Effect of osmotic dehydration on Actinidia deliciosa kiwifruit: A combined NMR and ultrastructural study

The effects of individual osmotic dehydration processes (OD) on kiwifruit outer pericarp tissue were studied as reliant on treatment temperature (25, 35 and 45 °C) and extent (0–300 min). Macro (Low Frequency Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, LF-NMR), micro (Light Microscopy, LM) and ultrastructural (Transmission Electron Microscopy, TEM) measurements were performed to evaluate modifications of three cellular compartments, namely vacuole, cytoplasm – extracellular space and cell wall.     

Strategies to promote farm animal welfare in Latin America and their effects on carcass and meat quality traits

Several initiatives, including research and development, increasing stakeholders' awareness and application of legislation and recommendation, have been carried out in Latin America to promote animal welfare and meat quality. Most activities focused on the impact of pre-slaughter conditions (facilities, equipment and handling procedures) on animal welfare and meat quality. The results are encouraging; data from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay showed that the application of the improved pre-slaughter handling practices reduced aggressive handling and the incidence of bruised carcasses at slaughter in cattle and pigs. These outcomes stimulated some to apply animal welfare concepts in livestock handling within the meat production chain as shown by the increasing demand for personnel training on the best. To attend this demand is important to expand local studies on farm animal welfare and to set up (or maintain) an efficient system for knowledge transfer to all stakeholders in the Latin America meat production chains. However, it is clear that to promote the long-term progress in this field is important to deliver practical solutions, assuring that they match the technical and financial conditions of those who are the target of training programs.     

DNA Binding Ellipticine Analogues: Synthesis,Biological Evaluation,and Structure–Activity Relationships

Novel angular and branched ellipticine‐correlated anticancer agents were developed. In particular, compound 24 , with two basic side chains on opposite sides of the molecule, exhibits cytotoxicity in the nanomolar range, acting as a DNA intercalator and topoisomerase II inhibitor. SAR studies with pyridocarbazole derivatives in comparison with corresponding smaller pyrroloquinolines are discussed.

     

Monitoring of non-homogeneous strains in composites with embedded wavelength multiplexed fiber Bragg gratings: A methodological study

For the detection of problems like fastening failures and delamination in composites, the employment of embedded fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors is considered an effective tool to measure non-homogeneous internal strains near damage or interfaces of dissimilar materials which in turn can help identify the severity of fracture. In this work wavelength multiplexed FBGs are used to measure strains during gradual adhesive fastening failure in a single lap joint and delamination in a uniaxial composite, during monotonic and fatigue loads. It is shown that such measurements can be effectively used to determine the stresses near the joint and bridging tractions in delamination. The particular method can provide a significant tool in experimental mechanics and fatigue of composites as well as composite assemblies. Experimental measurements are in very good agreement with the numerical analysis concurrently used for the verification of the experimental procedure’s feedback.     

Zur frage der gegenseitigen durchdringung von polymerknäueln in konzentrierten lösungen

The entanglement (mutual toothing) of random coils in concentrated polymer solutions was tested by crosslinking-reaction of two polybutylacrylate-copolymers A_x and A_Y. A_X is a copolymer of butylacrylate (BA) with the monoacrylic ester of butanediole (1–20 mole- % OH-groups) and A_Y is a copolymer of BA with isocyanatoethylacrylate (1–20 mole- % ? N ? C ? O). The maximum conversion U of this reaction, which can be realized, depends on the polymer content of the solution and on the content [X] of functional groups X or Y in the copolymer chains. By extrapolation of the experimental curves U ? f([X]) to [X] ? 0 the extent of the entanglement for non crosslinked random coils could be determined. It was found, that the toothing-zone increases with the polymer content of the solution from 0 (at 5 g polymer in 100 g solution) to about 20 % of the total volume of the swollen coils at 30 g polymer in 100 g solution, that is only a relatively small border zone of the coils.     

Clinical problems of neural lesions in the phase of rehabilitation. Their significance and importance in final success of rehabilitation therapy

The frequency and significance of associated diseases and clinical problems in patients with nerve injuries in the recovery stage was statistically assessed. A variety of clinical situations are observed in practically all such patients. Half of the symptoms and diseases encountered relate to the nervous system and cardiocirculatory apparatus, while there is also a high incidence of skeletal muscle and urinary affections. The significance of these signs as far as rehabilitation is concerned can be seen in the fact that psychological and micturition disturbances are observed, along with muscle hypertonia, fibromyositis, cystitis and arthrosis. These form the more common obstacles to the regular execution of a rehabilitation programme, whereas no such significance is possessed by such serious diseases as valvular cardiopathy, hypertension and neoplasia of the neuraxis.     

Influence of the age and sex on respiratory burst of human monocytes

The usefulness of peripheral human lymphocytes as a bioindicator for ionizing radiation effect was tested in a survey of Malaysian workers in two industries producing technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM). Workers in amang processing plants who have been with the plant for an average of 12.9 years and who were exposed to radioactive dust showed significantly higher frequencies of chromosomal aberration compared to control and even ilmenite-processing workers. Such frequency was not significantly different between workers in ilmenite-processing plant and control. The differences in duration of employment, occupational hygiene, together with the difference in the percentage of 'old' and 'new' aberrations among the groups sampled were used to explain the high chromosomal aberration frequency among amang workers. The presence of significantly high chromosome damage (dicentrics and fragments) in workers who were chronically exposed to doses below 50 mSv per year or 20 mSv per year averaged over 5 years (ICRP, 1991) provided additional experimental data on the dose-effect relationship at these low-dose ranges. The results confirm the usefulness of using human lymphocytes as a bioindicator for chronic exposure to ionizing radiation and in cases where physical radiation detectors are not available.     

An aroA homologue from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

In this study, we report the entire nucleotide sequence of an aroA homologue encoding 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), isolated from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The proposed coding region is an open reading frame of 447 amino acids. The deduced sequence of the gene product is particularly similar to the Gram+ EPSPS sequences available to date, in particular to that in Bacillus subtilis. Analysis of the Synechocystis putative EPSPS sequence does not lead to an obvious explanation for the natural tolerance of this cyanobacterium to glyphosate.     

Prostatic abscess caused by anaerobic germs

The system SOSUI for the discrimination of membrane proteins and soluble ones together with the prediction of transmembrane helices was developed, in which the accuracy of the classification of proteins was 99% and the corresponding value for the transmembrane helix prediction was 97%. AVAILABILITY: The system SOSUI is available through internet access: http://www.tuat.ac.jp/mitaku/sosui/. CONTACT: sosui@biophys.bio.tuat. ac.jp.     

Electrical properties of molecular beam epitaxial GaAs grown at 300–450°C

We use the Hall effect and a new charge-transfer technique to study molecular beam epitaxial GaAs grown at the low substrate temperatures of 300–450°C. Layers grown from 350–450°C are semi-insulating (resistivity greater than 10⁷ Ω-cm), as grown, because of an As_Ga-related donor (not EL2) at E_C-0.65 eV. The donor concentrations are about 2×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and 2×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ at growth temperatures of 300 and 400°C, respectively, and acceptor concentrations are about an order of magnitude lower. Relatively high mobilities (∼5000 cm²/V s) along with the high resistivities make this material potentially useful for certain device applications.