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The total steroidal saponins, particularly its major steroidal sapogenin (diosgenin), are the main active principles of fenugreek seed extract. In this study, an ethanol-salt aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) was explored for the purification of the total steroidal saponins, and the process conditions were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Under the optimized conditions, the RSM predicted recovery of the total steroidal saponins in the top phase of ATPS was 97.9%, which agreed with the average experimental recovery (98.3 ± 4.2% (n = 6)). Moreover, a rapid micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for the determination of diosgenin from extracts. The diosgenin content in the ATPS top phase extract was 3-fold higher than that in crude extract, suggesting this ATPS having a great potential for purification pharmacological active ingredients from fenugreek seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although bispectral index (BIS) has been widely used for predicting neurological outcomes in clinical practice, its optimal value concerning maximum (BISmax), minimum (BISmin) and mean (BISmean) on accurately predicting the prognosis of patients with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) after resuscitation has not been clearly determined. Methods: For a total number of 45 cases, the duration of each BIS measurement was 12 h, with the data collected at a 30 min interval. Outcome was recorded as survival and non-survival count 60 days after the resuscitation. Receiver operator characteristic curve was used to assess the BISmax, BISmin and BISmean for predicting clinical outcome. Results: By the end of observation, 20 cases (44.4%) survived with a significantly higher BISmax. The area under the curve for BISmax of predicting survival was the highest compared to BISmin and BISmean. The optimal cut-off value of BISmax was 71.5 with 100% sensitivity and 60% specificity. Ten patients presented BIS value down to zero at any time point did not survive the observation. Conclusion: The BISmax is a better outcome predictor than BISmin or BISmean for patients with HIE after resuscitation. Lower BISmax represents higher risk of mortality. Additionally, BIS value decreases to zero represents a poor outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) was used for simultaneous purification of glycyrrhizic acid (GA) and liquiritin (LQ) from crude extract of Chinese licorice root. It was revealed that 87% GA and 94% LQ were retrieved in the ATPS top phase, under the optimum conditions of 25% (w/w) ethanol, 30% (w/w) K2HPO4 and 4% (w/w) loading sample at 10-40°C. Compared with crude extract, the ATPS top-phase extract exhibited the highest antioxidative activity, but no tyrosinase inhibitory effect. Whereas, the ATPS bottom-phase extract was proved to be effective ABTS radical scavenger and tyrosinase inhibitor, suggesting the potency of the alcohol-salt ATPS purification for the different medicinal purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly conductive polypyrrole/graphene/manganese dioxide (PPy/graphene/MnO2) composites are fabricated via ultrasonic irradiation using p-toluenesulfonic acid as a dopant. The microstructures of PPy/graphene/MnO2are evidenced by the SEM and TEM examinations. The effects of the graphene and MnO2loading on the electrical conductivity are investigated. The maximum conductivity of PPy/graphene/MnO2composites about 17.15 S/cm found with 3 wt% graphene and 48.7 wt% MnO2at room temperature. Such uniform structure together with the observed high conductivities afforded high specific capacitance. A specific capacitance of as high as 258 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g was achieved over the PPy/graphene/MnO2composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-throughput sequencing technology was used to sequence and assemble the chloroplast genome of Gentianopsis grandis, and we analyzed its structural characteristics and phylogenetic relationships. The complete chloroplast genome of G. grandis was 151,271 bp in length, consisting of a large single copy (LSC) region of 82,572 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 17,907 bp, which were separated by a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 25,396 bp. The annotation contained a total of 114 unique genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, four rRNA genes, and two pseudogenes. The phylogenetic analysis indicated the genus Gentianopsis was closely related to Halenia and Swertia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for determination of citronellal, citral (Z; E), α-pinene, limonene, linalool, and eugenol in plant essential oils (EOs). A buffer consisting of 20 mM Na2B4O7, 50 mM SDS, 20% (v:v) methanol adjusted to pH 9.5 was found to provide a very efficient and stable electrophoretic system for the analysis. The validation of the method included linearity, LODs, LOQs, precision (intra - and inter - day variation of migration time and peak area), and recovery. Seven terpenoids presented good linearity (R 2 > 0.9960) within the test ranges; LODs (S/N = 3) and LOQs (S/N = 10) were 0.2–1.8 µg/mL and 0.8–5.9 µg/mL, respectively. The precision and accuracy were satisfactory, with the overall intra- and inter-day variation (for migration time and peak area, RSD%) being less than 7.0%, and recoveries of this method were greater than 91% at spiked levels. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of seven terpenoids in clove oil, litsea cubeba oil, and citronella oil, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On account of enhancing surface light trapping by reducing reflectance, front surface texturiing is always a key to improve the solar cells performance. As a maskless plasma texturing technique, reactive ion etching using SF6/O 2 plasma brings down reflectance distinctly by fluorine ions etching the surface of mc-silicon solar cells with the assisting of O2. The textured surface with bowl-like nanostructure exhibits fine anti-reflectance effect. Optimal reflectance of mc-silicon solar cells could be obtained by adjusting gases flow ratios, plasma power and etching time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let [image omitted] be a complex semisimple Lie algebra, [image omitted] be a Borel subalgebra of [image omitted] and [image omitted] denote the maximal nilpotent subalgebra of [image omitted]. In this article, we prove that every generalized Lie triple derivation of [image omitted] can be written as the sum of a Lie triple derivation and a block diagonal map. We also show that every generalized Lie triple derivation for [image omitted] of each classical complex simple Lie algebra is the sum of a Lie triple derivation and a homothety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]