Establishment of a standard reference material (SRM) herbal DNA barcode library of Vitex negundo L. (lagundi) for quality control measures

The majority of the population in the Philippines relies on herbal products as their primary source for their healthcare needs. After the recognition of Vitex negundo L. (lagundi) as an important and effective alternative medicine for cough, sore throat, asthma and fever by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), there was an increase in the production of lagundi-based herbal products in the form of teas, capsules and syrups. The efficiency of these products is greatly reliant on the use of authentic plant material, and to this day no standard protocol has been established to authenticate plant materials. DNA barcoding offers a quick and reliable species authentication tool, but its application to plant material has been less successful due to (1) lack of a standard DNA barcoding loci in plants and (2) poor DNA yield from powderised plant products. This study reports the successful application of DNA barcoding in the authentication of five V. negundo herbal products sold in the Philippines. Also, the first standard reference material (SRM) herbal library for the recognition of authentic V. negundo samples was established using 42 gene accessions of ITS, psbA-trnH and matK barcoding loci. Authentication of the herbal products utilised the SRM following the BLASTn and maximum-likelihood (ML) tree construction criterion. Barcode sequences were retrieved for ITS and psbA-trnH of all products tested and the results of the study revealed that only one out of five herbal products satisfied both BLASTn and ML criterion and was considered to contain authentic V. negundo. The results prompt the urgent need to utilise DNA barcoding in authenticating herbal products available in the Philippine market. Authentication of these products will secure consumer health by preventing the negative effects of adulteration, substitution and contamination.     

25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E‐Skin): A Brief History,Design Considerations,and Recent Progress

Human skin is a remarkable organ. It consists of an integrated, stretchable network of sensors that relay information about tactile and thermal stimuli to the brain, allowing us to maneuver within our environment safely and effectively. Interest in large‐area networks of electronic devices inspired by human skin is motivated by the promise of creating autonomous intelligent robots and biomimetic prosthetics, among other applications. The development of electronic networks comprised of flexible, stretchable, and robust devices that are compatible with large‐area implementation and integrated with multiple functionalities is a testament to the progress in developing an electronic skin (e‐skin) akin to human skin. E‐skins are already capable of providing augmented performance over their organic counterpart, both in superior spatial resolution and thermal sensitivity. They could be further improved through the incorporation of additional functionalities (e.g., chemical and biological sensing) and desired properties (e.g., biodegradability and self‐powering). Continued rapid progress in this area is promising for the development of a fully integrated e‐skin in the near future.     

The design of a multi‐speed PSK modem

Abstract

Charge‐temperature, modified from bias‐temperature, technique is presented for the investigation of the interface properties of Al‐SiO₂‐Si (P) MOS capacitors. By using this technique, the change of interface trap states was found to be related to the treatment of charge‐temperature agin gand consequently the distribution of the mobile charges inside the oxide. An equivalent equation is expressed for the evaluation of interface trap states from the measured C‐V data. In addition, a two‐region model describing the distributions of the mobile charges of the capacitor after various charge‐temperature agings is proposed for the experimental observations. And the fitting results indicate that the effective Debye length due to interface trap states is about 20 Å.     

Defining specialized design similarity measures

Similar product designs resemble each other and have similar attributes and characteristics. When examining a product design to create its process plan, design its fixture, or estimate its manufacturing cost, manufacturing engineers often identify one or more similar products that the factory has manufactured in the past. They may do this from memory, from a file cabinet, or from a database (in a product data management system). Then, they retrieve the process plan (or fixture or cost estimate) for the similar product and modify it for the new product. Manufacturing and process planning experts use a complex set of rules, guidelines, and other knowledge to determine how similar two products are. Computer-aided process planning tools, however, generally use simpler, less sophisticated procedures for determining similarity. These traditional procedures may be inappropriate for specific settings. This paper presents an approach for developing function-specific design similarity measures. Such a measure explicitly exploits the specific need for similar products and thus improves variant approaches for process planning, fixture planning, and manufacturability evaluation. The approach is applied to a specific fixture planning domain.     

生产高纯蒸汽的方法

本文提供了蒸汽净化的方法、蒸汽净化的系统、测量和戚控制蒸汽流动速度的方法,并介绍了该方法在净化后蒸气中的使用情况。还提供了不透气膜,如全氟化离聚物（如全氟乙烯磺酸／四氟乙烯膜）。还介绍了这种膜高温运行时净化蒸汽的方法、低温运行时的方法和负压净化蒸汽的方法。在一个首选的实施方案中,该净化蒸汽系统包括加热器和净化装置。系统水运行过程中,如去离子水被投加到容器中提供蒸汽给料源。     

Population balance modeling in Simulink: PCSS

In this work we develop, demonstrate, and distribute the code for a new Simulink block that models the dynamic evolution of the population density function for a physical system which can be modeled by a population balance equation. The name of the block is PCSS, for population balance modeling using the conservation element/solution element method in Simulink. The block interfaces with an auxiliary user-defined function that allows the user to specify arbitrary expressions for growth and generation/loss terms, as well as an arbitrary number of inputs, outputs and auxiliary states for the block. The versatility of the block allows a wide variety of physical systems to be modeled, and the implementation in Simulink facilitates rapid model development and permits the use of pre-existing MATLAB/Simulink packages for system identification and control.     

Degradation of trichloroethene in water by electron supplementation

Trichloroethene (TCE) is a common and recalcitrant contaminant in groundwater. Microbially catalyzed reductive dechlorination is a dominant pathway for TCE degradation, in which substrates and electron donors are essential. In this study, extraneous electron supplementation was attempted to enhance reductive dechlorination of TCE and its derivatives. Reactors were established with groundwater containing TCE, and a 6-V battery was used to supply an average current of 29 μA of dc power to feed electrons to the microcosms. We measured 80–90% depletion of TCE within 70 d in reactors (both sterile and non-sterile) containing 300–400 μg TCE/l and from 97 to 98% depletion in microcosms containing 10 mg TCE/l. No intermediate products such as dichloroethylene or vinyl chloride were detected during this study. Results demonstrate that electron-supplemented degradation of TCE appears to be an abiotic process that is unassociated with microbial populations or indigenous redox conditions. No apparent accumulation of TCE daughter products were observed and overall efficiency of this electroremediation process was calculated to be 6.9 g TCE degraded/kW h. This efficiency would make electron supplementation an attractive alternative to the substrate-amended biological reductive dechlorination of TCE.     

Acute effects of ingesting a commercial thermogenic drink on changes in energy expenditure and markers of lipolysis

Background  

To determine the acute effects of ingesting a thermogenic drink (Celsius, Delray Beach, FL) (TD) on changes in metabolism and lipolysis.     

The effect of beta-alanine supplementation on neuromuscular fatigue in elderly (55–92 Years): a double-blind randomized study

Background

Ageing is associated with a significant reduction in skeletal muscle carnosine which has been linked with a reduction in the buffering capacity of muscle and in theory, may increase the rate of fatigue during exercise. Supplementing beta-alanine has been shown to significantly increase skeletal muscle carnosine. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the effects of ninety days of beta-alanine supplementation on the physical working capacity at the fatigue threshold (PWC_FT) in elderly men and women.

Methods

Using a double-blind placebo controlled design, twenty-six men (n = 9) and women (n = 17) (age ± SD = 72.8 ± 11.1 yrs) were randomly assigned to either beta-alanine (BA: 800 mg × 3 per day; n = 12; CarnoSyn?) or Placebo (PL; n = 14) group. Before (pre) and after (post) the supplementation period, participants performed a discontinuous cycle ergometry test to determine the PWC_FT.

Results

Significant increases in PWC_FT (28.6%) from pre- to post-supplementation were found for the BA treatment group (p < 0.05), but no change was observed with PL treatment. These findings suggest that ninety days of BA supplementation may increase physical working capacity by delaying the onset of neuromuscular fatigue in elderly men and women.

Conclusion

We suggest that BA supplementation, by improving intracellular pH control, improves muscle endurance in the elderly. This, we believe, could have importance in the prevention of falls, and the maintenance of health and independent living in elderly men and women.