Natural products and extracts from plants as natural UV filters for sunscreens:A review

Although solar exposure is necessary for human health,phototoxicology induced by excessive UVB and UVA radiation,which involves sunburns,skin aging and even tu-morigenesis,has been widely researched.Sunscreen is one of the most important ways to protect skin from UV phototoxic damage.As well as inorganic and organic UV filters,some natural products or plant extracts with aromatic rings in their structures,such as flavonoids or polyphenols,can absorb UV to reduce sunburn,acting as a natu-ral UV filter;they also show antioxidant or/and anti-inflammatory activity.This could explain why,although there are no officially approval natural commercial sun-filters,more and more commercial sunscreen products containing plant extracts are avail-able on the market.Here we summarize articles focusing on natural UV filters from plant published in the last 6 years,selecting the most significant data in order to better understand the photoprotective activity of natural products and extracts from plants,including their major constituents and main biological effects,methods for evaluating UV radiation resistance,anti-UV radiation experimental models and anti-UV radiation mechanisms.

Recent advance in natural plant products for treatment of dry eye disease

Dry eye disease(DED),a chronic multifactorial illness of the ocular surface with itching,burning,irritation,eye fatigue and ocular inflammation,may result in potential damage,such as cornea and conjunctiva,and even decreased vision.With the global prevalence of DED on the rise,it is crucial to find treatment options with minimal side effects.Natural plant products have shown promise in alleviating DED symptoms and may serve as a potential approach for its treatment.However,their application as instilled drugs is limited by solubility,stability and biological barriers.This review summarizes recent studies(published in the last 5 years)on natural plant products and their derivatives for the treatment of DED,focusing on efficacy,mechanism,drug delivery systems.Meanwhile,their shortcomings are also discussed.By exploring these aspects,we find polyphenol,flavonoid and others natural plant products can effectively improve or treat DED by different mechanisms,and suitable delivery system and structural modification can enhance their therapeutic effect,suggesting they are likely to become candidates for the treatment of DED.

Plant Diversity Performance After Natural Restoration in Reclaimed Deyeuxia angustifolia Wetland

Deyeuxia angustifolia wetlands were widely distributed in the Sanjiang Plain in Northeast China. Due to strong demand for food production, large-area wetlands were reclaimed to farmlands, which threatened regional ecological security greatly. Since the 21 th century, returning farmlands to wetlands was widely adopted for natural restoration in the Sangjiang Plain. As the first reflection of wetland restoration, vegetation succession of restored D. angustifolia wetlands should be fully assessed. In this study, vegetation investigation was carried out in three restored D. angustifolia wetlands with 5, 8 and 12 yr restoration, respectively. Meanwhile, a natural D. angustifolia wetland was selected as reference wetland. Results showed that community composition changed greatly and there was visible community succession. Community dominant species changed from composite to gramineae as restoration time increasing.At first, weeds community appeared in the restored wetlands, especially the xerophytes developed to the pioneer species rapidly. And then, mesophytes and wetland species became the dominant species in the restored wetlands. Finally, wetland species, especially D. angustifolia, occupied the dominant position of restored community. Shannon-wiener index(H) and Simpson index(D) both decreased to close to natural D. angustifolia wetlands. Compared with natural D. angustifolia wetland, species composition and diversity in restored wetlands were more complex and higher. As restoration time increasing, there were not significant differences between community characteristics of restored wetlands and natural wetland. All these suggested that vegetation in reclaimed D. angustifolia wetland could be restored naturally, but its restored period is 10 yr at least. From another angle, it is important to protect current natural wetlands.

Landscape pattern and its effect on ecosystem functions in Seoul Metropolitan area:Urban ecology on distribution of the naturalized plant species

During land transformation process in the human history, naturalized plants were introduced to several land use patterns by the different ways of plant itself. Including some naturalized plants that had been contribute to land restoration, many naturalized plants have been invaded to original habitat or landscape for native plants. Once the plants were colonized, they extend their area and population size. Urban developed areas often give an important role of source habitat for naturalized plants and expanding their population size. In recent, this situation is appearing as one of environmental problems about the urban landscape management controlling the naturalized plants that invaded in the developed area and conserving the native vegetation. This paper is focusing on relationships between distribution of habitat of naturalized plants and landscape patch in urban area in Seoul. Gangdong-Gu, one of the administrative areas in Seoul was selected for this study. We examined the recent land use change using LANDSAT TM data and spreading of the representative naturalized plants (Robinia pseudoacacia and Eupatorium rugosum) by Seoul Biotope Mapping Project and field survey in 1999. As a result, these two species were often occurred in the same habitat and distributed in forest edge disturbed by man. Their distribution patterns were related to landscape indices (patch size and shape) in the forest edge.

Medical plant extracts and natural compounds with a hepatoprotective effect against damage caused by antitubercular drugs: A review

Drug-induced liver injury encompasses a spectrum of diseases ranging from mild biochemical abnormalities to acute liver failure; example of this scenery is hepatotoxicity caused by the first-line antituberculous drugs isoniazid, rifampin and pyrazinamide, which are basic for treatment of drug-sensible and drug-resistant tuberculosis. In the search for pharmacological alternatives to prevent liver damage, antitubercular drugs have been the subject of numerous studies and published reviews, a great majority of them carried out by Asian countries. At the same time, hepatoprotectors from plant source are now emerging as a possible alternative to counteract the toxic effects of these therapeutic agents. The present review aims to highlight the most recent studies on the subject, based information published in scientific databases such as Scopus and Pub Med.

A power plant for integrated waste energy recovery from liquid air energy storage and liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas(LNG)is regarded as one of the cleanest fossil fuel and has experienced significant developments in recent years.The liquefaction process of natural gas is energy-intensive,while the regasification of LNG gives out a huge amount of waste energy since plenty of high grade cold energy(-160℃)from LNG is released to sea water directly in most cases,and also sometimes LNG is burned for regasification.On the other hand,liquid air energy storage(LAES)is an emerging energy storage technology for applications such as peak load shifting of power grids,which generates 30%-40%of compression heat(-200℃).Such heat could lead to energy waste if not recovered and used.The recovery of the compression heat is technically feasible but requires additional capital investment,which may not always be economically attractive.Therefore,we propose a power plant for recovering the waste cryogenic energy from LNG regasification and compression heat from the LAES.The challenge for such a power plant is the wide working temperature range between the low-temperature exergy source(-160℃)and heat source(-200℃).Nitrogen and argon are proposed as the working fluids to address the challenge.Thermodynamic analyses are carried out and the results show that the power plant could achieve a thermal efficiency of 27%and 19%and an exergy efficiency of 40%and 28%for nitrogen and argon,respectively.Here,with the nitrogen as working fluid undergoes a complete Brayton Cycle,while the argon based power plant goes through a combined Brayton and Rankine Cycle.Besides,the economic analysis shows that the payback period of this proposed system is only 2.2 years,utilizing the excess heat from a 5 MW/40 MWh LAES system.The findings suggest that the waste energy based power plant could be co-located with the LNG terminal and LAES plant,providing additional power output and reducing energy waste.

Natural compounds and extracts from Mexican medicinal plants with anti-leishmaniasis activity: An update

Leishmaniasis is considered as an emerging, uncontrolled disease and is endemic in 98 countries. Annually, about 2 million cases of cutaneous and 500000 cases of visceraltype leishmaniasis are recorded and 60000 persons died from the disease. In Mexico,cutaneous leishmaniasis is known as chiclero's ulcer and is reported in 22 states, it is considered as a health problem. For its treatment, pentavalent antimonial drugs are administered. These drugs cause severe side effects, are costly. Drug-resistant cases have been reported and have been developing for over 70 years. One alternative to the drugs that are currently available is to find active molecules in medicinal plants. Dihydrocorynantheine, corynantheine and corynantheidine are active against Leishmania major,while harmane, pleiocarpin, buchtienin, luteolin and quercetin are active against Leishmania donovani. In Mexico, about 20 medicinal plants have been evaluated against Leishmania mexicana, among which the most active are Tridax procumbens, Lonchocarpus xuul and Pentalinon andrieuxii. From these plants, active compounds with IC_(50)≤30 mg/mL or m M have been isolated, such as 3(S)-16,17-didehydrofalcarinol or Oxylipin, cholestra-4,20,24-trien-3-one or pentalinosterol, 24-methylcholest-4-24(28)-dien-3-one, cholest-4-en-3-one, 6,7-dihydroneridie-none, neridienone, cholest-5,20,24-trien-3β-ol, and isocordoin. Today, only pentalinonsterol has been synthesized and assayed in the visceral leishmaniasis experimental model using BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania donovani. Liposome formulation of this compound administered by intravenous route at 2.5 mg/kg showed a significant reduction of parasite load in mouse liver and spleen.

Effects of converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands on ecosystem respiration： a case study in Inner Mongolia, China

With increasingly intensifying degradation of natural grasslands and rapidly increasing demand of high quality forages, natural grasslands in China have been converted into planted grasslands at an unprecedented rate and the magnitude of the conversion in Inner Mongolia is among the national highest where the areal extent of planted grasslands ranks the second in China. Such land-use changes（i.e., converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands） can significantly affect carbon stocks and carbon emissions in grassland ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed the effects of converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands（including Medicago sativa, Elymus cylindricus, and M. sativa＋E. cylindricus） on ecosystem respiration（F（eco）） in Inner Mongolia of China. Diurnal F（eco） and its components（i.e., total soil respiration（F（ts））, soil heterotrophic respiration（F（sh）） and vegetation autotrophic respiration（F（va））） were measured in 2012（27 July to 5 August） and 2013（18 July to 25 July） in the natural and planted grasslands. Meteorological data, aboveground vegetation data and soil data were simultaneously collected to analyze the relationships between respiration fluxes and environmental factors in those grasslands. In 2012, the daily mean F（eco） in the M. sativa grassland was higher than that in the natural grassland, and the daily mean F（va） was higher in all planted grasslands（i.e., M. sativa, E. cylindricus, and M. sativa＋E. cylindricus） than in the natural grassland. In contrast, the daily mean F（ts） and F（sh） were lower in all planted grasslands than in the natural grassland. In 2013, the daily mean F（eco）, F（ts） and F（va） in all planted grasslands were higher than those in the natural grassland, and the daily mean F（sh） in the M. sativa＋E. cylindricus grassland was higher than that in the natural grassland. The two-year experimental results suggested that the conversion of natural grasslands into planted grasslands can generally increase the F（eco） and the increase in F（eco） is more pronounced when the plantation becomes more mature. The results also indicated that F（sh） contributed more to F（eco） in the natural grassland whereas F（va） contributed more to F（eco） in the planted grasslands. The regression analyses show that climate factors（air temperature and relative humidity） and soil properties（soil organic matter, soil temperature, and soil moisture） strongly affected respiration fluxes in all grasslands. However, our observation period was admittedly too short. To fully understand the effects of such land-use changes（i.e., converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands） on respiration fluxes, longer-term observations are badly needed.

Engineered microorganisms and enzymes for efficiently synthesizing plant natural products

Plant natural products are a kind of active substance widely used in pharmaceuticals and foods.However,the current production mode based on plant culture and extraction suffer complex processes and severe concerns for environmental and ecological.With the increasing awareness of environmental sustainability,engineered microbial cell factories have been an alternative approach to produce natural products.Many engineering strategies have been utilized in microbial biosynthesis of complex phytochemicals such as dynamic control and substructure engineering.Meanwhile,Enzyme engineering including directed evolution and rational design has been implemented to improve enzyme catalysis efficiency and stability as well as change promiscuity to expand product spectra.In this review,we discussed recent advances in microbial biosynthesis of complex phytochemicals from the following aspects,including pathway construction,strain engineering to boost the production.

Estimation of Natural Radioactivity of Some Medicinal or Herbal Plants Used in Iraq

Nine medicinal or herbal plants used in Iraq were analyzed to determine natural radioactivity. The radionuclides were determined by Gross alpha, beta and gamma spectrometry Proportional counter + NaI(Tl) detector type(XLB5) and gamma-ray spectroscopy with (HPGe) techniques. The activity concentration of 40K ranged from 124.1 Bq/kg in (Crust sample) to 88.3 Bq/kg in (Chamomile sample), for gross alpha ranged from (N.D.) in (Flax sample) to 0.4 cpm in (Anise sample), while for beta ranged from 5.7 cpm in (Flax sample) to 25.6 cpm in (Latency sample) and for gamma ranged from 0.6 cpm in (Thyme sample) to 5.10 cpm in (Coriander and Flax samples).

Multi-objective optimization of high-sulfur natural gas purif ication plant

There exists large space to save energy of high-sulfur natural gas purification process.The multi-objective optimization problem has been investigated to effectively reduce the total comprehensive energy consumption and further improve the production rate of purified gas.A steady-state simulation model of high-sulfur natural gas purification process has been set up by using ProMax.Seven key operating parameters of the purification process have been determined based on the analysis of comprehensive energy consumption distribution.To solve the problem that the process model does not converge in some conditions,back-propagation(BP)neural network has been applied to substitute the simulation model to predict the relative parameters in the optimization model.The uniform design method and the table U21(107)have been applied to design the experiment points for training and testing BP model.High prediction accuracy can be achieved by using the BP model.Nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II has been developed to optimize the two objectives,and 100 Pareto optimal solutions have been obtained.Three optimal points have been selected and evaluated further.The results demonstrate that the total comprehensive energy consumption is reduced by 13.4%and the production rate of purified gas is improved by 0.2%under the optimized operating conditions.

Naturalization of Landscaping Woody Plant, Magnolia obovata Potentially Invasive Species

Magnolia obovata, a tree species native to Japan, is a traditional landscaping tree that has also been introduced to various countries. M. obovata individuals have recently emerged in non-planting areas in Korea, prompting us to investigate its distribution by establishing Dosolsan in an urban forest of Daejeon City as the target site. In order to determine its naturalization, the study explored the status of population growth by examining the diameter at breast height of the individuals, and diameter diminution quotient was calculated. Cores of the trees were collected, and the age distribution was estimated by regression analysis. Reproduction possibility was analyzed by verifying the flowerblooming and fruit-bearing. Spontaneous colonization was investigated in the other potential sites which have different location and environment, respectively.The diameter distribution showed a reverse J-shaped curve, and the diminution quotient was ≥ 1.8. The population was composed of different generations,thus confirming the growth of the population. The distributed M. obovata grew and flowered normally,and followed a normal life cycle. The same phenomenon was observed in other planting areas,residual forests in urban or rural areas, alluvial islands, and mountain forests. The continuous spread of M. obovata in new ecosystems may be attributable to its long-term distribution by birds, relatively fast growth, and maturity time. Investigations on the naturalization and spread of M. obovata in Korea, as well as in various countries, are warranted.

Comparison of Pb,Cd Adsorption to Surface Coatings Developed in Natural Waters with that in Plant Effluents

The comparative studies of Pb and Cd adsorption to the surface coatings(Fe, Mn, Al oxides, organic materials, and associated minerals), which were developed on glass slides in five natural and two technical waters(plant effluents), were carried out under controlled laboratory conditions(mineral salts solution with defined speciation, ionic strength 0 05 mol/L, 25 ℃ and pH 6 0). The classical Langmuir adsorption isotherm was applied to estimating the equilibrium coefficients of Pb and Cd adsorption to the surface coatings. The results show that the maximum adsorption of Pb and Cd to the surface coatings mentioned above varied widely. There was a systemic increase in the maximum adsorption of Pb and Cd to the surface coatings with increasing the contents of Mn and Fe oxides in the surface coatings in significant correlation, respectively, not only highlighting the relative importance of the metal oxide fraction for Pb and Cd adsorption to the surface coatings developed in natural and technical water samples, but also implying the same adsorption mechanisms of Pb and Cd to the surface coatings developed both in natural and technical water samples.

Impact Factors on Distribution and Characteristics of Natural Plant Community in Reclamation Zones of Changjiang River Estuary

To identify impact factors on the distribution and characters of natural plants community in reclamation area, with survey data from 67 plant quadrats in July 2009, soil properties data from 216 sampling points in April 2009, and TM (30 m) data in 2006, the composition and characteristics of natural plants community in different time of the Fengxian area in the Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary were analyzed with two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The results show that: 1) The plant communities in the reclaimed area are mainly mesophytes and helophytic-mesophytic transitional communities, showing a gradient distribution trend with the change in reclamation years. Species richness (MA), species diversity (H) and above-ground biomass also increase with the increase of reclamation years. Nevertheless, they appear to decline slightly in the middle and late reclamation period (> 30 years). 2) With the rise in land use levels, the changes in species richness and species diversity tend to increase at first and then decrease; species dominance (D), however, tends to decline; and above-ground biomass increases slightly. 3) The distribution of the plant community is mainly influenced by the following factors: land use levels (R = 0.55, p < 0.05), soil moisture (R = 0.53, p < 0.05), soil salinity (R = 0.43, p < 0.05) and reclamation time (R = 0.40, p < 0.05).

Relationships between plant colonization and soil characteristics in the natural recovery of an earthquaketriggered debris flow gully in the Wanglang National Nature Reserve,China

Fragmentation and loss of habitats due to natural disasters,like earthquakes and earthquaketriggered debris flows are existing threats to the longterm survival of the giant panda(Ailuropoda melanoleuca).To better understand natural recovery processes of the damaged habitat,field investigation and laboratory analysis were used to analyze relationships between plant colonization and soil characteristics in an over 30-year natural recovery of a damaged giant panda habitat in a debris flow gully after the 1976 Songpan-Pingwu earthquake in Sichuan Province,China.Four different damaged sites were selected that located at the center of the gully(center),on a flat alluvial fan(fan),in a side slope of the gully(slope),and at the ecotone between the gully and native forest(ecotone).Vegetation characteristics,soil physicochemical properties,and microbial biomass in the different sites and soil depths were measured.After the natural recovery,the soil fertility,water retention,and microbial biomass were highest at ecotone,followed by fan,slope,and center.Only a few perennial herbs colonized at center;shrubs started to invade at fan and slope,and thenative trees dominated the community of ecotone.Furthermore,Fargesia spathacea(food for the giant panda) started to be re-established at ecotone,and the community characteristic of ecotone recovered similarly to the native habitat.These results suggested that improving the soil fertility,water retaining capacity and microbial biomass is fundamental to the plant colonization,particular for F.spathacea's reestablishment in a damaged giant panda habitat.

Radioactivity Levels and Soil-to-Plant Transfer Factor of Natural Radionuclides from Protectorate Area in Aswan, Egypt

The aim of this study is to determine the transfer factor soil-to-plant and to assess the concentration level of natural and artificial radionuclide (238U, 226Ra, 228Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs) in samples from Saluga and Ghazal Protectorate area in Aswan, Egypt, by using High Pure Germanium detector (HPGe) Environmental Radioactivity Measurements Labrotary in faculty of science Qena. Reported values for natural radionuclides ranged from 8.81 ± 0.64 to 28.88 ± 2.10, from 6.98 ± 0.51 to 26.01 ± 1.89, from 12.29 ± 0.89 to 33.32 ± 2.43, from 12.53 ± 0.91 to 32.81 ± 2.39 and from 383.90 ± 27.95 to 711.98 ± 51.83 Bq.kg-1 for 238U, 226Ra, 228Ra, 232Th and 40K, respectively. 137Cs activity concentration was found to be in the range from 0.36 ± 0.03 to 9.73 ± 0.71 Bq.kg-1 and was calculated through transfer factor TF reported in this article.

The Application of the Concept of"Nearly Natural"Plant Community in the Optimization of Coastal Ecological Space

The overexploitation of the natural environment caused by urbanization makes more and more natural and semi-natural plant communities gradually lack,which causes a lot of irreversible damage to the environment.Therefore,it is very important to carry out ecological environment construction in all fields of urban construction.In this paper,based on theory and method of plant landscape construction under the concept of"nearly natural"plant community,through the investigation and analysis on plant species,distribution,and structural characteristics of plant community in Baguang District of Shenzhen,regional native plant species are summarized,and structural characteristics of original zonal plant community are simulated.The research aims to provide a reference basis for creating a coastal plant landscape with subtropical marine climate for Baguang and even Lingnan,constructing near natural ecological park according to local conditions,forming the pattern well-coordinated with the local natural ecosystem,and carrying out protection of the regional ecological environment.

A 10kW-scale Distributed Power Plant of Natural Gas-Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

A 10 kW-scale natural gas fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) distributed power plant is presented in this paper,which is designed for cogeneration of power and heat. With homemade catalysts for CO removal in a two-stage methanation process and integrated reactor in the fuel processing system,the reformed fuel with CO molar fraction less than 10-5 is obtained for the fuel cell stack. Based on Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow and xPC Target platform,a rapid control prototype(RCP) is developed for real-time condition management,signal tracking and parameter tuning,data storing,and man-machine interaction. In a typical running with 4.3 kW stack power,the hydrogen production efficiency,gross power generation efficiency and heat recovery efficiency approach to 76%,41% and 50%,respectively. The peak stack power reaches 7.3 kW. Though there is still considerable dis-tance to long-term operation at 10 kW-scale net power generation,it is a milestone for the PEMFC-based stationary application in China.

Pollutant Sources and Foaming Control Measures of Decarbonization Solution in Natural Gas Purification Plant

Yanbei project of Schlumberger Copower Oilfield Engineering Co.,Ltd.-natural gas purification plant decarbonization unit is equipped with two sets of decarbonization systems(parallel operation).The two sets of systems adopt two tower process,full lean liquid circulation regeneration process,one tower absorption(absorption pressure 5.4mpag),one tower regeneration(regeneration temperature 95℃-110℃),purified natural gas carbon dioxide content≤2.5vol%,single set The treatment capacity is 2300 KM3/d.This paper introduces the problems existing in the decarbonization solution of the decarbonization unit in the natural gas purification plant in recent three years,analyzes the causes of pollutants affecting the quality of the decarbonization solution,and probes into the control measures for the pollution of the decarbonization solution,so as to provide reference.