Inducible nitrogen oxide synthase (iNOS) is the primary contributor of the overproduction of nitric oxide and its inhibitors have been actively sought as effective anti-inflammatory agents. In this study, we prepared 70% ethanol extracts from 81 Chinese herbs. These extracts were subsequently evaluated for their effect on nitrogen oxide (NO) production and cell growth in LPS/IFNγ-costimulated a...

Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimise the decolouration of the diazo dye Reactive Black 5 (RB5) by crude laccase from the white-rot fungus Trametes pubescens. The presence of the redox mediator 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) greatly improved the decolouration levels of RB5 by crude laccase from T. pubescens. Central composite design (CCD) using RSM with three variables namely...

We examined densities of endophytic fungi and their associations with performance of Eriocrania leaf-mining moth larvae on white birch (Betula pubescens) and silver birch (B. pendula) around a large copper±nickel smelter in SW Finland. The analysis is based on 2-year data collected from sites distributed along the pollution gradient from 0 to 10.8 km from the smelter. Endophyte densities were l...

On the basis of qualitative and quantitative analysis with liquid chromatography--electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry, the foliage of dwarf birch (Betula nana L.), silver birch (B. pendula Roth) and mountain birch (B. pubescens ssp. czerepanovii (Orlova) Hämet-Ahti) were found, for the first time, to contain the same individual HTs that were described earlier for white birch (B. pubescens...

During the last two decades, various medicinal plants have been studied for their possible antimicrobial activity to discover new antimicrobial agents capable of resolving problems such as the development of drug resistance in pathogenic microorganisms as well as the side effects of some present antibiotics. In this study, the antibacterial activity of methanolic extract of T. pubescens (rich i...

This study aimed to isolate bacterial neuraminidase (BNA) inhibitory O-methylated quercetin derivatives from the aerial parts of S. pubescens. All isolated compounds were identified as (1–4), which exhibited be noncompetitive inhibitors against BNA, with IC50 ranging 14.0 84.1 μM. The responsible (1–4) showed a significant correlation between BNA effects and number O-methyl groups on quercetin;...

Depletion of natural resources has become a major concern in today’s modern industrialized world centering much attention on sustainability of the built environment and sustainable alternatives to current development and construction practices. In the green building community, strong interest lies in natural and renewable building materials that can be used in structural applications. Just such...

Preface, p. vii Any reasonable logical system can be naturally translated into many-sorted first-order logic; thus many-sorted first-order logic is a universal logic. Since many-sorted logic can be translated into single-sorted first-order logic the latter is also universal. However, as will be seen in the course of this book, many-sorted logic faithfully interprets the semantics of the object ...

In contrast to plant-animal interactions, the conceptual framework regarding the impact of secondary metabolites in mediating plant-plant interference is currently less well defined. Here, we address hypotheses about the role of chemically-mediated plant-plant interference (i.e., allelopathy) as a driver of Mediterranean forest dynamics. Growth and defense abilities of a pioneer (Pinus halepens...