Application of Hyphenated Techniques in Speciation Analysis of Arsenic, Antimony, and Thallium

Due to the fact that metals and metalloids have a strong impact on the environment, the methods of their determination and speciation have received special attention in recent years. Arsenic, antimony, and thallium are important examples of such toxic elements. Their speciation is especially important in the environmental and biomedical fields because of their toxicity, bioavailability, and reactivity. Recently, speciation analytics has been playing a unique role in the studies of biogeochemical cycles of chemical compounds, determination of toxicity and ecotoxicity of selected elements, quality control of food products, control of medicines and pharmaceutical products, technological process control, research on the impact of technological installation on the environment, examination of occupational exposure, and clinical analysis. Conventional methods are usually labor intensive, time consuming, and susceptible to interferences. The hyphenated techniques, in which separation method is coupled with multidimensional detectors, have become useful alternatives. The main advantages of those techniques consist in extremely low detection and quantification limits, insignificant interference, influence as well as high precision and repeatability of the determinations. In view of their importance, the present work overviews and discusses different hyphenated techniques used for arsenic, antimony, and thallium species analysis, in different clinical, environmental and food matrices

Low-carbohydrate diet - application in the treatment of type 2 diabetes - review

Introduction: A very low carbohydrate diet called the ketogenic diet has been shown to be effective in the management of drug-resistant epilepsy. In the recent years it has been studied as a potential remedy for conditions such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases as well as various psychological disorders including drug-resistant depression and schizophrenia. This approach seems to be promising in managing abovementioned issues given a sufficient amount of commitment. There is an abundance of papers looking into the said diet yet not many of them seem to have been well deigned and carried out. Methods and materials: A review of chosen literature from PubMed database, GoogleScholar database between the years 2000-2024 was carried out using the following keywords: “low-carbohydrate”, low-carb”, “low carbohydrate diet”, “low-carb diet”, “type 2 diabetes”, “insulin”, “insulin resistance”, “obesity”. Aim of study: Review of the current knowledge on the influence of the therapeutic carbohydrate restriction on health, especially type 2 diabetes. Results: The introduction of the low-carbohydrate diet may have a beneficial influence on metabolism-related diseases. There is quite strong evidence proving it help with the management of type 2 diabetes and limit the amount of medication necessary to manage the disease as well as lower one’s body fat and blood pressure. It is however not an intervention without its limitations. Conclusions: Low carbohydrate diets seem to be safe and effective in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Further large-scale, randomized, well-designed studies with clearly set guidelines as to what constitutes a low-carbohydrate intervention using high-quality protein and fat sources are necessary to determine the efficacy and safety of the carbohydrate restriction in the long term

"Schisandra rubriflora" pllant material and in vitro microshoot cultures as rich sources of natural phenolic antioxidants

Schisandra rubriflora is a dioecious, underestimated medicinal plant species known from traditional Chinese medicine. The present study was aimed at characterising the polyphenolic profile composition and the related antioxidant capacity of S. rubriflora fruit, stem and leaf and in vitro microshoot culture extracts. Separate analyses of material from female and male specimens were carried out. This study was specifically aimed at detailed characterisation of the contribution of phenolic compounds to overall antioxidant activity using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector coupled to electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MS3 ) and a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Using UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MS3 , twenty-seven phenolic compounds from among phenolic acids and flavonoids were identified. Concentrations of three phenolic acids (neochlorogenic, chlorogenic and cryptochlorogenic acids) and eight flavonoids (hyperoside, rutoside, isoquercitrin, guaijaverin, trifolin, quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin) were determined using HPLC-DAD using reference standards. The highest total phenolic content was confirmed for the stem and leaf extracts collected in spring. The contents of phenolic compounds of in vitro biomasses were comparable to that in the fruit extracts. The methanolic extracts from the studied plant materials were evaluated for their antioxidant properties using various in vitro assays, namely free radicals scavenging estimation using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and cupric-reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) as well as QUick, Easy, New, CHEap, and Reproducible CUPRAC (QUENCHER-CUPRAC) assays. A close relationship between the content of polyphenolic compounds in S. rubriflora and their antioxidant potential has been documented

Phytochemical and biological activity studies on Nasturtium officinale (watercress) microshoot cultures grown in RITA®^{®} temporary immersion systems

The main compounds in both extracts were gluconasturtiin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin and rutoside, the amounts of which were, respectively, determined as 182.93, 58.86 and 23.24 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) in biomass extracts and 640.94, 23.47 and 7.20 mg/100 g DW in plant herb extracts. The antioxidant potential of all the studied extracts evaluated using CUPRAC (CUPric Reducing Antioxidant Activity), FRAP (Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma), and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assays was comparable. The anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts was tested based on the inhibition of 15-lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase-1, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and phospholipase A2. The results demonstrate significantly higher inhibition of COX-2 for in vitro cultured biomass compared with the herb extracts (75.4 and 41.1%, respectively). Moreover, all the studied extracts showed almost similar antibacterial and antifungal potential. Based on these findings, and due to the fact that the growth of in vitro microshoots is independent of environmental conditions and unaffected by environmental pollution, we propose that biomass that can be rapidly grown in RITA® bioreactors can serve as an alternative source of bioactive compounds with valuable biological properties

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) for addiction control – review

Abstract Introduction: Addiction is a complex phenomenon whose development may be related to many factors. Its treatment often includes behavioral therapy, social support, and in the case of substance addictions, may also include drug therapy. A key element of therapy is understanding the causes and mechanisms of addiction and developing the ability to cope with temptations and difficulties. In this particular context the utilization of mindfulness practices demonstrates promising potential in aiding the management of addiction. Purpose: Provide an overview of the current understanding regarding the efficacy of mindfulness training in addiction therapies. Description of the state of knowledge: The importance of employing mindfulness techniques in addressing addiction is steadily rising. Consistent practice of mindfulness offers advantages in addressing addictive behaviors by aiding individuals in comprehending and regulating impulses as well as managing intense cravings. Mindfulness facilitates an enhancement in self-awareness and recognition of personal reactions, proving especially beneficial in the process of recovery from addiction. Summary: Research shows that mindfulness training may be a promising intervention in addiction control because it increases self-control and promotes emotion regulation. However, further research is needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of mindfulness for addiction control. Keywords: mindfulness; addiction; addictive behavior; dependence; substance use disorder

The Multi-Scale Infrastructure for Chemistry and Aerosols (MUSICA)

To explore the various couplings across space and time and between ecosystems in a consistent manner, atmospheric modeling is moving away from the fractured limited-scale modeling strategy of the past toward a unification of the range of scales inherent in the Earth system. This paper describes the forward-looking Multi-Scale Infrastructure for Chemistry and Aerosols (MUSICA), which is intended to become the next-generation community infrastructure for research involving atmospheric chemistry and aerosols. MUSICA will be developed collaboratively by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and university and government researchers, with the goal of serving the international research and applications communities. The capability of unifying various spatiotemporal scales, coupling to other Earth system components, and process-level modularization will allow advances in both fundamental and applied research in atmospheric composition, air quality, and climate and is also envisioned to become a platform that addresses the needs of policy makers and stakeholders

Mineralogy of a Mudstone at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars

Sedimentary rocks at Yellowknife Bay (Gale Crater) on Mars include mudstone sampled by the Curiosity rover. The samples, John Klein and Cumberland, contain detrital basaltic minerals, Ca-sulfates, Fe oxide/hydroxides, Fe-sulfides, amorphous material, and trioctahedral smectites. The John Klein smectite has basal spacing of ~10 Å indicating little interlayer hydration. The Cumberland smectite has basal spacing at ~13.2 Å as well as ~10 Å. The ~13.2 Å spacing suggests a partially chloritized interlayer or interlayer Mg or Ca facilitating H_2O retention. Basaltic minerals in the mudstone are similar to those in nearby eolian deposits. However, the mudstone has far less Fe-forsterite, possibly lost with formation of smectite plus magnetite. Late Noachian/Early Hesperian or younger age indicates that clay mineral formation on Mars extended beyond Noachian time

First Results of Atmospheric Composition Retrieval using IASI-METOP and AIRS-AQUA Data

Regularization methods for the inversion of infrared nadir sounding observations are currently investigated. An iterative Runge-Kutta type method for nonlinear ill-posed problems has been implemented and its performance has been studied using synthetic measurements. Comparisons with Tikhonov type inversion with a priori regularization parameter selection indicate that both methods are of similar accuracy; however, the Runge-Kutta method is less sensitive to regularization parameter variations. Furthermore, vertical column density retrieval from nadir infrared sounders such as AIRS will be used for validation of column densities retrieved from near infrared SCIAMACHY observations. Two closely related retrieval codes are used for L2 processing of SCIAMACHY near infrared and AIRS mid infrared spectra. First results of this intercomparison are shown

THEORY OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT BASED ON DEMAND FORECASTING

Efficient management of supply chains consists in particular in ensuring possibly highest quality of customer service and striving for minimization of the costs generated by flow between the links. Typical cause of constantly increasing costs is excessive inventory levels throughout the chain. The reason for this situation is maladjustment of the level of supply to the level of demand in the market, which results in surplus stock. The starting point for reduction in inventory levels is forecasting of demand in the market through market prognoses in cooperation with all the links in the supply chain. Therefore, in the aspect of demand forecasting, the character of data flow and the type of cooperation between the links is essential.dependent and independent inventory, demand forecasting