Herbal beverages formulations and bioactive properties: a comparative study.

Herbal beverages are among the main products which claim medicinal benefits, specially related with antioxidant properties [1,2]. The definition of herbal beverages (“teas”) as functional drinks might be related with the plant species from which is prepared, formulation or preparation method. In this study the beverages were prepared from Camellia sinensis (black and green tea), Aspalathus linearis (red tea) and Cochlospermum angolensis (borututu tea), available in different formulations (bags, leaves, roots, granulates, powders or liquids), after infusion, solubilisation or by simple direct use. Further than single plants, some mixtures composed by different fruits, plants or algae extracts were also evaluated. For a better understanding of the bioactive potential of these products, the DF50 (dilution factor responsible for 50% of antioxidant activity, AA) was calculated for all the AA assays (scavenging effects, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition). Linear discriminant analysis was used to categorize tea formulations according with their AA and antioxidant compounds

Insights on the formulation of herbal beverages with medicinal claims according with their antioxidant properties

Several herbal beverages claim medicinal benefits due to their antioxidant properties. However, operational factors such as the extracted herbal component, preparation method or concentration levels, might influence their biological activity. To assess this effect, the antioxidant activity of beverages prepared with Camellia sinensis, Aspalathus linearis or Cochlospermum angolensis, used solely or mixed with different fruit, plant or algae extracts, was studied using different formulations (bags, leaves, roots, granulates, powders, liquids) and different preparation methods (infusion, solubilisation or promptly used). The DF50 (dilution factor responsible for 50% of antioxidant activity) values were calculated to compare their antioxidant activity. A linear discriminant analysis was used to categorize the assayed samples according to their antioxidant activity and bioactive molecules profiles. The results indicated that antioxidant activity and antioxidant compounds are significantly affected by formulation and preparation method, but overall the labelled antioxidant benefits were validated. Green tea showed the highest activity, but with different behaviour within each used formulation. The high DF50 values calculated for some products might be used to adjust the dietary dose or formulation, preventing also putative pro-oxidant effects. Hence, the obtained results might be useful to define the formulation of these highly consumed herbal beverages, enhancing their health effects.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and to Mountain Research Center. J.C.M. Barreira thanks to FCT, Human Potential Operational Programme- National Strategic Reference Framework (POPH-QREN) and FSE for his grant (SFRH/BPD/72802/2010)

Comparative study of antioxidant properties of different green tea formulations.

Tea, a product made up from leaf and bud of the plant Camellia sinensis, is, after water, the most consumed drink in the world. Particularly, green tea, a “non-fermented” tea (produced by drying and steaming the fresh leaves to inactivate the polyphenol oxidase and thus, non oxidation occurs) has been related to different health benefits such as reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer, and neuroprotective power, as well as other disorders related to oxidative stress. Moreover, it was suggested the ability of green tea, when consumed within a balanced controlled diet, to improve overall the antioxidative status and to protect against oxidative damage in humans [1]

Non-stoichiometric mixed lead and tin niobates

Novel non-stoichiometric mixed lead and tin niobates with the pyrochlore structure have been synthesized via a solid-state route. The materials have been characterized by bulk chemical analysis, single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, 207Pb, 119Sn and 93Nb (single and triple quantum) solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The structures of the new non-stoichiometric mixed lead–tin niobate pyrochlore compounds have been Rietveld refined in the cubic system, space group Fd-3m. The steroactivity of the Sn(II) free electron pair leads to the general formula (Sn1.6−xPbx)(Nb2−ySny)O6.6−0.5y, where x (0–1.6) is the Pb(II) and y (0–0.34) is the Sn(IV) contents. 207Pb, 119Sn and (in particular) 93Nb NMR support the isomorphous substitution of tin for lead in the compounds studied. 93Nb triple-quantum magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy show that the materials contain, at least, two distinct niobium sites, in a 2:1 population ratio, which may be associated with different sampleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exact Diagonalization of Two Quantum Models for the Damped Harmonic Oscillator

The damped harmonic oscillator is a workhorse for the study of dissipation in quantum mechanics. However, despite its simplicity, this system has given rise to some approximations whose validity and relation to more refined descriptions deserve a thorough investigation. In this work, we apply a method that allows us to diagonalize exactly the dissipative Hamiltonians that are frequently adopted in the literature. Using this method we derive the conditions of validity of the rotating-wave approximation (RWA) and show how this approximate description relates to more general ones. We also show that the existence of dissipative coherent states is intimately related to the RWA. Finally, through the evaluation of the dynamics of the damped oscillator, we notice an important property of the dissipative model that has not been properly accounted for in previous works; namely, the necessity of new constraints to the application of the factorizable initial conditions.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, ReVTe

Borboletas (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea e papilionoidea) de val de serra, região central do rio grande do sul, Brasil

The butterfly fauna of the Atlantic Forest Biome is reasonably well-known up to the southern limit of its distribution. However, there are knowledge gaps nearby the central region of Rio Grande do Sul State, whose forest areas are considered priorities for biological conservation. This study investigated the butterfly assemblage of a riparian fragment in an ecotone area between Mixed Ombrophilous Forest and Seasonal Decidous Forest, in Itaara municipality. From September 2005 to September 2006, after 105 net-hours through active search sampling, 877 butterflies were registered representing 104 species. Three more species were registered posteriorly, increasing total richness to 107. The most abundant species were the Nymphalidae Hermeuptychia hermes (Fabricius, 1775), Yphthimoides celmis (Godart, [1824]), Agraulis vanillae maculosa (Stichel, [1908]), Tegosa claudina (Eschscholtz, 1821) and Vanessa braziliensis (Moore, 1883). One new record for the State and four new ones for the central region were registered besides the southern endemic Papilionidae Euryades corethrus (Boisduval, 1836) and the Lycaenidae Arcas ducalis (Westwood, 1852), considered indicator of Atlantic forest preserved areas. Due to the representativeness of the registered fauna, it is suggested the increase of conservation efforts in the area and stimulation of new ecological studies with the local biodiversity

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter