Impact of Harvest Conditions and Host Tree Species on Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Extracts from Viscum album L.

The content of plant secondary metabolites is not stable, and factors such as the region/location effect and seasonal variations have an impact on their chemical composition, especially in parasitic plants. Research in this area is an important step in the development of quality parameter standards of medicinal plants and their finished products. The effects of the time and place of harvest and the host tree species on the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of mistletoe extracts were investigated. Statistical tools were used to evaluate the results of the spectrophotometric and LC-ESI-MS/MS studies of the phenolic composition and antioxidant activity. The investigations indicate that the qualitative and quantitative composition, influencing the biological activity of mistletoe extracts, largely depends on the origin of the plant. The mistletoe extracts exhibited a rich phenol profile and high antioxidant activity. The chemometric analysis indicated that mistletoe collected from conifers (Viscum abietis and Viscum austriacum) had the most advantageous chemical composition and antioxidant activity. Moreover, the chemical profile and biological activity of the plant material were closely related to the climatic conditions and location of the harvested plant. Higher levels of phenolic compounds and high antioxidant activity were found in extracts obtained from plant material collected in cold weather with the presence of snow and less sunshine (autumn–winter period).     

H/D isotopic recognition in hydrogen-bonded systems: strong dynamical coupling effects in the polarized IR spectra of 3-methylthioacetanilide and 4-methylthioacetanilide crystals

This paper presents the investigation results of the polarized IR spectra of the hydrogen bond in crystals of 3- and 4-methylthioacetanilide. The spectra were measured at 293 and 77 K by a transmission method, with the use of polarized light. The main spectral properties of the crystals can be interpreted satisfactorily in terms of the "strong-coupling" theory, on the basis of the hydrogen bond centrosymmetric dimer model. The spectra revealed that the strongest vibrational exciton coupling involved the closely spaced hydrogen bonds, each belonging to a different chain of associated 3- and 4-methylthioacetanilide molecules. A weaker exciton coupling involved the adjacent hydrogen bonds in each individual chain. It was proven that a nonrandom distribution of the protons and deuterons took place in the lattices of isotopically diluted crystalline samples of 3- and 4-methylthioacetanilide. In each case, the H/D isotopic "self-organization" mechanism involved all four hydrogen bonds from each unit cell.     

On solving the dual for portfolio selection by optimizing Conditional Value at Risk

This note is focused on computational efficiency of the portfolio selection models based on the Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) risk measure. The CVaR measure represents the mean shortfall at a specified confidence level and its optimization may be expressed with a Linear Programming (LP) model. The corresponding portfolio selection models can be solved with general purpose LP solvers. However, in the case of more advanced simulation models employed for scenario generation one may get several thousands of scenarios. This may lead to the LP model with huge number of variables and constraints thus decreasing the computational efficiency of the model. To overcome this difficulty some alternative solution approaches are explored employing cutting planes or nondifferential optimization techniques among others. Without questioning importance and quality of the introduced methods we demonstrate much better performances of the simplex method when applied to appropriately rebuilt CVaR models taking advantages of the LP duality.     

TLC–direct bioautography as a method for evaluation of antibacterial properties of Thymus vulgaris L. and Salvia officinalis L. essential oils of different origin

ABSTRACT

The dot-blot bioautography was used to evaluate the antibacterial properties of Thymus vulgaris L. and Salvia officinalis L. essential oils (EOs) produced by three different manufacturers. The whole samples were applied at three concentrations on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates which were then subjected to bioautography against Bacillus subtilis. The samples of the highest activity were found. Then, they were separated using TLC and once again subjected to bioautography against B. subtilis. As was proved, only the essential oils of T. vulgaris L. possessed strong antibacterial properties for which mostly thymol and carvacrol were responsible. Their contents were calculated using TLC–UV densitometry. The highest contents were found in the essential oils of the highest antibacterial activity revealed in the dot-blot test. It means that a dot-blot test can be used for simple and fast evaluation of antibacterial properties of essential oils.     

Viscosity Solutions of Dynamic-Programming Equations for the Optimal Control of the Two-Dimensional Navier-Stokes Equations

In this paper we study the infinite-dimensional Hamilton-Jacobi equation associated with the optimal feedback control of viscous hydrodynamics. We resolve the global unique solvability problem of this equation by showing that the value function is the unique viscosity solution.     

Antioxidant,Anti-Inflammatory,and Anti-Diabetic Activity of Phenolic Acids Fractions Obtained from Aerva lanata (L.) Juss.

Many plants that are commonly used in folk medicine have multidirectional biological properties confirmed by scientific research. One of them is Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. (F. Amaranthaceae). It is widely used, but there are very few scientific data about its chemical composition and pharmacological activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the chemical composition of phenolic acid (PA)-rich fractions isolated from methanolic extracts of A. lanata (L.) Juss. herb using the liquid/liquid extraction method and their potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic properties. The free PA fraction (FA), the PA fraction (FB) released after acid hydrolysis, and the PA fraction (FC) obtained after alkaline hydrolysis were analysed using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). The phenolic profile of each sample showed a high concentration of PAs and their presence in A. lanata (L.) Juss. herb mainly in bound states. Thirteen compounds were detected and quantified in all samples, including some PAs that had not been previously detected in this plant species. Bioactivity assays of all fractions revealed high 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH^•) (2.85 mM Trolox equivalents (TE)/g) and 2,2-azino-bis-3(ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS^•+) (2.88 mM TE/g) scavenging activity. Fraction FB definitely exhibited not only the highest antiradical activity but also the strongest xanthine oxidase (XO) (EC₅₀ = 1.77 mg/mL) and lipoxygenase (LOX)(EC₅₀ = 1.88 mg/mL) inhibitory potential. The fraction had the best anti-diabetic properties, i.e., mild inhibition of α-amylase (EC₅₀ = 7.46 mg/mL) and strong inhibition of α-glucosidase (EC₅₀ = 0.30 mg/mL). The activities of all analysed samples were strongly related to the presence of PA compounds and the total PA content.     

Abscisic Acid—Defensive Player in Flax Response to Fusarium culmorum Infection

Fusarium culmorum is a ubiquitous soil pathogen with a wide host range. In flax (Linum ussitatissimum), it causes foot and root rot and accumulation of mycotoxins in flax products. Fungal infections lead to huge losses in the flax industry. Moreover, due to mycotoxin accumulation, flax products constitute a potential threat to the consumers. We discovered that the defense against this pathogen in flax is based on early oxidative burst among others. In flax plants infected with F. culmorum, the most affected genes are connected with ROS production and processing, callose synthesis and ABA production. We hypothesize that ABA triggers defense mechanism in flax and is a significant player in a successful response to infection.     

Practical application of the Average Information Content Maximization (AIC-MAX) algorithm: selection of the most important structural features for serotonin receptor ligands

The Average Information Content Maximization algorithm (AIC-MAX) based on mutual information maximization was recently introduced to select the most discriminatory features. Here, this methodology was applied to select the most significant bits from the Klekota-Roth fingerprint for serotonin receptors ligands as well as to select the most important features for distinguishing ligands with activity for one receptor versus another. The interpretation of selected bits and machine-learning experiments performed using the reduced interpretations outperformed the raw fingerprints and indicated the most important structural features of the analyzed ligands in terms of activity and selectivity. Moreover, the AIC-MAX methodology applied here for serotonin receptor ligands can also be applied to other target classes.     

Two pseudopolymorphs of LiCl trimers with semicubane structures

The title compounds, trichlorido(μ₃‐triethylphosphine oxide‐κ³O:O:O)tris(μ₂‐triethylphosphine oxide‐κ²O:O)trilithium(I) toluene solvate, [Li₃Cl₃(C₆H₁₅OP)₄]·C₇H₈, (I), and trichlorido(μ₃‐triethylphosphine oxide‐κ³O:O:O)tris(μ₂‐triethylphosphine oxide‐κ²O:O)trilithium(I), [Li₃Cl₃(C₆H₁₅OP)₄], (II), adopt separated semicubane structures in the solid state which are the first such structures to be reported for LiCl solvates. One triethylphosphine oxide ligand bonds via its O atom to the three Li atoms in a μ₃ manner, while the other three triethylphosphine oxide ligands bridge three Li atoms in μ₂ manners. The Cl atoms are in terminal instead of bridging positions, which is rather unusual for lithium chloride solvates.     

On Symmetric Schauder Bases in Non-Archimedean Fréchet Spaces

 It is proved that any infinite-dimensional non-archimedean Fréchet space with a symmetric basis is isomorphic to c ₀ or ?^ℕ. A similar result is shown for homogeneous bases. It is also proved that any infinite-dimensional nuclear non-archimedean Fréchet space with a subsymmetric basis is isomorphic to ?^ℕ. In fact, much stronger results are obtained. Received August 27, 2001; in revised form February 8, 2002