Abundance of the chemical elements in man's diet and possible relations with environmental factors

The mass of the chemical elements in samples of prepared diet from the United Kingdom together with changes in the mass of the elements in sugar with refining is described. The mass of strontium in human bone is considered in relation to the distribution of calcareous rocks to illustrate how regionally distributed elements may be used to identify various sources of diet. The significance of the chemical composition of locally produced food and the chemical composition of man are also discussed.     

Ontology-based approach to Basic Grafcet formalization

In recent years, various proposals have been put forth to formalize the Grafcet graphical language. The objective of this paper is to propose an ontology-based approach to formalize this language. The authors have implemented a semi-coarse grain ontology written in Ontology Web Language and have tested it by including it in an existing educational tool for the teaching of Grafcet language for use in programmable logic controllers.     

Uptake of energy efficiency interventions in English dwellings

Little detailed evidence has previously been available regarding the uptake rate or prevalence of energy efficiency interventions among specific household groups. This study uses the Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED) to investigate both the combination of measures that have been installed, and in which dwellings, according to key neighbourhood socio-demographic variables, including income and tenure. Analysis of 2000–07 data indicates that approximately 40% (9.3 million) dwellings in England had approximately 23.7 million efficiency measures installed, with an average of 2.5 measures per dwelling. Building fabric-related measures were the most frequent (e.g. cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and glazing) with an average of 2.1 million installed each year. Dwellings with the highest number of fabric interventions (the top 20%) were more likely to be found in areas with low income, with more owner-occupied dwellings, experiencing lower winter temperatures, having a lower proportion of flats, and having a slightly higher proportion of older adults and children. Energy efficiency installations have tended to occur among specific types of households or parts of the building stock. These findings have implications for the design of future government programmes for targeting energy efficiency measures to specific household groups or dwelling types.     

Spray drying with a two-fluid nozzle to produce fine particles: Atomization,scale-up,and modeling

This article presents experimental and modeling work to complete previously reported work on spray drying. Back-calculated droplet sizes have been verified by measurements with a laser imaging rig. Flow patterns in a cylindrical spray chamber have been simulated by computational fluid dynamics and demonstrated that droplet residence times are much shorter than expected. A droplet tracking population balance model has been implemented in gSOLIDS and shows how drying times vary with droplet diameter. Particle collection by cyclone and bag filter have also been compared experimentally.     

Thiol Redox and pKa Properties of Mycothiol,the Predominant Low‐Molecular‐Weight Thiol Cofactor in the Actinomycetes

The thiol pK_a and standard redox potential of mycothiol, the major low‐molecular‐weight thiol cofactor in the actinomycetes, are reported. The measured standard redox potential reveals substantial discrepancies in one or more of the other previously measured intracellular parameters that are relevant to mycothiol redox biochemistry.     

Evidence for mineral matter forms in coal liquefaction extracts

High- and low-temperature ashes from feed coal, coal extract solution and filter cake from a two-stage coal liquefaction process have been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (SEM/EDX). Hydrocracking experiments using alumina support only, in place of the active Ni/Mo catalyst on alumina, were also carried out, with trace metal analysis of the coal extract solution feed and hydrocracked extracts using atomic absorption and emission spectroscopy. The major mineral transformations occurring were of pyrite to pyrrhotite and the fixation of organic sulphur by calcium carbonate. Mineral particles were not observed in the coal extract solution ashes, even under high magnification, and the study indicated that size alone was not a determining factor as to whether a coal mineral was to be found in a coal-derived liquid. None of the trace metals was deposited on the alumina support under hydrocracking conditions, in marked contrast to the results obtained with the normal Ni/Mo catalyst. These results lead to the conclusion that for the deposition of trace elements to occur a reaction must take place and hence the trace elements must be chemically bound in some form.     

Review of selenium toxicity in the aquatic food chain

In many environmental contaminant situations selenium has become the primary element of concern because of its bioaccumulative nature in food webs. Initial concerns about selenium were related to fish kills at Belews Lake, NC, Martin Lake, TX, and Kesterson Reservoir, CA, and to bird deformities at Kesterson Reservoir. Additional concerns were identified under the National Irrigation Water Quality Program at Salton Sea, CA, Kendrick, WY, Stewart Lake, UT, and Grand Valley and Uncompahgre Valley, CO. Recent studies have raised concerns about selenium impacts on aquatic resources in Southeastern Idaho and British Columbia. The growing discomfort among the scientific community with a waterborne criterion has lead the US Environment Protection Agency to consider a tissue-based criterion for selenium. Some aquatic ecosystems have been slow to recover from selenium contamination episodes. In recent years, non-governmental researchers have been proposing relatively high selenium thresholds in diet and tissue relative to those proposed by governmental researchers. This difference in opinions is due in part to the selection of datasets and caveats in selecting scientific literature. In spite of the growing selenium literature, there are needs for additional research on neglected organisms. This review also discusses the interaction of selenium with other elements, inconsistent effects of selenium on survival and growth of fish, and differences in depuration rates and sensitivity among species.     

Predicting the function and subcellular location of Caenorhabditis elegans proteins similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae beta-oxidation enzymes

The role of peroxisomal processes in the maintenance of neurons has not been thoroughly investigated. We propose using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for studying the molecular basis underlying neurodegeneration in certain human peroxisomal disorders, e.g. Zellweger syndrome, since the nematode neural network is well characterized and relatively simple in function. Here we have identified C. elegans PEX-5 (C34C6.6) representing the receptor for peroxisomal targeting signal type 1 (PTS1), defective in patients with such disorders. PEX-5 interacted strongly in a two-hybrid assay with Gal4p-SKL, and a screen using PEX-5 identified interaction partners that were predominantly terminated with PTS1 or its variants. A list of C. elegans proteins with similarities to well-characterized yeast beta-oxidation enzymes was compiled by homology probing. The possible subcellular localization of these orthologues was predicted using an algorithm based on trafficking signals. Examining the C termini of selected nematode proteins for PTS1 function substantiated predictions made regarding the proteins' peroxisomal location. It is concluded that the eukaryotic PEX5-dependent route for importing PTS1-containing proteins into peroxisomes is conserved in nematodes. C. elegans might emerge as an attractive model system for studying the importance of peroxisomes and affiliated processes in neurodegeneration, and also for studying a beta-oxidation process that is potentially compartmentalized in both mitochondria and peroxisomes.