Nutritional response of mature rats to kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lectins

In a series of 10-day pair feeding experiments it was found that the nutritional value of diets containing beans was essentially the same for rats aged between 30 and 123 days. Thus net protein utilisation (NPU) values of 25–39 on diets containing Processor bean (35 g protein kg^?1) + egg albumin (65g protein kg^?1) were obtained. As food intakes were considerably reduced when rats were fed diets containing more than 35g protein kg^?1 of Processor bean, the measurement of protein utilisation became increasingly more difficult. The severe disruption of the brush borders of duodenal and jejunal enterocytes, originally observed when bean-containing diets were fed to young (30-day-old) rats was also found with rats up to the age of 120 days on similar diets. Similarly, the development of circulating anti-lectin antibodies in the animals showed no age dependence within the age limits investigated. It was also shown that oral immunisation did not protect the rats from the effects of toxicity and that the immune response was a result of continuous absorption of lectin throughout the feeding period. Thus the extent and the mechanism of toxicity of Phaseolus vulgaris bean lectins were found not to be dependent on the age or maturity of the animal.     

Phytohemagglutinin-induced gut hyperplasia and the growth of a mouse lymphosarcoma tumor

OBJECTIVE: To identify possible causes for the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality seen in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. DESIGN: Prospective, blind study. SETTING: University hospital, Sweden. SUBJECTS: 44 Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and 23 (sex and age matched) control patients with atoxic nodular goitres. INTERVENTIONS: Exploration of the neck with removal of pathological parathyroid glands or thyroid resection. Echocardiography before, and one year after, the operation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blood pressure and echocardiographic findings. RESULTS: Hyperparathyroid patients had higher blood pressure and greater left atrial diameter than control patients preoperatively. They also had a significantly lower E:A ratio (mitral flow velocity pattern) than the controls (p = 0.02) indicating a disturbance in early diastolic filling of the left ventricle. The E:A ratio correlated negatively with the systolic blood pressure. 19 of the hyperparathyroid patients (43%) had cardiac calcifications as did 14 (61%) of the controls. Most of calcifications were located in the aortic and mitral valves; only a few patients had calcifications in the myocardium. No significant changes had occurred one year after parathyroidectomy, except for a reduction in systolic blood pressure, in the hyperparathyroid patients. CONCLUSION: Echocardiographic investigation of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism shows early signs of left ventricular dysfunction that may be of clinical importance.     

An assessment of simple referee methods for the prediction of lean in pig carcasses

A study was carried out in which carcass characteristics of 36 gilts were evaluated: 18 originated from the Hungarian 'Hungahyb' cross-breed, another 18, with undefined genetic background, from small private household plots. Two, rather simple substitute reference methods, called referee methods, were evaluated: measurement of carcass weight without skin and subcutaneous fat ('meat + bone'), and measurement of carcass weight without skin, subcutaneous fat and bone ('boneless meat'). Both methods gave a rather close relationship with the Kulmbach reference lean; however, removal of bone had presumably a beneficial effect on stability of prediction. The importance of preliminary information in quantitative form, giving a theoretical background for prediction equations, was presented as an example. Simple material balances could be formulated between reference lean and 'meat + bone' or 'boneless meat' content. Such material balances could not be set up with the indirect, rapid surrogate methods using mainly linear measurements (e.g. fat and muscle thickness, etc.) For this reason, as several other publications demonstrated, these latter methods seem to be more susceptible to bias than the referee methods. By determining the lipid content of the homogenised 'boneless meat' component, a 'lean' value adjusted to 3% fat content could be calculated from data which was compared to the dissected reference lean standardised also to contain 3% fat. These relationships, for several reasons discussed in this paper, were not as close as expected. So, further studies are needed to reveal these discrepancies.     

Near-infrared diode laser based spectroscopic detection of ammonia: a comparative study of photoacoustic and direct optical absorption methods

A photoacoustic spectroscopic (PAS) and a direct optical absorption spectroscopic (OAS) gas sensor, both using continuous-wave room-temperature diode lasers operating at 1531.8 nm, were compared on the basis of ammonia detection. Excellent linear correlation between the detector signals of the two systems was found. Although the physical properties and the mode of operation of both sensors were significantly different, their performances were found to be remarkably similar, with a sub-ppm level minimum detectable concentration of ammonia and a fast response time in the range of a few minutes.     

Energy-related emissions from telework

Telework is a growing phenomenon that is thought to save energy and air emissions. This paper applies a systems model to telework and nontelework scenarios in order to quantify greenhouse gas and other air emissions from transportation, heating, cooling, lighting, and electronic and electrical equipment use both at the company and the home office. Using United States data, a WWW-based, scalable decision-support tool was created to evaluate the environmental impacts of teleworkers. For a typical case reflecting United States teleworker patterns, the analysis found that telework has the potential to reduce air emissions. However, Monte Carlo simulation employed to perform a probabilistic analysis over a set of likely parameters has revealed that telework may not affect equally the emissions of all types of pollutants. It may decrease CO2, NOx, SO2, PM10, and CO but not N2O and CH4 emissions. Therefore, the scope and goal of telework programs must be defined early in the implementation process. Work-related transportation (commuting) impacts could be reduced as a result of telework; however, home-related impacts due to an employee spending additional time at home could potentially offset these reductions. Company office-related impacts may not be reduced unless the office space is shared with other employees during telework days or eliminated entirely. In states with high telework potential (California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Texas), telework could save emissions, but it would depend on commuting and climatic patterns and the electricity mix. Environmentally beneficial telework programs are found to depend mainly on commuting patterns, induced energy usage, and characteristics of the office and home space and equipment use.     

Bilateral renal artery stenosis diagnosed during pregnancy

Bilateral renal artery stenosis was diagnosed noninvasively in the 17th gestational week, in a chronically hypertensive pregnant woman, by renal artery duplex ultrasound examination, MRI and MR angiography. Continuous monitoring of the mother and the fetus was performed. Blood pressure was stabilized by complex antihypertensive therapy, but from the beginning of the third trimester superimposed preeclampsia developed gradually. In the 34th gestational week a 1600-g newborn was delivered by elective cesarean section. The case report draws attention to the significance of the thorough examination of hypertensive women before pregnancy.     

THE ANTI-STRIPPINC PROPERTIES OF BASIC NITROGEN IN HYDROCRACKED RESIDS

The hydrocracked residues were found to be considerably enriched both in total nitrogen and in basic nitrogen relative to total nitrogen with respect to the feed asphalt. The matrix in which these basic nitrogen components are most likely to be found consisted of compact aromatic structures containing relatively few naphthenic and paraffinic moieties

Upon hydrocracking, the basicity of the remaining basic nitrogen increased with the level of conversion. It is this increased nitrogen basicity which most probably accounted for the enhanced anti-stripping properties of the hydrocracked residues.

Hot storage, such as could be expected during the transportation of the paving asphalt, resulted in the apparent loss of approximately 10%, on average, of basic nitrogen without a commensurate decrease in the anti-stripping effectiveness of the additive. Possible explanations lie in the chemical reactivity of the asphaltic binder

Attempts at isolation of a basic nitrogen concentrate have met with a modicum of success. Indications are that the nitrogen compounds extracted depend largely on the method of extraction     

Nutritional utilization by rats of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) meal and its isolated globulin proteins is poorer than that of defatted soybean or lactalbumin

The effects on performance, digestibility, N utilization and plasma amino acid concentrations of dietary chickpea (Cicer arietinum, var. Kabuli) seed meal, globulin proteins or buffer-insoluble residue [starch + non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) + lignin] were studied in growing rats. Chickpea meal, defatted soybean meal, chickpea globulins and lactalbumin were each incorporated into diets as the sole source of dietary protein (100 g/kg). In addition, chickpea insoluble residue was included in a control diet in the same proportion found in the chickpea meal. Rats were killed while under halothane anesthesia after 10 d of consuming the diets, and ileal contents were washed out and freeze-dried for digestibility measurements. Weight gains and gain:feed ratios of rats fed chickpea diets for 10 d did not differ from those of rats fed defatted soybean but were significantly lower than those of rats given the control (lactalbumin) diet. However, ileal and fecal N digestibilities and N retention by rats fed the chickpea diet were significantly lower than those obtained with the lactalbumin or soybean diet. The inclusion of both chickpea meal or its globulin proteins in the diet significantly increased the amount of N excreted, primarily as urea, through the urine. However, although ileal N digestibility values for chickpea meal were significantly lower, those for its constituent globulins did not differ from control values. Urea levels in plasma in rats fed diets containing chickpea meal, globulins or soybean meal were significantly higher than in those fed lactalbumin. Furthermore, the concentrations of glycine, phenylalanine, histidine, arginine and ornithine in the plasma of rats fed chickpea meal, its globulins or defatted soybean were significantly higher, whereas those of threonine, leucine, lysine and tryptophan were significantly lower than lactalbumin-fed controls. The chickpea insoluble residue had no adverse effects on performance or N utilization by rats. We conclude that the low nutritional value of chickpea meal is likely to be due mainly to adverse effects of its globulin proteins on growth and N metabolism rather than to the action of any known antinutritional factor present in the diet.     

Resource Use and Environmental Emissions of U.S. Construction Sectors

Reducing the environmental effects of construction is a continuing professional and social concern to promote sustainable development. In this paper, we estimate the major commodity and service inputs, resource requirements, and environmental emissions and wastes for four major U.S. construction sectors as defined by the Department of Commerce: (1) highway, bridge, and other horizontal construction [0.6% of the 1992 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)]; (2) industrial facilities and commercial and office buildings (1.5% of GDP); (3) residential one-unit buildings (1.9% of GDP); and (4) other construction (towers, water, sewer and irrigation systems, railroads, etc.) (2.4% of GDP). Our estimates include the entire supply chain of material, energy, and service suppliers for these sectors with the use of a detailed 1992 input-output model of the U.S. economy and publicly available environmental data. We find that in general, the four major U.S. construction sectors appear to use fewer resources and have lower rates of environmental emissions and wastes than their share of the GDP might suggest.