Physiological and conjugated linoleic acid-induced changes of adipocyte size in different fat depots of dairy cows during early lactation

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lactation and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on adipocyte sizes of subcutaneous (s.c.) and visceral (VC) fat depots in primiparous dairy cows during the first 105 d in milk (DIM). German Holstein heifers (n = 25) were divided into a control (CON) and a CLA group. From 1 DIM until sample collection, CLA cows were fed 100 g of CLA supplement/d (about 6% of c9,t11 and t10,c12 isomers each), whereas the CON cows received 100 g of fatty acid mixture/d instead of CLA. The CON cows (n = 5 each) were slaughtered at 1, 42, and 105 DIM, and the CLA cows (n = 5 each) were slaughtered at 42 and 105 DIM. Adipose tissues from 3 s.c. depots (tailhead, withers, and sternum) and from 3 VC depots (omental, mesenteric, and retroperitoneal) were sampled. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was done to measure adipocyte area (μm²). Retroperitoneal adipocyte sizes were mostly larger than adipocytes from the other sites, independent of lactation time and treatment. Significant changes related to duration of lactation were limited to retroperitoneal fat: adipocyte sizes were significantly smaller at 105 DIM than at 1 DIM in CON cows. Adipocyte sizes were decreased in s.c. depots from the tailhead at 105 DIM and from the sternum at 42 DIM in CLA versus CON cows, whereas for VC depots, adipocyte sizes were decreased in mesenteric fat at 42 and 105 DIM, and in omental and retroperitoneal fat, at 105 DIM in CLA versus CON cows. Within the CLA group, adipocyte sizes were smaller in the s.c. depot from the tailhead at 105 DIM than at 42 DIM. Adipocyte sizes and depot weights were significantly correlated in s.c. depots (r = 0.795) in the CLA group and in retroperitoneal fat both in the CON (r = 0.698) and the CLA (r = 0.723) group. In conclusion, CLA-induced decreases in adipocyte size indicate lipolytic or antilipogenic effects of CLA, or both effects, on adipose tissue in primiparous dairy cows.     

Effect of processing on nutraceutical properties of foxtail millet (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Setaria italica</Emphasis>) varieties grown in India

Six foxtail varieties grown in India were studied for their nutraceutical properties such as phenolics, tannins and antioxidant activity in whole, dehulled (10 and 17 %) and hulls (10 and 17 %) of the grain. Total antioxidant activity was estimated by three different assays viz., Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil radical scavenging activity (DRSA), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Among the six varieties, SiA-2593 had highest mean total phenolics (TP) (143.56 ± 55 μg PE/g), tannins (413.80 ± 58 mg/100 g), FRAP (1477.83 ± 26 μmol/g), DRSA (81.53 ± 6.9 %) and lowest TBARS (688.04 ± 39 %) followed by SiA-2644. Dehulling of the grain reduced TP by 24.64 and 43.11 %, tannins by 16.13 and 29.61 %, FRAP by 12.09 and 18.81 %, DRSA by 4.07 and 14.76 % and increase of TBARS by 45.29 and 58.21 % at 10 and 17 % dehulling. The hulls obtained after dehulling had higher percentage of TP, tannins, antioxidant activity (higher FRAP and DRSA and lower TBARS value), a positive correlation was observed between FRAP and Tannin (r = 0.90, P < 0.01) and TP (r = 0.86, P < 0.01) values and a negative correlation with TBARS (r = 0.85, P < 0.01). The results of the present study are useful in selecting the foxtail millet variety and processing conditions for development of functional and nutraceutical foods for various health benefits, however the functional properties of these varieties need to be studied.     

Operation of a hydropower system considering environmental flow requirements: A case study in La Nga river basin,Vietnam

A reservoir operation simulation study is carried out to analyze the impact of alternative scenarios of a hydropower system operation on energy production and natural flow regime in the La Nga river basin in Vietnam. The current operation policy causes severe hydrologic alteration in the natural flow regime represented by 32 parameters of the Range of Variability Approach (RVA). In the cases of the hydropower system operating at its full generation capacity and under a specified RVA target range at a downstream location, the power production can be increased by eight and four percent while reducing the overall degree of hydrologic alterations by 24 and 27 percent respectively compared to the existing rule-curve based operation. Results indicate that the system operation can be improved with increased power production while maintaining the environmental flow requirements for downstream ecosystems.     

Optical enhancement of dye-doped PDLC by additional dye-LC layer coating

Dye-doped PDLC has a high probability to be used as reflective optical shutter due to its good reflectance compared to normal PDLC or LC shutter structures. The black state can be significantly enhanced by the minimized surface scattering between polymer and LC surface, which makes a harmful result to the contrast ratio, one of most important factors for optical shutter. To remove this scattering effect, we have developed new combinational structure, consisted of guest dye-doped LC (DLC) and dye-doped PDLC (DPDLC). In the newly fabricated dye-doped PDLC structure, the front location of dye-doped LC layer can remove the light scattering effect of the surface of single dye PDLC structure. The proposed process can also remove the randomly distributed dyes in polymer area of dye PDLC. This technique enhances the reflectance as well as the contrast ratio.     

Stabilizers: Indispensable Substances in Dairy Products of High Rheology

The functionality of stabilizers is apparent in many food applications including dairy products. The role of stabilizers like gelatin, pectins, alginates, carboxymethylcellulose, gums, ispghol, sago starch, and chitosan in the development of dairy products of high rheology, like yoghurt, ice cream, and flavored milk, is discussed in this review. Attention is also paid to comprehend on interactions among milk proteins, minerals, and other milk constituents with the reactive sites of stabilizers to get the desirable properties such as appearance, body and texture, mouthfeel, consistency. The role played by stabilizers in the control of syneresis and overrun problems in the high-rheology dairy products is also the topic of discussion.     

Comparative study on the electrooptical properties of polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal films with different mixtures of monomers and liquid crystals

This article deals with the study of polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films that consisted of microdroplets of liquid crystals (LCs) dispersed in a polymer matrix. The PDLC films were fabricated by the photoinduced phase separation method under room‐temperature conditions. To determine the extent of the effects of the molecular structures and their physical properties of different mixtures of monomers and LCs on the morphology and electrooptical properties of the PDLC films, various mixtures were used. A detailed discussion of the obtained results is given. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Computational Insights into the Deleterious Impacts of Missense Variants on N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine Kinase Structure and Function

An enzyme of the mammalian amino-sugar metabolism pathway, N-acetylglucosamine kinase (NAGK), that synthesizes N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)-6-phosphate, is reported to promote dynein functions during mitosis, axonal and dendritic growth, cell migration, and selective autophagy, which all are unrelated to its enzyme activity. As non-enzymatic structural functions can be altered by genetic variation, we made an effort in this study aimed at deciphering the pathological effect of nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in NAGK gene. An integrated computational approach, including molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and protein–protein docking simulation, was used to identify the damaging nsSNPs and their detailed structural and functional consequences. The analysis revealed the four most damaging variants (G11R, G32R, G120E, and A156D), which are highly conserved and functional, positioned in both small (G11R and G32R) and large (G120E and A156D) domains of NAGK. G11R is located in the ATP binding region, while variants present in the large domain (G120E and A156D) were found to induce substantial alterations in the structural organizations of both domains, including the ATP and substrate binding sites. Furthermore, all variants were found to reduce binding energy between NAGK and dynein subunit DYNLRB1, as revealed by protein–protein docking and MM-GBSA binding energy calculation supporting their deleteriousness on non-canonical function. We hope these findings will direct future studies to gain more insight into the role of these variants in the loss of NAGK function and their role in neurodevelopmental disorders.     

A universal model of opposed flow combustion of solid fuel over an inert porous medium

In this study, a universal model is developed to examine the behavior of combustion wave observed in porous solid matters (e.g., smoldering, self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration process). Analytical expressions of the combustion characters of solid combustible (e.g., diesel particulate matters trapped in a DPF) deposited over an inert porous medium are obtained employing large activation energy asymptotic taking into account the sensible transport processes; namely, heat transfer between the porous medium and gas phases, radiation heat transfer from the porous medium, heat loss from the porous medium to the environment, mass transfer of oxygen from the gas stream to the surface of solid fuel and the effective diffusion in modeling the species diffusion. Then it has been validated that the present model is applicable and adaptable for predicting the characteristics of smoldering combustion and thus SHS process. As a result, the features of combustion wave of the present phenomena would be useful to other processes. From practical point of view and for deep understanding of the behavior of combustion wave of these processes, we investigate the effects of various physical parameters over a wide range of conditions. We observe that the moving speed of the reaction front increases with the increase of porosity of the porous medium, mass transfer coefficient and initial fuel mass fraction; while it decreases owing to the increase of heat transfer rate from the porous medium to the gas, heat loss to the environment and radiative heat transfer. Furthermore, the results reveal that extinction tends to occur due to lower porosity of the porous medium, higher radiative heat transfer from the porous medium, higher heat transfer rate from the porous medium to the gas and higher heat losses from the porous medium to the environment. Even the observed near-extinction behavior in reaction front speed versus heat loss diagram is found to be similar what we got in gaseous premixed flame propagating through the porous medium. An extinction limit diagram has been presented as a function of radiation-conduction parameter and the gas flow velocity. In addition to, the impact of radiation and the combined effect of the inclusion of Knudsen diffusion and tortuosity are demonstrated in terms of the spatial temperature and species profiles to examine how these two parameters modify the reaction front structure. Furthermore, the governing equations have been solved numerically and it is observed that asymptotic analysis gives a good agreement with the numerical solution.