Effect of cooking and germination on phenolic composition and biological properties of dark beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Legumes are the base´s diet in several countries. They hold a high nutritional value, but other properties related to human health are nowadays being studied. The aim of this work was to study the influence of processes (boiling or germination) on the phenolic composition of dark beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L. c.v. Tolosana) and their effect on their antioxidant, neuroprotective and anticancer ability. Phenolic composition of raw and processed dark beans was analysed by HPLC-PAD and HPLC–ESI/MS. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by ORAC. Astrocytes cultures (U-373) have been used to test their neuroprotective effect. Anticancer activities were evaluated on three different cell lines (renal adenocarcinoma (TK-10), breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and melanoma (UACC-62)) by sulphorhodamine B method. Qualitative and quantitative differences in phenolic composition have been observed between raw and processed dark beans that influence the antioxidant activity, mainly for germinated samples which show a decrease of antioxidant capacity. Although every assayed extracts decreased reactive oxygen species release and exhibited cytotoxicity activities on cancer cell lines, raw beans proved to be the most active in neuroprotective and antitumoral effects; this sample is especially rich in phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins. This study further demonstrated that phenolic composition of dark beans is related with cooking process and so with their neuroprotective and anticancer activity; cooking of dark beans improves their digestion and absorption at intestinal level, while maintaining its protective ability on oxidative process at cellular level.     

Harnessing “Click”‐Type Chemistry for the Preparation of Novel Electronic Materials

Sequence‐independent or “click”‐type chemistry is applied for the preparation of novel π‐conjugated oligomers. A variety of bi‐functional monomers for Wittig–Horner olefination are developed and applied in a sequential protection–deprotection process for the preparation of structurally similar π‐conjugated oligomers. Selected oligomers are incorporated as the organic semiconductors in light‐emitting diodes and a field‐effect transistor, demonstrating the potential of the approach.     

Surface area production during grinding

During grinding, in cascading mills, the mass distribution of the material moves continuously to finer sizes. Grinding models are usually designed to predict the size distribution of the mill products either as a function of effective breakage events and the time or the energy consumed by the mill. Mill products are always tested for their size analysis and their fineness is usually expressed as the size d through which a certain amount of material passes, i.e. d₈₀. However, particulate materials have some supplementary properties that a grinding model should predict as well. The specific surface area is such an important supplementary property. Initially, the present work examines the relationship between mass distribution and the surface area of ground materials and determines the conditions under which, mass distribution can be used to determine the surface area. Based on these findings the work further examines the operating conditions of a cascading mill under which the surface area of the material increases at the highest rate. The operating parameter examined is the mill load ratio expressed as the mass ratio of mill grinding media and the material present in the mill.     

Antimicrobial Activity of a Pullulan–Caraway Essential Oil Coating on Reduction of Food Microorganisms and Quality in Fresh Baby Carrot

This research evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of pullulan films containing caraway essential oil (CEO). The films were prepared from a 10% of pullulan, containing from 0.12% to 10.0% of CEO. The composition of the CEO was analyzed with the use of gas chromatography. The antimicrobial activity of the CEO was evaluated with the method of serial microdilutions, and the films containing CEO—with the agar diffusion method against selected Gram‐negative, Gram‐positive bacteria, and fungi. The structure of the film surface and its cross‐section were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Analyses were also carried out to determine the efficacy of a pullulan coating with 10% CEO on baby carrots experimentally inoculated with Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or Aspergillus niger and stored at a room temperature for 7 d. At a concentration of 0.12%, CEO inhibited the growth of all the tested microorganisms. Pullulan films containing 8% to 10% of CEO were active against all tested microorganisms. Populations of S. aureus on carrot samples were reduced by approximately 3 log CFU/g, while those of A. niger and S. cerevisiae by, respectively, 5 and 4 log CFU/g, after 7 d of storage. S. enteritidis was the most resistant among the tested species, since it was not significantly reduced after 7 d of storage. At the end of storage, samples treated with pullulan–caraway oil coating maintained better visual acceptability than control samples. Results of this study suggest the feasibility of applying a pullulan film with incorporated CEO to extend the microbiological stability of minimally processed foods.     

Impaired timing precision produced by striatal D2 receptor overexpression is mediated by cognitive and motivational deficits.

Increased striatal dopamine D2 receptor activity is thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. To model this condition in mice, Kellendonk et al. (2006) generated transgenic mice that selectively overexpress the D2 receptor in striatum (D2OE). Drew et al. (2007) reported that D2OE mice display deficits in interval timing and motivation. The present study further explored the impaired timing in D2OE mice. Experiment 1 assessed the role of motivation in producing timing deficits in the peak procedure and found that performance in D2OE mice was improved by increasing motivation. In addition, performance was impaired in control mice when motivation was decreased. In Experiment 2, we found that D2OE mice have no timing impairment when tested using the bisection task, a procedure in which the measure of timing performance is less influenced by motivation to respond. In Experiment 3, we also used the bisection task and found selective impairment in timing of long durations in D2OE mice. These results suggest that striatal D2 overexpression impairs timing by decreasing motivation and through its impact on working memory and/or sustained attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Economic effects of regulating the seismic strengthening of older buildings

The marked increase in the awareness of earthquake risk following the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand offered a unique opportunity to investigate the economic effect of disaster-mitigation regulations on the commercial building stock. A difference-in-differences (DD) framework was used to determine whether earthquake risk has been capitalized into the property prices of buildings constructed prior to 1976, as a response to the national policy requiring assessment and strengthening (or demolition) of the existing earthquake-prone building stock. A negative externality is found in the policy announcement on affected (pre-1970s) office and retail buildings which caused office buildings to suffer a 12.5% stigma discount. However, retail properties were less impacted suffering a 2.3% stigma loss. The value of the commercial building stock has been affected by the policy. These findings provide policy-makers with timely evidence as to the economic effects of New Zealand’s earthquake-prone buildings policy. Facing losses in property value and financial responsibility for retrofitting their assets, building owners will be looking for a workable set of regulatory and non-regulatory incentives to encourage disaster risk management and protect the built environment.     

Error Estimation for Indirect Measurements: Interval Computation Problem Is (Slightly) Harder Than a Similar Probabilistic Computational Problem

One of main applications of interval computations is estimating errors of indirect measurements. A quantity y is measured indirectly if we measure some quantities xi related to y and then estimate y from the results of these measurements as by using a known relation f. Interval computations are used "to find the range of f(x1,...,xn) when xi are known to belong to intervals ," where i are guaranteed accuracies of direct measurements. It is known that the corresponding problem is intractable (NP-hard) even for polynomial functions f.In some real-life situations, we know the probabilities of different value of xi; usually, the errors xi - are independent Gaussian random variables with 0 average and known standard deviations i. For such situations, we can formulate a similar probabilistic problem: "given i, compute the standard deviation of f(x1,...,xn) ." It is reasonably easy to show that this problem is feasible for polynomial functions f. So, for polynomial f, this probabilistic computation problem is easier than the interval computation problem.It is not too much easier: Indeed, polynomials can be described as functions obtained from xi by applying addition, subtraction, and multiplication. A natural expansion is to add division, thus getting rational functions. We prove that for rational functions, the probabilistic computational problem (described above) is NP-hard.     

Automatic generation of quadrilateral finite element meshes

This paper describes an efficient, accurate and simple implementation of an algorithm for generation of quadrilateral finite element meshes. An original algorithm by Talbert and Parkinson [J.A. Talbert, A. Parkinson, Development of an automatic two-dimensional finite element mesh generator using quadrilateral elements and Bezier curve boundary definition, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Eng., 29 (1990) 1551–1567], has been substantially redeveloped and modified and presented in greater detail. We cover several important issues omitted in publication mentioned and we will provide interested readers with fully documented source code of the program.