This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities (AOA and ABA) of broccoli sprout extract (BSE) nanoliposomes co-encapsulated into basil seeds gum (BSG). The ...characteristics of the BSE-loaded nanoliposomes and nano-capsules were firstly determined. Their functional (antioxidant and antibacterial) properties were tested in vitro, and their anti-Listeria effect (at 0.4 and 0.8% w/w) on ricotta cheese was evaluated. The produced nanoliposomes and nano-capsules were spherical in shape and did not tend to accumulate. The mean particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) were observed about 39.60 and 69.00 nm, 0.279 and 0.496, 85.73 and 88.46% for nano-capsules and nanoliposomes, respectively. The zeta potential (ζ) values were observed at −65.73 and −71.16 mV and therefore the nanoparticles had good stability and uniform particle size distribution. Encapsulation had no significant effect on total phenol and flavonoids content of the BSE. The amounts of these active compounds were in the range of 25.12–26.97 mg GAE/g dw and 6.84–6.95 mg QE/g dw, respectively. The free and encapsulated BSE displaying good AOA in the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays. Results of the ABA measured by inhibition zone diameter and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) demonstrated that the free BSE had antibacterial action against the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and the nano-encapsulation process led to improved ABA of this extract. The organic acids in BES indicated the presence of high levels of citric, malic and oxalic acids at 613, 98 and, 45 (mg/g dw), respectively. The BSE-loaded nanoparticles showed remarkable anti-Listeria activity in ricotta cheese, which their activity increased with increasing their concentration. In conclusion, BSE-loaded nanoliposomes and nano-capsules have potential interest to be used as natural antioxidants and preservatives for food applications.
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•Co-encapsulation of nano-liposomes BSE into basil seed gum BSG was successfully achieved.•The co-encapsulated nano-liposomes had good stability and size distribution.•The liposomes were able to maintain the functional properties of the core.•Co-encapsulation of BSE as nano-liposomes showed anti-Listeria properties in Ricotta cheese.
•Changes in flavor components of pepper spices during storage were evaluated.•The changes in the flavor components affected by the production methods and storage.•Glucose decreased in all samples ...during storage, but fructose reduced only in red pepper flakes (RPF).•Malic acid increased during storage, especially in RPF.•Volatiles in samples decreased both qualitatively and quantitatively after storage.
Changes in sugars, organic acids and volatile compounds (VC) of red pepper flakes (RPF), traditional (TRI), and industrial (INI) isot peppers were evaluated during one year storage at the room condition. The changes in the flavor components were significantly affected by the production methods and storage time. Glucose content decreased gradually along storage and reduced by about 21.23, 47.22 and 56.65% for TRI, INI and RPF, respectively. However, fructose decreased significantly only in RPF (11.29%). Citric and succinic acids exhibited slight changes, but malic acid showed an increasing trend, especially in RPF (4-fold). Most of the VC in all samples decreased or disappeared after storage. The major quantitative losses in these compounds were found in TRI during the first 3 months as 81.76%. The storage was found to be caused deterioration flavor properties in red pepper spices and revealed the importance of appropriate storage conditions.
According to the latest report released by the World Health Organization, bacterial resistance to well-known and widely available antibacterial drugs has become a significant and severe global health ...concern and a grim challenge to tackle in order to cure infections associated with multidrug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms efficiently. Consequently, various strategies have been orchestrated to cure the severe complications related to multidrug-resistant bacteria effectively. Some approaches involved the retardation of biofilm formation and multidrug-resistance pumps in bacteria as well as the discovery of new antimicrobial agents demonstrating different mechanisms of action. In this regard, natural products namely alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, anthraquinone, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, etc., have been suggested to tackle the multidrug-resistant bacterial strains owing to their versatile pharmacological effects. Amongst these, flavonoids, also known as polyphenolic compounds, have been widely evaluated for their antibacterial property due to their tendency to retard the growth of a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, including multidrug-resistant bacteria. The hydroxylation of C5, C7, C3', and C4'; and geranylation or prenylation at C6 have been extensively studied to increase bacterial inhibition of flavonoids. On the other hand, methoxylation at C3' and C5 has been reported to decrease flavonoids' antibacterial action. Hence, the latest information on the antibacterial activity of flavonoids is summarized in this review, with particular attention to the structure-activity relationship of this broad class of natural compounds to discover safe and potent antibacterial agents as natural products.
The study aims to explore a novel approach for fabricating plasmonic nanostructures to enhance the optical properties and performance of various optoelectronic devices. The research begins by ...employing a piezo-inkjet printing technique to deposit drops containing Ag nanoparticles (NPs) onto a glass substrate at a predefined equidistance, with the goal of obtaining arrays of Ag microdots (Ag-µdots) on the glass substrate. This process is followed by a thermal annealing treatment. The printing parameters are first optimized to achieve uniform deposition of different sizes of Ag-µdots arrays by controlling the number of Ag ink drops. Subsequently, the printed arrays undergo thermal annealing at various temperatures in air for 60 min, enabling precise and uniform control over nanoparticle formation. The printed Ag nanoparticles are characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to analyze their morphological features, ensuring their suitability for plasmonic applications. UV-Vis spectrophotometry is employed to investigate the enhanced surface-plasmonic-resonance properties of the printed AgNPs. Measurements confirm that the equidistant arrays of AgNPs obtained from annealing Ag microdots exhibit enhanced light-matter interaction, leading to a surface plasmon resonance response dependent on the Ag NPs' specific surface area. These enhanced surface plasmonic resonances open avenues for developing cutting-edge optoelectronic devices that leverage the benefits of plasmonic nanostructures, thereby enabling new opportunities for future technological developments across various fields.
Flavonoids are a group of naturally occurring polyphenolic secondary metabolites which have been reported to demonstrate a wide range of pharmacological properties, most importantly, antidiabetic and ...anti-inflammatory effects. The relationship between hyperglycaemia and inflammation and vascular complications in diabetes is now well established. Flavonoids possessing antidiabetic properties may alleviate inflammation by reducing hyperglycaemia through different mechanisms of action. It has been suggested that the flavonoids’ biochemical properties are structure-dependent; however, they are yet to be thoroughly grasped. Hence, the main aim of this review is to understand the antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory properties of various structurally diverse flavonoids and to identify key positions responsible for the effects, their correlation, and the effect of different substitutions on both antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory properties. The general requirement of flavonoids for exerting both anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects is found to be the presence of a C2–C3 double bond (C-ring) and hydroxyl groups at the C3’, C4’, C5, and C7 positions of both rings A and B of a flavonoid skeleton. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that substitution at the C3 position of a C-ring decreases the anti-inflammatory action of flavonoids while enhancing their antidiabetic activity. Correlation is discussed at length to support flavonoids possessing essential pharmacophores to demonstrate equipotent effects. The consideration of these structural features may play an important role in synthesizing better flavonoid-based drugs possessing dual antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. A meta-analysis further established the role of flavonoids as antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory agents.
Protecting our environment is not a choice, but a responsibility we owe to future generations. Numerous studies examined the factors affecting the environmental deterioration but this research takes ...a step further by employing a spatial dependence model to evaluate spatial impact of ecological footprint and its contributing factors, particularly productive capacities which is hardly investigated in economic literature of BRI economies. For the purpose, the annual data of 54 BRI countries is analyzed for the time period from 2000 to 2018 by employing various econometric techniques. The outcomes of the Durbin model express that neighboring economies significantly affect the ecological footprint of an economy, highlighting the need for a regional policy framework to address environmental issues. It is also found that improving the productive capacities, green investment and democratic quality decrease the ecological footprint while per capita GDP, globalization, and development of financial sector increase the environmental deterioration. The significant interdependence of the countries within the region, a regional policy and vision must be implemented to safeguard the environment. The research findings can facilitate policy formulation aimed at promoting environmental sustainability, with particular focus on enhancing productive capacities and green investments.
In this work, the effects of different drying methods, namely sun, freeze, convective and microwave oven drying on the drying time, rate and kinetics were investigated in purple basil leaves. ...Additionally, the energy efficiencies of the driers were determined. All the drying processes took place mainly in the falling-rate period. Comparatively, higher drying rates were obtained from microwave oven drying of the samples. Eleven thin-layer drying models, (Lewis, Page, Modified Page I, Henderson and Pabis, Modified Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Midilli, Modified Midilli, Two-Term, Two-Term Exponential, and Wang and Singh) were fitted to the experimental moisture ratio data. Handerson and Pabis for freeze drying, logarithmic for sun drying and Page for convective and microwave oven drying were found to be the best models for explaining the drying behavior of the purple basil leaves with the highest R
2
and lowest RMSE values. The effective moisture diffusivity (D
eff
) values of the dried purple basil leaves were calculated with Fick’s diffusion model and ranged from 1.62 × 10
−9
to 7.09 × 10
−8
m
2
/s. The energy efficiency of microwave oven drying was higher than the other methods.
Throughout human history, the control of light, electricity and heat has evolved to become the cornerstone of various innovations and developments in electrical and electromagnetic technologies. ...Wireless communications, laser and computer technologies have all been achieved by altering the way light and other energy forms act naturally and how to manage them in a controlled manner. At the nanoscale, to control light and heat, matured nanostructure fabrication techniques have been developed in the last two decades, and a wide range of groundbreaking processes have been achieved. Photonic crystals, nanolithography, plasmonics phenomena and nanoparticle manipulation are the main areas where these techniques have been applied successfully and led to an emergent material sciences branch known as metamaterials. Metamaterials and functional material development strategies are focused on the structures of the matter itself, which has led to unconventional and unique electromagnetic properties through the manipulation of light-and in a more general picture the electromagnetic waves-in widespread manner. Metamaterial's nanostructures have precise shape, geometry, size, direction and arrangement. Such configurations are impacting the electromagnetic light waves to generate novel properties that are difficult or even impossible to obtain with natural materials. This review discusses these metamaterials and metasurfaces from the perspectives of materials, mechanisms and advanced metadevices in depth, with the aim to serve as a solid reference for future works in this exciting and rapidly emerging topic.
In this article we report novel composite materials of bucky ball (C
60
fullerene) and III-nitrides (BN, AlN, GaN, InN). The experimental feasibility of the novel composite materials is confirmed ...through negative binding energies and molecular dynamics simulations performed at 500 K. The structural properties of the novel composites are explored through density functional theory. An unusual phenomenon of surface bowing is observed in the 2D structure of the III-nitride monolayers due to the C
60
sticking. This surface bowing systematically increases as one proceeds from BN → AlN → GaN → InN. The electron density difference and Hirshfeld charge density analysis show smaller charge transfer during the complexation, which is probably due to weak van der Waal's forces. The presence of van der Waal's forces is also confirmed by the Atom in Molecule analysis, Reduced Density Gradient Technique and Non-covalent Interaction analysis. This work provides a foundation for further theoretical and experimental studies of the novel phenomenon of systematic bowing in the 2D structure of III-nitride monolayers.
This work reports systematic surface bowing in the 2D structure of III-nitrides due to the C
60
adsorption as we proceed from BN → AlN → GaN → InN.
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