Ultrasound as a Promising Tool for the Green Extraction of Specialized Metabolites from Some Culinary Spices

Spices are a popular food of plant origin, rich in various phytochemicals and recognized for their numerous properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, as well as the content of specialized metabolites, of aqueous extracts of three spice species––garlic (Allium sativum L.), ginger (Zingiber officinalle L.) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)––prepared by green extraction methods. Ultrasound treatment increased the chromaticity parameter b value of turmeric and ginger extracts, thus indicating a higher yellow color predominantly due to curcuminoids characteristic of these species. Ultrasound-assisted extraction significantly increased the content of total soluble solids, phenolic compounds, total carotenoids and vitamin C. The temperature of the system was also an important factor, with the highest (70 °C) conditions in ultrasound-assisted extraction having a positive effect on thermolabile compounds (vitamin C, phenolics, total carotenoids). For example, turmeric extract treated with ultrasound at 70 °C had up to a 67% higher vitamin C content and a 69.4% higher total carotenoid content compared to samples treated conventionally at the same temperature, while ginger extracts had up to 40% higher total phenols. All different concentrations of spice extracts were not sufficient for complete inhibition of pathogenic bacterial strains of Salmonella, L. monocytogenes and S. aureus; however, only garlic extracts had an effect on slowing down the growth and number of L. monocytogenes colonies. Spice extracts obtained by ultrasonic treatment contained a significantly higher level of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity, suggesting that the extracts obtained have significant nutritional potential and thus a significant possibility for phytotherapeutic uses.     

Common Trends and Differences in Antioxidant Activity Analysis of Phenolic Substances Using Single Electron Transfer Based Assays

Numerous assays were developed to measure the antioxidant activity, but each has limitations and the results obtained by different methods are not always comparable. Popular examples are the DPPH and ABTS assay. Our aim was to study similarities and differences of these two assay regarding the measured antioxidant potentials of 24 phenolic compounds using the same measurement and evaluation methods. This should allow conclusions to be drawn as to whether one of the assays is more suitable for measuring specific subgroups like phenolic acids, flavonols, flavanones, dihydrochalcones or flavanols. The assays showed common trends for the mean values of most of the subgroups. Some dihydrochalcones and flavanones did not react with the DPPH radical in contrast to the ABTS radical, leading to significant differences. Therefore, to determine the antioxidant potential of dihydrochalcone or flavanone-rich extracts, the ABTS assay should be preferred. We found that the results of the flavonoids in the DPPH assay were dependent on the Bors criteria, whereas the structure–activity relationship in the ABTS assay was not clear. For the phenolic acids, the results in the ABTS assay were only high for pyrogallol structures, while the DPPH assay was mainly determined by the number of OH groups.     

Reliability of Speaking and Maximum Voice Range Measures in Screening for Dysphonia

Speech range profile (SRP) is a graphical display of frequency-intensity occurring interactions during functional speech activity. Few studies have suggested the potential clinical applications of SRP. However, these studies are limited to qualitative case comparisons and vocally healthy participants. The present study aimed to examine the effects of voice disorders on speaking and maximum voice ranges in a group of vocally untrained women. It also aimed to examine whether voice limit measures derived from SRP were as sensitive as those derived from voice range profile (VRP) in distinguishing dysphonic from healthy voices. Ninety dysphonic women with laryngeal pathologies and 35 women with normal voices, who served as controls, participated in this study. Each subject recorded a VRP for her physiological vocal limits. In addition, each subject read aloud the "North Wind and the Sun" passage to record SRP. All the recordings were captured and analyzed by Soundswell's computerized real-time phonetogram Phog 1.0 (Hitech Development AB, T?by, Sweden). The SRPs and the VRPs were compared between the two groups of subjects. Univariate analysis results demonstrated that individual SRP measures were less sensitive than the corresponding VRP measures in discriminating dysphonic from normal voices. However, stepwise logistic regression analyses revealed that the combination of only two SRP measures was almost as effective as a combination of three VRP measures in predicting the presence of dysphonia (overall prediction accuracy: 93.6% for SRP vs 96.0% for VRP). These results suggest that in a busy clinic where quick voice screening results are desirable, SRP can be an acceptable alternate procedure to VRP.     

Super‐fast oil uptake using porous ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene sheets

This paper presents the oil uptake of porous sorbent polymer sheets consisting of ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene. A comprehensive set of experiments are performed showing the saturation contact time, retention value, mechanical properties, oil pick‐up ratio, pick‐up density, and dynamic dripping profile. Kinetic modeling of the oil sorption is also provided. The experimental results show a good correlation with the pseudo‐second order model. The sheets exhibit high oil uptake speeds, requiring less than 2 min in contact with the oil to reach saturation. The sheets fulfill the criteria of high uptake kinetics, high sorption capacity, and high mechanical strength simultaneously. Those characteristics enable their use in practical spill response. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

XMgO·YMg(OH)_2吸附剂除氟机理及其净化水的水质研究

研究了XMg O·YMg(OH)2对水中氟离子的吸附性能,考察了吸附时间、吸附剂用量、含氟水p H值、温度、含氟水初始浓度等因素对吸附的影响。实验结果表明,在较宽的p H(3.4~8.4)值和水温(22~51℃)范围内,XMg O·YMg(OH)2对水中氟离子具有极强的吸附能力,室温下0.4g XMg O·YMg(OH)2可将100m L浓度为30mg F-1·L-1含氟水处理为符合含氟标准的饮用水。氟离子在XMg O·YMg(OH)2上的吸附速率较大,30min内基本达到吸附平衡,吸附平衡符合Langmuir方程,在50min内达到饱和吸附,室温下饱和吸附量为13.46mg·g-1。净化水呈微碱性,含有5.68~15.07mg·L-1Mg2+,有益于人体健康。吸附饱和后的XMg O·YMg(OH)2经焙烧再生,除氟率可达81%。     

Evaluation of radiation damage behavior in polyimide aerogel by infrared camera and photoacoustic spectroscopy

In this work, the optical absorption and thermal properties of polyimide aerogel have been investigated by Infrared Camera, ultraviolet–visible and photoacoustic spectroscopy under low energy proton irradiation. The characterization method of the infrared camera can obtain the optical absorption ratio, and meanwhile get the information of specific heat capacity. Moreover, it can acquire the nature information of damaged area rather than the overall performance. The results show an increase in optical absorption after proton irradiation, which is in good coincidence with Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy analysis. And the specific heat capacity decreased linearly with proton fluences, which can be attributed to the irradiation damage and carbonization in polyimide aerogel. The Raman spectra suggested the cleavage of chemical bonds and carbonization in polyimide aerogel. This work provides the novel, non-destructive and sensitive methods to characterize irradiation damage of aerogel.     

基于钴酸锂载体构筑高体积比容量硫基复合材料

锂-硫电池具有高的理论质量/体积能量密度,因而成为最具发展潜力的高比能二次电池体系. 然而,由于硫载体通常采用轻质的碳纳米材料,导致硫基复合材料的振实密度和体积比容量均偏低,制约了电池体积能量密度的提升. 本文尝试采用具有高密度特征的钴酸锂(LiCoO₂)作为硫的载体材料,以构筑高振实密度的硫基复合材料,进而提高硫正极的体积比容量. 研究显示,LiCoO₂对可溶性多硫化物具有较强的吸附作用,能够促进硫的电化学转化,因而提高了硫的活性物质利用率和循环稳定性. 同时,由于具有高的振实密度(1.90 g·cm^-3),S/LiCoO₂复合材料的首周体积比容量高达1750.5 mAh·cm^-3,是常规硫/碳复合材料的2.2倍. 因此,本文利用具有高密度特征的LiCoO₂作为硫载体来提升硫复合材料的体积比容量,有助于实现锂-硫电池的高体积能量密度.     

Comparative Study of the Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of Fresh Juices from Romanian Cucurbitaceae Varieties

Cucurbitaceae is a family of health-promoting plants due to their compounds with beneficial effects. The aim of this study was to analyze, for the first time, the chemical composition, the antioxidant activity and the metal chelating properties of fruit juices obtained from four different species of the Cucurbitaceae family cultivated in Romania, namely Momordica charantia, Cucumis metuliferus, Benincasa hispida and Trichosanthes cucumerina. The samples of juice were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and all the four species displayed high levels of the two triterpenes, oleanolic and ursolic acids, and also in phenolic compounds, including catechin, (−)-epicatechin and gallic acid. The juices demonstrated significant antioxidant activity against the free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (ranging from 20 to 95%,), a good iron binding ability (ranging from 7.45 ± 0.28% to 86.95 ± 0.97%) and also promising antioxidant potential against the ABTS radical (ranging from 4.97 to 32.60 μETx/mL juice). Our findings raise interesting questions for further research on Cucurbitaceae fruit juices and, consequently, their very good antioxidant potential suggests these fruits should be further explored for their protective effect against oxidative damage. This is the first time the chemical composition and antioxidant activities of fruit juices from these four Romanian Cucurbitaceae varieties have been investigated.     

基于修正压力场理论的再生混凝土梁抗剪承载力计算方法研究

基于修正压力场理论分析有腹筋再生混凝土梁的剪切破坏机理,建立了更接近有腹筋再生混凝土梁实际受力的抗剪模型,并通过考虑再生骨料有效粒径和受箍筋作用下的裂缝宽度与构件裂缝处应力的联系,分析了再生骨料咬合力对梁斜截面抗剪性能的影响,提出了再生混凝土梁极限抗剪承载力的计算方法.此外,本文将理论结果与课题组自制的6根再生混凝土梁...     

An Efficient Deacidification Process for Safflower Seed Oil with High Nutritional Property through Optimized Ultrasonic-Assisted Technology

Safflower seed oil (SSO) is considered to be an excellent edible oil since it contains abundant essential unsaturated fatty acids and lipid concomitants. However, the traditional alkali-refined deacidification process of SSO results in a serious loss of bioactive components of the oil and also yields massive amounts of wastewater. In this study, SSO was first extracted by ultrasonic-assisted ethanol extraction (UAEE), and the extraction process was optimized using random centroid optimization. By exploring the effects of ethanol concentration, solid–liquid ratio, ultrasonic time, and the number of deacidification times, the optimum conditions for the deacidification of safflower seed oil were obtained as follows: ethanol concentration 100%, solid–liquid ratio 1:4, ultrasonic time 29 min, and number of deacidification cycles (×2). The deacidification rate was 97.13% ± 0.70%, better than alkali-refining (72.16% ± 0.13%). The values of acid, peroxide, anisidine and total oxidation of UAEE-deacidified SSO were significantly lower than those of alkali-deacidified SSO (p < 0.05). The contents of the main lipid concomitants such as tocopherols, polyphenols, and phytosterols in UAEE-decidified SSO were significantly higher than those of the latter (p < 0.05). For instance, the DPPH radical scavenging capacity of UAEE-processed SSO was significantly higher than that of alkali refining (p < 0.05). The Pearson bivariate correlation analysis before and after the deacidification process demonstrated that the three main lipid concomitants in SSO were negatively correlated with the index of peroxide, anisidine, and total oxidation values. The purpose of this study was to provide an alternative method for the deacidification of SSO that can effectively remove free fatty acids while maintaining the nutritional characteristics, physicochemical properties, and antioxidant capacity of SSO.