Influence of wood origin in the polyphenolic composition of a Spanish red wine aging in bottle, after storage in barrels of Spanish, French and American oak wood

In this paper, the changes in the composition of a red wine obtained from Tempranillo grapes (Vitis vinifera L.), stored from 12 to 24 months in bottles were studied. The wine was previously aging for 21 months in barrels made of Spanish oak wood (Quercus spp.). The changes of chromatic data, global polyphenolic families assessment (polyphenols, catechins, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins) and individually polyphenols by HPLC during their storage time in bottles were studied and compared with these of the same wine aged in barrels made of French oak and American oak and stored in bottle for 24 months. Samples of wines obtained after 12 months in bottle were also compared with those after 24 months. The stepwise discriminant analysis with data of chromatic parameters and global polyphenolic families indicates that the wines aged in Spanish and French oak wood barrels, after 24 months stored in bottle, have similar characteristics, but they are significantly different to those of wines aged in barrels made of American oak wood. Regarding the analysis of individually non-anthocyanic polyphenols, discriminant analysis shows that wines stored for 24 months in bottle, aged in barrels made of Spanish, French and American oak woods, show overlapping results, while those from wines after 12 months in bottle are more dispersed. The discriminant analysis carried out on anthocyanidin concentrations of wines stored 24 months in bottles has shown three groups according the kind of wood used, indicating that wines aged in Spanish and French oak barrels are much more similar in anthocyanidin concentrations than those aged in the American barrels.     

Control of Histamine‐Producing Bacteria and Histamine Formation in Fish Muscle by Trisodium Phosphate

Scombrotoxin fish poisoning remains the primary cause of seafood poisoning outbreaks despite preventive guidelines. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of pH for the control of growth and histamine formation by histamine‐producing bacteria in fish muscle. We examined pH effects on growth and histamine formation in tuna fish infusion broth and in inoculated tuna and mahi‐mahi fish muscle. Histamine production was significantly less for all bacterial strains at pH 8.5 compared to pH 5.5 in tuna fish infusion broth with no significant difference in growth. Elevated pH due to phosphate treatment of fish muscle tissues significantly reduced histamine formation with no effect on the growth of histamine‐producing bacteria. This study revealed that phosphate treatment of mahi‐mahi and tuna fish muscle resulted in significantly lower histamine production over 4 d of storage at 10 °C. Phosphate treatment of fish muscle may serve as a secondary barrier in addition to FDA recommended time and temperature controls for reducing public health concerns of scombrotoxin fish poisoning.     

Claudin 4 Is Differentially Expressed between Ovarian Cancer Subtypes and Plays a Role in Spheroid Formation

Claudin 4 is a cellular adhesion molecule that is frequently overexpressed in ovarian cancer and other epithelial cancers. In this study, we sought to determine whether the expression of claudin 4 is associated with outcome in ovarian cancer patients and may be involved in tumor progression. We examined claudin 4 expression in ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines, as well as by immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarrays (TMAs; n = 500), spheroids present in patients' ascites, and spheroids formed in vitro. Claudin 4 was expressed in nearly 70% of the ovarian cancer tissues examined and was differentially expressed across ovarian cancer subtypes, with the lowest expression in clear cell subtype. No association was found between claudin 4 expression and disease-specific survival in any subtype. Claudin 4 expression was also observed in multicellular spheroids obtained from patients' ascites. Using an in vitro spheroid formation assay, we found that NIH:OVCAR5 cells treated with shRNA against claudin 4 required a longer time to form compact spheroids compared to control NIH:OVCAR5 cells that expressed high levels of claudin 4. The inability of the NIH:OVCAR5 cells treated with claudin 4 shRNA to form compact spheroids was verified by FITC-dextran exclusion. These results demonstrate a role for claudin 4 and tight junctions in spheroid formation and integrity.     

Effects of diet type and supplementation of glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM on body composition, functional status, and markers of health in women with knee osteoarthritis initiating a resistance-based exercise and weight loss program

Background

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sedentary obese women with knee OA initiating an exercise and weight loss program may experience more beneficial changes in body composition, functional capacity, and/or markers of health following a higher protein diet compared to a higher carbohydrate diet with or without GCM supplementation.

Methods

Thirty sedentary women (54 ± 9 yrs, 163 ± 6 cm, 88.6 ± 13 kg, 46.1 ± 3% fat, 33.3 ± 5 kg/m²) with clinically diagnosed knee OA participated in a 14-week exercise and weight loss program. Participants followed an isoenergenic low fat higher carbohydrate (HC) or higher protein (HP) diet while participating in a supervised 30-minute circuit resistance-training program three times per week for 14-weeks. In a randomized and double blind manner, participants ingested supplements containing 1,500 mg/d of glucosamine (as d-glucosamine HCL), 1,200 mg/d of chondroitin sulfate (from chondroitin sulfate sodium), and 900 mg/d of methylsulfonylmethane or a placebo. At 0, 10, and 14-weeks, participants completed a battery of assessments. Data were analyzed by MANOVA with repeated measures.

Results

Participants in both groups experienced significant reductions in body mass (-2.4 ± 3%), fat mass (-6.0 ± 6%), and body fat (-3.5 ± 4%) with no significant changes in fat free mass or resting energy expenditure. Perception of knee pain (-49 ± 39%) and knee stiffness (-42 ± 37%) was decreased while maximal strength (12%), muscular endurance (20%), balance indices (7% to 20%), lipid levels (-8% to -12%), homeostasis model assessment for estimating insulin resistance (-17%), leptin (-30%), and measures of physical functioning (59%), vitality (120%), and social function (66%) were improved in both groups with no differences among groups. Functional aerobic capacity was increased to a greater degree for those in the HP and GCM groups while there were some trends suggesting that supplementation affected perceptions of knee pain (p < 0.08).

Conclusions

Circuit style resistance-training and weight loss improved functional capacity in women with knee OA. The type of diet and dietary supplementation of GCM provided marginal additive benefits.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01271218     

Guest Diffusion in Binderless High‐Performance NaX Molecular Sieves

The pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR technique is applied for exploring the diffusion behavior of guest molecules in binderless NaX beads in comparison with the zeolite powder employed for their production. With both probe molecules applied (water, n‐hexane), the diffusivities in the powder and the beads are found to essentially coincide as long as the diffusion path lengths are sufficiently small in comparison with the extension of the individual particles (crystallites) of the powder. With increasing diffusion path lengths, characteristic deviations become observable that can be attributed to the differences in long‐range mass transfer through the intercrystalline void volume of the bed of crystallites and within the individual beads of the binderless molecular sieve, respectively. With these studies, PFG NMR demonstrates its potentials for simultaneously recording mass transfer phenomena in both the micro‐ and macropores of commercially produced binderless molecular sieves.     

Short‐term forecasting of categorical changes in wind power with Markov chain models

As penetrations of renewable wind energy increase, accurate short‐term predictions of wind power become crucial to utilities that must balance the load and supply of electricity. As storage of wind energy is not yet feasible on a large scale, the utility must integrate wind energy as soon as it is generated and decide at each balancing time‐step whether a change in conventional energy output is required. With high penetrations of wind energy, utilities must also plan for operating reserves to maintain stability of the electricity system when forecasts for renewable energy are inaccurate. Thus, a simple forecast of whether the wind power will increase, decrease or not change in the next time‐step will give utility operators an easy tool for assessing whether changes need to be made to the current generation mix. In this work, Markov chain models based on the change in power output at up to three locations or lags in time are presented that not only produce such an hourly forecast but also include a measure of the uncertainty of the forecast. Forecasts are greatly improved when knowledge of whether the maximum or minimum wind power is currently being produced and the intrahour trend in wind power are incorporated. These models are trained, tested and evaluated with a uniquely long set of 2 years of 10 min measurements at four meteorological stations in the Pacific Northwest and perform better than a benchmark state‐of‐the‐art wind speed forecasting model.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Food-compatible method for the efficient extraction and stabilization of cranberry pomace polyphenols

Cranberry pomace is a byproduct of cranberry processing and is comprised of seeds, skins and stems of the cranberry fruit. While cranberry pomace contains beneficial polyphenols, including proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins, it is not a palatable source of these compounds and is typically discarded. In this study, we have developed and optimized a method to extract polyphenols from cranberry pomace using aqueous ethanol, a food grade solvent. Biochemical characterization of the pomace extract showed the presence of a broad range of polyphenols also present in cranberry juice concentrate. By co-drying cranberry pomace extract with a protein-rich food matrix, such as soy protein isolate (SPI), we have developed a method to produce a cranberry polyphenol–SPI complex (CBP-SPI) containing 10% cranberry polyphenols. Unlike dried cranberry pomace extract alone, proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and total polyphenols were found to be highly stable at 37 °C in the CBP-SPI powder. The extraction and stabilization of cranberry pomace polyphenols using SPI provides an innovative approach for utilizing pomace in the development of novel food ingredients.     

Novel Type II Fatty Acid Biosynthesis (FAS II) Inhibitors as Multistage Antimalarial Agents

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and poses a major medical risk in large parts of the world. The development of new, affordable antimalarial drugs is of vital importance as there are increasing reports of resistance to the currently available therapeutics. In addition, most of the current drugs used for chemoprophylaxis merely act on parasites already replicating in the blood. At this point, a patient might already be suffering from the symptoms associated with the disease and could additionally be infectious to an Anopheles mosquito. These insects act as a vector, subsequently spreading the disease to other humans. In order to cure not only malaria but prevent transmission as well, a drug must target both the blood‐ and pre‐erythrocytic liver stages of the parasite. P. falciparum (Pf) enoyl acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase (ENR) is a key enzyme of plasmodial type II fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS II). It has been shown to be essential for liver‐stage development of Plasmodium berghei and is therefore qualified as a target for true causal chemoprophylaxis. Using virtual screening based on two crystal structures of PfENR, we identified a structurally novel class of FAS inhibitors. Subsequent chemical optimization yielded two compounds that are effective against multiple stages of the malaria parasite. These two most promising derivatives were found to inhibit blood‐stage parasite growth with IC₅₀ values of 1.7 and 3.0 μM and lead to a more prominent developmental attenuation of liver‐stage parasites than the gold‐standard drug, primaquine.     

Relaxation and sleep compression for late-life insomnia: A placebo-controlled trial.

Older adults with insomnia were recruited from the community and randomized to treatments: relaxation, sleep compression, and placebo desensitization. Questionnaire data collected at baseline, posttreatment, and 1-year follow-up and polysomnography data collected at baseline and follow-up yielded the following conclusions: All treatments improved self-reported sleep, but objective sleep was unchanged. Clinical significance analyses yielded the strongest findings supporting the active treatments and suggested that sleep compression was most effective. Results partially supported the conclusion that individuals with high daytime impairment (i.e., fatigue) respond best to treatments that extend sleep, as in relaxation, and individuals with low daytime impairment respond best to treatments that consolidate sleep, as in sleep compression. Strong methodological features including a placebo condition and a treatment implementation scheme elevate the confidence due these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)