Total and acid-soluble fluoride content of infant cereals, beverages and biscuits from Brazil

Total fluoride (TF) and HCl 0.01 M ('gastric juice')-soluble fluoride (SF) were analysed in infant foods, beverages and calcium-rich biscuits. Samples were divided into seven categories: children cereals (A), chocolate-flavoured milk (B), soy beverages (C), filled biscuits (D), non-filled biscuits (E), wafer biscuits (F) and corn starch biscuits (G). Mean TF concentrations ± SD (amplitude, unit µg F ml^-1 or µg F g^-1) were: (A) 4.25 ± 3.04 (0.20 - 7.84, n = 6); (B) 0.34 ± 0.47 (0.05-1.27, n = 6); (C) 0.15 ± 0.07 (0.09-0.29, n = 8); (D) 8.44 ± 1.76 (7.65-10.47, n = 4); (E) 12.41 ± 1.15 (10.69-13.68, n = 4); (F) 0.35 ± 0 (0.34-0.36, n = 4) and (G) 7.77 ± 1.12 (6.86-8.68, n = 2). Five samples of cereals, one sample of chocolate-flavoured milk and 10 samples of biscuits were analysed for SF. In cereals analysed for SF, all fluoride was soluble, while for the chocolate-flavoured milk, approximately 50% of TF was soluble. Regarding the biscuits analysed for SF approximately 20% of TF was soluble. It was observed that some of the cereals and beverages, and most of the biscuits analysed, might be important contributors to total daily fluoride intake. When consumed just once per day, cereals and beverages might supply up to 25% of the maximum recommended daily fluoride intake (0.07 mg F kg^-1 body weight) for a 2-year-old child (12 kg). For the filled, non-filled and corn starch biscuits, when 3, 32 or 20 units of them, respectively, are consumed just once per day, they may supply up to 16% of the maximum recommended daily fluoride intake. However, only approximately 25% of fluoride absorption occurs from the stomach and 75% from the small intestine. Therefore, a higher fluoride bioavailability is possible.     

A Guide to Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogel Bioinks for 3D Bioprinting Applications

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an innovative technology in the biomedical field, allowing the fabrication of living constructs through an approach of layer-by-layer deposition of cell-laden inks, the so-called bioinks. An ideal bioink should possess proper mechanical, rheological, chemical, and biological characteristics to ensure high cell viability and the production of tissue constructs with dimensional stability and shape fidelity. Among the several types of bioinks, hydrogels are extremely appealing as they have many similarities with the extracellular matrix, providing a highly hydrated environment for cell proliferation and tunability in terms of mechanical and rheological properties. Hydrogels derived from natural polymers, and polysaccharides, in particular, are an excellent platform to mimic the extracellular matrix, given their low cytotoxicity, high hydrophilicity, and diversity of structures. In fact, polysaccharide-based hydrogels are trendy materials for 3D bioprinting since they are abundant and combine adequate physicochemical and biomimetic features for the development of novel bioinks. Thus, this review portrays the most relevant advances in polysaccharide-based hydrogel bioinks for 3D bioprinting, focusing on the last five years, with emphasis on their properties, advantages, and limitations, considering polysaccharide families classified according to their source, namely from seaweed, higher plants, microbial, and animal (particularly crustaceans) origin.     

A Short ERAP2 That Binds IRAP Is Expressed in Macrophages Independently of Gene Variation

The M1 zinc metalloproteases ERAP1, ERAP2, and IRAP play a role in HLA-I antigen presentation by refining the peptidome either in the ER (ERAP1 and ERAP2) or in the endosomes (IRAP). They have also been entrusted with other, although less defined, functions such as the regulation of the angiotensin system and blood pressure. In humans, ERAP1 and IRAP are commonly expressed. ERAP2 instead has evolved under balancing selection that maintains two haplotypes, one of which undergoing RNA splicing leading to nonsense-mediated decay and loss of protein. Hence, likewise in rodents, wherein the ERAP2 gene is missing, about a quarter of the human population does not express ERAP2. We report here that macrophages, but not monocytes or other mononuclear blood cells, express and secrete an ERAP2 shorter form independent of the haplotype. The generation of this “short” ERAP2 is due to an autocatalytic cleavage within a distinctive structural motif and requires an acidic micro-environment. Remarkably, ERAP2 “short” binds IRAP and the two molecules are co-expressed in the endosomes as well as in the cell membrane. Of note, the same phenomenon could be observed in some cancer cells. These data prompt us to reconsider the role of ERAP2, which might have been maintained in humans due to fulfilling a relevant function in its “short” form.     

Spherical helical antenna with circular polarisation over a broad beam

A spherical helical antenna is proposed and its radiation characteristics are analysed using numerical methods and experimental measurements. Results for a 10 turn helix are presented. These results indicate that the spherical helix can provide circular polarisation over a wide beamwidth. The radiation patterns have a broad main beam, essentially no sidelobes, and low backlobe level.<>     

Blind signal separation: statistical principles

Blind signal separation (BSS) and independent component analysis (ICA) are emerging techniques of array processing and data analysis that aim to recover unobserved signals or “sources” from observed mixtures (typically, the output of an array of sensors), exploiting only the assumption of mutual independence between the signals. The weakness of the assumptions makes it a powerful approach, but it requires us to venture beyond familiar second order statistics, The objectives of this paper are to review some of the approaches that have been developed to address this problem, to illustrate how they stem from basic principles, and to show how they relate to each other     

A New Hand-Held Microsystem Architecture for Biological Analysis

This paper presents a hand-held microsystem based on new fully integrated magnetoresistive biochips for biomolecular recognition (DNA hybridization, antibody antigen interaction, etc.). Magnetoresistive chip surfaces are chemically treated, enabling the immobilization of probe biomolecules such as DNA or antibodies. Fluid handling is also integrated in the biochip. The proposed microsystem not only integrates the biochip, which is an array of 16times16 magnetoresistive sensors, but it also provides all the electronic circuitry for addressing and reading out each transducer. The proposed architecture and circuits were specifically designed for achieving a compact, programmable and portable microsystem. The microsystem also integrates a hand-held analyzer connected through a wireless channel. A prototype of the system was already developed and detection of magnetic nanoparticles was obtained. This indicates that the system may be used for magnetic label based bioassays     

A buck quadratic PWM soft-switching converter using a single activeswitch

High-switching frequency associated with soft commutation techniques is a trend in switching converters. Following this trend, a buck pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter is presented. The DC voltage conversion ratio of this converter has a quadratic dependence on duty cycle, providing a large stepdown. This new buck quadratic PWM soft-single-switched converter, having only a single active switch, provides a high efficient operating condition for a wide load range at high-switching frequency. In order to illustrate the operating principle of this new converter, a detailed study including theoretical analysis, relevant equations and simulation, and experimental results is carried out     

Datapath BIST Insertion Using Pre-Characterized Area and Testability Data

There are several ways to insert Built-in Self-Test (BIST) circuitry on a circuit, each of them with particular consequences on area overhead, test application time and fault coverage. This paper presents a BIST insertion methodology applied to datapaths described at the RTL level that uses a database containing: (a) testability data of several types of test pattern generators (TPGs) and signature analyzers (SAs) when connected to several types of functional units and (b) area overhead due to the implementation by a datapath register of each type of those test resources. The availability of this database makes then possible to choose the best test resource types associated to each functional unit in a datapath, leading to good testability and area results.     

Structural Analysis of CdTe Hetero-epitaxy on (211) Si

X-ray diffraction full-width at half-maximum (XRD FWHM), reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicate a mosaic structure for molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) (211)B CdTe/Si. AFM measurements indicate long, thin, small-angle-disoriented grains for CdTe/Si epilayers. These disoriented grains are ~1 μm in the [] direction and are ~40 nm in the [] direction. The RHEED pattern in the [] direction depicts nearly ideal single-crystal periodicity. The RHEED pattern in the [] direction is indicative of small-angle-disoriented crystalline grains. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), AFM, and XRD measurements all indicate an approximate factor of 10 increase in the Everson etch pit density (EPD) over standard Nomarski microscopy Everson EPD determination.