Milk products are a very important human nutrient since their consumption has increased in recent years. Good quality measurements are essential to control and maintain milk products and processes quality, both in manufacturing, trade and in research. The presence of toxic elements in powdered and liquid milk may create significant health problems for people. The aim of this paper was to determine the content of major and minor elements in different milk samples, sold in major supermarket chains in Romania. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used for the quantitative determination of elements in this matrix. Analyses were performed after the chemical mineralization of the samples with nitrogen acid. Detection limits ranged from 0.4 to7.03 ng/g.

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A polyphenolic extract of Robinia pseudoacacia L. flowers was prepared using a hydro-ethanolic extraction phase. The chemical analysis of the extract consisted in the assessment of the total polyphenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteu method) and the flavonoid fingerprint of the extract determined by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). Two methods ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and radical scavenging activity with DPPH were used to measure the antioxidant activity of the extract. The cytotoxic and antitumor effects were evaluated on two cell lines: palatal mesenchymal stem cells (pMSCs) and epithelial cells derived from human cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa (ATTC® CCL-2™)). The chemical content of Robinia pseudoacacia L. flowers extract reveals the presence of apigenin-7-glucoside and rutin. Results indicated high antioxidant activity with both methods (FRAP and DPPH). No cytotoxic effects of the extract were observed on the pMSCs cell line. The extract induced significant necrosis and apoptosis of the HeLa cells, proving an antitumor effect in vitro. The data confirm the antioxidant and antitumor effects of the polyphenols and the therapeutic potential of Robinia pseudoacaia flowers extract. In the last years, the therapeutic effect of the compounds from Robinia pseudoacacia flowers is less discussed; even the traditional medicine mentions them as helpful medicinal means. The present paper points out the correlation between Robinia pseudoacacia flowers polyphenolic compounds and their chemical and biological effects.

The present paper describes a simple and efficient electrophoretic method to identify the species provenience of edible eggs in food products. The proteic pattern of egg yolk and egg white was described using polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis under denaturating conditions (PAGE-SDS) separately for the egg yolk and for the egg white proteins from five edible egg species, as follows: hen, goose, duck, turkey and quail. The molecular weight of each protein strip was calculated using a molecular weight standard curve. Separately, an electrophoretic protein pattern of all the mentioned samples was done using polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis under undenaturating conditions (native PAGE). The results show clearly distinct patterns in electrophoregrams resulted both in denaturating and undenaturating conditions for each species. These methods could be useful tools for egg species routine identification in various food industrial mixtures.

The chelate assisted phytoremediation of polluted soils, based on the complexation of metals with chelators, can be a valuable green solution for agricultural soils decontamination. Copper is considered a hardly available and slowly translocating element, but the complexation may increase its bioavailability and translocation capacity, with benefits for soil phytoremediation. In our study, the ability of horse manure-a natural source of compounds which can act as chelators for enhancing the bioavailability and uptake of copper from contaminated soils-was investigated, by the use of white mustard (Sinapis alba) as the accumulator plant; the results were compared with those obtained for ethylenediaminetetraacetate, a synthetic chelator. The copper bioavailability, bioaccumulation, uptake, and thus the potential for phytoremediation of copper polluted soils, were estimated by translocation factor, bioaccumulation factor, and uptake coefficient. The results indicated that the use of horse manure as natural chelators source can improve the copper phytoextraction capacity, also having the advantage of an increase in biomass.