The dissipation of energy as heat is essential for photosynthetic organisms to protect themselves against excess light. We compared Photosystem II florescence changes (non-photochemical quenching, NPQ) in the brown alga Macrocystis pyrifera with that of Ficus sp., a higher plant to examine if the mechanism of heat dissipation (energy-dependent quenching, qE) differs between these evolutionary d...

The antioxidant activity and the chemical composition of methanol extracts from peel and pulp belonging to two species of Tunisian prickly pears Opuntia ficus indica (spiny and thornless forms) and Opuntia stricta has been studied. The antioxidant capacity was measured by DPPH radical scavenging activity. The Total Phenolic Compound (TPC) and the total flavonoid content were determined by the F...

Isorhamnetin glycosides are representative compounds of Opuntia ficus-indica that possess different biological activities. There is slight information about the changes in bioaccessibility induced by the glycosylation pattern of flavonoids, particularly for isorhamnetin. In this study, the bioaccessibility and permeability of isorhamnetin glycosides extracted from O. ficus-indica were contraste...

Fig wasps and fig trees are mutually dependent, with each of the 800 or so species of fig trees (Ficus, Moraceae) typically pollinated by a single species of fig wasp (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae). Molecular evidence suggests that the relationship existed over 65 Ma, during the Cretaceous. Here, we record the discovery of the oldest known fossil fig wasps, from England, dated at 34 Ma. They possess ...

The results of analysis of soil and tree leaves samples collected from heavy traffic affected area of Agra city show that average concentration of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Mn and Zn ranged from 0.953.42, 3.2811.26, 2.18-4.05, 3.04-8.10, 0.91-1.42 and 2.83-5.94 ppm , respectively in soil samples. The maximum concentration of Ni (2.68ppm) and Co (4.82 ppm) was observed in the leaves of Ficus religiosa and...

1 National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, 97, Sos. Bucureşti – Ploieşti, Sect. 1, Bucharest cod 013686, Romania 2 National Administration of Meteorology, 97, Sos. Bucureşti – Ploieşti, Sect. 1, Bucharest cod 013686, Romania 3 National Administration “Apele Romane”, 6, Strada Edgar Quinet, sect. 1, Bucharest, cod 010018, Romania 4 UMR Sisyphe-7619, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, ...

The present study explores the natural bioactive metabolites, antioxidant and antibacterial activities in host plants of Antheraea assamensis (muga silkworm) viz. Machilus bombycina (som), Litsea polyantha (sualu), salicifolia (dighloti) citrata (mejankari). methanolic extracts leaves these were screened for their phytochemical analysis free radical scavenging activity using 2,2-diphenyl- 1-pic...

A phylogenetic analysis of Astragalus sect. Alopecuroidei based on nrDNA ITS as well as morphological character data is presented. A total of fifty informative morphological characters were analyzed to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships for 23 taxa of the sect. Alopecuroidei and two species of sect. Laxiflori plus A. sieversianus and A. caryolobus as outgroups. The present analysis revealed...

The Born-Oppenheimer approximation [1] can be used whenever the hamilto..ian of a fast system depends on the coordinates of a slow system . In some textbooks, the problem is solved by freezing the coordinates of the slow system and solving the hamiltonian of the fast system; then the energy of the fast system enters the effective hamiltonian for the slow system as a potential energy term. This ...