Exposure of women to trace elements through the skin by direct contact with underwear clothing.

Heavy metals pose a potential danger to human health when present in textile materials. In the present study, inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) was used to determine the concentrations and the identity of extractable inorganic elements from different brands of women undergarments. A total of 120 samples consisting of 63 cottons, 44 nylons and 13 polyesters manufactured in 14 different countries having different colors were analyzed for their extractable metals contents. Elements analyzed were Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, Ti, V and Zn. Cotton undergarments were rich in Al, Fe and Zn, nylon undergarments had high levels of Cr, Cu and Al, while polyester fabrics contained higher levels of Ni and Fe compared to cotton or nylon. With respect to manufacturing countries, China, Egypt and India showed the highest concentrations of metals in all fabrics. With respect to the color, black garments were characteristic by high concentration of Fe, blue colors with Cu, brown garments with Fe and Cu, green garments with Cu and Fe, pink garments with Al, purple garments with Al and Cu and red garments with Cr, Zn and Al. The consumer should be made aware of the potential dangers of these metals in their clothing.

The role of various amino acids in enzymatic browning process in potato tubers, and identifying the browning products.

The effects of five structurally variant amino acids, glycine, valine, methionine, phenylalanine and cysteine were examined as inhibitors and/or stimulators of fresh-cut potato browning. The first four amino acids showed conflict effects; high concentrations (⩾ 100mM for glycine and ⩾ 1.0M for the other three amino acids) induced potato browning while lower concentrations reduced the browning process. Alternatively, increasing cysteine concentration consistently reduced the browning process due to reaction with quinone to give colorless adduct. In PPO assay, high concentrations (⩾ 1.11 mM) of the four amino acids developed more color than that of control samples. Visible spectra indicated a continuous condensation of quinone and glycine to give colored adducts absorbed at 610-630 nm which were separated and identified by LC-ESI-MS as catechol-diglycine adduct that undergoes polymerization with other glycine molecules to form peptide side chains. In lower concentrations, the less concentration the less developed color was observed.

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in dry tea.

Twenty-eight different tea samples sold in the United States were evaluated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FLD) for their contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many PAHs exhibit carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic properties and have been related to several kinds of cancer in man and experimental animals. The presence of PAHs in environmental samples such as water, sediments, and particulate air has been extensively studied, but food samples have received little attention. Eighteen PAHs congeners were analyzed, with percentage recovery higher than 85%. Contamination expressed as the sum of the 18 analyzed PAHs was between 101 and 1337 µg/kg on dry mass and the average contents in all of the 28 examined samples was 300 µg/kg on dry mass. Seven of the congeners were found in all samples with wide ranges of concentrations as follows: fluorene (7-48 µg/kg), anthracene (1-31 µg/kg), pyrene (1-970 µg/kg), benzo(a)anthracene (1-18 µg/kg) chrysene (17-365 µg/kg), benzo(a)pyrene (1-29 µg/kg), and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene (4-119 µg/kg). The two most toxic congeners benzo(a)pyrene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene were found at high concentrations only in Earl Grey Twinnings, Earl Grey Harney& Sons Fine Teas, and Chai Ultra Spice Black Tea Twinnings. Six PAH congeners are considered as suspected carcinogens (U.S.EPA), formed the basis of the estimation of the toxic equivalent (TEQ), Chai Ultra-Spice Black Tea Twinnings had the highest TEQ (110.9) followed by two grey tea samples, Earl Grey Harney & Sons Fine Tea (57.7) and Earl Grey Twinnings (54.5). Decaffeinated grey teas had the lowest TEQs, decaffeinated Earl Grey Bigelow (9.4) and Green Tea Honey Lemon Decaffeinated Lipton (9.6).

Evaluation of the essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare Mill (fennel) fruits extracted by three different extraction methods by GC/MS.

BACKGROUND: Hydrodistillation (HD) and steam-distillation, or solvent extraction methods of essential oils have some disadvantages like thermal decomposition of extracts, its contamination with solvent or solvent residues and the pollution of residual vegetal material with solvent which can be also an environmental problem. Thus, new green techniques, such as supercritical fluid extraction and microwave assisted techniques, are potential solutions to overcome these disadvantages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare subsp. Piperitum fruits extracted by three different extraction methods viz. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using CO2, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and hydro-distillation (HD) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). RESULTS: The results revealed that both MAE and SFE enhanced the extraction efficiency of the interested components. MAE gave the highest yield of oil as well as higher percentage of Fenchone (28%), whereas SFE gave the highest percentage of anethol (72%). CONCLUSION: Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) not only enhanced the essential oil extraction but also saved time, reduced the solvents use and produced, ecologically, green technologies.

Comprehensive assessment of antioxidant activity of essential oils.

UNLABELLED: Essential oils have been studied for their unique ability to act as antioxidants. Antioxidant activities of 423 essential oils of 48 different botanical families were evaluated for their antioxidant activities as free radical scavenging agents using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl method. Seventy-three oils showed 50% or more inhibition at a concentration of 1.25 mg/mL. The 73 most active oil samples were further evaluated for their scavenging activities using series of dilutions to estimate their EC(50) . The EC(50) of the 73 most active oils ranged from 4 to 2000 µg/mL. Oils having an EC(50) of less than 300 µg/mL (20 selected samples) were subjected to ß-carotene bleaching antioxidant activity test and more detailed analysis including thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, high performance liquid chromatography and bioautography. Essential oils of the botanical families Lamiaceae and Myrtaceae were the most effective antioxidants. Thymol and carvacrol were the major constituents in most of the essential oils of the family Lamiaceae and eugenol was the major terpene in all of the essential oils of the family Myrtaceae. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Supplementation of food with spices containing essential oils may counteract and retard the process of oxidative damage, lipid oxidation and elevate antioxidant activity of the final product.

Natural resistance of rose petals to microbial attack.

Petals of red, yellow and white roses (Rosa damascene Mill.) of the family Rosaceae were extracted with (1:1) methylene chloride/methanol and tested for their antimicrobial activities against four species of Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus), five species of Gram-negative bacteria (Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens) and five species of fungi (Penicillium notatum, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Fusarium oxysporum). All of the crude extracts showed a wide range of antimicrobial activities according to the tested organism and rose's type. Micrococcus luteus was found to be the most susceptible bacteria to all crude extracts. Red and yellow petal extracts showed much higher antibacterial activity than the white petals extract. Bacillus subtilis was found to be the least susceptible to all extracts. The fungus, Penicillium notatum was found to be the most susceptible with white petal extract being the most effective. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Fusarium oxysporum were the least susceptible to all extracts. White roses extract showed much higher antifungal activities against Penicillium notatum than red or yellow roses, therefore, it was subjected to several bioassay guided chromatographic fractionations and purification to isolate the active chemical(s) responsible for the antifungal activity. Chemical structure of the isolated antifungal compounds were identified by spectroscopy techniques and found to be a γ-sitosterol and (Z,Z)-9,12-octadecadienoic acid. Antibacterial activity of the various types of rose extracts were due to complex mixtures of organic compounds which are still under chemical investigation and will be published later.

Potato disc bioassay and cytotoxic effect of Leptadenia pyrotechnica: comparative study of diverse extracts.

Comparative acute toxicity studies of the latex and sequential extracts of Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forsk.) Decne (Asclepiadaceae) were recorded using brine shrimp. The higher toxicities were exhibited in latex; methanol, methanol/dichloromethane (1:1), defatted methanol/dichloromethane (1:1), defatted methanol and dichloromethane extracts. The other extracts; aqueous, alkaloids, ethyl acetate and n-butanol exhibited less toxicities compared with the other extracts. The estimated LC50 and its 95% confidence limits for these extracts expressed in ppm were: methanol, latex 18.84 (11.22-31.61), methanol/dichloromethane 19.95 (7.76-53.70), defatted methanol/dichloromethane 21.38 (7.24-63.10), defatted methanol 28.19 (16.27-48.81) and dichloromethane 30.90 (11.75-79.43). The anti-tumor activities; potato disc assays of methanol, ethyl acetate and alkaloids extracts showed good activities as anti-tumor agent which represented-49.30,-43.20 an -33.60%, respectively. While latex and aqueous extract represented-30.80 and-28.17%, respectively.

Fungicidal activity of Artemisia herba alba Asso (Asteraceae).

The antifungal activity of Artemisia herba alba was found to be associated with two major volatile compounds isolated from the fresh leaves of the plant. Carvone and piperitone were isolated and identified by GC/MS, GC/IR, and NMR spectroscopy. Antifungal activity was measured against Penicillium citrinum (ATCC 10499) and Mucora rouxii (ATCC 24905). The antifungal activity (IC50) of the purified compounds was estimated to be 5 microg/ml, 2 microg/ml against Penicillium citrinum and 7 microg/ml, 1.5 microg/ml against Mucora rouxii carvone and piperitone, respectively.