Use of Near-Infrared-Mid-Infrared Dual-Wavelength Spectrometry to Obtain Two-Dimensional Difference Spectra of Sesame Oil as Inactive Drug Ingredient

Continuing progress in the field of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS): Part III. Versatile applications

In this review, the comprehensive summary of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) for the last two years is covered. The remarkable applications of 2D-COS in diverse fields using many types of probes and perturbations for the last two years are highlighted. IR spectroscopy is still the most popular probe in 2D-COS during the last two years. Applications in fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy are also very popularly used. In the external perturbations applied in 2D-COS, variations in concentration, pH, and relative compositions are dramatically increased during the last two years. Temperature is still the most used effect, but it is slightly decreased compared to two years ago. 2D-COS has been applied to diverse systems, such as environments, natural products, polymers, food, proteins and peptides, solutions, mixtures, nano materials, pharmaceuticals, and others. Especially, biological and environmental applications have significantly emerged. This survey review paper shows that 2D-COS is an actively evolving and expanding field.

Antibacterial Activity of a Fractionated Pistacia lentiscus Oil Against Pharyngeal and Ear Pathogens, Alone or in Combination With Antibiotics

Previous studies have clearly demonstrated that the addition of lentisk oil (LO) to streptococcal cultures makes it possible to differentiate Streptococcus spp. into three categories with Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus intermedius sensitive, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus mutans partially sensitive, and Streptococcus salivarius insensitive to the product. We have investigated here whether the winterization of LO, an easy and cheap procedure that removes some of the fatty substances contained within, resulted in a better antimicrobial effect on human pathogens affecting the pharyngeal mucosa and middle ear such as S. pyogenes, S. pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Haemophilus influenzae, without affecting, or minimally affecting, S. salivarius strains, oral probiotics commonly used to reduce oral and middle ear infection recurrence, especially in children. Our results not only demonstrated a stronger antimicrobial action of winterized LO (WLO) on S. pyogenes, compared to what was seen with LO, but also demonstrated a strong antimicrobial action vs. S. pneumoniae and M. catarrhalis and a very limited effect on S. salivarius (strains K12 and M18). Moreover, WLO demonstrated a co-acting action when tested along with the antibiotics amoxicillin (A) and amoxicillin clavulanate (AC), effects clearly visible also on H. influenzae. Our results also showed that at least part of the antimicrobial effect observed was due to the presence of anacardic acids (AAs). Finally, WLO, when tested with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (h-PBMCs), reduced the release of IL-6 and TNF-α and, in the case of cells stimulated by LPS, the release of IFN-γ. In conclusion, our study highlights an enhanced antimicrobial role for LO when winterized, suggests a co-acting effect of this when given with antibiotics, identifies AAs as possible active ingredients, and proposes a possible anti-inflammatory role for it.