Vegetable Extracts and Nutrients Useful in the Recovery from Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Systematic Review on Clinical Trials

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections affect almost half of the world’s population, with gradually increasing incidence in developed countries. Eradication of H. pylori may provide significant benefits to the affected individual by healing a number of gastrointestinal and extra-digestive disorders. But due to increased microbial resistance and lack of patient adherence to the therapy, the eradication rate of H. pylori is below 80% with current pharmacological therapies. The usage of botanicals for their therapeutic purposes and medicinal properties have been increased in last decades. They can be use as alternative H. pylori treatments, especially against drug-resistant strains. Epidemiological studies have revealed that people with lower vegetable and micronutrient intake may be at increased risk of H. pylori infection. We have undertaken a review of clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of vegetable extracts and micronutrients in patients with H. pylori. Various databases, such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library, were searched for the articles published in English. A total of 24 clinical studies (15 for vegetable extracts and 9 for micronutrients) were selected to be reviewed and summarized in this article. Vegetable extracts (Broccoli sprouts, curcumin, Burdock complex, and Nigella sativa) and micronutrients (vitamin C and E) were not found to be as effective as single agents in H. pylori eradication, rather their efficacy synergized with conventional pharmacological therapies. Conversely, GutGard was found to be significantly effective as a single agent when compared to placebo control.     

Development and validation studies for determination of phenylpropanoid‐substituted flavan‐3‐ols in semipurified extract of Trichilia catigua by high‐performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection

The phenolic compounds are the main phytochemical constituents of the bark of Trichilia catigua and are commonly used for medicinal purposes. An HPLC method for the simultaneous quantification of phenolic compounds (procyanidin B2 (PB2), epicatechin (EPC), chinchonains Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, catechin, and chrologenic acid) in T. catigua extract was developed and validated. A suitable chromatographic system was selected, which uses a gradient elution with methanol/ACN (75:25), and water both with 0.05% TFA, as mobile phase, column Luna, 280 nm, and flow 0.4 mL/min. Validation of the analytical method was based on the parameters: linearity, precision, LODs and LOQs, accuracy, robustness, and stability. The method showed linearity for PB2 and EPC, in the range 10–120 μg/mL with good correlation coefficients (>0.996). For precision, the repeatability ranged from 1.89 to 3.23%, and the values for accuracy for PB2 and EPC were 95 and 89%, respectively. The LODs and LOQs for PB2 were 1.36 and 4.12 μg/mL, and for EPC were 2.18 and 6.61 μg/mL, respectively. The method was robust under the conditions employed. The proposed method could be employed for quality assessment of T. catigua, as well as pharmaceutical products.     

Isolation and determination of estrogens in water samples by solid‐phase extraction using molecularly imprinted polymers and HPLC

Advanced SPE with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) was used in this study. A noncovalent imprinting approach was applied to separate 17β‐estradiol, estriol, and estrone from water samples. Polymer material was prepared by bulk polymerization with methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, divinylbenzene and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate as crosslinkers, and acetonitrile, acetonitrile/toluene (3:1, v/v) or isooctane/toluene (1:99, v/v) as a porogen. We also prepared an MIP film on a silica gel surface with methacrylic acid and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate as monomers and acetonitrile as a solvent. Qualitative and quantitative hormone analyses were carried out by HPLC with various detection techniques, including UV/visible spectroscopic detection (diode array detection) and electrochemical detection (CoulArray). The results of the study indicate that MIP technology is an excellent method for the quality control of estrogens in environmental analyses with a low quantification limit for 17β‐estradiol of around 26 (diode array detection) and 0.25 ng/mL (electrochemical detection). The proposed method was found to be suitable for routine determinations of the analyzed compound in environmental laboratories.     

Development and Application of new C30-Modified TLC Plates

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - This paper reports the efficiency of the C30 phase for HPLC and TLC separation of a mixture of tocopherol homologs and...     

Determination of trace sulfur in biodiesel and diesel standard reference materials by isotope dilution sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A method is described for quantification of sulfur at low concentrations on the order of mg kg⁻¹ in biodiesel and diesel fuels using isotope dilution and sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID-SF-ICP-MS). Closed vessel microwave-assisted digestion was employed using a diluted nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide decomposition medium to reduce sample dilution volumes. Medium resolution mode was employed to eliminate isobaric interferences at ³²S and ³⁴S related to polyatomic phosphorus and oxygen species, and sulfur hydride species. The method outlined yielded respective limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) of 0.7 mg kg⁻¹ S and 2.5 mg kg⁻¹ S (in the sample). The LOD was constrained by instrument background counts at ³²S but was sufficient to facilitate value assignment of total S mass fraction in NIST SRM 2723b Sulfur in Diesel Fuel Oil at 9.06 ± 0.13 mg kg⁻¹. No statistically significant difference at a 95% confidence level was observed between the measured and certified values for certified reference materials NIST SRM 2773 B100 Biodiesel (Animal-Based), CENAM DRM 272b and NIST SRM 2723a Sulfur in Diesel Fuel Oil, validating method accuracy.     

Enzymatic in-capillary derivatization for glucose determination by electrophoresis with spectrophotometric detection

The following paper compares several procedures of in-capillary bienzymatic derivatization with regard to glucose determination with the use of glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase. The procedures discussed below include continuous contact in the capillary, plug-plug injection, and sequential injection with incubation in the capillary inlet. The reaction of hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by peroxidase was performed using two different substrates. The best results were achieved for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced disodium salt (NADH) acting both as a chromogenic reagent and a substrate for peroxidase, while the method employed was sequential injection and incubation at the capillary inlet. The LOD was estimated to be 25 nM with a linear response up to 0.1 microM.     

CO2 Capture by Hydroxylated Azine-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) RIO-13, RIO-12, RIO-11, and RIO-11m were investigated towards their CO₂ capture properties by thermogravimetric analysis at 1 atm and 40 °C. These microporous COFs bear in common the azine backbone composed of hydroxy-benzene moieties but differ in the relative number of hydroxyl groups present in each material. Thus, their sorption capacities were studied as a function of their textural and chemical properties. Their maximum CO₂ uptake values showed a strong correlation with an increasing specific surface area, but that property alone could not fully explain the CO₂ uptake data. Hence, the specific CO₂ uptake, combined with DFT calculations, indicated that the relative number of hydroxyl groups in the COF backbone acts as an adsorption threshold, as the hydroxyl groups were indeed identified as relevant adsorption sites in all the studied COFs. Additionally, the best performing COF was thoroughly investigated, experimentally and theoretically, for its CO₂ capture properties in a variety of CO₂ concentrations and temperatures, and showed excellent isothermal recyclability up to 3 cycles.     

Evaluation of GSH adducts of adrenaline in biological samples

The sustained high release of catecholamines to circulation is a deleterious condition that may induce toxicity, which seems to be partially related to the products formed by oxidation of catecholamines that can be further conjugated with glutathione (GSH). The aim of the present study was to develop a method for the determination of GSH adducts of adrenaline in biological samples. Two position isomers of the glutathion-S-yl-adrenaline were synthesized and characterized by HPLC using diode array, coulometric and mass detectors. A method for the extraction of these adducts from human plasma was also developed, based on adsorption to activated alumina, which showed adequate recoveries and proved to be crucial in removing interferences from plasma. The selectivity, precision and linearity of the method were all within the accepted values for these parameters. Furthermore, the sensitivity of this method allows the detection of adduct amounts that are within the range of the expected concentrations for these adducts under certain pathophysiological conditions and/or drug treatments. In conclusion, the development of this method allows the direct analysis of GSH adducts of adrenaline in human plasma, providing a valuable tool for the study of the catecholamine oxidation process and its related toxicity.     

On the generalized Fréchet functional equation with constant coefficients and its stability

We study a generalization of the Fréchet functional equation, stemming from a characterization of inner product spaces. We show, in particular, that under some weak additional assumptions each solution of such an equation is additive. We also obtain a theorem on the Ulam type stability of the equation. In its proof we use a fixed point result to show the existence of an exact solution of the equation that is close to a given approximate solution.     

Diffusiophoresis in suspensions of highly charged soft particles

Diffusiophoresis phenomenon of aoft particles suspended in binary electrolyte solutions is explored theoretically in this study based on the spherical cell model, focusing on the chemiphoresis component in absence of diffusion potential. Both the electrostatic and hydrodynamic aspects of the boundary confinement, or steric effect, due to the presence of neighboring particles are examined extensively under various electrokinetic conditions. Significant local extrema are found in mobility profiles expressed as functions of the Debye length in general, synchronized with the strength of the motion-inducing double layer polarization. Moreover, a seemingly peculiar phenomenon is observed that the soft particles may move faster in more concentrated suspensions. The competition between the simultaneous enhancement of the motion-inducing electric driving force and the motion-retarding hydrodynamic drag force from the boundary confinement effect of the neighboring particles is found to be responsible for it. The above findings are also demonstrated experimentally in a very recent study on the diffusiophoretic motion of soft particles through porous collagen hydrogels. The results presented here are useful in various practical applications of soft particles like drug delivery.