Agronomic performance of high oleic,low linolenic soybean in Tennessee

Soybean oil hydrogenation alters the linolenic acid molecule to prevent the oil from becoming rancid, however, health reports have indicated trans-fat caused by hydrogenation, is not generally regarded as safe. Typical soybeans contain approximately 80 g kg⁻¹ to 120 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid and 240 g kg⁻¹ of oleic acid. In an effort to accommodate the need for high-quality oil, the United Soybean Board introduced an industry standard for a high oleic acid greater than 750 g kg⁻¹ and linolenic acid less than 30 g kg⁻¹ oil. By combing mutations in the soybean plant at four loci, FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B, oleate desaturase genes and FAD3A and FAD3C, linoleate desaturase genes, and seed oil will not require hydrogenation to prevent oxidation and produce high-quality oil. In 2017 and 2018, a study comparing four near-isogenic lines across multiple Tennessee locations was performed to identify agronomic traits associated with mutations in FAD3A and FAD3C loci, while holding FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B constant in the mutant (high oleic) state. Soybean lines were assessed for yield and oil quality based on mutations at FAD2-1 and FAD3 loci. Variations of wild-type and mutant genotypes were compared at FAD3A and FAD3C loci. Analysis using a generalized linear mixed model in SAS 9.4, indicated no yield drag or other negative agronomic traits associated with the high oleic and low linolenic acid genotype. All four mutations of fad2-1A, fad2-1B, fad3A, and fad3C were determined as necessary to produce a soybean with the new industry standard (>750 g kg⁻¹ oleic and <30 g kg⁻¹ linolenic acid) in a maturity group-IV-Late cultivar for Tennessee growers.     

Nonhydrolyzable Heptose Bis- and Monophosphate Analogues Modulate Pro-inflammatory TIFA-NF-κB Signaling

d -Glycero-d -manno-heptose-1β,7-bisphosphate (HBP) and d -glycero-d -manno-heptose-1β-phosphate (H1P) are bacterial metabolites that were recently shown to stimulate inflammatory responses in host cells through the activation of the TIFA-dependent NF-κB pathway. To better understand structure-based activity in relation to this process, a family of nonhydrolyzable phosphonate analogues of HBP and H1P was synthesized. The inflammation modulation by which these molecules induce the TIFA-NF-κB signal axis was evaluated in vivo at a low-nanomolar concentration (6 nM) and compared to that of the natural metabolites. Our data showed that three phosphonate analogues had similar stimulatory activity to HBP, whereas two phosphonates antagonized HBP-induced TIFA-NF-κB signaling. These results open new horizons for the design of pro-inflammatory and innate immune modulators that could be used as vaccine adjuvant.     

Geopolymer assembly by emulsion templating: Emulsion stability and hardening mechanisms

This work investigates emulsion templating to synthesize hexadecane oil/geopolymer composites. In a system with hexadecane as the internal (dispersed) phase and an alkali activated continuous phase without added surfactant, adding aluminosilicate clay particles does not increase resistance against creaming or coalescence, while adding a surfactant (L35 or CTAB) stabilizes the solid-liquid interface. Infrared studies and rheological studies of the associated geopolymerization determined that the presence of the organic phase or surfactant has no significant effect on the geopolymerization kinetics, as determined by the change in time of the Si-O-T IR stretching frequency and the rheological moduli involved during the process. The stabilization of the organic template is reminiscent of Pickering emulsion even though we employ a much greater amount of inorganic material for geopolymer formation. Although the addition of surfactant has a significant effect on the behavior of the paste, the percolation of the network remains unmodified, highlighting the fact that the phenomenon is not dependent on viscosity. Finally, rheological measurements were used to obtain the mass fractal dimension of the as-made gel network, which is able to differentiate the interfacial effect between surfactant molecules with a slightly denser interphase when a cationic surfactant is used.     

Characterization of Austempered Ductile Iron Through Barkhausen Noise Measurements

The outstanding mechanical properties of austempered ductile irons (ADI) are linked to the microstructure of the matrix obtained by subjecting a ductile iron with an appropriate composition to a heat treatment called austempering. Then the microstructure of the matrix consists of bainitic ferrite with different volume fractions of retained austenite. The aim of this work is to use the magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) as a nondestructive method for characterizing the microstructure of ADI. First, it is shown that the amplitude and position of the peak-shaped MBN response is quite sensitive to the microstructure of the matrix of ductile irons. Thus each type of constituent (equiaxial ferrite, pearlite, martensite or bainite) exhibits a typical response and, in turn, it can be identified from the MBN response. Furthermore, a good correlation is found between MBN signal parameters and ADI heat treatment parameters, indicating that MBN is also quite sensitive to fine evolutions of the microstructure of ADI. MBN peak position is especially sensitive to the type of bainite, whereas peak amplitude is linked to the progress of the bainite reaction. Hence MBN measurements appear to be a powerful tool to assess some important microstructural features of ADI castings.     

Foetal alcohol syndrome in Saskatchewan: unchanged incidence in a 20-year period

Ethers and thioethers of monosaccharides have been synthesised which show potent toxicity to mouse (LD50 > or = 4 g.kg-1 O.W. and 0.2 to 1.5 g.kg-1 I.P.W.). A study of calcium antagonist activity for the full series of compounds indicated that the activity was similar for both O- and S- ethers and maximum activities were observed for monoacetoneglucose ethers possessing carbon chain close to 8 carbons.     

Event-related desynchronization (ERD) patterns during verbal memory tasks: effect of age

Event-related desynchronization (ERD) was studied in 10 young (mean age = 19.1) and 10 older (mean age = 62.8) subjects during a verbal recognition task. The attention load of the task varied according to the difficulty of discriminating between targets and distractors. EEG recorded from 29 electrodes was used to compute ERD from 14 source derivations in 125 ms intervals. Thereafter, it was displayed as spatiotemporal maps. The results show that attention influences the characteristics of EEG desynchronization. In young subjects, ERD is more pronounced and more widespread when the attentional load is high. In the elderly, differences between the two attention conditions are less marked. ANOVA reveals main effects of attention and time. The significant 'attention x time x age group' interaction confirms the presence of different brain activation patterns in the two age groups in relation to attention load.     

Cardiac tamponade as a presentation of primary hypothyroidism in a young woman

Pericardial effusion (PE) as a hypothyroidism associated sign, is something that can be found with relative frequency; nevertheless, cardiac tamponade (CT) as the first sign of this disease may be considered exceptional especially in young patients. We report a 31 years old woman with clinical symptoms and signs of CT that in the forward workshop was diagnosed of primary hypothyroidism as cause of the CT. We shortly describe the case and review the literature, emphasizing the importance of the knowledge of CT trigger factors in myxedematous PE, as well as its usual benign evolution with hormonal treatment, without recurrences of the CT after pericardiocentesis is performed. This justify a conservative approach, in spite of the slow resolution of the PE what can take as long as 1.5 years.     

Major abdominal surgery and the clearance of lipid emulsions

Reaction of bacterial adhesins with complementary receptors on the surfaces of mucosal respiratory, gastrointestinal and genitourinary cells leads to bacterial adhesion to the human body. This is the first step in the sequence of events leading to infection. It has been observed that subinhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of some antibiotics are able to reduce bacterial adhesion. The pharmacokinetic curves of antibiotics show that these sub-MICs are present in tissues during a typical course of therapy. This study investigated the ability of sub-MICs of seven macrolides and four fluoroquinolones to reduce adhesiveness of Staphylococcus aureus to human buccal cells. The literature generally reports data for only one antibiotic at a time. To obtain an overall view of the findings of eleven antibiotics together, the data have been normalized according to the molecular weight of each antibiotic and the dose-effect curves determined.