1,720,958 research outputs found
Evaluation of fodder legumes for nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications
No full textSince the beginning of human cultivation, the role of plants in medicine has been of huge importance. The aim of this PhD Project is to investigate some forage plants belonging to the family of Fabaceae to gain knowledge concerning their possible use in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics field. These plants have been chosen because they are characterized by great productive potential, but they are still under-exploited from the officinal and industrial point of view. They are also a potential source for the extraction of bioactive compounds with possible pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications (Rodrigues et al., 2013;Cornara et al., 2016), being generally rich in secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, amines, flavonoids, coumarins, condensed tannins and saponins (Burlando et al., 2010; Pastorino et al., 2017) To increase their use also in the industrial sector and, consequently, their commercial value, the study has focused on the identification of
bioactive compounds with possible interest in human health. In this study a multidisciplinary approach was carried out, investigating several aspects such as antioxidant, antilipidemic and cytotoxicity strength, content of total phenols and flavonoids. In this PhD Project we studied four species of legumes: Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall., Lespedeza capitata Michx., Sulla coronaria (L.) Medik and Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Thanks to a collaboration with Egadi S.r.l., Favignana, Italy, we also concentrated our study to another kind of plant, belonging to the family of Potamogetonaceae: Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. The species has shown bioactivities suitable for the development of cosmetic and dermatologic applications. In summary, the results of these investigations show new opportunities to exploit the plants studied plants in bioindustry processes, possibly increasing their commercial value
Interaction of sea salt and atmospheric pollution alters the OJIP fluorescence transient in the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf
No full textThis study investigated the effects of the interaction of sea salt and atmospheric pollution on the photosynthetic system of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf. v. furfuracea. Thalli of P. furfuracea were transplanted from remote area to different sites subjected to contrasting levels of atmospheric pollution and distance from the coast. Lichen chlorophyll a fluorescence was analysed weekly for one month by means of Handy PEA fluorometer. The effects of sea salt and atmospheric pollution were assessed by OJIP fluorescence transient and its derived fluorescence parameters. We showed that the response of the lichen to the single considered stressing factors was different and it could be detected in terms of variation of the electron flow at different steps of the OJIP fluorescence transient. Our data confirmed that the derived JIP-test parameters are good biomarkers to analyse different conditions of stress in lichens. In particular, we demonstrated that P. furfuracea is more sensitive to atmospheric pollution than to the proximity to the sea and to the interaction of these two factor
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Biological activities of the legume crops Melilotus officinalis and Lespedeza capitata for skin care and pharmaceutical applications
No full textThe search for natural principles is attracting much interest in the field of skin care. Fabaceae are major
agricultural crops and potential sources of bioactive compounds with possible applications in human
health and skin care. This study concerns the biological activities of the legume crops Melilotus officinalis
(L.) Pall. and Lespedeza capitata Michx. for their potential use in skin care applications. The effects
of plant ethanolic extracts at doses ranging from 0.25 to 50 g/mL (from 1 to 5000 g/mL in cell viability
assays) were evaluated using in vitro tests on HaCaT human keratinocytes, 46BR.1N fibroblasts,
and adipocyte cell cultures, and on matrix-degrading enzymes. MTT assay revealed weak effects on cell
viability (IC50 > 1000 g/mL) and significant increase of fibroblast growth rate with both extracts. Similar
induction of cell motility by the two extracts was observed on keratinocytes, while on fibroblasts
M. officinalis induced a stronger effect with respect to L. capitata. Cell-free enzymatic assays showed
stronger collagenase inhibition by L. capitata, while an ELISA assay revealed more efficient stimulation of
fibroblast collagen production by M. officinalis. Oil-Red-O adipocyte staining showed more pronounced
lipolytic effect of M. officinalis with respect to L. capitata. Both extracts showed the ability of stimulating
skin cells in order to promote tissue regeneration, prevent skin aging, and reduce fat deposition. In
most cases, different patterns of activation/inhibition were observed. Data indicate that these legume
crops could be profitably exploited in skin care applications, possibly in combined formulations for the
development of antiaging and anticellulite products
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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