Polyphenols and health

Research in the field of polyphenols and their impact on health and disease has evolved considerably over the past decades.1 Not only has there been an exponential growth in the number of papers published, but also our understanding of these compounds has evolved from seeing them as simple antioxidants to recognising diverse bioactivity. In accordance, related disciplines, such as food chemistry, nutrition and medicine, started considering polyphenols as potential health promoters andinclusive, therapeutic agents.Fil: Croft, Kevin D.. University of Western Australia; AustraliaFil: Fraga, César Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analitica y Fisicoquímica. Cátedra de Fisicoquímica; Argentin

From Common Sense Concepts to Scientifically Conditioned Concepts of Chemical Bonding: An Historical and Textbook Approach Designed to Address Learning and Teaching Issues at the Secondary School Level

This paper selects six key alternative conceptions identified in the literature on student understandings of chemical bonding and illustrates how a historical analysis and a textbook analysis can inform these conceptions and lead to recommendations for improving the teaching and learning of chemical bonding at the secondary school level. The historical analysis and the textbook analysis focus on the concepts of charge, octet, electron pair, ionic, covalent and metallic bonding. Finally, a table of recommendations is made for teacher and student in the light of four fundamental questions and the six alternative conceptions to enhance the quality of the curriculum resources available and the level of student engagement

Career Opportunities in the Iowa Insurance Industry

5 pagesThe Iowa insurance industry is an economic powerhouse, creating an $8.9 billion impact in the Des Moines – West Des Moines MSA alone. The industry’s scale has spawned two start-up accelerators focused on insurtech, each with a global reach. The Iowa workforce has experienced twenty-five percent growth since 2000. Insurance carriers are attractive employers exhibited through a high level of compensation, wage growth at a rate above the national average, and a suite of employee benefits that are generous, flexible, and well-aligned with the desires of generation Z. Over the next decade, nearly twenty percent of the workforce will reach retirement age. This retirement wave will create rapid advancement opportunities for younger employees, especially those with skills in technology, data analytics, distribution, and product development. The demand for actuaries is expected to grow at a rate three times greater than the average occupation while actuarial compensation exceeds the median annual salary of other mathematical science occupations. Actuarial careers are consistently ranked among the best in both business and STEM fields and have above-average upward mobility

Cytochrome P450 Protein Family 4 Conservation and Diversification Among Flies

Commercial fruit pests, such as flies within the Tephritidae family, have a large economic impact on the global food supply due to their ability to infest a wide range of host plants. The genus Rhagoletis, which contains the apple maggot fly, has become an important organism for understanding the process of switching and adapting to new hosts. The enzyme group responsible for this ability in Rhagoletis flies is the Cytochrome P450 proteins. This superfamily of proteins is also known to help organisms deal with various environmental stressors, such as detoxification of plant defensive compounds or insecticides. The Rhagoletis zephyria (the snowberry maggot) genome has recently be sequenced, providing a complete list of Cytochrome P450 gene sequences. Using MegaX and sequences from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was generated to show potential conservation and diversification events of Cytochrome P450 genes in the diverse subfamily 4 in Rhagoletis, compared to other families Tephritidae and Drosophilidae, using mosquitos as an out-group. I hypothesize that Rhagoletis and other tephritids, as species that infest this live well-defended fruit, will have a greater Cytochrome P450 diversity than Drosophila species surviving on yeasts in decaying fruit

Changes in Oxidative Damage, Inflammation and [NAD(H)] with Age in Cerebrospinal Fluid

An extensive body of evidence indicates that oxidative stress and inflammation play a central role in the degenerative changes of systemic tissues in aging. However a comparatively limited amount of data is available to verify whether these processes also contribute to normal aging within the brain. High levels of oxidative damage results in key cellular changes including a reduction in available nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), an essential molecule required for a number of vital cellular processes including DNA repair, immune signaling and epigenetic processing. In this study we quantified changes in [NAD(H)] and markers of inflammation and oxidative damage (F2-isoprostanes, 8-OHdG, total antioxidant capacity) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of healthy humans across a wide age range (24–91 years). CSF was collected from consenting patients who required a spinal tap for the administration of anesthetic. CSF of participants aged .45 years was found to contain increased levels of lipid peroxidation (F2-isoprostanes) (p = 0.04) and inflammation (IL-6) (p = 0.00) and decreased levels of both total antioxidant capacity (p = 0.00) and NAD(H) (p = 0.05), compared to their younger counterparts. A positive association was also observed between plasma [NAD(H)] and CSF NAD(H) levels (p = 0.03). Furtheranalysis of the data identified a relationship between alcohol intake and CSF [NAD(H)] and markers of inflammation. The CSF of participants who consumed .1 standard drink of alcohol per day contained lower levels of NAD(H) compared to those who consumed no alcohol (p,0.05). An increase in CSF IL-6 was observed in participants who reported drinking .0–1 (p,0.05) and .1 (p,0.05) standard alcoholic drinks per day compared to those who did not drink alcohol. Taken together these data suggest a progressive age associated increase in oxidative damage, inflammation and reduced [NAD(H)] in the brain which may be exacerbated by alcohol intake

Comparison of liberica and arabica coffee: Chlorogenic acid, caffeine, total phenolic and DPPH radical scavenging activity

Information on the composition of chlorogenic acid, caffeine and antioxidant activity of Coffea liberica is scarce, albeit the importance of this species in some parts of the world. This study assessed the composition of chlorogenic acid, total phenolic, caffeine and free radical scavenging activity in green and roasted C. liberica in comparison to C. arabica. The compositions of these compounds were also investigated in C. liberica at different roasting degree. We found a comparable amount of chlorogenic acid in green C. liberica and C. arabica. However, roasted C. arabica had a significantly higher chlorogenic acid content than roasted C. liberica (p\u3c0.05). Chlorogenic acid content significantly reduced in C. liberica after roasting when compared to green beans (p\u3c0.05). There was an insignificant difference of caffeine content between the green and roasted beans of both coffee varieties. Total phenolic content were of comparable value between C. liberica and C. arabica for both green and roasted beans. There was a trend for higher total phenolic content in roasted C. liberica when compared to green beans, although significant difference was observed only in medium-dark roast (p\u3c0.05). DPPH scavenging activity was comparable between C. arabica and C. liberica for both green and roasted beans, and was significantly reduced in C. liberica after roasting (p\u3c0.05). Both green C. arabica and C. liberica had similar DPPH scavenging activity to the standards (BHT and a-tocopherol). These data can aid in promoting the production of C. liberica alongside C. arabica that has been regarded as a premium quality coffee

The effects of polyphenols and other bioactives on human health

Although deficiencies in polyphenol intake do not result in specific deficiency diseases, adequate intake of polyphenols could confer health benefits, especially with regard to chronic diseases. Tea, cocoa, fruits, and berries, as well as vegetables, are rich in polyphenols. Flavan-3-ols from cocoa have been found to be associated with a reduced risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, and diabetes, as well as improvements in lipids, endothelial-dependent blood flow and blood pressure, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation. The flavonoid quercetin and the stilbene resveratrol have also been associated with cardiometabolic health. Although polyphenols have been associated with improved cerebral blood flow, evidence of an impact on cognition is more limited. The ability of dietary polyphenols to produce clinical effects may be due, at least in part, to a bi-directional relationship with the gut microbiota. Polyphenols can impact the composition of the gut microbiota (which are independently associated with health benefits), and gut bacteria metabolize polyphenols into bioactive compounds that produce clinical benefits. Another critical interaction is that of polyphenols with other phytochemicals, which could be relevant to interpreting the health parameter effects of polyphenols assayed as purified extracts, whole foods, or whole food extracts

Association patterns and foraging behaviour in natural and artificial guppy shoals

Animal groups are often nonrandom assemblages of individuals that tend to be assorted by factors such as sex, body size, relatedness and familiarity. Laboratory studies using fish have shown that familiarity among shoal members confers a number of benefits to individuals, such as increased foraging success. However, it is unclear whether fish in natural shoals obtain these benefits through association with familiars. We investigated whether naturally occurring shoals of guppies, Poecilia reticulata, are more adept at learning a novel foraging task than artificial (in which we selected shoal members randomly) shoals. We used social network analysis to compare the structures of natural and artificial shoals and examined whether shoal organization predicts patterns of foraging behaviour. Fish in natural shoals benefited from increased success in the novel foraging task compared with fish in artificial shoals. Individuals in natural shoals showed a reduced latency to approach the novel feeder, followed more and formed smaller subgroups compared to artificial shoals. Our findings show that fish in natural shoals do gain foraging benefits and that this may be facilitated by a reduced perception of risk among familiarized individuals and/or enhanced social learning mediated by following other individuals and small group sizes. Although the structure of shoals was stable over time, we found no direct relationship between shoal social structure and patterns of foraging behaviour