Comparative study of essential oil content and composition of Ducrosia anethifolia at two phenologocal stage

Background and objectives: Ducrosia anethifolia is one species which belongs to Apiaceae family that is used to improve the odor of foods and drinks. It is used also to treat catarrh, headache and backache in folk medicine. The herb is also reported to relax the mind and body and induce a peaceful sleep. The growing stage has an important role in quantity and quality of medicinal plants metabolite. In this study, the oil content and composition of D. anethifolia at two growth stages (full flowering and seed formation) were studied. Methods: Oil content of this plant was isolated by hydrodistillation method by Clevenger type apparatus. Chemical composition was detected by GC and GC/MS analysis. Results: The results showed that the phenological stage had significant effect on the oil content and composition. Oil content at seed formation was more than the flowering stage (0.24 and 0.96% v/w, respectively). At the flowering stage, n-dodecanal (14.43%), dodecanal (13.30%) and n-decanoic acid (11.61%) were the major constituents while in the seed formation stage, they were detected slightly. Besides, at seed formation stage cis-chrysanthenyl acetae (39.06%), cubenol (7.97%) and p-cymene-7-ol (4.30%) were identified as the main composition. Conclusion: The results showed depending on our goal for each plant usage, the harvest time could be different; during seed formation the oil content increased significantly

Antioxidant activity, phenolics content and total flavonoids of caper fruit (Caparis spinosa) at different maturity stages

Background and objectives: Capparis spinosa is a perennial herb belonging to the Capparidaceae family that is mainly distributed in arid and semi-arid regions of the tropical and subtropical world. The plant is a potential source of valuable nutrients that is valued for human food. The fruit of this plant, being a rich source of high-value components, is usually pickled and added to salads, sauces and jams. Different organs have different amounts of biochemical compounds. Maturity stages have important effects on fruit quality. In order to determine the best time for obtaining the maximum secondary metabolites (phenolics content, antioxidant activity and total flavonoids) from caper fruits, three stages of maturity (unripe, ripe and over ripe fruits) were studied. Methods: Measured factors were antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging property) total flavonoids, flavones and flavonols content, total phenolic compounds (Folin reagent by calorimetric method), tannin content and carbohydrate content. Results: The results showed the significant effect of fruit maturity on most measured traits. Maturity decreased flavones and flavonoles (0.72, 0.34 and 0.22 mg quercetin/g respectively) and total flavonoids content (7.20, 3.61 and 3.51 mg quercetin/g respectively) while total phenolic and carbohydrate has increased during ripening. Antioxidant activity had not significant changed during ripening. Conclusion: Unripe fruits were the best samples for achieving the maximum flavonoids content that were assumed as major compound of Caper fruit

Correlation between coping strategies and health status of burn patients after discharge at burn centers in Tehran

Background and aimBurn is the third leading cause of death leading to decreased quality of life and disability. Deformity and dysfunction in afflicted patients make their return to community hard. They often apply inappropriate coping strategies, resulting in incompliance with the disease, lack of seeking assistance and impairment of health condition. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted to identify the correlation between coping strategies and health condition of burned patients after discharge at burn centers of Tehran in 2009.  Materials and methods89 patients experiencing moderate to severe burns over the age of 15 after at least 1 month or at most 5 years were selected with convenience sampling method. 3 questionnaires including “Personal Characteristics,” “Burn Specific Health Status Scale” and “Coping with Burn” were used for data collection. After identifying content and face validities of the questionnaires, their reliabilities were identified by internal consistency. Data were gathered by self-report and medical records of patients and also were analyzed by SPSS 14. FindingsMost subjects (%41.6) had moderate health status. None had very good health status. Physical domain (%44) was better than other aspects. Psychological (%40.2) and socioeconomic (%39.3) domains were in the second and third ranks. In addition, most subjects (%56.8) had used avoidance coping strategy after discharge while least of them (%51) had used emotionally-focused strategy. A correlation was found between health status and coping strategy. Those using avoidance had weaker heath condition than others with a statistical significance in psychological domain (P=0.01). ConclusionFindings showed that the subjects had better status in physical domain than socioeconomic one. Most of them had used avoidance strategy and health status was correlated with coping strategies. Keywords: Coping strategies, Health status, Discharge, Burn patient. *Corresponding Author: Lecturer, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid BeheshtiUniversity of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]

Environmental enrichment and pain sensitivity; a study in maternally separated rats

Rodents are highly dependent on maternal care after birth. Maternal separation (MS) is an animal model for studying neglect and abuse. Depriving the pup of such care renders the animal with Hypothalamic�Pituitary�adrenal (HPA) dysfunction and these animals are more susceptible to anxiety and stress as well as poor cognition. These effects are due to abnormal brain development in these animals. We have tried to investigate how maternal separation can affect pain sensation and whether a non-pharmacological intervention such as enriched environment (EE) can restore an abnormal pain sensation. Animals were put into four groups MS, control (CTRL) and MS + EE and CTRL + EE groups that underwent EE after weaning until adulthood. These groups were tested for pain sensitivity with hot plate and tail flick for sensory pain and formalin for affect pain. The results showed that MS rats are more sensitive to pain in the hot plate test and formalin test, however, no significant difference was seen between groups for tail flick test. When MS rats experience EE their pain sensitivity is restored at the behavioral level. Further research is required to see how EE restores pain sensation in MS rats. © 2020 International Society for Developmental Neuroscienc

Efficacy and safety of honey based formulation of Nigella sativa seed oil in functional dyspepsia: A double blind randomized controlled clinical trial

Ethnopharmacological relevance A honey based formulation from Nigella sativa L. (N. sativa) has been used in Traditional Persian Medicine for upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Considering the traditional use of this formulation and its ingredients known pharmacologic effects, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of N. sativa seed oil mixed with honey in treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia. Methods and materials Seventy patients diagnosed with functional dyspepsia according to Rome III criteria and confirmed by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were selected to receive a traditional honey based formulation of N. sativa (5 ml N. sativa oil orally daily) or placebo for 8 weeks in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial using a parallel design with a 1:1 allocation ratio. Patients were evaluated prior to and following 8 weeks of the intervention in terms of the Hong Kong index of dyspepsia severity, presence of Helicobacter pylori infection based on urease test, scores in different domains of short form (SF-36) health survey, and any observed adverse events. Results The mean scores of Hong Kong index of dyspepsia severity sores and the rate of H. pylori infection were significantly lower in the N. sativa group comparing the placebo group after the intervention (P<0.001). No serious adverse event was reported. Conclusion This study showed that adjuvant supplementation of honey based formulation of N. sativa can cause significant symptomatic improvement of patients with functional dyspepsia whom received the standard anti-secretory therapy. The results should be investigated further in studies with longer duration and larger sample size. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd

On-chip photocurrent displacement sensor based on a waveguide-coupled nanomechanical photonic crystal cavity

\u3cp\u3eA nano-opto-electro-mechanical transducer for displacement sensing is presented. It consists of a double-membrane photonic crystal cavity integrated with electro-optical read-out and on-chip light-delivery. The operation is demonstrated by atomic force microscope actuation and photocurrent sensing.\u3c/p\u3

Cation and anion topotactic transformations in cobaltite thin films leading to Ruddlesden-Popper phases

Topotactic transformations involve structural changes between related crystal structures due to a loss or gain of material while retaining a crystallographic relationship. The perovskite oxide La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 (LSCO) is an ideal system for investigating phase transformations due to its high oxygen vacancy conductivity, relatively low oxygen vacancy formation energy, and strong coupling of the magnetic and electronic properties to the oxygen stoichiometry. While the transition between cobaltite perovskite and brownmillerite (BM) phases has been widely reported, further reduction beyond the BM phase lacks systematic studies. In this paper, we study the evolution of the physical properties of LSCO thin films upon exposure to highly reducing environments. We observe the rarely reported crystalline Ruddlesden-Popper phase, which involves the loss of both oxygen anions and cobalt cations upon annealing where the cobalt is found as isolated Co ions or Co nanoparticles. First-principles calculations confirm that the concurrent loss of oxygen and cobalt ions is thermodynamically possible through an intermediary BM phase. The strong correlation of the magnetic and electronic properties to the crystal structure highlights the potential of utilizing ion migration as a basis for emerging applications such as neuromorphic computing