Enhancement of nutraceutical properties of licorice callus cultures using sample pre-treatment strategy

Licorice is an herbal plant in the Leguminosae family, and its roots and rhizomes are used as sweeteners in food and confectionery products. Moreover, it has a distinct inflammatory activity. In the present study, a sample pre-treatment method to induce the deglycosylation of active metabolites in callus cultures of Glycyrrhiza inflata (GI) and Glycyrrhiza glabra (GG) was developed. The results of the method evaluation showed the biotransformation of ononin to formononetin, a rare flavonoid found in trace amounts in licorice. The magnitude of enhancement was 3- and 19-fold in the GI and GG samples, respectively. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory activity assay showed that the potency of the sample pre-treatment group was higher than that of the untreated group because it exerted an enhanced suppression of cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression. This is the first report on the anti-inflammatory activity of licorice callus, which has the potential to be utilised as a functional food for health promotion. These findings support the idea of using sample preparation to impart nutraceutical properties to plant products.     

Study of the Effect of Near-Source Vertical Ground Motion on Seismic Design of Precast Concrete Cladding Panels

This paper is an attempt to determine the effect of vertical ground motion on design of precast concrete cladding panels in seismic regions, particularly in near-source areas. A spandrel-type precast concrete cladding panel is chosen for detailed study and assumed attached to a building in San Francisco. The seismic provisions of International Building Code 2000 and Uniform Building Code 1997 are used to determine the design forces on the cladding panel, which was originally designed as an example in a PCI publication. The provisions of the two codes are compared in light of their requirements related to vertical ground motion consideration and near-source effects. Results of recent research on the relation between vertical and horizontal ground acceleration components as a function of source-to-site distance are also used to illustrate an example of incorporating vertical spectral acceleration effects directly in load combinations. Finally, finite-element modeling and frequency analysis results of the spandrel and floor-to-floor types of cladding panel are discussed. This study shows that the effects of vertical ground motion will cause an increase in the design forces for connections of heavy cladding panels, especially in near-source regions, with the magnitude of the increase dependent on the source-to-site distance.     

Tissue response and biodegradation of composite scaffolds prepared from Thai silk fibroin,gelatin and hydroxyapatite

This work aimed to investigate tissue responses and biodegradation, both in vitro and in vivo, of four types of Bombyx mori Thai silk fibroin based-scaffolds. Thai silk fibroin (SF), conjugated gelatin/Thai silk fibroin (CGSF), hydroxyapatite/Thai silk fibroin (SF4), and hydroxyapatite/conjugated gelatin/Thai silk fibroin (CGSF4) scaffolds were fabricated using salt-porogen leaching, dehydrothermal/chemical crosslinking and an alternate soaking technique for mineralization. In vitro biodegradation in collagenase showed that CGSF scaffolds had the slowest biodegradability, due to the double crosslinking by dehydrothermal and chemical treatments. The hydroxyapatite deposited from alternate soaking separated from the surface of the protein scaffolds when immersed in collagenase. From in vivo biodegradation studies, all scaffolds could still be observed after 12 weeks of implantation in subcutaneous tissue of Wistar rats and also following ISO10993-6: Biological evaluation of medical devices. At 2 and 4 weeks of implantation the four types of Thai silk fibroin based-scaffolds were classified as “non-irritant” to “slight-irritant”, compared to Gelfoam^® (control samples). These natural Thai silk fibroin-based scaffolds may provide suitable biomaterials for clinical applications.