A comprehensive meta-analysis on evidence of Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease: Are individual components equal?

Many studies have reported that higher adherence to Mediterranean diet may decrease cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality. We performed a meta-analysis to explore the association in prospective studies and randomized control trials (RCTs) between Mediterranean diet adherence and CVD incidence and mortality. The PubMed database was searched up to June 2014. A total of 17 studies were extracted and 11 qualified for the quantitative analysis. Individuals in the highest quantile of adherence to the diet had lower incidence [relative risk (RR): 0.76, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.68, 0.83] and mortality (RR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.83) from CVD compared to those least adherent. A significant reduction of risk was found also for coronary heart disease (CHD) (RR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.86), myocardial infarction (MI) (RR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.83), and stroke (RR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.96) incidence. Pooled analyses of individual components of the diet revealed that the protective effects of the diet appear to be most attributable to olive oil, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. An average reduced risk of 40% for the aforementioned outcomes has been retrieved when pooling results of RCTs. A Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with lower risks of CVD incidence and mortality, including CHD and MI. The relative effects of specific food groups should be further investigated.     

Sensitivity Analysis and Model Validation of a 2-DoF Mini Spherical Robot

This paper is focused on the development and validation of an error kinematic model of a mini spherical robot, aimed at its kinematic calibration. The robot is actually a spatial five-bar linkage, provided with two rotational degrees of freedom. A non-overconstrained kinematics is assumed for the robot in order to provide a simple mathematical model and allow a sensitivity analysis of all the involved geometric parameters. A simplified version of the model is proposed. It differs only for the degree of approximation. A comparison between full and reduced models is presented by means of numerical simulations, analyzing their behavior in a significant region of the robot workspace. In order to validate both of them a robot calibration is carried out on a physical prototype of the robot using a vision system, namely a fixed camera in a eye-to-hand configuration. An iterative algorithm aimed at the experimental identification of the geometric data of the robot is used. Some experimental results show the effectiveness of the study.     

Experimental methods in chemical engineering: X-ray absorption spectroscopy—XAS,XANES, EXAFS

Although X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was conceived in the early 20th century, it took 60 years after the advent of synchrotrons for researchers to exploit its tremendous potential. Counterintuitively, researchers are now developing bench type polychromatic X-ray sources that are less brilliant to measure catalyst stability and work with toxic substances. XAS measures the absorption spectra of electrons that X-rays eject from the tightly bound core electrons to the continuum. The spectrum from 10 to 150 eV (kinetic energy of the photoelectrons) above the chemical potential—binding energy of core electrons—identifies oxidation state and band occupancy (X-ray absorption near edge structure, XANES), while higher energies in the spectrum relate to local atomic structure like coordination number and distance, Debye-Waller factor, and inner potential correction (extended X-ray absorption fine structure, EXAFS). Combining XAS with complementary spectroscopic techniques like Raman, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) elucidates the nature of the chemical bonds at the catalyst surface to better understand reaction mechanisms and intermediates. Because synchrotrons continue to be the light source of choice for most researchers, the number of articles Web of Science indexes per year has grown from 1000 in 1991 to 1700 in 2020. Material scientists and physical chemists publish an order of magnitude articles more than chemical engineers. Based on a bibliometric analysis, the research comprises five clusters centred around: electronic and optical properties, oxidation and hydrogenation catalysis, complementary analytical techniques like FTIR, nanoparticles and electrocatalysis, and iron, metals, and complexes.     

TCMI: a non-parametric mutual-dependence estimator for multivariate continuous distributions

Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery - The identification of relevant features, i.e., the driving variables that determine a process or the properties of a system, is an essential part of the...     

A Phenylacetamide Resveratrol Derivative Exerts Inhibitory Effects on Breast Cancer Cell Growth

Resveratrol (RSV) is a natural compound that displays several pharmacological properties, including anti-cancer actions. However, its clinical application is limited because of its low solubility and bioavailability. Here, the antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory activity of a series of phenylacetamide RSV derivatives has been evaluated in several cancer cell lines. These derivatives contain a monosubstituted aromatic ring that could mimic the RSV phenolic nucleus and a longer flexible chain that could confer a better stability and bioavailability than RSV. Using MTT assay, we demonstrated that most derivatives exerted antiproliferative effects in almost all of the cancer cell lines tested. Among them, derivative 2, that showed greater bioavailability than RSV, was the most active, particularly against estrogen receptor positive (ER+) MCF7 and estrogen receptor negative (ER-) MDA-MB231 breast cancer cell lines. Moreover, we demonstrated that these derivatives, particularly derivative 2, were able to inhibit NO and ROS synthesis and PGE2 secretion in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated U937 human monocytic cells (derived from a histiocytoma). In order to define the molecular mechanisms underlying the antiproliferative effects of derivative 2, we found that it determined cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, modified the expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins, and ultimately triggered apoptotic cell death in both breast cancer cell lines. Taken together, these results highlight the studied RSV derivatives, particularly derivative 2, as promising tools for the development of new and more bioavailable derivatives useful in the treatment of breast cancer.