Antioxidant activity of selected phenols and herbs used in diets for medical conditions.

The antioxidant capacity of some herbs used in dietology practice was determined by the DPPH free radical method, which was calibrated with ascorbic acid. Partially hydrophilic phenolic compounds are the most active compounds in plants, and therefore water was used as the extraction agent. Besides antioxidant capacity, the content of total phenolic compounds was also measured and a strong correlation between these two variables was found. The extracts of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.), oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), Greek oregano (Origanum heracleoticum L.), sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and winter savory (Satureja montana L.) showed very significant activity. It was comparable with the activity of green tea in the case of oregano and peppermint. Lower activity was observed in the case of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), marjoram (Majorana hortensis), hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.), sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), and lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch.). The inhibitory activity of the herb extracts was monitored also during the autooxidation of lard. Very high antioxidant capacity was observed mainly in sage samples, but also in marjoram and Greek oregano. The extracts of peppermint, oregano, rosemary, winter savory, lemon balm and hyssop showed middle activity comparable to that of alpha-tocopherol. The antioxidant capacity of sweet basil and lovage was insignificant.

Brill Greek, Adobe Arno Pro, Adobe Text/Brevier Greek typefaces

Typeface design: a series of collaborative projects commissioned by Adobe, Inc. and Brill to develop extensive polytonic Greek typefaces. The two Adobe typefaces can be seen as extension of previous research for the Garamond Premier Pro family (2005), and concludes a research theme started in 1998 with work for Adobe’s Minion Pro Greek. These typefaces together define the state of the art for text-intensive Greek typesetting for wide character set texts (from classical texts, to poetry, to essays, to prose). They serve both as exemplar for other developers, and as vehicles for developing the potential of Greek text typography, for example with the parallel inclusion of monotonic and polytonic characters, detailed localised punctuation options, fluid handling of case-conversion issues, and innovative options such as accented small caps (originally requested by bibliographers, and subsequently rolled out to a general user base). The Brill typeface (for the established academic publisher) has an exceptionally wide character set to cover several academic disciplines, and is intended to differentiate sufficiently from its partner Latin typeface, while maintaining a clear texture in both offset and low-resolution print-on-demand reproduction. This work involved substantial amounts of testing and modifying the design, especially of diacritics, to maintain clarity the readability of unfamiliar words. All together these typefaces form a study in how Greek typesetting meets contemporary typographic requirements, while resonating with historically accurate styles, where these are present. Significant research in printing archives helped to identify appropriate styles, as well as originate variants that are coherent stylistically, even when historical equivalents were absent.

Undying voices: the poetry of Roman Britain

An anthology (comprising introduction, text, translation, and notes) of Britain's most ancient (surviving) poetry (Latin/Greek, with an English translation).