The Age-Sensitive Efficacy of Calorie Restriction on Mitochondrial Biogenesis and mtDNA Damage in Rat Liver

Calorie restriction (CR) is the most efficacious treatment to delay the onset of age-related changes such as mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the sensitivity of mitochondrial markers to CR and the age-related boundaries of CR efficacy are not fully elucidated. We used liver samples from ad libitum-fed (AL) rats divided in: 18-month-old (AL-18), 28-month-old (AL-28), and 32-month-old (AL-32) groups, and from CR-treated (CR) 28-month-old (CR-28) and 32-month-old (CR-32) counterparts to assay the effect of CR on several mitochondrial markers. The age-related decreases in citrate synthase activity, in TFAM, MFN2, and DRP1 protein amounts and in the mtDNA content in the AL-28 group were prevented in CR-28 counterparts. Accordingly, CR reduced oxidative mtDNA damage assessed through the incidence of oxidized purines at specific mtDNA regions in CR-28 animals. These findings support the anti-aging effect of CR up to 28 months. Conversely, the protein amounts of LonP1, Cyt c, OGG1, and APE1 and the 4.8 Kb mtDNA deletion content were not affected in CR-28 rats. The absence of significant differences between the AL-32 values and the CR-32 counterparts suggests an age-related boundary of CR efficacy at this age. However, this only partially curtails the CR benefits in counteracting the generalized aging decline and the related mitochondrial involvement.     

Upgrading coal-derived liquids to diesel fuel

Distilled fractions of a coal-derived liquid from the H-Coal process were upgraded to diesel fuel by catalytic hydrotreatment. The total hydrotreated products were distilled into naphtha (<180°C) and diesel fuel fractions (>180°C) and the diesel fractions were analysed for hydrocarbon-type composition, hydrogen content and some diesel fuel properties. GC—MS-analyses were carried out on the hydrocarbon-type fractions to identify individual chemical compounds. To investigate the effect of different distillation cut points on diesel fuel yield and properties, cut points for one hydrotreated product were varied. The diesel fuel cetane numbers were correlated with percentage hydrogen, total aromatics and saturates. Cetane numbers above 40 were obtained for diesel fuels containing (i) more than 75% saturates, (ii) less than 15% total aromatics and (iii) a hydrogen content above 12.8%. Compounds identified by GC—MS-analyses (in the diesel fractions) were typical aromatic and cycloparaffin compounds. Normal-and iso-paraffin compounds were not detected. By varying the distillation cut point from 135 to 180°C, the cetane number of the residual diesel fraction improved from 37 to 44. This increase is ascribed to the removal of aromatic compounds in the 135–180°C boiling point range.     

Interspecies Behavioral Variability of Medaka Fish Assessed by Comparative Phenomics

Recently, medaka has been used as a model organism in various research fields. However, even though it possesses several advantages over zebrafish, fewer studies were done in medaka compared to zebrafish, especially with regard to its behavior. Thus, to provide more information regarding its behavior and to demonstrate the behavioral differences between several species of medaka, we compared the behavioral performance and biomarker expression in the brain between four medaka fishes, Oryzias latipes, Oryzias dancena, Oryzias woworae, and Oryzias sinensis. We found that each medaka species explicitly exhibited different behaviors to each other, which might be related to the different basal levels of several biomarkers. Furthermore, by phenomics and genomic-based clustering, the differences between these medaka fishes were further investigated. Here, the phenomic-based clustering was based on the behavior results, while the genomic-based clustering was based on the sequence of the nd2 gene. As we expected, both clusterings showed some resemblances to each other in terms of the interspecies relationship between medaka and zebrafish. However, this similarity was not displayed by both clusterings in the medaka interspecies comparisons. Therefore, these results suggest a re-interpretation of several prior studies in comparative biology. We hope that these results contribute to the growing database of medaka fish phenotypes and provide one of the foundations for future phenomics studies of medaka fish.     

Comparing the Performance of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration Membranes in Non-Polar Solvents

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is gradually expanding from academic research to industrial implementation. The need for membranes with low and sharp molecular weight cutoffs that are able to operate under aggressive OSN conditions is increasing. However, the lack of comparable and uniform performance data frustrates the screening and membrane selection for processes. Here, a collaboration is presented between several academic and industrial partners analyzing the separation performance of 10 different membranes using three model process mixtures. Membrane materials range from classic polymeric and thin film composites (TFCs) to hybrid ceramic types. The model solutions were chosen to mimic cases relevant to today's industrial use: relatively low molar mass solutes (330–550 Da) in n-heptane, toluene, and anisole.     

Forecast comparison of principal component regression and principal covariate regression

Forecasting with many predictors is of interest, for instance, in macroeconomics and finance. The forecast accuracy of two methods for dealing with many predictors is compared, that is, principal component regression (PCR) and principal covariate regression (PCovR). Simulation experiments with data generated by factor models and regression models indicate that, in general, PCR performs better for the first type of data and PCovR performs better for the second type of data. An empirical application to four key US macroeconomic variables shows that PCovR achieves improved forecast accuracy in some situations.     

Enhancement of phenolic compounds content and antioxidant activity of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) juice by block freeze concentration technology

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of freeze concentration of strawberry juice on content of total phenolic, anthocyanins content and antioxidant activity of the concentrated fluid and the ice obtained. An increase in the values of phenolic content was observed in the concentrate fraction for all the freeze concentration stages (five stages). The process efficiency presented a reduction when compared with the first stage, and however, the average efficiency remained around 65% in all the stages. The concentration of pelargonidin‐3‐O‐glycoside present in samples was increased in all stages. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the concentrated fluid of each stage, measured by DPPH and ABTS methods, was significantly higher in comparison with the juice feed. Also, antioxidant activity can be correlated with the content of pelargonidin‐3‐O‐glycoside presented in the strawberry juice. Freeze concentration can be considered a good alternative for improving the antioxidant activity of strawberry juice.     

Study on Reduction of MoO2 Powders with CO to Produce Mo2C

Molybdenum hemicarbide (Mo₂C), which is widely applied in steel and metal ceramics as well as catalysts, was successfully synthesized by using a simple method of reducing MoO₂ powders by CO. It was found that the final reduction product was all Mo₂C under both isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. However, the reduction mechanisms were significantly different at lower and higher temperatures: at lower temperatures (1070 to 1342 K), reduction of MoO₂ to Mo₂C followed a one‐step reaction (simultaneous reduction and carburization), while at higher temperatures (1423 to 1485 K), MoO₂ was first reduced to metallic Mo, and then Mo was carburized to Mo₂C. Mo₂C particles obtained at higher temperatures contained micrometer‐sized surface features which formed during the MoO₂ to Mo reduction step.     

Photosensitivity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-CdS/<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-CdTe heterojunctions obtained by chemical surface deposition of CdS

A new technology of chemical surface deposition is developed, and thin CdS films (35–100 nm) on the p-CdTe substrates are obtained. Electrical and photoelectric properties of n-CdS/p-CdTe heterojunctions are studied, and it is shown that the developed method provides high efficiency of photoconversion in the range restricted by the CdTe and CdS band gaps. It is shown that the method of chemical surface deposition of CdS can be used in the design of thin-film n-CdS/p-CdTe.