Extractability of Curcuminoids Is Enhanced with Milk and Aqueous-Alcohol Mixtures

In this study, we evaluated the extractability of three curcuminoids (curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin) from turmeric powder in several solvents using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with the diode-array detection method. These solvents include water, milk (homogenized, 2% reduced fat, low fat, fat free, soy, almond, coconut, and milkadamia), and aqueous ethanols (0%, 4%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 100%). Ambient water was able to extract only 0.55 mg/g of curcuminoids, whereas warm water extracted more than four-fold higher amounts (2.42 mg/g). Almond, coconut, and milkadamia milk were able to extract only small amounts of curcuminoids at ambient temperatures (0.01–0.07 mg/g). The extractability of curcuminoids in these milk types did not improve, even in warm conditions (0.08–0.37 mg/g). Whereas dairy and soy milk extracted 6.76–9.75 mg/g of curcuminoids under ambient conditions, their extractability increased significantly in warm conditions by 30–100% higher (11.7–14.9 mg/g). The solubility of curcuminoids also varied remarkably in different proportions of aqueous-alcohol mixtures. With 4% ethanol, only 1.7 mg/g of curcuminoids were extracted, and the amounts improved with the increase in ethanol content up to 50% (32.2 mg/g), while 100% ethanol extracted a similar amount as 50% ethanol (34.2 mg/g). This study suggests that the extractability of curcuminoids from turmeric will be dependent on the type of diets consumed with the turmeric supplements.     

Optimization and effect of wall conduction on natural convection in a cavity with constant temperature heat source: Using lattice Boltzmann method and neural network algorithm

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the natural convection (NC) of the Al2O3–H2O nanofluids (NFs) in a cavity with a heat source in its center is numerically...     

Apparent Kinetics of Co-Gasification of Biomass and Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO)

This communication reports the beneficial effects of co-gasification of biomass and residual oil to produce syngas. In this regard, various blends of glucose (a biomass surrogate) to vacuum gas oil (VGO) have been employed to investigate the synergic effects on the gasification process. The non-isothermal co-gasification experiments were conducted in a thermogravimetric analyzer at different heating rates and gasifying agents. The analysis showed that the co-gasification rate increased with the increase of glucose content in the feedstock. The presence of the oxygen in the biomass molecules helped the overall gasification process. The maximum gasification rate of 42.70 wt/min (DTG_max) was observed with 25 wt% glucose containing sample. The use of gasifying agents appeared to have some influence, especially during high temperature gasification of the glucose-VGO blends. At a same gasification temperature, the co-gasification rate of glucose-VGO blends were found to be 125.7 wt/min and 98.59 wt%/min for N₂ and CO₂, respectively. The kinetics of the co-gasification of glucose-VGO blends was conducted based on modified random pore model using TGA experimental data and implemented in MATLAB. The estimated activation energy and rate constants were found to be consistent to the observed co-gasification rates. The apparent activation energies of co-gasification of VGO/biomass blends with different weight percentages shows values ranging 60.56–48.25 kJ/mol. The kinetics analysis suggested that the addition of biomass helped to increase the reaction rate by lowering the activation energy required for accomplishing the reactions compared with petroleum carbonaceous feedstocks. The reaction rate constants isotherms are plotted to show that the k-values are exhibiting similar trends at moderate heating rates between 20 and 60 °C/min. This remark arises due to the nature of the reactions involved which are considered to be inherently similar in this range of heating rate.     

Using artificial neural networks to predict the rheological behavior of non-Newtonian graphene–ethylene glycol nanofluid

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The ability of the artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the viscosity of graphene nanosheet/ethylene glycol ( $$\mu_{{\text{Gr/EG}}}$$ ) was...     

Some physical organic aspects of salicylaldehydes oximes, a theoretical study

Molecular structures of two oximes derived from salicylaldehyde and 2-hydroxynaphthaldehyde were studied using the B3LYP functional and the basis set 6-31G(d). This study discusses the electron/proton localization in the two oximes qualitatively based on the calculated infrared frequencies, two types of atomic charges, and the aromaticity index HOMA.     

Photoluminescence and photostability investigations of biocompatible semiconductor nanocrystals coated with glutathione using low laser power

Polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles (PBCA NPs) are candidates for a drug delivery system, which can cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Because little is known about their toxicity, we exposed cells to PBCA NPs in vitro and in vivo and monitored their life and death assays. PBCA NPs were fabricated with different surfactants according to the mini-emulsion technique. Viabilities of HeLa and HEK293 cells after NP incubation were quantified by analysing cellular metabolic activity (MTT-test). We then repetitively injected i.v. rhodamine-labelled PBCA NP variations into rats and monitored the survival and morphology of retrogradely labelled neurons by in vivo confocal neuroimaging (ICON) for five weeks. To test for carrier-efficacy and safety, PBCA NPs loaded with Kyotorphin were injected in rats, and a hot plate test was used to quantify analgesic effects. In vitro, we found dose-dependent cell death which was, however, only detectable at very high doses and mainly seen in the cultures incubated with NPs fabricated with the tensids SDS and Tween. However, the in vivo experiments did not show any NP-induced neuronal death, even with particles which were toxic at high dose in vitro, i.e. NPs with Tween and SDS. The increased pain threshold at the hot plate test demonstrated that PBCA NPs are able to cross the BBB and thus comprise a useful tool for drug delivery into the central nervous system (CNS). Our findings showing that different nanoparticle formulations are non-toxic have important implications for the value of NP engineering approaches in medicine.     

The basin boundary of the breakup channel in chaotic rearrangement scattering

Nonlinear Dynamics - We present an example of demonstration for the basin boundaries in classical rearrangement scattering with particular emphasis on the breakup channel. Whereas the basin...     

Coupling of Fischer carbene complexes with conjugated enediynes featuring radical traps: Novel structure and reactivity features of chromium complexed arene diradical species

The reaction of Fischer carbene complexes with conjugated enediynes that feature a pendant alkene group has been examined. The reaction proceeds through carbene–alkyne coupling to generate an enyne–ketene intermediate. This intermediate then undergoes Moore cyclization to generate a chromium complexed arene diradical, which then undergoes cyclization with the pendant alkene group. The radical cyclization prefers the 6-endo mode unless radical-stabilizing groups are present to favor the 5-exo mode. The intermediate diradical species were evaluated computationally in both the singlet and triplet configurations. Arene triplet diradicals feature minimal spin density at oxygen and delocalization to chromium. The 6-endo cyclization product was kinetically and thermodynamically favored.     

Plant-Based Indole Alkaloids: A Comprehensive Overview from a Pharmacological Perspective

Plant-based indole alkaloids are very rich in pharmacological activities, and the indole nucleus is considered to contribute greatly to these activities. This review’s fundamental objective is to summarize the pharmacological potential of indole alkaloids that have been derived from plants and provide a detailed evaluation of their established pharmacological activities, which may contribute to identifying new lead compounds. The study was performed by searching various scientific databases, including Springer, Elsevier, ACS Publications, Taylor and Francis, Thieme, Wiley Online Library, ProQuest, MDPI, and online scientific books. A total of 100 indole compounds were identified and reviewed. The most active compounds possessed a variety of pharmacological activities, including anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, analgesic, hypotensive, anticholinesterase, antiplatelet, antidiarrheal, spasmolytic, antileishmanial, lipid-lowering, antimycobacterial, and antidiabetic activities. Although some compounds have potent activity, some only have mild-to-moderate activity. The pharmacokinetic profiles of some of the identified compounds, such as brucine, mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, vindoline, and harmane, were also reviewed. Most of these compounds showed promising pharmacological activity. An in-depth pharmacological evaluation of these compounds should be performed to determine whether any of these indoles may serve as new leads.     

Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging of spinal cord injury in mouse: changes in signal patterns associated with the inflammatory response

Contusion-type spinal cord injury (SCI) in mice was followed longitudinally using in vivo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging along with neurobehavioral tests performed on postinjury Days 1, 7, 14 and 28. Magnetic resonance images were acquired from seven injured wild-type mice using a 9.4-T scanner and presented in sagittal and axial views to reflect the current state of the injured cord neuropathology on each day. The data were analyzed individually to gain more insights on the neuroinflammatory response unique to the mouse, to characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of the lesion and to quantify the changes in lesion volume and length with time. The MR intensity patterns on Day 1 showed acute injuries as focal in one group of three mice and as diffuse in the remaining group of four mice. The focal injuries appeared as a region of hypointensity with well-defined boundaries. These injuries first enlarged on Day 7, but then shrunk slightly by Days 14 and 28. In contrast, the diffuse injuries were initially obscure on Day 1, mainly because of loss of contrast between gray and white matters. On Day 7, lesions expanded asymptotically in both rostral and caudal directions with respect to the epicenter, and maintained its size on Days 14 and 28. Previous studies based on postmortem histological analysis have reported lesions behaving more like in the focal group. However, this new injury with diffuse characteristics may have important implications for SCI research carried out with mice. Unique experiments on genetically engineered mice with altered neuroinflammatory response should help clarify the origin of these differences in the lesion formation.