Aging and inhibition processes: The case of metaphor treatment.

The inhibitory deficit hypothesis has often been cited as a possible explanation for cognitive changes related to age. The aim of this study was to develop a new procedure for evaluating effortful inhibition on the basis of the comprehension of metaphors. Our experiment was carried out on younger and older adults, in whom we also measured inhibitory capacity, working memory, and processing speed. The results show that older participants required a longer time and made more frequent errors in rejecting metaphors versus literally false statements. The interference effect was predicted by the psychometric tests designed to evaluate inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immobilised yeast grape must deacidification in a recycle fixed bed reactor

Maloalcoholic fermentation (MAF) of grape must by Schizosaccharomyces pombe immobilised in calcium‐alginate double‐layer beads (ProMalic^®) was studied in Erlenmeyer flasks and in a total recycle fixed‐bed reactor operating in batch mode. The reaction is pseudo‐first order with respect to l ‐malic acid and under similar conditions deacidification is faster in the recycle reactor. This was attributed to mass transfer limitations which were confirmed in the recycle reactor by studying the influence of yeast load on the rate of MAF. Mass transfer limitations are also responsible for the lower activation energy of fermentation with the immobilised yeast (67 ± 9 kJ mol^?1) in comparison with the free cells (126 ± 19 kJ mol^?1). Alcoholic fermentation and MAF were performed simultaneously, both in the recycle reactor and in the industrial trials, confirming the efficacy of immobilised S. pombe to reduce grape must acidity without interfering with the main fermentation. Altogether, the present results are useful for the scale‐up of a recycle reactor to process large volumes of grape must.     

Evaluation of the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Mentha pulegium,Juniperus phoenicea,and Cyperus longus essential oils from Morocco

The present study evaluates the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils (EOs) of Mentha pulegium L., Juniperus phoenicea L. and Cyperus longus L. from Morocco. The composition of these species was analyzed by GC/MS and 84 components were identified. M. pulegium EO showed a great similarity with EOs coming from other regions, as pulegone, the major component, accounted for about 70% of the EO. The EO of J. phoenicea had as main components α-pinene (24.9%), β-phellandrene (24.4%) and α-terpinyl acetate (12.9%). The EO extracted from C. longus was remarkably rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (83.2%), which included β-himachalene (46.6%), α-humulene (16.9%), and γ-himachalene (10.1%). The antimicrobial activity of these EOs has been evaluated against seven bacteria of significant importance for food hygiene. According to the results, M. pulegium showed the best bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect, followed by J. phoenicea and C. longus. So far as we know, this is the first report on the quantitative composition and biological activity of the essential oil from C. longus. The tested EOs showed a variable degree of antimicrobial activity being M. pulegium the most effective one.     

Selectivity enhancement in the catalytic heterogeneous hydrogenation of limonene in supercritical carbon dioxide by an ionic liquid

Ionic liquids as coated catalysts or additives tremendously alter the selectivity pattern of the heterogeneous solid catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of limonene. The conventional monometallic ruthenium over alumina catalyst combined with an ionic liquid enables the one-pot synthesis of the intermediate p-menthene through limonene hydrogenation in supercritical carbon dioxide. Among eight screened imidazolium ILs, [C₁₀mim]NTf₂ was employed as additive, or as the coating agent of ruthenium catalyst in the reaction under supercritical conditions.The coating of the heterogeneous catalyst allows the selective production of p-menthene and increases the conversion level of limonene (>99%) compared to the conversion of limonene in the reaction carried out in the presence of an ionic liquid as an additive. Results of the catalyst recycling indicate that there is no depletion of catalyst reactivity even after four successive cycles of operation under the studied reaction conditions. Further hydrogenation of p-menthene is strongly inhibited by employing an ionic liquid. The solubility of limonene or p-menthene in an ionic liquid governs the selective hydrogenation of limonene towards p-menthene.     

Phenotypic,genetic and technological characterization of Lactococcus garvieae strains isolated from a raw milk cheese

A series of Lactococcus garvieae strains isolated as the majority population of a Spanish traditional, starter-free cheese made from raw milk were phenotypically and genotypically characterised to address their biochemical potential, safety requirements, and technological properties. As expected, all L. garvieae cheese strains fermented lactose but grew slowly in UHT-treated milk. Enzymatic activities of L. garvieae were similar to those of Lactococcus lactis, although higher esterase and lipase activities were recorded for L. garvieae strains. Profiles of the volatile compounds produced from milk by L. garvieae and L. lactis strains were also comparable. L. garvieae strains did not produce haemolysin, gelatinase and the biogenic amines tyramine and histamine. Five L. garvieae stains showed tetracycline resistance encoded by a tet(M) gene. The use of L. garvieae strains as starter or adjunct cultures might be recommended for certain cheese types, provided that the safety of the strains has been demonstrated.     

Measuring contradiction on A-IFS defined in finite universes

The work outlined here aims to build and examine contradiction measures on Atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy sets (A-IFS) that are defined in this particular case in finite universes. The axiomatic definition of contradiction measure in the A-IFS framework was given in [7]. A number of axioms formalizing the concept of continuity for the above measures were also given. In this paper, Section 1, which briefly discusses the preliminaries required to develop the work, is followed by a section analysing how the restriction of the universe of discourse to a finite set influences the continuity axioms. The following three sections look at three types of specific contradiction measures. In Section 3, continuous t-norms and fuzzy negations are used to construct a large family of measures. These measures satisfy different types of continuity, which are examined at length. Then, Sections 4 Contradiction measures from geometrical methods, 5 Contradiction measures in reference to the region of non- take up other families introduced in [8], [10], [9], proving that their behaviour with respect to continuity is better than it was in the earlier articles because the universes considered here are finite.     

Carob Fruit Polyphenols Reduce Tocopherol Loss,Triacylglycerol Polymerization and Oxidation in Heated Sunflower Oil

Heated oils may contain potentially toxic altered compounds. A denatured carob fiber, very rich in non-extractable tannins (Exxenterol^®), exhibits antioxidant activities in in vitro experiments. The present study was designed to evaluate in sunflower oil (SO) heated to frying temperature, the protective effect on oil thermal oxidation and polymerization of adding 10 mg Exxenterol/kg oil (SO-10) and 50 mg Exxenterol/kg oil (SO-50). After 2, 8 and 16 h at 180 °C, SO displayed a relevant increase in triacylglycerol-derived polar material (PM) and polymer contents and a decrease in α-tocopherol concentrations. Thermal oxidation changes were significantly checked in SO-50 throughout the 16-h heating, while SO-10 only displayed protection from thermal oxidation during the first 2 h of heating. Oil frying-life was doubled because formation of PM and polymers was inhibited by more than 50%. Results clearly show that this non-extractable tannin-rich fiber can be successfully employed as an additive to significantly prolong sunflower oil frying-life, and thus decrease the potential toxicity of the heated oil.     

Imbalance diets in preschool children: study in a day-care center in the Province of Buenos Aires,Argentina

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of low fat diets in children aged 2 to 5. Eighty two children (40 females and 42 males) attending a school cafeteria (Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina), in a cross sectional study, were evaluated. Body weight (W), height (H) and body composition (BC) by bioimpedance were recorded. The anthropometric raw data were processed as Z-score of the weight-for-age (WEZ) and of the height-for-age (HAZ). Serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and Zinc/haemoglobin ratio (Zn/Hb) were also measured. Results showed that 73.2% of the children were adequate (A) according WEZ, 13.4% were lean (L) and 13.4% overweight (O). 8.5% presented simultaneously impairment in WEZ and HAZ. Body fat percentage and energy metabolism were higher in O than in L and A (p < 0.05). Serum IGF-1's children--aged 4 to 5 years--with HAZ deficit were low than adequate HAZ ones. No statistical differences in Zn/Hb ratio between A, L and O were found. This cross sectional study suggests metabolic disorders in young children attending school cafeterias. These conclusions will allow to design balanced diets in order to optimize the resources, promote optimal growth and development and prevent adult diseases through dietary practices in childhood.     

Study of the aromatic by-products formed from ozonation of anilines in aqueous solution

Aqueous solutions of aniline and p-chloroaniline were treated with ozone in order to study the reaction and oxidation by-products. Aniline solutions were ozonated at low and high pH, so as to compare both molecular and hydroxyl free radical mechanisms, respectively. The main identified aromatic by-products were nitrobenzene and azobenzene when the experiment was carried out at acid pH. Formation of nitrobenzene, azobenzene, azoxybenzene and 2-pyridine-carboxylic was observed when the ozonation was carried out at basic pH. p-Chloroaniline was treated with ozone only at high pH and the identified by-products were in accordance with those obtained in the ozonation of aniline: p-chloronitrobenzene, 4,4'-dichloroazobenzene and 4-chloro-2-pyridine-carboxylic acid. All the aromatic by-products found were less toxic than the raw materials. The pseudo-first-order constants in aniline concentration were calculated, whilst kinetic in p-chloroaniline concentration could not be adjusted to a first-order reaction.