Publications by authors named "Rodica-Mihaela Dinica"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates two natural compounds, TR2 and TR22, for their potential antioxidant and anticancer properties against two types of breast cancer cells (estrogen-sensitive MCF-7 and non-sensitive MDA-MB 231).
  • - TR2 demonstrated stronger antioxidant effects compared to standard antioxidants and effectively inhibited the growth and migration of breast cancer cells, while TR22 showed a more significant proliferation inhibition following acetylation.
  • - Molecular docking studies indicated that both compounds could inhibit receptor tyrosine kinases, suggesting their potential as effective agents in slowing cancer progression.
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Recently, obtaining collagen films using a cross-linking technique has been a successful strategy. The current investigation used six cross-linker extracts (CE) from six different pomegranate varieties' byproducts to make and characterize collagen-tannin films using acid-soluble collagen (SC). The polymeric film has a yellow hue after CE incorporation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Alzheimer's disease and diabetes impact global health, with specific enzymes targeted for treatment: acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) for AD, and α-amylase, α-glucosidase for diabetes.
  • A study isolated various compounds from a medicinal plant, identifying several derivatives of ellagic acid that showed moderate to strong inhibition of AChE and BChE, with 3,3'-di-O-methyl ellagic acid being the most potent.
  • In addition, some compounds effectively inhibited α-amylase and α-glucosidase, outperforming acarbose, indicating their potential as therapeutic agents for diabetes management.
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, a plant from the Combretaceae family, is traditionally used in Benin for various health problems. However, scientific research on Beninese samples of this plant is limited. The aim of this study was to identify and assess the bioactive compounds in the plant's leaves and roots.

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is a medicinal vegetable used in seasoning desserts, juices, and beverages. An evaluation of the total flavonoid, phenolic, tannin and anthocyanin contents indicated that these classes of compounds are distributed variably in the different fractions. In summary, the HPLC-DAD analyses enabled the identification and quantification of thirteen phenolic compounds in an ethyl acetate extract (EAE), nine in a dichloromethane extract (DCME), seven in an aqueous extract (AQE) and four in a butanol extract (BE).

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Chitosan derivatives are versatile materials, biocompatible and biodegradable, that can be tailor-made to suit specific biomedical applications. In this study, two N-heterocyclic salts (N,N'-diphenacyl-[4,4'-dipyridinium] dibromide (DP) and N,N'-diphenacyl-1,2-bis-(4-pyridinium)ethane dibromide (DPE)) were used for chitosan functionalization to enhance its antimicrobial potential. Physico-chemical characterization of the newly synthesized derivatives (Ch-DP and Ch-DPE) was performed by elemental analysis, spectrometry (UV-Vis, FTIR), electrochemistry (OCP, CV), and electron microscopy (SEM) proving that the highest degree of functionalization was obtained for Ch-DP.

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Sickle cell anaemia is a hereditary blood disorder that attacks the red blood cells and deforms them, giving them a sickle shape. Sickle cell anaemia is a serious health problem in the West African country of Niger. Moreover, the cost associated with medical care is very high.

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is a tropical plant noticeable for its variegated leaves and exploited for various medicinal purposes. In this study, seven compounds, including three furanolabdane diterpenoids, i.e.

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Linn. (Cucurbitaceae), the wild variety of bitter melon, and Benth (Rubiaceae) were commonly used as a popular folk medicine in Benin. This study aimed to appreciate the ethnopharmacological knowledge and evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of and leaves extracts.

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Inflammation is the supreme biological response to illness. In the Hauts-Bassins region, in traditional medicine, all parts of and are used to treat hepatitis and inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of their aqueous extracts.

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Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder which is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidities in elderly humans. Chronic diabetes can lead to kidney failure, blindness, limb amputation, heart attack and stroke. Physical activity, healthy diets and medications can reduce the incidence of diabetes, so the search for more efficient antidiabetic therapies, most especially from natural products, is a necessity.

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This study investigated the phytochemical content of alcoholic extracts and essential oil of a new variety of medicinal plants, Agastache foeniculum (Pursh), which Kuntze adapted for cultivation in Romania, namely “Aromat de Buzău”. The essential oil was investigated by GC-MS, while the identification and quantification of various compounds from alcoholic extracts were performed by HPLC-DAD. The total phenol and flavonoid contents of the extracts were evaluated by using standard phytochemical methods.

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Propolis is very popular for its beneficial health properties, such as antimicrobial activity and antioxidant effects. It is one of the most long-serving traditional medicines to mankind due to its interesting chemical diversity and therapeutic properties. The detailed chemical information of propolis samples is very necessary to guarantee its safety and for it to be accepted into health care systems.

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Pomegranate variety properties are important not only to demonstrate their diversity but also to satisfy the current market need for high-quality fruits. This study aims to characterize pomological and physico-chemical features as well as the antioxidant capacity of Moroccan local cultivars (Djeibi, Mersi, Sefri 1 and Sefri 2) compared to the imported ones (Mollar de Elche and Hicaz). The pomological characteristics of varieties were relatively diverse.

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An environmental approach for leather manufacturing is primordial to provide a global strategy towards more sustainable biomaterials and greener tanning processing methods. The ability of collagen as a principal component of skin to combine natural phenolic compounds, especially vegetable tannins, has been proven to be eco-friendly and manageable, while making good improvement to leather properties in the tanning process. In this study, we have used pomegranate phenolic compounds and insoluble collagen as a model system to examine the effects of tanning steps on the conformation of collagen.

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Phenolic extracts of were prepared and their preliminary phenolic profiles determined using HPLC-DAD with 26 phenolic standards. Apigenin (21.75 ± 0.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder of different brain regions accompanied by distresses and affecting more than 25 million people in the world. This progressive brain deterioration affects the central nervous system and has negative impacts on a patient's daily activities such as memory impairment. The most important challenge concerning AD is the development of new drugs for long-term treatment or prevention, with lesser side effects and greater efficiency as cholinesterases inhibitors and the ability to remove amyloid-beta(Aβ) deposits and other related AD neuropathologies.

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Article Synopsis
  • A new diterpenoid called rubesanolidic acid was discovered alongside six known compounds from the roots of a particular plant using column chromatography.
  • Their structures were confirmed through various spectroscopic analyses and comparisons with prior research data.
  • The extract showed significant -amylase inhibition activity, outperforming individual compounds, with rubesanolidic acid displaying the highest inhibition among the isolated compounds, suggesting the plant has potential as a source for antidiabetic agents.
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Root extracts from Danube were used to prepare gold nanoparticles (AuNPR) by reducing HAuCl at different pHs (6.4-8.4) using ultrasonic irradiation: an easy, cheap, eco-friendly and green approach.

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Food pathogens represent an important health threat, and it is relevant to study the effect of foodstuffs such as spices which can inhibit bacterial growth. This study reports the antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and enzyme (Acetylcholinesterase, Butyrylcholinesterase, urease, tyrosinase) inhibitory activities of two medicinal food spices belonging to the Annonaceae family, and . GC-MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) analysis of silylated samples of Methanol-Dicloromethane (50:50) extracts of both plants led to the identification of nine compounds in and seven compounds in .

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Cucurbitaceae is a family of health-promoting plants due to their compounds with beneficial effects. The aim of this study was to analyze, for the first time, the chemical composition, the antioxidant activity and the metal chelating properties of fruit juices obtained from four different species of the Cucurbitaceae family cultivated in Romania, namely , , and . The samples of juice were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and all the four species displayed high levels of the two triterpenes, oleanolic and ursolic acids, and also in phenolic compounds, including catechin, (-)-epicatechin and gallic acid.

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Basil ( spp.) is a traditional herbal medicine abundant in antioxidants such as phenolic compounds. As part of a diet, this herb is proved to have some roles in decreasing the risk of cancer, and in the treatment of inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Background: Linn. (), the wild variety of bitter melon and Benth () were commonly used as a popular folk medicine in Benin. This research focused to measure the antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory effects of and leaves and their antidiabetic activity.

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This study aimed to explore for the first time the biological properties such as antifungal, antitumoral and antioxidant of Danube Delta () leaf and root methanolic extracts. The toxicity studies of extracts showed no inhibitory effect on wheat seed germination by evaluating the most sensitive physiological parameters (Germination %, Germination index, Vigor index) and using confocal laser scanning microscopy images. The analyzed extracts were found to have high antifungal activity against with MIC values of 1.

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In the last two decades, a tremendous amount of attention has been directed towards the design of antibacterial silver(I)-based materials, including coordination polymers (CPs) built up with a great variety of oxygen and nitrogen-containing ligands. Herein, a family of six new silver(I)-based CPs, having the general stoechiometric formula [Ag(HDMPMB)(X)] (X = NO, ; CFCO, ; CFSO, ; BF, ; ClO, ; and PF, ) and incorporating the flexible ditopic pyrazolyl-type ligand 4,4'-bis((3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl)biphenyl (HDMPMB), has been prepared by the chemical precipitation method involving the reaction of silver(I) salts with HDMPMB in the 1:1 molar ratio, in alcohols, or acetonitrile at room temperature for two-hours. The new silver(I)-based polymeric materials were characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis (EA), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), allowing for the proposition that their structures comprise one-dimensional chains, with the silver(I) ions mostly assuming a T-shapped stereochemistry completed by the exo-bidentate ligands and counter-anions.

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