Antioxidant Compounds, Mineral Content and Antioxidant Activity of Several Tomato Cultivars Grown in Southwestern Romania

Ten indeterminate tomato cultivars differing in fruit shape and typology, grown simultaneously in a greenhouse from Oltenia (Southwestern Romania) and harvested at red ripe stage, were investigated for the contents in ascorbic acid, lycopene, β-carotene, total phenolics, minerals (K, Na, Ca and Mg) and trace elements (Fe, Cu, Mn, Cr, Zn and B). In addition, their antioxidant activities were determined. Significant differences were found among tomato cultivars in all studied antioxidant compounds, as well as in the antioxidant activity. Ascorbic acid ranged from 91.9 to 329.7 mg kg-1 fw, lycopene ranged from 19.7 to 49.0 mg kg-1 fw, while total phenolic compounds varied between 300.2 and 557.8 mg kg-1 fw. Antioxidant activity ranged from 0.81 mmol Trolox kg-1 fw to 1.74 mmol Trolox kg-1 fw and it was significantly correlated to total phenolics content (r = 0.91; p< 0.05). The cocktail type cultivar ‘Tiger’ and the cherry type cultivar ‘Belle’ proved to be the most powerful in antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds while the rectangular plum shaped cultivar ‘Porto’ recorded the highest average lycopene content. A valuable cultivar proved to be the brownish red ‘Sacher’ which registered among the highest contents of phenolics, lycopene and ascorbic acid. Mineral and trace elements contents were also significantly affected by cultivars. Values recorded for K, Ca and Mg ranged from 2139.6 to 3056.9 mg kg-1, 137.7 to 325.8 mg kg-1 and 27.3 to 168.7 mg kg-1 respectively

Influence of the extraction solvent on antioxidant capacity and total phenolic in currant fruits

In black and red currant fruits the phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were determined. Two solvent systems (methanol and ethanol) at different concentrations and two methods of extraction were used. The study was conducted using fruits of black currant and red currant for determinations. The total phenolics content of each extract was measured according to the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The anti-oxidant capacity of the fruit extracts was evaluated using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging assay. It was found that the efficiency of the solvents used for the extraction of polyphenols varied substantially. The total phenolic content was 0.88 to 4.6 gallic acid equivalents in milligrams per gram of fresh weight (mg GAE /g FW). The content of phenolics was highly correlated with the anti-oxidant capacity (r = 0.97 - 0.98) and extracts obtained using ethanol solvents were more effective radical scavenging activities than the ones obtained using methanol solvents.  Fruits of red and black currant represent an abundant source of phenolics, and prove to have good anti-oxidant capacity

MINERAL COMPOSITION OF FRUIT IN BLACK AND RED CURRANT

ABSTRACT. Black currants (Ribes nigrum) and red currants (Ribes rubrum) are highly appreciated for the food and therapeutic value of their fruits. ('Record', 'Bogatar', 'Deea', 'Abanos', 'Blackdown', 'Ronix', 'Tinker', 'Tenah') and three red currants cultivars ('Rosu timpuriu', 'Abundent', 'Houghton Castle') Mineral composition was determined in eight black currants cultivars . For both species analyzed, the results indicated significant differences between cultivars (P < 0.05). The order of nutritive element

THE IMPACT OF DEFLATION ON FISCAL AGGREGATES

This article addresses the phenomenon of deflation from a historical perspective, a phenomenon rarely encountered in our day. Deflation is generally defined as the fall in the aggregate level of the consumer price index, respectively, the reverse inflationary phenomenon. The article also presents, in addition to experiences in different countries in times when deflation has been more pronounced and longer, and the effects it may have on public finance aggregates. The paper analyses the literature of all time that deals with the subject, as well as a presentation of the empirical data recorded, and an econometric analysis wishing to highlight the impact that the aggregate index of prices may have on public debt, using data recorded in Romania during 2000-2017

Evolution of antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruits during growth and ripening

The interest in the consumption of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is, to a large extent, due to its content of bioactive compounds and their importance as dietary antioxidants. During the growth and ripening process, there are quantitative and qualitative changes in the fruit composition which determine the nutritional quality and antioxidant potential at each stage.Two halfdeterminate early hybrids cultivars (Prekos and Balkan) and one indeterminate mid-early hybrid cultivar (Reyana) were considered for this study. Fruits from plants grown on sandy soil in an unheated greenhouse were collected at three growth and six maturity stages. Antioxidant activity, dry matter, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, lycopene, beta-carotene, chlorophylls and total phenolic contents were monitored. During fruit growth, dry matter, soluble solids and titratable acidity recorded a slight decrease, polyphenols and beta-carotene contents remained almost the same while ascorbic acid content and antioxidant activity increased continuously. The stage of ripening significantly influenced the content of all bioactive compounds as well as the antioxidant activity of tomato fruits. The first stages of ripening were characterized by a slight decrease of the dry matter content and by an increase of the titratable acidity, while in the last two stages of ripening these variations reversed. Ascorbic acid and total phenolics content increased as maturity progressed from mature green to pink or light red stage and decreased afterward. Lycopene started to accumulate since turning and sharply increased in the last three stages, on average 36%of the lycopene content being accumulated in the last stage of ripening. In terms of hydrophilic antioxidant activity, depending on the cultivar, the pink or light red stages were the ones with the greatest potential. Althoughthere weresignificant differences among the contents of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of the three cultivars studied, their patterns of variation during the nine stages were quite similar

Bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of hot pepper fruits at different stages of growth and ripening

The evolution of some bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity has been investigated during fruit growth and ripening of five pepper cultivars: ‘Dracula’, ’Pintea’, ‘Pepperone’, ‘Bulgarian carrot’ (C. annuum) and ‘Christmas bell’ (C. baccatum var. pendulum). High-performance liquid chromatography was used to quantify the content of capsaicin in the fruit in order to determine the pungency level of analyzed peppers. Pepper fruits were collected at five stages of growth and ripening. Dry matter, soluble solids, ascorbic acid, total phenolics, including total flavonoids, capsaicin content and antioxidant activity were determined at each stage. There were major differences among the cultivars in the accumulation of the bioactive compounds in the fruit during their growth and ripening, although the quantitative accumulation pathway of various components had a similar trend during phenophases. Antioxidant activity and ascorbic acid content increased during growth and ripening of hot peppers, the highest levels being found in the last stage of ripening. The pattern of variation of total flavonoid content was cultivar dependent. In most cultivars, an important increase of the total phenolic and total flavonoid content was observed in the last stage of ripening. Capsaicin content recorded a maximum level in F3 or F4 depending on cultivar, and decreased afterwards until the complete ripening of the pepper fruits. ‘Dracula’ cultivar was classified as “non-pungent” (fruits are not spicy) while ‘Pintea’ was classified as “highly pungent”, the other analyzed cultivars having an average level of pungency

Particularities regarding Clinical-biological and Evolutive Parameters of Immune-mediated Rheumatic Diseases in Patients with COVID-19 – systematic literature review

Background: Since its outbreak in 2019, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)/Severe Acu-te Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was a serious medical threat and was declared Global Pandemic, triggering fear, panic and uncertainty for people around the Globe. Among those individuals, there is a specific category of patients – the ones with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (IMIDs) – whose mantra from the diagnosis was to avoid infections at all costs because of the additional negative impact on the immune sys-tem and overall reactivity. Objective: Considering the aforementioned, our objective is to understand the in-depth relation of the immune system of patients with IMIDs in the set-ting of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the real bur-den of the disease and vaccination against COVID-19. Materials and Methods: In this res-pect, we have conducted a thoroughly systematic literature review according to the “Prefer-red Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)” concept. Following its five-steps algorithm, we first selected 745 articles that were published in re-putable international medical databases, ISI-indexed, for the period 1 January, 2021–31 December, 2022. After consequent elimination of duplicates, of articles that were not En-glish-written and “open access” and then applying PEDro classification/scoring-inspired, only 58 articles were selected for in-depth full qualitative reading. In the last stage,20 arti-cles were “excluded with reasons”, because they didn’t offer significant information. The-refore, in our systematic literature review, 38 articles were included.Results: In the data gathered in this review we described the molecular pathways of activation of the immune system triggered by COVID-19, with significance on the clinical and paraclinical aspects of IMID patients infected with the new Coronavirus. Patients with IMIDs are at higher risk for hospitalization if diagnosed with SARS-CoV2 and more prone to severe outcomes and death. Risk factors associated with severe outcomes and death are: age, comorbidities, un-derlying disease activity, therapies used (“the good” being anti-tumor necrosis factor α, “the bad” – Methotrexate, Sulfasalazine, Azathioprine and “the ugly” – anti CD20 mono-clonal antibodies). There were several reports of flares and new-onset of IMIDs after CO-VID-19 and after vaccination against this disease, but data from larger studies and registri-es do not confirm higher incidence of flare-ups or new-onset IMIDs. Regarding vaccination, of mounting importance is the timing between immunomodulatory and immunosuppres-sive agents and the administration of the vaccine. And last but not the least, we discussed about Long COVID and the role of artificial intelligence in the pandemic and related-drug development. Discussion and Conclusion: The data in our systematic literature review is consistent with the expertise from our clinical practice. This article is the first part of the doctoral study that is centralized on the same topics, with the current objective of deepe-ning the knowledge about the intersection of COVID-19/SARS-CoV2 and immune-mediated rheumatic diseases and a future objective: to compare information we have synthetized here with our database of almost 170 Romanian patients with a IMID and COVID-19/SARS-CoV2. The next objective is to extend the study to a multicenter control one