Revista de Bioanálise e Biomedicina

The concentration of some heavy metals was determined in barley locally grown for brewing and its malt in Ethiopia. The samples were digested in nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, and analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry equipped with deuterium arc background corrector. The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in barley, and the levels of Cu, Mn and Zn in malt were above the maximum permissible limits in cereal grains set by Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization except Cd in barley grains from West Arsi Zone. Even though Cd and Pb were found in barley grains, they were below the limits of detection in malt. The result of the survey confirmed that the Cd and Pb content in locally malted barley do not pose a risk to consumers’ health though the bio-important metals could do. However, the levels of heavy metals in locally grown barley and its malt need to be regularly monitored.

A total of 32 folkloric medicinal plants used in the treatment of mouth ulcers in Kodangal mandal, Mahabubnagar district, Telangana state have been documented using standard questioner. Of 32 plants species belonging to 31 genera and 22 families were found useful. The largest family Fabaceae was represented 04 species followed by Euphorbiaceae 03 species, whereas the five families, i.e., Apiaceae, Lythraceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae and Verbenaceae represented by 2 of each species. While the 15 families represented single species each. Among parts used 20 plants species were used without ingredients, while 12 used with ingredients. The present report described them in detailed along with the method of drug preparation, mode of administration, probable dosage and duration of treatment. Maximum new findings on the ethnic practices were documented.

The interaction of an anti-gout drug, febuxostat was studied with bovine serum albumin (BSA) applying fluorescence quenching method for the first time. Interaction parameter and magnitude of the force indicated for both, dynamic and static quenching in between febuxostat and BSA protein. Thermodynamic studies indicated for both hydrogen and hydrophobic interactions, observed at 280 nm and only hydrophobic at 293 nm excitation wavelength. Negative ΔHo and positive ΔS_o, indicated for distinctive characteristics for the existence of both, hydrogen and hydrophobic binding throughout the interactions. The binding constant K_b at λ_ex=280 nm was 3.467 × 10³ μM^-1 and 4.943 × 10³ μM^-1 at 298 and 308 K temperature whereas, 5.54 × 10³ μM^-1 and 4.44 × 10³ μM^-1 was noted during excitation at λ_ex=293 nm wavelength. The K_b values in different temperatures assumed that the stability of binding increased with the increase of temperature at λ_ex=280 nm, but reverse effect was experienced at an excitation wavelength of λ_ex=293 nm. The number of bound febuxostat molecules per BSA protein was found ~1.5 at both 298 and 308 K.

In this work, a solid phase extraction (SPE) method is used to separate the different lipid fractions of atheroma plaque from diabetic human patients for their subsequent analysis. Sixteen fatty acids, seventeen triacylglycerols, eleven diacylglycerols being each of them as 1,2- and 1,3-isomers, two free fatty acids, 1-monoolein and seven phospholipid classes were identified. The discriminating power of the different compounds characterized has been studied in order to use them as clinical descriptor. Linear Discriminant Analysis has been applied for such purposed, diacylglycerols being the most useful compounds giving models with a total classification when sex, dyslipidemia, heart attack and stage of atheroma from patients were considered. This methodology has been used to highlight the differences between sex and age of the patients, as well as to find out differences between patients with different diseases such as dyslipidemia, heart attack, metabolic syndrome and renal failure.

Phenolic compounds are commonly used for diverse applications such as in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, rubber, dyes and pigments. The objective of present research was to study the impact of Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment on physical and thermal properties of phenol derivatives such as o-nitrophenol (ONP), m-nitrophenol (MNP) and p-tertiary butyl phenol (TBP). The study was performed in two groups (control and treated). The control and treated compounds were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and surface area analysis. XRD analysis showed increase in crystallite size by 16.05% in treated ONP as compared to control. However, the treated MNP showed decrease in crystallite size by 16.17% as compared to control. The treated TBP showed increase in crystallite size by 5.20% as compared to control. DSC of treated MNP exhibited increase in melting temperature with respect to control, which may be correlated to higher thermal stability of treated sample. However, the treated TBP exhibited no significant change in melting temperature with respect to control. TGA analysis of treated ONP and TBP showed an increase in maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) as compared to control. However, the treated MNP showed slight decrease in Tmax in comparison with control sample. Surface area analysis of treated ONP showed decrease in surface area by 65.5%. However, surface area was increased by 40.7% in treated MNP as compared to control. These results suggest that biofield treatment has significant effect on physical and thermal properties of ONP, MNP and TBP.