Effects of tomato ketchup and tomato paste extract on hepatic lipid accumulation and adipogenesis

Food Science and Biotechnology - Tomatoes include high levels of lycopene, which is a potent antioxidative, hypolipidemic, and antidiabetic phytochemical. The intake of lycopene is associated with...     

Variation of glucosinolates in vegetable crops of Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis

Glucosinolates of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) from Korea were characterised to determine the total glucosinolate content and the diversity amongst glucosinolates; 24 varieties were analysed. The profiles of 14 glucosinolates identified from the leaves were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate the differences among varieties. The Kori, Sandun and e-Norang varieties separated from the others based on glucosinolate concentration. Genetically modified Chinese cabbage containing the bar gene could not be separated from non-genetically modified varieties. Glucobrassicanapin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin, gluconapin and glucobrassicin in Chinese cabbage were confirmed as the main glucosinolate compounds. The Kori, Sandun and e-Norang varieties appear to be good candidates for future breeding programmes since they have a high glucosinolate content. The presence of indolic glucosinolates in all varieties should be studied more extensively because they are the precursor of indole-3-carbinol, a potent cancer chemopreventive agent.     

Antioxidant activity and profiles of common fruits in Singapore

Thirty-eight types of fruits commonly consumed in Singapore were systematically analysed for their hydrophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H-ORAC), total phenolic content (TPC), ascorbic acid (AA) and various lipophilic antioxidants. Antioxidant composition and concentration varied widely across different fruits. Many of the tropical fruits tested were high in antioxidants. Amongst all fruits tested, sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) had the highest H-ORAC and TPC whilst guava had the highest AA per gram fresh weight. Papaya, red watermelon and cantaloupe had the highest β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and β-carotene per gram fresh weight, respectively. On the other hand, durian and mangosteen were high in tocopherols and tocotrienols, respectively. Based on consumption data, Chinese Singaporeans appear to have a higher intake of carotenoids and tocopherols rich fruits compared to the US population. As fruits are a rich source of diverse antioxidants, efforts to promote consumption of a variety of fruits should be continued for public health benefits.     

Antioxidant activity and profiles of common vegetables in Singapore

Sixty-six types of vegetables commonly consumed in Singapore were analysed for their hydrophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H-ORAC), total phenolic content (TPC), ascorbic acid (AA) and various lipophilic antioxidants. A single batch analysis of each vegetable showed that antioxidant composition and concentration varied widely across different vegetables. The vegetables with intense colours typically have high H-ORAC, TPC, AA, and carotenoid contents. Vegetables unique to the Asian market such as matrimony vine (Lycium chinense Miller), coriander, Chinese kale, water spinach and red chilli were consistently ranked high in H-ORAC, TPC, carotenoids and vitamin E levels. Based on consumption data, Chinese Singaporeans appear to have a higher intake of lutein, zeaxanthin, β-carotene, and tocopherols compared to the US population. Overall findings suggest that dark green leafy and brightly-coloured vegetables tend to contain high antioxidants. Our data are useful reference and substantiate many public health agencies’ recommendation to consume more vegetables, particularly the dark green leafy and brightly-coloured varieties.     

Determination of coffee origins by integrated metabolomic approach of combining multiple analytical data

The flavor and taste of coffee are the most important criteria for evaluating its quality and they are influenced by environmental as well as genetic factors. Because of these factors, including soil, climate and species, diverse components of coffee have been developed. To observe the variation of coffee components by region, a metabolomic approach was applied. In this study, 21 coffee samples of different origin were analyzed by various measuring devices. The acquired data was then integrated and processed by principal component analysis (PCA) using SAS 9.1 software. We found that we could successfully identify the origins of the coffee, dividing the samples in the regions of Asia, South America, and Africa, using the integrated metabolomic approach of combining diverse analytical data with multivariate analysis. In particular, the enhancement of subtle differences by combining data from several instruments resulted in the accurate discrimination of coffee origins.     

Position and orientation detection of capsule endoscopes in spiral motion

In this paper, a position and orientation detection method for the capsule endoscopes devised to move through the human digestive organs in spiral motion, is introduced. The capsule is equipped with internal magnets and flexible threads on their outer shell. It is forced to rotate by an external rotating magnetic field that produces a spiral motion. As the external magnetic field is generated by rotating a permanent magnet, the 3-axes Cartesian coordinate position and 3-axes orientation of the capsule endoscopes can be measured by using only 3 hall-effect sensors orthogonally installed inside the capsule. However, in this study, an additional hall-effect sensor is employed along the rotating axis at a symmetrical position inside the capsule body to enhance measurement accuracy. In this way, the largest position detection error appearing along the rotating axis of the permanent magnet could be reduced to less than 15mm, when the relative position of the capsule endoscope to the permanent magnet is changed from 0mm to 50mm in the X-direction, from −50mm to +50mm in the Y-direction and from 200mm to 300mm in the Z-direction. The maximum error of the orientation detection appearing in the pitching direction ranged between −4° and +15°.     

SHARE: seamless handover architecture for 3G-WLAN roaming environment

For the transition from 3G communication systems to 4G communication systems, 3G-WLAN interworking systems can be a reference model for 4G communication systems. In this paper, we identify challenging problems in 3G-WLAN interworking systems and propose a loosely coupled architecture called SHARE. In SHARE, each WLAN hotspot access point (AP) is equipped with a 3G radio transmission module to generate radio signals for control channels of 3G networks in addition to a WLAN radio module. Consequently, base stations of the 3G networks share their control channels with hotspot APs. By monitoring these channels, mobile nodes can easily detect available WLAN hotspots without probe delay for handovers.

Smart CMOS Image Sensor With High SBR and Subpixel Resolution for Light-Section-Based Range Finding

Light-section (LS)-based range finders are commonly used for obstacle recognition in home service robots and autonomous vehicles. This paper proposes a smart CMOS image sensor for LS-based range finding. The proposed sensor can detect the laser light, even under very strong ambient-illumination levels by using a multiple-capture frame-correlated double sampling (F-CDS), which is realized with an inverter-based switched-capacitor F-CDS accumulator. The proposed sensor also includes on-chip winner-take-all circuits that significantly reduce the software and hardware complexity of interpolation for the subpixel resolution. The prototype chip was fabricated using a 0.35-mum CMOS process. The measurement results show that the proposed sensor can detect a laser line with an intensity that is 56.5 dB lower than that of the ambient illumination, providing a spatial resolution of plusmn0.16 pixels.