1,721,003 research outputs found

    In vitro antioxidant effect and inhibition of alfa-amylase of two varieties of Amaranthus caudatus seeds.

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    This study reports on the biological properties, antioxidant and antidiabetic, of two varieties of Amaranthus caudatus seeds, Oscar blanco and Victor red. Oil, squalene and phenolic contents were also determined. Seeds of both investigated varieties were found to possess very different levels of squalene (2.2% in Oscar blanco variety and 7.5% in Victor red variety). Although the antioxidant activity of A. caudatus var. Oscar blanco and A. caudatus var. Victor red statistically did not differ significantly from each other (IC50 values of ethyl acetate extracts were 0.50 mg/ml and 0.62 mg/ml, respectively), significant differences were noticed in relation to antidiabetic activity (inhibition of a-amylase, EC 3.2.1.1) of methanolic extracts that showed 50.5% for A. caudatus var. Oscar blanco and 28% for A. caudatus var. Victor red at concentration of 25m g/ml

    Variability in the content of active constituents and biological activity of Glycyrrhiza glabra

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    Nine samples of Glycyrrhiza glabra were collected in various sites of Calabria, Italy, with the aim to determine the variability in the confront of active constituents and in antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extracts. The samples showed remarkable differences in chemical composition and biological activity

    Intra-specific biodiversity of Italian myrtle (Myrtus communis) through chemical markers profile and biological activities of leaf methanolic exstracts

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    Methanolic extracts of Myrtus communis leaves from two Italian regions (Calabria and Sardinia) were processed to determine the content of myrtenol, linalool and eucalyptol. Among the Calabrian and Sardinian myrtle samples, linalool and eucalyptol chemotypes were prevalent. The extracts were also tested for antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Myrtle leaves samples were dried and extracted through maceration. Partition chromatography was adopted to separate myrtenol, linalool and eucalyptol fractions. Analyses were performed through GC and GC-MS. Some of the samples showed a good scavenger activity evidenced by DPPH radical scavenging assay and beta carotene bleaching test. Antibacterial and antifungal activities were generally weak. The phytochemical and biological characterization of all the extracts were determined with the aim to characterize the intra-specific biodiversity of myrtle populations

    Nutraceutical properties and health-promoting biological activities of fruits of watermelon cultivars with different origins

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    This study was focused on biologically active compounds extracted from pulp and rind of watermelon fruits (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai, 1916) cultivars with different origins (Italy, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador and Santana-Romania). Total polyphenols and flavonoids, lycopene and L-citrulline, were extracted from the pulp and their content determined spectrophotometrically. L-citrulline was also measured in the rind. In addition, the determination of some biological activities (antioxidant activity and inhibition of the amylase and lipase enzymes) of watermelon pulp was carried out. The examined pulp of the watermelon cultivars revealed to have a high content of antioxidants (e.g., lycopene up to 39.68 ± 0.13 μg/g FW in an Italian cultivar) and bioactive molecules (e.g., L-citrulline up to 0.87 mg/g FW in the Ecuadorian cultivar). Watermelon rind had higher contents of L-citrulline (up to 2.60 mg/g FW) compared to pulp. The comparisons between watermelons cultivars revealed the significant inhibitory of lipase (values ranging from 117.10 to 312.12 IC50) and α-amylase (values ranging from 145.52 to 322.13 IC50), so confirming their health-promoting potential. All these factors taken together make watermelon a high-value food with evident benefits on human health. The results of this study could facilitate the discovery, improvement and utilization of new watermelon cultivars with high nutraceutical properties

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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
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