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Introduction. Due to the increasing demand for natural and functional products, scientists together with industries are conducting research to improve the nutritional quality of food. One of the ways to enhance the functionality of food is to add fruits or vegetables to their formulations. In this study, we attempted to develop muffins fortified with Dacryodes macrophylla L. fruit as a value-added ingredient. Study objects and methods. Our study objects included D. macrophylla L. extract and six muffins: three eggless samples and three egg-containing samples. Each group included control and experimental samples. The experimental samples containing 0.5 and 1% of D. macrophylla L. extract instead of wheat flour were evaluated for muffin-making properties. All the samples were analyzed for their physicochemical, antioxidant, and sensory properties, as well as rheological parameters. Results and discussion. We found that D. macrophylla L. reduced the water activity, color values (L*, a*, b*), and firmness of muffins. It had no significant effect on baking loss, height, moisture, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess or chewiness, but tended to decrease the specific volume of muffins. However, D. macrophylla L. fruit increased the specific gravity, improved rheology properties, and tended to increase adhesiveness and mineral contents. Na and K varied from 5.93 to 7.75 and 2.88 to 7.35 mg/g, respectively. Furthermore, D. macrophylla L. fruit significantly improved the muffins’ antioxidant activities. According to sensory evaluation, the muffins made with egg solids and 0.5% of D. macrophylla L. fruit had higher sensory scores than the other experimental samples. Conclusion. D. macrophylla L. fruit is a good potential ingredient for enriching muffins and developing new functional bakery products. However, further research is needed to improve the color reproduction of muffins and determine the optimal concentration of D. macrophylla L.

The present work aimed to determine the phytochemical components and evaluate the in vitro anti-inflammatory and anti-mycobacterial effects of hydroethanolic extracts of Allium sativum L bulbs, Drypetes gossweileri S. MOORE stem-barks and Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baill roots against several resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The phytochemical screenings of extracts were carried out according the colorimetric and precipitation tests to reveal the presence of phytochemical compounds. The anti-inflammatory effects of extracts were evaluated using in vitro Bovine Serum Albumin denaturation and proteinase inhibitory action assays. The inhibitory parameters of hydro-ethanol extracts were evaluated by the microdilution method agaisnt Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The phytochemical screening of hydro-ethanol extracts revealed the presence of phenols, polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, cathechic tannins, triterpens, steroids, anthocyanins and leucoanthocyanins. The anti-inflammatory activity of hydro-ethanol extracts of D. gossweileri, P. brazzeana and A. sativum have shown the inhibitory concentrations 50 (IC50) values ranging from 356.70, 183.30 and 226.30 mg/mL for BSA denaturation and 31.92, 33.62 and 56.93 mg/mL for proteinase inhibitory action respectively. The hydroethanolic extracts of D. gossweileri, P. brazzeana and A. sativum exhibited moderate and weak anti-mycobacterial activities with the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 312.5 to 2500 μg/mL. A. sativum hydro-ethanol extract has shown the highest anti-mycobacterial activity with MIC of 312.5 μg/mL against isoniazid resistant of M. tuberculosis and extremely resistant drug strain of M. tuberculosis. These results suggest that hydro-ethanol extracts of A. sativum, D. gossweileri and P. brazzeana are efficient against tuberculosis caused by multi-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and are able to resorb the inflammation induced during infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work assesses the effect of Drypetes gossweileri essential oil on germination of Bacillus spores inoculated in orange juice and milk. We also report the capacity of the essential oil at 0.25, 0.5 and 1 µg/mL to induce sensitivity of spores to some irradiation treatments. The concentrations of essential oil were chosen after sensory analysis. The results show that the essential oil inhibited spores germination with minimal inhibitory concentrations inhibiting spore germination (MICg) of 10 µg/mL in the orange juice. In milk, the spores appeared to be less sensitive with MICg varying from 20 to 40 µg/mL. The sensory analysis revealed 2.5 µg/mL as the acceptable concentration of essential oil in orange juice. The essential oil at 1 µg/mL induced the sensitivity of spore of three Bacillus to alpha radiation of 101.4 Gy. Ultraviolet-C and microwave treatments in the presence of essential oil in general led to higher inactivation of spores up to 100% in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chemical study of the volatile components obtained by applying the hydrodistillation and reflux processes to Pentadiplandra brazzeana roots was performed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The hydrodistillation process showed a total yield of 0.97% with 0.11% of essential oil and 0.86% of volatile compounds from the aqueous reaction medium; in the reflux process, the volatile extract yield was 1.03%. Benzylic-type isothiocyanates were the major degradation products of glucosinolates in the essential oil (95.0%); the CH2Cl2 extracts obtained from the aqueous solutions were characterised by alcohols and amines in both processes. This study has shown that during hydrodistillation, only 10% of the glucosinolate degradation products are recovered in the essential oil whereas 90% remain in the aqueous medium, being converted into alcohols and amines. The relative percentages of the different chemical classes recovered in our experimental conditions are discussed in relation with the glucosinolate composition in the raw material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triclisinone (2), a new ochnaflavone derivative, was isolated from the aerial parts of Triclisia gilletii, along with known drypemolundein B (1) and eight other known compounds. The chemical shifts of drypemolundein B (1) have been partially revised based on reinterpretation of NMR spectroscopic data. The eight other secondary metabolites are composed of: (+)-nonacosan-10-ol (3); stigmasterol (4), 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosylsitosterol (5), 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosylstigmasterol (6); oleanic acid (7); myricetin (8), quercetin (9) and 3-methoxyquercetin (10). Their structures were elucidated using IR, MS, NMR 1D and 2D, 1H and 13C and comparison with literature data. Furthermore, compounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and the crude extract were tested against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Compounds 1, 2, 8 and 9 displayed moderate to very good activity against resistant strain (codified AC 45) of M. tuberculosis with minimum inhibitory concentrations MICs ranging from 3.90 to 62.5 μg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria kills nearly 619,000 people each year. Despite the natural immunity acquired to malaria, pregnant women and children under five die from severe forms of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Co-infection with acute Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection has been shown to suppress the anti-malarial humoral responses, but little is known about the impact of EBV reactivation on malaria-associated morbidity. This study investigated the association between EBV reactivation and malaria severity in pregnant women living in a malaria-endemic region in Cameroon. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 220 pregnant women attending antenatal consultations in three health facilities in the West region of Cameroon. Malaria was diagnosed by microscopy, and Plasmodium species were identified by Nested PCR. Plasma samples were analyzed by ELISA for the presence of EBV nuclear antigen, EBV viral capsid antigen, and EBV early antigen to determine EBV reactivation. All statistics were performed using GraphPad Prism and SPSS software. The prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was 23.2%, of which 18.6% were P. falciparum mono-infections and 4.5% mixed infections (3.6% P. falciparum and P. malariae; 0.9% P. falciparum and P. ovale). 99.5% of the women were EBV seropositive, and 13.2% had EBV reactivation. Pregnant women with reactivated EBV were more likely to develop severe malaria than pregnant women with latent EBV (OR 4.33, 95% CI 1.08-17.25, p = 0.03). The median parasitemia in pregnant women with latent EBV was lower than in those with EBV reactivation (2816 vs. 19002 parasites/μL, p = 0.02). Our study revealed that lytic reactivation of EBV may be associated with the severity of malaria in pregnant women. Suggesting that, like acute infection, EBV reactivation should be considered a risk factor for severe malaria in pregnant women in malaria-endemic regions or could serve as a hallmark of malaria severity during pregnancy. Further detailed studies are needed., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)