Questions for Freud: The secret history of psychoanalysis.

Review of book: Questions for Freud: The Secret History of Psychoanalysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, xiv + 239 pp. Reviewed by Hannah S. Decker. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polymer–Ferrocene Conjugates Containing an Ester Function in the Connecting Links

Ferrocene, the parent of the metallocene family of organotransition metal compounds, has come to occupy a significant niche in cancer research. Developmental work in the authors' laboratory has been focused on the synthesis of antiproliferative ferrocene conjugates in which the bioactive ferrocene unit is covalently, yet bioreversibly bound (anchored) to water-soluble carrier polymers designed in accordance with requisite biomedical specifications. The anchoring link in most of these conjugates has been an aliphatic spacer containing the biofissionable amide group. In this communication the synthesis of a class of ferrocene conjugates is reported in which the ferrocene group is carrier-anchored through spacers containing an ester link, of interest here because of potentially different drug release behavior. The carriers are polyamides equipped with variously spaced hydroxyl side groups, to which the ferrocenylation agent, 4-ferrocenylbutanoic acid, is connected through esterification. The coupling reactions, mediated by carbodiimide agent and catalyzed by 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine, are carried out in DMF at temperatures not exceeding 65°C, and the water-soluble product polymers are isolated in yields of typically 70–85% by precipitation, aqueous dialysis, and freeze-drying. With the molar feed ratios chosen in these coupling experiments, the incorporation of ferrocene, assessed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, corresponds to iron contents of roughly 2.5–5.5%, by mass. The conjugates will be included in a forthcoming bioactivity screening program.     

Hybrid modeling of inulinase bio‐production process

BACKGROUND: A potential application of inulinase in the food industry is the production of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) through transfructosilation of sucrose. Besides their ability to increase the shelf‐life and flavor of many products, FOS have many interesting functional properties. The use of an industrial medium may represent a good, cost‐effective alternative to produce inulinase, since the activity of the enzyme produced may be improved or at least remain the same compared with that obtained using a synthetic medium. Thus, inulinase production for use in FOS synthesis is of considerable scientific and technological appeal, as is the development of a reliable mathematical model of the process. This paper describes a hybrid neural network approach to model inulinase production in a batch bioreactor using agroindustrial residues as substrate. The hybrid modeling makes use of a series artificial neural network to estimate the kinetic parameters of the process and the mass balance as constitutive equations. RESULTS: The proposed model was shown to be capable of describing the complex behavior of inulinase production employing agroindustrial residues as substrate, so that the mathematical framework developed is a useful tool for simulation of this process. CONCLUSION: The hybrid neural network model developed was shown to be an interesting alternative to estimate model parameters since complete elucidation of the phenomena and mechanisms involved in the fermentation is not required owing to the black‐box nature of the ANN used as parameter estimator. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Winery grape-residue extract: Effects on quality and sensory attributes of cooked chicken meat

Sensory analysis, instrumental color, pH, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were determined on cooked chicken meat with and without grape seed extract during refrigerated storage. The effectiveness of extracts of winery grape residue from the grape varieties ‘Isabel’ and ‘Niagara’ were tested to evaluate their effectiveness at delaying lipid oxidation in cooked chicken meat and stored under refrigeration (4±1°C). The samples were aerobically and vacuum packaged and stored for 14 days. ‘Isabel’ grape extract (IGE) and ‘Niagara’ grape extract (NGE) proved effective at promoting oxidative stability when applied at concentrations of 40 or 60 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/kg, with results similar to the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The antioxidant efficiency of the extracts was highly dependent on the concentration used. The addition of grape-residue extracts combined with vacuum packaging proved to be a good method for increasing lipid stability in cooked chicken meat stored under refrigeration.     

Influence of the inorganic phase concentration and geometry on the viscoelastic properties of latex coatings through the glass-transition

The mechanical properties of artists’ acrylic (latex) paint films containing different volume fractions of TiO₂, CaCO₃ and kaolin were measured in uni-axial tension over a broad range of temperatures and crosshead speeds. Young’s modulus results in the glassy region were first compared with several micromechanics theories for particle-filled composites containing elastic phases. It was found that the Mori-Tanaka theory slightly under-predicted the modulus enhancement, while the Lielens approach provided the most accurate results. A nonlinear viscoelastic material model involving a Prony series and the neo-Hookean hyperelastic function was used to represent the tensile data up to relatively small strains of a few percent. From the experimental data, the material model was calibrated and the required parameters were determined. The derived parameters were then used to re-construct relaxation modulus plots, which were compared with the approximations given by Clements and Mas for the viscoelastic Mori-Tanaka theory in the time-domain. It was found that the experimentally observed modulus enhancement was much stronger than the predicted values in the rubbery region. Mechanisms such as constrained polymer at the inorganic particle interface, and the possible formation of a percolation network are discussed.     

A Rapid Size-Exclusion Solid-Phase Extraction Step for Enhanced Sensitivity in Multi-Allergen Determination in Dark Chocolate and Biscuits by Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Enhanced sensitivity for the simultaneous determination of five nut allergens in biscuit and in dark chocolate complex matrices was obtained by introduction of a rapid size-exclusion solid-phase extraction-based step before liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS²) analysis. A very fast and efficient separation (<12 min) of marker peptides with selected reaction monitoring detection was obtained. Limits of detection in the 0.1–1.3 mg nut/kg and 5–15 mg nut/kg ranges for biscuit and dark chocolate samples as well as high recoveries (84(±6)–106(±4)% for biscuits and 98(±5)–108(±6)% for dark chocolate) proved the excellent capabilities of the exploited sample treatment method combined with the LC-MS² analysis. Good precision in terms of intra- and inter-day repeatability was calculated, being always lower than 19 % (n?=?75). Linearity was demonstrated up to four and three orders of magnitude for biscuit and dark chocolate, respectively. Finally, the validated method was successfully applied to the investigation of hidden nut trace allergens in commercially available biscuits and chocolates of different brands aiming to ascertain possible discrepancies between allergen content and food allergen labelling.     

Fluorinated membranes as interfaces for application in catalysis

In this work the use of poly(vinylidene) fluoride based membrane as interfaces for the biphasic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldheyde has been reported. The membranes have been prepared by means of dry-wet phase inversion. Membranes with different surface characteristics have been selected for the oxidation reaction.     

Optimization of transesterification of castor oil with ethanol using a central composite rotatable design (CCRD)

In the present study, the synthesis of fatty acid esters from castor oil using an alkaline catalyst was optimized. The variables reaction time, catalyst amount and oil:ethanol molar ratio were studied using a central composite rotatable design. The effects and significance of the models on the response variable and on ethyl biodiesel yield derived from pure castor oil were evaluated using a response surface curve and analysis of variance. All the variables significantly affected the reaction yield, the amount of catalyst being the most effective. The highest yield was obtained using an oil:ethanol molar ratio of 1:11, 1.75% KOH and a reaction time of 90 min.     

High temperature lithium cells using conversion oxide electrodes

Oxidized stainless steel electrodes containing chromium oxides without any conducting additives or binder have been successfully cycled at high temperatures (up to 100 °C) in organic solvent-based electrolytes with high reversibility. Cycling at high temperature results in an enhancement of the capacity at lower voltages, which is maintained upon cycling. After studying different electrolyte candidates, the best results were obtained using lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) dissolved in ethylene carbonate.