Discrimination of climacteric and non‐climacteric melon fruit at harvest or at the senescence stage by quality traits

BACKGROUND: This paper characterizes the quality traits at harvest and the changes associated with fruit senescence based on fruit physiological behaviour (climacteric or non‐climacteric) found in a collection of near‐isogenic lines (NILs) of melon (Cucumis melo L.). Data from both stages of postharvest development were analyzed by univariate and multivariate statistical analysis. RESULTS: The principal components and random forest analyses of the fruit quality traits allowed the best classification of the NILs by time (harvest, senescence), or by climacteric behaviour at harvest, but not at the senescent stage. The overall quality profile of the non‐climacteric senescent melons was, in general, very different from that of the climacteric ones, and was in accord with a longer storage life. Most of the taste quality traits (individual sugars or sucrose equivalents, titratable acidity and the citric, oxalacetic, glutamic and succinic acids) and the traits related to skin, flesh and juice colour parameters (chroma, hue angle) helped to distinguish the climacteric NILs from the non‐climacteric ones independently of the time considered. CONCLUSIONS: The time had a stronger effect on quality than the physiological behaviour. The discrimination by climacteric or non‐climacteric behaviour was usually better at harvest than at the senescent stage irrespective of the methodology used. Principal component analysis was the best multivariate method to discriminate by time and physiological behaviour followed by random forest and linear discriminant analysis. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of SnO2 on the photocatalytical properties of TiO2 films

TiO₂/SnO₂ thin films with different tin atomic percentages were successfully prepared on glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis method from an alcoholic solution of TiO[C₅H₇O₂]₂ with different concentrations of SnCl₄. The TiO₂/SnO₂ thin films prepared at 450 °C presented the anatase phase in polycrystalline configuration from %Sn = 0 in the starting solution up to %Sn = 20, at higher tin content the films present an amorphous configuration. The resulting thin films have a homogeneous surface structure with some porosity. The photocatalytical properties of the films were evaluated with the degradation of methylene blue. The products of the degradation reaction were identified by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance and the film properties were studied by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction.     

Activation of the autophagy, c-FOS and ubiquitin expression, and nucleolar alterations in Schwann cells precede demyelination in tellurium-induced neuropathy

The method of affinity coelectrophoresis was used to study the binding of nine representative glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-binding proteins, all thought to play roles in nervous system development, to GAGs and proteoglycans isolated from developing rat brain. Binding to heparin and non-neural heparan and chondroitin sulfates was also measured. All nine proteins-laminin-1, fibronectin, thrombospondin-1, NCAM, L1, protease nexin-1, urokinase plasminogen activator, thrombin, and fibroblast growth factor-2-bound brain heparan sulfate less strongly than heparin, but the degree of difference in affinity varied considerably. Protease nexin-1 bound brain heparan sulfate only 1.8-fold less tightly than heparin (Kdvalues of 35 vs. 20 nM, respectively), whereas NCAM and L1 bound heparin well (Kd approximately 140 nM) but failed to bind detectably to brain heparan sulfate (Kd>3 microM). Four proteins bound brain chondroitin sulfate, with affinities equal to or a few fold stronger than the same proteins displayed toward cartilage chondroitin sulfate. Overall, the highest affinities were observed with intact heparan sulfate proteoglycans: laminin-1's affinities for the proteoglycans cerebroglycan (glypican-2), glypican-1 and syndecan-3 were 300- to 1800-fold stronger than its affinity for brain heparan sulfate. In contrast, the affinities of fibroblast growth factor-2 for cerebroglycan and for brain heparan sulfate were similar. Interestingly, partial proteolysis of cerebroglycan resulted in a >400-fold loss of laminin affinity. These data support the views that (1) GAG-binding proteins can be differentially sensitive to variations in GAG structure, and (2) core proteins can have dramatic, ligand-specific influences on protein-proteoglycan interactions.     

Optimization of municipal sludge and grease co-digestion using disintegration technologies

Many drivers tend to foster the development of renewable energy production in wastewater treatment plants as many expectations rely upon energy recovery from sewage sludge, for example through biogas use. This paper is focused on the assessment of grease waste (GW) as an adequate substrate for co-digestion with municipal sludge, as it has a methane potential of 479-710 LCH(4)/kg VS, as well as the evaluation of disintegration technologies as a method to optimize the co-digestion process. With this objective three different pre-treatments have been selected for evaluation: thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic treatment. Results have shown that co-digestion processes without pre-treatment had a maximum increment of 128% of the volumetric methane productivity when GW addition was 23% inlet (at 20 days of HRT and with an OLR of 3.0 kg COD/m(3)d), compared with conventional digestion of sewage sludge alone. Concerning the application of the selected disintegration technologies, all pre-treatments showed improvements in terms of methane yield (51.8, 89.5 and 57.6% more for thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic treatment, respectively, compared with non-pretreated wastes), thermal hydrolysis of GW and secondary sludge being the best configuration as it improved the solubilization of the organic matter and the hydrodynamic characteristics of digestates.     

Microfluidic devices modulate tumor cell line susceptibility to NK cell recognition

This study aims to adoptively reduce the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) molecule surface expression of cancer cells by exposure to microfluid shear stress and a monoclonal antibody. A microfluidic system is developed and tumor cells are injected at different flow rates. The bottom surface of the microfluidic system is biofunctionalized with antibodies (W6/32) specific for the MHC-I molecules with a simple method based on microfluidic protocols. The antibodies promote binding between the bottom surface and the MHC-I molecules on the tumor cell membrane. The cells are injected at an optimized flow rate, then roll on the bottom surface and are subjected to shear stress. The stress is localized and enhanced on the part of the membrane where MHC-I proteins are expressed, since they stick to the antibodies of the system. The localized stress allows a stripping effect and consequent reduction of the MHC-I expression. It is shown that it is possible to specifically treat and recover eukaryotic cells without damaging the biological samples. MHC-I molecule expression on treated and control cell surfaces is measured on tumor and healthy cells. After the cell rolling treatment a clear reduction of MHC-I levels on the tumor cell membrane is observed, whereas no changes are observed on healthy cells (monocytes). The MHC-I reduction is investigated and the possibility that the developed system could induce a loss of these molecules from the tumor cell surface is addressed. The percentage of living tumor cells (viability) that remain after the treatment is measured. The changes induced by the microfluidic system are analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and confocal microscopy. Cytotoxicity tests show a relevant increased susceptibility of natural killer (NK) cells on microchip-treated tumor cells.     

Evaluation of pesticide uptake by Lupinus seeds

Pesticide uptake by seeds depends on the properties of the chemical, such as structure, stability, log k(ow) and diffusion rate, type of water, pH, temperature, content of organic matter and composition, and on seed characteristics such as permeability of the seed coat. The efficiency with which Lupinus angustifolius seeds retain different herbicides (simazine, atrazine, isoproturon, linuron,) and insecticides (carbaryl, fenamiphos, permethrin) was evaluated using both a batch and a continuous system. Factors which affect pesticide uptake by seeds, such as flow rate, seed biomass, pesticide concentration, contact time, pH, seed saturation and also the speed of the retention process for 17 days, were tested. L. angustifolius showed a high retention capacity for the above mentioned pesticides. The extraction of pesticides from seeds using different organic solvents, such as methanol, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate and n-hexane was evaluated and no pesticide residues were detected in any of the solvents tested. This could be attributed to the capacity of the seed to degrade the pesticides. From the results obtained, L. angustifolius seems to be a promising seed to be applied for phytoremediation of industrial effluents or contaminated water.     

BWR stability analyses with SIMULATE-3K benchmark against measured plant data

The best-estimate coupled neutronic/thermal-hydraulics code, SIMULATE-3K (S3K), is used by many utilities, research institutes, and regulatory authorities in Europe for performing BWR stability analysis. Analysis of many measured BWR stability tests (often performed in European BWRs) provides the basis for the validation for stability parameter calculations (decay ratio and natural frequency) with S3K. This paper summarizes part of the extensive validation database for the code, and discusses the influence of fuel pin model parameters on the stability results.     

Variations of organic carbon stock in reclaimed estuarine soils (Villaviciosa estuary, NW Spain)

A study was carried out in the Villaviciosa Estuary (Asturias, NW Spain) to determine the effects of polderization on soil properties and soil organic carbon content. The results showed that the polderized soils were more acidic and contained less carbonates and a higher soil organic carbon (SOC) content than the natural soils. The organic carbon stock in the reclaimed soils ranged from 83.2 to 91.8 t ha(-1), whereas in natural soils was approximately 43.7 t ha(-1). The degree of humification of the surface humic acids also indicated that the stability and degree of decomposition of the organic matter was higher in the reclaimed soils than in natural soils.