Impact of the hypocaloric diet using food substitutes on the body weight and biochemical profile

Recent studies using balanced hypocaloric diets with food substitutes in some meals, have presented positive results. There are no studies with the Brazilian population on the efficacy of using food substitute, together with a hypocaloric diet. Main objective of this study was to verify the effects of a hypocaloric diet using food substitutes as meal replacement on the body weight, lipid profile, and glucose and insulin plasma levels. Seventy eight subjects of both genders were selected, 20-50 years old, and a body weight index between 25 kg/m2 and 35 kg/m2. The study lasted for six months and it was divided in 2 phases of three months each- mass reduction for 3 months and 3 months for maintenance. The sample was randomly divided in two groups: Group A (control- 3 months of general nutritional and physical orientation followed by 3 months with 1 meal replacement) and Group B (intervention- 2 meals replacement a day plus nutritional and physical orientation for 3 months followed by 3 months with 1 meal replacement). Anthropometric measurements, percent body fat (%BF), biochemical profile and intake survey were performed at moments 0, 3 and 6 months. Both groups showed a significant decrease in %BF, weight, and consequently in their BMI, in the third and sixth month of follow up. However, weight loss in group B was higher than in group A. At the end of the treatment, 0 and 25.0% of the patients of the group A and B, respectively, presented a weight loss higher than 10% of the initial weight. Comparing the triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol and glucose levels, between the beginning and after the three and six months of treatment, there was a significant reduction in the individuals only in group B. In conclusion, the use of food substitutes as meal replacement, together with a balanced, hypocaloric diet, proved to be efficient in weight loss for Brazilian overweighed individuals.     

Garlic's ability to prevent <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis> Cu<Superscript>2+</Superscript>-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum is preserved in heated garlic: effect unrelated to Cu<Superscript>2+</Superscript>-chelation

Background  

It has been shown that several extracts and compounds derived from garlic are able to inhibit Cu²⁺-induced low density lipoprotein oxidation. In this work we explored if the ability of aqueous garlic extract to prevent in vitro Cu²⁺-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum is affected by heating (a) aqueous garlic extracts or (b) garlic cloves. In the first case, aqueous extract of raw garlic and garlic powder were studied. In the second case, aqueous extract of boiled garlic cloves, microwave-treated garlic cloves, and pickled garlic were studied. It was also studied if the above mentioned preparations were able to chelate Cu²⁺.     

Cluster analysis of water molecules in alanine racemase and their putative structural role

Conservation of water molecules was identified by a cluster analysis of seven crystal structures of alanine racemase from Bacillus stearothermophilus. A total of 47 clusters of consensus water sites were determined and found to be highly localized, as indicated by their low mobilities. These clusters are located in the region of the active sites as well as at the interface between the N-terminal domain (the alpha/beta-barrel) of the first monomer and the C-terminal domain of the second monomer. The clusters located at the dimer interface form extensive hydrogen-bonding networks linked to the protein backbone. These water-mediated hydrogen bonds, and also all hydrogen-bonding interactions at the dimer interface, were monitored during a 2 ns molecular dynamics simulation and showed that when the inhibitor propionate was bound to the enzyme, some of these interactions were disrupted. The data we present here indicate that the consensus water sites identified at the interface between the two monomers of alanine racemase may play a structural role, which is to maintain and stabilize the alanine racemase dimer. A second role might be to supply the active site continuously with water molecules in order to allow rapid equilibration of active site protons with the solvent.     

On the ability of oscillation-based test for detecting deviation faults in switched-capacitor ladder filters

This paper proposes the test of high-order switched-capacitor (SC) ladder filters by means of the oscillation-based test (OBT). The OBT implementation requires converting the filter under test into a non-linear oscillator and the study of different oscillation modes in order to evaluate their convenience for testing purposes. The prediction of the oscillation parameters is good for all the oscillation modes proposed, and it is made using a combination of analytical and graphical methods. The fault simulation results show an improvement of the range of deviation-fault detection with the additional oscillation modes. A deeper study allows establishing the modes that are useful for improving the detection of hard-to-test capacitors or for widening the detected deviation range. Additionally, are determined the combination of modes that present the better trade-off between fault detection and test resources.     

ms2: A molecular simulation tool for thermodynamic properties

This work presents the molecular simulation program ms2 that is designed for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of bulk fluids in equilibrium consisting of small electro-neutral molecules. ms2 features the two main molecular simulation techniques, molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte-Carlo. It supports the calculation of vapor–liquid equilibria of pure fluids and multi-component mixtures described by rigid molecular models on the basis of the grand equilibrium method. Furthermore, it is capable of sampling various classical ensembles and yields numerous thermodynamic properties. To evaluate the chemical potential, Widom?s test molecule method and gradual insertion are implemented. Transport properties are determined by equilibrium MD simulations following the Green–Kubo formalism. ms2 is designed to meet the requirements of academia and industry, particularly achieving short response times and straightforward handling. It is written in Fortran90 and optimized for a fast execution on a broad range of computer architectures, spanning from single processor PCs over PC-clusters and vector computers to high-end parallel machines. The standard Message Passing Interface (MPI) is used for parallelization and ms2 is therefore easily portable to different computing platforms. Feature tools facilitate the interaction with the code and the interpretation of input and output files. The accuracy and reliability of ms2 has been shown for a large variety of fluids in preceding work.

Program summary

Program title:ms2Catalogue identifier: AEJF_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEJF_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen?s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Special Licence supplied by the authorsNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 82 794No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 793 705Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran90Computer: The simulation tool ms2 is usable on a wide variety of platforms, from single processor machines over PC-clusters and vector computers to vector-parallel architectures. (Tested with Fortran compilers: gfortran, Intel, PathScale, Portland Group and Sun Studio.)Operating system: Unix/Linux, WindowsHas the code been vectorized or parallelized?: Yes. Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol Scalability. Excellent scalability up to 16 processors for molecular dynamics and >512 processors for Monte-Carlo simulations.RAM:ms2 runs on single processors with 512 MB RAM. The memory demand rises with increasing number of processors used per node and increasing number of molecules.Classification: 7.7, 7.9, 12External routines: Message Passing Interface (MPI)Nature of problem: Calculation of application oriented thermodynamic properties for rigid electro-neutral molecules: vapor–liquid equilibria, thermal and caloric data as well as transport properties of pure fluids and multi-component mixtures.Solution method: Molecular dynamics, Monte-Carlo, various classical ensembles, grand equilibrium method, Green–Kubo formalism.Restrictions: No. The system size is user-defined. Typical problems addressed by ms2 can be solved by simulating systems containing typically 2000 molecules or less.Unusual features: Feature tools are available for creating input files, analyzing simulation results and visualizing molecular trajectories.Additional comments: Sample makefiles for multiple operation platforms are provided. Documentation is provided with the installation package and is available at http://www.ms-2.de.Running time: The running time of ms2 depends on the problem set, the system size and the number of processes used in the simulation. Running four processes on a “Nehalem” processor, simulations calculating VLE data take between two and twelve hours, calculating transport properties between six and 24 hours.     

Solvent/solvent/polymer ternary systems

Summary The paper investigates the agreement between experimental and theoretical data for the second virial coefficient A₂ and for the intrinsic viscosity [] for the acetonitrile/chlorobutane/poly(methyl methacrylate) ternary system.Dedicated to Prof. H.-J. Cantow on the occasion of his 70th anniversary     

Removal of boron from aqueous solution by composite chitosan beads

Various metal-oxide nanoparticles and chitosan were blended to form new adsorbents (M-Oxide-CTS) for removing boron from aqueous solutions in a batch system. The maximum boron adsorption capacity (q = 7.8 mg/g) was reached at pH = 4 within 5 min. Calculations based on Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich models showed the heterogeneous and physical nature of boron adsorption on M-Oxide-CTS. Modeling of the thermodynamic date indicated the nonspontaneous and exothermic process. The pseudo-second-order model adequately described the boron adsorption on M-Oxide-CTS. Desorption by means of alkaline solution at pH = 12 was carried out successfully.     

Intelligent data structures selection using neural networks

It is well known that abstract data types represent the core for any software application, and a proper use of them is an essential requirement for developing a robust and efficient system. Data structures are essential in obtaining efficient algorithms, having a major importance in the software development process. Selecting and creating the appropriate data structure for implementing an abstract data type can greatly impact the performance and the efficiency of the software systems. It is not a trivial problem for a software developer, as it is hard to anticipate all the use scenarios of the deployed application, and a static selection before the system’s execution is, generally, not accurate. In this paper, we are focusing on the problem of dynamic selection of efficient data structures for abstract data types implementation using a supervised learning approach. In order to dynamically select the most suitable representation for an aggregate according to the software system’s current execution context, a neural network will be used. We experimentally evaluate the proposed technique on a case study, emphasizing the advantages of the proposed model in comparison with existing similar approaches.