LOW-COST CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS INSTRUMENTATION FOR ASSESSMENT OF RAIN WATER IONIC COMPOSITION

The objective of this Short Term Scientific Mission was to test the suitability of capillary electrophoresis for determination of rain water chemical composition. The fully functional, open-hardware, low-cost instrument was assembled and tested. An original protocol for determination of the chemical content of rain water was established and validated in the pilot test. Capillary electrophoresis proofed its highest suitability for the detection and quantification of ions in different samples, indicating substantial differences between clean and dirty snow waters. The hydrostatic sample injection method has been found very efficient and straightforward in manual and laboratory routines. An important deliverable of the Short Term Scientific Mission was a set of multimedia materials for the promotion of CE technique and especially low-cost CE instrumentation

Analysis of Total Phenols, Sugars, and Mineral Elements in Colored Tubers of Solanum tuberosum L.

The use of colored tubers of Solanum tuberosum L. is growing worldwide due to their health benefits and attractive color. The positive health effects of purple-fleshed tubers are a result of anthocyanins and various phenolic compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare variety Blue Congo and its cross-breeds of Desiree and Granola to yellow-fleshed tubers. The concentration of total phenols, anthocyanins, sugars, and mineral elements were evaluated in all tubers. The results showed differences between all tested materials, with largest differences in sugar content. Moreover, the results confirmed the preservation of health improving compounds of Blue Congo when cross-bred with yellow-fleshed tubers. The total phenolic content and anthocyanin concentrations of all analyzed tubers were above the comparison yellow ones

Use of Neoteric Solvents in Biomass Treatment

Research on the use of neoteric solvents has been motivated by an increase in pollution-controlled legislation and more regulations of common solvents, especially related to the treatment of biomass [...

Antioxidative and Anti-<i>Borrelia</i> Effects of <i>Plantago</i> Species

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato bacteria are the causative agent of Lyme disease, Europe’s most common vector-borne disease [...

Capillary Electrophoresis as a Monitoring Tool for Flow Composition Determination

Flow analysis is the science of performing quantitative analytical chemistry in flowing streams. Because of its efficiency and speed of analysis, capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a prospective method for the monitoring of a flow composition withdrawn from various processes (e.g., occurring in bioreactors, fermentations, enzymatic assays, and microdialysis samples). However, interfacing CE to a various flow of interest requires further study. In this paper, several ingenious approaches on interfacing flow from various chemical or bioprocesses to a capillary electrophoresis instrument are reviewed. Most of these interfaces can be described as computer-controlled autosamplers. Even though most of the described interfaces waste too many samples, many interesting and important applications of the devices are reported. However, the lack of commercially available devices prevents the wide application of CE for flow analysis. On the contrary, this fact opens up a potential avenue for future research in the field of flow sampling by CE

Extraction and Fractionation of Bioactives from Dipsacus fullonum L. Leaves and Evaluation of Their Anti-Borrelia Activity

Lyme disease (LD) is a tick-borne bacterial disease that is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Although acute LD is treated with antibiotics, it can develop into relapsing chronic form caused by latent forms of B. burgdorferi. This leads to the search for phytochemicals against resistant LD. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the activity of Dipsacus fullonum L. leaves extract (DE) and its fractions against stationary phase B. burgdorferi in vitro. DE showed high activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi (residual viability 19.8 ± 4.7%); however, it exhibited a noticeable cytotoxicity on NIH cells (viability 20.2 ± 5.2%). The iridoid-glycoside fraction showed a remarkable anti-Borrelia effect and reduced cytotoxicity. The iridoid-glycoside fraction was, therefore, further purified and showed to contain two main bioactives—sylvestrosides III and IV, that showed a considerable anti-Borrelia activity being the least toxic to murine fibroblast NIH/3T3 cells. Moreover, the concentration of sylvestrosides was about 15% of DE, endorsing the feasibility of purification of the compounds from D. fullonum L. leaves