BACKGROUND Naturally occurring flavonoids have been reported to possess various pharmacological properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the MeOH extract and flavonoids from the leaves of Oncoba spinosa, a plant used for the treatment of syphilis, wounds and sexual impotence. METHODS The plant extract was prepared by maceration in metha...

Ultra-high pressure homogenisation (UHPH) is a recently developed technology and is still under study to evaluate its effect on different aspects of its application to food products. The aim of this research work was to evaluate the effect of UHPH treatments on quality characteristics of apple juice such as antioxidant capacity, polyphenol composition, vitamin C and provitamin A contents, in co...

Background: Estrogens are thought to possess antioxidant properties in vivo, with estradiol being the most biologically active and available. Unlike ovulatory women, those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a relative steady-state serum estradiol concentration across a typical month. To better understand the antioxidant role of serum estradiol in premenopausal women, we evaluated biomar...

The abundance of fresh drinks based on fruit juices, especially citrus juices, and minimally processed products allow consumers to ingest a wide variety of antioxidants in the diet, such as vitamin C, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds. Pulsed electric fields (PEF) and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) are emerging technologies in the field of food preservation. They have the po...

BACKGROUND Blood of cigarette smokers routinely displays decreased antioxidant capacity and increased oxidized lipids compared to nonsmokers. This is thought to be due to both chronic exposure to cigarette smoke in addition to low intake of dietary antioxidants, and is a routine finding in veteran smokers. No study to date has determined the independent and combined impact of dietary intake and...

UNLABELLED Oxidative stress occurs as a result of altitude-induced hypobaric hypoxia and physical exercise. The effect of exercise on oxidative stress under hypobaric hypoxia is not well understood. PURPOSE To determine the effect of high-altitude exercise on blood oxidative stress. Nine male participants completed a 2-d trek up and down Mt Rainer, in North America, at a peak altitude of 4,39...

Polyphenols have become a research target due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity. Obtention via extraction from natural sources includes the revalorization of food wastes such as grape pomace (GP) or apple (AP). In this work, GP AP were submitted liquid–solid using different solvents industrial interest. Process kinetics studied measuring total phenolic content (...

CONTEXT Betula pendula Roth (Betulaceae) exhibits many pharmacological activities in humans including anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral effects. However, the antioxidant activity of BP towards lipid degradation has not been fully determined. OBJECTIVE The BP ethanol and methanol extracts were evaluated to determine antioxidant activity by an in vitro method and lyophilized extract of B...

Respirable quartz has been classified as a human lung carcinogen (IARC, 1997). However, the mechanisms involved in quartz-induced carcinogenesis remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate acute DNA damage in epithelial lung cells from rats exposed to quartz. Since surface reactivity is considered to play a crucial role in the toxicity of quartz, the effect of surface modify...

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are widely used for the treatment of COPD despite of controversial statements concerning their efficacy. The use of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a mucolytic drug with antioxidant properties, is less clear, but it may counteract the oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether treatment of COPD patients with ICS or NAC is able to i...