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Objective: Environmental pollution is of major concern today and lead is considered to be one of the most important environmental pollutants. Long-term contact with lead causes harmful effects to humans. This study seeks to determine the effects of Curcuma longa (turmeric extract) consumption and exercise training on glutathione peroxidase and protein carbonyl in kidney and spleen tissues from rats exposed to lead. Methods: We randomly classified 60 male rats into the following six groups of 10 rats per group: 1) control; 2) sham (turmeric extract solvent); 3) lead; 4) training + lead; 5) turmeric extract + lead; and 6) training + lead + turmeric extract. The training program for groups 3 and 6 consisted of running on a level treadmill for 40 sessions (eight weeks at five sessions per week) at a speed of 22 to 15 m/min for 26 to 64 minutes. Turmeric extract (30 mg/kg) was injected three times per week for eight weeks. Amounts of glutathione peroxidase and protein carbonyl were measured by ELISA. Results: The amount of protein carbonyl in the kidney and spleen tissues of the lead group increased compared to the sham, training, combined and extract groups. Rats in the combined, extract and practice groups (F=4.787; P=0.002) had lower levels of protein carbonyl in their kidney and spleen tissues compared to the sham group (F=6.970, P=0.000). Glutathione peroxidase levels in the kidney and spleen tissues were less in the lead group compared to the sham group. However these levels in the training, extract, and combined groups increased compared with the sham group (respectively, in kidney and spleen P=0.051, F=2.466 and P=0/086, F=2.11). Conclusion: Intake of turmeric extract and exercise alone did not cause complete inhibition of the oxidative effects in kidney and spleen tissues. However, exercise and consumption of turmeric extract can be effective in reducing the harmful effects of lead.

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 Fig trees are threatened by the attack of Fig Mosaic Disease (FMD) on leaves and fruits caused by viruses of several genera. Shoot-tip culture is a convenient method for viral sanitation. For this purpose, a reliable protocol for rapid in vitro propagation was developed with shoot-tips of three major Tunisian local fig (Ficus carica L.) varieties Zidi (ZDI), Soltani (SNI), Bither Abiadh (BA) and one rare and recalcitrant caprifig Assafri (ASF). For each in vitro step, four Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with different combinations of plant regulators were used. The best initiation of shoot-tips with sizes 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm was obtained on medium M₃ containing 0.2 mg L^-1 Benzyle Amino Purine (BAP), 0.1 mg L^-1 1-NaphthaleneAcetic Acid (NAA) and 0.1 mg L^-1 Gibberellic acid (GA₃). The variety (SNI) showed the highest shoot-tip initiation potentialities for the establishment step with 100% of explant development rate. The shoot multiplication and plantlet development were provided by medium M₆ with 0.5 mg L^-1 BAP and 0.1 mg L^-1 NAA. The highest average of leaf number increase (92 leaves per plant) and proliferation rate (16.91 branches per plant) were reached on M₆. The best rooting rate (83.34%) was favored by medium M₁₁ with half-strength MS and 1 mg L^-1 Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA). Ex vitro rooting of fig plantlets was successfully performed on moist peat with success rate of 90%. The acclimatized fig vitroplants showed high establishment rates (92.1%) and rapid growth on substrates S₁ composed by peat without symptoms of virus diseases or morphological abnormalities.

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The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is considered as one of the oldest and the most important fruit crops of the Mediterranean basin, which is characterized by the existence of a considerable number of different olive cultivars. Therefore, the olive cultivar identification is crucial to safeguard the genetic patrimony of this species. Different morphological and molecular markers were used to discriminate among cultivars. The aim of the present work was to describe different pollen morphological and ultrastructural parameters (shape, size and exine pattern) as an additional tool for the identification of olive cultivars. Observations were carried on seventy centennial olive accessions grown in the Central Eastern part of Tunisia using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Image analysis (ImageJ). Pollen were three-zonocolpate and elliptical-prolate or subprolate. Pollen morphological qualitative traits revealed specific differences among the studied genotypes including variation in whole grain shape and also exine pattern ornamentation as meshes profile and regularity and muri thickness. The quantitatively measured traits were significantly different among pollen from diverse genotypes. Polar and equatorial diameters varied from 21.80 to 29.88 µm and from 14.47 to 21.14 µm, respectively, while the pollen area ranged between 274.58 and 466.35 µm². Frequency distributions of most measured pollen parameters depicted a normal distribution. The three principal components of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) accounted for more than 97% of the total variation. The first Principal Component (PC1) was correlated to pollen size. The second (PC2) and the third (PC3) were correlated to exine texture and to pollen shape, respectively. Both morphometric features and exine pattern observations were potentially relevant tools to discriminate among the studied genotypes. Further combination between pollen ultrastructural analysis, morphological and molecular markers is fully desirable, in subsequent work, to improve both reliability and discriminative ability for cultivars classification.

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Objective: There are numerous strategies to prevent hepatotoxicity caused by doxorubicin therapy. These strategies include exercise as well as herbal antioxidants such as curcumin to reduce the toxic effects of doxorubicin. This study aims to evaluate the effects of six weeks of continuous training with and without nanocurcumin supplementation on doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity in an aging rat model.
Methods: We randomly divided 42 Wistar male rats into 7 groups: control saline, control doxorubicin, nanocurcumin + doxorubicin, nanocurcumin + saline, continuous training + doxorubicin, continuous training + saline, and continuous training + nanocurcumin + doxorubicin. The rats received intraperitoneal injections of D-galactose (100 mg/kg) to induce ageing. The training groups ran on a treadmill for six weeks, five days per week with a gradual increase from 25 min/day to 54 min/day at a velocity of 15 m/min to 20 m/min. In the last fifteenth days, rats scheduled to received doxorubicin had a cumulative dose of 15 mg/kg of body weight (daily: 1 ml/kg). Nanocurcumin supplement (daily: 100 mg/kg body weight) was administered to the respective groups. Assessment and analysis were conducted after homogenization of the liver tissue biopsy.
Results: Doxorubicin caused a significant decrease in glutathione peroxidase and a slight increase in malondialdehyde in the liver. On the other hand, continuous training with doxorubicin treatment prevented the decrease of glutathione peroxidase and increase in malondialdehyde in the liver that was caused by doxorubicin. Also, six weeks of continuous training with nanocurcumin supplementation caused a significant decrease in malondialdehyde and increased glutathione peroxidase in the liver compared to the control doxorubicin group.
Conclusion: Based on the results, the combination of nanocurcumin supplementation and continuous training in the doxorubicin-induced aging rat model have led to a precautionary effect and up-regulation of antioxidant defense. Continuous training appeared to have more beneficial effects than nanocurcumin supplementation in reducing doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity.

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Dangke is a traditional food from South Sulawesi-Indonesia especially Enrekang Regency, made from buffalo or cow milk coagulated with papaya fruit sap papain enzyme. The development of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 as a probiotic in various food products has been shown to increase the content of bioactive compounds, such as antioxidants, antihypertensive agents, and antibacterials. This study aims to evaluate the physical, microbiological, functional quality of dangke in the form of antioxidant and antihypertensive properties with the addition of Lactiplantibacillua plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 at the level of 0% and 10% during storage for 0 days, 5 days and 10 days. The physical test results found significant differences in dangke with the addition of Lactiplantibacillusplantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 as much as 10% in the parameters of pH, TAT and texture. The addition of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strain IIA-1A5 10% in dangke was able to inhibit and reduce the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and S aureus and was able to increase the value of antioxidant and antihypertensive activity by 83.45% and 45.60%. Based on the electrophoresis results, casein was found at a molecular weight of 22-29 kDa, and smaller peptides of hydrolyzed casein protein presented at a low molecular weight of 16-18 kDa.
 

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This study aimed to evaluate the impact of dipping solutions [Moringa Leaf Extract 5% (MLE), Olive Leaf Extract 5% (OLE) and Calcium Chloride 5% (CaCl₂)] on fruit quality of two peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) cultivars (Blanvio 10 and Plagold 15). The treatments consisted of dipping fruits for 5 min in the corresponding solution followed by 30 minutes drying at room temperature. Then, fruits were stored at 5°C and 95% relative humidity for 2 and 4 weeks of cold storage followed by 2 days at room temperature. Physicochemical traits, antioxidant compounds, sugar content and chilling injury symptoms were analyzed. There were significant improvements in fruits storability resulting from the CaCl₂, MLE (5%) and OLE (5%) dipping solutions. These treatments improved firmness, maintained the Soluble Solids Content, and increased the ripening index (SSC/TA). The lowest fruit weight loss was observed in the OLE treatment, whereas the untreated fruits showed the highest loss. The flavonoids, total phenolics, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity showed a gradual decrease during the storage periods. Mealiness and internal browning were the major chilling injury symptoms observed in the two peach cultivars after 4 weeks of cold storage. The applied treatments were efficient and delayed the presence of chilling injury symptoms and fruit decay during the two cold storage periods.