Publications

Edible flowers are receiving renewed interest as rich sources of bioactive compounds. Ethanol extracts of eight edible flowers were phytochemically characterized and investigated for their bioactivity. Rutin, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and myricetin were selected as standards and quantified by HPLC. The fatty acid profile was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Antioxidant properties were evaluated by using different in vitro tests. The hypoglycemic effects were investigated via the inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase. Sambucus nigra exhibited the highest radical-scavenging activity (IC50 of 1.4 μg/mL), followed by Hedysarum coronarium (IC50 of 1.6 μg/mL). Both species contained high quercetin and rutin contents. S. nigra extract exerted the highest activity in preventing lipid oxidation. Malva sylvestris extract inhibited both α-amylase and α-glucosidase with IC50 values of 7.8 and 11.3 μg/mL, respectively. These findings support the consumption of edible flowers as functional foods and their use as sources of natural antioxidants by the food industry.

The chemical content of plant excerpts can be efficiently employed to reduce the metal ions to nanoparticles in the one-pot green production method. Here, green production of silver nanoparticles (AC-AgNPs) is performed by means of Allium cepa var. Aggregatum (shallot) extract as a stabilizer and reducer. The shape, size, and morphology of resultant AC-AgNPs are examined by optical spectroscopy analysis such as UV for nucleation and coalescence processes of the AC-AgNPs. Through FTIR functional group is determined and through DLS size is defined, it was confirmed that metallic AgNPs were successfully synthesized through the green synthesis route, and these results agreed well with the results obtained in the XRD pattern along with TEM spectroscopy, where the TEM images confirm the formation of sphere-like nanostructures along with SAED analysis. The chemical characterization is performed with XPS; the obtained molecular species in the materials are determined from the energy profile. Antioxidant activity of AC-AgNPs versus DPPH substrate is carried out. Antibacterial activity is well established against Gram-negative and Gram-positive organisms. Cell viability is accomplished, followed by an MTT assay, and a cytotoxicity assay of AC-AgNPs on MCF—7 cell lines is also carried out. Highlights: (1). This study highlights the eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles from Allium cepa var. Aggregatum Natural Extract. (2). The synthesized AC-AgNPs were characterized by UV-VIS, FT-IR, XRD, TEM, and XPS. (3). The synthesized nanoparticles were well dispersed in nature and the size range of 35 ± 8 nm. (4). The anti-candidal activity of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles was evaluated against the following Gram-Negative organisms: Escherichia coli (E. coli), and the following Gram-positive organisms: Staphylococcus aureus strains. The biosynthesized AC-AgNPs showed enhanced antiseptic features anti both Gram-positive and negative organisms. (5). Besides, the in vitro cytotoxic outcomes of AC-AgNPs were assessed versus MCF-7 cancerous cells, and the reduction in the feasibility of cancer cells was established via MTT assay, which suggests potential biomedical applications.

Monosodium glutamate is a non-essential amino acid in the human body that has been widely used as a food additive since 1909 due to its unique umami taste. Typical food containing monosodium glutamate include tomatoes, yeast extracts, fermented soy products, and cheese. After entering the human body, it is mainly absorbed in the small intestine by passive diffusion. Subsequent binding to TAS1R1-TAS1R3 promotes the release of intracellular calcium that ultimately activates the brain’s taste center, recognized as an umami taste of monosodium glutamate. However, more and more preclinical and clinical data indicates that monosodium glutamate exerts adverse effects on humans, including metabolic syndrome, neurotoxicity, renal toxicity, cardiovascular disease, infertility and fetal underdevelopment, cancer, immune malfunction and so on. In addition, it has been found that medicinal plants and nutraceuticals could mitigate or treat the adverse effects of monosodium glutamate adverse. Taken together, we hope to raise the correct awareness of monosodium glutamate and improve the understanding of monosodium glutamate quality approaches to maximize their use.

Many published prospective trials have reported clinically meaningful morning-evening, treatment-time differences in the blood pressure (BP)-lowering efficacy, duration of action, and safety of most classes of hypertension medications. Most important, it was recently documented that routine ingestion of the full daily dose of ≥1 hypertension medications at bedtime, compared with ingestion of all of them upon awakening, significantly reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Nocturnal hypertension and non-dipping (<10% decline in the asleep relative to the awake BP mean), as determined by ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), are frequent in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and both are associated with increased CVD risk. Here, we investigated the influence of hypertension treatment time on the circadian BP pattern and degree of BP control of hypertensive patients with CKD evaluated by 48-h ABPM. This cross-sectional study evaluated 2659 such patients (1585 men/1074 women), 64.9 ± 13.2 (mean ± SD) yrs of age, enrolled in the Hygia Project, involving primary care centers of northwest Spain and designed to evaluate prospectively CVD risk by ABPM; 1446 were ingesting all BP-lowering medications upon awakening, whereas 1213 patients were ingesting ≥1 medications at bedtime. Among the latter, 359 patients were ingesting all medications at bedtime, whereas 854 were ingesting the full daily dose of some medications upon awakening and the others at bedtime. Those ingesting all medications upon awakening had significantly higher total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than those ingesting ≥1 medications at bedtime. Moreover, patients ingesting all medications at bedtime had the lowest fasting glucose, serum creatinine, and uric acid. Ingestion of ≥1 medications at bedtime was significantly associated with lower asleep systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP means than treatment with all medications upon awakening. The sleep-time relative SBP decline was significantly attenuated in patients ingesting all medications upon awakening (p < .001). Thus, the prevalence of non-dipping was significantly higher when all hypertension medications were ingested upon awakening (68.3%) than when ≥1 of them was ingested at bedtime (54.2%; p < .001 between groups), and even further attenuated (47.9%) when all of them were ingested at bedtime (p < .001). Additionally, the prevalence of a riser BP pattern, associated with highest CVD risk, was much greater (21.5%) among patients ingesting all medications upon awakening, compared with those ingesting some (15.7%) or all medications at bedtime (10.6%; p < .001 between groups), independent of CKD severity (disease stage). The latter group also showed a significantly higher prevalence of properly controlled ambulatory BP (p < .001) that was achieved by a significantly lower number of hypertension medications (p < .001) compared with patients treated upon awakening. Our findings demonstrate significantly lower asleep SBP and DBP means and attenuated prevalence of a blunted nighttime BP decline, i.e., lower prevalence of markers of CVD risk, in patients with CKD ingesting hypertension medications at bedtime than in those ingesting all of them upon awakening. These collective findings indicate that bedtime hypertension treatment, in conjunction with proper patient evaluation by ABPM to corroborate the diagnosis of hypertension and avoid treatment-induced nocturnal hypotension, should be the preferred therapeutic scheme for CKD.

Coffee is consumed not just for its flavor, but also for its health advantages. The quality of coffee beverages is affected by a number of elements and a series of processes, including: the environment, cultivation, post-harvest, fermentation, storage, roasting, and brewing to produce a cup of coffee. The chemical components of coffee beans alter throughout this procedure. The purpose of this article is to present information about changes in chemical components and bioactive compounds in coffee during preharvest and postharvest. The selection of the appropriate cherry maturity level is the first step in the coffee manufacturing process. The coffee cherry has specific flavor-precursor components and other chemical components that become raw materials in the fermentation process. During the fermentation process, there are not many changes in the phenolic or other bioactive components of coffee. Metabolites fermented by microbes diffuse into the seeds, which improves their quality. A germination process occurs during wet processing, which increases the quantity of amino acids, while the dry process induces an increase in non-protein amino acid γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In the roasting process, there is a change in the aroma precursors from the phenolic compounds, especially chlorogenic acid, amino acids, and sugars found in coffee beans, to produce a distinctive coffee taste.