Relationship between the antioxidant properties and the phenolic and flavonoid content in traditional balsamic vinegar

The antioxidant properties of traditional balsamic vinegar as regards its phenolic and flavonoid content comparing it to selected vinegars and red wines have been investigated. The polyphenols were separated from interfering compounds utilizing C18 columns. The polyphenolic content was determined utilizing both Folin–Ciocalteu and peroxidase assays. The antioxidant capacity was quantified using both ABTS and FRAP assays. The results show that traditional balsamic vinegar has lower antioxidant activity and phenolic and flavonoid content than Nero d’Avola but higher than the other tested products. The antioxidant capacity of wines and vinegars is highly correlated with their phenolic content, measured by peroxidase assay and it is also highly correlated with their flavonoid content while in traditional balsamic vinegar and balsamic vinegar this correlation diminishes. The study describes a simple and fast method of separating from other compounds and of measuring polyphenols in the analysis of red wines and vinegars with complex composition such as traditional balsamic vinegar.     

Significance of lymph node sampling in epithelial carcinoma of the ovary

Dendritic cells (DC) are a subset of leukocytes whose major function is antigen presentation. We investigated the phenotype and function of enriched (95-98.5%) rat DC. We show that both spleen and thymus DC express the natural killer cell receptor protein 1 (NKR-P1) as a disulfide linked homodimer of 60 kD. Freshly isolated DC express a low level of NKR-P1, which is strongly upregulated after overnight culture. Spleen, but not thymus DC, were able to kill the NK-sensitive YAC-1 cell line in vitro, and since this killing was Ca2+ dependent, a Fas ligand-Fas interaction was probably not involved. Besides their potent antigen-presenting function, DC can thus be cytotoxic for some tumor targets.     

Chemotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer: four systematic meta-analyses of individual patient data from 37 randomized trials. Advanced Ovarian Cancer Trialists' Group

The purpose of this systematic study was to provide an up to date and reliable quantitative summary of the relative benefits of various types of chemotherapy (non-platinum vs platinum, single-agent vs combination and carboplatin vs cisplatin) in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Also, to investigate whether well-defined patient subgroups benefit more or less from cisplatin- or carboplatin-based therapy. Meta-analyses were based on updated individual patient data from all available randomized controlled trials (published and unpublished), including 37 trials, 5667 patients and 4664 deaths. The results suggest that platinum-based chemotherapy is better than non-platinum therapy, show a trend in favour of platinum combinations over single-agent platinum, and suggest that cisplatin and carboplatin are equally effective. There is no good evidence that cisplatin is more or less effective than carboplatin in any particular subgroup of patients.     

Recursive estimation of the covariance matrix of acompound-Gaussian process and its application to adaptive CFAR detection

Adaptive detection of signals embedded in Gaussian or non-Gaussian noise is a problem of primary concern among radar engineers. We propose a recursive algorithm to estimate the structure of the covariance matrix of either a set of Gaussian vectors that share the spectral properties up to a multiplicative factor or a set of spherically invariant random vectors (SIRVs) with the same covariance matrix and possibly correlated texture components. We also assess the performance of an adaptive implementation of the normalized matched filter (NMF), relying on the newly introduced estimate, in the presence of compound-Gaussian, clutter-dominated, disturbance. In particular, it is shown that a proper initialization of the recursive procedure leads to an adaptive NMF with the constant false alarm rate (CFAR) property and that it is very effective to operate in heterogeneous environments of relevant practical interest     

Compilers for improved Java performance

Because they are interpreted, Java executables run slower than their compiled counterparts. The native executable translation (NET) compiler's objective is to optimize the translation of Java byte-code to native machine code so that it runs nearly as fast as native code generated directly from a source. The article presents some preliminary results for several large application programs and standard benchmarks. It compares the NET-compiled code performance with Sun's Java VM, Microsoft's Java just-in-time compiler, and equivalent C and C++ programs directly compiled. The results show that the optimizing NET compiler is capable of achieving better performance than the two other byte-code execution methods, in some cases achieving speeds comparable to directly compiled native code     

Effect of hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion on overt idiopathic chronic inflammation in maintenance hemodialysis patients: A multicenter longitudinal study

Chronic inflammation is widely diffuse in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and is associated with poor survival. Hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion (HFR) is a dialysis technique, highly biocompatible, able to adsorb proinflammatory cytokines and to decrease amino acids and antioxidants loss. These features could be helpful in MHD patients affected by idiopathic chronic inflammation, but this issue remains to be elucidated. We performed a multicenter longitudinal study to assess the effect of the switching from bicarbonate HD to HFR in patients with serum C‐reactive Protein (CRP) > 5 mg/L coupled with albumin <4.0 g/dL in the last 6 months. We enrolled 24/176 (14%) patients, of which 20 patients were assessed at 4 months and 18 completed the study. We excluded 11 patients with evident causes of inflammation. At baseline, serum levels of CRP (18.7[7.0–39.4] mg/L) and albumin (3.5[3.3–3.7] g/dL) were significantly correlated (r = ?0.49; P = 0.028). The effect on CRP and albumin was almost evident in the first 4 months and remained stable until to eighth month. A strict correlation (R = ?0.49; 0.040) between percentage change of CRP (?35%) and albumin (+14%) after 8 months of HFR. These effects were associated with the reduction of IL‐6, IL‐1β, and TNF‐α and the increment of pre‐albumin and leptin, whereas the serum levels of Branched Chain Amino Acid (BCAA) remained unchanged. In MHD patients affected by idiopathic chronic inflammation the switching from BHD to HFR is associated with improvement of inflammation. Whether these favorable effects may modify the outcomes of these high‐risk patients needs to be confirmed by studies ad hoc.     

Benchmark characterization

An abstract system of benchmark characteristics that makes it possible, in the beginning of the design stage, to design with benchmark performance in mind is presented. The benchmark characteristics for a set of commonly used benchmarks are then shown. The benchmark set used includes some benchmarks from the Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative. The SPEC programs are industry-standard applications that use specific inputs. Processor, memory-system, and operating-system characteristics are addressed     

Characterization of tachykinin NK2 receptor on dog proximal colon. Antagonism by MEN 10,627 and SR 48,968

The nature of the tachykinin receptors involved in the contraction of the circular muscle of dog colon has been investigated. The following rank order of potency for agonists was obtained: [Sar9,Met(O2)11]substance P > or = neurokinin A > [beta-Ala8]neurokinin A-(4-10) > [MePhe7]neurokinin B. The efficacy of the tachykinin NK2 receptor agonists was significantly greater than that of the tachykinin NK1 receptor agonists and of carbachol. A concentration-dependent rightward shift of the motor response to neurokinin A (obtained in the presence of (+/-)-CP 96,345) was induced by peptide and non-peptide tachykinin NK2 receptor antagonists with this rank order: MEN 10,627 = SR 48,968 > L 659,877 > MEN 10,376 > MDL 28,564. MEN 10,627 and SR 48,968 affinities were similar to those measured in human tissues. In conclusion, the tachykinin NK2 receptor plays a predominant role in tachykinin-induced contraction of the canine colonic circular muscle and this tissue could be useful to predict the pharmacological actions of MEN 10,627 and SR 48,968 in human colon.