Effect of Daily Chewing Soft Buds and Leaves of Catha edulis (Khat) on the Antioxidant Defense System and Oxidative Stress Markers in Blood

Catha edulis (Khat) is one of the major economic, social and health problems in Yemen. This paper aimed to study the effect of Khat on the oxidative status of Khat chewers by measuring the levels of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant as well as lipid peroxidation. The results exhibited significant reduction in erythrocytes superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC: 1.15.1.1), and catalase (CAT, EC: 1.11.1.6) in Khat chewers, in addition to elevation of serum glutathione-S-transferase (GST, EC: 2.5.1.18). Furthermore, non-enzymatic antioxidants glutathione (GSH) and vitamin C were significantly reduced (p < 0.001; p < 0.015), whereas malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly elevated (p < 0.001). The depletion of GSH and vitamin C along with MDA elevation in Khat chewers compared with control reflects the obvious oxidative status, a result of enormous reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, leading to membrane damage. ROS possibly induced by active components of Khat or by pesticides added to the Khat tree. In addition, the reduction of SOD and CAT is indicative to cellular proteins damage which occurred by ROS. As well, the elevation of GST may due to a leakage of cellular GST to blood stream; this implies that GST active site was not affected. This study concludes that daily chewing Khat for long period certainly induce ROS production, leading to oxidative toxicity. Both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants are involved in the protection against this toxicity. People who habitually chew Khat for long term will be susceptible to the oxidative toxicity; therefore, they recommended giving up of Khat chewing

INFLUENCE OF KHAT ON THE LEVEL OF CLINICAL BIOMARKERS IN BLOOD OF KHAT CHEWERS

<p>Describe the effect of khat chewing on the biochemical and clinical markers in blood </p

Nanoencapsulation of Mandarin Essential Oil: Fabrication, Characterization, and Storage Stability

This study evaluates the combined efficiency of whey protein isolate (WPI) with maltodextrin (MD) and gum arabic (GA), as a delivery system for encapsulating Citrus reticulata essential oil (CEO). The wall materials blended at different rates were produced to obtain seven formulations of nanocapsules (NCEO), namely NCEO-GA, NCEO-MD, NCEO-WPI, NCEO-GA/MD, NCEO-GA/WPI, NCEO-MD/WPI, and NCEO-GA/MD/WPI. The interaction between CEO and WPI was simulated by molecular docking. Findings showed that the physicochemical characteristics and storage stability of formulations containing WPI were considerably improved. The NCEO-GA/MD/WPI formulation demonstrated the optimum values of encapsulation efficiency (92.08%), highest glass transition temperature (79.11 °C), high crystallinity (45.58%), high thermal stability (mass loss at 100 °C < 5%), and also had the highest antioxidant activity and lowest peroxide value after storage. This study demonstrated that combining WPI with MD and GA, as wall material encapsulation, can produce nanocapsules with superior properties to those created using polysaccharides individually

Towards rapidly quantifying and visualizing starch content of sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] based on NIR spectral and image data fusion

This study aimed to achieve the rapid quantification and visualization of the starch content in sweet potato via near-infrared (NIR) spectral and image data fusion. The hyperspectral images of the sweet potato samples containing 900-1700 nm spectral information within every pixel were collected. The spectra were preprocessed, analyzed and the 18 informative wavelengths were finally extracted to relate to the measured starch content using the multiple linear regression (MLR) algorithm, producing a good quantitative prediction accuracy with a correlation coefficient of prediction (rP) of 0.970 and a root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.874 g/100 g by an external validation using a set of dependent samples. The MLR model was further verified in terms of soundness and predictive validity via F-test and t-test, and then transferred to each pixel of the original two dimensional images with the help of a developed algorithm, generating color distribution maps to achieve the vivid visualization of the starch distribution. The study demonstrated that the fusion of the NIR spectral and image data provided a good strategy for the rapidly and nondestructively monitoring the starch content of sweet potato. This technique can be applied to industrial use in the future.The authors acknowledge that this work was financially supported by Henan Province Science and Technology Project (No. 222102110113), Cooperation Project of Henan Institute of Science and Technology (No. 2021410707000060), High Talents Project of Henan Institute of Science and Technology (No. 2015015)

Effect of Daily Chewing Soft Buds and Leaves of Catha edulis (Khat) on the Antioxidant Defense System and Oxidative Stress Markers in Blood

<p>Describe the effect of khat chewing on the level of oxidative biomarkers on blood</p

Fabrication and characterization of chitosan/gelatin films loaded with microcapsules of pulicaria jaubertii extract

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of incorporating two concentrations of microcapsules containing Pulicaria jaubertii extract (MPJE) on the physicochemical, microstructure, and bioactivities properties of films based on chitosan (CH), gelatin (GEL), and CH50:GEL50 for possible use as active food packaging in the future. The MPJE treatment was compatible with the CH and/or GEL film without affecting chemical structures. Physico-mechanical results revealed that the CH50:GEL50 film showed optimal properties. The films blended with MPJE considerably improved in glass transition temperature and thermal stability. The films treated with MPJE presented high barrier property toward UV and visible light. Compared with that of the control films, the microstructure of the films loaded with MPJE had a rougher surface with homogeneous microcapsules, which increased with increasing MPJE concentration. Furthermore, mixing MPJE with CH and/or GEL led to the for�mation of high bioactive films with lower moisture content than the control films, suggesting that MPJE can be utilized to preserve lipid-rich foods