Plant-Derived Food Ingredients for Stimulation of Energy Expenditure

The development of obesity is related to the regulation of energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy storage in the body. Increasing energy expenditure by inducing lipolysis followed by fat oxidation is one of the alternatives which could help to reverse this increasingly widespread condition. Currently, there is no approved drug targeting on stimulation of energy expenditure available. The use of herbal medicines has become a preferred alternative, supported by the classical consensus on the innocuity of herbal medicine vs synthetic drugs, something that often lacks a scientific basis (ban on Ephedra, for example). The inclusion of functional food in the daily diet has also been promoted although its efficacy requires further investigation. This review summarizes the results of recent work focused on the investigation of edible plant materials targeted at various important pathways related to stimulation of energy expenditure. The aim is to evaluate a number of plants that may be of interest for further studies because of their potential to provide novel lead compounds or functional foods which may be used to combat obesity, but require further studies to evaluate their antiobesity activity in humans.     

Hollow metal microneedles for insulin delivery to diabetic rats

The goal of this study was to design, fabricate, and test arrays of hollow microneedles for minimally invasive and continuous delivery of insulin in vivo. As a simple, robust fabrication method suitable for inexpensive mass production, we developed a modified-LIGA process to micromachine molds out of polyethylene terephthalate using an ultraviolet laser, coated those molds with nickel by electrodepostion onto a sputter-deposited seed layer, and released the resulting metal microneedle arrays by selectively etching the polymer mold. Mechanical testing showed that these microneedles were sufficiently strong to pierce living skin without breaking. Arrays containing 16 microneedles measuring 500 microm in length with a 75 microm tip diameter were then inserted into the skin of anesthetized, diabetic, hairless rats. Insulin delivery through microneedles caused blood glucose levels to drop steadily to 47% of pretreatment values over a 4-h insulin delivery period and were then approximately constant over a 4-h postdelivery monitoring period. Direct measurement of plasma insulin levels showed a peak value of 0.43 ng/ml. Together, these data suggest that microneedles can be fabricated and used for in vivo insulin delivery.     

The Effect of Rain Guard on Reducing Latex Loss

Rubber productivity depends on genetic and environmental factors. Rainfall especially is very important environmental resources for rubber growth. However, rainfall may also be a limiting factor for tapping activity. Rain may wash the late latex dripping, delay tapping or completely cause tapping day loss. An experiment was conducted at Sembawa Research Centre, Palembang, Indonesia. The treatment consisted of 3 tapping tasks with rain guard and the other 3 tapping task without rain guard. Observation was made on the effectiveness of rain guard preventing rain disturb and rubber yield. Rain guard was made from bonnet, and natural gum was used to seal the gap between rain guard and bark of rubber tree. The effectiveness of rain guard was observed by measuring rain water come into latex cup during the rain. Observation showed that rain guard may reduce the rain water come into latex cup where water entered into latex cup was only 20% compared with that of control. Also bark become drier faster with rain guard after the rainfall was ceased. The yield difference between task with rain guard application and control was 7 gram/tree/tapping during the rainy days.     

Calibration of dielectric constant measurements to improve the detection of cloud and clear points in solution crystallization

Metastable zone width, which can be approximated as the gap between the loci of cloud and clear points is an important control parameter for successful operations of solution crystallization processes. This study attempts to improve the accuracy of cloud point determination in paracetamol-ethanol solution using dielectric constant measurements and a special calibration technique. A suitable calibration model based on logarithm-polynomial expansion is developed using adjusted R² and Akaike Information Criterion as model selection guides. The model, which decouples the effects of temperature and solute concentration on solution dielectric constant, is utilized to transform the dielectric constant profile into a solute concentration profile. The results show that the cloud points determined from the solute concentration profile are more accurate than those determined directly from the dielectric constant profile. The former are shown to be in good agreement with those obtained from the turbidity measurements, which are used as benchmarks in this study. Consequently, a more accurate metastable zone width could also be obtained using this calibration technique.     

Integrated batch‐to‐batch and nonlinear model predictive control for polymorphic transformation in pharmaceutical crystallization

Polymorphism, a phenomenon in which a substance can have more than one crystal form, is a frequently encountered phenomenon in pharmaceutical compounds. Different polymorphs can have very different physical properties such as crystal shape, solubility, hardness, color, melting point, and chemical reactivity, so that it is important to ensure consistent production of the desired polymorph. In this study, an integrated batch‐to‐batch and nonlinear model predictive control (B2B‐NMPC) strategy based on a hybrid model is developed for the polymorphic transformation of L ‐glutamic acid from the metastable α‐form to the stable β‐form crystals. The hybrid model comprising of a nominal first‐principles model and a correction factor based on an updated PLS model is used to predict the process variables and final product quality. At each sampling instance during a batch, extended predictive self‐adaptive control (EPSAC) is employed as a NMPC technique to calculate the control action by using the current hybrid model as a predictor. At the end of the batch, the PLS model is updated by utilizing the measurements from the batch and the above procedure is repeated to obtain new control actions for the next batch. In a simulation study using a previously reported model for a polymorphic crystallization with experimentally determined parameters, the proposed B2B‐NMPC control strategy produces better performance, where it satisfies all the state constraints and produces faster and smoother convergence, than the standard batch‐to‐batch strategy. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

An Investigation of the Measurements Systems Analysis “Analytic Method” for Attribute Gages

Three automotive corporations have developed and sanctioned the recently revised reference manual entitled Measurement Systems Analysis. This “standard” contains a procedure, called the “analytic method,” whose purpose is to estimate the gage bias and gage repeatability of an attribute gage. An improved estimation procedure for this standard is presented. The improved estimation procedure yields more accurate estimates than those obtained using the procedures currently presented in the standard. In addition, the improved procedure allows more flexibility in data collection than the current test protocol. A simulation study that evaluates the estimation procedure of the current standard and compares it with the improved estimation procedure is presented. Errors that are contained in the present standard are also noted.     

The influence of quartz content on modulus of elasticity and Poisson’s ratio in quartz sandstone

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The cemented soils by trench cutting re-mixing deep (TRD) wall or trench cutting assembled diaphragm (TAD) wall are a mixture of various soils....     

Anti-melanogenesis properties of quercetin- and its derivative-rich extract from Allium cepa

In an effort to find a new whitening agent, we have found that the methanol extract of the dried skin of Allium cepa showed inhibition of melanin formation. Bioassay-guided fractionation led to the isolation of quercetin (1) and quercetin 4’-O-β-glucoside (3) from A. cepa as the inhibitors of melanin formation in B16 melanoma cells with IC₅₀ values of 26.5 and 131 μM, respectively. In addition, we evaluated the effect of some quercetin derivatives, such as isoquercitrin (2), quercetin 3,4’-O-diglucoside (4), rutin (5) and hyperin (6) on B16 melanoma cells. These quercetin derivatives did not show any inhibition of melanin formation. Furthermore, the ORAC values of compounds 1–6 were 7.64, 8.65, 4.82, 4.32, 8.17 and 9.34 μmol trolox equivalents/μmol, respectively. Dried skin of red onion showed inhibitory activity against melanin formation in B16 melanoma cells, as well as antioxidant properties.