An inter-laboratory trial of the unified BARGE bioaccessibility method for arsenic, cadmium and lead in soil

The Bioaccessibility Research Group of Europe (BARGE) has carried out an inter-laboratory trial of a proposed harmonised in vitro physiologically based ingestion bioaccessibility procedure for soils, called the Unified BARGE Method (UBM). The UBM includes an initial saliva phase and simulated stomach and intestine compartments. The trial involved the participation of seven laboratories (five European and two North American) providing bioaccessibility data for As (11 samples), Cd (9 samples) and Pb (13 samples) using soils with in vivo relative bioavailability data measured using a swine model. The results of the study were compared with benchmark criteria for assessing the suitability of the UBM to provide data for human health risk assessments. Mine waste and slag soils containing high concentrations of As caused problems of poor repeatability and reproducibility which were alleviated when the samples were run at lower soil to solution ratios. The study showed that the UBM met the benchmark criteria for both the stomach and stomach & intestine phase for As. For Cd, three out of four criteria were met for the stomach phase but only one for the stomach & intestine phase. For Pb two, out of four criteria were met for the stomach phase and none for the stomach & intestine phase. However, the study recommends tighter control of pH in the stomach phase extraction to improve between-laboratory variability, more reproducible in vivo validation data and that a follow up inter-laboratory trial should be carried out.     

Simulation of synthetic climate at local scale as a mean to assess the impact of climate change on infrastructures

A global modelling approach for estimating the climate influence on corrosion activity in reinforced concrete is developed. It combines: (a) the identification of statistical properties of climates in various temperate regions, and the development of a synthetic simulator able to reproduce its dominant patterns, (b) the identification of an empirical corrosion activity model, based on the analysis of experimental data, highlighting the respective influence of temperature and humidity. Synthetic simulations combining these two models are carried out. They show the complexity of the interactions, since the influence of temperature and humidity may be adverse, and the interest to describe both random fluctuations at daily scale and at seasonal scale. They confirm that monitoring of corrosion must account for this time variability and propose a way to estimate average corrosion even with measurements which would remain limited to a short period. Synthetic simulations are also used for estimating the influence of a global warming scenario on the corrosion activity. A global increase of about 38% of corrosion activity has been estimated in response to an average temperature elevation of 3°C.     

Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity of Foods at High Pressure

The line heat source probe method, widely used for determining thermal conductivity of food materials, was applied in a pilot scale high-pressure unit and the possibility of extending this technique to pressures up to 400 MPa was investigated. Commercially canned tomato paste and apple pulp were used as test products. Probes were calibrated to 1.5% agar gel. A probe specific pressure- and temperature-dependant calibration factor was applied. The accuracy at high-pressure was similar to published values. Given the simplicity of the method, this approach seems very promising for determining thermal conductivity of foods over a range of pressures and temperatures.     

Phenolic composition and nutraceutical properties of organic and conventional cinnamon and peppermint

Conventional and organic cinnamon and peppermint were investigated for their phenolic profile, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Accelerated solvent extraction with 75% acetone was used to extract samples. Caffeic acid was the most abundant phenolic acid in peppermint. Catechin, (−)-epigallocatechin gallate, syringic acid, gallic acid, vanillic acid, and p-coumaric acid were also detected in both spices. There was no significant difference between conventional and organic spices in the composition of most individual phenolics. All conventional and organic peppermint and cinnamon extracts exhibited strong anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties. Cinnamon was more efficient in inhibiting IL-1β and COX-2 expression, while peppermint showed better inhibitory effect on IL-6 and MCP-1. This study indicates that cinnamon and peppermint may potentially be used as dietary sources of bioactive phytochemicals for improving health.     

A high efficiency technique for the generation of transgenic sugar beets from stomatal guard cells

An optimized protocol has been developed for the efficient and rapid genetic modification of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). A polyethylene glycol-mediated DNA transformation technique could be applied to protoplast populations enriched specifically for a single totipotent cell type derived from stomatal guard cells, to achieve high transformation frequencies. Bialaphos resistance, conferred by the pat gene, produced a highly efficient selection system. The majority of plants were obtained within 8 to 9 weeks and were appropriate for plant breeding purposes. All were resistant to glufosinate-ammonium-based herbicides. Detailed genomic characterization has verified transgene integration, and progeny analysis showed Mendelian inheritance.     

Butters Varying in <Emphasis Type="Italic">trans</Emphasis> 18:1 and <Emphasis Type="Italic">cis</Emphasis>-9,<Emphasis Type="Italic">trans-</Emphasis>11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid Modify Plasma Lipoproteins in the Hypercholesterolemic Rabbit

The experiment was designed to study the effects of butters differing in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and trans 18:1 contents on lipoproteins associated with the risk of atherogenesis. New Zealand White male rabbits (9.6 weeks; 2.1 kg) were assigned for 6 or 12 weeks to three diets (n = 6 per diet) made of conventional pellets with 0.2% cholesterol and with 12% fat provided from a butter poor in trans-10 and trans-11 18:1 and in CLA (standard group), or rich in trans-10 18:1 (trans-10 18:1 group) or rich in trans-11 18:1 and in cis-9,trans-11 CLA (trans-11 18:1/CLA group). Blood samples were collected at the end of dietary treatments. Lipoproteins were separated by gradient-density ultracentrifugation. Lipid classes were determined enzymatically and apolipoproteins A-I and B by radial immunodiffusion. Mainly in the 12-week rabbits, higher plasma triglycerides and apolipoprotein B levels shown in the standard and trans-10 18:1 groups compared with those in the trans-11 18:1/CLA group are associated with higher plasma levels of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) also shown in these two groups. In the 12-week rabbits, a shift towards denser LDL, considered as more atherogenic, was shown only in the trans-10 18:1 group. In these animals, the VLDL + LDL to HDL ratio was 1.7-2.3 times higher in the trans-10 18:1 group than in the other groups (P = 0.076). These results suggest a rather neutral effect of trans-11 18:1/CLA butter towards the risk of atherogenesis, whereas trans-10 18:1 butter would tend to be detrimental.     

Partial mediation of strange-male-induced pregnancy blocks by sexual activity in mice (Mus musculus).

Novel male house mice (Mus musculus) can disrupt early pregnancy in females. Previous research (e.g., A. E. Storey; see record 1986-16382-001) focused on pheromonal rather than behavioral mediation of this phenomenon. In Experiment 1, novel males were housed with females shortly after insemination. Litter production was negatively correlated with the males' sexual activity. Experiment 2 replicated this finding with a larger sample. In Experiment 3, females were exposed to castrated males. Testosterone-treated males completely blocked pregnancy, whereas untreated males did not. In Experiment 4, castrated testosterone-treated males were presented at intervals after insemination. Pregnancy was totally blocked at Days 3 and 4 and mostly blocked at Days 1 and 2 but was less affected at Days 5 and 6. In Experiment 5, females were exposed through a wire-mesh grid to castrated males. Pregnancies occurred in all conditions, even with testosterone-treated males. These data suggest a role for sexual activity in male-induced pregnancy blocks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating conceptual and logical couplings for change impact analysis in software

The paper presents an approach that combines conceptual and evolutionary techniques to support change impact analysis in source code. Conceptual couplings capture the extent to which domain concepts and software artifacts are related to each other. This information is derived using Information Retrieval based analysis of textual software artifacts that are found in a single version of software (e.g., comments and identifiers in a single snapshot of source code). Evolutionary couplings capture the extent to which software artifacts were co-changed. This information is derived from analyzing patterns, relationships, and relevant information of source code changes mined from multiple versions in software repositories. The premise is that such combined methods provide improvements to the accuracy of impact sets compared to the two individual approaches. A rigorous empirical assessment on the changes of the open source systems Apache httpd, ArgoUML, iBatis, KOffice, and jEdit is also reported. The impact sets are evaluated at the file and method levels of granularity for all the software systems considered in the empirical evaluation. The results show that a combination of conceptual and evolutionary techniques, across several cut-off points and periods of history, provides statistically significant improvements in accuracy over either of the two techniques used independently. Improvements in F-measure values of up to 14% (from 3% to 17%) over the conceptual technique in ArgoUML at the method granularity, and up to 21% over the evolutionary technique in iBatis (from 9% to 30%) at the file granularity were reported.     

Steady-State Crack Velocity in a Viscoelastic Composite Material

The velocity of a semi-infinite crack slowly propagating in aninfinitely long strip made of a viscoelastic composite material isdetermined according to Christensen's fracture criterion. The edges ofthe strip are subjected to uniform opposite displacements normal to thecrack plane. The crack velocity is obtained from an energy balanceequation involving the energy dissipated in the whole strip; the latteris evaluated using an approximate, but sufficiently accurate, expressionof the stress field in the structure obtained by taking into account thestrong anisotropy of the long fibre composite material of interest. Thisnew version of Christensen's criterion compares favourably with theoriginal one and gives crack velocity predictions very close to thoseprovided by Schapery's criterion.