Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Ilex guayusa tea preparations : a comparison to Camellia sinensis teas

Ilex guayusa tea preparations are now commercially available as Runa tea. Little is known regarding the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivities of this tea. The I. guayusa teas had a total polyphenolic content between 54.39 and 67.23 mg GAE/g dry mass and peroxyl radical scavenging capacities between 1773.41 and 2019 µmol TE/g dry mass, nearly half of that for the Camellia sinensis teas. The I. guayusa teas afforded 60-80% protection from oxidative stress in the Caco-2 cellular antioxidant assay, comparable to the C. sinensis teas. The anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells of I. guayusa teas was similarly comparable to the C. sinensis teas with nitric oxide production reduced by 10-30%. Major compounds identified by mass spectrometry were the phenolic mono- and dicaffeoylquinic acid derivatives. I. guayusa teas are a good source of dietary phenolic compounds with cellular antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/fo#!recentarticles&adv2018-12-13hj2017AnatomyBiochemistr

Fishroesomes as carriers with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivities

The great diversity of marine habitats and organisms renders them a high-value source to find/develop novel drugs and formulations. Therefore, herein, sardine (Sardina pilchardus) roe was used as a lipidic source to produce liposomes. This fish product presents high nutritional value, being its lipidic content associated with important health benefits. Consequently, it can be advantageously used to produce therapeutically active delivery devices. Roe lipids were extracted using the Matyash method. After lipid film hydration and extrusion, sardine roe-derived large unilamellar liposomes (LUVs), designated as fishroesomes, presented a size of â 330 nm and a significant negative surface charge (â - 27 mV). Radical scavenging assays demonstrated that fishroesomes efficiently neutralized peroxyl, hydroxyl and nitric oxide radicals. Moreover, fishroesomes significantly reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by LPS-stimulated macrophages at non-toxic concentrations for L929 and THP-1 cells. Consequently, the developed liposomes exhibit unique properties as bioactive drug carriers for inflammatory diseases treatment.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology / Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) or FSE/POCH (European Social Fund through the Operational Program of Human Capital) (grant numbers PD/169/2013, PD/ BD/113795/2015, PD/BD/135246/2017, PTDC/BTM-SAL/28882/ 2017), and the NORTE 2020 Structured Project, co-funded by Norte2020 (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021). Authors also thank the local fisherman for the donation of the samples

Antioxidant content activity and nitric oxide scavenging ability of Ilex guayusa compared with Camellia sinensis and Aspalathus linearis tea

Guayusa tea, an extract of the Ilex guayusa plant, is ritualistically consumed by the Runa tribes of Ecuador. It is known for its healing abilities and for giving lucid dreams as well as being used by the Amaguajes Indians of South America to treat diabetes and has been shown to retard the development of steptozocin-induced diabetes in mice. Guayusa tea is now commercially available as Runa tea and in select areas of the USA as tea bags or iced tea. Guayusa tea has not been scientifically evaluated, or compared with more popular commercialised tea brands such as Camellia sinensis black tea (BT), green tea (GT) and Aspalathus linearis rooibos tea (RT), regarding possible health benefits. The aim of this study is to address this limitation in knowledge regarding the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of this tea. Chemical evaluation was performed according to the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) approved methods. Methanol extracts of commercially available guyasa tea and crushed factory leaves of fermented and unfermented guaysua tea was compared to nine brands of black and green Camellia sinensis tea brands. Antioxidant reducing capacity was observed with the use of an ISO-approved Folin-Ciocalteu (F-C) method. To elaborate on findings antioxidant activity were further evaluated using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhyrazyl (DPPH) and oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC) assays. The methods that involve an electron transfer mode of action such as the F-C, TEAC and DPPH showed antioxidant activity of all samples of guayusa tea to be significantly lower than all Camellia sinensis brands evaluated. In contrast the results obtained from the ORAC assay, which involves a hydrogen atom transfer mode of action showed that guayusa tea had statistically similar antioxidant capacity to GT and BT Camellia sinensis brands. To assess the possible health benefits associated with guayusa tea, water extracts of commercial and crushed black and green factory guaysa tea leaves were analysed and compared to BT, GT (Camellia sinensis) and RT (Aspalathus linearis) of the same brand with the F-C and ORAC assays. The health benefits were further evaluated in cellular models. The dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay was used to evaluate cellular antioxidant activity in the SC-1 and Caco-2 cell lines. LPS-stimulated RAW 267.9 cells were used to evaluate the nitric oxide (NO) scavenging properties of the tea extracts in a cellular environment. Cell viability was determined with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. With the F-C reducing and the ORAC assay, the antioxidant activity of all guayusa tea samples were significantly lower than BT and GT, but similar to RT. Similar results were obtained for he NO scavenging activity. With regards to the cell culture-based assays, in both SC-1 and Caco-2 cell lines the DCFH-DA assay showed that guayusa had similar cellular protective effects to BT and GT, and higher than RT. For the NO suppressing assay in the RAW 264.7 cell line, guayusa tea showed similar results to BT, GT and RT. In this study, Ilex guaysa extracts were shown to have antioxidant, cellular protective and anti-inflammatory properties. In some instances, such as with the ORAC assay conducted on alcohol extracts, guyausa tea showed antioxidant activity similar to that of BT and GT. Water extracts had antioxidant activity (F-C and ORAC assay) less than GT and BT but greater than RT. In contrast in cell model systems the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of guayusa tea related to NO scavenging was similar to GT and BT. Overall, in a non-cellular setting, guayusa tea provides little antioxidant activity, especially when compared with Camellia sinensis tea, widely known for its antioxidant and health benefits. However, when exposed to a cellular environment, guayusa tea performs similarly to Camellia sinensis tea in terms of antioxidant acitivity which suggests that it may have health benefits in a biological system which can be more profoundly assessed and elaborated in future studies.Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2016.tm2016AnatomyMScUnrestricte

The Ethical Implications of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 71 (2014)

This paper aims to isolate the pertinent ethical issues of cloud computing and chart a sensible path forward for lawyers. Part II briefly introduces the concept of cloud computing. Part III discusses the lawyer‟s duties of confidentiality, of competence, to protect client property, and to oversee non-lawyers who are providing assistance. Part III also examines the application of these duties by the various state bar associations to the problem of cloud computing. Part IV looks at sample terms of use of some of the more popular vendors. Part V suggests that securing informed consent, employing specialty cloud providers, and purchasing cyber insurance provide more practical ways to ensure a lawyer doesn\u27t run afoul of his ethical obligations

Estudio de factibilidad para la apertura de una sucursal de la entidad financiera Bicentenario Banco Universal en la poblaci\uf3n de Churuguara, Municipio Federaci\uf3n del Estado Falc\uf3n

La investigaci\uf3n tuvo por objetivo evaluar la factibilidad t\ue9cnico-econ\uf3mica y financiera para la apertura de una sucursal de la entidad financiera Bicentenario Banco Universal en la poblaci\uf3n de Churuguara, municipio Federaci\uf3n del estado Falc\uf3n. La naturaleza de esta investigaci\uf3n se encuentra enmarcada en la modalidad de proyecto factible, de tipo descriptivo y de campo; y en la recolecci\uf3n de informaci\uf3n se utiliz\uf3 como herramienta metodol\uf3gica la encuesta a trav\ue9s de un cuestionario y la observaci\uf3n directa con la finalidad de analizar qu\ue9 tan factible resulta la apertura de una sucursal de la entidad financiera Bicentenario Banco Universal en la poblaci\uf3n de Churuguara, estado Falc\uf3n. Como conclusi\uf3n, se obtuvo que la poblaci\uf3n de Churuguara, no tiene una oferta de servicios bancarios y financieros acorde con su nivel de desarrollo econ\uf3mico y con las perspectivas de crecimiento a futuro. En este sentido, el estudio de mercado realizado para este proyecto, arroj\uf3 que la idea de negocios de abrir una agencia del Banco Bicentenario en dicha entidad es completamente viable, pues se cubrir\ueda el d\ue9ficit actual en cuanto a servicios bancarios, a la vez que se puede expandir con la captaci\uf3n de nuevos clientes y la incorporaci\uf3n de nuevos servicios. La evaluaci\uf3n financiera del proyecto arroj\uf3 que \ue9ste tiene factibilidad financiera, pues el VPN es positivo, con un valor de 525.754,82 Bs. y una TIR de 24,62% muy superior a la tasa de rendimiento m\uednima esperada de 9,99%. Adem\ue1s, el proyecto, resistir\ueda un significativo incremento de la inversi\uf3n de 30%. Es por ello, que se recomienda la apertura de una sucursal del Banco Bicentenario en la poblaci\uf3n de Churuguara del Estado Falc\uf3n