Cultivar differences of total anthocyanins and anthocyanidins in red and purple-fleshed potatoes and their relation to antioxidant activity

Total anthocyanins (TAC) and individual anthocyanidins (AN) after hydrolysis were measured in 15 red and purple-fleshed potato cultivars produced in five different locations in the Czech Republic and a new cultivar Blaue St. Galler from Switzerland. It was found that TAC, expressed as cyanidin content, varied between 0.7 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW (cv. Blue Congo) and 74.3 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW (cv. Blaue Ludiano). Major differences in cultivars were found for AN relative abundance. For cv. Highland Burgundy Red a high proportion of pelargonidin (98.7%) was characteristic, whereas cv. British Columbia Blue contained almost exclusively cyanidin. Cultivars Violette and Vitelotte showed a relatively high content of malvidin. Cultivar Shetland Black differed from others with its higher content of peonidin (on average 36.7%). High petunidin abundance in the cultivars Valfi, Blue Congo, Salad Blue, Blaue St. Galler, Blaue Hindel Bank, Blaue Ludiano, Blaue Schweden, Farbe Kartoffel and Salad Red was found. TAC and AN contents highly corresponded with antioxidant activity (AA) determined with the ABTS, FRAP and DPPH assays in vitro. High AA was shown by the cultivars Vitelotte, Violette, Blaue Ludiano, Hafija, and Highland Burgundy Red. Increased height above sea level, higher annual sum of precipitation, and lower annual average temperatures caused higher AA and TAC. A high degree of hydroxylation and/or methoxylation of individual anthocyanidins could contribute in conjunction with other phenolics to high AA (peonidin, delphinidin and malvidin in the cultivars Blue Congo, Highland Burgundy Red and Shetland Black). Consequently, new red and purple-fleshed cultivars with high TAC and highly methoxylated and/or hydroxylated AN could be a promising source of favourable antioxidants in human nutrition.     

MALDI-TOF MS and Morphology Studies of Thiacalixarene-Silsesquioxane Products of Oligo- and Polycondensation

For the first time condensed silsesquioxane derivatives of tetratrialkoxysilyl compounds have been characterized by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Tetrasubstituted p-tert-butyl thiacalix[4]arene derivatives containing organosilicon fragments with variable stereochemistry were chosen as organosilicon compounds for polycondensation. Information obtained from mass spectra was used to deduce both the structures of oligomeric derivatives, as well as the structure of silsesquioxane framework. The morphology of formed polysilsesquioxanes was investigated by scanning and transmission electron microscopy.     

The effect of temperature and oxygen content on the flowing liquid metal corrosion of structural steels in the Pb–Bi eutectic

We performed corrosion tests of 1000 h each on approximately 20 types of structural steels (austenitic, ferritic and martensitic) in convection loops with flowing Pb–Bi at 500, 450 and 400 °C and a temperature gradient of 100 °C. These experiments were performed in liquid Pb–Bi with different oxygen concentrations (from approximately 1 × 10⁻⁶ to 2 × 10⁻⁵ wt.%) to ascertain at what oxygen concentration and up to what temperature the oxygen technology can create protective oxide or spinel layers to reduce or prevent corrosion. The results showed that the structural materials contemplated for building an ADS system, including 9% Cr–1% Mo (W) martensitic steels and similar steels with a higher Si content (2–3%), can be used with their surface unpassivated at up to 450 °C and suffer only minimal corrosion (up to 5 μm/year). At higher temperatures, their surface must be passivated prior to and regularly during the operation; however, no technology to perform such passivation in the presence of Pb–Bi is known that this time. In addition, we measured the impact of various alloying elements, such as Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Si, Al and Mo, on the corrosion of such steels and searched for potential ways to passivate their surface or create protective oxide or spinel layers during operation by varying the amount of oxygen in liquid Pb–Bi.     

Modified polypropylene yarns from oriented film for manufacture of goods for national consumption and technical articles

Conclusions A technological process has been developed for preparing modified film yarns from a mixture of polypropylene and low density polyethylene having a content of the latter up to 10% by wt.; these yarns are used to make goods for national consumption or technical articles, with an economic advantage of 50 rubles per metric ton of yarn.When small additions of LDPE are introduced into polypropylene, an increase in the degree of yarn stretch is observed.The suggestion has been made that small additions of LDPE heal defects in the structure of oriented polypropylene, which is prone to spontaneous fibrillation; this aids in obtaining yarns with increased strength, elasticity, and lower tendency to split.Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 1, pp. 45–47, January–February, 1989.     

Quadrupole lenses on the basis of permanent magnets for a PRIOR proton microscope prototype

Four quadrupole lenses based on permanent magnets of the NdFeB material (PMQ) were developed for the imaging section for forming images of the ion-optical system of the PRIOR proton microscope prototype: the effective length of two of them is 144 mm, and the other two are 288 mm long. The field induction at the radius of the lens aperture is 1.77 Т, and the aperture is 30 mm in size. The modular design of the PMQ makes it possible to vary the length of the lenses, compensate for the offset of the magnetic axis from the ion optical axis of the microscope channel, and decrease the variation of the angular position of the magnetic medians. The PMQ magnetic field was adjusted, scanned, and its main characteristics were determined. The 3D mathematical models of the magnetic-field distribution that are obtained as a result of PMQ measurements are intended for the use in calculations of the beam dynamics during adjustment of the ion-optical system of the proton microscope and for attaining the highest spatial resolution. The developed lenses were used in the first experiments on the PRIOR facility.     

Gap Junctional Communication via Connexin43 between Purkinje Fibers and Working Myocytes Explains the Epicardial Activation Pattern in the Postnatal Mouse Left Ventricle

The mammalian ventricular myocardium forms a functional syncytium due to flow of electrical current mediated in part by gap junctions localized within intercalated disks. The connexin (Cx) subunit of gap junctions have direct and indirect roles in conduction of electrical impulse from the cardiac pacemaker via the cardiac conduction system (CCS) to working myocytes. Cx43 is the dominant isoform in these channels. We have studied the distribution of Cx43 junctions between the CCS and working myocytes in a transgenic mouse model, which had the His-Purkinje portion of the CCS labeled with green fluorescence protein. The highest number of such connections was found in a region about one-third of ventricular length above the apex, and it correlated with the peak proportion of Purkinje fibers (PFs) to the ventricular myocardium. At this location, on the septal surface of the left ventricle, the insulated left bundle branch split into the uninsulated network of PFs that continued to the free wall anteriorly and posteriorly. The second peak of PF abundance was present in the ventricular apex. Epicardial activation maps correspondingly placed the site of the first activation in the apical region, while some hearts presented more highly located breakthrough sites. Taken together, these results increase our understanding of the physiological pattern of ventricular activation and its morphological underpinning through detailed CCS anatomy and distribution of its gap junctional coupling to the working myocardium.     

Metformin Influence on the Intestinal Microbiota and Organism of Rats with Metabolic Syndrome

Metformin is a first-line drug for DM2 treatment and prevention, but its complex effect on impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), including its influence on myocardial resistance to ischemia-reperfusion injury, is not completely studied. We aimed to evaluate the influence of metformin on the intestinal microbiota (IM), metabolism, and functional and morphological characteristics of myocardium in rats with IGT. IGT was modelled in SPF Wistar rats with a high-fat diet and streptozotocin and nicotinamide injection. Rats were divided into three groups: IGT (without treatment), IGT MET (metformin therapy), and CRL (without IGT induction and treatment). IGT group was characterized by: higher body weight, increased serum glucose and total cholesterol levels, atherogenic coefficient, impairment in the functional parameters of the isolated heart during perfusion, and larger myocardium infarction (MI) size in comparison with the CRL group. IM of IGT rats differed from that of CRL: an increase of Bacteroides, Acinetobacter, Akkermansia, Roseburia, and a decrease of Lactobacillus genera representation. Metformin therapy led to the diminishing of metabolic syndrome (MS) symptoms, which correlated with IM restoration, especially with the growth of Akkermansia spp. and decline of Roseburia populations and their influence on other members of IM. The obtained results allow us to consider from a new point of view the expediency of probiotic A. muciniphila use for MS treatment.