Impact of Rutin and Other Phenolic Substances on the Digestibility of Buckwheat Grain Metabolites

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) is grown in eastern and central Asia (the Himalayan regions of China, Nepal, Bhutan and India) and in central and eastern Europe (Luxemburg, Germany, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina). It is known for its high concentration of rutin and other phenolic metabolites. Besides the grain, the other aboveground parts of Tartary buckwheat contain rutin as well. After the mixing of the milled buckwheat products with water, the flavonoid quercetin is obtained in the flour–water mixture, a result of rutin degradation by rutinosidase. Heating by hot water or steam inactivates the rutin-degrading enzymes in buckwheat flour and dough. The low buckwheat protein digestibility is due to the high content of phenolic substances. Phenolic compounds have low absorption after food intake, so, after ingestion, they remain for some time in the gastrointestinal tract. They can act in an inhibitory manner on enzymes, degrading proteins and other food constituents. In common and Tartary buckwheat, the rutin and quercetin complexation with protein and starch molecules has an impact on the in vitro digestibility and the appearance of resistant starch and slowly digestible proteins. Slowly digestible starch and proteins are important for the functional and health-promoting properties of buckwheat products.     

Integrated material flow and radioactivity distribution methodology within the calculation tool for evaluation of parameters for decommissioning of nuclear installations

Decommissioning of nuclear facilities becomes an important issue in all areas of nuclear technology, mainly in their energetic applications. Decommissioning process has to be planned in the safe, ecological and economic manner. It determines the requirements on appropriate evaluation of needed technologies, media, amount of solid materials released into the environment, radioactivity of effluents, amount of radioactive waste for disposal, number and exposure of personnel and finally the financial demands. A detailed evaluation of these parameters may be done by analytical calculation approach. This approach models a real process of decommissioning with its individual basic activities. The methodology of integrated material flow and radioactivity distribution within this calculation evaluation tool is applied and implemented to describe the real decommissioning activities and their mutual relations to obtain more accurate outputs.     

A shift of the perceptual attributes of color due to the manifestation of the simultaneous contrast effect on a display

This research shows the effect of simultaneous contrast on a design solution that generates it, and it also shows how its manifestation affects the shift of perception attributes of the observer's color. In the conducted research, 55 subjects had to harmonize the primary stimuli from the reproduction obtained with the help of digital printing technology, with the primary stimuli presented on two computer screens. As a visual harmonization technique, simultaneous binocular harmonization was used. The primary stimuli were made achromatic, with a 50% Raster Tone value (RTV), and are surrounded by achromatic secondary stimuli whose values increase in steps from 10% RTV up to 100% RTV. A shift in the perceptual attributes of color has been shown with the help of the CIEDE2000 system. Using ANOVA with repeated-measures and Fisher's post hoc analysis, statistically significant differences were found between the perceived means of shift in the ΔC₀₀ chroma and ΔL₀₀ lightness on defined samples on both computer screens, while in the case of the ΔH₀₀ hue, no statistically significant differences were observed. The research also determined colorimetric differences in the ΔE₀₀ color difference. Moreover, the student's t test was used to determine that the effect is stronger when manifested on the Lenovo computer than on the Asus computer screen (P < .05).     

Experimental and calculated liquid-liquid interfacial tension in demixing metal alloys

Liquid-liquid interracial tension in binary and temary Al-based monotectic systems has been determined experimentally with a tensiometric method in a wide temperature interval. The temperature dependence of the interfacial tension is well described by a power law function of the type σαβ - （1 - T/Tc）δ with the critical exponent δ= 1.3 and a critical temperature Tc. Theoretical models describing the liquid-liquid interface in monotectic alloys and their applicability for calculation of the interfacial tension and its temperature dependence in binary systems are considered.     

Morphometry and Stiffness of Red Blood Cells—Signatures of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Aging

Human red blood cells (RBCs) are unique cells with the remarkable ability to deform, which is crucial for their oxygen transport function, and which can be significantly altered under pathophysiological conditions. Here we performed ultrastructural analysis of RBCs as a peripheral cell model, looking for specific signatures of the neurodegenerative pathologies (NDDs)—Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), utilizing atomic force (AFM) and conventional optical (OM) microscopy. We found significant differences in the morphology and stiffness of RBCs isolated from patients with the selected NDDs and those from healthy individuals. Neurodegenerative pathologies’ RBCs are characterized by a reduced abundance of biconcave discoid shape, lower surface roughness and a higher Young’s modulus, compared to healthy cells. Although reduced, the biconcave is still the predominant shape in ALS and AD cells, while the morphology of PD is dominated by crenate cells. The features of RBCs underwent a marked aging-induced transformation, which followed different aging pathways for NDDs and normal healthy states. It was found that the diameter, height and volume of the different cell shape types have different values for NDDs and healthy cells. Common and specific morphological signatures of the NDDs were identified.     

Anticoagulant, Antioxidant and Antitumor Activities of Heterofucans from the Seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula

In the present study, six families of sulfated polysaccharides were obtained from seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula by proteolytic digestion, followed by acetone fractionation and molecular sieving on Sephadex G-100. Chemical analyses demonstrated that all polysaccharides contain heterofucans composed mainly of fucose, xylose, glucose, galactose, uronic acid, and sulfate. The fucans F0.5v and F0.7v at 1.0 mg/mL showed high ferric chelating activity (～45%), whereas fucans F1.3v (0.5 mg/mL) showed considerable reducing power, about 53.2% of the activity of vitamin C. The fucan F1.5v presented the most prominent anticoagulant activity. The best antiproliferative activity was found with fucans F1.3v and F0.7v. However, F1.3v activity was much higher than F0.7v inhibiting almost 100% of HeLa cell proliferation. These fucans have been selected for further studies on structural characterization as well as in vivo experiments, which are already in progress.     

Tailoring photonic metamaterial resonances for thermal radiation

Selective solar absorbers generally have limited effectiveness in unconcentrated sunlight, because of reradiation losses over a broad range of wavelengths and angles. However, metamaterials offer the potential to limit radiation exchange to a proscribed range of angles and wavelengths, which has the potential to dramatically boost performance. After globally optimizing one particular class of such designs, we find thermal transfer efficiencies of 78% at temperatures over 1,000°C, with overall system energy conversion efficiencies of 37%, exceeding the Shockley-Quiesser efficiency limit of 31% for photovoltaic conversion under unconcentrated sunlight. This represents a 250% increase in efficiency and 94% decrease in selective emitter area compared to a standard, angular-insensitive selective absorber.PACS: 42.70.Qs; 81.05.Xj; 78.67.Pt; 42.79.Ek.