Experiences of Living Alone: Widows' and Widowers' Perspectives

This paper compares how older widows and widowers experience living alone. The data come from two in-depth interview studies of widows aged over 50 and widowers aged over 57 respectively. Living alone presents differing challenges for both men and women, as does the symbolic meaning of overcoming those challenges. Widows need to overcome their fear of living alone and to master household work that their husbands had previously undertaken. They learn to enjoy living alone and derive a sense of competence from learning new, traditionally masculine, tasks. Widowers characterize their houses as cold places and use terms such as ‘cavern’ and ‘cave’ to describe how they feel. They have a great need to be out of their houses for much of the day to avoid ‘sitting and dwelling’, and they minimize their skills at traditionally feminine household chores such as cooking and cleaning.     

PARP Inhibitors Display Differential Efficacy in Models of BRCA Mutant High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

Several poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are now in clinical use for tumours with defects in BReast CAncer genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 that result in deficient homologous recombination repair (HRR). Use of olaparib, niraparib or rucaparib for the treatment of high-grade serous ovarian cancer, including in the maintenance setting, has extended both progression free and overall survival for women with this malignancy. While different PARP inhibitors (PARPis) are mechanistically similar, differences are apparent in their chemical structures, toxicity profiles, PARP trapping abilities and polypharmacological landscapes. We have treated ovarian cancer cell line models of known BRCA status, including the paired cell lines PEO1 and PEO4, and UWB1.289 and UWB1.289+BRCA1, with five PARPis (olaparib, niraparib, rucaparib, talazoparib and veliparib) and observed differences between PARPis in both cell viability and cell survival. A cell line model of acquired resistance to veliparib showed increased resistance to the other four PARPis tested, suggesting that acquired resistance to one PARPi may not be able to be rescued by another. Lastly, as a proof of principle, HRR proficient ovarian cancer cells were sensitised to PARPis by depletion of BRCA1. In the future, guidelines will need to emerge to assist clinicians in matching specific PARPis to specific patients and tumours.     

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) and ready-to-eat garlic products: In vitro antioxidant activity

Garlic contains polyphenol and sulphur compounds, which are responsible for its antioxidant activity (AA). This study aimed at evaluating the AA of fresh garlic and its commercialised products and their shelf life. Fresh garlic (FG) and its products, i.e. chopped with salt (CGS), chopped without salt (CG), fried (FRG) and mixed garlic (FG with dehydrated garlic; MG) antioxidant activity was evaluated by three different methods: DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay, β-carotene/linoleic acid assay and Rancimat^® method. Amongst all the analysed products, fried garlic presented the highest antioxidant activity. The free radical-scavenging activity decreased during the shelf life of all analysed products that correlated with the decrease in the total polyphenol content. Our findings suggest that some compounds other than phenol may have contributed towards this outcome.     

Fundamental study on the influence of Fusarium infection on quality and ultrastructure of barley malt

Barley infection with Fusarium species has been a long standing problem for the malting and brewing industries. In this study, we evaluate the impact of Fusarium culmorum infected raw barley on the final malt quality. Barley grains were infected for 5 days at optimum fungal growth conditions. Grains were fully characterized and compared to standard barley grains. Due to fungal infection, germinative energy of infected barley grains decreased by 45%; its water sensitivity increased dramatically, and grains accumulated 199 μg/kg of deoxynivalenol (DON). Barley grains were subsequently malted for 8 days, fully characterized and compared to standard malt grains. Fungal growth behavior was evaluated during malting using a PCR-based assay and mycotoxins were measured using HPLC. Fungal biomass increased in grains, during all stages of malting. Infected malt accumulated 8-times its DON concentration during malting. Kernel ultrastructure was evaluated using scanning electron and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Infected malt grains were characterized by extreme structural proteolytic, (hemi)-cellulolytic and starch deterioration with increased friability and fragmentation. Infected grains had higher protease and β-glucanase activities, lower amylase activity, a greater proportion of free amino and soluble nitrogen, and a lower β-glucan content. Malt loss was over 27% higher in infected malt in comparison to the control. The results of this study revealed that 20% F. culmorum infected barley kernels lead to a significant reduction in malt quality as well as mycotoxin formation.     

Legume byproducts as ingredients for food applications: Preparation,nutrition, bioactivity,and techno-functional properties

The demand for high-quality alternative food proteins has increased over the last few decades due to nutritional and environmental concerns, leading to the growing consumption of legumes such as common bean, chickpea, lentil, lupin, and pea. However, this has also increased the quantity of non-utilized byproducts (such as seed coats, pods, broken seeds, and wastewaters) that could be exploited as sources of ingredients and bioactive compounds in a circular economy. This review focuses on the incorporation of legume byproducts into foods when they are formulated as flours, protein/fiber or solid/liquid fractions, or biological extracts and uses an analytical approach to identify their nutritional, health-promoting, and techno-functional properties. Correlation-based network analysis of nutritional, technological, and sensory characteristics was used to explore the potential of legume byproducts in food products in a systematic manner. Flour is the most widely used legume-based food ingredient and is present at levels of 2%–30% in bakery products, but purified fractions and extracts should be investigated in more detail. Health beverages and vegan dressings with an extended shelf-life are promising applications thanks to the techno-functional features of legume byproducts (e.g., foaming and emulsifying behaviors) and the presence of polyphenols. A deeper exploration of eco-friendly processing techniques (e.g., fermentation and ohmic treatment) is necessary to improve the techno-functional properties of ingredients and the sensory characteristics of foods in a sustainable manner. The processing of legume byproducts combined with improved legume genetic resources could enhance the nutritional, functional, and technological properties of ingredients to ensure that legume-based foods achieve wider industrial and consumer acceptance.     

Assessment of test duration effect in indoor radon measurement by Monte Carlo simulations

To better understand the effect of various test durations on indoor radon measurement results in Canada, Monte Carlo simulations were performed for test durations of 1 month (30 d), 2 months (61 d), 3 months (91 d) and 6 months (183 d). For each of the specified test durations, a total of 1500 Monte Carlo simulations were performed. Each simulation was compared with the result of a 1-y measurement. On average, the radon concentration estimated from a 30-d test differed by about ±22 % from the value of a 1-y measurement. The difference reduced to about ±17 % for a 61-d test, ±14 % for a 91-d test and ±9 % for a half-year test. Health Canada's recommendation of a 3-month radon test performed during the heating season resulted in an estimated radon concentration, on average, ～20 % higher than the value determined from a 1-y measurement. This ensures a conservative estimate of the annual average radon concentration, as there is some risk at any radon level. Therefore, to avoid an underestimation of radon exposure and to ensure appropriate levels of precision and accuracy are met, the results from this study suggest that a radon measurement duration of 3 months or longer during the heating season (from October through to April) is needed.     

Technology survey indicates big case management problems from arbitration E‐discovery are spreading,growing more expensive

Handling discovery requests for electronic records has troubled judges, and is hitting arbitration processes hard. Deborah Rothman , of Los Angeles, and Thomas J. Brewer , of Seattle, surveyed members of a professional arbitrators' group to get a handle on how tribunals are dealing with the pervasive issues. In a concluding Part II next month, the authors predict E‐discovery practices.     

Disentangling the impacts of geography and Aboriginality on serious road transport injuries in New South Wales

Aboriginal people in Australia have higher rates of transport injury than non-Aboriginal people, but a greater proportion of Aboriginal people live in rural or remote areas where risk of these injuries is higher. This paper investigated the contributing effect of geography on the relationship between Aboriginality and road transport injury rates in the state of New South Wales.     

Celastrol Prevents Oxidative Stress Effects on FSHR,PAPP, and CYP19A1 Gene Expression in Cultured Human Granulosa-Lutein Cells

Regulation of oxidative stress (OS) is important to prevent damage to female reproductive physiology. While normal OS levels may have a regulatory role, high OS levels may negatively affect vital processes such as folliculogenesis or embryogenesis. The aim of this work was to study OS induced by glucose, a reactive oxygen species generator, or peroxynitrite, a reactive nitrogen species generator, in cultured human granulosa-lutein (hGL) cells from oocyte donors, analyzing expression of genes involved in oocyte maturation (FSHR, PAPP, and CYP19A1) and OS damage response (ALDH3A2). We also evaluated the effect of celastrol as an antioxidant. Our results showed that although both glucose and peroxynitrite produce OS increments in hGL cells, only peroxynitrite treatment increases ALDH3A2 and PAPP gene expression levels and decreases FSHR gene expression levels. Celastrol pre-treatment prevents this effect of peroxynitrite. Interestingly, when celastrol alone was added, we observed a reduction of the expression of all genes studied, which was independent of both OS inductors. In conclusion, regulation of OS imbalance by antioxidant substances such as celastrol may prevent negative effects of OS in female fertility. In addition to the antioxidant activity, celastrol may well have an independent role on regulation of gene expression in hGL cells.     

Kinetics of photodegradation and nanoparticle surface accumulation of a nanosilica/epoxy coating exposed to UV light

Temperature effect on the kinetics of photodegradation and surface accumulation of nanoparticles in an epoxy nanocoating exposed to ultraviolet light (UV) was investigated. A model epoxy coating containing 5% untreated nanosilica was selected. Exposed film specimens were removed at specified UV dose intervals for measurements of chemical degradation of the epoxy component, and nanosilica accumulation on specimen surface release as a function of UV dose for four temperatures. The chemical degradation was measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV–visible spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy was employed to determine the kinetics of nanosilica accumulation on the nanocoating surface during UV exposure. The temperature dependence behaviors of kinetic parameters obtained by various measurement techniques will be used to better understand the degradation mechanism and surface accumulation of nanoparticles in exterior nanocoatings.