Biography
Nefeli-Sofia Sotiropoulou has completed her studies at chemistry at the age of 25 years from University of Ioannina and master degree from Agricultural University of Athens. She is a PhD student at the Laboratory of Chemistry, atDepartment of Food Science & Human Nutrition, School of Food, Biotechnology and Development at Agricultural University of Athens
Abstract
The compounds α- and β- thujone found in herbs, foods and drinks in various concentrations. According to various agencies, such as EMA, SCF, NTP, and studies have established limits for safe consumption of products containing α- and β- thujone mainly on herbs wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and sage (Salvia officinalis). The existence of limits on the consumption of α- and β- thujone explained because of their neurotoxic action in humans. Therefore, it is important to determinate the concentrations of α- and β- thujone herbs of the Greek flora. In this study the receipt of essential oils was carried out with the technique of hydro-distillation with Clevenger apparatus. For the preparation of herbal infusions 2g of plant were extracted with 200mL of hot water. This was followed by extraction with diethyl ether for the receipt of volatile compounds. Then the qualitative and % quantitative determination of the constituents of the essential oils and the volatile constituents of the herbal infusions were carried out with gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Followed the determination of α- and β-thujone in essential oils and herbal infusions of wormwood and sage with the construction of standard curves and the internal standard method. The results showed that in the case of wormwood the concentrations of α- and β-thujone were higher in essential oils of plants in South Greece compared with those of Central and North Greece. Also in wormwood predominated β-thujone. Sage which was found to be dominated by α-thujone showed no systematic variation in relation to the geographical origin. Finally there was reduction of concentrations of herbal infusions of α- and β-thujone in a cup (200mL). Consumption of 3-6 herbal infusions of wormwood and 7-12 herbal infusions of sage does not exceed the safe limits.
Biography
Mohammed Alawi a phD student in Heriot-Watt University ,School Of Life Science Microbiology Department.
Abstract
In this work, the aim is to study bacterial diversity of eggs. In the most recent research, the emphasis has been on development of techniques for molecular analysis, aimed at identifying viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria. For the purpose of the analysis, a method for direct isolation of the bacterial genomic DNA from eggshell rinse and egg content homogenate was successfully developed. PCR conditions for amplification of part of the 16SrDNA gene were then optimized. DNA fragments amplified using a high- fidelity enzyme, were ligated with a 5-T overhang vector, and cloned in Esherichia coli. Purified clones were obtained by growing them on LB agar containing a selectable marker. Plasmids were extracted from the clones, and the presence of cloned DNA was confirmed by digesting the plasmids with the restriction enzyme EcoRI. The preliminary results of sequencing clones have revealed sequences related to the 16SrDNA sequence of Psychrobacter spp.