Tea polyphenol-T. arjuna bark as sperm antioxidant extender in infertile smokers.

BACKGROUND: Antioxidants protect spermatozoa against lipid peroxidation during freezing. OBJECTIVE: The study is designed to elucidate the suitable extender to preserve infertile semen of smokers against ROS damage using natural Tea polyphenol (T. arjuna bark extract). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two infertile subjects with smoking habit and 28 fertile subjects without smoking habit were considered for the study. Four semen extenders including our naturally derived antioxidant component were prepared and used to preserve semen sample from the study subjects for a period of one month. Standard semen parameters, biochemical and sperm DNA damage marker with inhibition were measured before and after cryopreservation. RESULTS: The motility and morphology of sperm cells were maintained better in E4 extender, and DNA damage is reduced. CONCLUSION: Extender recipe with natural antioxidants (E3 and E4) was found to be apt for infertile semen preservation.

Uptake of some radionuclides by woody plants growing in the rainforest of Western Ghats in India.

Transfer of the naturally occurring radionuclides (238)U, (232)Th, and (40)K, and the fallout radionuclide (210)Po to different wild plant species in the rainforest of Western Ghats was analyzed. A number of physiologically different plants from the top storey and understorey, such as shrubs and epiphytes, were compared. The concentrations of these radionuclides in the plants and soil were measured using a gamma ray spectrometer and an alpha counter, and were found to vary widely within plants and between species. The soil-plant ratios also varied between species while Elaeocarpus oblongus and epiphytic plants exhibited preferential uptake of these radionuclides. As a result, the dust particles trapped in the root systems of epiphytes could be used as bioindicators of fallout radionuclides in the Western Ghats.

Determination of perfluorooctanoate and perfluorooctanesulfonate in water matrices by inline matrix elimination liquid chromatography with reversed phase separation and suppressed conductivity detection.

This work describes a new method for the determination of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in water matrices by suppressed conductivity detection. Separation was achieved by isocratic elution on a reversed-phase column thermostated at 45°C using an aqueous mobile phase containing boric acid and acetonitrile. The PFOA and PFOS content in the water matrix were quantified by a pre-concentration technique. For the concentration range of 1 to 15 ng/mL and 2 to 30 ng/mL, the linear calibration curve for PFOA and PFOS yielded coefficients of determination (R(2)) of 0.9995 and 0.9985, respectively. The relative standard deviations were smaller than 1.5% for PFOA and PFOS. The retention-time precision of four consecutive 12 h injections was smaller than 0.641% and 0.818%, respectively. The presence of common divalent cations, such as calcium, magnesium, and iron in water matrices impairs PFOS recovery. This drawback was overcome by applying inline matrix elimination method. The optimized method was successfully applied for drinking water, ground water, and seawater samples.