scholarly journals The Sardinian Bitter Honey: From Ancient Healing Use to Recent Findings

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 506
Author(s):  
Ignazio Floris ◽  
Michelina Pusceddu ◽  
Alberto Satta
Keyword(s):  
Phenolic Acid ◽  
Bitter Taste ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Homogentisic Acid ◽  
Medical Field ◽  
Arbutus Unedo ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strawberry Tree ◽  
Historical Identity ◽  
Over Time

Sardinian bitter honey, obtained from the autumnal flowering of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.), has an old fame and tradition in popular use, especially as a medicine. Its knowledge dates back over 2000 years, starting from the Greeks and Romans to the present day. There are many literary references from illustrious personalities of the past such as Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and Dioscorides, until recent times, associated with the peculiar anomaly of its taste, which lends itself to literary and poetic metaphors. The curiosity of its bitter taste is also what led to the first studies starting in the late 1800s, aimed to reveal its origin. Other studies on its botanical source and characteristics have been carried out over time, up to the most recent investigations, which have confirmed its potential for use in the medical field, thanks to its antioxidant, antiradical, and cancer-preventing properties. These benefits have been associated with its phenolic component and in particular with the prevailing phenolic acid (homogentisic acid). Later, other strawberry tree honeys from the Mediterranean area have also shown the same properties. However, Sardinian bitter honey maintains its geographical and historical identity, which is recognized by other Mediterranean cultures.

Homogentisic Acid:  A Phenolic Acid as a Marker of Strawberry-Tree (Arbutus unedo) Honey

1999 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 4064-4067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Cabras ◽  
Alberto Angioni ◽  
Carlo Tuberoso ◽  
Ignazio Floris ◽  
Fabiano Reniero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phenolic Acid ◽  
Homogentisic Acid ◽  
Arbutus Unedo ◽  
Strawberry Tree

Development and Validation of a GC-MS Method for the Analysis of Homogentisic Acid in Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo L.) Honey

2017 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 889-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Brčić Karačonji ◽  
Karlo Jurica
Keyword(s):  
Homogentisic Acid ◽  
Arbutus Unedo ◽  
Liquid Liquid Extraction ◽  
Strawberry Tree ◽  
Routine Monitoring ◽  
Average Accuracy ◽  
Reliable Performance ◽  
Extraction Solvents ◽  
Development And Validation

Abstract To confirm the botanical origin of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey, a liquid–liquid extraction followed by GC-MS method was developed for the quantitative determination of homogentisic acid (HGA), the main phenolic compound in this honey. Different parameters affecting extraction, such as the type and volume of extraction solvents, pH of the solution, and amount of salt, were optimized. The method showed good linearity (r2 = 0.9990) over the tested concentration range (50–500 mg/kg) and a low LOD (0.3 mg/kg). Precision expressed as RSD was <7%. The average accuracy was 95%. The optimized method was applied for determining the HGA content in strawberry tree honey samples from Croatia. The HGA content in analyzed samples (n = 7) ranged from 245.1 to 485.9 mg/kg. The proposed method provided reliable performance and can be easily implemented for the routine monitoring of HGA in strawberry tree honey in order to assure honey QC.

scholarly journals LC-ESI/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS Based Metabolomics in Evaluation of Bitter Taste of Arbutus unedo Honey

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 2765
Author(s):  
Paola Montoro ◽  
Gilda D’Urso ◽  
Adam Kowalczyk ◽  
Carlo Ignazio Giovanni Tuberoso
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Bitter Taste ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Negative Ion ◽  
Strawberry Tree ◽  
Electrospray Source ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Negative Ion Mode ◽  
Orbitrap Ms

Strawberry tree honey is a high-value honey from the Mediterranean area and it is characterised by a typical bitter taste. To possibly identify the secondary metabolites responsible for the bitter taste, the honey was fractionated on a C18 column and the individual fractions were subjected to sensory analysis and then analysed by liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry in negative ion mode, using a mass spectrometer with an electrospray source coupled to a hybrid high resolution mass analyser (LC-ESI/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS). A chemometric model obtained by preliminary principal component analysis (PCA) of LC-ESI/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS data allowed the identification of the fractions that caused the perception of bitterness. Subsequently, a partial least squares (PLS) regression model was built. The studies carried out with multivariate analysis showed that unedone (2-(1,2-dihydroxypropyl)-4,4,8-trimethyl-1-oxaspiro [2.5] oct-7-en-6-one) can be considered responsible for the bitter taste of strawberry tree honey. Confirmation of the bitter taste of unedone was obtained by sensory evaluation of a pure standard, allowing it to be added to the list of natural compounds responsible for giving the sensation of bitterness to humans.

scholarly journals Pharmacoinformatics: Development through History and Its Role in Pharmaceutical Industry

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Zaffar Ahmed Shaikh ◽  
Ali Orangzeb Panhwar ◽  
Kamlesh Kumar ◽  
Irfan Ahmed Solangi ◽  
Abida Parveen Panhwar
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Great Role ◽  
Medical Field ◽  
Computer Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

Medicine has displayed miraculous developments during the past century or so. Credit goes to the emergence of scientific research methods. Research on the disease, its causes, effects, precaution, and especially cure has revolutionized the world. Man has been liberated from epidemics and other deadly diseases. All this would not have been possible, had there not been research and development in medication simultaneously. The pharmaceutical industry is an integral part of the medical field. A real boost was given to all kinds of research with the invention of the computer. Data saving, processing, and analysis were never easier. This paper aims at highlighting the great role and importance of Pharmacoinformatics in drug discovery. It also elucidates how drug discovery is done. A portion of it also targets how this science has evolved over time. The particular purpose is to trace the transformations that came with the introduction of Information Technology in this field.

Direct chromatographic methods for the rapid determination of homogentisic acid in strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey

2005 ◽  
Vol 1090 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 76-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Scanu ◽  
Nadia Spano ◽  
Angelo Panzanelli ◽  
Maria I. Pilo ◽  
Paola C. Piu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Determination ◽  
Homogentisic Acid ◽  
Arbutus Unedo ◽  
Chromatographic Methods ◽  
Strawberry Tree

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Telesca Giuseppe
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Past ◽  
Final Goal ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Over Time

The ambition of this book is to combine different bodies of scholarship that in the past have been interested in (1) providing social/structural analysis of financial elites, (2) measuring their influence, or (3) exploring their degree of persistence/circulation. The final goal of the volume is to investigate the adjustment of financial elites to institutional change, and to assess financial elites’ contribution to institutional change. To reach this goal, the nine chapters of the book introduced here look at financial elites’ role in different European societies and markets over time, and provide historical comparisons and country and cross-country analysis of their adaptation and contribution to the transformation of the national and international regulatory/cultural context in the wake of a crisis or in a longer term perspective.

Newman's Early Roman Catholic Legacy, 1845-1854

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Michael Shea
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
John Henry Newman ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Past ◽  
Immaculate Conception ◽  
Over Time

For the past several decades, scholars have stressed that the genius of John Henry Newman remained underappreciated among his Roman Catholic contemporaries, and in order to find the true impact of his work, one must look to the century after his death. This book takes direct aim at that assumption. Examining a host of overlooked evidence from England and the European continent, Newman’s Early Legacy tracks letters, recorded conversations, and obscure and unpublished theological exchanges to show how Newman’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine influenced a cadre of Catholic teachers, writers, and Church authorities in nineteenth-century Rome. The book explores how these individuals then employed Newman’s theory of development to argue for the definability of the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary during the years preceding the doctrine’s promulgation in 1854. Through numerous twists and turns, the narrative traces how the theory of development became a factor in determining the very language that the Roman Catholic Church would use in referring to doctrinal change over time. In this way, Newman’s Early Legacy uncovers a key dimension of Newman’s significance in modern religious history.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Downes ◽  
Sally Holloway ◽  
Sarah Randles
Keyword(s):  
Material World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Over Time

This book is about the ways in which humans have been bound affectively to the material world in and over time; how they have made, commissioned, and used objects to facilitate their emotional lives; how they felt about their things; and the ways certain things from the past continue to make people feel today. The temporal and geographical focus of ...

Anti-corruption in History

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Over Time

Anticorruption in History is the first major collection of case studies on how past societies and polities, in and beyond Europe, defined legitimate power in terms of fighting corruption and designed specific mechanisms to pursue that agenda. It is a timely book: corruption is widely seen today as a major problem, undermining trust in government, financial institutions, economic efficiency, the principle of equality before the law and human wellbeing in general. Corruption, in short, is a major hurdle on the “path to Denmark”—a feted blueprint for stable and successful statebuilding. The resonance of this view explains why efforts to promote anticorruption policies have proliferated in recent years. But while the subjects of corruption and anticorruption have captured the attention of politicians, scholars, NGOs and the global media, scant attention has been paid to the link between corruption and the change of anticorruption policies over time and place. Such a historical approach could help explain major moments of change in the past as well as reasons for the success and failure of specific anticorruption policies and their relation to a country’s image (of itself or as construed from outside) as being more or less corrupt. It is precisely this scholarly lacuna that the present volume intends to begin to fill. A wide range of historical contexts are addressed, ranging from the ancient to the modern period, with specific insights for policy makers offered throughout.

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