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Previous studies on the intricate interactions between plants and microorganisms have revealed that fungal volatile compounds (VCs) can affect plant growth and development. However, the precise mechanisms underlying these actions remain to be delineated. In this study, we discovered that VCs from the soilborne fungus Tolypocladium inflatum GT22 enhance the growth of Arabidopsis. Remarkably, priming Arabidopsis with GT22 VCs caused the plant to display an enhanced immune response and mitigated the detrimental effects of both pathogenic infections and copper stress. Transcriptomic analyses of Arabidopsis seedlings treated with GT22 VCs for 3, 24 and 48 h revealed that 90, 83 and 137 genes were differentially expressed, respectively. The responsive genes are known to be involved in growth, hormone regulation, defense mechanisms and signaling pathways. Furthermore, we observed the induction of genes related to innate immunity, hypoxia, salicylic acid biosynthesis and camalexin biosynthesis by GT22 VCs. Among the VCs emitted by GT22, exposure of Arabidopsis seedlings to limonene promoted plant growth and attenuated copper stress. Thus, limonene appears to be a key mediator of the interaction between GT22 and plants. Overall, our findings provide evidence that fungal VCs can promote plant growth and enhance both biotic and abiotic tolerance. As such, our study suggests that exposure of seedlings to T. inflatum GT22 VCs may be a means of improving crop productivity. This study describes a beneficial interaction between T. inflatun GT22 and Arabidopsis. Our investigation of microorganism function in terms of VC activities allowed us to overcome the limitations of traditional microbial application methods. The importance of this study lies in the discovery of T. inflatun GT22 as a beneficial microorganism. This soilborne fungus emits VCs with plant growth-promoting effects and the ability to alleviate both copper and pathogenic stress. Furthermore, our study offers a valuable approach to tracking the activities of fungal VC components via transcriptomic analysis and sheds light on the mechanisms through which VCs promote plant growth and induce resistance. This research significantly advances our knowledge of VC applications and provides an example for further investigations within this field., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Indoor air pollution is a global problem and one of the main stress factors that has negative effects on plant and human health. 3-methyl-1-butanol (3MB), an indoor air pollutant, is a microbial volatile organic compound (mVOC) commonly found in damp indoor dwellings. In this study, we reported that 1 mg/L of 3MB can elicit a significant reduction in the stomatal aperture ratio in Arabidopsis and tobacco. Our results also showed that 3MB enhances the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in guard cells of wild-type Arabidopsis after 24 h exposure. Further investigation of 24 h 3MB fumigation of rbohD, the1-1, mkk1, mkk3, and nced3 mutants revealed that ROS production, cell wall integrity, MAPK kinases cascade, and phytohormone abscisic acid are all involved in the process of 3MB-induced stomatal. Our findings proposed a mechanism by which 3MB regulates stomatal closure in Arabidopsis. Understanding the mechanisms by which microbial indoor air pollutant induces stomatal closure is critical for modulating the intake of harmful gases from indoor environments into leaves. Investigations into how stomata respond to the indoor mVOC 3MB will shed light on the plant's "self-defense" system responding to indoor air pollution., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: The present study is to examine the effect of high inclusion of co-products in pig diets (referred to as an alternative diet) during the finishing stage on pig growth performance, meat quality and boar taint compounds., Methods: Growing pigs were fed an alternative diet made with distillers dried grains with solubles (25%), canola meal (20%), and wheat middling (15%) or a control diet based on barley and soybean meal to investigate the impact of co-products on pig performance and meat quality. Sixteen female and sixteen entire male Duroc×(Large White×Landrace) pigs (22.6±2.07 kg, body weight±standard error) were equally allocated to the diets., Results: Pigs fed the alternative diet had a lower feed intake; however, growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were unaffected by diet. A diet by sex interaction was found for gain:feed whereby males fed the alternative diet had the best feed conversion (p<0.01). Pork from pigs fed the alternative diet had lower a* and Chroma and protein % (p<0.05), while other meat quality characteristics were unaffected. The alternative diet reduced backfat skatole levels (p<0.001)., Conclusion: A diet containing high inclusion levels of co-products can be fed to pigs during the finishing stage without detrimental effects on pig performance or meat quality and with the potential to enhance pork flavour. This finding suggests a solution to increase the sustainable development of pig production.

In this study, Wedelolactone's multitarget activity against Alzheimer's disease was examined using density functional theory and molecular docking techniques. At physiological pH, the p K a and molar fractions have been estimated. The most likely relative rate constants of two radical scavenger mechanisms are formal hydrogen transfer in a lipid environment and single-electron transfer in a water solvent. Compared to Trolox ( k overall = 8.96 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 ), Wedelolactone ( k overall = 4.26 × 10 9 M -1 s -1 ) is more efficient in scavenging the HOO • radical in an aqueous environment. The chelation capacity of metals was investigated by examining the complexation of the Cu(II) ion at various coordination positions and calculating the complexation kinetic constants. Furthermore, molecular docking simulations showed that the known forms of Wedelolactone at physiological pH effectively inhibited the AChE and BChE enzymes by comparing their activity to that of tacrine (control). Wedelolactone is a promising drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease therapy in light of these findings., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of grazing plantain-based pastures on urine volume, urination frequency, and urinary nitrogen (UN) concentration of dairy cows under a typical pastoral dairy practice offering approximately 25% supplemented feeds. The experiment was a completely randomised design with three pasture treatments (perennial ryegrass-white clover (RGWC); RGWC + low plantain rate (PLL); and RGWC + high plantain rate (PLH)), five replicate plots, and repeated in two sequential grazing periods. Forty-five lactating Friesian × Jersey cows were randomly assigned into three groups of 15 animals each to graze over six days in adaptation paddocks and three days in experimental plots. Urine flow sensors were used to measure urine volume and urinary frequency, while spot urine sampling was conducted to determine nitrogen (N) concentration in cow urine. The results showed that including 25% plantain in the diet (PLH) increased daily urine volume by 44% and the daily number of urinations by 28%, compared to grazing the RGWC pasture. In addition, N concentration in cow urine was decreased by 18 and 29% when the diet contained 18% and 25% plantain, respectively. In conclusion, under a typical dairy farm practice, incorporating plantain into the RGWC pasture with the proportion of 25% plantain in the diet can increase the number of urine patches and reduce the concentration of N in the urine, thereby providing the opportunity to decrease N leaching from pastoral systems.

The ability of a new compound, Wal, (walterolactone A/B 6- O -gallate-β-d-pyranoglucoside) originating from Euonymus laxiflorus Champ. as a hydroperoxyl radical scavenger and pro-oxidant enzyme inhibitor was studied in silico . Different mechanisms, reaction locations, and chemical species of Wal in aqueous solution were taken into consideration. Formal hydrogen transfer from the OH group has been discovered as the chemical process that contributes most to the antioxidant properties of Wal in nonpolar and aqueous solutions. The overall rate coefficients for polar and non-polar environments are expected to have values of 7.85 × 10 6 M -1 s -1 and 4.84 × 10 5 M -1 s -1 , respectively. According to the results of the investigation, Wal has greater scavenging activity against the HOO˙ radical than the reference antioxidant Trolox at physiological pH (7.4). In addition, docking results indicate that Wal's antioxidant properties involve the inhibition of the activity of enzyme families (CP450, MP, NO, and XO) that are responsible for ROS production., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

This study aimed to investigate the impact of decreased crude protein (CP) levels (by 2% units) or acidifying diets (by adding 10 g benzoic acid/kg diet in combination with replacing a part of CaCO 3 by about 10 g Ca-formate/kg diet) on urine, feces and manure composition and ammonia emissions from growing and finishing pig houses. Yorkshire x F1(Landrace x Yorkshire) pigs (n = 576) with an initial body weight of 24.9 ± 3.4 kg were randomly allocated to four treatments of (i) a control diet with normal protein content and no acidifying components added; (ii) a diet with 2% units CP reduction; (iii) a diet with an acidifying effect on the manure; (iv) or a diet consisting of a combination of diet (ii) and (iii). Pigs were housed in four mechanically ventilated and temperature-controlled rooms. Results showed that decreasing the dietary CP levels by 2% units reduced the ammonia emission from the floor by 46% ( p = 0.06) and from the pig house by 31% ( p = 0.08). Decreased CP diets reduced the total N in feces and in manure and NH 4 -N in the manure, as well as the ammonia concentration at 1 cm and 10 cm above the manure surface ( p < 0.05). However, acidifying diets failed to reduce ammonia emissions from the floor and the pig house ( p > 0.05). Reducing dietary crude protein is, therefore, a solution to reducing ammonia emissions from pig houses.

The HOO • and O 2 •- scavenging activities of 12 natural anthocyanidins were investigated in physiological environments by using DFT calculations. The results suggest high HOO • scavenging activity in aqueous medium with overall rate constants in the range of k overall  = 1.58 × 10 8 - 7.59 × 10 9  M -1  s -1 , whereas in lipid medium only weak activity is predicted. O 2 •- scavenging is also fast in water with k app  = ∼10 9  M -1  s -1 . Like in the case of many other antioxidants that contain acidic moieties, the anion states (H 3 A - and H 2 A 2- ) and the single electron transfer mechanism play a dominant role in the HOO • scavenging activity of anthocyanidins in water at pH = 7.4. Analysis of the mechanism suggests that the O 2 •- and HOO • radical scavenging can occur as a regeneration cycle that might increase the protective efficiency of anthocyanidins against oxidative stress., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Salvia species are frequently used in traditional medicine and are a source of diterpenoid antioxidants. In this study, the hydroperoxide radical scavenging activity of seven known abietane diterpenoids (ADs), isolated from Salvia barrelieri, are investigated using a quantum chemical approach. The ADs are 7-oxoroyleanone-12-methyl ether (1), 7a-acetoxyroyleanone-12-methyl ether (2), royleanone (3), horminone (4), 7-acetylhorminone (5), cryptojaponol (6), and inuroyleanol (7). It was found that formal hydrogen transfer is the main mechanism of the antiradical activity of these ADs in nonpolar environments, whereas the single electron transfer mechanism of anion states is favored in aqueous environment. The antioxidant activity of compounds 1-5 involves H-abstraction at the C7(15)-H bonds whereas for the compounds 6 and 7 the H abstraction takes place at the O12-H bond. The HOO • scavenging activity of compounds 1-5 is minor in all of the studied media, however 6 and 7 exhibit excellent antiradical activity in aqueous solution. Remarkably, the HOO • scavenging activity of compound 7 is substantially higher than that of Trolox, the reference antioxidant: the calculated rate constant was 122.3 times higher in polar and 6.1 times higher in nonpolar environments, respectively. Consistently 7 is a promising radical scavenger in physiological environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Electroplating sludge consists of various heavy metal oxides, which may be utilized as adsorbent to remove Cu (II) present in aqueous environment. This study evaluated the adsorption performance of calcinated electroplating sludge. The adsorption isotherm based on Langmuir equation proved that calcinated electroplating sludge had a higher adsorption performance than raw electroplating sludge, with maximum adsorption capacity 92 mg/g and 76.34 mg/g, respectively. Findings of the conducted kinetic study revealed that both surface adsorption and intra-particular diffusion were involved during the adsorption process. Moreover, the comparison between the experimental and calculated data of equilibrium adsorption capacity demonstrated that the pseudo second-order kinetic equation fitted well with 38.31 mg/g of calcinated sludge and 33.66 mg/g of raw sludge, approximate to real-world data. Furthermore, adsorption mechanism research demonstrated that while OH group plays a vital role in raw sample, Ca 2+ , in addition to OH group, was involved in ion exchange in calcinated sample., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Anthraquinones (ANQs) isolated from Paederia plants are known to have antidiarrheal, antitussive, anthelmintic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic, antihyperglycaemic, and antimicrobial activities. The antioxidant properties were also noted but not confirmed thus far. In this study, the superoxide and hydroperoxide radical scavenging activities of six ANQs were evaluated using a computational approach. The results suggest that the ANQs exhibit low HOO • antiradical activity in all environments, including the gas phase ( k < 10 2 M -1 s -1 ). In contrast, the ANQs might exert excellent O 2 •- radical scavenging activity, particularly in aqueous solution. The rate constants of the superoxide anion scavenging in water (at pH = 7.4) range from 3.42 × 10 6 to 3.70 × 10 8 M -1 s -1 . Compared with typical antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and quercetin, the superoxide anion scavenging activity of ANQs is significantly higher. Thus, the ANQs are promising O 2 •- radical scavengers in polar media., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Background: One hundred days after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Vietnam on 23 January, 270 cases were confirmed, with no deaths. We describe the control measures used by the government and their relationship with imported and domestically acquired case numbers, with the aim of identifying the measures associated with successful SARS-CoV-2 control., Methods: Clinical and demographic data on the first 270 SARS-CoV-2 infected cases and the timing and nature of government control measures, including numbers of tests and quarantined individuals, were analyzed. Apple and Google mobility data provided proxies for population movement. Serial intervals were calculated from 33 infector-infectee pairs and used to estimate the proportion of presymptomatic transmission events and time-varying reproduction numbers., Results: A national lockdown was implemented between 1 and 22 April. Around 200 000 people were quarantined and 266 122 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted. Population mobility decreased progressively before lockdown. In total, 60% (163/270) of cases were imported; 43% (89/208) of resolved infections remained asymptomatic for the duration of infection. The serial interval was 3.24 days, and 27.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.7%-40.0%) of transmissions occurred presymptomatically. Limited transmission amounted to a maximum reproduction number of 1.15 (95% CI, .·37-2.·36). No community transmission has been detected since 15 April., Conclusions: Vietnam has controlled SARS-CoV-2 spread through the early introduction of mass communication, meticulous contact tracing with strict quarantine, and international travel restrictions. The value of these interventions is supported by the high proportion of asymptomatic and imported cases, and evidence for substantial presymptomatic transmission., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

Fraxin (FX) (7-hydroxy-6-methoxycoumarin 8-glucoside) is a typical natural product of the coumarin family. This compound was shown to protect endothelial cells from oxidative stress; however, the nature of its antioxidant properties is still ambiguous. In this study, we report on a systematic evaluation of the radical scavenging activity of FX using a two-tier protocol based on thermodynamic and kinetic calculations. The results show that FX has moderate activity in the aqueous physiological environment against a range of radicals including HO˙, CCl 3 O˙, CCl 3 OO˙, NO 2 , , and HOO˙. The latter was examined in detail due to the prevalence of HOO˙ as a source of oxidative stress in biological systems. HOO˙ scavenging activity was promising in the gas phase but low in physiological environments with k overall = 1.57 × 10 6 , 3.13 × 10 2 and 2.68 × 10 3 M -1 s -1 in the gas phase, pentyl ethanoate and water solvents, respectively. The formal hydrogen transfer mechanism at the O7-H bond dominates the hydroperoxyl radical scavenging of FX in the nonpolar media, whereas, in the polar environment, the activity is exerted by the single electron transfer mechanism of the anion state. This activity falls behind typical antioxidants such as Trolox, ascorbic acid, and trans -resveratrol under the studied conditions. Thus FX may have multiple health benefits, but it is not an outstanding natural antioxidant., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

To assess the role of in-flight transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), we investigated a cluster of cases among passengers on a 10-hour commercial flight. Affected persons were passengers, crew, and their close contacts. We traced 217 passengers and crew to their final destinations and interviewed, tested, and quarantined them. Among the 16 persons in whom SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected, 12 (75%) were passengers seated in business class along with the only symptomatic person (attack rate 62%). Seating proximity was strongly associated with increased infection risk (risk ratio 7.3, 95% CI 1.2-46.2). We found no strong evidence supporting alternative transmission scenarios. In-flight transmission that probably originated from 1 symptomatic passenger caused a large cluster of cases during a long flight. Guidelines for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection among air passengers should consider individual passengers' risk for infection, the number of passengers traveling, and flight duration.

Novel hydroanthraquinones isolated from marine algal-derived endophytic fungus Talaromyces islandicus EN-501 exhibited promising antioxidant properties in preliminary studies, raising the prospect of adapting these compounds for therapeutic use in diseases caused by oxidative stress. For medicinal applications it is beneficial to develop a full understanding of the antioxidant activity of these compounds. In this study, the hydroperoxide radical scavenging activity of five natural hydroanthraquinones was evaluated by kinetic and thermodynamic calculations. The results showed that the radical scavenging of these hydroanthraquinones in the gas phase and in lipid solvents was defined by the formal hydrogen transfer mechanism, that for the polar environments was decided by the sequential proton loss electron transfer pathway. The hydroanthraquinones exhibited good hydroperoxide scavenging activity in both polar and non-polar media. The overall rate constant values for the radical scavenging reaction were in the range of 3.42 × 10 1 to 2.60 × 10 5 M -1 s -1 and 3.80 × 10 6 to 5.87 × 10 7 M -1 s -1 in pentyl ethanoate and water solvents, respectively. Thus the activity of 8-hydroxyconiothyrinone B (1) is about 2.6 and 444.6 times higher than that of Trolox in the studied solvents, identifying 8-hydroxyconiothyrinone B as a promising antioxidant., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading fast globally. Vietnam's strict containment measures have significantly reduced the spread of the epidemic in the country. This was achieved through the use of emergency control measures in the epidemic areas and integration of resources from multiple sectors including health, mass media, transportation, education, public affairs, and defense. This paper reviews and shares specific measures for successful prevention and control of COVID-19 in Vietnam, which could provide useful learning for other countries.

Diterpenes that were isolated from Crossopetalum gaumeri (Loes.) Lundell (Celastraceae) plants are reported to exhibit a range of biological activities, in particular as radical scavengers. Thus further insight into the antioxidant activity of diterpenes in physiological environments is much needed but not studied yet. In this study, the antioxidant activity of nine natural diterpenes was evaluated using kinetic and thermodynamic calculations. It was found that the sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) mechanism is favored in polar environments, whereas formal hydrogen transfer (FHT) is the main pathway for the radical scavenging of these diterpenes in the gas phase as well as in lipid media. The rate constants for the HOO˙ radical scavenging of these compounds in the gas phase, polar and nonpolar solvents are in the range of 2.29 × 10 -2 to 4.58 × 10 7 , 9.74 × 10 -3 to 1.67 × 10 8 and 3.54 × 10 -5 to 1.31 × 10 5 M -1 s -1 , respectively. 7-Deoxynimbidiol (6), exhibits the highest HOO˙ radical scavenging with k overall = 1.69 × 10 8 M -1 s -1 and 9.10 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 in water and pentyl ethanoate solvents, respectively, that is about 1300 times higher than that of Trolox in polar environments. It is thus a promising natural antioxidant in physiological environments., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Functionalized fullerene is one of the most advantageous nanotechnologies to develop novel materials for potential biomedical applications. In this study, we applied the ONIOM-GD3 approach to explore the nucleophilic addition reaction mechanism between polyaniline (emeraldine and leucoemeraldine forms) and fullerene. Potential energy surfaces were also analyzed to predict the predominantly formed products of the functionalized reaction. The themoparameters, such as bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE), ionization energy (IE), and electron affinity (EA), characterized by two mechanisms HAT and SET, were used to evaluate the antioxidant activities of the selected compounds. Moreover, the calculated HOMO, LUMO, and DOS results indicate that the electronic structures of polyaniline-fullerene were significantly affected by the presence of fullerene. The computational results show that C60-L1 seems to be the best antioxidant following the SET mechanism., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Oxidative stress is implicated in aging and aging-related diseases, including cancer. Prevention-focused health management approaches emphasize the importance of dietary antioxidants, which naturally draws attention to the antioxidant capacity of natural products. Several groups of plant-derived antioxidant compounds have been identified and their radical scavenging activity confirmed and measured; it has proven challenging, however, to link the experimentally determined activity quantitatively to a molecular mechanism of action. Based on our success with a computational approach, in this study, the methylperoxyl radical scavenging activity of 12 natural stilbenes was evaluated based on kinetic and thermodynamic calculations. The results suggest that for stilbenes hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) is a main mechanism for the ROO˙ radical scavenging in the gas. Assessing the role of substitutes on the antioxidant properties of stilbenes revealed that the presence of O-H groups in ring B can increase the antioxidant activity due to a decrease in the bond dissociation energy (BDE) of the O4'-H, while the replacement of a H atom in the O-H groups by a methyl group reduces the radical scavenging capacity. Among the studied compounds, astringin is a promising antioxidant with the low BDE(O-H) value (73.4 kcal mol -1 ) and the high rate constants (3.36 × 10 6 , 4.11 × 10 3 and 9.31 × 10 8 M -1 s -1 in the gas phase, pentyl ethanoate and water, respectively) that suggest higher activity than trans -resveratrol., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Radical-scavenging activity of isorhamnetin ( 1 ) and its diglycosides, named isorhamnetin-3,5'- O -β- D -diglucoside ( 2 ) and isorhamnetin-3,7- O -β- D -diglucoside ( 3 ) extracted from Anoectochilus roxburghii , has been studied through three main antioxidant pathways: hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer followed by proton transfer, and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET). All thermodynamic parameters related to these radical-scavenging mechanisms were computed at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory both in the gas phase and in solution. The results suggest that HAT is the predominant mechanism in the gas phase, while SPLET is supported in an aqueous environment. In addition, the stability of radicals has also been explored by electron spin density and intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The potential energy profiles and kinetic calculations for the reactions between the selected compounds and the CH 3 OO • radical were calculated at 298.15 K. Among all investigated, compound 2 has the highest antioxidant activity with the lowest Gibbs free energy (-4.05 kcal/mol) and the highest hydrogen atom transfer rate constant (3.61 × 10 5 M -1 s -1 ). Substitution of the OH and OMe groups by two glucoses at the 3 and 5' sites of isorhamnetin has a significant impact on its antioxidant activity., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Flavonoids provide potential health benefits due to their antioxidant properties. The antioxidant activity of natural flavonoids is primarily exerted by phenolic hydroxyl groups; however, C-H bonds also contribute to these properties. In this study, the contributions of phenolic groups and C-H bonds to the antioxidant properties of 13 flavonoids were investigated by using the (RO)B3LYP/6-311++G(2df,2p)//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) model chemistry in the gas phase and water and ethanol solvents. It was found that the C-H bonds have lower bond dissociation energies than O-H bonds in the 4-carbonyl and/or 3-hydroxyl group containing flavonoids and hence define antioxidant activity. The HOO · radical scavenging of the selected flavonoids is also investigated in detail through the potential energy surface, natural bond orbitals, and kinetic calculations. It was found that the favored radical scavenging mechanism of the flavonoids is hydrogen atom transfer, with the gas phase rate constants in the range of 7.23 × 10 3 -2.07 × 10 9 L·mol -1 ·s -1 . The results suggest that the flavonoids, isomelacacidin, isoteracacidin, melacacidin, and teracacidin, have antioxidant properties as high as typical phenolic compounds such as quercetin, trans -resveratrol, trolox, and ascorbic acid., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Antioxidants are a diverse group of chemicals with proven health benefits and thus potential preventive medicine and therapeutic applications. While most of these compounds are natural products, determining their mechanism of radical scavenging and common motifs that contribute to antioxidant activity would allow the rational design of novel antioxidants. Here the origins of the antioxidant properties of ten natural products of the lignan family were studied in silico by calculating their thermochemical properties by using ROB3LYP/6-311++G(2df,2p)//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) model chemistry. Three conditions were modelled: gas phase, ethanol and water solvents. The results allowed assigning the antioxidant activity to specific moieties and structural features of these compounds. It was found that the benzylic hydrogen atoms are the most likely to be abstracted to form radicals and hence define antioxidant properties in most of the studied compounds. The results also suggested that the most likely mechanism of HOO • radical scavenging differs by the key moiety: it is hydrogen atom transfer in case the benzylic C-H bonds, however it is proton coupled electron transfer in case of the compounds where O-H bonds are responsible for radical scavenging.

The formation of aerobic granular sludge was carried out in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for tapioca processing wastewater treatment. The effect of organic loading rates (OLRs) in the range of 2.5-10.0 kg COD m -3 day -1 on the granulation was investigated. The size and settleability of the aerobic granular sludge increased with increasing OLR from 2.5 to 7.5 kg COD m -3 day -1 . The mature granules had an average size of 2.5 mm and good settleability with the sludge volume index (SVI) lower than 50 mL g -1 . The granules had a layered structure consisting of anoxic sludge core with nematodes and an outer aerobic layer surrounded by stalked ciliates. Removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH 4 + -N reached 90.0%-93.0% and 86.6%-92.5%, respectively. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification at the OLR of 7.5 kg COD m -3 day -1 resulted in the improvement of total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency to 66.1%., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Antioxidant efficiency of all-trans-retinol has been studied on the basis of characteristic thermochemical properties using density functional theory. The influence of the solvent polarity has also been evaluated. It is found that retinol may act in parallel as an effective antioxidant via H atom donating as well as a pro-oxidant in yielding reactive hydroxyl radical. In fact, the lowest values of bond dissociation enthalpy were found at the C18-H and C18-OH positions. Retinol was also determined to be a good electron donor but bad acceptor in the single electron transfer (ET) reaction with hydroperoxyl (HOO • ) radical. In addition, potential energy surfaces of H atom transfer (HAT) and radical adduct formation (RAF) reactions between retinol and HOO • radical were also investigated in the gas phase and in the solvent. The results demonstrated that the RAF mechanism was generally more predominant than ET and HAT ones. The most favored radical addition position was found at the C2═C3 double bond in the cyclohexenyl ring. Moreover, the radical scavenging reactivity via RAF reactions was strongly exergonic and thermodynamically feasible while the ET one was endergonic. Natural bond orbital analysis showed that the lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atom of the HOO • radical were donated to the unoccupied antibonding orbital of transferred H atom in HAT reactions. In contrast, in the case of RAF reactions, strong interactions between 2p orbitals on oxygen atoms of the radical and the π orbital of the double bond on the retinol molecule were recognized. The results obtained in this work were in agreement with previous experimental observations.

Objective: This study was aimed at evaluating effects of cattle breed resources and alternative mixed-feeding practices on meat productivity and emission intensities from household farming systems (HFS) in Daklak Province, Vietnam., Methods: Records from Local Yellow×Red Sindhi ( Bos indicus ; Lai Sind) and 1/2 Limousin, 1/2 Drought Master, and 1/2 Red Angus cattle during the growth (0 to 21 months) and fattening (22 to 25 months) periods were used to better understand variations on meat productivity and enteric methane emissions. Parameters were determined by the ruminant model. Four scenarios were developed: (HFS1) grazing from birth to slaughter on native grasses for approximately 10 h plus 1.5 kg dry matter/d (0.8% live weight [LW]) of a mixture of guinea grass (19%), cassava (43%) powder, cotton (23%) seed, and rice (15%) straw; (HFS2) growth period fed with elephant grass (1% of LW) plus supplementation (1.5% of LW) of rice bran (36%), maize (33%), and cassava (31%) meals; and HFS3 and HFS4 computed elephant grass, but concentrate supplementation reaching 2% and 1% of LW, respectively., Results: Results show that compared to HFS1, emissions (72.3±0.96 kg CH 4 /animal/life; least squares means± standard error of the mean) were 15%, 6%, and 23% lower (p<0.01) for the HFS2, HFS3, and HFS4, respectively. The predicted methane efficiencies (CO 2 eq) per kg of LW at slaughter (4.3±0.15), carcass weight (8.8±0.25 kg) and kg of edible protein (44.1±1.29) were also lower (p<0.05) in the HFS4. In particular, irrespective of the HSF, feed supply and ratio changes had a more positive impact on emission intensities when crossbred 1/2 Red Angus cattle were fed than in their crossbred counterparts., Conclusion: Modest improvements on feeding practices and integrated modelling frameworks may offer potential trade-offs to respond to climate change in Vietnam.

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a crucial role in the development of liver fibrosis which is characterized by massive tissue scarring, elevated hepatic sinusoidal pressure, and portal hypertension. However, while a multitude of chemical factors have been investigated in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis, physical factors such as elevated hydrostatic pressure and shear stress caused by blood flow in sinusoids remain unclear. In this study, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture microfluidic platform that mimics the physical environments of hepatic sinusoids to investigate the effects of elevated hydrostatic pressure on HSCs phenotypes.

Two-layer ONIOM method at the ONIOM(B3LYP/6-31G(d):PM6) level of theory was applied to study the cycloaddition reaction of α-chlorocarbanions (CR2Cl(─), where R is H, Cl, CH3 CN, and NO2) and fullerene. The results show that the reaction pathways depend on the electron withdrawing functional groups or the electron donating functional groups contained in the α-chlorocarbanions. The energy profile analysis reveals that functionalization of fullerene by CCl3 (─), C(CH3)2Cl(─), and CH2Cl(─) is more favorable than by C(CN)2Cl(─) and C(NO2)2Cl(─) in terms of the thermodynamic point of view.

Enhancing sales and operations planning through forecasting analysis and business intelligence is demanded in many industries and enterprises. Publishing industries usually pick attractive titles and headlines for their stories to increase sales, since popular article titles and headlines can attract readers to buy magazines. In this paper, information retrieval techniques are adopted to extract words from article titles. The popularity measures of article titles are then analyzed by using the search indexes obtained from Google search engine. Backpropagation Neural Networks (BPNNs) have successfully been used to develop prediction models for sales forecasting. In this study, we propose a novel hybrid neural network model for sales forecasting based on the prediction result of time series forecasting and the popularity of article titles. The proposed model uses the historical sales data, popularity of article titles, and the prediction result of a time series, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) forecasting method to learn a BPNN-based forecasting model. Our proposed forecasting model is experimentally evaluated by comparing with conventional sales prediction techniques. The experimental result shows that our proposed forecasting method outperforms conventional techniques which do not consider the popularity of title words.

Four Trichoderma strains (CH2, SH16, PQ34, and TN42) were isolated from soil samples collected from Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces in Vietnam. The strains exhibited high chitinolytic secretion. Strain PQ34 formed the largest zone of chitinase-mediated clearance (> 4 cm in diameter) in agar containing 1% (w/v) colloidal chitin. Analysis of the internal transcribed spacer regions of these strains indicated that they were Trichoderma asperellum. The molecular weights of the chitinases were approximately 42 kDa. Chitinase genes (chi42) of T. asperellum strains TN42, CH2, SH16, and PQ34 were 98~99% homologous to the ech42 gene of T. harzianum CB-Pin-01 (accession No. DQ166036). The deduced amino acid sequences of both T. asperellum strains SH16 and TN42 shared 100% similarity.