1,720,979 research outputs found
Phytonutritional Content and Aroma Profile Changes During Postharvest Storage of Edible Flowers
Full text linkEdible flowers are niche horticultural products, routinely used as cooking ingredients
in the food industry. Currently, new species are required with the aim of enlarging
the number of species with a long shelf-life, healthy nutraceutical compounds, and
new fragrance and tastes. Ageratum houstonianum Mill, Tagetes lemmonii A. Gray,
Salvia dorisiana Standl, and Pelargonium odoratissimum (L.) L’Hér “Lemon” were
selected for their different morphological characteristics and color. Fresh flowers were
analyzed to characterize their phytonutritional content and aroma profile. Postharvest
was determined up to 6 days of cold storage at 4C in transparent polypropylene
boxes. Visual quality and cellular membrane damage were observed. The relative
content of different antioxidant constituents (e.g., polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins,
ascorbic acid), nutritional compounds (soluble sugars, crude proteins), the antioxidant
scavenging activity, and the volatile profile were determined and correlated to the quality
of shelf-life of the different species. The yellow T. lemmonii freshly picked flowers showed
the highest ascorbic acid and flavonoids content, which was maintained during the
cold storage, as well as the best visual quality. Limited changes in metabolites were
detected in the light blue A. houstonianum during postharvest, although the visual
quality is severely compromised. Magenta S. dorisiana and light pink P. odoratissimum
showed similar changes in antioxidant constituents during cold storage. For the first
time, the volatile compounds have been identified in the four species. Sesquiterpene
hydrocarbons are the main class in fresh flowers of A. houstonianum, S. dorisiana,
and P. odoratissimum, while monoterpene hydrocarbons are abundant in T. lemmonii.
The cold storage influenced mainly P. odoratissimum and S. dorisiana flavor initially
dominated by the increase in total monoterpenes at 6 days, reaching a relative content
of 90%. Both A. houstonianum and T. lemmonii conserved the prevalence of the same
class of constituents in all the analyzed conditions, even though the cold storage
influenced the major compound abundance. On the basis of the results, T. lemmonii
was the most interesting species with the longest shelf-life due to its phytonutritional
and aromatic constituents. Results indicated the peculiar metabolic and physiological
attitude of flowers species to cold storage
Trace Elements in Edible Flowers from Italy: Further Insights into Health Benefits and Risks to Consumers
No full textThe use of edible flowers in cooking dates back to ancient times, but recently it is gaining success among the consumers, increasingly attentive to healthy and sustainable foods of high quality, without neglecting taste, flavour, and visual appeal. The present study aims to deepen the knowledge regarding the mineral composition of edible flowers, an aspect not widely investigated in scientific literature. The concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, V, and Zn have been determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) in flowers belonging to a wide variety of species. The study highlights that some floral species are characterized by significantly higher concentrations of certain trace elements, e.g., the flowers of Acmella oleracea for Mn, those of basil (Ocimum basilicum) and of pumpkins (Cucurbita moschata and C. pepo) for Cu and Sr, and those of orange daylily Hemerocallis fulva) for Ni. Potentially toxic elements are present at low concentrations, often below the limit of the detection for Cd, Co, Ni, V. In all samples, Cd and Pb are well below the maximum permitted levels in foodstuffs. It can be concluded that the edible flowers analyzed can be considered a good source of essential elements and do not present risks for the consumer health as for the mineral composition
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal and bacterial inocula on nitrate concentration in mesocosms simulating a wastewater treatment system relying on phytodepuration
No full textVariations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting pseudomonads improve yield, quality and nutritional value of tomato: a field study
No full textThe aim of this work was to assess the effects of plant-beneficial microorganisms (two Pseudomonas strains and a mixed mycorrhizal inoculum, alone or in combination) on the quality of tomato fruits of plants grown in the field and subjected to reduced fertilization. Pseudomonas strain 19Fv1T was newly characterized during this study. The size and quality of the fruits (concentration of sugars, organic acids and vitamin C) were assessed. The microorganisms positively affected the flower and fruit production and the concentrations of sugars and vitamins in the tomato fruits. In particular, the most important effect induced by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi was an improvement of citric acid concentration, while bacteria positively modulated sugar production and the sweetness of the tomatoes. The novelty of the present work is the application of soil microorganisms in the field, in a real industrial tomato farm. This approach provided direct information about the application of inocula, allowed the reduction of chemical inputs and positively influenced tomato quality
Bioactive Compounds and Aroma Profile of Some Lamiaceae Edible Flowers
Full text linkEdible flowers are consumed for their appearance, colours, nutritional and healthy
properties, but the use is limited by the actual number of the species. Seven edible flowers of the
Lamiaceae family (Ocimeae and Mentheae tribes) were investigated: Monarda didyma ‘Fireball’,
Nepeta × faassenii ‘Six Hills Giant’, Ocimum basilicum ‘Blue Spice’, O. basilicum ‘Cinnamon’, Ocimum
× citriodorum, Salvia discolor, and Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’. Total soluble sugars, proteins,
polyphenols, carotenoids, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity were detected. The species of the
Mentheae tribe contained higher sugar content than Ocimeae flowers, the opposite with regard to
protein content. Ocimeae tribe flowers showed high polyphenols and carotenoids content. The
Ocimeae tribe together with two specie of the Mentheae tribe showed an aroma profile dominated
by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (58.0% in S. discolor to 77.9% in Ocimum × citriodorum). Oxygenated
monoterpenes prevailed in Nepeta and Monarda, also present in the essential oil of this latter species
(84.5%). By contrast, Nepeta and S. discolor evidenced non-terpenes as the principal class (41.2% and
77.5%, respectively), while the oxygenated sesquiterpene was the main one in S. microphylla. The
two varieties of Ocimum spp. showed oxygenated monoterpenes as the main class of volatiles
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
