Modifying milk fat composition of dairy cows to enhance fatty acids beneficial to human health

There is increased consumer awareness that foods contain microcomponents that may have beneficial effects on health maintenance and disease prevention. In milk fat these functional food components include EPA, DHA, and CLA. The opportunity to enhance the content of these FA in milk has improved as a result of recent advances that have better defined the interrelationships between rumen fermentation, lipid metabolism, and milk fat synthesis. Dietary lipids undergo extensive hydrolysis and biohydrogenation in the rumen. Milk fat is predominantly TG, and de novo FA synthesis and the uptake of circulating FA contribute nearly equal amounts (molar basis) to the FA in milk fat. Transfer of dietary EPA and DHA to milk fat is very low (<4%); this is, to a large extent, related to their extensive biohydrogenation in the rumen, and also partly due to the fact that they are not transported in the plasma lipid fractions that serve as major mammary sources of FA uptake (TG and nonesterified FA). Milk contains over 20 isomers of CLA but the predominant one is cis-9,trans-11 (75–90% of total CLA). Biomedical studies with animal models have shown that this isomer has anticarcinogenic and anti-atherogenic activities. cis-9,trans-11-CLA is produced as an intermediate in the rumen biohydrogenation of linoleic acid but not of linolenic acid. However, it is only a transient intermediate, and the major source of milk fat CLA is from endogenous synthesis. Vaccenic acid, produced as a rumen biohydrogenation intermediate from both linoleic acid and linolenic acid, is the substrate, and Δ9-desaturase in the mammary gland and other tissues catalyzes the reaction. Diet can markedly affect milk fat CLA content, and there are also substantial differences among individual cows. Thus, strategies to enhance milk fat CLA involve increasing rumen outflow of vaccenic acid and increasing Δ9-desaturase activity, and through these, several-fold increases in the content of CLA in milk fat can be routinely achieved. Overall, concentrations of CLA, and to a lesser extent EPA and DHA, can be significantly enhanced through the use of diet formulation and nutritional management of dairy cows.     

Structuration bridging diffusion of innovations and gender relations theories: a case of paradigmatic pluralism in IS research

This paper discusses the adoption of a pluralist theoretical framework – one that is also multiparadigmatic – for conducting and publishing information system (IS) research. The discussion is illustrated by a single case study involving the Australian cotton industry. The theoretical framework is informed by three sociological theories, each with its particular paradigmatic assumptions: structuration theory as a meta‐theory, and diffusion of innovations and gender relations as lower‐level theories from notionally opposing paradigms. Theoretical pluralism helped to produce rich findings, illuminating both the social nature of women farmers' roles, the materiality of the cotton farming context, the characteristics of the decision support systems in use and the recursive way in which human agency and institutional pressures shape each other. Because users of so‐called divergent paradigms often face criticism based on the incommensurability issue, one of the main contributions of this paper is to discuss the value of a pluralist and multiparadigmatic theoretical framework in dealing with complex IS social phenomena.     

The effect of trans-isomers on the physical properties of hydrogenated oils

Data have been presented which indicate a positive relationship between thetrans-isomer content of a hydrogenated oil and the congeal point, Wiley melting-point, and solids index. It has also been shown that cottonseed oil and soybean oil undergo substantially the same type of reaction under identical hydrogenating conditions. This conclusion is based on the relationship oftrans-isomer formation to total reduction in unsaturation up to the point that equilibrium is reached and saturation of thetrans-isomers occurs. This equilibrium was noted at between 60–70 iodine value. The relationship oftrans-isomer formation to the total reduction in double bonds can be expressed as the hydrogenation index. This is a reliable indication of the type of reaction taking place up to the point where appreciable hydrogenation of thetrans-isomers occur.     

EFFICIENT DESIGNS FOR NONLINEAR MODELING

In the modeling of physical systems, such as chemical reactions, nonlinear models in a set of unknown parameters are commonly developed. Using the method of least squares for model fitting the efficiency of the process is measured by the large sample variance of the parameter estimates. Designs which yield desirable properties in the linear case, such as factorial and central composite designs, are often utilized in the nonlinear model setting. In this paper a method for transforming these standard designs, yielding more efficient estimators, in the nonlinear model case is proposed. The procedure is demonstrated on a typical kinetic reaction model.     

α-Tocopherol alteration of soybean antiherbivory toTrichoplusia ni larvae

The antioxidant vitamin E, -tocopherol, was tested as a candidate elicitor of alterable antiherbivory in soybean plants against cabbage looper larvae. Although a nonspecific antioxidant, vitamin E proved elicitory to the involved sulfhydryl-dependent receptor-energy transducer protein in soybean plasma membrane. Effects of -tocopherol were dependent on dosage, time, and space in the plant. The observed elicited effects were all decreases in herbivory. The best negative phytochemical correlate of looper feeding was the percentage of increased total HPLC peak area of extractables from elicited as compared to nonelicited leaves. Some specific compounds, e.g., glyceollins, were quantitatively major components of the total profile of secondary metabolites.     

"Alumina" Surface Modification of Silicon Nitride for Colloidal Processing

Two different methods are used to coat silicon nitride particles with an alumina precursor to make Si₃N₄ behave like Al₂O₃ in aqueous slurries. The first method involves the precipitation of an aluminum hydroxycarbonate from dissolved Al(NO₃)₃ during the decomposition of urea. In the second method, dry silicon nitride powder is reacted with aluminum tri- sec -butoxide in hexane at room temperature. Both methods produce a coated powder in which the electrophoretic and rheological properties of aqueous slurries mimic those of alumina. When salt is added to slurries consisting of coated Si₃N₄ powder, all rheological evidence suggests the presence of a short-range repulsive potential that produces a weakly attractive particle network similar to that previously reported for Al₂O₃ powder. Although electrophoretic and rheological data showed that the coated powder behaved like Al₂O₃, consolidation data indicated that slurries of coated powder with added salt did not pack to high density. In addition, these bodies were not plastic as found for bodies consolidated from dispersed and salt-added Al₂O₃ slurries.