Doble role of bathocuproine disulfonic acid as multi-walled carbon nanotubes dispersing agent and copper preconcentration ligand: Analytical applications for the development of hydrogen peroxide and glucose electrochemical sensors

We are reporting a new strategy for preparing carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based hydrogen peroxide and glucose amperometric sensors by taking advantage of the dual role of bathocuproine disulfonic acid (BCS) as dispersing agent of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and as ligand for the preconcentration of Cu(II). The platform was obtained by casting glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) with the dispersion of MWCNTs in BCS (MWCNTs-BCS) followed by the preconcentration of Cu(II) by surface complex formation at open circuit potential (GCE/MWCNTs-BCS/Cu). The resulting electrode was used for the sensitive amperometric quantification of hydrogen peroxide at 0.400 V catalyzed by the preconcentrated copper, with a linear range between 5.0 × 10−7 and 7.4 × 10-6 M, a sensitivity of 24.3 mA.M-1, and a detection limit of 0.2 μM. The adsorption of GOx at GCE/MWCNTs-BCS/Cu followed by the immobilization of Nafion (Naf), allowed the construction of a sensitive and selective amperometric glucose biosensor with a linear range between 5.0 × 10-6 M and 4.9 × 10-4 M, a sensitivity of (477 ± 3) μA.M-1 and a detection limit of 2 μM. The proposed (bio)sensors were successfully used for the quantification of hydrogen peroxide in enriched milk samples and glucose in milk and commercial beverages without any pretreatment.Fil: Gallay, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Marcela Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Eguílaz Rubio, Marcos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Rivas, Gustavo Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; Argentin

Novel Techniques to Measure the Sensory, Emotional, and Physiological (Biometric) Responses of Consumers toward Foods and Packaging

This book reprinted from articles published in the Special Issue “Novel Techniques to Measure the Sensory, Emotional, and Physiological (Biometric) Responses of Consumers toward Foods and Packaging” of the journal Foods aims to provide a deeper understanding of novel techniques to measure the different sensory, emotional, and physiological responses toward foods. The editor hopes that the findings from this Special Issue can help the broader scientific community to understand the use of novel sensory science techniques that can be used in the evaluation of products

Studies of food stickiness in relation to oral processing

It is generally accepted that a food perceived as sticky would adhere easily to oral surfaces (e.g. teeth and soft tissues) and lead to many irregular movements of the jaw and the tongue. However, there are two major issues with this assumption. Firstly, there has been no supporting experimental evidence. Secondly, the stickiness measurements in the research lab are often conducted under conditions very dissimilar to those in the mouth and, therefore, their correlations to oral experience are somewhat questionable. This project investigated food stickiness and its effects on oral experience using three approaches: instrumental characterization, sensory assessment, and oral physiological analysis. Six semi-solid confectionery foods, standardized in size and shape, were used for investigation. Their stickiness was characterized quantitatively using penetration tests performed in a Texture Analyser and evaluated sensorially through assessment by a taste panel of 14 young subjects. Oral response to food stickiness was characterised using surface Electromyography (sEMG) technique to record the activities of major oral/facial muscles. Products were well discriminated not only according to their stickiness but also their hardness. Instrumental characterization of food stickiness was carried out with two different probes: a flat 5mm stainless steel probe and a natural tooth probe, and measured dry and wet to mimic oral conditions. It was found that food products can be categorised into two groups: those in which stickiness increased and those in which the stickiness decreased after surface wetting. The measured wet stickiness exhibited very good correlations with sensory stickiness. Measurements from the sEMG of 10 subjects showed that the activities of oral muscles during mouth closing (masseters and temporalis), mouth opening (digastric muscle), and tongue movements respond directly to food stickiness. Increases in muscle work per chewing sequence W (µV-s) for both opening and clossing muscles were closely associated to the perception of food stickiness rather than with food hardness. Association of muscle activity, of closing muscles, to stickiness sensation is believed to arise from the increased difficulty and uncomfortable sensation of applying shearing action between teeth when the sticky food tends to hold them together

STUDI PERENCANAAN PERKERASAN LENTUR DENGAN METODE BINA MARGA DAN PERKIRAAN RENCANA ANGGARAN BIAYA NYA PADA PROYEK PEMBANGUNAN JALAN BULUKUMBA – TONDONG PROVINSI SULAWESI SELATAN

Pada ruas jalan lintas Bulukumba – Tondong pada tahun 2011 telah dibangun jalan sepanjang 20,7 km dan lebar 11 m dengan menggunakan konstruksi perkerasan lentur, dimana jalan tersebut merupakan jalan nasional yang menghubungkan Kabupaten Bulukumba dengan Kabupaten Sinjai. Banyaknya kendaraan berat yang melintas di sepanjang jalan lintas Bulukumba – Tondong ini diakibatkan oleh para pengguna jalan yang menjadikan jalan ini sebagai salah satu jalan alternatif menuju kota Makassar untuk menghindari kemacetan dan jalan rusak di Kab. Jeneponto. Dimana kondisi fisik atau kontur daerah lumayan berat karna ruas jalan sebagian besar melalui perbukitan dan tebing-tebing. Berdasarkan fungsinya, jalan lintas ini merupakan jalan kolektor dan kelas II. Data yang digunakan dalam studi perencanaan berupa data sekunder. Data volume lalu lintas diperoleh dari Dinas Bina Marga Kab. Bulukumba, data CBR tanah, data geometrik jalan, data cross section dan long section jalan diperoleh dari kantor Kementerian Pekerjaan Umum Kepala Balai Besar Pengelolaan Jalan dan Jembatan Wilayah VI Makassar, Prov. Sulawesi Selatan, sedangkan untuk data harga satuan bahan, upah dan peralatan diperolah dari Dinas Pekerjaan Umum Kab. Bulukumba dan data curah hujan diperoleh dari BPS Prov. Sulawesi Selatan. Metode yang digunakan dalam studi perencanaan ini adalah metode bina marga yang berpatokan pada SKBI tahun 1987. Perencanaan yang dilakukan meliputi perencanaan tebal perkerasan lentur serta perkiraan rencana anggaran biayanya atau estimasi biaya proyek tersebut. Untuk analisa rencana anggaran biayanya berpatokan pada Analisa Harga Satuan Pekerjaan Bidang pekerjaan Umum berdasarkan Permen PUPR Republik Indonesia no 28/PRT/M/2016. Hasil perencanaan perkerasan lentur ini diperoleh 9 segmen jalan dimana setiap segmennya memiliki ketebalan lapisan aspal yang berbeda-beda. Segmen 1 dengan panjang jalan 2070 m memiliki ketebalan laston sebesar 18 cm, segmen 2 dengan panjang 1290 m ketebalan 13 cm, segmen 3 dengan panjang 750 m ketebalan 18 cm, segmen 4 dengan panjang 1050 m ketebalan 12 cm, segmen 5 dengan panjang 2175 m ketebalan 19 cm,segmen 6 dengan panjang 650 m ketebalan 13 cm, segmen 7 dengan panjang 5800 m ketebalan 18 cm, segmen 8 dengan panjang 230 m ketebalan 15 cm dan terakhir segmen 9 dengan panjang jalan 6750 m ketebalan 20 cm. Hasil analisa rencana anggaran biayanya diperoleh sebesar Rp 194.830.399.950,962 yang terbagi dalam 3 divisi pengerjaan dilapangan yaitu pekerjaan pendahuluan, pekerjaan perkerasan dan pekerjaan kelengkapan rambu jalan

Smoking and Second Hand Smoking in Adolescents with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Report from the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Cohort Study

The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and second hand smoking [SHS] in adolescents with CKD and their relationship to baseline parameters at enrollment in the CKiD, observational cohort study of 600 children (aged 1-16 yrs) with Schwartz estimated GFR of 30-90 ml/min/1.73m2. 239 adolescents had self-report survey data on smoking and SHS exposure: 21 [9%] subjects had “ever” smoked a cigarette. Among them, 4 were current and 17 were former smokers. Hypertension was more prevalent in those that had “ever” smoked a cigarette (42%) compared to non-smokers (9%), p\u3c0.01. Among 218 non-smokers, 130 (59%) were male, 142 (65%) were Caucasian; 60 (28%) reported SHS exposure compared to 158 (72%) with no exposure. Non-smoker adolescents with SHS exposure were compared to those without SHS exposure. There was no racial, age, or gender differences between both groups. Baseline creatinine, diastolic hypertension, C reactive protein, lipid profile, GFR and hemoglobin were not statistically different. Significantly higher protein to creatinine ratio (0.90 vs. 0.53, p\u3c0.01) was observed in those exposed to SHS compared to those not exposed. Exposed adolescents were heavier than non-exposed adolescents (85th percentile vs. 55th percentile for BMI, p\u3c 0.01). Uncontrolled casual systolic hypertension was twice as prevalent among those exposed to SHS (16%) compared to those not exposed to SHS (7%), though the difference was not statistically significant (p= 0.07). Adjusted multivariate regression analysis [OR (95% CI)] showed that increased protein to creatinine ratio [1.34 (1.03, 1.75)] and higher BMI [1.14 (1.02, 1.29)] were independently associated with exposure to SHS among non-smoker adolescents. These results reveal that among adolescents with CKD, cigarette use is low and SHS is highly prevalent. The association of smoking with hypertension and SHS with increased proteinuria suggests a possible role of these factors in CKD progression and cardiovascular outcomes

Space Biology and Medicine

Volume IV is devoted to examining the medical and associated organizational measures used to maintain the health of space crews and to support their performance before, during, and after space flight. These measures, collectively known as the medical flight support system, are important contributors to the safety and success of space flight. The contributions of space hardware and the spacecraft environment to flight safety and mission success are covered in previous volumes of the Space Biology and Medicine series. In Volume IV, we address means of improving the reliability of people who are required to function in the unfamiliar environment of space flight as well as the importance of those who support the crew. Please note that the extensive collaboration between Russian and American teams for this volume of work resulted in a timeframe of publication longer than originally anticipated. Therefore, new research or insights may have emerged since the authors composed their chapters and references. This volume includes a list of authors' names and addresses should readers seek specifics on new information. At least three groups of factors act to perturb human physiological homeostasis during space flight. All have significant influence on health, psychological, and emotional status, tolerance, and work capacity. The first and most important of these factors is weightlessness, the most specific and radical change in the ambient environment; it causes a variety of functional and structural changes in human physiology. The second group of factors precludes the constraints associated with living in the sealed, confined environment of spacecraft. Although these factors are not unique to space flight, the limitations they entail in terms of an uncomfortable environment can diminish the well-being and performance of crewmembers in space. The third group of factors includes the occupational and social factors associated with the difficult, critical nature of the crewmembers' work: the risks involved in space flight, changes in circadian rhythms, and intragroup interactions. The physical and emotional stress and fatigue that develop under these conditions also can disturb human health and performance. In addition to these factors, the risk also exists that crewmembers will develop various illnesses during flight. The risk of illness is no less during space flight than on Earth, and may actually be greater for some classes of diseases

A Smart Tongue Depressor-Based Biosensor for Glucose

The development of new bioelectronic platforms for direct interactions with oral fluid could open up significant opportunities for healthcare monitoring. A tongue depressor is a widely used medical tool that is inserted into the mouth, where it comes into close contact with saliva. Glucose is a typical salivary biomarker. Herein, we report—for the first time—a tongue depressor-based biosensor for the detection of glucose in both phosphate buffer and real human saliva. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are attractive electronic materials, with excellent electrochemical properties. The sensor is constructed by printing CNTs and silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) to form three electrodes in an electrochemical cell: Working, reference, and counter electrodes. The enzyme glucose oxidase (GOD) is immobilized on the working electrode. The glucose detection performance of the sensor is excellent, with a detection range of 7.3 μM to 6 mM. The glucose detection time is about 3 min. The discretion between healthy people’s and simulated diabetic patients’ salivary samples is clear and easy to tell. We anticipate that the biosensor could open up new opportunities for the monitoring of salivary biomarkers and advance healthcare applications