Antioxidant activity of Knipholone anthrone

Knipholone (KP) and knipholone anthrone (KA) are natural 4-phenylanthraquinone structural analogues with established differential biological activities including in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. By using DNA damage as an experimental model, the comparative Cu(II)-dependent prooxidant action of these two compounds were studied. In the presence of Cu(II) ions, the antioxidant KA (3.1-200 microM) but not KP (6-384 microM) caused a concentration-dependent pBR322 plasmid DNA strand scission. The DNA damage induced by KA could be abolished by reactive oxygen species scavengers, glutathione and catalase as well as EDTA and a specific Cu(I) chelator bathocuproine disulfonic acid. In addition to Cu(II) chelating activity, KA readily reduces Cu(II) to Cu(I). Copper-dependent generation of reactive oxygen species and the subsequent macromolecular damage may be involved in the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of KA.

Antioxidant and cytoprotective activity of leaves of Peltiphyllum peltatum (Torr.) Engl.

The antioxidant potential of fresh leaves of Peltiphyllum peltatum (Torr.) Engl. (Saxfragaceae) was analysed by measuring scavenging potential against l,l'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH center dot) and hydroxyl radicals (W), reducing power, inhibition of lipid peroxidation and protection of cultured cells from a lethal dose of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In all chemical assays used, the crude ethanolic extract of leaves of P. peltatum, which contained 21.8 +/- 1.7% (w/w, n = 3) of total phenols, was as effective as the standard antioxidant compound, rutin. Fractionation of the crude extract with solvent of increasing polarity (namely, petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water) led to identification of the active fractions (ethyl acetate and butanol fractions). The crude extract and its active fractions, but not rutin, protected cultured RAW 264.7 macrophages from a lethal dose Of H2O2.

Home is where my archive is

The miniaturization and dissemination of audiovisual media into small, mobile assemblages of cameras, screens and microphones has brought "database cinema" (Manovich) into pockets and handbags. In turn, this micro-portability of video production calls for a reconsideration of database cinema, not as an aesthetic but rather as a media ecology that makes certain experiences and forms of interaction possible. In this context the clip and the fragment become a social currency (showing, trading online, etc.), and the enjoyment of a moment or "occasion" becomes an opportunity for recording, extending, preserving and displaying. If we are now the documentarists of our lives (as so many mobile phone adverts imply), it follows that we are also our own archivists as well. From the folksonomies of Flickr and YouTube to the slick "media centres" of Sony, Apple and Microsoft, the audiovisual home archive is a prized territory of struggle among platforms and brands. The database is emerging as the dominant (screen) medium of popular creativity and distribution – but it also brings the categories of "home" and "person" closer to that of the archive.

Insolvency: ordering a sale of the family home

Comments on the Chancery Division ruling in Nicholls v Lan on whether the interests of a bankrupt husband's creditors prevailed over those of the wife, despite her circumstances being exceptional within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 1986 s.335A on account of her suffering from chronic schizophrenia, where the wife was the joint owner of another property which could be realised to buy out the trustee in bankruptcy's half share in the equity of the matrimonial home.