Characterization of alkaloids in bark extracts of Geissospermum vellosii by HPLC-UV-diode array-multistage high-resolution mass spectrometry.

A number of analytical studies, started in the sixties of the last century, concerning the stem bark of Geissospermum vellosii, have documented the presence of a number of indole alkaloids whose molecular identity was defined by NMR technique. The potential bioactivity of these compounds has inspired more recent analogous studies either devoted to structural elucidation of new alkaloid molecules or to the investigation of the role of some of them in cancer therapy. Anyway, a complete fingerprinting of the bark content is still lacking. In this paper, after a suitable extraction step, we obtain a chromatographic separation showing a number of components higher than the number of alkaloids so far described. Considering the great number of substances present in the stem bark, their identification is practically impossible to reveal by NMR techniques. As we presume that there are other stem bark unidentified alkaloids with important bioactivity, we propose to characterize their molecular structures by UV-Vis Diode Array spectrophotometry and High-Resolution Multistage Mass Spectrometry. The two adopted detection techniques were first tested on the already known Geissospermum vellosii molecules, and, after an inspection of their efficacy, were applied to the substances that have not yet been described. Herewith we propose the molecular structures of 10 substances that were never previously described, and in addition we provide experimental evidence of the presence of 6 already known substances which were never reported in the Geissospermum genus. A far more detailed description of the bark constituents is therefore provided.

Biophotons and Emergence of Quantum Coherence-A Diffusion Entropy Analysis.

We study the emission of photons from germinating seeds using an experimental technique designed to detect light of extremely small intensity. We analyze the dark count signal without germinating seeds as well as the photon emission during the germination process. The technique of analysis adopted here, called diffusion entropy analysis (DEA) and originally designed to measure the temporal complexity of astrophysical, sociological and physiological processes, rests on Kolmogorov complexity. The updated version of DEA used in this paper is designed to determine if the signal complexity is generated either by non-ergodic crucial events with a non-stationary correlation function or by the infinite memory of a stationary but non-integrable correlation function or by a mixture of both processes. We find that dark count yields the ordinary scaling, thereby showing that no complexity of either kinds may occur without any seeds in the chamber. In the presence of seeds in the chamber anomalous scaling emerges, reminiscent of that found in neuro-physiological processes. However, this is a mixture of both processes and with the progress of germination the non-ergodic component tends to vanish and complexity becomes dominated by the stationary infinite memory. We illustrate some conjectures ranging from stress induced annihilation of crucial events to the emergence of quantum coherence.

Rehabilitation and respiratory management in the acute and early post-acute phase. "Instant paper from the field" on rehabilitation answers to the COVID-19 emergency.

COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease that can cause respiratory, physical and psychological long-term dysfunctions in patients. First recommendations on respiratory management were published, but they were not based on the specific needs due to COVID-19. In this paper we share the early experiences from the clinical field in Northern Italy, where the epidemic started in February. This paper summarizes the second webinar on COVID-19 (230 live attendees, 11,600 viewers of the recorded version) organized by the Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine about rehabilitation and in particular respiratory management in the acute (Intensive Care Unit [ICU]) and immediate post-acute phases. There is the need to prepare for the post-acute phase. ICU length of stay is relatively long, with immobilization in prone position. Some specific problems are described, including severe muscle weakness and fatigue, joint stiffness, dysphagia, (neuro)psychological problems, impaired functioning concerning mobility, activities of daily life and work. A lot is yet unknown and patients can experience long-term consequences as we know from the literature on the postintensive care syndrome, but COVID-19 has unique features to be investigated and understood. As a colleague stated during the Covinar: this is a marathon, not a sprint….

Qualitative characterization of Desmodium adscendens constituents by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array ultraviolet-electrospray ionization multistage mass spectrometry.

The many effects of the African medicinal herb Desmodium adscendens were studied in the 1980s and 1990s. In spite of this, a comprehensive analytical protocol for the quality control of its constituents (soyasaponins, alkaloids and flavonoids) has not yet been formulated and reported. This study deals with the optimization of extraction conditions from the plant and qualitative identification of the constituents by HPLC-diode array UV and multistage mass spectrometry. Plant constituents were extracted from leaves by liquid-liquid and solid matrix dispersion extraction. Separation was achieved via RP-C18 liquid chromatographywith UV and MS(n) detection and mass spectrometry analysis was conducted by electrospray ionization ion trap or orbitrap mass spectrometry. High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was used for structural identification of active molecules relating to soyasaponins and alkaloids. The flavonoid fragmentations were preliminarily studied by HRMS in order to accurately characterize the more common neutral losses. However, the high number of isomeric species induced us to make recourse to a more extended chromatographic separation in order to enable useful tandem mass spectrometry and ultraviolet spectral interpretation to propose a reasonable chemical classification of these polyphenols. 35 compounds of this class were identified herein with respect to the five reported in literature in this way we made up a comprehensive protocol for the qualitative analysis of the high complexity content of this plant. This result paves the way for both reliable quality control of potential phytochemical medicaments and possible future systematic clinical studies.