Search

AbstractThe chemical constituents and antimicrobial activities of essential oils isolated from the leaf and stem of Piper albispicumC. DC. were reported. The main compounds of the leaf essential oil were chavicol acetate (16.3%), bicyclogermacrene (13.8%), sabinene (8.6%), b-pinene (7.7%) and a-pinene (7.3%). On the other hand b-pinene (15.6%), a-pinene (14.6%) and bicyclogermacrene (13.2%) were the significant compounds of the stem essential oil. The leaf oil displayed the best antimicrobial activity towards Pseudomonas aeruginosaATCC27853 with the Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 5.82 µg/mL. Both essential oils exhibited similar activities against Enterococcus faecalisATCC299212 (MIC’s, 9.07 µg/mL and 9.81 µg/mL, respectively) and Candida albicansATCC 10231 (MIC’s, 10.66 µg/mL and 10.91 µg/mL, respectively). However, the stem oil exhibited pronounced activity against Staphylococcus aureusATCC25923 and Bacillus cereusATCC14579, with MIC values of 10.22 µg/mL and 10. 44 µg/mL, respectively. However, the studied essential oils did not inhibit the growth of Escherichia coliATCC 25922 and Salmonella entericaATCC13076. This is the first report on the chemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of P. albispicum.

AbstractThis work reports the chemical constituents and larvicidal activity of essential oil from Amomum rubidumLamxay & N. S. Lý. The essential oil was extracted from the air-dried rhizome in an all-glass Clevenger-type apparatus and characterized by gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) on HP-5 column. The larvicidal property was evaluated against the fourth-instar larvae of Aedes aegyptiaccording to the protocols of the World Health Organization. A. rubidumessential oil was characterized by high amounts of β-phellandrene (16.1 %), limonene (14.4 %), and δ-3-carene (13.9 %). The oil displayed larvicidal activity against Ae. aegyptiwith minimum lethal concentration, LC50values of 22.85 and 22.62 μg/mL respectively at 24 h and 48 h, while the LC50values of 31.44 μg/mL and 31.03 μg/mL were obtained respectively at 24 h and 48 h. The chemical constituents and larvicidal actions of A. rubidumrhizome essential oils are being reported for the first time.

AbstractThis paper analysed the chemical compositions of essential oils from Zingiber mekongenseGagnep from Vietnam. In the analysis, essential oils hydrodistilled from the leaves, stems, rhizomes and fruits were subjected to gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The average yields of essential oils were 0.15 %, 0.10 %, 0.17 % and 0.20 (v/w) respectively, calculated on a dry weight basis. The essential oils contained large amounts of α-pinene (3.4 % - 12.9 %), β-pinene (10.0 % - 43.1 %), cis-β-elemene (11.8 % - 22.6 %) and β-caryophyllene (9.2 % - 24.1 %). The rhizome oil contained significant quantity of α-zingiberene (9.4 %) and (E)-nerolidol (5.8 %). The chemical compositions of essential oils from Z. mekongensewere being reported for the first time.

Parental conditional regard is a parenting practice which may lead to negative outcomes for the child. Yet, no research has examined whether feelings of love worthiness may be dependent upon conditional parental regard. Furthermore, certain conditions within the family environment may exacerbate this effect. Across two studies, undergraduate students were asked to report on perceptions of parental conditional regard, aspects of the family life growing up and how often they felt worthy of love (WOL). In Study 1, 91 individuals were asked to respond to open-ended questions about their feelings of parental conditional regard, as well as complete Likert-type questions about their family environment and feelings of love worthiness. In Study 2, 211 individuals completed Likert-type scales assessing their perceptions of parental conditional regard, family environment and feelings of love worthiness. Overall, perceptions of parental conditional regard were associated with feeling WOL less often, and this association was due to the lack of a positive family environment and the presence of negative conditions. These results highlight the importance of parenting practices, specifically a positive family environment, for the development of schemas of the self as WOL from others.

•Facebook depression research has yielded mixed findings.•This may be because connection and disconnection drive Facebook use and vice versa.•Facebook use related to disconnection is negatively associated with well-being.•Moreover, Facebook's built-in mechanisms may proliferating ‘Facebook depression’.•Theories are proposed to explain how these features promote ‘Facebook depression’.

The first experimental study of relationship talk (N = 42 couples) showed that when couples read stories about spouses who talked to each other about their relationships, such talk had different outcomes for the spouses, depending on the context and which partner was speaking. We replicated and improved upon this study in a number of ways (e.g. sample size and composition, new dependent variable, more standardized materials, more sophisticated and appropriate statistical techniques). Findings were almost identical to those of the earlier study including three-way interactions. Results (N = 238 couples) showed that when spouses talked about their relationship with each other, they were seen to have more positive outcomes, including closeness, than when they did not talk about their relationship. Further, relationship talk appeared to be especially positive in conflictive situations, but the effects of such talk were much weaker in pleasant situations. These findings were conceptualized as evidence of shared scripts for relationship conversations. Clinical implications are discussed.

Abstract It is unclear if early immune responses to allergens, specifically Th1 and Th2 cytokine production, predict later immune responses, including increased IgE levels. In a group of children (n = 151) with a parental history of allergy or asthma followed from ages 2 through 5 years, we examined IL-13, IL-4, and IFN-γ secretion by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), and to dust mite (Der f 1), cockroach (Bla g 2), and cat (Fel d 1) allergens in relation to elevated IgE. Elevated IgE was defined either as a positive IgE-specific response to at least one allergen (dust mite, cockroach, cat, and ovalbumin) or as an elevated total IgE level above a specified cut-off value. In multivariate logistic regression models including 181 observations made between the age of 2 through 5 years and accounting for repeated measures, we found an association between increased IL-13 secretion in response to Der f 1 and elevated IgE (odds ratio [OR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09–1.34). Age did not modify this relationship. No association was found between allergen-induced IFN-γ secretion and IgE production. Among the group of children with measurements made at age 4–5 (n = 70), IL-13 in response to Der f 1 (p = 0.046), and IL-4 in response to PHA (p = 0.04) were increased among children with elevated IgE. In a smaller subset of children with measurements made at both age 2–3 and age 4–5 (n = 36), IL-13 levels at age 2–3 were also significantly increased in response to Der f 1 (p = 0.01) and Fel d 1 (p = 0.002) among those with elevated IgE at age 4–5. In a group of children ages 2–5 years, there is an association between IL-13 and elevated IgE.

The aim of the study was to assess various time intervals during patient encounters involving unenhanced (NECT) versus oral-contrast-enhanced (CECT) abdominopelvic (A/P) CT performed in the emergency department (ED) on adult patients presenting with acute abdominal pain. Computerized patient order entry and administrative data as well as scans themselves were retrospectively evaluated at a high-volume (107,000 visits per annum) regional medical center urban ED for a period of 30 consecutive days. All adult patients who had CT of abdomen and pelvis for abdominal pain during the 30 days of the study period were included. Data collected included demographic information, time of registration, time of first encounter in the ED, time of CT order, clinical indication for scan, time of scan, time of disposition (i.e., discharge or admit), and final disposition. Patients were excluded if they were less than 16 years old, pregnant, or met criteria for major trauma and evaluation in the trauma suite. Patients were also excluded from analysis if they received more than one scan on the same day (3 patients). Of 183 patients, 102 underwent NECT and 81 CECT. Some of the patients who underwent NECT had urinary colic. Among patients who did not have urinary colic there is a statistically significant difference in the median time intervals between: (1) patient arrival in the ED and evaluation by a physician (NECT 57 min, CECT 84 min, P<0.001); (2) patient exam by the physician and the time the A/P CT was ordered (NECT 35 min, CECT 63 min, P<0.01); (3) receipt of the CT order and the time of the scan (NECT 104 min, CECT 172 min, P<0.001); and (4) time of arrival in ED and disposition (NECT 358 min, CECT 599 min, P<0.001). There are significant time interval differences between CECT and NECT during patient encounters involving adults presenting with abdominal pain to the ED. The differences are greater than the amount of time allotted for opacification of small bowel (90 min). Baseline data such as these may prove useful in assessing the efficacy of scan techniques and improving resource utilization.

A heating treatment strategy for inducing size and shape change of composite nanoparticles in solutions is described. The composite nanoparticles are ~2 nm gold cores encapsulated with alkanethiolate monolayers. The development of abilities in size and shape controls constitutes the motivation of this work. We demonstrated a remarkable evolution of the preformed particles in solutions toward monodispersed larger core sizes with well-defined and highly faceted morphologies. The particles thus evolved were encapsulated with the thiolate shells, and exhibited striking propensities of forming long-range ordered arrays. The morphological and structural evolutions were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV−vis and infrared spectroscopies. Although temperature-driven crystal growth is known for nonencapsulated particles, the evolution of the thiolate-encapsulated nanoparticles in solutions into well-defined morphologies represents an intriguing example of temperature manipulations in size monodispersity and shape control.

A test that takes less than one hour as opposed to the conventional one day test is proposed for measuring the relaxation shrinkage and hygral expansion of fabrics. There is no need for a controlled environment, the only equipment required being a household microwave oven and a scaled ruler. The test's simplicity makes it suitable for use in a commercial environment, especially for quality control during fabric finishing and garment making.

This paper describes a computer modeling study of the generation of 10 Hz oscillations in the electrical activity of guinea pig thalamic neurons in vitro. The computer model was based on experimental evidence suggesting that single thalamic neurons in guinea pig have a set of voltage- and calcium-dependent ionic conductances that is capable of generating self-sustained rhythmic oscillations. Simulation results are consistent with this hypothesis, and indicate that a model that contains dendritic calcium and calcium-dependent potassium conductances, as well as a voltage-dependent, slow sodium conductance, can indeed generate self-sustained oscillations like those seen in thalamic neurons. Moreover, simulations indicate that the occurrence of such oscillatory activity is strongly dependent on the location of the slow sodium conductance. Results predict that this slow sodium conductance is located in the dendrites.

The chemical constituents of essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Zingiber vuquangensisLý N.S., Lê T.H., Trịnh T. H., Nguyễn V.H., Đỗ N.Đ. and Zingiber castaneumŠkorničk. & Q.B. Nguyễn collected from Vu Quang National Park, Hà Tĩnh Province, Vietnam were analysed by GC and GC-MS. β-Pinene (24.7% and 26.1%) and β-caryophyllene (12.3% and 13.9%) were the main constituents in the leaf oil and stem oil of Zingiber vuquangensis.On the other hand the root oil contained bornyl acetate (20.9%), zerumbone (14.1%) and α-humulene (9.6%) while β-pinene (19.6%), 1,8-cineole (15.6%), α-pinene (10.3%) and β-caryophyllene (10.4%) were the significant compounds of the fruit oil. The leaf oil Zingiber castaneumwas dominated by β-pinene (30.6%), α-pinene (9.5%), β-caryophyllene (9.4%) and bicycloelemene (9.1%). The compounds occurring in higher quantity in the stem oil were β-caryophyllene (14.7%), δ-cadinene (9.8%), bicycloelemene (8.4%) and α-cubebene (7.8%). However, camphene (15.1%), 1,8-cineole (13.6%), linalool (11.3%) and δ-3-carene (8.5%) were the main compounds of the root oil while (E)-nerolidol (23.2%), (Z)-9-octadecenamide (17.3%) and β-caryophyllene (10.8%) were the main constituents of the fruit oil. The essential oil did not exhibit noticeable antimicrobial effects. This is the first report on the volatile compositions of Z. vuquangensisand Z. castaneum.

The present paper reports the volatile compounds identified in the essential oils of Dasymaschalon bachmaensisN.S. Lý, T.H. Lê, T.B. Vương & N.Đ.Đỗ and Phaeanthus vietnamensisBân (Annonanceae) grown in Vietnam. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaf, stem and bark of the plants. The combined techniques of gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used for the analysis of the chemical constituents of the oil samples. The major constituents of the leaf oil of D. bachmaensiswere limonene (25.7%), eugenol (11.5%), α-phellandrene (11.3%) and benzyl benzoate (9.0%) while the stem contained benzyl benzoate (35.3%), (Z)-13-docosenamide (12.4%) and limonene (9.4%) In addition, (Z)-13-docosenamide (23.2%), limonene (25.3%) and α-phellandrene (11.5%) were present in the bark. However, limonene (31.8%), (Z)-9-octadecamide (20.2%) and α-phellandrene (13.8%) were the compounds occurring in higher amount in the leaf oil of P. vietnamensiswhile the bark was dominated by (Z)-9-octadecamide (57.4%) and benzyl benzoate (15.0%). The volatile constituents of both D. bachmaensisand P. vietnamensisare reported for the first time