Carob Pods (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Source of Polyphenolic Antioxidants

The possibility of utilising chopped and deseeded carob pods (kibbles) as a source of polyphenolic antioxidants was examined by performing extractions with various solvent systems, in order to evaluate and optimize the conditions for the recovery of polyphenols. Maximum quantities of polyphenolic components were found in 80 % acetone extracts, as evaluated by measuring total polyphenol and total flavanol content. By contrast, ethyl acetate was inefficient in extracting polyphenols. The assessment of the antioxidant potency of carob pod extracts employing two characteristic in vitro models showed that carobs contain polyphenols with appreciable antiradical and reducing properties. The values obtained were compared to the data on red wines and pure polyphenolic antioxidants

Carob Pods (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Source of Polyphenolic Antioxidants

The possibility of utilising chopped and deseeded carob pods (kibbles) as a source of polyphenolic antioxidants was examined by performing extractions with various solvent systems, in order to evaluate and optimize the conditions for the recovery of polyphenols. Maximum quantities of polyphenolic components were found in 80 % acetone extracts, as evaluated by measuring total polyphenol and total flavanol content. By contrast, ethyl acetate was inefficient in extracting polyphenols. The assessment of the antioxidant potency of carob pod extracts employing two characteristic in vitro models showed that carobs contain polyphenols with appreciable antiradical and reducing properties. The values obtained were compared to the data on red wines and pure polyphenolic antioxidants

Resistant Hypertension Workup and Approach to Treatment

Resistant hypertension is defined as blood pressure above the patient's goal despite the use of 3 or more antihypertensive agents from different classes at optimal doses, one of which should ideally be a diuretic. Evaluation of patients with resistive hypertension should first confirm that they have true resistant hypertension by ruling out or correcting factors associated with pseudoresistance such as white coat hypertension, suboptimal blood pressure measurement technique, poor adherence to prescribed medication, suboptimal dosing of antihypertensive agents or inappropriate combinations, the white coat effect, and clinical inertia. Management includes lifestyle and dietary modification, elimination of medications contributing to resistance, and evaluation of potential secondary causes of hypertension. Pharmacological treatment should be tailored to the patient's profile and focus on the causative pathway of resistance. Patients with uncontrolled hypertension despite receiving an optimal therapy are candidates for newer interventional therapies such as carotid baroreceptor stimulation and renal denervation

Polyphenolic burden and in vitro antioxidant properties of Moringa oleifera root extracts

ntroduction: Moringa oleifera is a small tree with very significant nutritional but alsopharmacological properties and various preparations from almost all parts of the plant (leaves,fruit, stems, bark, roots) are used in folk medicine for treating several ailments. This study aimedto investigating the polyphenolic burden and in vitro antioxidant properties of M. oleifera rootextracts, obtained with solvents covering a range of polarities.Methods: Lyophilised Moringa oleifera roots were extracted with solvents of increasing polarity,including ethyl acetate, butanol, methanol and water. The generated extracts were screened forpolyphenolic load and antioxidant activities, by determining the total polyphenol, total f lavonoid,total f lavanol, antiradical activity and reducing power. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometrywas also employed to obtain some evidence regarding the nature of the main constituents.Results: The results indicated that both aqueous and methanolic extracts were the richestin total polyphenols, but the aqueous extract also exhibited high reducing power. The liquidchromatography-diode array-mass spectrometry analysis also revealed that the major substancesoccurring in the aqueous extract were relatively polar molecules, but the mass spectral data wereambiguous to assign tentative structures.Conclusion: Polar solvents, such as water, may be effectively used to recover high amounts of M.oleifera root phenolics, which possess important antioxidant properties.&nbsp

Code Quality Evaluation Methodology Using The ISO/IEC 9126 Standard

This work proposes a methodology for source code quality and static behaviour evaluation of a software system, based on the standard ISO/IEC-9126. It uses elements automatically derived from source code enhanced with expert knowledge in the form of quality characteristic rankings, allowing software engineers to assign weights to source code attributes. It is flexible in terms of the set of metrics and source code attributes employed, even in terms of the ISO/IEC-9126 characteristics to be assessed. We applied the methodology to two case studies, involving five open source and one proprietary system. Results demonstrated that the methodology can capture software quality trends and express expert perceptions concerning system quality in a quantitative and systematic manner.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

Increased apoptosis of neutrophils in induced sputum of COPD patients

SummaryAimThe aim of the current study was to evaluate apoptosis in induced sputum neutrophils and to investigate the relationship between the number of apoptotic cells and clinical parameters in COPD patients.MethodsTwenty-four COPD ex-smoker patients and 10 healthy controls were included in the study. All subjects underwent clinical evaluation and sputum induction. Sputum cell in situ apoptosis was identified using white light microscopy and TUNEL assay technique. Apoptosis of neutrophils obtained by sputum induction was expressed as apoptotic rate (AR=percentage of apoptotic neutrophils over the number of neutrophils measured).ResultsTUNEL assay revealed statistically significant higher AR in COPD patients than controls (p=0.004). Patients with FEV1<50%pred had significantly higher median (IQR) AR (%) compared to patients with FEV1≥50% [26.3 (16–29) vs 13.1 (8.6–21), p=0.01]. No significant association was found between the number of apoptotic cells and age, symptoms or medication used.ConclusionThe significantly increased apoptotic rate of neutrophils that were found in COPD patients with advanced disease compared to controls might reflect either a deregulation of apoptosis of neutrophils or, a reduced clearance of apoptotic neutrophils from the airways. The pathophysiologic significance of the observed phenomenon has to be further explored

A cloud-enabled small cell architecture in 5G networks for broadcast/multicast services

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The evolution of 5G suggests that communication networks become sufficiently flexible to handle a wide variety of network services from various domains. The virtualization of small cells as envisaged by 5G, allows enhanced mobile edge computing capabilities, thus enabling network service deployment and management near the end user. This paper presents a cloud-enabled small cell architecture for 5G networks developed within the 5G-ESSENCE project. This paper also presents the conformity of the proposed architecture to the evolving 5G radio resource management architecture. Furthermore, it examines the inclusion of an edge enabler to support a variety of virtual network functions in 5G networks. Next, the improvement of specific key performance indicators in a public safety use case is evaluated. Finally, the performance of a 5G enabled evolved multimedia broadcast multicast services service is evaluated.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Circulating Sclerostin responses to acute weight and non weight bearing sport activity in pre adolescent males

Mechanical loading, i.e. physical activity and/or exercise, promotes bone formation during growth. Sclerostin, a glycoprotein, mediates osteocytes' response to mechanical loading by inhibiting the Wnt/lf-catenin pathway thereby inhibiting bone formation.Published versio

Inventory of alien and cryptogenic species of the Dodecanese (Aegean Sea, Greece): collaboration through COST action training school

The Dodecanese region has a high prevalence of marine alien species due to its close proximity to the Suez Canal and associated Suez shipping lanes, as well as its location at biogeographical border between sub-tropical and tropical biota. This region is therefore very important for the early detection of alien species entering the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and it is imperative that monitoring of alien species is continued in order to assess the levels of biological invasion. We present results of marine alien surveys, carried out in April 2014 on the island of Rodos. Surveys were performed by a team of marine taxonomic experts and students as part of an EU wide training school, coordinated by the COST Action TD1209 “Alien Challenge”. A variety of survey methods were employed to cover a number of coastal habitats. These included: rapid assessment surveys of epibiota on artificial structures in harbours, rapid assessment snorkelling surveys of biota on sublittoral bedrock, and quantified fishing surveys (both boat-seine and trammel net fishing methods). A total of 33 alien and cryptogenic species were recorded across all the survey techniques. Of these species, 9 represented first records for Rodos: the foraminiferan Amphisorus hemprichii, the polychaetes Branchiomma bairdi, Dorvillea similis, Hydroides dirampha and Pseudonereis anomala, the molluscs Aplysia parvula, Chama pacifica and Septifer cumingii, and the bryozoan Hippopodina feegeensis. Of note the record of the Lessepsian invader Dorvillea similis represents the second record in the Mediterranean Sea. Alien fish species represented a small but notable proportion of the diversity, biomass and number of individuals in fishing catch of both fishing methods. All alien fish species observed were already known to be present in Rodos. The addition of species firstly recorded in this study brings the total number of marine alien and cryptogenic species in the Dodecanese region up to 129 species. The vast majority of these alien species have entered unaided via the Suez Canal, but an increasing number have been introduced through hull fouling or ballast water transfer from shipping. The results highlight the value of conducting marine alien surveys with teams of a diverse range of taxonomic expertise, both in its scientific output and student training