Antioxidant activity and enzyme inhibitory potential of Euphorbia resinifera and E. officinarum honeys from Morocco and plant aqueous extracts

Natural products may be applied in a wide range of domains, from agriculture to food and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, the antioxidant properties and the capacity to inhibit some enzymatic activities of Euphorbia resinifera and Euphorbia officinarum aqueous extracts and honeys were assessed. The physicochemical characteristics were also evaluated. Higher amounts of iron, copper and aluminium were detected in E. officinarum honey, which may indicate environmental pollution around the beehives or inadequate storage of honey samples. This honey sample showed higher amounts of total phenols and better capacity for scavenging superoxide anion free radicals and DPPH free radicals as compared with E. resinifera honey, but poorer capacity for inhibiting lipoxygenase, acetylcholinesterase, tyrosinase and xanthine oxidase. The ratio plant mass:solvent volume (1:100) and extraction time (1 - 2 h) were associated with higher total phenols and better antioxidant activities and lipoxygenase, acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory activities, regardless of the plant species. The aqueous extracts had systematically higher in vitro activities than the respective honey samples.

     

Adsorption mechanism of Zn2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, and Cu2+ ions by carbon-based adsorbents: interpretation of the adsorption isotherms via physical modelling

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A theoretical physicochemical and thermodynamic investigation of the adsorption of heavy metals Zn2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, and Cu2+on carbon-based adsorbents...     

On the elemental composition of the Mediterranean euhalophyte Salicornia patula Duval-Jouve (Chenopodiaceae) from saline habitats in Spain (Huelva,Toledo and Zamora)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A complete survey is presented on the inorganic composition of the euhalophyte annual succulent species Salicornia patula (Chenopodiaceae), including...     

Assessment of the Streptomyces-plant system to mitigate the impact of Cr(VI) and lindane in experimental soils

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Phytoremediation techniques have been proposed as ecological methods to clean up contaminated sites. This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of the...     

Magnetic photocatalysts from δ-FeOOH and TiO2 and application in reactions for degradation of methylene blue and paracetamol with UV-C and sunlight

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Water contamination is a common problem, especially considering dyes and drugs disposal. A possible and effective treatment method to remove these...     

Ecotoxicity interspecies study of ionic liquids based on phosphonium and ammonium cations

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This work studies the effects of different bromide-based ionic liquids, with phosphonium and ammonium cations, towards several environmental...     

Lung-deposited dose of particulate matter from residential exposure to smoke from wood burning

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Residential settings are of utmost importance for human exposure, as it is where people spend most of their time. Residential wood combustion is a...     

A metal-free composite photocatalyst of graphene quantum dots deposited on red phosphorus

A simple approach to enhance the photocatalytic activity of red phosphorus(P) was developed.A mechanical ball milling method was applied to reduce the size of red P and to deposit graphene quantum dots onto red P. The product was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, contact angle measurements, zeta-potential measurements, X-ray diffraction and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. The product exhibited high visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance in the photodegradation of rhodamine B.     

Sensitivity of Precipitation Statistics to Urban Growth in a Subtropical Coastal Megacity Cluster

This short paper presents an investigation on how human activities may or may not affect precipitation based on numerical simulations of precipitation in a benchmark case with modified lower boundary conditions, representing different stages of urban development in the model. The results indicate that certain degrees of urbanization affect the likelihood of heavy precipitation significantly, while less urbanized or smaller cities are much less prone to these effects. Such a result can be explained based on our previous work where the sensitivity of precipitation statistics to surface anthropogenic heat sources lies in the generation of buoyancy and turbulence in the planetary boundary layer and dissipation through triggering of convection. Thus only mega cities of sufficient size, and hence human-activity-related anthropogenic heat emission, can expect to experience such effects. In other words, as cities grow, their effects upon precipitation appear to grow as well.     

Assessment of inherent vulnerability of forests at landscape level: a case study from Western Ghats in India

Assessment of vulnerability is an important step in building long-term resilience in the forestry sector. The objective of this paper is to present a methodological approach to assess inherent vulnerability of forests at landscape level. The approach involves use of vulnerability indicators, the pairwise comparison method, and geographic information system (GIS) tools. We apply this approach to assess the inherent vulnerability of forests of the Western Ghats Karnataka (WGK) landscape, which is a part of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India. Four vulnerability indicators, namely biological richness, disturbance index, canopy cover, and slope, are selected. We find that forests in 30, 36, 19, and 15 % grid points in this region show low, medium, high, and very high inherent vulnerability, respectively. The forest showing high and very high inherent vulnerability are mostly dry deciduous forests and plantations located largely on the eastern side of the landscape. We also find that canopy cover is one of the key indicators that determine the inherent vulnerability of forests, and natural forests are inherently less vulnerable than man-made plantations. Spatial assessment of inherent vulnerability of forests at landscape level is particularly useful for developing strategies to build resilience to current stressors and climate change in future.