Fluorescent image analysis of lipid hydroperoxides in fish muscle with 3-perylene diphenylphosphine

A fluorescent image analysis method was developed to evaluate lipid hydroperoxide formation in fish muscle. The lipid hydroperoxides generated in white and dark fish muscles during storage at 5–6°C oxidized 3-perylene diphenylphosphine located in the tissue to yield the fluorescent derivative, 3-perylene diphenylphosphine oxide (3-PeDPPO). 3-PeDPPO thus obtained was determined by digital fluorescent image analysis. The 3-PeDPPO fluorescence intensity of white and dark muscle increased during low-temperature storage (0–24 h) and was clearly correlated with total lipid hydroperoxide levels in muscle extracts, which were determined by using HPLC based on a triphenylphosphine oxidation method (R ²=0.954). These results suggest that 3-PeDPPO fluorescence, coupled with fluorescent image analysis, is a novel tool for direct determination of lipid hydroperoxides in fish muscle without a need for extraction of lipid.     

Invariance and convergent and discriminant validity between mothers' and fathers' ratings of oppositional defiant disorder toward adults, ADHD-HI, ADHD-IN, and academic competence factors within Brazilian, Thai, and American children.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the invariance of an oppositional defiant disorder toward adults, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-hyperactivity/impulsivity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-inattention, and an Academic Competence factor model between mothers' and fathers' ratings within Brazilian (n = 894), Thai (n = 2,075), and American (n = 817) children with the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory (G. L. Burns, T. Taylor, & J. Rusby, 2001a, 2001b). The results showed invariance of item loadings, intercepts, and residuals, as well as factor variances, covariances, and means between mothers' and fathers' ratings within each sample. Convergent and discriminant validity was also observed for the between-parent factor correlations, thus providing additional support for the construct validity of the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory. The confirmatory factor analysis invariance procedure provides a much better way to examine between-source ratings of behavior problems in children than do the simple correlation and raw discrepancy score procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of handicraft sitting postures on lower trunk muscle fatigue

Fifteen male subjects were exposed to a primary tracking task and a variety of subsidiary tasks for a total of 15 hours. Tracking performance was assessed through the use of two error measures, amount of time off the target track, and number of times off target. Subsidiary performance tasks included: a vigilance task requiring subjects to respond to the deflection of the noodle of a small meter; two reaction time tasks requiring response to the onset of one or the other of two lights; mental multiplication, which required the solution of simple multiplication problems; and digit span, in which the subject was required to repeat as rapidly and as accurately as possible a sot of digits of either five, six or seven numbers in length. In addition, three physiological measures were obtained.

A significant decrement in trucking performance was obtained for both measures utilized. This decrement was not particularly abrupt in its occurrence but rather took place cumulatively over the entire course of the experiment. There was no clearly established performance decrement on the subsidiary tasks utilized in this investigation. A marked variability in performance over the course of the experimental session was characteristic of performance on these tasks. Performance on the vigilance task, and one of the reaction time tasks improved during the 15-hour test session.

The 17-Kotosteroid and 17-Hydroxyeortieoid values increased during the session but only in the case of the latter was the increase significant. The eosinophil count of subjects exposed to the test conditions decreased steadily throughout the experimental session. However, eosinophil measures obtained from control subjects increased during a similar time period.     

Comparative production of a monoclonal antibody specific for enrofloxacin in a stirred-tank bioreactor

A hybridoma producing monoclonal antibody (MAb) specific for enrofloxacin was cultivated in a 2-L stirred-tank bioreactor in various modes and the performances of each mode were compared. In batch mode, a maximum viable cell and MAb concentration of 9.21 × 10⁵ cells mL^?1 and 67.3 mg L^?1, respectively, were obtained. When the hybridoma was cultivated in a fed-batch culture with the addition of specific nutrients, no improvement in either the viable cell number or MAb concentration was observed. On the other hand, an increase in the production of toxic metabolites, i.e. ammonia and lactate, was observed with growth inhibition of the hybridoma cells occurring at ammonia and lactate concentrations of 2.0 mM and 2.0 g L^?1, respectively. However, the best performance of hybridoma cultivation was achieved in a perfusion culture mode using a spin filter, which was installed in the stirred-tank reactor as a cell retention device with a perfusion rate of 0.80 vvd. Under these conditions a steady viable cell concentration of 1.57 × 10⁶ cells mL^?1 was obtained within five days with an overall productivity and yield of 73.7 mg L^?1 d^?1 and 61.4 mg d^?1, respectively, which was a significant increase over that attained with the batch process.     

Development of an inventory and temporal allocation profiles of emissions from power plants and industrial facilities in Thailand

An emission inventory (EI) of power plants and industrial (i.e., non-power plant) facilities in Thailand was developed. Emissions considered are those from fuel consumption (i.e., combustion) for power plants and those from both fuel consumption and industrial processes (i.e., non-combustion) for industrial facilities. For power plants, total annual emissions due to fuel consumption are 107.9 x 10(3) ton NOx (as NO2), 146.2 x 10(3) ton SO2, 6.1 x 10(3) ton NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic compounds), 47.0 x 10(3) ton CO, 1.8 x 10(3) ton NH3, 1.5 x 10(3) ton OC (organic carbon), and 1.5 x 10(3) ton BC (black carbon). For industrial facilities, total annual emissions due to fuel consumption are 111.4 x 10(3) ton NOx (as NO2), 476.9 x 10(3) ton SO2, 33.4 x 10(3) ton NMVOC, 193.1 x 10(3) ton CO, 1.6 x 10(3) ton NH3, 8.5 x 10(3) ton OC, and 8.0 x 10(3) ton BC. Among various industrial types, Food and Beverage, Chemical, and Non-Metal industries are dominant emitters. Total annual emissions due to industrial processes are 79.2 x 10(3) ton SO2, 76.0 x 10(3) ton NMVOC, and 4.8 x 10(3) ton CO. The Central and Eastern regions combined contribute considerably to total emissions for most emission species. Emission estimates found here show fair agreement with those in some selected past studies. A crude estimation of potential fugitive NMVOC emissions specifically from petroleum industry was also made, and the estimates found could be considered significant (nearly half of NMVOC emissions from industrial processes). Several temporal allocation profiles of emissions were also developed and suggested for power plants and industrial facilities, including monthly, daily, and hourly profiles.     

Adsorptive removal of thiophene and benzothiophene over zeolites from Mae Moh coal fly ash

Zeolites have been hydrothermally synthesized using Thai coal fly ash from Mae Moh Power Plant as silica and alumina sources. The synthesis conditions, i.e., SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio, amount of water, amount of base, and aging temperature, were varied to prepare different topologies of zeolitic products. The zeolites attained were sodalite (SOD), gismondine (GIS), and cancrinite (CAN). The zeolites have been applied to adsorption of thiophene and benzothiophene in n-hexane solution. It was found that GIS with higher specific surface area and average pore volume had superior performance to other synthesized materials. Adsorption capacity of our developed zeolites was compared to those of commercial zeolites, i.e. NaY, HUSY, beta, and ZSM-5 obtained via the conventional synthesis methods. The results suggested a potential of zeolites derived from Mae Moh coal fly ash for removal of refractory sulfur compounds, such as benzothiophene.     

Effects of seated lumbar extension postures on spinal height and lumbar range of motion during prolonged sitting

Prolonged sitting during sedentary work has been reported as a potential risk factor for low back pain. Furthermore, prolonged sitting can result in both reduced spinal height (SH) and lumbar range of motion (LROM). This study compared the effects of no intervention (control) with two recovery postures on SH and LROM (flexion and extension) during prolonged sitting. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to three interventions for three consecutive days. The interventions comprised two seated lumbar extension recovery postures (unsupported sustained and supported dynamic lumbar extension postures) and a control. Both interventions facilitated a relatively short recovery period for both SH and LROM. Supported dynamic lumbar extension conditions significantly helped SH recovery, as compared with control condition, after the first recovery posture intervention, and both postures have potential to maintain LROM. However, both postures failed to induce SH recovery over an extended time.     

A die rotating system for moderations of extrusion load and pressure drop profiles for molten PP and wood/polypropylene composites in extrusion processes

A die‐rotating system was proposed in this work for moderations of extrusion forces and entrance pressure drop for molten polypropylene (PP) and wood/polypropylene (WPP) composites in a capillary rheometer and a single screw extruder. The effects of processing conditions and wood loading in PP were of our interests. The extrusion force and entrance pressure drop with and without the die rotating system were monitored in real‐time. This was the first time that the die‐rotating system was used for processing of highly viscous wood/polymer composite materials. It was found that the flow properties of the molten PP and WPP composites obeyed pseudoplastic non‐Newtonian behavior. The behavior was more obvious at wood contents of above 6 wt % and in the capillary rheometer. The rotation of the die could moderate the extrusion load by 60% and entrance pressure drop by 20% in the capillary rheometer, and the entrance pressure drop by 30% in the single screw extruder, especially at the conditions where the viscosities of the WPP and the extrusion rate were high. Greater fluctuations in entrance pressure drop caused by die rotation were observed in the single screw extruder. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120:1006–1016, 2011     

Prevalence and associated risk factors of low‐back pain in textile fishing net manufacturing

This study examined the 7‐day prevalence of low‐back pain (LBP; i.e., pain within the preceding week of the survey) and identified associated factors, including working posture, for a population of fishing net assembly workers. LBP is a serious problem in manual work with high prevalence and affects worker absenteeism. A cross‐sectional survey study was conducted among textile fish net industrial workers using a structured questionnaire (hand delivered by researchers and independently completed by workers). The 7‐day prevalence of LBP in this study was 68.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 65 to 72%). Work factors significantly related to LBP included prolonged standing and walking. Workers 35 years old or greater were significantly more likely to experience LBP within the past 7 days preceding the survey than were those 34 years old or less (adjusted odds ratio [ORadj] = 4.9; 95% CI: 2.4 to 10.3; p = .0001). Other significant factors associated with LBP included posture position, specifically stooping (ORadj = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.0 to 2.3; p = .033), lifting (ORadj = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.1 to 2.4; p = .025), and high concentration jobs (ORadj = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.3 to 2.7; p = .001), respectively. LBP among textile fish net workers is a serious problem meriting ergonomic evaluation and design of control measures for reducing worker exposure to risk factors. Work characteristics were more significantly associated with LBP than were individual characteristics. Factories need to consider adjusting work conditions to prevent worker low‐back injuries. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.