Identification of the compound in a potent cranberry juice extract that inhibits lipid oxidation in comminuted muscle

An extract prepared from cranberry juice powder using a mixture of chloroform and methanol was particularly effective at inhibiting lipid oxidation in mechanically separated turkey (MST), providing more than 3 weeks of additional stability during −4 °C storage at a usage level of 0.1% (wet weight basis). The chloroform extract was fractionated by flash chromatography (FC) and analysed using reverse-phased high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with UV/vis diode array detection to identify the component(s) present in the fractions. One of the five fractions obtained was effective in delaying the formation of lipid peroxides and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in MST, while the remaining fractions had little to no inhibitory action. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis indicated the presence of two flavonols, quercetin and quercetin-3-O-(6″-benzoyl)-β-galactoside in the inhibitory fraction. This fraction (containing quercetin at 467 μmol/kg MST) inhibited lipid oxidation in MST similarly to pure quercetin added to MST at the same concentration. This indicated that quercetin accounted for all or nearly all of the inhibitory capacity in the chloroform extract.     

High power universal piezoelectric transformer

This study describes a multilayer piezoelectric voltage and power transformer that has one direction poling, operates in a wide-frequency range and delivers both step-up and step-down voltages by inverting the electrical connections. In this design, the input and output electrodes are on the same side of the disk and are isolated from each other by a fixed isolation gap. The electrode pattern is a ring/dot structure such that it uses radial mode for both input and output part that are built-in on the same ceramic disk. A prototype transformer was fabricated of size 15 x 2.78 mm2 having mass of 3.8 gm. In the step-down configuration at the constant output power of 6 W, the transformer characteristics across a 100 omega load were found to be efficiency = 92%, gain = 0.21 input voltage = 110 V(rms), and temperature rise = 20 degrees C from the room temperature. In the step-up configuration at the constant output power of 5 W, the transformer characteristics across a 5 komega load were found to be efficiency = 97%, gain = 9.5, input voltage = 16 V(rms), and temperature rise = 8 degrees C from the room temperature. A detailed equivalent circuit analysis of the transformer was done, and the results were found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental results.     

Highly basic CaO nanoparticles in mesoporous carbon materials and their excellent catalytic activity

Highly basic CaO nanoparticles immobilized mesoporous carbon materials (CaO-CMK-3) with different pore diameters have been successfully prepared by using wet-impregnation method. The prepared materials were subjected to extensive characterization studies using sophisticated techniques such as XRD, nitrogen adsorption, HRSEM-EDX, HRTEM and temperature programmed desorption of CO2 (TPD of CO2). The physico-chemical characterization results revealed that these materials possess highly dispersed CaO nanoparticles, excellent nanopores with well-ordered structure, high specific surface area, large specific pore volume, pore diameter and very high basicity. We have also demonstrated that the basicity of the CaO-CMK-3 samples can be controlled by simply varying the amount of CaO loading and pore diameter of the carbon support. The basic catalytic performance of the samples was investigated in the base-catalyzed transesterification of ethylacetoacetate by aryl, aliphatic and cyclic primary alcohols. CMK-3 catalyst with higher CaO loading and larger pore diameter was found to be highly active with higher conversion within a very short reaction time. The activity of 30% CaO-CMK3-150 catalyst for transesterification of ethylacetoacetate using different alcohols increases in the following order: octanol > butanol > cyclohexanol > benzyl alcohol > furfuryl alcohol.     

Microstructure and Property Evolution for Hot-Rolled and Cold-Rolled Austenitic Stainless Steel 316L

Grain boundary character distribution plays an important role in determining the functional and mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. The aim of this work was to achieve improved coincident site lattice (CSL) fraction without increasing low angle grain boundary (LAGB) proportion. We utilized single-step thermo-mechanical processing route involving rolling followed by short heat treatment and compared the effect of rolling temperature. Our results indicated that rolling at elevated temperature led to significant increase in the fraction of special boundaries while keeping the fraction of LAGB very low, as desired. We conducted thermal stability of our sample-conditions at elevated temperatures for various lengths of time and found the microstructure of the samples to be stable up to 1000 °C. This study showed that even commercially suitable process (single step processing with short heat treatment duration) could lead to microstructure with considerable increase in CSL boundaries fraction, improved hardness values and good thermal stability.     

Socio-economic and political barriers to public participation in EIA: implications for sustainable development in the Maldives

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a policy process that can lead to more sustainable development by preventing or mitigating the negative impacts of development projects. Public participation in the EIA process, especially one based on the ideals of deliberative democracy, is essential to deliver on the goal of sustainable development that is arguably the primary objective of EIA. This article specifically focuses on a study of public participation in the EIA process of the Maldives. Using a qualitative research design involving an analysis of documents and interviews, it investigates four aspects of a deliberative participatory process: fairness, competence, willingness and capacity. The analysis suggests that the process for public participation in the Maldives cannot be characterized as fully fair or competent. It further identifies several socio-economic barriers that affect the capacity and willingness of the actors to participate including political influence, lack of human and financial capacity, gender gap, loss of community spirit and lack of environmental and procedural awareness.     

Higher-Order Numerical Scheme for the Fractional Heat Equation with Dirichlet and Neumann Boundary Conditions

In this article, we consider a higher-order numerical scheme for the fractional heat equation with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. By using a fourth-order compact finite-difference scheme for the spatial variable, we transform the fractional heat equation into a system of ordinary fractional differential equations which can be expressed in integral form. Further, the integral equation is transformed into a difference equation by a modified trapezoidal rule. Numerical results are provided to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Zingiber officinale extract exhibits antidiabetic potential via modulating glucose uptake, protein glycation and inhibiting adipocyte differentiation: an in vitro study

BACKGROUND: Ginger, the rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae), a perennial herbaceous plant is native to Southern Asia. Study was aimed to evaluate antioxidant and antidiabetic potential of ginger extract and its characterization. Possible mode of action to elicit antidiabetic activity was also evaluated. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ethyl acetate extract of ginger (EAG) was evaluated for its antioxidant activity in terms of DPPH radical scavenging potential with an IC₅₀ value of 4.59 µg/ml. Antidiabetic activity of EAG was evaluated by estimating antiglycation potential (IC₅₀ 290.84 µg/ml). HPLC profiling of EAG revealed the presence of phenolic components, gingerol and shoagol as major constituents. After determining sub‐toxic concentration of EAG (50 µg/ml), efficacy of extract to enhance glucose uptake in cell lines were checked in L6 mouse myoblast and myotubes. EAG was effective at 5 µg/ml concentration in both cases. Antibody based studies in treated cells revealed the effect of EAG in expressing Glut 4 in cell surface membrane compared to control. CONCLUSION: The antidiabetic effect of ginger was experimentally proved in the study and has concluded that the activity is initiated by antioxidant, antiglycation and potential to express or transport Glut4 receptors from internal vesicles. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Identification and characterization of novel α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory peptides from camel whey proteins

This study explores the inhibitory properties of camel whey protein hydrolysates (CWPH) toward α-amylase (AAM) and α-glucosidase (AG). A general full factorial design (3 × 3) was applied to study the effect of temperature (30, 37, and 45°C), time (120, 240, and 360 min), and enzyme (pepsin) concentration (E%; 0.5, 1, and 2%). The results showed that maximum degree of hydrolysis was obtained when hydrolysis was carried out at higher temperature (45°C; P < 0.05), compared with lower temperatures of 30 and 37°C. Electrophoretic pattern displays degradation of all protein bands upon hydrolysis by pepsin at various hydrolysis conditions applied. All the 27 CWPH generated showed significant AAM and AG inhibitory potential as indicated by their lower IC₅₀ values (mg/mL) compared with intact whey proteins. In total 196 peptides were identified from selected hydrolysates and 15 potential peptides (PepSite score > 0.8; http://pepsite2.russelllab.org/) were explored via in silico approach. Novel peptides PAGNFLMNGLMHR, PAVACCLPPLPCHM, MLPLMLPFTMGY, and PAGNFLPPVAAAPVM were identified as potential inhibitors for both AAM and AG due to their high number of binding sites and highest binding probability toward the target enzymes. CCGM and MFE, as well as FCCLGPVPP were identified as AG and AAM inhibitory peptides, respectively. This is the first study that reports novel AG and AAM inhibitory peptides from camel whey proteins. The future direction for this research involves synthesis of these potential AG and AAM inhibitory peptides in a pure form and investigate their antidiabetic properties in the in vitro, as well as in vivo models. Thus, CWPH can be considered for potential applications in glycaemic regulation.