14C-Ethion residues in soybean seeds: metabolic pathway,effect of processing,bioavailability, toxicity and protective action of artichoke leaf powder towards rats

The metabolic fate of ethion labeled with ¹⁴C-at the ethyl ester groups in soybean seeds following topical application to leaves was studied. Chromatographic analysis of soybean oil revealed the presence of the parent compound together with four metabolites which were identified as ethion monooxon, ethion dioxon, O-ethyl phosphorothioate and O,O-diethyl phosphorothioate. The effect of processing on ethion residues in soybean oil was investigated. The refined oil contained small amounts of the ¹⁴C-residues originally present (37.5%). Upon feeding rats with the cake containing ethion bound residues, a substantial amount of ¹⁴C-residues was eliminated in the urine (73%), and about 6% excreted with the feces. About 5% of the radioactive residues were distributed among various organs. Mature male Wistar rats were fed on soybean seeds containing ethion residues (1.93 ppm), and on artichoke leaves powder (1% W/W) for four weeks. At the end of the experimental period, the ethion-treated group had a significantly higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) levels. The ethion-treated rats also had a lower total serum protein and albumin levels, as well as acetyl cholinesterase (AChE), catalase (CAT), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity as compared with controls. Moreover, concomitant treatment with artichoke leaf powder improved, at least partially, all the biochemical parameters that were altered by ethion.     

Extraction,isolation, and identification of various environment friendly components from cock's comb (Celosia argentea) leaves for allelopathic potential

In this study, the aqueous extract of leaves of the plant cock's comb (Celosia argentea) was fractioned into five batches using n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, respectively. High performance liquid chromatography analysis of the methanol re-dissolved residues of 3 polar fractions, including dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol separately which exhibited altogether 12 compounds identified as 4-hydroxycinnamic acid (p-coumaric acid), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, m-coumaric acid, gallic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, m-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, pyrogallol, 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and genetic acid was categorized by retention time using known compounds. Similarly, the mass confirmation of most of the identified compounds was achieved by injecting 20 µl of composite sample of these three polar fractions into liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Similarly, the physiochemical analysis of C. argentea aqueous extract showed the presence of various constituents such as phenols, flavonoids, tannins, and glycosides. All four organic fractions were examined for phytotoxicity against Lepidium sativum. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among these fractions against germination and growth of L. sativum. Further allelopathic effects appeared to be concentration dependent. Thus, C. argentea may prove effective as a substitute of herbicides to control the weeds like L. sativum from attacking crops and to protect the environment from the health hazard effects of herbicides.     

Comparison of sensitivity analysis techniques: A case study with the rice model WARM

The considerable complexity often included in biophysical models leads to the need of specifying a large number of parameters and inputs, which are available with various levels of uncertainty. Also, models may behave counter-intuitively, particularly when there are nonlinearities in multiple input-output relationships. Quantitative knowledge of the sensitivity of models to changes in their parameters is hence a prerequisite for operational use of models. This can be achieved using sensitivity analysis (SA) via methods which differ for specific characteristics, including computational resources required to perform the analysis. Running SA on biophysical models across several contexts requires flexible and computationally efficient SA approaches, which must be able to account also for possible interactions among parameters. A number of SA experiments were performed on a crop model for the simulation of rice growth (Water Accounting Rice Model, WARM) in Northern Italy. SAs were carried out using the Morris method, three regression-based methods (Latin hypercube sampling, random and Quasi-Random, LpTau), and two methods based on variance decomposition: Extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (E-FAST) and Sobol’, with the latter adopted as benchmark. Aboveground biomass at physiological maturity was selected as reference output to facilitate the comparison of alternative SA methods. Rankings of crop parameters (from the most to the least relevant) were generated according to sensitivity experiments using different SA methods and alternate parameterizations for each method, and calculating the top-down coefficient of concordance (TDCC) as measure of agreement between rankings. With few exceptions, significant TDCC values were obtained both for different parameterizations within each method and for the comparison of each method to the Sobol’ one. The substantial stability observed in the rankings seem to indicate that, for a crop model of average complexity such as WARM, resource intensive SA methods could not be needed to identify most relevant parameters. In fact, the simplest among the SA methods used (i.e., Morris method) produced results comparable to those obtained by methods more computationally expensive.     

银杏叶中有效成分的提取

通过使用不同溶剂比较了两种装置提取银杏叶中有效成分的优缺点。结果表明，简易装置所用时间较短、收率较高且操作简单方便；利用95％乙醇作为提取剂在使用简易装置时，银杏叶粗提物得率最高。     

生物对铀的吸附研究

研究榕树叶、啤酒酵母菌、大肠杆菌在不同pH值、吸附时间t和不同初始浓度的铀下吸附的规律,进行了实验室吸附模拟实验,绘制出吸附等温线,并由吸附等温线Freundlich曲线求出相应参数。初步对榕树叶、啤酒酵母菌、大肠杆菌对铀的吸附能力进行评价:大肠杆菌对铀酰离子吸附强度强于啤酒酵母菌和榕树叶的吸附强度;而榕树叶的吸附强度优于啤酒酵母菌铀酰离子的吸附强度。