Low trans hydrogenation of edible oils

Hydrogenation of edible oils is an important process in the food industry to produce fats and oils with desirable melting properties and an improved shelf life. However, beside the desired hydrogenation reaction trans fatty acids are formed as well. As several studies indicate a negative health effect of trans fatty acids, consumer demands will urge the food producers to lower the content of trans fatty acids in their products. This article describes the option to reduce the trans levels in the hydrogenation of an edible oil by changing process conditions and by applying alternative low trans heterogeneous catalysts.     

Why Inverted Small Molecule Solar Cells Outperform Their Noninverted Counterparts

It is shown that the effect of substrate heating on the photo conversion efficiency in vacuum‐deposited small molecule organic solar cells is closely related to the improved free charge generation in ordered C₆₀ regions. The formation of these ordered regions strongly depends on the deposition sequence in the device and differs therefore between inverted and noninverted cells. Substrate‐induced local fullerene ordering is found in small molecule:C₆₀ bulk heterojunctions (BHJs) deposited on pristine C₆₀ at elevated temperatures. This does not occur for BHJs deposited under identical conditions on pristine donor molecule layers, despite similar degrees of phase separation in both cases. These findings point to a hitherto unidentified advantage of inverted over noninverted solar cells that manifests itself in a higher charge separation efficiency.     

Temporal lobe pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Do amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease share a common etiological factor?

An autopsy study was performed on temporal lobe samples from 20 non-demented patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 17 age-matched non-demented controls and 4 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections from the hippocampus with adjacent parahippocampal gyrus and from the superior temporal gyrus were stained with conventional and immunohistochemical stains. Immunohistochemical staining for the A4 protein was enhanced by pretreatment with 0.25% pepsin before 100% formic acid. The incidence and severity of AD-like pathological changes were similar in ALS patients and non-demented controls. In both groups, pathological changes increased with age. This study does not support the hypothesis that ALS and AD share an etiopathogenetic background.     

The effects of a language and literacy intervention on Head Start children and teachers.

A language and literacy intervention was implemented in 10 Head Start classrooms. Teachers were trained in specific book reading and conversation strategies. The focus of the intervention was to train teachers how to increase opportunities for language and vocabulary development in young children. At the end of the year, children in the intervention classrooms performed significantly better than children in the control classrooms on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III and the Expressive One-Word Vocabulary Test (3rd ed.). In addition, teachers in the intervention classrooms used strategies that promoted language development during book reading and other classroom activities. Head Start teachers can be trained to implement strategies that have positive effects on children's language and literacy development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Systematic Quantification of the Sources of Variation of Process Analytical Measurements in the Steel Industry

A strategy is proposed for the identification and quantification of sources of variation in a manufacturing process. The strategy involves six steps: identification and selection of factors, model selection, design of the experiments, performing the experiments, estimation of sources of variation, and finally, interpretation of the results. This strategy helps in finding those factors that contribute mostly to the total variation apparent in analysis results due to the production process itself, sampling, and analysis of samples. The strategy is then applied to a case study in which sources of variation in steel analysis are identified and quantified. The study develops mixed (random and fixed) effect models for the three phases of steel manufacturing—stirring, tundish, and mold. The models show that differences between spectrometers can have an important influence on the total variation apparent in the final analysis results.     

Blast furnace campaign extension by fundamental understanding of hearth processes

In blast furnace ironmaking hearth performance has a critical effect on the efficiency of the operations and the campaign duration. In this paper the relationship between hearth lining design and lining wear is analysed, based on plant data and research activities of Tata Steel Europe that is supported by information published elsewhere. Tools to model, monitor and visualise the hearth processes are discussed. Current hearth management practices are illustrated. It is noted that the varying process conditions make current campaigns less predictable than previous ones. The hearth lining design rules developed decades ago seem to be in need of revision.     

HE6/GPR64 adhesion receptor co-localizes with apical and subapical F-actin scaffold in male excurrent duct epithelia

A role for HE6/GPR64 in male excurrent ducts in the regulation of water balance was suggested from targeted gene mutation in the mouse. Results of the present immunolocalization study strengthen this hypothesis. Employing monospecific antibodies and laser confocal microscopy, we studied the localization of the receptor protein in the human and wild-type mouse ductuli efferentes and epididymis. We show that HE6/GPR64 is specifically associated with cell types and subcellular domains involved in the process of fluid reabsorption. In the mouse, dual labelling with anti-tubulin antibodies revealed that HE6/GPR64 was absent from the (kino-) cilia of ciliated cells. Instead, the receptor protein accumulated in the non-ciliated principal cells. Specifically, strong immunofluorescence was observed in the apical compartment of these cells. Dual labelling with phalloidin and anti-ezrin antibodies revealed that in the mouse the bulk amount of HE6/GPR64 protein co-localized with the F-actin-ezrin scaffold in brush border-like microvilli of ductuli efferentes and long stereocilia of the epididymis proper. In the ductuli efferentes, HE6/GPR64 also co-localized with the subapical F-actin network immediately below the microvilli. Comparable immunostaining patterns were observed in human and mouse; however, a specific feature of the human ductuli efferentes was an intense HE6/GPR64-related labelling of crypt-like grooves or furrows of hitherto unknown function.     

Ethische Aspekte der aktuellen Rechtsprechung in der Substitutionsbehandlung

Definition of the problem

Although maintenance therapy is known to increase the health status and to simultaneously decrease criminal behaviour of opiate-dependent patients, German legal regulations interfere with this therapy by ordaining not only the therapeutic goal (abstinence) but also therapeutic procedures that aim to control patients’ therapeutic compliance. German physicians who did not strictly adhere to these regulations were frequently sentenced to imprisonment.

Arguments

As the article shows, the current regulations mislead in achieving goals like the protection of the community regarding the illegal “marketing” of opioids and simultaneously impact the physician–patient relationship of maintained patients by facilitating control instead of motivation and confidence.

Conclusion

Reaching the goal of protecting the public from illegal and potentially dangerous opiates cannot be achieved by restrictive regulatory frameworks. Necessary control mechanisms regarding maintenance therapy should focus on patients’ health instead of the adherence to abstract legal norms.     

Helfen um jeden Preis? – Historisch fundierte Gründe für das Konzept des „kontrollierten individuellen Heilversuchs“ für risikoreiche „individuelle Heilversuche“ zur Behandlung einwilligungsunfähiger psychisch kranker Menschen

Definition of the problem

Therapeutic helplessness reasons “individual treatment attempts” aiming to improve the patient’s health. Thus, its ethical justification relies on the intended potential benefits. However, reduced (or even lacking) capacity of autonomous decision making and impeded applicability of concepts ofsubstituted judgment support risks of heteronomy and instrumentalization of mentally ill persons.

Arguments

The analysis of the historic example of the patient Borel treated by the psychiatrist G. Burckhardt in 1888 with his newly invented neurosurgical “topektomy” illustrates the realization of risks of instrumentalization of the mentally ill and, therefore, serves as a casuistic for the discussion of actual risks of “individual treatment attempts” focusing on the mentally ill in this article.

Conclusion

Adoption of the concept of “controlled individual treatment attempts” may help to protect the mentally ill from instrumentalization.