Optimization of Sensory Properties of Cold Brew Coffee Produced by Reduced Pressure Cycles and Its Physicochemical Characteristics

The use of vacuum cycles for the cold extraction of coffee is a new process that leads to a significant reduction in process time of Cold Brew compared to conventional methods. This research aimed at specifying the necessary parameters for producing a consumer-accepted cold brew coffee by applying vacuum cycles. This was achieved by investigating the effect of the number of cycles and of the applied pressure (vacuum) on the physicochemical characteristics of the cold brew coffee, i.e., total dissolved solids (TDS%), pH, acidity, phenol and caffeine content and color. Furthermore, sensory evaluation took place by members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) to specify parameters such as coffee blend, coffee/water ratio, total water hardness and grind size and secondly to determine the optimal pressure and number of cycles for a tasty final beverage. The sensory and physiochemical characteristics of cold extraction coffee were investigated by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). It became evident that coffee extraction by applying two vacuum cycles at 205 mbar pressure produced the lowest intensity of physiochemical properties (caffeine, phenols, acidity, TDS% and pH), and the highest score of sensory characteristics (fragrance, body, acidity, flavor, balance, and aftertaste). Caffeine and phenol concentration of the optimal beverage were 26.66 ± 1.56 mg/g coffee and 23.36 ± 0.79 mg gallic acid/g coffee respectively. The physiochemical characteristics were also compared to a beverage of hot extraction of the same blend and ratio of coffee to water.

New insights into the effect of fermentation temperature and duration on catechins conversion and formation of tea pigments and theasinensins in black tea

BACKGROUND

The phenol oxidative pathway during fermentation remains unclear. To elucidate the effect of fermentation on phenol conversion, we investigated the effects of fermentation temperature and duration on the conversion of catechins and the formation of theasinensins (TSs), theaflavins (TFs), thearubigins (TRs), and theabrownins (TBs).

RESULTS

During fermentation, TSs formation increased initially and then decreased. Long fermentation durations were unfavorable for liquor brightness (LB) and resulted in the production of large amounts of TRs and TBs. Low fermentation temperatures (20 °C and 25 °C) favored the maintenance of polyphenol oxidase activity and the continuous formation of TFs, TSs, and TRSI (a TRs fraction), resulting in better LB and liquor color. Higher temperatures (30 °C, 35 °C, and 40 °C) resulted in higher peroxidase activity, higher oxidative depletion rates of catechins, and excessive production of TRSII (a TRs fraction) and TBs. Analysis of the conversion pathway of polyphenolic compounds during fermentation showed that, during early fermentation, large amounts of catechins were oxidized and converted to TFs and theasinensin B. As fermentation progressed, considerable amounts of theaflavin-3'-gallate, theasinensin A, theaflavin-3-gallate, theaflavin-3,3'-digallate, and theasinensin C were produced and then converted to TRSI; in the final stage, TRSII and TBs were converted continuously.

CONCLUSION

Different fermentation temperature and duration combinations directly affected the type and composition of phenolic compounds. The key conditions for controlling phenolic compound conversion and fermentation direction were 60 or 90 min and 25 or 30 °C. Our study provides insights into the regulation of phenolic compound conversion during black tea fermentation. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Mechanism of One-Step Hydrothermally Synthesized Titanate Catalysts for Ozonation

A titanate nanotube catalyst for ozonation was synthesized with a simple one-step NaOH hydrothermal treatment without energy-consuming calcination. The synthesized titania catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, porosimetry analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis. The catalyst treated with a higher concentration of NaOH was found to be more catalytically active for phenol removal due to its higher titanate content that would facilitate more OH groups on its surface. Furthermore, the main active oxidizing species of the catalytic ozonation process were recognized as singlet oxygen and superoxide radical, while the hydroxyl radical may only play a minor role. This work provides further support for the correlation between the properties of titania and catalytic performance, which is significant for understanding the mechanism of catalytic ozonation with titania-based materials.

Mushroom extract of Lactarius deliciosus (L.) Sf. Gray as biopesticide: Antifungal activity and toxicological analysis

Monilinia fructicola (Wint.) Honey is a plant pathogenic fungus that infects stone fruits such as peach, nectarine and plum, which are high demand cultivars found in Brazil. This pathogen may remain latent in the host, showing no apparent signs of disease, and consequently may spread to different countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of hydroalcoholic extract (HydE) obtained from Lactarius deliciosus (L.) Sf. Gray a mushroom, against M. fructicola phytopathogenic-induced mycelial growth. In addition, the purpose of this study was to examine phytotoxicity attributed to HydE using Brassica oleracea seeds, as well as cytotoxic analysis of this extract on cells of mouse BALB/c monocyte macrophage cell line (J774A.1 cell line) (ATCC TIB-67). The L. deliciosus HydE inhibited fungal growth and reduced phytopathogen mycelial development at a concentration of 1.25 mg/ml. Our results demonstrated that the extract exhibited phytotoxicity as evidenced by (1) interference on germination percentage and rate index, (2) decreased root and initial growth measures, and (3) lower fresh weight of seedlings but no cytotoxicity in Vero cell lines. Data suggest that the use of the L. deliciosus extracts may be beneficial for fungal control without any apparent adverse actions on mouse BALB/c monocyte macrophage cell line (J774A.1 cell line) viability.

Effects of growth promoting microorganisms on tomato seedlings growing in different media conditions

Plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPM) play vital roles in maintaining crop fitness and soil health in stressed environments. Research have included analysis-based cultivation of soil-microbial-plant relationships to clarify microbiota potential. The goal of the research was to (i) evaluate the symbiotic microorganism effects on tomato seedling fitness under stressed conditions simulating a fragile soil susceptible to degradation; (ii) compare the plant-microbial interactions after inoculation with microbial isolates and fungi-bacteria consortia; (iii) develop an effective crop-microbial network, which improves soil and plant status. The experimental design included non-inoculated treatments with peat and sand at ratios of 50:50, 70:30, 100:0 (v:v), inoculated treatments with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Azospirillum brasilense (AZ) using the aforementioned peat:sand ratios; and treatment with peat co-inoculated with AMF and Saccharothrix tamanrassetensis (S). AMF + AZ increased root fresh weight in peat substrate compared to the control (4.4 to 3.3 g plant^–1). An increase in shoot fresh weight was detected in the AMF + AZ treatment with a 50:50 peat:sand ratio (10.1 to 8.5 g plant^-1). AMF + AZ reduced antioxidant activity (DPPH) (18–34%) in leaves, whereas AMF + S had the highest DPPH in leaves and roots (45%). Total leaf phenolic content was higher in control with a decreased proportion of peat. Peroxidase activity was enhanced in AMF + AZ and AMF + S treatments, except for AMF + AZ in peat. Microscopic root assays revealed the ability of AMF to establish strong fungal-tomato symbiosis; the colonization rate was 78–89%. AMF + AZ accelerated K and Mg accumulation in tomato leaves in treatments reflecting soil stress. To date, there has been no relevant information regarding the successful AMF and Saccharothrix co-inoculation relationship. This study confirmed that AMF + S could increase the P, S, and Fe status of seedlings under high organic C content conditions. The improved tomato growth and nutrient acquisition demonstrated the potential of PGPM colonization under degraded soil conditions.

Understanding the by-product formation potential during phenol oxidation from in-situ electro-generated radicals by microalgae harvesting

Advanced oxidation processes have gained colossal attention owing to the prospect of accessible mineralization, but by-product formation and its toxicity evaluation are still inconclusive. The present study demonstrated the performance of electrochemical oxidation process supported with graphite electrodes for the oxidation of phenol from modulated coke oven wastewater. The results suggested that the hydrogen peroxide along with the in-situ synthesized oxidizing agents has the ability to increase the phenol mineralization 1.5 times and by-product toxicity potential on microalgae, Scenedesmus sp. CBIIT(ISM) also revealed that chlorophyll-a synthesis has increased after the electro-oxidation process in coke oven wastewater. The experimental results for phenol mineralization and by-product formation were validated using a mass spectrophotometer.

Process characterization and optimization of cold brew coffee: effect of pressure, temperature, time and solvent volume on yield, caffeine and phenol content

BACKGROUND

Cold brew coffee, based on cold extraction, is rapidly attracting consumers' preference worldwide. Low total solids yield and long extraction times (up to 24 h) are the main drawbacks of this process. Five different treatments were investigated: the traditional cold extraction method, freezing, lyophilization of coffee beans, use of chaotropic salt and reduced pressure extraction. The latter was optimized by applying a Box-Behnken design. Pressure, vacuum cycles, duration of each cycle and mass of ground coffee to water ratio were the optimization parameters. Yield, caffeine and phenol concentration were the response variables.

RESULTS

Caffeine concentration and yield were significantly affected by vacuum cycles and by the combination of vacuum cycles and duration of each cycle. Validation of the derived quadratic models for each response variable was performed. Optimum values for highest extraction yield (22%) and phenol concentration as well as mass transfer coefficients of phenol and caffeine were also determined.

CONCLUSIONS

Extraction under reduced pressure might be the best treatment for the acceleration of cold brew coffee extraction. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Synthesis of "Nereid," a new phenol-free detergent to replace Triton X-100 in virus inactivation

In the 1980s, virus inactivation steps were implemented into the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals in response to earlier unforeseen virus transmissions. The most effective inactivation process for lipid-enveloped viruses is the treatment by a combination of detergents, often including Triton X-100 (TX-100). Based on recent environmental concerns, the use of TX-100 in Europe will be ultimately banned, which forces the pharmaceutical industry, among others, to switch to an environmentally friendly alternative detergent with fully equivalent virus inactivation performance such as TX-100. In this study, a structure-activity relationship study was conducted that ultimately led to the synthesis of several new detergents. One of them, named "Nereid," displayed inactivation activity fully equivalent to TX-100. The synthesis of this replacement candidate has been optimized to allow for the production of several kg of detergent at lab scale, to enable the required feasibility and comparison virus inactivation studies needed to support a potential future transition. The 3-step, chromatography-free synthesis process described herein uses inexpensive starting materials, has a robust and simple work-up, and allows production in a standard organic laboratory to deliver batches of several hundred grams with >99% purity.

Storage Stability of Antioxidant in Milk Products Fermented with Selected Kefir Grain Microflora

The aim of the study was to assess the antioxidant potential of goat’s milk and whey from goat’s milk fermented with selected bacteria strains from kefir grain (L. plantarum, L. fermentum, L. rhamnosus and L. acidophilus) with regard to fermented cow’s milk with the same bacteria strains. The assessment of antioxidant potential was made by ABTS, DPPH, TPC and FRAP methods. The work also assessed metabolic activity of tested lactic acid bacteria using measurement of electrical impedance changes in the growing medium. The highest values describing the antioxidant potential were found for fermented milk by L. acidophilus. It was also found that the time of cooling storage causes significantly increasing the antioxidant potential of most analyzed samples. Metabolic activity of tested lactic acid bacteria was the highest for cow’s milk. The course of curves for goat’s milk and whey from goat’s milk was similar, which confirms the differences between cow and goat milk.

Antidiabetic profiling, cytotoxicity and acute toxicity evaluation of aerial parts of Phragmites karka (Retz.)

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Phragmites karka (Retz.) of family Poaceae is a pristine tropical plant that is well known to the local healers for ailments of diabetes, fever, diarrhea and CNS depression but lacks the scientific evidence behind its traditional usage. Hence, we explicated this plant to find the scientific basis of its traditional utilization.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The current study aims to find out the antidiabetic potential, toxicity after oral administration and in vitro cytotoxic activity of aerial parts of the plant on HeLa cells.

METHODS

The plant was extracted with methanol by maceration and the crude extract was then subjected to solvent partitioning with modified Kupchan method for preparing several fractions. Phytochemical screening and total phenolic content of the plant was first determined through established procedures. Acute toxicity of the plant was studied by orally administering a single high dose (5000 mg/kg) of drug. Cytotoxicity of the methanolic plant extract was determined by measuring the percentage of cell viability on human cervical cancer cell lines, HeLa. In vitro antidiabetic activity was determined through iodine starch and DNSA (3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid) method of α-amylase inhibition. Finally, in vivo oral glucose tolerance test and alloxan induced antidiabetic activity test was performed at 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight doses of plant extract to confirm the in vivo antidiabetic activity.

RESULTS

No mortality was demonstrated by Phragmites karka in the acute toxicity test. However, signs of cellular toxicity was observed and histopathological studies on major organs exhibited necrosis in liver and kidney. In vitro cytotoxicity assay revealed the death of HeLa cells by DCM (dichloromethane) and n-hexane fractions of plant extract at 100 and 10 μg/mL concentrations. The IC50 value of the fractions were later evaluated by MTT assay (316.1 and 96.7 μg/mL for n-hexane and DCM fractions, respectively). In the iodine starch and DNSA method of α-amylase enzyme inhibitory activity test, substantial inhibition of enzyme was observed with the IC50 values of 2.05 and 2.08 mg/mL, respectively. In the in vivo antidiabetic activity test, considerable reduction in blood glucose level of diabetic mice was detected in both oral glucose tolerance test and alloxan induced antidiabetic activity test. In addition, the microscopic examination of pancreas showed noticeable recovery of pancreatic β cells and the blood lipid profile analysis represented a significant (p < 0.05) reduction of total cholesterol, LDL (low density lipoprotein) and triglyceride level in plant extract treated mice.

CONCLUSION

Results of this study reveals that the Phragmites karka extract is toxic at cellular level after oral administration and cytotoxic when tested on HeLa cells. The plant also evidenced hypoglycemic property, possibly through the inhibition of α-amylase enzyme and recovered the pancreatic beta cells along with the improvement of lipid profile of diabetic mice. However, robust studies on this plant is required to isolate the bioactive compounds, elucidate structures and evaluate their mechanism of actions in support of our findings.

CLASSIFICATION

Toxicology and Safety, Quality Traditional Medicine.

Isolation and characterization of anti-inflammatory and analgesic compounds from Uapaca staudtii Pax (Phyllanthaceae) stem bark

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Uapaca species including Uapacastaudtii Pax (Phyllanthaceae) are used in West Africa ethnomedicine to treat diverse ailments including pile, rheumatism, oedema and wound healing. However, the anti-inflammatory and analgesic potential as well as constituents of the Uapacastaudtii stem bark has not been investigated.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antioxidant activities of extract and fractions ofU. staudtii stem bark, and to isolate the bioactive constituents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antioxidant activities of the ethanol extract, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol, and aqueous fractions of U. staudtii stem bark, as well as protocatechuic acid and betulinic acid isolated from the bioactive ethyl acetate fraction were evaluated in different mice models of inflammation and pain; furthermore, antioxidant assays were carried out. Chemical structures of isolated compounds were established based on spectroscopic studies and comparison with literature data.

RESULTS

The ethanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction exhibited good anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antioxidant capacity in all studied models, comparable with those of the standard drugs used. Protocatechuic acid also gave significant (p < 0.05) anti-inflammatory (83%and 88% inhibition for egg-albumin induced and xylene induced oedema, respectively), analgesic (56% inhibition and 22 s of pain suppression for acetic acid-induced and hot plate-induced pain, respectively), and antioxidant effects (97% inhibition and absorbance of 2.516 at 100 μg/mL for DPPH and FRAP assay, respectively) in all the models, whereas betulinic acid only exhibited significant (p < 0.05) anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity.

CONCLUSIONS

The result supports the medicinal uses of the U. staudtii stem bark in the management of pain and inflammatory disease. This is the first report on the biological activities and characterization of compounds inU. staudtii, and presence of protocatechuic acid in Uapaca genus.

Exhaled breath analysis using on-line preconcentration mass spectrometry for gastric cancer diagnosis

Breath volatile biomarkers are capable of distinguishing patients with various cancers. However, high throughput analytical technology is a prerequisite to a large-cohort study intended to discover reliable breath biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Single-photon ionization (SPI) is a universal ionization technology, and SPI-mass spectrometry (SPI-MS) shows a remarkable advantage in the comprehensive detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in particular, nonpolar compounds. In this study, we have introduced SPI-MS coupled with on-line thermal desorption (TD-SPI-MS) to demonstrate nontarget analysis of breath VOCs for gastric cancer patients. The breath fingerprints of the gastric cancer patients were significantly distinct from that of the control group. Acetone, isoprene, 1,3-dioxolan-2-one, phenol, meta-xylene, 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene, and phenyl acetate showed higher relative peak intensities in the breath profiles of gastric cancer patients. A diagnostic prediction model was further developed by using a training set (121 samples) and validated with a test set (53 samples). The predication accuracy of the developed model was 96.2%, and the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.997, indicating a satisfactory prediction ability of the developed model. Thus, by taking gastric cancer as an example, we have shown that TD-SPI-MS will be a promising tool for high throughput analysis of breath samples to discover characteristic VOCs in patients with various cancers.

Understanding the toxicity effect and mineralization efficiency of in-situ electrogenerated chlorine dioxide for the treatment of priority pollutants of coking wastewater

Oxidation of phenol, cyanide and aniline have been analyzed by the enhanced electro-oxidation process in which sodium chlorite was used as an electrolyte and results were validated using statistical tool based on Box-Behnken design. The mineralization efficiency of 78.4%, and 98.18% were predicted at optimized variables condition for phenol, and aniline respectively, whereas complete mineralization has been observed for the cyanide at the optimized conditions, which describes the significance of the design model approach.The process mineralizes the higher phenol concentration revealing a drastic reduction in power consumption in comparison of direct oxidation, i.e., 799.36 kWh/kg to 138.18 kWh/kg for more than 90% mineralization of phenol even at a higher current density of 13.63 mA/cm². The kinetic modelling approach justified that higher current density has also played a role in higher mineralization of pollutants at the specific operating conditions. The by-product formation and toxicity effect on microalgae in wastewater were assessed by the full scan mass spectrometry and microalgae pigment inhibition test after the electro-oxidation of coking wastewater. The pigment growth inhibition rate of Chlorella sp. NCQ and Micractinium sp. NCS2 suggests that sodium chlorite as an electrolyte aid can also effectively used as an oxidizing agent and algal inhibiter in the coking wastewater.

The Cramer's rule for the parametrization of phenol and its hydroxylated byproducts: UV spectroscopy vs. high performance liquid chromatography

A linear algebra theorem like Cramer's rule was used for the analysis of a system of equations obtained from UV spectroscopy, and results were compared against those obtained from HPLC analysis. This parametrization allowed to quantify the concentration of the main intermediate products detected along the photodegradation of phenol under UV-Vis irradiation of TiO₂. UV spectroscopy data for phenol, hydroquinone, and benzoquinone were analyzed using the Cramer's rule. The overlapping interference of the intermediate products in the UV spectra was corrected. It can be concluded that the Cramer's rule can be used for the parametrization of the UV absorbance data of phenol and its main intermediate products. This methodology permitted to obtain the concentration of phenol and their intermediate products by UV-visible with a high precision in comparison of HPLC. The parametrization showed a correlation coefficient of ca. 0.9775 between the phenol concentration obtained by UV spectroscopy and values obtained from HPLC analysis. In this sense, results can be considered with good precision, and accordingly, it can be concluded that the methodology is reliable, and UV-visible spectroscopy can be selected instead of HPLC in much of the experiments concerning with aqueous-phase reactions.

Adsorption mechanism and effectiveness of phenol and tannic acid removal by biochar produced from oil palm frond using steam pyrolysis

In order to meet the growing demand for adsorbents to treat wastewater effectively, there has been increased interest in using sustainable biomass feedstocks. In this present study, the dermal tissue of oil palm frond was pyrolyzed with superheated steam at 500 °C to produce nanoporous biochar as bioadsorbent. The effect of operating conditions was investigated to understand the adsorption mechanism and to enhance the adsorption of phenol and tannic acid. The biochar had a microporous structure with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 422 m²/g containing low polar groups. The adsorption capacity of 62.89 mg/g for phenol and 67.41 mg/g for tannic acid were obtained using 3 g/L biochar dosage after 8 h of treatment at solution pH of 6.5 and temperature of 45 °C. The Freundlich model had the best fit to the isotherm data of phenol (R² of 0.9863), while the Langmuir model best elucidated the isotherm data of tannic acid (R² of 0.9632). These indicated that the biochar-phenol interface was associated with a heterogeneous multilayer sorption mechanism, while the biochar-tannic acid interface had a nonspecific monolayer sorption mechanism. The residual concentration of 26.3 mg/L phenol and 23.1 mg/L tannic acid was achieved when treated from 260 mg/L three times consecutively with 1 g/L biochar dosage, compared to a reduction to 72.3 mg/L phenol and 69.9 mg/L tannic acid using 3 g/L biochar dosage in a single treatment. The biochar exhibited effective adsorption of phenol and tannic acid, making it possible to treat effluents that contain varieties of phenolic compounds.

Heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate by hierarchically porous cobalt/iron bimetallic oxide nanosheets for degradation of phenol solutions

Bimetallic oxide nanomaterials have received much attention owing to their competing performances in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, hierarchically porous cobalt-iron oxide nanosheets were successfully prepared using NaBH₄ as a reductant and high concentration cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant. Characterization results showed that the CTAB would induce the form of a bilayer structure while NaBH₄ would promote the generation of enriched oxygen vacancies. As a result, the as-prepared Co₁Fe₁-300 exhibited high activity for activating peroxymonosulfate and achieved 100% phenol degradation within 30 min. This excellent catalytic activity can be attributed to its hierarchically porous structure, more active sites and oxygen vacancies. Co leaching test indicated that the Co₁Fe₁-300 exhibited excellent catalytic stability. Mechanistic studies suggested that two main degradation pathways were involved during phenol oxidation process, in which SO₄^•- played a significant role. This work may offer a novel strategy for the synthesis of high activity catalysts and a promising system for the remediation of environmental pollutant.

Antiviral and Cytotoxic Activity of Different Plant Parts of Banana (Musa spp.)

Chikungunya and yellow fever virus cause vector-borne viral diseases in humans. There is currently no specific antiviral drug for either of these diseases. Banana plants are used in traditional medicine for treating viral diseases such as measles and chickenpox. Therefore, we tested selected banana cultivars for their antiviral but also cytotoxic properties. Different parts such as leaf, pseudostem and corm, collected separately and extracted with four different solvents (hexane, acetone, ethanol, and water), were tested for in vitro antiviral activity against Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), enterovirus 71 (EV71), and yellow fever virus (YFV). Extracts prepared with acetone and ethanol from leaf parts of several cultivars exhibited strong (EC₅₀ around 10 μg/mL) anti-CHIKV activity. Interestingly, none of the banana plant extracts (concentration 1–100 µg/mL) were active against EV71. Activity against YFV was restricted to two cultivars: Namwa Khom–Pseudostem–Ethanol (5.9 ± 5.4), Namwa Khom–Corm–Ethanol (0.79 ± 0.1) and Fougamou–Corm–Acetone (2.5 ± 1.5). In most cases, the cytotoxic activity of the extracts was generally 5- to 10-fold lower than the antiviral activity, suggesting a reasonable therapeutic window.

Seed biopriming with antagonistic microbes and ascorbic acid induce resistance in tomato against Fusarium wilt

Seed biopriming is an emerging technique to enhance seed germination under stress conditions. An integrated approach of tomato seed biopriming with ascorbic acid, Trichoderma asperellum BHU P-1 and Ochrobactrum sp. BHU PB-1 was applied to observe the response against wilt pathogen of tomato Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL). Tomato seeds bioprimed with the aforementioned application expressed augmented seed germination and activated of defense response. Seed germination was recorded higher (80 %) at low concentration (1 pM) of ascorbic acid as compared to high concentration of 1 mM (41 %). Combination of both ascorbic acid and antagonistic microbe treatments (T5 & T6) significantly reduced disease incidence (up to 28 %) in tomato plants at 10 days. T5 and T6 treated plants exhibited higher accumulation of total phenol content and increased activity of Phenylammonia lyase (PAL), Peroxidase (PO), Chitinase (Chi) and Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) as compared to control (T1) plants. ROS formation in the form of H₂O₂ was also found to be reduced in combined treatment. Histochemical analysis revealed that phenylpropanoid pathway (lignin deposition) was more activated in combined priming treatment plants as compared to individual treatment upon challenge inoculation with FOL. Transcript expression analysis of defense genes confirmed the up-regulation of PAL (2.1 fold), Chi (0.92 fold), Pathogenesis related proteins (PR) (1.58 fold) and Lipoxygenase (Lox) (0.72 fold) in T6 treatment as compared to T1 treatment plants at 96 h. This study reveals that ascorbic acid treatment with antagonistic microbes through seed priming effectively induced seed germination and elicited defense mechanism to control wilt disease in tomato plants.

Bound Phenolics Ensure the Antihyperglycemic Effect of Rice Bran Dietary Fiber in db/db Mice via Activating the Insulin Signaling Pathway in Skeletal Muscle and Altering Gut Microbiota

Whole-grain dietary fiber intake is beneficial in the prevention of metabolic syndrome. Considering rich in bound phenolics being a special characteristic of whole-grain dietary fiber, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the presence or absence of bound phenolics in rice bran dietary fiber (RBDF) on regulating glucose metabolism in diabetic db/db mice. In comparison to phenolics-removed RBDF (PR-RBDF) intervention without an antihyperglycemic effect, RBDF and formulated RBDF (F-RBDF, obtained by mixing PR-RBDF and hydrolyzed-bound phenolics) significantly reduced fasting blood glucose levels after 1 and 5 weeks of interventions, respectively. The presence of bound phenolics interventions could activate the IRS1/AKT/GLUT4 insulin signaling pathway in skeletal muscle and alter gut microbiota by modulating gut microbiota dysbiosis and enriching the butyric-acid-producing bacteria genera of the families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, thus leading to the reduction of blood glucose levels. These findings indicate that bound phenolics ensure the antihyperglycemic effect of RBDF.

Identification of the metabolites of erianin in rat and human by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

RATIONALE

Erianin, a bioactive component isolated from Dctidrobium chrysotoxum Lindl, was demonstrated to have many biological properties relevant to cancer prevention and therapy. However, the metabolic profiles of erianin remain unknown. This study was carried out to investigate the metabolic profiles of erianin in rats and humans.

METHODS

Erianin was orally administered to rats at a single dose of 50 mg/kg. Urine and bile samples were collected. For in vitro metabolism, erianin was co-incubated with rat or human hepatocytes at 37°C for 2 h. The samples from incubations and rat were analyzed by liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry. The data were processed by MetWorks software. The structures of the metabolites were proposed by comparing the mass spectra with that of the parent compound.

RESULTS

A total of twenty-four metabolites were detected in vitro and in vivo, including seven phase I and eighteen phase II metabolites. The phase I metabolic pathways of erianin were hydroxylation, demethylation and dehydrogenation. Erianin undergoes metabolic activation to form reactive metabolites quinoid intermediates, which were further trapped by glutathione (GSH) or N-acetylcysteine. The phase II metabolic pathways were glucuronidation, glutathione and N-acetylcysteine conjugation.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study provides an overview pertaining to the in vitro and in vivo metabolic profiles of erianin, which is indispensable for us to understand the efficacy and safety of erianin, as well as the herbal medicine D. chrysotoxum.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal and microbial profiles of an aged phenol-polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated soil

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous, obligatory plant symbionts that have a beneficial influence on plants in contaminated environments. This study focused on evaluating the biomass and biodiversity of the AMF and microbial communities associated with Poa trivialis and Phragmites australis plants sampled at an aged site contaminated with phenol and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and an uncontaminated control site. We analyzed the soil phospholipid fatty acid profile to describe the general structure of microbial communities. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis with primers targeting the 18S ribosomal RNA gene was used to characterize the biodiversity of the AMF communities and identify dominant AMF species associated with the host plants in the polluted and control environments. The root mycorrhizal colonization and AMF biomass in the soil were negatively affected by the presence of PAHs and phenol, with no significant differences between the studied plant species, whereas the biodiversity of the AMF communities were influenced by the soil contamination and plant species. Soil contamination was more detrimental to the biodiversity of AMF communities associated with Ph. australis, compared to P. trivialis. Both species favored the development of different AMF species, which might be related to the specific features of their different root systems and soil microbial communities. The contaminated site was dominated by AMF generalists like Funneliformis and Rhizophagus, whereas in the control site Dominikia, Archaeospora, Claroideoglomus, Glomus, and Diversispora were also detected.

Detection of phenol by incorporation of gold modified-enzyme based graphene oxide thin film with surface plasmon resonance technique

In this study, the incorporation between gold modified-tyrosinase (Tyr) enzyme based graphene oxide (GO) thin film with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique has been developed for the detection of phenol. SPR signal for the thin film contacted with phenol solution was monitored using SPR technique. From the SPR curve, sensitivity, full width at half maximum (FWHM), detection accuracy (DA) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) have been analyzed. The sensor produces a linear response for phenol up to 100 µM with sensitivity of 0.00193° µM^-1. Next, it can be observed that deionized water has the lowest FWHM, with a value of 1.87° and also the highest value of DA. Besides, the SNR of the SPR signal was proportional to the phenol concentrations. Furthermore, the surface morphology of the modified thin film after exposed with phenol solution observed using atomic force microscopy showed a lot of sharp peaks compared to the image before in contact with phenol proved the interaction between the thin film and phenol.

Effect of different inoculation strategies of selected yeast and LAB cultures on Conservolea and Kalamàta table olives considering phenol content, texture, and sensory attributes

BACKGROUND

The effects were studied of different inoculation strategies for selected starters -yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) - used for the fermentation process of two Greek olive cultivars, Conservolea and Kalamàta. The LAB strains applied were Leuconostoc mesenteroides K T5-1 and L. plantarum A 135-5; the selected yeast strains were S. cerevisiae KI 30-16 and Debaryomyces hansenii A 15-44 for Kalamàta and Conservolea olives, respectively.

RESULTS

Table olive fermentation processes were monitored by performing microbiological analyses, and by monitoring changes in pH, titratable acidity and salinity, sugar consumption, and the evolution of volatile compounds. Structural modifications occurring in phenolic compounds of brine were investigated during the fermentation using liquid chromatography / diode array detection / electrospray ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC/DAD/ESI-MSⁿ ) and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a diode array detector. Phenolic compounds in processed Kalamàta olive brines consisted of phenolic acids, verbascoside, caffeoyl-6-secologanoside, comselogoside, and the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethylelenolic acid linked to hydroxytyrosol, whereas oleoside and oleoside 11-methyl ester were identified only in Conservolea olive brines.

CONCLUSION

Volatile profile and sensory evaluation revealed that the 'MIX' (co-inoculum of yeast and LAB strain) inoculation strategy led to the most aromatic and acceptable Kalamàta olives. For the Conservolea table olives, the 'YL' treatment gave the most aromatic and the overall most acceptable product. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Latent classes for chemical mixtures analyses in epidemiology: an example using phthalate and phenol exposure biomarkers in pregnant women

Latent class analysis (LCA), although minimally applied to the statistical analysis of mixtures, may serve as a useful tool for identifying individuals with shared real-life profiles of chemical exposures. Knowledge of these groupings and their risk of adverse outcomes has the potential to inform targeted public health prevention strategies. This example applies LCA to identify clusters of pregnant women from a case-control study within the LIFECODES birth cohort with shared exposure patterns across a panel of urinary phthalate metabolites and parabens, and to evaluate the association between cluster membership and urinary oxidative stress biomarkers. LCA identified individuals with: "low exposure," "low phthalates, high parabens," "high phthalates, low parabens," and "high exposure." Class membership was associated with several demographic characteristics. Compared with "low exposure," women classified as having "high exposure" had elevated urinary concentrations of the oxidative stress biomarkers 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (19% higher, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 7, 32%) and 8-isoprostane (31% higher, 95% CI = -5, 64%). However, contrast examinations indicated that associations between oxidative stress biomarkers and "high exposure" were not statistically different from those with "high phthalates, low parabens" suggesting a minimal effect of higher paraben exposure in the presence of high phthalates. The presented example offers verification of latent class assignments through application to an additional data set as well as a comparison to another unsupervised clustering approach, k-means clustering. LCA may be more easily implemented, more consistent, and more able to provide interpretable output.

Magnetic solid phase extraction of bisphenol A, phenol and hydroquinone from water samples by magnetic and thermo dual-responsive core-shell nanomaterial

Present study prepared a new magnetic and thermo dual-responsive core-shell nanomaterial (Fe@SiO₂@poly(N-isopropylacrymide-co-methacrylic acid, Fe@SiO₂@PNIPAM-co-MAA), which was characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The new nanomaterials integrated with the magnetism of nanoscale zero valent iron material and thermo-response of the copolymers, and were utilized to investigate the adsorption capacity for typical phenols such as bisphenol A, phenol and hydroquinone from water samples, and the results showed that the magnetic and thermo dual-responsive core-shell nanomaterial exhibited good adsorption ability to typical phenols. Based on these, a sensitive method was developed for the determination of bisphenol A, phenol and hydroquinone using as-prepared magnetic nanoparticles as the magnetic solid phase extraction sorbent prior to high performance liquid chromatography coupled with variable wavelength detection. Under the optimal conditions, linear linearity was obtained over the range of 0.1-500 μg L^-1 with the correlation coefficients (r²) above 0.996. The detection limits of three analytes were in the range of 0.019-0.031 μg L^-1, and the precisions were all less than 4.8% (n = 6). The developed method was evaluated with real water samples and excellent spiked recoveries in the range of 94.0-105.4% were achieved. These results indicated that the proposed method was a robust analytical tool and a useful alternative for routine analysis of such pollutants.