1,504 research outputs found
Amazonian plants from ethnomedicine to biotechnology through pharmaceutical biology approaches: a PhD experience in connecting forest with laboratory
No full textThe South american Natives, Shuar and Achuar people and their ethnomedical culture constitute the
background subject of the Phd research, performed both in Ecuador (Salesian Politechnic University,
Quito), and in Italy (Pharmaceutical biology labs, University of Ferrara). Based on ethnomedical
responses, Piper aduncum, Maytenus macrocarpa, Schinus molle, Tecoma stans and Eugenia hallii were
chosen as amazonian plant species subject of the research.
AIMS
The research has been focused on:
− checking the presence of endophytic fungi in plants;
− isolating and subculturing pure endophytic strains;
− checking the biotransformation capacity of the isolated endophytes on pure compounds; the most
performing endophytes were also tested on phytocomplexes and pure chemicals obtained by the
plant from which the fungi were isolated;
− phytochemical characterization and bioactivity assays of plant extracts: P. aduncum.
−
METHODS
Biotransformations. Fresh aerial plant parts were properly washed in sanitizing solutions and in vitro
cultured using adequate solid media to isolate endophytes. (+/-)-cis-bicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-en-6-one,
acetophenone, 1-indanone, 2-furyl methyl ketone, 2-methylcyclopentanone, 2-methylcyclohexanone, 2-
methoxycyclohexanone were chosen as substrate model for biotransformations. The cultures were
sampled after 1, 3, 7, 10 days of culturing, and ethyl acetate extracted to verify by GC-MS the presence of
possible biotransformation products. Biotransformations were also checked on P. aduncum whole
essential oil and on dillapiol, cis-ocimene, piperitone, (-)-terpinen-4-ol as most abundant chemicals.
Chemical fingerprinting of P. aduncum essential oil. Steam distillation was adopted to obtain the essential
oil, then characterized by GC-MS, NMR analyses.
In vitro bioassays of P. aduncum essential oil. Antimicrobial activities were checked in vitro using proper
agarized media to reach MIC. Antioxidant capacities were checked through DPPH test, ABTS and
photochemiluminescence assays. Born's turbidimetric method and Writhing test were respectively
adopted to check platelet-aggregation and anti-nociceptive properties. Mutagenic, antimutagenic
properties and toxicity were assayed using classical and modified Ames test.
MAIN RESULTS
364 fungal strains were in vitro isolated. Among all, 5 strains performed biotransformations on
acetophenone to (S)-1-phenylethanol, with important yields (78-97%) and enantiomeric excess (78-
100%). Three strains gave also phenols probably by enzymatic reactions (Baeyer-Villiger oxidations). 15
fungal strains gave the lactones (-)-(1S,5R)-2-oxabicyclo[3.3.0]oct-6-en-3-one and (-)-(1R,5S)-3-
oxabicyclo[3.3.0]oct-6-en-2-one from (+/-)-cis-bicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-en-6-one, probably as result of
monooxygenase activation. Phytochemical characterization of P. aduncum essential oil has evidenced
dillapiol as the most abundant terpene, followed by cis-ocimene, piperitone and terpinen-4-ol. Only cisocimene
and piperitone gave several biotransformation products through dehydrogenation and
hydroxylation reactions. The essential oil has evidenced non-mutagenic properties and interesting
antifungal and antioxidant activities.
CONCLUSIONS
Several endophytic fungal strains from Amazonian plants were isolated and checked for
biotransformations on pure chemicals and on P. aduncum essential oil. Data obtained will be useful for
possible following patents about micro-organisms able to transform pharmaceutically interesting
chemicals. Taxonomical characterization of the most performing fungal strains is still in progress. P.
aduncum essential oil can be considered genotoxically safe and provides interesting antifungal and
antioxidant properties, supporting its ethnomedical use as cicatrising and disinfectant crude drug and
suggesting an extension of its employ as preservative ingredient
Afropean Journeys: A Conversation with E.C. Osondu
No full textNigeria-born and US resident author E.C. Osondu debuted with the short story collection Voice of America (2010), followed by the novel This House is Not for Sale (2015) and Alien Stories (2020). His latest novel, When the Sky is Ready the Stars Will Appear, the compelling tale of an African boy’s journey towards Rome in search of a better life, was first published in translation in Italy with the title Quando il cielo vuole spuntano le stelle (2020). Only one year later, the original version of the novel was published in Nigeria. This piece, based on a conversation with the author within the context of the “Afropean Bridges” 2021 Series, introduces E.C. Osondu and his works to the Italian audience
Molecular analysis of G6PD variants in northern Italy: a study on the population from the Ferrara district.
No full textIn the Ferrara district, an area south of the Po delta, four different variants of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD;E.C.1.1.49) have been described as a result of biochemical characterization of the enzyme protein: one was G6PD Mediterranean (G6PD Med) and three were local variants named Ferrara I, II, and III. The Ferrara I variant was recently analysed at the DNA level and shown to correspond to G6PD A376G/202A, while the mutations causing the variants II and III, still remain unknown. We analysed the G6PD coding region of 18 apparently unrelated G6PD deficient subjects, whose families have lived in the Ferrara district for at least three generations: 12 subjects had G6PD Med563T/1311T, 3, G6PD Santamaria376G/542T and 2, G6PD A-376G/202A. In one subject we found a new mutation, a G-->A transition at nucleotide 242 causing an Arg-->His amino-acid replacement at position 81. We named this new variant G6PD Lagosanto242 A. Phenotypically the enzyme has nearly normal kinetic properties and appears different from the variants Ferrara II and III
Ships Observing Marine Climate: a catalogue of the VOS participating in the VSOP-NA
No full textOur present knowledge of the marine climate, as represented by data sets such as COADS (Woodruff et al., 1987), is based on meteorological observations from the Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS). Because the VOS are merchant ships, rather than specially designed meteorological platforms, errors and biases exist in the data. However there is little information readily available to the climatologist either on the nature of the VOS fleet or on the observing practises which are used. This report, describing the forty-six ships that participated in the Voluntary Observing Ships' Special Observing Project - North Atlantic (VSOP-NA), therefore serves two purposes:(i) it provides a reference document to aid analysis of the VSOP-NA data set,(ii) it gives a detailed description of a subset of the VOS, which will be of value in the interpretation of marine climate data sets.This report is in two parts, Part 1 is an overall summary of the ship characteristics, Part 2 is a ship by ship description. The next section will briefly describe the VSOP-NA project, followed by a summary of the characteristics of the VSOP-NA ships (Section 3). Since these ships were specially selected (Section 2.2), the degree to which they are representative of the whole VOS fleet will be carefully considered. The meteorological instrumentation used by the VOS varies depending on which meteorological agency recruited the ships. That used on the chosen VSOP-NA ships is typical of VOS recruited by the countries bordering the North Atlantic, and will be described in Section 4. Section 5 is a summary of Part 1 of the report.Part 2 presents the VSOP-NA ship catalogue. This includes, for each ship, diagrams of the layout (indicating in particular the exposure of the sensors), a summary of the geographical positions at which observations were obtained, and details of the instrumentation used.<br/
Services in Europe: a policy for the '90s. Europe: Magazine of the European Community No. 263, January-February 1987
No full textBilateral pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum during upper endoscopy: the role of gastric perforation and of cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvres
No full textA comparison of data-driven internal multiple elimination strategies and their consequences for imaging
No full textWe compare two data-driven internal multiple reflection elimination schemes derived from regular Marchenko equations and Inverse Scattering Series (ISS). The scheme derived from regular Marchenko equations creates a new data set without internal multiple reflections. The scheme derived from ISS is equal to the result after the second iteration of the Marchenko-based scheme. It can attenuate internal multiple reflections with residuals. We evaluate the success of two schemes with a 2D complex numerical example. It is shown that Marchenko-based data-driven scheme is relatively more robust for internal multiple reflection elimination.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Applied Geophysics and Petrophysic
Análisis de las dos líneas de transmisión del tratado de Tudmīr (94 H./713 e.C.)
No full textThe two main texts of the transmission lines of the treaty of Tudmīr (94 H/713 e.C. ), included by al- ‘Uḏrī and al-Ḍabbī in their respective works, are edited and translated on the basis of an new reading of the manuscripts that contain them, and after that, we reach some conclusions about its process of copy. There are compared the two texts, and are listed its textual differences. As conclusion, we propose that Al- ‘Uḏrī’s text is the oldest, because its author has copied them from the original document of the 8th. c. (or a copy transfer of this). The transmission of al-Ḍabbī is more recent and it was based in an oral transmission of the text.Análisis de las dos líneas de transmisión del tratado de Tudmīr (94 H./713 e.C.)Los dos textos principales de las líneas de transmisión del tratado de Tudmīr (94 H/713 e.C.), incluidos por al-‘Uḏrī y al-Ḍabbī en sus respectivas obras, son editados y traducidos en base a la relectura de los manuscritos que los contienen y de ello se extraen una serie de conclusiones sobre su proceso de copia. Luego son comparados los dos textos entre sí y se enumeran una serie de diferencias textuales. Finalmente, como hipótesis interpretativa se propone que el texto de al-‘Uḏrī es el más antiguo, y habría sido copiado de un traslado del original por su autor, mientras que la transmisión de al-Ḍabbī habría sido más reciente y se habría fundado en otra fuente más antigua que habría puesto por escrito un relato oral del texto
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