Toxic Effects of Glyphosate on the Nervous System: A Systematic Review

Glyphosate, a non-selective systemic biocide with broad-spectrum activity, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It can persist in the environment for days or months, and its intensive and large-scale use can constitute a major environmental and health problem. In this systematic review, we investigate the current state of our knowledge related to the effects of this pesticide on the nervous system of various animal species and humans. The information provided indicates that exposure to glyphosate or its commercial formulations induces several neurotoxic effects. It has been shown that exposure to this pesticide during the early stages of life can seriously affect normal cell development by deregulating some of the signaling pathways involved in this process, leading to alterations in differentiation, neuronal growth, and myelination. Glyphosate also seems to exert a significant toxic effect on neurotransmission and to induce oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, processes that lead to neuronal death due to autophagy, necrosis, or apoptosis, as well as the appearance of behavioral and motor disorders. The doses of glyphosate that produce these neurotoxic effects vary widely but are lower than the limits set by regulatory agencies. Although there are important discrepancies between the analyzed findings, it is unequivocal that exposure to glyphosate produces important alterations in the structure and function of the nervous system of humans, rodents, fish, and invertebrates.     

Lipid and cholesterol oxidation in chicken meat are inhibited by sage but not by garlic

The effects of the addition of sage and garlic in chicken meat on lipid and cholesterol oxidation, having as prooxidant factors the addition of salt, thermal treatment, and frozen storage, were evaluated. The content of unsaturated fatty acids did not change in the presence of sage; on the contrary, with garlic, the content of these fatty acids decreased after cooking and storage. Hexanal and pentanal contents were lower in patties containing sage, and higher in those with garlic. The 7-ketocholesterol was the cholesterol oxide found in higher amount in raw chicken on day 0, while the formation of 7β- and 7α-hydroxycholesterol was verified only from day 30 on. Cooking and storage resulted in increase of total cholesterol oxides and decrease of α- and γ-tocopherol. Sage was effective in controlling lipid and cholesterol oxidation, minimizing the prooxidant effects of salt, cooking, and storage. However, garlic presented no effect as antioxidant and accelerated lipid oxidation. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The addition of sage to chicken meat (0.1 g/100 g) is a good alternative to prevent and delay the formation of compounds derived from lipid oxidation that are responsible for off-flavors and loss of nutritional quality during long-term frozen storage. Care must be taken when using garlic to seasoning chicken meat products, such as hamburgers and meatballs, especially cooked or precooked due to its potential to promote lipid oxidation and consequently raising the risk of having the product rejected by the consumer.     

智能材料结构及在振动控制中的应用研究评述和展望

概括介绍了智能结构的研究领域及在振动控制中的研究概况,对智能结构振动控制系统的建模、控制器设计、传感和作动元件以及智能结构制作、实验研究等方面的研究进展作了简要评述。分析了各相关研究所存在的问题和该项研究专题未来可能的发展趋势。     

Agglomerate breakage and adhesion upon impact with complex-shaped particles

Understanding the breakage and adhesion of an agglomerate upon collision with a target particle is a primary step to fathom the adhesive mixing process. While the effect of several variables, such as collision velocity and particle interface energy, on collision behavior has been explored, the effects of target particle morphology have yet to be revealed. In this work, we generate three-dimensional particles with controllable shape and texture using Fourier harmonics and, using the discrete element method, we examine the collision of an agglomerate that impacts each target particle. Results show that the agglomerate breakage depends on the local curvature in the impact zone. We observe that the asperity and elongation factors of the target particle largely contribute to the extent of the deposition of fine particles and the size and number of generated fragments after impact, respectively. These results reveal the large potential error when approximating real particles as smooth spheres in fragmentation studies.     

Preparation of Spherical Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Powders by Reactive-Spray Atomization

A new inorganic sol–gel process of zirconia (yttri-stabilized) spherical powders production has been developed. The process is based on spraying zirconia sol into an ammoniawater solution, followed by drying of the gel precipitate and calcination. The gel particles preserve the spherical shape of sprayed droplets, because of a thin solid film that forms on the drop surface via its contact with gaseous ammonia before the impact with the ammonia solution. Being dried and calcined, the gel spheres transform to free–flowing powders composed of the solid, not hollow smooth spheres of zirconia–yttria solid solutions. The particle composition, morphology, and microstructure have been investigated in detail versus the process conditions.     

稻草水解液与乙腈的双水相分配特性

研究了稻草水解液中的糖在乙腈-水双水相体系中的分配行为,首先重点考察了双水相的形成,分析了乙腈与稻草水解浓缩液的体积比和温度等对糖的分配系数影响。乙腈体积分数低于50%时不能形成双水相。当V乙腈:V样品等于2或者3时,在25℃下实验,上层富含乙腈相中有葡萄糖、还原糖以及多糖同时存在,特别是当V乙腈:V样品等于3时,81.56%的葡萄糖提取到乙腈相中。在0℃下实验,上层富含乙腈相中都只检测到多糖。     

Thermodynamic properties of sodium trititanate (Na2Ti3O7) at high temperature (298.15-1403 K)

Sodium-ion batteries (NaIBs) have attracted extraordinary attentions as a promising scalable energy storage alternative to current lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to their natural abundance and low costs. Sodium trititanate (Na₂Ti₃O₇) is a promising material as the material of NaIBs with low potential and high theoretical capacitance. In order to better understand their service performance when utilized in rechargeable NaIBs, studies on thermodynamic properties of Na₂Ti₃O₇ are indispensable. However, an extensive literature review revealed that the heat capacity of Na₂Ti₃O₇ is established with divergences, especially for high-temperature region. Therefore, the 99.5% purity of Na₂Ti₃O₇ powder was first Synthesized through solid-state reaction with sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) as raw materials. The as-prepared samples were used to measure the heat capacity from 573 to 1323 K which was carried out with multihigh temperature calorimeter (MHTC) 96 line. The temperature dependence of heat capacity was modeled as a function: Cp =255.51073 + 0.06059 T − 3.86912 × 106 T⁻² (J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹) (298.15 - 1403 K), and then used for computing changes in enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy. Heat capacity of Na₂Ti₃O₇ from 0 to 1403 K was given for future application of Na₂Ti₃O₇ in rechargeable batteries.     

Quantification of soybean oil ethanolysis with <Superscript>1</Superscript>H NMR

In this study, proton NMR spectroscopy (200 MHz) was used for quantifying the content of ethyl esters in known mixtures of soybean oil and ethyl soyate (biodiesel). For this purpose, the peak areas of ester ethoxy and glycerol methylenic peaks in the region of 4.05–4.40 ppm were measured and a calibration plot of the respective peak areas vs. the known composition of the oil/ethyl ester mixtures was used. The transesterification values determined in this way were compared with viscosity and total glycerol determinations and a good correlation was obtained. Therefore, for routine analysis, the conversion (in %) of oil to ethyl esters was determined. The methodology presented in this work proved to be quicker and simpler than others reported in the literature, such as GC and/or HPLC.     

Preparation of photo-catalytic copolymer grafted asymmetric membranes (N-TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-PMAA-g-PVDF/PAN) and their application on the degradation of bentazon in water

Nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (N–TiO₂) was prepared and supported on a novel copolymer grafted membrane matrix to avoid the problems associated with the removal of spent photocatalyst from treated water. Membranes of poly (methacrylic acid) grafted onto poly (vinylidene difluoride) and blended with poly (acrylonitrile) (PMAA-g-PVDF/PAN) were prepared through a dry–wet phase inversion technique. Methacrylic acid side chains were grafted onto an activated PVDF backbone by the method of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and then the novel photocatalytic asymmetric membranes of N–TiO₂–PMAA-g-PVDF/PAN were prepared. The casting solutions were blended with 1–5 % N–TiO₂ before immersion into the coagulation bath. PVDF and PAN offer several advantages which include: mechanical strength and toughness, chemical resistance, unaffected by long-term exposure to UV radiation, low weight, and thermal stability. N–TiO₂ was prepared through sol-gel synthesis. The photocatalytic membranes were evaluated by degradation process of herbicide bentazon in water. Photodegradation studies revealed that the optimum photocatalyst loading was 3 % N–TiO₂ and the optimum pH was 7 for the degradation of bentazon in water. UV–Vis, TOC and LC–MS analyses confirmed the successful photodegradation of bentazon. A bentazon removal efficiency of 90.1 % was achieved at pH 7. N–TiO₂–PMAA-g-PVDF/PAN membranes were successfully prepared and characterized. These photocatalytic membranes showed great potential as a technology for the effective removal of pesticides from water. According to literature, N–TiO₂–PMAA-g-PVDF/PAN asymmetric photocatalytic membranes have not been prepared before for the purpose of treating agricultural wastewater.     

有机胺类稀溶液的络合萃取

以P204(磷酸二(2-乙基己基)酯)为络合剂,加氢煤油为稀释剂,实验研究了不同的有机胺类稀溶液的络合萃取特性,讨论了有机胺类的pK_a值、络合剂的含量和溶液pH值等因素对络合萃取平衡的影响,提出了同时考虑络合萃取作用和物理萃取作用的萃取相平衡分配系数表达式。利用傅立叶红外谱图分析了P204络合萃取有机胺类的机理。