Food

In this study, three different extracts (soxhlet, microwave and decoction) from two species of broccoli: Brassica oleracea L. convar. Italica botrytis (L.) Alef. var. cymosa Duch. (Broccolo Fiolaro) and Brassica oleracea acephala L. convar. acephala (DC.) Alef. var. sabellica L. (Cavolo Nero), which are commonly spread in north-central Italy, were tested for their enzyme inhibitory effects. Enzyme inhibitory effects were investigated against cholinesterases, tyrosinase, α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The soxhlet extracts had the highest inhibitory AChE effects with 1.08 mgGALAE/g (in Cavolo Nero) and 0.90 mgGALAE/g (in Broccolo Fiolaro). The significant tyrosinase inhibitory effect was observed in the soxhlet extract of Cavolo Nero with 11.93 mgKAE/g. In addition, we evaluated the antioxidant activity of Broccolo Fiolaro and Cavolo Nero on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated bladder, kidney and liver specimens, ex vivo. We observed a significant reduction of both nitrite and malondial...

The ongoing pandemic of  novel coronavirus disease, COVID19, which first reported in Wuhan, China, inDecember 2019, [1] and caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) has resulted to more than 6,881,352 confirmed cases in the world, and 399,895 global deaths, as reported in 8:36am CEST, 8 June 2020. [2] It has been reported that the primary spread of COVID-19 via human transmission is during close contact, most often through small droplets spread by coughing, sneezing, and talking. [3] Researchers and health experts have discovered that wearing of appropriate face masks can significantly reduce the transmission up to the 75%.

Gum Arabic (GA) is a complex polysaccharide used in the food manufacturing as a thickener and stabilizer. Our previous studies show that GA decreased body weight, visceral adipose tissue and plasma cholesterol level in mice. In addition, GA down regulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and stearoyl-CoA desaturase mRNA expression in mice liver. In the present study, we aimed to reveal the effect of GA on lipid biosynthesis gene mRNA expression in mice. 20 female CD-1 mice at 5 weeks age were divided into two groups, one served as control and the second received 10% of GA in drinking water for 6 weeks. Plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-c and LDL-c were measured. Cholesterol biosynthesis gene mRNA expression of including down-regulated steroid 17-alpha-monooxygenase (CYP17) and 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) were measured by Q-PCR. Moreover, glucose 6-phosphatase and fatty acid synthase mRNA was measured. GA significantly (P...

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, acts as a corridor between North and sub-Saharan Africa along the river Niles. It comprises warm arid and semi-arid grazing lands, and it is home to the second-largest African population of indigenous livestock. Indigenous Sudanese cattle are mainly indicine/zebu (humped) type. They thrive in the harshest dryland environments characterised by high temperatures, long seasonal dry periods, nutritional shortages, and vector diseases challenges. We investigated genome diversity in six indigenous African zebu breeds sampled in Sudan (Aryashai, Baggara, Butana, Fulani, Gash, and Kenana). We adopted three genomic scan approaches to identify candidate selective sweeps regions (ZHp, FST, XP-EHH). We identified a set of gene-rich selective sweep regions shared across African and Asian zebu or unique to Sudanese zebu. In particular, African and Asian zebu candidate gene-rich regions are detected on chromosomes 2, 5 and 7. They include genes involved in imm...