In vitro antiplasmodial effect of ethanolic extracts of coastal medicinal plants along Palk Strait against Plasmodium falciparum

Objective:To identify the possible anliplasmodial compounds from Achyranlhes aspera(A. aspera).Acalypha indica(A.indica),Jatropha glandulifera(J.glanduUfera)and Phyllanlhus amarus(P.amarus).Methods:The A.aspera,A.indica,J.glandulifera and P.ainarus were collected along Palk Strait and the extraction was carried out in ethanol.The filter sterilized extracts(100,50,25,12.5,6.25 and 3.125μg/mL) of leaf,stem,root and flower extracts of A aspera,A. indica,J.glandulifera and P.amarus were tested for anliplasmodial activity against Plasnuxlium falciparum.The potential extracts were also tested for their phytochemical constituents.Results: Of the selected plants species parts,the stem extract of A.indica showed excellent antiplasmodial activity(IC_(50)=43.81μg/mL) followed by stem extract of J.glandulifera(IC_(50)= 49.14μg/mL).The stem extract of A.aspera,leaf and root extracts of A.indka,leaf,root and seed extracts of J. glanduUfera and leaf and stem extracts of P.amarus showed IC_(50),values between 50 and 100 μg/ mL.Statistical analysis revealed that,significant antiplasmodial activity(P<0.0l) was observed between the concentrations and time of exposure.The chemical injury to erythrocytes was also carried out and it showed that there were no morphological changes in erythrocytes by the elhanolic extract of all the tested plant extracts.The in vitro antiplasmodial activity might be due to the presence of alkaloids,glycosides,flavonoids.phenols,saponins,triterpenoids,proteins, and lannins in the elhanolic extracts of tested plants.Conclusions:The elhanolic stem extracts of P.amarus and J.glandulifera possess lead compounds for the development of antiplasmodial drugs.

Control Effects of Bacillus subtilis DJ-6 and Pyraclostrobin Alone and in Combination Against Fusarium oxysporum

[Objective] This study was conducted to screen a synergistic biological fungicide complex to control Fusarium wilt, reducing the use of chemical pesticides. [Method] The inhibitory effects of Bacil us subtilis DJ-6 and pyraclostrobin alone or in combination at five ratios against Fusarium oxysporum were detected by mea-suring mycelium growth rate in laboratory tests. The growth promotion and disease control effect of combined or single use of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2 ×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP at 1∶1 000, 1∶2 000 and 1∶3 000 dilutions were detected in field trials. [Result] The EC50 values of combined use of B. subtilis DJ-6 and pyra-clostrobin at ratios of 1∶1, 1∶2, 1∶3, 1∶4 and 1∶5 against F. oxysporum were 5.311 5, 4.008 6, 3.570 6, 3.350 9 and 3.218 9 μg/ml, with the synergistic ratios （SR） of 2.28, 1.77, 1.53, 1.64, 1.11, among which the synergetic effect at 1∶1 was the best. The fungicidal activity of pyraclostrobin was greater than that of B. subtilis DJ-6 in laboratory tests. Field trials revealed that al the 1∶1 000, 1∶2 000 and 1∶3 000 dilu-tions of 20% pyraclostrobin·2×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP in combination, 1∶1 000 dilution of 1 ×1012 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP and 1∶2 000 dilution of 250 g/L pyra-clostrobin EC promoted the growth of strawberry by increasing plant height, leaf petiole, leaf blade area and stem diameter. Among them, the treatments with 1∶1 000 and 1∶2 000 of 20% pyraclostrobin · 2×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP in combina-tion had better effects than other treatments. The control effects of al the treat-ments were measured 30 and 80 d after fungicide application. The control effects of 1∶1 000 dilution of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 in combina-tion were up to 100% and 93.11%, which were higher than those in al other treat-ments. The second highest control effects were found in the treatment with 1∶ 2 000 dilution of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 in combination, they were 92.49% and 86.49%, higher than those in other treatments except the 1∶1 000 dilution of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2 ×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 in combination. The control effects of 1∶3 000 dilution of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 in combination were 82.61% and 72.42%, higher than those in treatment with 1∶1 000 dilution of 1×1012 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP, but lower than those in treat-ment with 1∶2 000 dilution of 25% pyraclostrobin EC. [Conclusion] Al the results re-vealed that the combination use of 20% pyraclostrobin and 2 ×1011 cfu/g B. subtilis DJ-6 WP at 1∶1 000 to 1∶2 000 dilution had better control effect against strawberry Fusarium wilt.

Synthesis and Biological Activity of New Pyrethroid Acid Oxime-esters Containing Pyrazole Ring

A series of compounds containing oxime-ester linkage and pyrazole ring(in place of the ester linkage and the alcohol moiety in pyrethroid ester) was designed and synthesized. The structures of all the compounds prepared were confirmed by 1H NMR and MS spectroscopy as well as elemental analyses. The bioassay data of those compounds against tobacco mosaic virus(TMV), cucumber mosaic virus(CMV), potato virus X(PVX) and potato virus Y(PVY) were presented. Among them compound 6i was found to possess significant plant antiviral activities. But all the compounds showed low insecticidal and acaricidal activities.

Novel plant activators with thieno[2,3-d]-1,2,3-thiadiazole-6-carboxylate scaffold: Synthesis and bioactivity

The 1,2,3-thiadiazole-carboxylate moiety was reported to be an important pharmacophore of plant activators.In this study,a series of novel plant activators based on thieno[2,3-d]-1,2,3-thiadiazole-6-carboxylate were designed and synthesized and their biological activity as plant activators was studied.The structures of the novel compounds were identifed by1H NMR,19F NMR and HRMS.The in vivo bioassay showed that these novel compounds had good effcacy against seven plant diseases.Especially,compounds 1a and 1c were more potent than the commercialized plant activator BTH.Almost no fungicidal activity was observed for the active compounds in the in vitro assay,which matched the requirements as plant activators.

Occurrence,distribution,and potential influencing factors of sewage sludge components derived from nine full-scale wastewater treatment plants of Beijing,China

Millions of tons of waste activated sludge（WAS） produced from biological wastewater treatment processes cause severe adverse environmental consequences. A better understanding of WAS composition is thus very critical for sustainable sludge management. In this work, the occurrence and distribution of several fundamental sludge constituents were explored in WAS samples from nine full-scale wastewater treatment plants（WWTPs） of Beijing, China. Among all the components investigated, active heterotrophic biomass was dominant in the samples（up to 9478 mg/L）, followed by endogenous residues（6736 mg/L）,extracellular polymeric substances（2088 mg/L）, and intracellular storage products（464 mg/L）among others. Moreover, significant differences（p 〈 0.05） were observed in composition profiles of sludge samples among the studied WWTPs. To identify the potential parameters affecting the variable fractions of sludge components, wastewater source as well as design and operational parameters of WWTPs were studied using statistical methods. The findings indicated that the component fraction of sewage sludge depends more on wastewater treatment alternatives than on wastewater characteristics among other parameters. A principal component analysis was conducted, which further indicated that there was a greater proportion of residual inert biomass in the sludge produced by the combined system of the conventional anaerobic/anoxic/oxic process and a membrane bioreactor. Additionally, a much longer solids retention time was also found to influence the sludge composition and induce an increase in both endogenous inert residues and extracellular polymeric substances in the sludge.

Effect of Rhizobacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris Inoculation on Stevia rebaudiana Plant Growth and Soil Microbial Community

There is an increasing concern that the continuous use of chemical fertilizers might lead to harmful effects on soil ecosystem.Accordingly, a biocompatible approach involving inoculation of beneficial microorganisms is presented to promote plant growth and simultaneously minimize the negative effect of chemical fertilizers. In this study, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium(PGPR), was inoculated into both fertilized and unfertilized soils to assess its influence on Stevia rebaudiana plant growth and microbial community in rhizosphere soils in a 122-d field experiment. Soil enzyme assays(dehydrogenase, urease, invertase, and phosphomonoesterase), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-_qPCR), and a high-throughput sequencing technique were employed to determine the microbial activity and characterize the bacterial community. Results showed that the R.palustris inoculation did not significantly influence Stevia yields and root biomass in either the fertilized or unfertilized soil. Chemical fertilization had strong negative effects on soil bacterial community properties, especially on dehydrogenase and urease activities.However, R. palustris inoculation counteracted the effect of chemical fertilizer on dehydrogenase and urease activities, and increased the abundances of some bacterial lineages(including Bacteroidia, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetacia, Myxococcales, and Legionellales). In contrast, inoculation into the unfertilized soil did not significantly change the soil enzyme activities or the soil bacterial community structure. For both the fertilized and unfertilized soils, R. palustris inoculation decreased the relative abundances of some bacterial lineages possessing photosynthetic ability, such as Cyanobacteria, Rhodobacter, Sphingomonadales, and Burkholderiales. Taken together, our observations stress the potential utilization of R. palustris as PGPR in agriculture, which might further ameliorate the soil microbial properties in the long run.

The discovery of new scaffold of plant activators：From salicylic acid to benzotriazole

Started from salicylic acid（SA） and related commercialized plant activators,based on molecular threedimensional shape and pharmacophore similarity comparison（SHAFTS）,a new lead compound benzotriazole was predicted and a series of benzotriazole derivatives were designed and synthesized.The bioassay showed that benzotriazole had high activity against a broad spectrum of diseases including fungi and oomycetes in vivo,but no activity in vitro.And the introduction of proper groups at the1＇-position and 5＇-position was beneficial to the activity.So,they had the potential to be exploited as novel plant activators.

SCREENING OF MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM REUNION ISLAND FOR ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY

According to the last World Malaria Report,there were an estimated 584 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2013.The problem of parasite resistance towards available medicines is increasing.Natural products could play an important role to discover new antimalarial drug.The aim of the study was to highlight the anti-plasmodial properties of plants used in traditional medicine on the Mascarene Islands.85

Plant Tissue Culture and Biosynthesis Provide a Fast Way to Produce Active Constituents of Traditional Chinese Medicines

The plant kingdom has provided literally thousands of natural products with widely diverse chemical structures and a vast array of biological activities.Many of them have seen subsequent application in discovery of new druids and the pharmaceutical industry and clinical therapeutic application.

ANTI-TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI ACTIVITY OF 20 MEDICINAL PLANTS USED IN NORTH EAST MEXICO

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.This disease is also known as American trypanosomiasis and approximately 7-8 million people are currently infected(WHO,2014.Nifurtimox has been used for over 40 years to treat Chagas disease,however,this drug is only effective during the acute phase of infection,and certain protozoan strains have developed resistance

Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Extracts of Allium sativum,Rosmarinus officinalis and Ocimum basilicum

ZnO nanoparticles（ZnO NPs） were synthesized by chemical method（coprecipitation） and biological method using aqueous extracts of garlic（Allium sativum）,rosemary（Rosmarinus officinalis） and basil（Ocimum basilicum）.The influence of plant extract on the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of green synthesized nanoparticles was investigated.The X-ray diffraction studies reveal that all ZnO samples have hexagonal wurtzite structure.The particle size of ZnO NPs estimated by transmission electron microscopy analysis（between 14 and 27 nm） varies depending on the synthesis method of nanoparticles and the type of extracts from the plants used.The functional groups involved in the biosynthetic procedure were evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.The presence of Mn^（2＋）ions,Zn vacancy complexes and oxygen vacancies in ZnO samples was highlighted by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.The green synthesized ZnO NPs have shown a good bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus,Bacillus subtilis,Listeria monocytogenes,Escherichia coli,Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial strains.ZnO NPs synthesized using extracts of the selected plant species have been found to exhibit more enhanced antibacterial and antioxidant activities as compared to chemical ZnO NPs.

Pulse Combustors - Performance and Control

Limited resources of fossil energy require the search for new energy conversion processes and the increase of the efficiency of power plants to ensure the energy household in the future. Basically, changing the combustion mode from steady to pulse combustion makes an enormous reduction of fuel consumption possible. Active control systems for pulse combustors installed into the inlet further improve the efficiency and extend the operating range considerably. The control algorithm including fuel rate- air rate -pressure characteristics and control strategies as well are presented.