of 1, 7 and 28 days. It has been found that the addition of carpet fiber reduced the workability and density of concrete. Concrete containing carpet fiber exhibited lower compressive strength and modulus of elasticity than plain concrete. The carpet fibers, however, effectively improved the splitting tensile and flexural strengths of concrete. The obtained values of shrinkage revealed that the shrinkage strain of carpet fiber reinforced concrete was higher than that of plain concrete. On the basis of short-term investigation, the one-year shrinkage values of both plain concrete and concrete containing carpet fiber were also predicted by extrapolating the data obtained during this period. The results obtained in this study indicate that waste carpet fiber can suitably be used as fiber reinforcement in concrete with satisfactory performance

The genus Micromeria Benth.: An overview on ethnobotany, chemotaxonomy and phytochemistry

The genus Micromeria Benth. from the family Lamiaceae mainly comprises herbaceous plants having several remarkable ethnobotanical, biological and phytochemical applications. This review critically appraises all the information available in the literature, e.g., Scopus, Institute for Scientific Information-Web of Science (ISI-WOS) as well as Medline on various species of this genus covering aspects of biological activity, ethnobotanical, chemical taxonomy and phytochemistry. The phytochemical composition of both essential oils and non-volatile extracts is reported. Their chemotaxonomic implications and ethnomedicinal impacts are also discussed. The pharmacological properties of crude extracts and isolated phytochemicals from Mircomeria spp. observed in several bioactivity tests are also critically reviewed. From phytochemical point of view, the characterization of the organic extracts of different Mircomeria spp. has led to the identification of some valuable natural compounds. Furthermore, the chemical profiles of most of the species are dominated by oxygenated monoterpenes. A wide spectrum of promising biological properties have been attributed to Mircomeria species including antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anticholinesterase, tyrosinase inhibition and antinociceptive activities. Moreover, it has been shown that rosmarinic acid serves as a marker compound in several entities of this genus

Ruta Essential Oils: Composition and Bioactivities

Ruta L. is a typical genus of the citrus family, Rutaceae Juss. and comprises ca. 40 different species, mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region. Ruta species have long been used in traditional medicines as an abortifacient and emmenagogue and for the treatment of lung diseases and microbial infections. The genus Ruta is rich in essential oils, which predominantly contain aliphatic ketones, e.g., 2-undecanone and 2-nonanone, but lack any significant amounts of terpenes. Three Ruta species, Ruta chalepensis L., Ruta graveolens L., and Ruta montana L., have been extensively studied for the composition of their essential oils and several bioactivities, revealing their potential medicinal and agrochemical applications. This review provides a systematic evaluation and critical appraisal of publications available in the literature on the composition and bioactivities of the essential oils obtained from Ruta species and includes a brief outlook of the potential applications of nanotechnology and chitosan-based products of Ruta essential oils

The genus Ferula: ethnobotany, phytochemistry and bioactivities - a review

This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the medicinal, folkloric and traditional culinary uses of Ferula species, related products and extracts in different countries together with the description of recently isolated new components and the related bioactivities. The phytochemical composition of the essential oils (EOs), oleo-gum-resin (OGR) and the non-volatile fractions obtained from several endemic and indigenous Ferula species is also reported. A special emphasis is placed on their unusual components, i.e. sulfur-containing volatiles from the EOs and the new phytochemicals with mixed biogenetic origins. More than 180 chemical constituents (excluding common essential oils components), including sulfur-containing metabolites, terpenoids, coumarins, sesquiterpene coumarins, etc., as both aglycones and glycosides, are reported, along with their occurrence and biological activities when available. A large number of new secondary metabolites, belonging to different classes of natural products possessing interesting biological activities, from the antiproliferative to the anti-inflammatory to the neuroprotective ones, among the others, have been recently found in the Ferula genus. Several of these phytochemicals are exclusive to this genus; therefore may be considered chemotaxonomic markers. All these aspects are extensively discussed in this review

Design and Performance Estimation of a Photonic Integrated Beamforming Receiver for Scan-On-Receive Synthetic Aperture Radar

Synthetic aperture radar is a remote sensing technology finding applications in a wide range of fields, especially related to Earth observation. It enables a fine imaging that is crucial in critical activities, like environmental monitoring for natural resource management or disasters prevention. In this picture, the scan-on-receive paradigm allows for enhanced imaging capabilities thanks to wide swath observations at finer azimuthal resolution achieved by beamforming of multiple simultaneous antenna beams. Recently, solutions based on microwave photonics techniques demonstrated the possibility of an efficient implementation of beamforming, overcoming some limitations posed by purely electronic solutions, offering unprecedented flexibility and precision to RF systems. Moreover, photonics-assisted RF beamformers can nowadays be realized as integrated circuits, with reduced size and power consumption with respect to digital beamforming approaches. This paper presents the design analysis and the challenges of the development of a hybrid photonic-integrated circuit as the core element of an X-band scan-on-receive spaceborne synthetic aperture radar. The proposed photonic-integrated circuit synthetizes three simultaneous scanning beams on the received signal, and performs the frequency down-conversion, guaranteeing a compact 15 cm2-form factor, less than 6 W power consumption, and 55 dB of dynamic range. The whole photonics-assisted system is designed for space compliance and meets the target application requirements, representing a step forward toward a deeper penetration of photonics in microwave applications for challenging scenarios, like the observation of the Earth from space

Thoracoscopic-assisted repair of a bochdalek hernia in an adult: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Bochdalek hernia is a congenital defect of the diaphragm that usually presents in the neonatal period with life-threatening cardiorespiratory distress. It is rare for Bochdalek hernias to remain silent until adulthood. Once a Bochdalek hernia has been diagnosed, surgical treatment is necessary to avoid complications such as perforation and necrosis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a 17-year-old Japanese boy with left-upper-quadrant pain for two months. Chest radiography showed an elevated left hemidiaphragm. Computed tomography revealed a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The spleen and left colon had been displaced into the left thoracic cavity through a left posterior diaphragmatic defect. We diagnosed a Bochdalek hernia. Surgical treatment was performed via a thoracoscopic approach. The boy was placed in the reverse Trendelenburg position and intrathoracic pressure was increased by CO₂gas insufflations. This is a very useful procedure for reducing herniated contents and we were able to place the herniated organs safely back in the peritoneal cavity. The diaphragmatic defect was too large to close with thoracoscopic surgery alone. Small incision thoracotomy was required and primary closure was performed. His postoperative course was uneventful and there has been no recurrence of the diaphragmatic hernia to date.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thoracoscopic surgery, performed with the boy in the reverse Trendelenburg position and using CO₂gas insufflations in the thoracic cavity, was shown to be useful for Bochdalek hernia repair.</p