A Perinatal Palatable High-Fat Diet Increases Food Intake and Promotes Hypercholesterolemia in Adult Rats

The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effects of a perinatal palatable high-fat diet on the food intake and cholesterol profile of adult rats. Male Wistar rats (aged 22 days) were divided into two groups according to their mother’s diet during gestation and lactation (C _p, n = 10; pups from control mothers; and HL_p n = 10; pups from mothers fed a palatable high-fat diet). At the 76th day, pups were housed individually for 14 days, and daily food consumption was determined during a period of 6 days. Blood from 100-day-old rats was sampled by cardiac puncture. Fasting (12 h) serum glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides (TG), and VLDL-C levels were determined. The measurement of food intake was higher in the animals submitted to a hyperlipidic diet during the perinatal period. Serum total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, TG, VLDL-C and glycemia were increased in the HL_p group compared to the control group. Our findings show that an early life environment with a high-fat diet can contribute to metabolic disease in later life.     

Degradation of an Azo Dye (Ponceau 4R) and Treatment of Wastewater from a Food Industry by Ozonation

Experiments for degradation of the extensively marketed Ponceau 4R dye in aqueous solution and for oxidation of raw wastewater from a confectionary industry have been carried out by using ozone. All the experiments were performed in a cylindrical semi-batch reactor at approximately 20 ^oC for 7200 s. A mass flow rate of 1.158?×?10^?6 kg s^?1 of ozone was continuously fed in the reactor. The pH of the azo dye aqueous solution (distilled water + Ponceau 4R) was always kept at approximately 5.8, while in the case of the raw wastewater the same factor was changed from 4.7 to 9.4 in two different experimental runs. Absorbance measurements at 508 nm show that the investigated azo dye found in the azo dye aqueous solution was completely degraded after only 600 s. At this initial period a substantial fall of TOC (Total Organic Carbon) (up to 45%) was noticed, but the rate was exponentially decreased at longer reaction times up to a TOC removal no higher than 60%. The ozonation was also responsible for reducing the apparent color of the raw wastewater to almost 10% of its initial value at the optimum pH (9.4 ± 1.5). The effect of pH was important on apparent color, but it had absolutely no influence on the kinetics results of COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), which were kept constant over the entire period of reaction.     

IrO2–SnO2 mixtures as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media

In this work, SnO₂ + IrO₂ mixed oxides are studied as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media by means of voltammetric techniques under controlled mass transfer conditions thanks to the use of rotating (ring) disk electrodes (RDE/RRDE). The oxides, prepared by sol–gel methodology, are supported on the disk electrodes using a thin layer of anionic exchange polymer as gluing agent. The amount of deposited polymer was optimized to avoid any limitation due to the diffusion of reactant/products across the film thickness. The mixed oxides were prepared at the following mole fractions of IrO₂: $ x_{{{\text{IrO}}_{ 2} }} $  = 0.15, 0.31, 0.55, 0.73, and 1. The role of composition was studied in terms of the reaction pathways and the relevant fraction of H₂O₂ production, together with the potentials of the onset of ORR. The fraction of sites able to give proton/hydroxyl and electron transfers is also determined and discussed. The results point to the best performance of low-Ir containing mixtures and to their low sensitivity to the presence of methanol, a key feature in the case of crossover in alkaline direct alcohol fuel cells.     

Time-Dependence of the Adhesion of Micrometer-Size Particles to Substrates: Correlation with Postdeposition Particle Rotation

The time dependence of the detachment force of 7-µm ground polyester particles coated with silica nanoparticles from a ceramer-coated substrate was determined by ultracentrifugation. The detachment force of the particles from the substrate was found to increase with the time since the particle deposition. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that, following deposition, the particles rotate at approximately the same scale as the observed increase in the detachment force. This suggests that the increase in adhesion may be due to particle rotation from their initial positions obtained upon deposition to a more stable position that results from torques generated by either electrostatic or van der Waals forces acting on the particles.     

Thermal and mechanical properties of PES/PTFE composites and nanocomposites

Polyethersulphone/polytetrafluoroethylene (PES/PTFE) nanocomposites and composites were prepared by precipitation of PES into a PTFE latex‐containing nanoparticles. Different samples were obtained by varying the relative ratio between PES and PTFE. The complex crystallization process, discussed within the fractionated crystallization frame, allowed to identify and quantify different dispersion degree of the PTFE nanoparticles within the PES matrix. The different samples were thus divided into nanocomposite and composites. The effect of crystalline PTFE domains on the mobility of PES was investigated and discussed. The dynamic‐mechanical behavior was explained in terms of the particle aggregation state. The mechanical properties of the PES/PTFE composites were found to depend on both the dispersion and the concentration of the PTFE nanoparticles. In the glassy state the stiffness of the materials was found to increase with the dispersion degree, resulting higher for the nanocomposite with respect to composites. On the contrary, in the rubbery state the modulus was found proportional to the PTFE nanoparticles concentration, resulting higher in the composites with respect to the nanocomposite. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3624–3633, 2013     

Improving lactic acid melt polycondensation: The role of co‐catalyst

A study on lactic acid polycondensation under melt conditions was carried out and a preliminary assessment revealed tin powder as a very good catalyst for poly(lactic acid) (PLA) synthesis by melt polycondensation while confirming previous information on SnCl₂ good performance. However, these catalysts also promoted side reactions leading to racemization and yellowing of the final polymer. The use of p‐toluenesulphonic acid (p‐TSA) or triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) as co‐catalysts proved to be very effective hindering colour formation and allowing synthesizing PLA samples with enhanced properties. The addition of these compounds to neat tin powder increased the PLA optical purity, whereas their addition to SnCl₂ speeded up the polymerization. A significant increase in molecular weight, from 32,500 to 52,000 g mol^?1, was recorded, with the new catalytic system SnCl₂/PPh₃ showing catalytic activity comparable with the one reported in the literature for SnCl₂/p‐TSA. Several characterization techniques were used for assessing polymer samples: the molecular weights were determined by SEC, thermal behavior measured by DSC, and racemization extent calculated from specific rotation measurements. UV/vis spectroscopy was confirmed as a powerful technique for evaluating yellowing of final polymers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Effect of Solvent Content on the Separation and the Energy Consumption of Extractive Distillation Columns

This article sets out to evaluate the effect of solvent content in the extractive section on the separation efficiency and energy consumption of extractive distillation columns. Contrary to the classical approach, the proposed approach enables a simultaneous evaluation of the effect of the major decision variables (reflux ratio, solvent flow rate, and the number of stages of the extractive section [NSE]). The procedure allows calculating the minimum solvent flow rate for the separation and the minimum specific energy consumption. The results show that the minimum specific energy consumption is obtained for the minimum reflux ratio and not for the minimum solvent flow rate. Moreover, the results show that it is not always the case that a larger NSE results in lower energy consumption. Due to its industrial importance, the dehydration of aqueous mixtures of ethanol using ethylene glycol as solvent has been chosen as a case study.     

Effect of the mimic structure on the molecular recognition properties of molecularly imprinted polymers for ochratoxin A prepared by a fragmental approach

In this work the fragmental approach was used to prepare several molecularly imprinted ethylene dimethacrylate-co-methacrylic acid polymers with molecular recognition towards the mycotoxin ochratoxin A, with the aim of searching for simpler mimic templates than the well-known N-(4-chloro-1-hydroxy-2-naphthoylamido)-(l)-phenylalanine. The screening for binding of two different kinds of ochratoxin-related molecules was performed by HPLC analysis. Ochratoxin A and the mimic templates were eluted in acetonitrile–acetic acid (0.1% v/v) and the imprinting factor was measured for all the ligands on all the columns packed with the imprinted polymers. The experimental results show that changes to the amino acidic sub-structure or the presence/absence of a chlorine atom in position 4 on the naphthalene ring system does not affect the molecular recognition of ochratoxin A by the resulting imprinted polymer. On the contrary, the presence of the bulky naphthalene ring system in the mimic template seems to be necessary to preserve the molecular recognition of ochratoxin. This binding behavior was found to be compatible with in silico simulations of the complexation between some of the mimic templates and molecules of methacrylic acid. The use of the mimic template N-(1-hydroxy-2-naphthoylamido)-(L)-phenylalanine seems to represent a synthetically simple approach to the preparation of imprinted polymers with molecular recognition properties towards ochratoxin A.