Optimization of flavonoids extraction from Lippia graveolens and Lippia origanoides chemotypes with ethanol-modified supercritical CO2 after steam distillation

Abstract: Abstract Steam distillation of essential oils from Lippia origanoides K. and Lippia graveolens K. leaves plant material residues that can be valorized. Flavonoids can be selectively extracted from these substrates using ethanol-modified supercritical CO2, as attempted in this work. The thymol-rich L. origanoides chemotype was used to test extraction reproducibility. The effects of pressure, temperature, time, CO2 mass flow, particle size, and percent ethanol on the extraction yield of oleoresin and flavonoids were examined with a 2(6−2) fractional factorial screening design. The variables with a significant influence on yields (pressure, time, CO2 mass flow, and percent ethanol) were used in a simplex optimization to determine the conditions for maximum extraction from L. graveolens and three L. origanoides chemotypes. The extracts’ flavonoid content was estimated by UV–vis spectroscopy with a multivariate calibration model. UHPLC-ESI(+)-Orbitrap-MS was employed for extract identification and quantification. The extracts from the various plant material residues had qualitative and quantitative differences in flavonoid composition. Under the best extraction conditions found (307 bar, 5 % ethanol, 43 g CO2/min), the steam-distilled plant material from the phellandrene-rich L. origanoides chemotype afforded 4.1 g of pinocembrin per kg of dry substrate. Results of this work facilitate the implementation of supercritical CO2 extraction processes to valorize byproducts of the essential oil industry by obtaining extracts that contain flavonoids.


Concentrations and relative compositions of metallic elements differ between predatory squid and filter-feeding sardine from the Indian and South Atlantic oceans

Abstract: Abstract Although metallic elements occur naturally, they can occur or accumulate in organisms at levels toxic to the organism and/or their consumers. Concentrations of twenty-nine metallic elements in muscle tissue from sardine Sardinops sagax and chokka squid Loligo reynaudii from South Atlantic and Indian Ocean waters off South Africa were established, for the first time, using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Chokka showed significantly higher (p


Optimization of Acquisition Time for 177- Lu SPECT with Two Energy Windows

Abstract: Background & Aim: The imaging process following the treatment of 177Lu-DOTATATE is in some medical clinics demanding on both patients and the clinic. Usually a number of images are acquired, with different time intervals to the time of injection. To facilitate for the patient and create the opportu- nity to treat more patients it is desirable to simplify the imaging process. At Skane University hospital (SUS) the number of imaging sessions has been reduced from four to one, acquired 96 hours p.i. Image acquisition is done with SPECT imaging, which is used for determination of absorbed dose. The main objective is a SPECT image of the kidneys, but there is also a great interest to map out the absorbed dose to tumours. In order to do so a two FOV SPECT image has to be acquired. Thus the total acquisition time becomes very long and patient movements has shown to be a great difficulty when matching the two FOV together. ::: ::: At SUS image acquisition is made with one energy window around the 208 keV photopeak and by adding a second one around the 113 keV photopeak, the acquisition time can hopefully be reduced. The determination of absorbed dose is based on a mean value of the activity concentration inside a VOI de- fined from CT image. Thus the task is to lower the acquisition time but still maintain a mean value with low uncertainty. This results in the question formulation: For SPECT imaging, of patients treated with 177Lu-DOTATATE, how much can the acquisition time be reduced when collecting information from 113 keV photopeak and 208 keV photopeak? ::: ::: Method: SPECT projection data of a cylindrical phantom, within it 6 spheres of different sizes, were simulated with Monte Carlo code SIMIND. Projection sets with activity in the spheres and activity in the background were simulated separately and added together in a later step. The reason for the separate simulation was to easily be able to modify the activity concentration in the spheres and background inde- pendent of each other. Different number of counts in the projection data can be a result of either different activity concentrations in source regions or due to different acquisition times. A quantity, named ”dis- integration concentration value”, was defined as the number of radioactive decay during the acquisition time, per unit volume, to be able to change the acquisition time in the projection data. The disintegration concentration in the spheres was changed by multiplying with so called Disintegration Concentration value (DC-value) [MBq s/ml], derived from activity concentration multiplied with an acquisition time. Thus a higher DC-value is derived from a longer acquisition time, therefore the spheres obtained a higher disintegration concentration. A set of 10 projection sets were created, all multiplied with different DC- values, i.e. different time per projection. The projection data of the sphere and background were added together and four different contrasts of disintegration concentration, between the spheres and the back- ground, were evaluated for all 10 DC-values. For every projection set 50 noise realisation were created. Reconstruction was done with OS-EM algorithm, using 6 subsets and 40 iterations. Projection data for 113 keV and 208 keV were simulated separately and data from the reconstructed images were later added together. Masks of the spheres was created to extract data from the reconstructed images. The data were evaluated by the recovery of the activity concentration and CV, where the standard deviation, of the 50 mean values from the 50 noise realisations, was divided with both the measured disintegration concentration and the true disintegration concentration, respectively. ::: ::: Result & Conclusion: Image acquisition with two energy windows, one around the 113 keV photo- peak and one around 208 keV photopeak, results in time per projections according to DC-value=22.50 MBq s/ml. For tumours it indicates a time per projection of 22.5 seconds but for kidneys the time per projection would have to be 225 seconds, due to its lower activity concentration 96 hours p.i. compared to the activity concentration in tumours at that time. At SUS the time per projection is 45 seconds, meaning that for image acquisition of tumours the time per projection can be shortened by a factor 2. However for image acquisition of kidneys the time per projection needs to be prolonged by a factor 5 compared to today’s image protocol.


CD93-Signaling Regulates Self-Renewal and Proliferation of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Stem Cells in Mice and Humans and Might be a Promising Target for Treatment


The Experts’ War on Poverty: Social Research and the Welfare Agenda in Postwar America


VizieR Online Data Catalog: Sou323 ICRF reference sample (Liu+, 2017)


RACE-BASED EXPERIENCES OF BLACK COLLEGE STUDENTS ATTENDING PREDOMINATELY WHITE INSTITUTIONS


Pompe disease: PAS-positive lymphocyte vacuoles as diagnostic screening test


PECVD grown SiN photonic crystal micro-domes for the light extraction enhancement of GaN LEDs

Abstract: In this work, the effect of introducing a photonic crystal network of silicon nitride (SiN) micro-domes on the backside of silver coated gallium nitride (GaN) based light emitting diodes (LEDs) was studied. First, sapphire side of the top emitting LEDs, which is the bottom surface of the LEDs, is coated with silver (Ag). Light emitted towards the sapphire substrate is reflected upwards to the top surface and the amount of light extracted from the LED is expected to increase. In an alternative approach, SiN micro-domes forming a two dimensional photonic crystal, 2 μm in diameter and 80 nm in height in average, are deposited on the light emitting surface of the device with a period of 2 μm. Coating the backside with Ag has increased the efficiency of a top emitting LED by 11%. By introducing the SiN photonic crystal onto the Ag backside coated sample, total internal reflection is reduced via scattering and the amount of light emitted has been increased by 30% at 5·104 mA/cm2. Integration of SiN micro-domes with Ag coating has significantly impacted light extraction which has been shown to increase the efficiency of GaN based LEDs. Fabrication process and the results are discussed in detail.


Tolerance as a dominant social partnershih of intellectual education subjects

Scientific Visnyk V.O. Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National University. Pedagogical Sciences


Structure of a minimal photosystem I from a green alga


A BIBLICAL HOLISTIC APPROACH TO PROVERTY

Abstract: Historically, 'the poor' are those who are in need materially and so the way to care for them is to give financial or material assistance. While there has been some progress in the recent century, poverty alleviation still remains a major issue in our world. From a Biblical perspective poverty is one of the consequences of sin, but it is understood in a broader way than merely physical poverty. God works to reverse the results of sin and restore all things, which includes all forms of poverty. ::: In the Old Testament the poor are most often discussed in economic terms, however there are also references to those in spiritual need. The primary principle was that the Israelites were to care for the poor among them, which reflected God's care for them. However, they often fail and are rebuked for exploiting the poor. ::: In the New Testament poverty is discussed even more clearly in an holistic way: there are the materially poor, the socially poor, but all people are spiritually poor. Hence the way to care for the poor must address these different types of poverty. Of paramount importance is to help people out of spiritual poverty, for that has eternal consequences. However, it is also clear that Christians who properly understand God's grace to them, will respond by caring for others holistically. ::: Such care was seen in the early NT church from congregations who were transformed to serve, as taught and modelled by Jesus. The ongoing challenge for Christian churches today is to continue to care for all varieties of the poor, enabling and empowering them to help themselves as Jesus' instructed.


The art of streamflow forecasting over Europe

Abstract: While floods are among the most damaging natural hazards, they have helped shape human ::: developments over the last millennia, fostering scientific understanding and technological ::: advances in an attempt for their mitigation. We now more skilfully predict floods at ::: increasing lead times, through probabilistic hydro-meteorological forecasting. But we are ::: now facing new challenges. ::: Have we reached the limits of predictability with seasonal streamflow forecasting? This ::: thesis contributed to the implementation and design of operational seasonal streamflow ::: outlooks, as part of the European and the Global Flood Awareness Systems. Openly ::: available, they give users an overview of potential streamflow changes on sub-seasonal to ::: seasonal timescales. The analysis of both systems highlighted current limits in seasonal ::: predictability and the importance of initial hydrological conditions and the land surface ::: memory. To tackle these limits of predictability, a sensitivity analysis was developed to ::: guide developments for tangible future seasonal streamflow forecast improvements. ::: Are technical and scientific advances increasing faster than the rate at which forecasts are ::: usable for decision-making? As shown by the application of serious games and research ::: interviews at the Environment Agency (to guide a successful transition to probabilistic ::: forecasts for flood early warning in England), science (e.g. forecast skill) is not necessarily ::: a limiting factor for decision-making. Improved communication between scientists and ::: decision-makers, aimed for instance at understanding the complex landscape in which ::: decision-makers operate, is key to a successful adoption of the latest science in practice. Art ::: can help bridge the communication gap, and this thesis culminated in an art exhibition, ::: ‘Gambling with floods?’, at The Museum of English Rural Life (Reading, UK) from 1 to 15 ::: November 2019, created to reach a wide audience. ::: Overall, this thesis has shown that a closer interaction between decision-makers, scientists ::: and artists is urgently needed for a co-leadership on improving science for society.