In non Western samples, we might find that categorical information might have an indirect effect , because people in non-Western cultural contexts could potentially see the inter connectedness with other categories. To be sure, our finding does not necessarily mean that emphasizing categorical information in language does not have a long term effect in fostering a holistic thinking style. Future research should implement training studies across different cultures to test this hypothesis. Interestingly, our Study 2 observed that females, more than males, are influenced by the verbal labels during the verbal triad task. First of all, this cannot be attributed to the fact that females are generally more susceptible to categorical associations, since there was no difference in the control condition in Study 2 and no difference in both pictorial and verbal triad tasks in Study 1. Although there were some studies showing gender differences in thinking styles, we do not have a strong theory to explain the gender differences observed in the current study. We could only speculate that females may be more receptive to verbal information than males, given some evidence on gender differences in verbal skills . One caveat is that our sample size in Study 2 was small and unbalanced in gender so future studies should examine the potential gender differences with a larger and balanced sample. There are a couple of limitations of the current studies. First, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, both studies were conducted online so the testing environment and the attentional state of participants were not controlled. Since the studies were self-paced, the priming influence in our Study 2 could vary across individuals. Second, we only focused on a young adult sample in a Western culture so the generalizability of the current findings awaits the tests from future studies examining different ages and cultures. In conclusion,square black flower bucket wholesale our research provided some new evidence that verbal labels could influence thinking styles measured in the triad task.
The way language might influence thinking styles however , might depend on the language context. Our results add on the evidence that language could mediate the impact of culture on thinking styles. More importantly, thinking styles should be considered a contextually-dependent concept which could vary across individuals, tasks, and cultures. Cultivation and consumption of pomegranate can be dated back to at least 3000 BC. Historically, pomegranate has served as a symbol of fertility and prosperity. In addition, various parts of the pomegranate have been used in traditional medicine for treating a wide variety of illness. Pomegranate fruits have purported use for expelling parasites, seeds and fruit peels for treating diarrhea, flowers for managing diabetes, tree barks and roots for stopping bleeding and healing ulcers, and leaves for controlling inflammation and treating digestive system disorders. Due to its reported benefits to human health, the pomegranate has drawn great interest from the consumers in recent years. Nowadays, the pomegranate is used for functional food ingredients and dietary supplements in various forms, such as fresh fruit and juice, powdered capsules and tablets that contain extracts of different pomegranate tissues, tea brewed from pomegranate leaves, jam, jelly, juice and wine produced from pomegranate fruits, as well as spices prepared from dried seeds. With the advancement of technologies and the expansion of experimental inquiries into the bio-activities of pomegranate phytochemicals, many new discoveries have been made in this ancient fruit within the last decade. To date, over 1500 articles have been published on the subject“pomegranate”, of which 1259 articles were published between 2006 and 2016. Although the pomegranate produces and accumulates a wide variety of phytochemicals with diverse structures in different tissues , investigative efforts thus far have been given mainly to the bio-activities of polyphenols in pomegranate fruits, in particular anthocyanins and hydrolyzable tannins , which are assessed in this review. Specifically, various health-promoting activities of urolithins, a group of phenolic metabolites transformed from ellagic acid by the human gut micro-biota, will be reviewed.
Development of cutting-edge analytical techniques has enabled the acquisition of large-scale metabolic datasets, which requires careful analysis and interpretation. To facilitate characterization of metabolite profiling data in pomegranate, we examine the phytochemicals that have been identified in pomegranate, including detailed information on the chemical structures, molecular formulas, molecular weights, analytical methods , and tissues of identification . Knowledge of phytochemicals present in different pomegranate tissues will also help assess the structural determinants of their bio-activities as well as the additive, antagonistic or synergistic interactions of these phytochemicals in complex mixtures. Numerous phytochemicals have been identified in different pomegranate tissues using diode array detection , electron spin resonance , fluorescence detection , flame ionization detection , infrared spectroscopy , mass spectrometry , nuclear magnetic resonance , and thin layer chromatography . It should be noted that disparities regarding the presence/absence of phytochemicals in specific tissues have been observed in different pomegranate cultivars. In addition, the quantities of phytochemicals vary among the pomegranate cultivars. HTs are among the most studied phytochemicals in pomegranate; they can be further grouped into ETs and gallotannins based on the different phenolic acids that are esterified to the core cyclic polyol molecule . Overall, more than 60 HTs have been identified from pomegranate using MS and/or NMR . Pomegranate fruit peel is rich in HTs, particularly ETs. Punicalagin isomers constitute up to 85% of total tannins extracted from pomegranate fruit peel. EA, methylated EA, and their glycosidic derivatives have also been found in fruit peel and other pomegranate tissues . Although punicalagin isomers represent the major ETs in pomegranate roots, they accumulate at much lower levels in roots than fruit peel. Besides fruit peel, pomegranate stem barks are also abundant in HTs and have been used historically in tanneries for making leather. In addition to the HTs identified in fruit peel, stem barks also contain ET C-glycosides, punicacorteins A–D , and punigluconin.
The dense inner part of pomegranate tree trunk contains brevifolin carboxylic acid, EA rutinoside, diellagic acid rutinoside, methyl-EA, methyl-EA rutinoside, punicalin, galloylpunicalin, and galloylpunicacortein D. The composition of HTs in pomegranate leaves is largely different from that in fruit peel. In leaves, the major HTs are granatins A and B, whereas punicalagins and punicalins are present at negligible levels. Additional ETs with galloyl and/or hexahydroxydiphenoyl substitutions have also been identified in leaves. Interestingly, derivatives of EA and ETs, including urolithin M-5, brevifolin, and brevifolin carboxylic acid, have been isolated from pomegranate leaves. In pomegranate flowers, EA and two oxidized derivatives of EA, pomegranatate and phyllanthusiin E, were discovered. Punicatannins A and B, two ETs that contain an unusual 3-oxol,3,3a,8b-tetrahydrofuro[3,4-b]benzofuran functional group, together with a structurally relatedcompound isocorilagin, were also found in pomegranate flowers. In addition, brevifolin carboxylic acid, ethylbrevifolin carboxylate, as well as glucose with various galloyl and/or HHDP substitutions, including hippomanin A, gemin D, digalloyl-diHHDP-glucose, trigalloyl glucose, and gallic acid 3-O-β-D–glucopyranoside showed measurable accumulations in pomegranate flowers.Pomegranate fruit peel, aril, and juice are abundant in flavonoids of diverse structures, including the aglycones and glycosides of chalcones, flavanones, flavones, flavonols, ATs, flavan-3-ols, and procyanidins . Two flavones, luteolin and tricetin, were found in a methanolic extract of pomegranate flowers. Structures of two flavanones, punicaflavanol and granatumflavanyl xyloside, were elucidated by NMR, while hovetrichoside C and phlorizin were identified by IR in pomegranate flowers. Similar to other plants, leaves of pomegranate also accumulate high levels of flavone glycosides. Two flavanone diglycosides and one flavonol diglycoside isolated from pomegranate stem barks were shown to be eriodictyol-7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside,plastic square flower bucket naringenin-40 methyl ether 7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside, and quercetin-3,40 -dimethyl ether 7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside, respectively, by NMR analysis. High performance liquid chromatography -DAD studies revealed that two isoflavones, genistein and daidzein, as well as a flavonol quercetin, are present in pomegranate seeds. Plant lignans are a group of phytoestrogens that can be metabolized into mammalian lignans by the gut micro-biota. Furofuran-, dibenzylbutane-, and dibenzylbutyrolactone-type lignans have been identified in different pomegranate tissues based on liquid chromatography -MSn studies , while isolariciresinol is the most abundant lignan present in pomegranate fruit peel. In addition to the above-mentioned lignans, pomegralignan, a dihydrobenzofuran-type neolignan glycoside, was discovered in the aril and fruit peel of pomegranate. Another neolignan, punnicatannin C, was isolated from pomegranate flowers and structurally characterized by NMR analysis. Triterpenoids are the biosynthetic precursors of steroids in plants and animals . Triterpenoids and phytosterols have been found in pomegranate seed, leaf, flower, fruit peel, and bark tissues . The presence of human steroid hormones, including estrone, estriol, estradiol, and testosterone, in pomegranate seeds was reported previously based on TLC separations and colorimetric assays. However, HPLC-DAD- and gas chromatography -MS-based analysis showed that these steroid hormones could not be identified in pomegranate seeds using the more sensitive analytical methods. Pelletierine, pseudopelletierine, and N-methylpelletierine comprise the major alkaloids in pomegranate stem and root barks. Sedridine, 2–∆ 1piperideine, 2–∆ 1piperideine, norpseudopelletierine, and the pyrrolidine alkaloids hygrine and norhygrine, were also found in root barks at low quantities. In addition to the alkaloids that accumulate in root and stem barks, N-pyridinium chloride was identified in pomegranate leaves, and a pyrrolidine-type alkaloid punigratane was recently characterized in pomegranate fruit peel. Besides alkaloids, low levels of indolamines , including tryptamine, melatonin, and serotonin, were present in the extract of pomegranate fruit.Fatty acids of medium , long , and very long chain length have been identified from pomegranate seeds, juice, and fruit using GC-FID, MS, or NMR analysis .
The polyunsaturated FA punicic acid represents the most abundant FA in pomegranate seeds, accounting for over 60% of seed oil. Triacylglycerols containing 9E, 11Z, 13E-octadecatrienoic acid, 3-O-octadec-2-enoic acid, 9Z, 11E, 13Z-octadecatrienoic acid, and 8Z, 11Z, 13E-octadecatrienoic acid are produced in pomegranate seeds and their structures were determined by NMR. In addition, a glycosphingolipid N-palmitoyl cerebroside was identified from pomegranate seed oil by TLC and GC-FID analyses. The major organic acids in pomegranate juice are citric acid and malic acid. Pomegranate juice also contains ascorbic acid, fumaric acid, oxalic acid, quinic acid, succinic acid, and tartaric acid, some of which have also been identified in the leaf, fruit peel, and seed tissues. Phenolic acids , primarily benzoic acid and cinnamic acid derivatives, are usually found in pomegranate fruit peel, juice, and flowers . In addition, the structure of a substituted coumarin, 7,8-dihydroxy-3-carboxymethylcoumarin-5-carboxylic acid, was characterized in pomegranate flowers by NMR. The synergy principle of phytochemicals has long been employed in traditional herbal medicine. Multi-target drugs derived from mixtures of plant natural products have increasingly been pursued nowadays to contradict drug tolerance and resistance in cancer therapy. Although several studies have suggested synergistic interactions among pomegranate phytochemicals, this is a promising, but currently under-explored topic. Fresh arils and juice products of pomegranate fruit, as well as seeds of the soft-seeded cultivars, are mostly consumed. Phytochemicals in pomegranate fruit peel extracts, fermented pomegranate juice, and pomegranate seed oil exhibited cooperative interactions toward limiting the proliferation, metastasis, and invasiveness of human prostate cancer cells in vitro. A subsequent analysis with pure phytochemicals, including EA, caffeic acid, luteolin, and punicic acid, also showed synergistic interactions on suppressing the invasion of prostate cancer cells. Interestingly, commercial pomegranate juice demonstrated more antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities than the purified pomegranate polyphenols in colon cancer cells, suggesting that inherent synergies exist among polyphenols and other phytochemicals in pomegranate juice. When the commercial pomegranate-nectarine juice was separated into predominately sugar, organic acid, neutral phenol, and AT fractions, complex antagonistic or synergistic effects were observed among different fractions on the total phenol or total antioxidant content. The antagonistic or synergistic interactions depended on the concentrations of the chemical constituents in the juice product . The polyphenol extracts of pomegranate fruit also synergistically interacted with the antibacterial drug ciprofloxacin, though various bacterial strains responded differently to the phytochemical-drug synergy, and the underlying mechanism of such synergy remains unknown .ATs are colorful, water-soluble polyphenol pigments that are found in many plant foods, such as berries and pomegranate fruits. Plant ATs are often investigated collectively as a group of phytochemicals for their bio-activities, and have been linked to many aspects of human disease prevention and treatment. The anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective activities of ATs are attributed by their antioxidant properties via various underlying mechanisms. ATs can quench free radicals, inhibit the activity of xanthine oxidase that generates free radicals, and chelate metal ions that are involved in oxidation of low-density lipoproteins. In addition, ATs induce the expression of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 that regulates the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, such as hemeoxygenase-1.