Dietary chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) rich in a-linolenic acid improves adiposity and normalises hypertriacylglycerolaemia and insulin resistance in dyslipaemic rats

The present study investigates the benefits of the dietary intake of chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) rich in α-linolenic acid and fibre upon dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance (IR), induced by intake of a sucrose-rich (62.5 %) diet (SRD). To achieve these goals two sets of experiments were designed: (i) to study the prevention of onset of dyslipidaemia and IR in Wistar rats fed during 3 weeks with a SRD in which chia seed was the dietary source of fat; (ii) to analyse the effectiveness of chia seed in improving or reversing the metabolic abnormalities described above. Rats were fed a SRD during 3 months; by the end of this period, stable dyslipidaemia and IR were present in the animals. From months 3-5, half the animals continued with the SRD and the other half were fed a SRD in which the source of fat was substituted by chia seed (SRD+chia). The control group received a diet in which sucrose was replaced by maize starch. The results showed that: (i) dietary chia seed prevented the onset of dyslipidaemia and IR in the rats fed the SRD for 3 weeks - glycaemia did not change; (ii) dyslipidaemia and IR in the long-term SRD-fed rats were normalised without changes in insulinaemia when chia seed provided the dietary fat during the last 2 months of the feeding period. Dietary chia seed reduced the visceral adiposity present in the SRD rats. The present study provides new data regarding the beneficial effect of chia seed upon lipid and glucose homeostasis in an experimental model of dislipidaemia and IR.Fil: Chicco, Adriana Graciela. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: D'alessandro, Maria Eugenia Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Hein, Gustavo Juan. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Oliva, Maria Eugenia. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Lombardo, Yolanda B.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; Argentin

S-wave/spin-triplet order in superconductors without inversion symmetry: Li2_2Pd3_3B and Li2_2Pt3_3B

We investigate the order parameter of noncentrosymmetric superconductors Li$_2$Pd$_3$B and Li$_2$Pt$_3$B via the behavior of the penetration depth $\lambda(T)$. The low-temperature penetration depth shows BCS-like behavior in Li$_2$Pd$_3$B, while in Li$_2$Pt$_3$B it follows a linear temperature dependence. We propose that broken inversion symmetry and the accompanying antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling, which admix spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairing, are responsible for this behavior. The triplet contribution is weak in Li$_2$Pd$_3$B, leading to a wholly open but anisotropic gap. The significantly larger spin-orbit coupling in Li$_2$Pt$_3$B allows the spin-triplet component to be larger in Li$_2$Pt$_3$B, producing line nodes in the energy gap as evidenced by the linear temperature dependence of $\lambda(T)$. The experimental data are in quantitative agreement with theory.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press). More details are include

Mei-Chia Li v. Atty Gen USA

USDC for the District of New Jerse

Serum acidic mammalian kinase as a new laboratory test to define subclinical inflammation in Familial Mediterranean fever

Aim: To investigate the relationship between acidic mammalian chitinase (CHIA) level and autoinflammatory diseases, especially in Familial Mediterranean fever. Methods: We first analyzed CHIA expression, methylation in various autoinflammatory diseases, including, SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis), SJS (Stevens-Johnson syndrome), SSc (Systemic Sclerosis) and T1D (Type 1 diabetes) patients, case-control and correlation between the MEFV and CHIA genes by using bioinformatics tools. We then measured serum CHIA level in ninety individuals; thirty FMF attacks, thirty FMF remissions and thirty healthy control groups. Statistical analysis was used to evaluate the interaction between clinical parameters and serum CHIA level. The potential of serum CHIA level was tested using AUC and ROC analysis. Results: According to our ADEx analysis, we observed high CHIA expression in SLE, RA and T1D patients than in the control group. Moreover, we detected that the methylation level decreased in each disease, especially in the cg17143643 and cg7497781 probes. We also observed a correlation between MEFV and CHIA in these autoinflammatory diseases. According to our ELISA results, we also showed an increased CHIA level in FMF attack and remission as compared to the control group in serum (p <0.001, p =0.007; resp). We further observed a relationship between CHIA level and patients with amyloidosis, attack per month, and neutrophil and WBC levels.  Conclusion: Our primary data suggest that CHIA is related to FMF pathogenesis and can be followed in the subclinical period of the disease

Selective Lanthanide Sensing with Gold Nanoparticles and Hydroxypyridinone Chelators.

The octadentate hydroxypyridinone chelator 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) is a promising therapeutic agent because of its high affinity for f-block elements and noncytotoxicity at medical dosages. The interaction between 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and other biomedically relevant metals such as gold, however, has not been explored. Gold nanoparticles functionalized with chelators have demonstrated great potential in theranostics, yet thus far, no protocol that combines 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and colloidal gold has been developed. Here, we characterize the solution thermodynamic properties of the complexes formed between 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and Au3+ ions and demonstrate how under specific pH conditions the chelator promotes the growth of gold nanoparticles, acting as both reducing and stabilizing agent. 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) ligands on the nanoparticle surface remain active and selective toward f-block elements, as evidenced by gold nanoparticle selective aggregation. Finally, a new colorimetric assay capable of reaching the detection levels necessary for the quantification of lanthanides in waste from industrial processes is developed based on the inhibition of particle growth by lanthanides

CHIA PROTEIN CONCENTRATE (SALVIA HISPANICA L.) ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY

 Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of chia proteins concentrates in in vitro conditions.Methods: Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica) were utilized to obtain chia protein concentrate at different pH 2.0, pH 3.0, pH 4.0, pH 5.0, and pH 6.0 using the isoelectric precipitation method and to evaluate the in vitro anti-inflammatory and in vitro inhibition of peroxidation lipid of chia protein concentrates.Results: The best treatment to obtain chia protein concentrate was at pH 3.0 with a value of 25.53% yield using water as solvent and 38.13% yield using NaCl 1M as solvent. The higher protein content was found in the chia protein concentrate at pH 4.0 with values of 91.18% and 57.87% of protein content. All chia protein concentrates presented high in vitro anti-inflammatory activity and inhibition peroxidation lipid. Chia protein concentrate at pH 3.0 (100–100 μg/ml) presented anti-inflammatory activity with values ranging from 56.32% to 103.00% in a form dependent doses. Chia protein concentrate at pH 6.0 presented a value range of 92.80–95.98% of inhibition of peroxidation lipid.Conclusion: This study suggests that chia protein concentrates possess potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in in vitro conditions

Determination of bioactive compounds in sequential extracts of chia leaf (Salvia hispanica L.) using UHPLC-HRMS (Q-Orbitrap) and a global evaluation of antioxidant in vitro capacity

Consumers' interest in foods that are nutritionally balanced and with health benefits has increased. The food industry is paying attention to the use of the ancestral seed Salvia hispanica L., commonly known as chia. At present, only the chia seeds, which are a natural source of omega-3 and omega-6, fiber, proteins, and natural antioxidants, are commercialized. Although some studies reveal the presence of several bioactive compounds like polyphenols (e.g., vitexin, orientin, and some hydroxycinnamic acids) in chia leaf methanolic extracts, the chia plant is commonly used as fertilizer or treated as waste after harvest. Therefore, it can represent a by-product that could be considered a great source of bioactive compounds with unexplored potential in medicine and food industry applications. In this work, UHPLC-HRMS (Q-Orbitrap) was employed to tentatively identify and determine bioactive compounds present in different leaf extracts of chia plants of black and white seed phenotype obtained with solvents of different polarity (ethanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, and hexane) to address chia plant by-product revalorization. The chemical antioxidant capacity was also studied and correlated to the found bioactive compounds. In these experiments, black chia showed a higher antioxidant capacity than white chia in the ethanolic extracts. Moreover, experiments on cellular antioxidant activity were also performed with a predominance of the white chia extract. It is noted that the cellular antioxidant activity results make chia ethanolic extracts promising antioxidants