Polyphenol profile and pharmaceutical potential of Quercus spp. bark extracts

Targeted profiling of polyphenols in trees may reveal valuable sources of natural compounds with major applications in pharmacology and disease control. The current study targeted the profiling of polyphenols using HPLC-DAD in Quercus robur, Q. macrocarpa and Q. acutissima bark extracts. Free radical scavenging of each extract was investigated using antioxidant assays. Antimicrobial activities against a wide spectrum of bacteria and fungi were explored, as well as anticancer activities against di erent cancer cell lines. The HPLC-DAD analyses revealed the availability of several polyphenols in high amounts, including ellagic acid (in Q. robur) and caffeic acid (in Q. macrocarpa) in all three species. The bioactivity assay revealed high antioxidant activity in Q. robur compared to that of the other species, as well as phenolic standards. The three oak bark extracts showed clear antibacterial activities against most bacteria tested, with the highest antibacterial activities in the extracts of Q. robur. In addition, the three extracts showed higher antibacterial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Micrococcus flavus, and Escherichia coli compared to that of other bacteria. There were strong antifungal activities against some fungi, such as Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium funiculosum, and Penicillium ochrochloron. There were also noticeable anticancer activities against MCF-7, HeLa, Jurkat, and HT-29 cell lines, with the highest anticancer activity in the extracts of Q. robur. This is the first study that reveals not only novel sources of important polyphenols (e.g., ellagic acid) in Q. robur, Q. macrocarpa and Q. acutissima bark but also their anticancer activities against diverse cancer cell lines

Vibration signal for bearing fault detection using random forest

Based on the chosen properties of an induction motor, a random forest (RF) classifier, a machine learning technique, is examined in this study for bearing failure detection. A time-varying actual dataset with four distinct bearing states was used to evaluate the suggested methodology. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the bearing defect detection accuracy of the RF classifier. First, run four loops that cycle over each feature of the data frame corresponding to the daytime index to determine the bearing states. There were 465 repetitions of the inner race fault and the roller element fault in test 1, 218 repetitions of the outer race fault in test 2, and 6324 repetitions of the outer race in test 3. Secondly, the task is to find the data for the typical bearing data procedure to differentiate between normal and erroneous data. Out of 3 tests, (22-23) % normal data was obtained since every bearing beginning to degrade usually exhibits some form of a spike in many locations, or the bearing is not operating at its optimum speed. Thirdly, to display and comprehend the data in a 2D and 3D environment, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is performed. Fourth, the RF algorithm classifier recognized the data frame's actual predictions, which were 99% correct for normal bearings, 97% accurate for outer races, 94% accurate for inner races, and 97% accurate for roller element faults. It is thus concluded that the proposed algorithm is capable to identify the bearing faults

Water-Saving Irrigation Strategies in Potato Fields: Effects on Physiological Characteristics and Water Use in Arid Region

In this study, field experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of two water-saving practices—partial root-zone drying (PRD) and deficit irrigation (DI)—on potato growth and yield in comparison with full irrigation (FI). The required FI amount was applied to the potato plants to enable 100% crop evapotranspiration, and the plants received 70% and 50% of the irrigation amount of FI for DI (DI70 and DI50) and PRD (PRD70 and PRD50), respectively. The physiological characteristics of the potatoes during the 2014–2015 seasons indicated that the relative chlorophyll contents were not significantly higher for the DI and PRD treatments than for the FI treatment. The DI50 had the lowest net photosynthesis rate (p < 0.05) while DI50 and PRD50 had significantly lower stomatal conductance (gs) values in both years. Meanwhile, the values of the PRD treatments were lower than those of DI treatments based on the transpiration rates. The xylem (abscisic acid) based on PRD50 had an average increase of 0.38 mol/m2 s due to decreasing gs values compared with other water-saving irrigation treatments. However, the FI and DI treatments had increased fresh tuber yields compared with the yields of PRD treatments. Furthermore, the PRD70 and PRD50 treatments significantly reduced the water productivity (WP) values by 30.16% and 41.32%, respectively, relative to that of FI

Impact of Partial Root Drying and Soil Mulching on Squash Yield and Water Use Efficiency in Arid

Practical and sustainable water management systems are needed in arid regions due to water shortages and climate change. Therefore, an experiment was initiated in winter (WS) and spring (SS), to investigate integrating deficit irrigation, associated with partial root drying (PRD) and soil mulching, under subsurface drip irrigation on squash yield, fruit quality, and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). Two mulching treatments, transparent plastic mulch (WM) and black plastic mulch (BM), were tested, and a treatment without mulch (NM) was used as a control. Three levels of irrigation were examined in a split-plot design with three replications: 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), representing full irrigation (FI), 70% of ETc (PRD70), and 50% of ETc (PRD50). There was a higher squash yield and lower IWUE in SS than WS. The highest squash yields were recorded for PDR70 (82.53 Mg ha−1) and FI (80.62 Mg ha−1). The highest IWUE was obtained under PRD50. Plastic mulch significantly increased the squash yield (34%) and IWUE (46%) and enhanced stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, transpiration, leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, and leaf chlorophyll contents under PRD plants. These results indicate that in arid and semi-arid regions, soil mulch with deficit PRD could be used as a water-saving strategy without reducing yields

Antioxidant, Scavenging, Reducing, and Anti-Proliferative Activities of Selected Tropical Brown Seaweeds Confirm the Nutraceutical Potential of Spatoglossum asperum

Brown seaweeds have shown high potential of bioactivity and provide health benefits as an important functional food ingredient. Therefore, four abundantly growing tropical brown seaweeds—Iyengaria stellata, Spatoglossum asperum, Sargassum linearifolium, and Stoechospermum polypodioides—were collected from the Saurashtra Coast of the Arabian Sea. They were analyzed for metabolite profiling, biochemical activities (including total antioxidant, reducing, scavenging, and anti-proliferative characteristics), and total phenolic and flavonoid contents. A concentration-dependent antioxidant, reducing, and scavenging activities were observed for all four brown seaweeds. The S. asperum and I. stellata extracts showed maximum total antioxidant activity. S. asperum also showed high scavenging and reducing activities compared to other studied brown seaweeds. Further, S. asperum contained high total phenolic and flavonoid content compared to other brown seaweeds collected from the same coast. A multivariate correlation study confirmed a positive correlation between total phenolic and flavonoid contents, and biochemical activities (total antioxidant, scavenging and reducing) for all brown seaweeds. About 35% anti-proliferative activity was observed with S. asperum extract on Huh7 cells; in contrast S. polypodioide showed about 44% proliferation inhibition of Huh7 cells. Similarly, 26% proliferation inhibition of HeLa cells was observed with S. asperum extract. Overall, S. asperum possesses high total flavonoid and phenolic amounts, and showed potential antioxidant, scavenging and reducing characteristics. The study confirmed the nutraceutical potential of S. asperum and that it could be a promising functional food ingredient

Heuchera Creme Brulee and Mahogany Medicinal Value under Water Stress and Oligosaccharide (COS) Treatment

Food borne pathogens cause serious human illnesses and diseases and their control using natural bioactive compounds becomes essential for the progress of agricultural and food industries. Developing novel tools to enhance the medicinal values of traditional horticultural medicinal crops is one of the promising methods for achieving food borne pathogens control. In this study, oligosaccharide water solutions were applied to Heuchera Creme Brulee and Mahogany subjected to a normal irrigation interval (2 days) or to prolonged irrigation intervals (6 days) for 6 weeks. Plant morphological, physiological, and metabolic markers associated with the bioactivity of leaf extracts against selected microbes. Oligosaccharide-treated plants showed significant increases in all morphological parameters during normal and prolonged irrigation intervals as compared to those of the controls. Morphological improvement associated with a significant increase in chlorophyll, carbohydrates, proline, K, Ca, phenols, and free and total ascorbate and antioxidants. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase activities were higher, while H2O2 accumulated to a lower extent in oligosaccharide-treated plants. These morphological and metabolic changes associated with increased antibacterial and antifungal activities of leaf extracts and their activities were comparable to antibiotics and antifungal agents (minimum inhibitory concentrations values were 0.5 -0.20 mg−1mL for bacteria and 0.08 -0.20 mg−1mL for fungi in Mahogany). The application of oligosaccharide and/or water stress might be of great value for producing natural bioactive compounds for food borne pathogens control

Phenolic Compounds of <i>Catalpa speciosa</i>, <i>Taxus cuspidate</i>, and <i>Magnolia acuminata</i> have Antioxidant and Anticancer Activity

Tree bark represents an important source of medicinal compounds that may be useful for cancer therapy. In the current study, high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) was used to determine the profile of the phenolic compounds of Catalpa speciosa, Taxus cuspidata, and Magnolia acuminata bark extracts. The antioxidant and anticancer bioactivities against different cancer cell lines were investigated. M. acuminata exerted significantly higher antioxidant activities in the diphenyl picrylhydrazine and &#946;-carotene-linoleic acid assays than the other species. In C. speciosa, novel profiles of phenolic acids (ferulic acid was the predominant compound) and catechin were detected. In T. cuspidata, six phenolic acids were detected; the predominant compounds were hydroxycaffeic acid and protocatechuic acid. In M. acuminata, two phenolic acids and three catechins were detected; catechin was the predominant compound. The three species exerted clear anticancer activity against MCF-7, HeLa, Jurkat, T24, and HT-29 cells, with the strongest activity found in the extracts from M. acuminata. No antiproliferative activity against normal cells was found. Flow cytometry revealed greater accumulation of necrotic and early/late apoptotic cells in various treated cancer cells than in untreated control cells, and protocatechuic acid induced a similar accumulation of necrotic cells to that of the bark extracts. Caspase-3 and -7 activity was increased in cancer cells treated with different bark extracts; the highest activity was found in the M. acuminata treatment. Our results suggested that the treatment of cancer cells with bark extracts of M. acuminata, C. speciosa, and T. cuspidata, and protocatechuic acid induced apoptosis, suggesting an association between anticancer activities and individual phenolic compounds

Defensive Mechanisms in Cucurbits against Melon Fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae) Infestation through Excessive Production of Defensive Enzymes and Antioxidants

Melon fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae) is the most common pest of cucurbits, and it directly causes damage to cucurbit fruits in the early developmental stage. The infection of fruit tissues induces oxidative damage through increased generation of cellular reactive oxygen species. The effects of melon fly infestation on the production of defensive enzymes and antioxidant capabilities in five cucurbit species, namely, bottle gourd, chayote, cucumber, snake gourd, and bitter gourd, were investigated in this study. The total phenolic and flavonoid content was considerably higher in melon fly infestation tissues compared to healthy and apparently healthy tissues. The chayote and bottle gourd tissues expressed almost 1.5- to 2-fold higher phenolic and flavonoid contents compared to the tissues of bitter gourd, snake gourd, and cucumber upon infestation. Defensive enzymes, such as peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and catalase (CAT), were high in healthy and infected tissues of chayote and bottle gourd compared to bitter gourd, snake gourd, and cucumber. The activity of POD (60–80%), SOD (30–35%), PPO (70–75%), and CAT (40–50%) were high in infected chayote and bottle gourd tissue, representing resistance against infestation, while bitter gourd, snake gourd, and cucumber exhibited comparatively lower activity suggesting susceptibility to melon fly infection. The antioxidant properties were also high in the resistant cucurbits compared to the susceptible cucurbits. The current research has enlightened the importance of redox-regulatory pathways involving ROS neutralization through infection-induced antioxidative enzymes in host cucurbit resistance. The melon fly infestation depicts the possible induction of pathways that upregulate the production of defensive enzymes and antioxidants as a defensive strategy against melon fly infestation in resistant cucurbits

Climate Change-Induced Drought Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation Measures in Semi-Arid Pastoral and Agricultural Watersheds

Periodic drought is a major challenge in drought-prone areas of South Asia. A sample survey of farmers (n = 400) from South Asia was conducted to study the farmers&rsquo; perception about drought impacts on their socio-economic status, agro-biodiversity, and adaptation besides public institutions&rsquo; drought mitigation measures. The results revealed reduced surface and groundwater availability, soil degradation, partial or complete crop failure, increased agricultural fallows and wastelands, biodiversity loss, decrease in agricultural yields, pasture lands, and livestock in drought-impacted South Asia. About 16&ndash;26% of the farmers perceived a reduction in the agricultural area and production of commercial crops and millets in drought-prone areas, while changes in the cropping of pulses, oilseeds, horticultural, and fodder crops were minimal. About 57&ndash;92% of respondents showed a reduction in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and fish. Unemployment, migration, reduced farm income, and malnutrition were major socio-economic impacts among respondents (38&ndash;46%). Despite sufficient public support as a mitigation strategy, the farmers had poor participation (8&ndash;65%) for agri-information and adaptation (7&ndash;36%) against drought impacts. Hence, researchers, extension agents, and policymakers must develop efficient &lsquo;participatory-mode&rsquo; drought adaptation and mitigation policies in watershed-based semi-arid pastoral and agricultural regions of South Asia and similar agro-ecologies across the globe