Modification ω-6/ω-3 ratio and increase of the shelf life of anchovy oil (Engraulis ringens) with addition of olive oil (Olea europaea)☆

In the food industry, oil blending represents a simple method for the generation of products with desired nutritional and technological properties. The objective of this work was to blend anchoveta oil (AO) with virgin olive oil (VOO) to modify the ω-6/ω-3 ratio of the product for nutritional purposes and to evaluate its oxidative stability index (OSI) for technological purposes. Four AO/VOO blends were formulated: 50/50, 40/60, 30/70 and 20/80 (w/w), generating a ω-6/ω-3 ratio between 0.610–2.129, nutritionally recommendable. The Rancimat method allowed determining the OSI of the formulations at temperatures of 100, 110 and 120 °C, finding OSI ranges between 0.963–3.410 h, 0.430–1.730 h and 0.183–0.813 h, respectively. The kinetic behavior of the formulations with respect to activation energy (89.622 to 93.414 kJ/mol), entropy (−13.248 to −17.657 kJ/mol), enthalpy (86.455 to 90.248 kJ/mol), Gibbs energy (91.928 to 96.348 kJ/mol) and Q10 (2.090 to 2.153) has been described. The formulations are proposed as an alternative to increase the shelf life of AO and increase the nutritional value of VOO

Recalibration and improvement of the Altman, Zmijewski, and Prophecy model: Earnings management as a predictor of bankruptcy of Philippine manufacturing firm

Bankruptcy leads to adverse effects to various stakeholders, the industry, and the country it is operating to. It is then important for decision makers to predict a company\u27s bankruptcy as a precaution to prevent such effects. Investors rely on the public information provided by publicly-listed companies in order to evaluate the firm ability to continue as a going concern. One way to assess the predictability of the firm risk of bankruptcy is through bankruptcy prediction models (BPM) which were developed to aid prospective investors in making financial decisions. Previous literature show that poor corporate governance may lead to bankruptcy while the degree of earnings management (EM) increases as the quality of corporate governance decreases. Considering this, a relationship between EM and the risk of bankruptcy may possibly exist. Studies indicate that companies are more likely to employ EM in times of financial distress making it a possible predictor of a firm risk of bankruptcy. Thus, the study seeks to determine ability of earnings management to improve the predictability of bankruptcy by incorporating it in existing bankruptcy prediction models. The study utilized three (3) BPMs that were proven to be the most accurate models as predictor of bankruptcy. The researchers extracted 288 SEC registered companies which comprise of 144 bankrupt firms and 144 non-bankrupt firms. The models were tested and the study proved that bankrupt firms employs EM to a greater extent than their healthy counterparts. The researchers compared the accuracy of the three recalibrated models in predicting the bankruptcy of Philippine manufacturing firms with its EM-induced counterparts. The study accuracy tests reveal that Altman model and Prophecy models accuracy was improved while the accuracy of Zmijewski model decreased as a result of the modification. The researchers deemed that Zmijewski model is already in its optimal form thus adding a variable would only decrease its accurac

Building a sustainable future through taxation: Examining the effect of taxation on the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in developed and developing countries in Asia and Europe

With novel literature recognizing the significant role of taxation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), policymakers have hitherto been involved in the mobilization of tax reforms and measures to influence the spheres of sustainable development. Although developed and developing countries have been engaged in the agenda for sustainable development, these countries experience economic differences that influence their capacity to tax. In this regard, the study considers the perspectives of developed and developing countries within Asia and Europe as meaningful points of comparison. The study employed a quantitative approach through econometric models to articulate the effect of corporate, personal, sales, and combined effects of tax rates on the SDGs. Such tax rates were measured through the highest statutory rate and the average tax rate (represented by the tax index). The overall scope comprised 34 European and Asian countries from 2000-2020. In this regard, the findings of the study indicate that the mentioned tax rates have a significant relationship toward the achievement of the SDGs, with varying implications for developed and developing nations. The SDG index in developed countries notably has a negative relationship with direct taxes (corporate and personal) and a positive relationship with indirect taxes (sales). Conversely, the SDG index in developing countries has a positive relationship with direct taxes but a negative one with indirect taxes. However, the combined effect (when implemented simultaneously) may result in different findings. Overall, given these results, the study aims to improve the ongoing dialogue on the impact of taxation on SDGs and provides recommendations to stakeholders for future developments in their respective fields

Modification of the Nutritional Quality and Oxidative Stability of Lupin (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) and Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) Oil Blends

Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis) oil is rich in monounsaturated (54.2%) and polyunsaturated (28.5%) fatty acids but has a ω-3:ω-6 ratio (1:9.2) above the recommended values for human health. Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis) oil presents a high polyunsaturated fatty acid content (linolenic 47.2% and linoleic 34.7%), along a ω-3:ω-6 ratio (1:0.74) good for human consumption. The objective of this research was to study the physico-chemical properties and oxidative stability of tarwi and sacha inchi oil blends (1:4, 1:3, 1:1, 3:1 and 4:1 w:w) with suitable ω-3:ω-6 ratios. All blends showed ω-3:ω-6 ratios between 1:0.8 and 1:1.9, acceptable from a nutritional point of view, and high total tocopherols’ content (1834–688 mg/kg), thanks to sacha inchi. The oxidative stability index (OSI) of the mixtures by the Rancimat method at 120 °C ranged from 0.46 to 8.80 h. The shelf-life of 1:1 tarwi/sacha inchi oil blend was 1.26 years; its entropy (−17.43 J/mol), enthalpy (107.04 kJ/mol), activation energy (110.24 kJ/mol) and Gibbs energy (113.76 kJ/mol) suggest low oxidation reaction rates and good stability. Hence, balanced blends of tarwi/sacha inchi oils can achieve optimal nutritional properties and enhanced shelf-life

Siderocalin fusion proteins enable a new 86Y/90Y theranostic approach.

The mammalian protein siderocalin binds bacterial siderophores and their iron complexes through cation-π and electrostatic interactions, but also displays high affinity for hydroxypyridinone complexes of trivalent lanthanides and actinides. In order to circumvent synthetic challenges, the use of siderocalin-antibody fusion proteins is explored herein as an alternative targeting approach for precision delivery of trivalent radiometals. We demonstrate the viability of this approach in vivo, using the theranostic pair 90Y (β-, t1/2 = 64 h)/86Y (β+, t1/2 = 14.7 h) in a SKOV-3 xenograft mouse model. Ligand radiolabeling with octadentate hydroxypyridinonate 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and subsequent protein binding were achieved at room temperature. The results reported here suggest that the rapid non-covalent binding interaction between siderocalin fusion proteins and the negatively charged Y(iii)-3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) complexes could enable purification-free, cold-kit labeling strategies for the application of therapeutically relevant radiometals in the clinic

Forecasting parasite sharing under climate change

Species are shifting their distributions in response to climate change. This geographic reshuffling may result in novel co-occurrences among species, which could lead to unseen biotic interactions, including the exchange of parasites between previously isolated hosts. Identifying potential new host–parasite interactions would improve forecasting of disease emergence and inform proactive disease surveillance. However, accurate predictions of future cross-species disease transmission have been hampered by the lack of a generalized approach and data availability. Here, we propose a framework to predict novel host–parasite interactions based on a combination of niche modelling of future host distributions and parasite sharing models. Using the North American ungulates as a proof of concept, we show this approach has high cross-validation accuracy in over 85% of modelled parasites and find that more than 34% of the host–parasite associations forecasted by our models have already been recorded in the literature. We discuss potential sources of uncertainty and bias that may affect our results and similar forecasting approaches, and propose pathways to generate increasingly accurate predictions. Our results indicate that forecasting parasite sharing in response to shifts in host geographic distributions allow for the identification of regions and taxa most susceptible to emergent pathogens under climate change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Infectious disease macroecology: parasite diversity and dynamics across the globe’

Contrasting latitudinal gradients of body size in helminth parasites and their hosts

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: We examined body size scaling relationships for two developmental life stages of parasitic helminths (egg and adult) separately in relationship to latitude (i.e. Bergmann\u27s rule), temperature and temperature seasonality. Given that helminth eggs experience environmental conditions more directly, whereas adults live inside infected host individuals, we predict stronger environmentally driven gradients of body size for eggs than for adults. Location: Global. Time period: Present day. Major taxa studied: Parasitic helminths. Methods: We compiled egg size and adult body size data (both minimum and maximum) for 265 parasitic helminth species from the literature, along with species latitudinal distribution information using an extensive global helminth occurrence database. We then examined how the average helminth egg and adult body size of all helminth species present (minimum and maximum separately) scaled with latitude, temperature and temperature variability, using generalized linear models. Results: Both the egg size and the adult body size of helminths tended to decrease towards higher latitudes, although we found the opposite body size scaling pattern for their host species. Helminth sizes were also positively correlated with temperature and negatively, but more weakly, with temperature seasonality. Main conclusions: Instead of following the body size patterns of their hosts, helminth parasites are more similar to other ectotherms in that they follow the converse Bergmann\u27s rule. This pattern did not differ between helminth developmental stages, suggesting that mean annual temperature and seasonality are unlikely to be related mechanistically to body size variation in this case

Second language research:Methodology and Design

We are developing lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) designed to achieve background-limited sensitivity for far-infrared (FIR) spectroscopy on a stratospheric balloon. The Spectroscopic Terahertz Airborne Receiver for Far-InfraRed Exploration (STARFIRE) will study the evolution of dusty galaxies with observations of the [CII] 158 micron and other atomic fine-structure transitions at z = 0.5 - 1.5, both through direct observations of individual luminous infrared galaxies, and in blind surveys using the technique of line intensity mapping. The spectrometer requires large format arrays of dual-polarization-sensitive detectors with NEPs of 1e-17 W/sqrt(Hz). We pattern the LEKIDs in 20-nm aluminum film, and use an array of profiled feedhorns to couple optical radiation onto the meandered inductors. A backshort etched from the backside to a buried oxide layer insures high absorption efficiency without additional matching layers. Initial testing on small sub-arrays has demonstrated a high device yield and median NEP of 4e-18 W/sqrt(Hz). We describe the development and characterization of kilo-pixel arrays using a combination of dark noise measurements and optical response with our cryogenic blackbody