Gestational transient hyperthyroxinaemia (GTH): screening for thyroid function in 23,163 pregnant women using dried blood spots

1.Glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-36) amide (GLP-1) is released into the circulation after meals and is the most potent physiological insulinotropic hormone in man. GLP-1 has the advantages over other therapeutic agents for Type 2 diabetes of also suppressing glucagon secretion and delaying gastric emptying. One of the initial abnormalities of Type 2 diabetes is the loss of the first-phase insulin response, leading to postprandial hyperglycaemia.2. To investigate the therapeutic potential of GLP-1 in Type 2 diabetes, six patients were entered into a 6-week, double-blind crossover trial during which each received 3 weeks treatment with subcutaneous GLP-1 or saline, self-administered three times a day immediately before meals. A standard test meal was given at the beginning and end of each treatment period.3.GLP-1 reduced plasma glucose area under the curve (AUC) after the standard test meal by 58% (AUC, 0-240 min: GLP-1 start of treatment, 196+/-141 mmol.min-1.l-1; saline start of treatment, 469+/-124 mmol.min-1.l-1; F=16.4, P<0.05). The plasma insulin excursions were significantly higher with GLP-1 compared with saline over the initial postprandial 30 min, the time period during which the GLP-1 concentration was considerably elevated. The plasma glucagon levels were significantly lower over the 240-min postprandial period with GLP-1 treatment. The beneficial effects of GLP-1 on plasma glucose, insulin and glucagon concentrations were fully maintained for the 3-week treatment period. 4. We have demonstrated a significant improvement in postprandial glycaemic control with subcutaneous GLP-1 treatment. GLP-1 improves glycaemic control partially by restoring the first-phase insulin response and suppressing glucagon and is a potential treatment for Type 2 diabetes.     

Effect of Decontamination Treatment on Vitamin C and Potassium Attributes of Fresh-Cut Bell Pepper at Post-Washing Stage

To investigate the effect of decontamination treatment on the nutritional attributes of fresh-cut produce, fresh-cut slices of immature bell peppers were soaked in sodium hypochlorite solutions or slightly acidic electrolyzed water with varying concentrations of effective free chlorine. Changes in the residual ratios of the water-soluble nutrients, vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid, L-AsA) and potassium, were measured, as well as aerobic plate counts (APCs), after decontamination. The L-AsA ratios of the samples that were decontaminated with the sodium hypochlorite solutions exhibited a gradual decrease when higher concentrations of detergent and longer soaking times were employed. In contrast, the potassium ratio remained mostly constant around 50% after 1 min of soaking. A decrease in the L-AsA ratio to 80% was observed within 5 min of a soak in deionized water (a 0 ppm solution). Soakings in the slightly acidic electrolyzed water also resulted in a decrease in L-AsA ratios, yet the trend was not similar to that associated with the sodium hypochlorite solutions. These results indicate that water-soluble nutrient contents of fresh-cut produce decrease during a decontamination process that uses chlorine-based solutions according to the free chlorine concentration and the soaking time. Moreover, the reduction in nutrient content varied depending on the disinfectant used, even if the free chlorine concentration was the same for the different disinfectants.     

Photosynthetic bacteria pond system with infra-red transmitting filter for the treatment and recovery of organic carbon from industrial wastewater.

A photosynthetic bacteria pond system was applied to the treatment of food industrial wastewater and recovery of carbon in the form of purple non-sulphur bacterial (PnSB) cell. The effect of infra-red transmitting filter on the selection of microbial groups in the system was investigated. It was found that more than 90% of organic removal could be achieved when the system was operated at HRT of 3 to 10 days, even though some fluctuations were observed at lower HRT. Infra-red transmitting filter could suppress the growth of microalgae in the system and allow the purple non-sulphur to grow in the system. Nevertheless, they could be outgrown by sulphate-reducing bacteria at higher organic loading rates. The growth of purple sulphur bacteria associated with sulphate reducing bacteria was also observed. ORP is a crucial operating factor to control the system under micro-anaerobic conditions which is preferred to the growth of purple non-sulphur bacteria.     

Different fouling modes of submerged hollow-fiber and flat-sheet membranes induced by high strength wastewater with concurrent biofouling

Exploration of two major commercialized flat-sheet and hollow-fiber membranes in a submerged membrane fungi reactor fed with a synthetic textile wastewater revealed striking differences in the extent and mechanism of fouling between the two types, indicating a case-specific scope of choice between the two for industrial wastewater treatment. The hollow-fiber membrane exhibited fouling with a cake layer composed of fungi and starch, intensity being proportional to the operating flux (0.05–0.3 m/d). Conversely, the flat-sheet membrane suffered from immediate internal pore blocking beyond a critical flux of 0.2 m/d. During the experiment with major constituents of the synthetic wastewater separately, while media containing only starch and only dye induced negligible fouling, flux-dependent pore blocking was evident for both the hollow-fiber (0.288 m/d) and flat-sheet membranes (1.3 m/d) for the mixture of starch and dye. Despite a remarkable 99% color and 97% TOC removal achieved by both membranes, fouling with different modes and intensity for the two types under similar conditions and for the same type of membrane under different exposure conditions warrants development of suitable modules for such recalcitrant wastewater.     

A charge-transfer amplifier and an encoded-bus architecture forlow-power SRAM's

This paper proposes and reports a low-power SRAM using a charge-transfer (CT) pre-sense amplifier and a bus signal encoding scheme. The CT amplifier overcomes the V_th relative difference between the pair MOS transistors, and thus reduces the input offset voltage. The encoded-bus scheme reduces the number of signals being switched to cut the capacitive load. These read-path dynamic circuits have eight-timings which a low-power DLL produces. The fabricated 0.35-μm-rule 2k-by-16-bit SRAM operated at 50 MHz with the power dissipation of 5 mW at 1 V     

Gold nanoparticle-induced formation of artificial protein capsids

Gold nanoparticles are generally considered to be biologically inactive. However, in this study we show that the addition of 1.4 nm diameter gold nanoparticle induces the remodeling of the ring-shaped protein TRAP into a hollow, capsid-like configuration. This structural remodeling is dependent upon the presence of cysteine residues on the TRAP surface as well as the specific type of gold nanoparticle. The results reveal an apparent novel catalytic role of gold nanoparticles.     

Estimation of binding constants of peptide nucleic acid and secondary-structured DNA by affinity capillary electrophoresis

An affinity capillary electrophoresis method was developed to determine a binding constant between a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and a hairpin-structured DNA. A diblock copolymer composed of PNA and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was synthesized as a novel affinity probe. The base sequence of the probe's PNA segment was complementary to a hairpin-structured region of a 60-base single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Upon applying a voltage, the DNA hairpin migrated slowly compared to a random sequence ssDNA in the presence of the PNA probe. This retardation was induced by strand invasion of the PNA into the DNA hairpin to form a hybridized complex, where the PEG segment received a large amount of hydrodynamic friction during electrophoresis. The binding constant between the PNA probe and the DNA hairpin was easily determined by mobility analysis. This simple method would be potentially beneficial in studying binding behaviors of various artificial nucleotides to natural DNA or RNA.