Nigella sativa L. and COVID-19: A Glance at The Anti-COVID-19 Chemical Constituents,Clinical Trials,Inventions, and Patent Literature

COVID-19 has had an impact on human quality of life and economics. Scientists have been identifying remedies for its prevention and treatment from all possible sources, including plants. Nigella sativa L. (NS) is an important medicinal plant of Islamic value. This review highlights the anti-COVID-19 potential, clinical trials, inventions, and patent literature related to NS and its major chemical constituents, like thymoquinone. The literature was collected from different databases, including Pubmed, Espacenet, and Patentscope. The literature supports the efficacy of NS, NS oil (NSO), and its chemical constituents against COVID-19. The clinical data imply that NS and NSO can prevent and treat COVID-19 patients with a faster recovery rate. Several inventions comprising NS and NSO have been claimed in patent applications to prevent/treat COVID-19. The patent literature cites NS as an immunomodulator, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, a source of anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds, and a plant having protective effects on the lungs. The available facts indicate that NS, NSO, and its various compositions have all the attributes to be used as a promising remedy to prevent, manage, and treat COVID-19 among high-risk people as well as for the therapy of COVID-19 patients of all age groups as a monotherapy or a combination therapy. Many compositions of NS in combination with countless medicinal herbs and medicines are still unexplored. Accordingly, the authors foresee a bright scope in developing NS-based anti-COVID-19 composition for clinical use in the future.     

Seed Priming with Devosia sp. Cell-Free Supernatant (CFS) and Citrus Bioflavonoids Enhance Canola and Soybean Seed Germination

Climate change, environmental pollution and associated abiotic stresses are beginning to meaningfully affect agricultural production worldwide. Salt stress is, however, one of the most important threats that significantly impairs plant growth and development. Plants in their early growth stages such as seed germination, seed emergence and early seedling growth are very sensitive to salt stress. Among the range of sustainable techniques adopted to improve seed germination and early plant growth is seed priming; however, with the use of ecofriendly substances, this is one of the most effective and economically viable techniques to improve seed tolerance against such environmental stresses. For instance, priming with appropriate non-synthetic compounds including microbial biostimulants are prominent ways to sustainably address these challenges. Therefore, in this research, by using the “priming technique”, two biostimulants were tested for their potential as sustainable approaches to improve canola and soybean seed germination under salt stress and optimal growth conditions. Canola and soybean seeds were primed with flavonoids extracted from citrus fruits (flavopriming) and cell-free supernatant (CFS; produced by a novel strain of Devosia sp.—SL43), alone and in combination, and exposed to low–higher levels of salt stress and ideal growth conditions. Both biostimulants showed promising effects by significantly improving seed germination of soybean and canola under both ideal and stressful conditions. However, increases in seed germination were greater under salinity stress as flavonoids and CFS with stress amelioration effects showed substantial and statistically significant improvements in seed germination under varying levels of salt stress. In addition, combinations (mixtures) of both biostimulants were tested to determine if their effects might be more additive or multiplicative than the individual applications. However, results suggested incompatibility of both biostimulants as none of the combinations showed better results than that of the individual applications of either flavonoids or CFS. Conceivably, the use of flavonoids and this novel Devosia sp. CFS could be significant plant growth enhancers, perhaps much better than the few other biostimulants and bacterial-based compounds currently in use.     

Biochemical Characterization and In Vitro Digestibility of Protein Isolates from Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) By-Products for Salmonid Feed Applications

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) processing by-products (hemp cake and hemp seed hulls) were studied for their protein content, extraction of protein isolates (PIs), and their in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD). Crude protein contents of hemp cake and hemp seed hulls were 30.4% and 8.6%, respectively, calculated based on generalized N-to-P conversion factor (N × 5.37). Extraction efficiency of PIs from defatted biomass ranged from 56.0 to 67.7% with alkaline extraction (0.1 M NaOH) followed by isoelectric precipitation (1.0 M HCl). Nitrogen analysis suggested that the total protein contents of PIs extracted using three different alkaline conditions (0.5 M, 0.1 M, and pH 10.0 with NaOH) were >69.7%. The hemp by-product PIs contained all essential amino acids (EAAs) required for fish with leucine, valine, and phenylalanine belonging to the five dominant amino acids. Overall, glutamate was the dominant non-EAA followed by aspartate. Coomassie staining of an SDS-PAGE gel revealed strong presence of the storage protein edestin. High IVPD of >88% was observed for PIs extracted from hemp seeds and by-products when evaluated using a two-phase in vitro gastric/pancreatic protein digestibility assay. PIs extracted from by-products were further tested for their antioxidant activities. The tested PIs showed dose-dependent DPPH radical scavenging activity and possessed strong ORAC values > 650 μM TE/g.     

Inhibition of Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation by Seed-Derived Ethanol Extracts from Persea americana Mill

The increase in antibiotic resistance demands innovative strategies to combat microorganisms. The current study evaluated the antibacterial and antivirulence effects of ethanol extracts from Persea americana seeds obtained by the Soxhlet (SE) and maceration (MaE) methods. The UHPLC-DAD-QTOF analysis showed mainly the presence of polyphenols and neolignan. Ethanol extracts were not cytotoxic to mammalian cells (CC₅₀ > 500 µg/mL) and displayed a moderate antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (IC₅₀ = 87 and 187 µg/mL) and Staphylococcus aureus (IC₅₀ = 144 and 159 µg/mL). Interestingly, no antibacterial activity was found against Escherichia coli. SE and MaE extracts were also able to significantly reduce the bacterial adhesion to A549 lung epithelial cells. Additionally, both extracts inhibited the biofilm growth at 24 h and facilitated the release of internal cell components in P. aeruginosa, which might be associated with cell membrane destabilization. Real-time PCR and agarose electrophoresis gel analysis indicated that avocado seed ethanol extracts (64 µg/mL) downregulated virulence-related factors such as mexT and lasA genes. Our results support the potential of bioproducts from P. americana seeds as anti-adhesive and anti-biofilm agents.     

Health Beneficial Properties of Grapevine Seed Extract and Its Influence on Selected Biochemical Markers in the Blood,Liver and Kidneys of Rattus norvegicus

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that occurs in all areas of the environment, including the food chain. In the body, it causes oxidative stress by producing free radicals that are harmful to the cells. Grape seed extract (GSE) contains a wide range of biologically active components that help to neutralize the adverse effects of free radicals. In this study, the effects of GSE prepared form semi-resistant grapevine cultivar Cerason, which is rich in phenolics, on biochemical markers of brown rats exposed to the effects of cadmium were monitored. GSE increased the plasma antioxidant activity and, in the kidneys and the liver, Cd content was significantly lowered by GSE co-administration. Accordingly, the increase in creatinine content and alanine aminotransferase activity and the decrease of catalase and superoxide dismutase activities caused by cadmium were slowed down by GSE co-administration. The results of this work reveal that grape seed extract offers a protective effect against the intake of heavy metals into the organism.     

NiFeNb种子层对坡莫合金磁滞回线的影响

以NiFeNb为种子层，制备(Ni₇₉Fe₂₁)_1-xNb_{x(5nm)/(Ni79Fe21) (20nm)/Ta(3nm)系列膜，并对其颗粒大小、 磁滞回线及表面粗糙度等进行测量，探讨种子层中Nb含量x对坡莫合金磁滞回线的影响.结果 表明，以NiFeNb作种子层能更好地改善坡莫合金的微结构. Nb含量为23％时的磁滞回线有最 小的最大磁能积、矫顽力.种子层影响坡莫合金磁滞回线的一个重要原因是脱附激活能等因 素造成种子层具有不同的表面粗糙度，进而使坡莫合金具有不同的微结构和磁性能. 关键词： NiFeNb种子层 坡莫合金 磁滞回线 粗糙度}     

决明子有效成分的提取

决明子的主要功能化学成分有蒽醌类、吡酮类和多糖等，具有降血脂、降血压、保肝、通便等作用。本文采用乙醇提取决明子中的三种有效成分：多糖、蒽醌、黄酮。对乙醇浓度、浸提温度、浸提时间、固液比、浸提次数进行了单因素梯度实验，确定了其条件范围，通过进一步正交实验得到决明子有效成分的乙醇提取工艺的最优因素组合．乙醇浓度50％，浸提温度60℃，浸提时间2．5h，固液比l：20。     

金红石晶种的X射线衍射分析及其转化率测定

介绍了一种钛白粉生产过程中金红石晶种的转化率测定方法.通过X射线衍射法（XRD）分析金红石晶种物相组成：金红石型TiO₂（R）、锐钛型TiO₂（A）、NaCl.在样品预处理过程中,通过控制体系的pH值靠近金红石晶种等电点,经离心脱盐,消除了金红石晶种中NaCl（111）面对金红石（110）面衍射峰的重叠干扰,同时提高低含量锐钛体积分数,采用"绝热法"定量测定了晶种的金红石转化率.     

Crystalline carbon nitrides: thin films and bulk samples

A new method was developed for the preparation of bulk samples of crystalline carbon nitride on exposure of an amorphous nitrogen- and carbon-containing material to high temperature and ultrahigh pressure in the presence of crystallization seeds. Amorphous carbon nitride whose composition was close to C₃N₄was used as a starting material. Thin films of crystalline carbon nitrides prepared by the laser-electric discharge method were used as crystallization seeds.     

Sol-Gel Formation of ITO Thin Film from a Sol Including ITO Powder

Recently, low temperature synthesis of ITO thin film of low resistivity is desired in the field of LCD (Liquid Crystalline Display) production. This paper describes the results of experiment to produce ITO thin film from a sol containing crystalline ITO particles and alkoxides of In and Sn. Crystallization temperature of ITO thin film obtained from the sol mixed with ITO powder was lower than that of ITO from the sol without ITO powder. Furthermore, the resistivity of the former ITO thin film was lower than that of the latter. It was assumed that these results were attributed to the promotion effect of ITO crystalline particles to crystalize the amorphous ITO gel at lower temperature. This low temperature crystallization effect plays an important role in enhancing the crystallinity and electric conductivity of ITO thin film from sol-gel process.