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Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are advertised as being safer than tobacco cigarettes products as the chemical compounds inhaled from e-cigarettes are believed to be fewer and less toxic than those from tobacco cigarettes. Therefore, continuous careful monitoring and risk management of e-cigarettes should be implemented, with the aim of protecting and promoting public health worldwide. Moreover, basic scientific data are required for the regulation of e-cigarette. To date, there have been reports of many hazardous chemical compounds generated from e-cigarettes, particularly carbonyl compounds such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, and glyoxal, which are often found in e-cigarette aerosols. These carbonyl compounds are incidentally generated by the oxidation of e-liquid (liquid in e-cigarette; glycerol and glycols) when the liquid comes in contact with the heated nichrome wire. The compositions and concentrations of these compounds vary depending on the type of e-liquid and the battery voltage. In some cases, extremely high concentrations of these carbonyl compounds are generated, and may contribute to various health effects. Suppliers, risk management organizations, and users of e-cigarettes should be aware of this phenomenon.

The metabolomic profiles of four major species of cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, C. burmannii, C. loureiroi, and C. cassia) were investigated by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS). Thirty-six metabolites were tentatively characterized, belonging to various compound groups such as phenolic glycosides, flavan-3-ols, phenolic acids, terpenes, alkaloids, and aldehydes. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) on the HRMS data matrix resulted in a clear separation of the four cinnamon species. Coumarin, cinnamaldehyde, methoxycinnamaldehyde, cinnamoyl-methoxyphenyl acetate, proanthocyanidins, and other components varied among the four species. Such variations were used to develop a step-by-step strategy for differentiating the four cinnamon species based on their levels of pre-selected components. This study suggests a significant variation in the phytochemical compositions of different cinnamon species, which have a direct influence on cinnamon’s health benefit potentials.

To investigate how the two main electronic (e-) cigarette solvents-propylene glycol (PG) and glycerol (GL)-modulate the formation of toxic volatile carbonyl compounds under precisely controlled temperatures in the absence of nicotine and flavor additives. PG, GL, PG:GL = 1:1 (wt/wt) mixture, and two commercial e-cigarette liquids were vaporized in a stainless steel, tubular reactor in flowing air ranging up to 318°C to simulate e-cigarette vaping. Aerosols were collected and analyzed to quantify the amount of volatile carbonyls produced with each of the five e-liquids. Significant amounts of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were detected at reactor temperatures ≥215°C for both PG and GL. Acrolein was observed only in e-liquids containing GL when reactor temperatures exceeded 270°C. At 318°C, 2.03±0.80 μg of formaldehyde, 2.35±0.87 μg of acetaldehyde, and a trace amount of acetone were generated per milligram of PG; at the same temperature, 21.1±3.80 μg of formaldehyde, 2.40±0.99 μg of acetaldehyde, and 0.80±0.50 μg of acrolein were detected per milligram of GL. We developed a device-independent test method to investigate carbonyl emissions from different e-cigarette liquids under precisely controlled temperatures. PG and GL were identified to be the main sources of toxic carbonyl compounds from e-cigarette use. GL produced much more formaldehyde than PG. Besides formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, measurable amounts of acrolein were also detected at ≥270°C but only when GL was present in the e-liquid. At 215°C, the estimated daily exposure to formaldehyde from e-cigarettes, exceeded United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) acceptable limits, which emphasized the need to further examine the potential cancer and non-cancer health risks associated with e-cigarette use.

Acrolein, a polyamine produced from spermine during brain infarction, has recently been used in clinical settings for brain infarction risk assessment. However, few studies have investigated the diagnostic usefulness of acrolein measurement in postmortem specimens. In this study, we measured the acrolein concentration in postmortem specimens to assess its potential as a marker for stroke diagnosis. Acrolein concentrations in the serum and urine were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 25, 19, 21, and 93 brain infarction, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage, and control cases, respectively. No correlations or significant differences were observed between the acrolein concentrations in blood or urine, age, time since death, or sex. However, the serum acrolein concentrations increased significantly in cases of brain infarction, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and cerebral hemorrhage compared with non-stroke cases, with diagnostic cutoff values of 117.1, 119.9, and 130.3 nmol/mL, respectively. Conversely, the urinary acrolein concentrations decreased in specimens from subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebral hemorrhage cases, suggesting dilution due to higher urine volumes. In conclusion, our findings suggest that serum acrolein concentration remains unaffected by the time elapsed after death. Moreover, the measurement of serum acrolein in postmortem specimens is effective in diagnosing stroke.

Isoprene photooxidation is a major driver of atmospheric chemistry over forested regions. Isoprene reacts with hydroxyl radicals (OH) and molecular oxygen to produce isoprene peroxy radicals (ISOPOO). These radicals can react with hydroperoxyl radicals (HO₂) to dominantly produce hydroxyhydroperoxides (ISOPOOH). They can also react with nitric oxide (NO) to largely produce methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) and methacrolein (MACR). Unimolecular isomerization and bimolecular reactions with organic peroxy radicals are also possible. There is uncertainty about the relative importance of each of these pathways in the atmosphere and possible changes because of anthropogenic pollution. Herein, measurements of ISOPOOH and MVK + MACR concentrations are reported over the central region of the Amazon basin during the wet season. The research site, downwind of an urban region, intercepted both background and polluted air masses during the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment. Under background conditions, the confidence interval for the ratio of the ISOPOOH concentration to that of MVK + MACR spanned 0.4–0.6. This result implies a ratio of the reaction rate of ISOPOO with HO₂ to that with NO of approximately unity. A value of unity is significantly smaller than simulated at present by global chemical transport models for this important, nominally low-NO, forested region of Earth. Under polluted conditions, when the concentrations of reactive nitrogen compounds were high (>1 ppb), ISOPOOH concentrations dropped below the instrumental detection limit (<60 ppt). This abrupt shift in isoprene photooxidation, sparked by human activities, speaks to ongoing and possible future changes in the photochemistry active over the Amazon rainforest.

A wide range of analytical techniques are reported for the determination of cinnamaldehyde (CCHO) and eugenol (EOH) in plant extracts and herbal formulations either alone or in combination. Nevertheless, sustainable/green analytical techniques for the estimation of CCHO and EOH either alone or in combination are scarce in the literature. Accordingly, the present research was carried out to establish a rapid, highly sensitive, and sustainable high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) technique for the simultaneous estimation of CCHO and EOH in the traditional and ultrasound-assisted methanolic extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia and their essential oils. The simultaneous estimation of CCHO and EOH was performed through NP-18 silica gel 60 F254S HPTLC plates. The cyclohexane/ethyl acetate (90:10, v v−1) solvent system was optimized as the mobile phase for the simultaneous estimation of CCHO and EOH. The greenness score of the HPTLC technique was predicted using AGREE software. The entire analysis was carried out at a detection wavelength of 296 nm for CCHO and EOH. The sustainable HPTLC technique was observed as linear in the range 10–2000 ng band−1 for CCHO and EOH. The proposed technique was found to be highly sensitive, rapid, accurate, precise, and robust for the simultaneous estimation of CCHO and EOH. The content of CCHO in traditional methanolic extracts of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 96.36, 118.49, and 114.18 mg g−1, respectively. However, the content of CCHO in ultrasound-assisted methanolic extracts of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 111.57, 134.39, and 129.07 mg g−1, respectively. The content of CCHO in essential oils of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 191.20, 214.24, and 202.09 mg g−1, respectively. The content of EOH in traditional methanolic extracts of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 73.38, 165.41, and 109.10 mg g−1, respectively. However, the content of EOH in ultrasound-assisted methanolic extracts of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 87.20, 218.09, and 121.85 mg g−1, respectively. The content of EOH in essential oils of C. zeylanicum,C. burmannii, and C. cassia was found to be 61.26, 79.21, and 69.02 mg g−1, respectively. The amounts of CCHO and EOH were found to be significantly higher in ultrasound-assisted extracts of all species compared to its traditional extraction and hence ultrasound extraction has been proposed as a superior technique for the extraction of CCHO and EOH. The AGREE analytical score of the present analytical technique was predicted as 0.75, suggesting excellent greenness profile of the proposed analytical technique. Based on all these observations and results, the proposed sustainable HPTLC technique can be successfully used for the simultaneous estimation of CCHO and EOH in different plant extracts and herbal products.

Cinnamomum cassia Presl. is a subtropical plant that is used for food and medicine. Climate change has changed the suitable habitats of medicinal plants, which might have repercussions for the efficacy of herbal remedies. In this study, the potential distribution in each period of Cinnamomum cassia was predicted and the quality in different suitable habitats was evaluated. According to the results, (1) precipitation, temperature, and soil are the primary environmental variables influencing C. cassia distribution. (2) The high-suitable habitats of current climate scenarios were predominantly located in the southern regions (Guangdong and Guangxi etc.) of China, with an area of 706,129.08 km 2 . Under future climate scenarios, suitable habitats will increasingly move northward, with a greater concentration south of the Yangtze River, particularly in the 2090s SSP585 scenario, the total area of newly extended suitable habitat reaches 312,963.53 km 2 . (3) HPLC and FTIR, combined with chemometrics, can be effective methods for identifying different suitable habitats of C. cassia . The content of trans -cinnamaldehyde (0.85%) is significantly higher in the high suitability habitat compared to the medium-low suitability habitat (0.30%). Our findings can offer valuable guidance for the identification of suitable C. cassia cultivation areas in China, as well as for the evaluation of C. cassia resource quality and the rational use of resources in different suitable habitats.

There is considerable debate over the capacity of the cell wall polymer lignin to incorporate unnatural monomer units. We have identified Tnt1 retrotransposon insertion mutants of barrel medic (Medicago truncatula) that show reduced lignin autofluorescence under UV microscopy and red coloration in interfascicular fibers. The phenotype is caused by insertion of retrotransposons into a gene annotated as encoding cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase, here designated M. truncatula CAD1 . NMR analysis indicated that the lignin is derived almost exclusively from coniferaldehyde and sinapaldehyde and is therefore strikingly different from classical lignins, which are derived mainly from coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols. Despite such a major alteration in lignin structure, the plants appear normal under standard conditions in the greenhouse or growth chamber. However, the plants are dwarfed when grown at 30 °C. Glycome profiling revealed an increased extractability of some xylan and pectin epitopes from the cell walls of the cad1-1 mutant but decreased extractability of others, suggesting that aldehyde-dominant lignin significantly alters cell wall structure.

Chemoprevention, which includes the use of synthetic or natural agents (alone or in combination) to block the development of cancer in human beings, is an extremely promising strategy for cancer prevention. Cinnamon is one of the most widely used herbal medicines with diverse biological activities including anti-tumor activity. In the present study, we have reported the anti-neoplastic activity of cinnamon in cervical cancer cell line, SiHa. The aqueous cinnamon extract (ACE-c) was analyzed for its cinnamaldehyde content by HPTLC analysis. The polyphenol content of ACE-c was measured by Folin-Ciocalteau method. Cytotoxicity analysis was performed by MTT assay. We studied the effect of cinnamon on growth kinetics by performing growth curve, colony formation and soft agar assays. The cells treated with ACE-c were analyzed for wound healing assay as well as for matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression at mRNA and protein level by RT-PCR and zymography, respectively. Her-2 protein expression was analyzed in the control and ACE-c treated samples by immunoblotting as well as confocal microscopy. Apoptosis studies and calcium signaling assays were analyzed by FACS. Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsim) in cinnamon treated cells was studied by JC-1 staining and analyzed by confocal microscopy as well as FACS. Cinnamon alters the growth kinetics of SiHa cells in a dose-dependent manner. Cells treated with ACE-c exhibited reduced number of colonies compared to the control cells. The treated cells exhibited reduced migration potential that could be explained due to downregulation of MMP-2 expression. Interestingly, the expression of Her-2 oncoprotein was significantly reduced in the presence of ACE-c. Cinnamon extract induced apoptosis in the cervical cancer cells through increase in intracellular calcium signaling as well as loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Cinnamon could be used as a potent chemopreventive drug in cervical cancer.

Abstract Introduction Acrolein is a highly ciliatoxic agent, a toxic respiratory irritant, a cardiotoxicant, and a possible carcinogen present in tobacco smoke including hookah tobacco. Methods 105 hookah smokers and 103 non-smokers attended exclusively hookah smoking social events at either a hookah lounge or private home, and provided urine samples the morning of and the morning after the event. Samples were analyzed for 3-hydroxypropylmercapturic acid (3-HPMA), a metabolite of acrolein. Results Geometric mean (GM) urinary 3-HPMA levels in hookah smokers and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) increased significantly, 1.41 times, 95% CI = 1.15 to 1.74 and 1.39 times, 95% CI = 1.16 to 1.67, respectively, following a hookah social event. The highest increase (1.68 times, 95% CI = 1.15 to 2.45; p = 0.007) in 3-HPMA post a hookah social event was among daily hookah smokers (GM, from 1991 pmol/mg to 3348 pmol/mg). Pre-to-post event change in urinary 3-HPMA was significantly positively correlated with pre-to-post event change in urinary cotinine among hookah smokers at either location of hookah event, (ρ = 0.359, p = 0.001), and among non-smokers in hookah lounges (ρ = 0.369, p = 0.012). Conclusions Hookah tobacco smoke is a source of acrolein exposure. Findings support regulating hookah tobacco products including reducing humectants and sugar additives, which are precursors of acrolein under certain pyrolysis conditions. We suggest posting health warning signs for indoor smoking in hookah lounges, and encouraging voluntary bans of smoking hookah tobacco in private homes. Implications Our study is the first to quantify the increase in acrolein exposure in hookah smokers and non-smokers exposed to exclusively hookah tobacco SHS at hookah social events in homes or hookah lounges. Our findings provide additional support for regulating hookah tobacco product content, protecting non-smokers’ health by posting health warning signs for indoor smoking in hookah lounges, and encouraging home bans on hookah tobacco smoking to safeguard vulnerable residents.