Development of colloidal carbon-based immunochromatographic strip for rapid detection of carbaryl in fruit juices

The differences in lipid content will lead to differences in protein structure and gel properties and it is a nice model system, so our study, based on the production process for Zhongxiang tofu, used soy protein isolate (SPI) as raw material and adopted circular dichroism and Raman spectrum to investigate the influence of different lipid content on protein secondary structure in tofu. Texture profile analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to analyze the influence of lipid on gel texture properties and state of water. The interactive mechanism at microscopic level was investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the additional lipid reacted with the soy protein and the lipid became a component of a newly formed molecular membrane. With an increase in added lipid, SPI gel hardness was reduced, while springiness increased. The proportion of α-helix and β-sheet in SPI gel at 16% (w/v) lipid are 4.0 and 26.0%, respectively. The equilibrium water content tended to decrease when lipid content was increased.     

Cytogenetically Elusive Sex Chromosomes in Scincoidean Lizards

The lizards of the species-rich clade Scincoidea including cordylids, gerrhosaurids, skinks, and xantusiids, show an almost cosmopolitan geographical distribution and a remarkable ecological and morphological divergence. However, previous studies revealed limited variability in cytogenetic traits. The sex determination mode was revealed only in a handful of gerrhosaurid, skink, and xantusiid species, which demonstrated either ZZ/ZW or XX/XY sex chromosomes. In this study, we explored the karyotypes of six species of skinks, two species of cordylids, and one gerrhosaurid. We applied conventional and molecular cytogenetic methods, including C-banding, fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes specific for telomeric motifs and rDNA loci, and comparative genomic hybridization. The diploid chromosome numbers are rather conserved among these species, but the chromosome morphology, the presence of interstitial telomeric sequences, and the topology of rDNA loci vary significantly. Notably, XX/XY sex chromosomes were identified only in Tiliqua scincoides, where, in contrast to the X chromosome, the Y chromosome lacks accumulations of rDNA loci. We confirm that within the lizards of the scincoidean clade, sex chromosomes remained in a generally poor stage of differentiation.     

Effect of the talc filler content on the mechanical properties of polypropylene composites

This research examines the effect of a microsize/nanosize talc filler on the physicochemical and mechanical properties of filled polypropylene (108MF10 and 33MBTU from Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and HE125MO grade from Borealis) composite matrices. A range of mechanical properties were measured [tensile properties, bending properties, fracture toughness, notched impact strength (at the ambient temperature and ?20°C), strain at break, and impact strength] along with microhardness testing and thermal stability testing from 40 to 600°C as measured by differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. Increasing filler content lead to an increase in the mechanical strength of the composite material with a simultaneous decrease in the fracture toughness. The observed increase in tensile strength ranged from 15 to 25% (the maximum tensile strength at break was found to be 22 MPa). The increase in mechanical strength simultaneously led to a higher brittleness, which was reflected in a decrease in the mean impact strength from the initial 18 kJ/m² (for the virgin polypropylene sample) to 14 kJ/m², that is, a 23% decrease. A similar dependency was also obtained for the samples conditioned at ?20°C (a decrease of 12.5%). With increasing degree of filling of the talc–polypropylene composite matrix, the thermooxidative stability increased; the highest magnitude was obtained for the 20 wt % sample (decomposition temperature = 482°C, cf. 392°C for the virgin polymer). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Performance of “ductless” personalized ventilation in conjunction with displacement ventilation: Impact of disturbances due to walking person(s)

The performance of the novel “ductless” personalized ventilation in conjunction with displacement ventilation (DV) was compared with the performance of DV alone under realistic conditions involving disturbances due to walking of one or two persons. An office room with two workstations was arranged in a full-scale test room. Two thermal manikins were used as sedentary occupants at the workstations. Two pollution sources, namely exhaled air by one of the manikins and passive pollution on the table in front of the same manikin were simulated. The performance of the ventilation systems was evaluated with regard to the quality of inhaled air and thermal comfort of the seated “occupants”. The walking person(s) caused mixing of the clean and cool air near the floor with the polluted and warmer air at higher levels and disturbed the displacement principle which resulted in a decrease of the inhaled air quality. The performance of the “ductless” PV under the tested conditions was better as opposed to DV alone. Thus in practice the “ductless” PV will be superior to DV alone as regards perceived quality of inhaled air. The location of a walking person was found to be important. Person(s) walking close to the displacement diffuser will cause greater disturbance.     

Inflammatory and Other Biomarkers: Role in Pathophysiology and Prediction of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Understanding pathophysiology and identifying mothers at risk of major pregnancy complications is vital to effective prevention and optimal management. However, in current antenatal care, understanding of pathophysiology of complications is limited. In gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), risk prediction is mostly based on maternal history and clinical risk factors and may not optimally identify high risk pregnancies. Hence, universal screening is widely recommended. Here, we will explore the literature on GDM and biomarkers including inflammatory markers, adipokines, endothelial function and lipids to advance understanding of pathophysiology and explore risk prediction, with a goal to guide prevention and treatment of GDM.     

Electronic interactions between "pea" and "pod": the case of oligothiophenes encapsulated in carbon nanotubes

One of the most challenging strategies to achieve tunable nanophotonic devices is to build robust nanohybrids with variable emission in the visible spectral range, while keeping the merits of pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This goal is realized by filling SWNTs ("pods") with a series of oligothiophene molecules ("peas"). The physical properties of these peapods are depicted by using aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and other optical methods including steady-state and time-resolved measurements. Visible photoluminescence with quantum yields up to 30% is observed for all the hybrids. The underlying electronic structure is investigated by density functional theory calculations for a series of peapods with different molecular lengths and tube diameters, which demonstrate that van der Waals interactions are the bonding mechanism between the encapsulated molecule and the tube.     

EU-wide monitoring survey on emerging polar organic contaminants in wastewater treatment plant effluents

In the year 2010, effluents from 90 European wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were analyzed for 156 polar organic chemical contaminants. The analyses were complemented by effect-based monitoring approaches aiming at estrogenicity and dioxin-like toxicity analyzed by in vitro reporter gene bioassays, and yeast and diatom culture acute toxicity optical bioassays. Analyses of organic substances were performed by solid-phase extraction (SPE) or liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) or gas chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). Target microcontaminants were pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), veterinary (antibiotic) drugs, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), organophosphate ester flame retardants, pesticides (and some metabolites), industrial chemicals such as benzotriazoles (corrosion inhibitors), iodinated x-ray contrast agents, and gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging agents; in addition biological endpoints were measured. The obtained results show the presence of 125 substances (80% of the target compounds) in European wastewater effluents, in concentrations ranging from low nanograms to milligrams per liter. These results allow for an estimation to be made of a European median level for the chemicals investigated in WWTP effluents. The most relevant compounds in the effluent waters with the highest median concentration levels were the artificial sweeteners acesulfame and sucralose, benzotriazoles (corrosion inhibitors), several organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers (e.g. tris(2-chloroisopropyl)phosphate; TCPP), pharmaceutical compounds such as carbamazepine, tramadol, telmisartan, venlafaxine, irbesartan, fluconazole, oxazepam, fexofenadine, diclofenac, citalopram, codeine, bisoprolol, eprosartan, the antibiotics trimethoprim, ciprofloxacine, sulfamethoxazole, and clindamycine, the insect repellent N,N′-diethyltoluamide (DEET), the pesticides MCPA and mecoprop, perfluoroalkyl substances (such as PFOS and PFOA), caffeine, and gadolinium.