Amygdalin in bitter and sweet seeds of apricots

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) poisoning due to amygdalin (AMY) in apricot seeds is one of the public health issues in Turkey. The aim of this study was to investigate the AMY content of 13 different apricot seeds including bitter and sweet ones, and which are either sulfurized or roasted. The AMY content was determined by a high-performance liquid chromatography. Release of HCN was predicted and total amount of seeds which can cause poisoning was calculated. The mean AMY content of bitter seeds was 26 ± 14 mg g^?1 and that of sweet seeds was 0.16 ± 0.09 mg g^?1. The consumption of small amounts of bitter seeds may cause cyanide poisoning.     

Synthesis of 2,5‐diaryl‐2,4‐pentadienenitriles and their spectral,fluorescence and mutagenic properties

The condensation of substituted cinnamaldehydes and arylacetonitriles using sodium ethoxide in ethanol at room temperature afforded 2,5‐diaryl‐2,4‐pentadienenitriles in good yield. The structure of the reaction products was established on the basis of their infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance and elemental analysis data. Two representative compounds were studied for their mutagenic activity. One of them showed a weak mutagenicity while the second showed a high mutagenic activity in TA97a Salmonella strain. Both were negative in TA100. Some of these pentadienenitriles showed fluorescence in solutions.     

Determination of aflatoxin-B1 in poultry feed and its components employing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

A highly sensitive enzyme immunoassay was standardized for aflatoxin B₁ determination in poultry feed and its components using Riedel-de-Haen, ELISA Systems_. A microtitration plate method was optimized using anti-aflatoxin B₁ antibodies and peroxidase – aflatoxin B₁ conjugate, based on competitive enzyme immunoassay principle. Standards of concentrations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500?ng/L aflatoxin B₁, prepared in phosphate-buffered saline, were used. Standard curves showed that as the concentration of antigen decreased, absorbance values increased. Fifty percent inhibition was observed at 37?ng/L. Regression analysis showed that log concentration was inversely related to %B/B₀, with a highly significant negative correlation (?0.980). The lowest detection limit for aflatoxin B₁ was 5?ng/L. Using this standardized ELISA, aflatoxin B₁ was detected in most of the commercially available poultry feed samples and their components.

The data suggest that this test is suitable for the accurate determination of aflatoxin B₁ concentrations in poultry feed and its components.     

Modeling carbon sequestration under zero tillage at the regional scale. I. The effect of soil erosion

Zero tillage is recognized as a potential measure to sequester carbon dioxide in soils and to reduce CO₂ emissions from arable lands. An up-scaling approach of the output of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model with the information system SLISYS-BW has been used to estimate the CO₂-mitigation potential in the state of Baden-Württemberg (SW-Germany). The state territory of 35,742 km² is subdivided into eight agro-ecological zones (AEZ), which have been further subdivided into a total of 3976 spatial response units. Annual CO₂-mitigation rates where estimated from the changes in soil organic carbon content comparing 30 years simulations under conventional and zero tillage. Special attention was given to the influence of tillage practices on the losses of organic carbon through soil erosion, and consequently on the calculation of CO₂-mitigation rates. Under conventional tillage, mean carbon losses through erosion in the AEZ were estimated to be up to 0.45 Mg C ha⁻¹ a⁻¹. The apparent CO₂-mitigation rate for the conversion from conventional to zero tillage ranges from 0.08 to 1.82 Mg C ha⁻¹ a⁻¹ in the eight AEZ, if the carbon losses through soil erosion are included in the calculations. However, the higher carbon losses under conventional tillage compared to zero tillage are composed of both, losses through enhanced CO₂ emissions, and losses through intensified soil erosion. The adjusted net CO₂-mitigation rates of zero tillage, subtracting the reduced carbon losses through soil erosion, are between 0.07 and 1.27 Mg C ha⁻¹ a⁻¹ and the estimated net mitigation rate for the entire state amounts to 285 Gg C a⁻¹. This equals to 1045 Gg CO₂-equivalents per year with the cropping patterns in the reference year 2000. The results call attention to the necessity to revise those estimation methods for CO₂-mitigation which are exclusively or predominantly based on the measurements of differential changes in total soil organic carbon without taking into account the tillage effects on carbon losses through soil erosion.     

Aminobenzenesulfonamide functionalized SBA-15 nanoporous molecular sieve: A new and promising adsorbent for preconcentration of lead and copper ions

A rapid method for the extraction and monitoring of nanogram level of Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions using uniform silanized mesopor (SBA-15) functionalized with aminobenzenesulfonamide groups and flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) is presented. Aminobenzenesulfonamide functionalized SBA-15 was synthesized according to procedure in the literature and the presence of organic groups in the silica framework was demonstrated by FT-IR spectra. The functionalized product showed the BET surface area 110 m²/g and pore diameter 5.1 nm, based on adsorption-desorption of N₂ at 77 K. The effect of several variables such as (amount of adsorbent, stirring time, pH and presence of other ions in the medium) has been studied. Lead and copper were completely extracted at pH greater than 3 after stirring for 10 min. The maximum capacity of the adsorbent was found to be 191.3 ± 1.4 and 155.0 ± 1.0 μg of lead and copper ions/mg functionalized SBA-15, respectively. The preconcentration factor of the method was found to be 200. The detection limit of the technique was 3.4 and 0.4 ng/mL for Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺, respectively. The applications of this methodology for real samples were examined by various water type, black tea and pepper samples.     

极端嗜热菌海栖热袍菌木聚糖酶B的克隆和表达

极端嗜热菌海栖热袍菌MSB8(ThermotogamaritimaMSB8)能够利用木聚糖代谢 ,并具有两个产木聚糖酶的基因 .本研究首次克隆和在大肠杆菌中表达海栖热袍菌MSB8的第 2个木聚糖酶基因即xynB基因 .以基因组DNA为模板 ,根据xynB基因的全序列设计了两对引物 ,在合适的PCR反应条件下有效地扩增出了xynB基因片段 .选用pET2 8a(+)表达载体 ,NcoI-HindⅢ酶切位点并编码了羧基端 6×His标签的阳性克隆表达成可溶且具有生物活性的蛋白质 .xynB结构基因由 10 4 4对碱基组成 ,编码 347个氨基酸 .根据已知木聚糖酶蛋白质氨基酸的同源性分析 ,XynB与T .sp.strainFjSS3-B .1的XynA的同源性最大 ,为 85 % ,与T .neapolitana的XynB同源性次之 ,为 82 % ,与其它木聚糖酶的同源性小于 4 3% .另外 ,XynB属于F/ 10族木聚糖酶 ,且含有单一功能区 .表 3图 3参 12     

Development and evaluation of air pollution–linked quality of life (AP-QOL) questionnaire: insight from two different cohorts

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the air pollution–related quality of life (AP-QOL) questionnaire was carried out in two geographically and economically different...     

The effect of weather data on the spread of COVID-19 in Jordan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aims to analyze the correlation between the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jordan and metrological parameters including the average...     

Bio-indicators in cadmium toxicity: Role of HSP27 and HSP70

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a family of proteins that are expressed by cells in reply to stressors. The changes in concentration of HSPs could be...     

A multi-criteria GIS-based model for wind farm site selection with the least impact on environmental pollution using the OWA-ANP method

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Wind energy is considered one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to generate electricity, since it has a low environmental impact. So, it...