Changes in the content and antioxidative activity of β-carotene and its metabolite vitamin A during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and optimisation of HPLC-based detection

The β-Carotene (BC), an important precursor of vitamin A (VA), possesses antioxidant activity but is fat-soluble and has low bioavailability. In previous in-vitro assays evaluating antioxidant and 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) free radical scavenging, both BC and VA showed a strong ability to scavenge radicals and protected cells from oxidative stress. Here, we used artificially simulated gastrointestinal digestion and Caco-2 cell absorption models to evaluate the bioavailability of the BC during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. We observed high absorptive and transfer rates of BC and detected retinol metabolites (Vitamin A). Therefore, BC can be detected in the acidic gastrointestinal environment using HPLC. Optimised method provided better separation of BC and VA in the column, improving the accuracy of the test results.     

Deliberately Losing Control of C−H Activation Processes in the Design of Small-Molecule-Fragment Arrays Targeting Peroxisomal Metabolism

Combined photochemical arylation, “nuisance effect” (S_NAr) reaction sequences have been employed in the design of small arrays for immediate deployment in medium-throughput X-ray protein–ligand structure determination. Reactions were deliberately allowed to run “out of control” in terms of selectivity; for example the ortho-arylation of 2-phenylpyridine gave five products resulting from mono- and bisarylations combined with S_NAr processes. As a result, a number of crystallographic hits against NUDT7, a key peroxisomal CoA ester hydrolase, have been identified.     

Lactobacillus Gasseri LGZ 1029 in yogurt: rheological behaviour and volatile compound composition

Yogurt preserves and enhances nutritional value of milk. In this study, we have compared several strains to determine the physicochemical, sensory, rheological and aroma characteristics of different yogurts. We used Lactobacillus gasseri LGZ 1029 (LG), commercial probiotic L. rhamnosus (LGG) and traditional fermentation strains Streptococcus thermophilus and L. bulgaricus (SL). Results showed that the flavour and texture characteristics of mixed-strain yogurts were obviously better than in single-strain yogurts. Addition of LG increased pseudoplastic behaviour, as shown by Herschel–Bulkley model analysis of rheological behaviour. The LG + SL group also had both the highest viscosity consistency index and thickening ability. In addition, a total of 57 volatile compounds were detected in yogurts and the fermentation with the addition of LG was mainly affected by ketones. Our study suggested that a yogurt with new attributes can be produced by using LGZ 1029.     

Assessment of Anger and Aggression in Male Offenders With Developmental Disabilities.

Systematic assessment of anger among people with developmental disabilities has been lacking, especially for hospital inpatients. Reliability and validity of anger self-report psychometric scales were investigated with 129 male patients, mostly forensic. Anger prevalence and its relationship to demographic, cognitive, and personality variables and to hospital assaultive behavior were examined. High internal and intermeasure consistency, and some concurrent validity with staff ratings, were found. Retrospective validity regarding physically assaultive behavior in the hospital was obtained. Hierarchical regressions revealed that patient-reported anger was a significant predictor of assaults postadmission, controlling for age, length of stay, IQ, violence offense history, and personality variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fuzzy versus quantitative association rules: a fair data-driven comparison.

As opposed to quantitative association rule mining, fuzzy association rule mining is said to prevent the overestimation of boundary cases, as can be shown by small examples. Rule mining, however, becomes interesting in large databases, where the problem of boundary cases is less apparent and can be further suppressed by using sensible partitioning methods. A data-driven approach is used to investigate if there is a significant difference between quantitative and fuzzy association rules in large databases. The influence of the choice of a particular triangular norm in this respect is also examined.     

A Diffusion-Compensation Relation for Normal Grain Growth and Grain-Boundary Diffusion of Oxygen in Oxides

Values of D₀/δ and Q for grain-boundary diffusion, derived from published studies of normal grain growth in Al₂O₃, BeO, CaO, MgO, SiO₂, and CaSiO₃, are fit by the linear compensation equation log D₀/δ=0.03170Q -7.6792 (r²=0.9384). Comparison of grain-boundary diffusion coefficients derived from grain growth in oxides with those obtained by direct experimental measurement suggests that the kinetics of normal grain growth are controlled by grain-boundary diffusion of oxygen.     

Logical foundations of nonmonotonic reasoning

In this paper we shall review the main appraches to nonmonotonic reasoning which we classify from the perspective of their underlying logical settings as classical, intuitionistic, three-valued/partial models, and conditional. We shall be placing special emphasis on some of the prominent approaches. We shall also give hints on potential future directions and emphasize that more theoretical work is still needed before a move to application is made.     

An efficient nonlinear circuit simulation technique

This paper proposes a novel method for the analysis and simulation of integrated circuits (ICs) with the potential to greatly shorten the IC design cycle. The circuits are assumed to be subjected to input signals that have widely separated rates of variation, e.g., in communication systems, an RF carrier modulated by a low-frequency information signal. The proposed technique involves two stages. Initially, a particular order result for the circuit response is obtained using a multiresolution collocation scheme involving cubic spline wavelet decomposition. A more accurate solution is then obtained by adding another layer to the wavelet series approximation. However, the novel technique presented here enables the reuse of results acquired in the first stage to obtain the second-stage result. Therefore, vast gains in efficiency are obtained. Furthermore, a nonlinear model-order reduction technique can readily be used in both stages making the calculations even more efficient. Results will highlight the efficacy of the proposed approach