Beneficial physiological effects with blackcurrant intake in endurance athletes

Blackcurrant contains anthocyanins, known to influence vasorelaxation and peripheral blood flow. We examined the effects of 7 days intake of Sujon New Zealand blackcurrant powder (6g/day) on the lactate curve, maximum oxygen uptake, and cardiovascular responses at rest and during cycling. Thirteen trained triathletes with >3 yrs experience (8 men, age: 38±8 yrs, body mass: 71±9 kg, BF%: 19±5%, mean±SD) performed two incremental cycling protocols with recording of physiological and cardiovascular responses (Portapres® Model 2). Cardiovascular function was also measured in rest. Experimental design was double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized and cross-over (wash-out 4 wks). Data was analysed with two-tailed t-tests and 2-way ANOVA and significance accepted at p<0.05. Plasma lactate was lower at 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% of maximum power by 27%, 22%, 17% and 13%. Intensity at 4 mmol∙L-1 OBLA was 6% higher with blackcurrant without effect on heart rate and oxygen uptake. Maximum values of oxygen uptake, heart rate and power were not affected by blackcurrant, but obtained with 14% lower lactate. In rest, blackcurrant increased stroke volume and cardiac output by 25% and 26%, and decreased total peripheral resistance by 16%, with no changes in blood pressure and heart rate. Cardiovascular responses during exercise at 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% intensity were not affected. Sujon New Zealand blackcurrant powder affects lactate production and/or clearance during exercise. Sujon New Zealand blackcurrant powder affects physiological and cardiovascular responses in rest and during exercise that may have implications for exercise performance

Space station impact experiments

Four processes serve to illustrate potential areas of study and their implications for general problems in planetary science. First, accretional processes reflect the success of collisional aggregation over collisional destruction during the early history of the solar system. Second, both catastrophic and less severe effects of impacts on planetary bodies survivng from the time of the early solar system may be expressed by asteroid/planetary spin rates, spin orientations, asteroid size distributions, and perhaps the origin of the Moon. Third, the surfaces of planetary bodies directly record the effects of impacts in the form of craters; these records have wide-ranging implications. Fourth, regoliths evolution of asteroidal surfaces is a consequence of cumulative impacts, but the absence of a significant gravity term may profoundly affect the retention of shocked fractions and agglutinate build-up, thereby biasing the correct interpretations of spectral reflectance data. An impact facility on the Space Station would provide the controlled conditions necessary to explore such processes either through direct simulation of conditions or indirect simulation of certain parameters

New U-Pb ages for syn-orogenic magmatism in the SW sector of the Ossa Morena Zone (Portugal)

The Ossa-Morena Zone (OMZ) is a major geotectonic unit within the Iberian Massif (which constitutes an important segment of the European Variscan Belt) and one of its distinguishing features is the presence of a noteworthy compositional diversity of plutonic rocks. In the SW sector of the OMZ, the tonalitic Hospitais intrusion (located to the W of Montemor-o-Novo) is considered a typical example of syn-orogenic magmatism, taking into account that both the long axis of the plutonic body and its mesoscopic foliation are oriented parallel to the Variscan WNW-ESE orientation. Another relevant feature of the Hospitais intrusion is the occurrence of mafic microgranular enclaves within the main tonalite. In previous works (Moita et al., 2005; Moita, 2007), it was proposed that: (1) the Hospitais intrusion is part of a calc-alkaline suite, represented by a large number of intrusions in this sector of the OMZ, ranging from gabbros to granites; (2) the enclaves are co-genetic to the host tonalite in the Hospitais pluton. In this study, zircon populations from one sample of the main tonalite (MM-17) and one sample of the associated enclave (MM-17E) were analysed by ID-TIMS for U-Pb geochronology. In each sample, three fractions of nice glassy, euhedral, long prismatic and inclusion free crystals were analysed. The results from the three fractions of MM-17 yielded a 206Pb/238U age of 337.0 ± 2.0 Ma. Similarly, for the enclave MM-17E a 206Pb/238U zircon age of 336.5 ± 0.47 Ma was obtained. These identical ages, within error, are in agreement with a common parental magma for the tonalite and mafic granular enclaves. Similar U-Pb ages have been reported in previous works for plutonic and metamorphic events in this region (e.g.: Pereira et al., 2009; Antunes et al., 2011). Furthermore, also in the SW sector of the OMZ, palaeontological studies (Pereira et al., 2006; Machado & Hladil, 2010) carried out in Carboniferous sedimentary basins containing intercalated calc-alkaline volcanics (Santos et al., 1987; Chichorro, 2006) have shown that they are mainly of Visean age. Therefore, magmatism displaying features typical of continental arc setting seems to have been active in this part of the OMZ during the Lower Carboniferous times

Machine-learning-enhanced time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis

Mass spectrometry is a widespread approach used to work out what the constituents of a material are. Atoms and molecules are removed from the material and collected, and subsequently, a critical step is to infer their correct identities based on patterns formed in their mass-to-charge ratios and relative isotopic abundances. However, this identification step still mainly relies on individual users' expertise, making its standardization challenging, and hindering efficient data processing. Here, we introduce an approach that leverages modern machine learning technique to identify peak patterns in time-of-flight mass spectra within microseconds, outperforming human users without loss of accuracy. Our approach is cross-validated on mass spectra generated from different time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ToF-MS) techniques, offering the ToF-MS community an open-source, intelligent mass spectra analysis

Chemical Partitioning at Crystalline Defects in PtAu as a Pathway to Stabilize Electrocatalysts

Dissolution of electrocatalysts during long-term and dynamic operation is a challenging problem in energy conversion and storage devices such as fuel cells and electrolyzers. To develop stable electrocatalysts, we adopt the design concept of segregation engineering, which uses solute segregation prone to electrochemical dissolution at internal defects, i.e., grain boundaries and dislocations. We showcase the feasibility of this approach by stabilizing a model Pt catalyst with an addition of more noble Au (approximately 5 atomic percent). We characterized the defects' nanoscale structure and chemistry, and monitored the electrochemical dissolution of Pt and PtAu alloys by online inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Once segregated to defects, Au atoms can stabilize and hence passivate the most vulnerable sites against electrochemical dissolution and improve the stability and longevity of the Pt electrocatalysts by more than an order of magnitude. This opens pathways to use solute segregation to defects for the development of more stable nanoscale electrocatalysts, a concept applicable for a wide range of catalytic systems

Dose effects of New Zealand blackcurrant on substrate oxidation and physiological responses during prolonged cycling

Purpose It has been previously shown that New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract increased fat oxidation during short duration cycling. The present study examined the effect of different doses of NZBC extract on substrate oxidation and physiological responses during prolonged cycling. Methods Using a randomized counterbalanced Latin square design, 15 endurance trained male cyclists (age: 38±12 yrs, height: 187±5 cm, body mass: 76±10 kg, V̇O2max: 56±8 mL∙kg-1∙min-1, mean±SD) completed four separate 120 minutes cycling bouts at 65% V̇O2max after ingesting no dose, or one of three doses (300, 600 or 900 mg∙day-1) of NZBC extract (CurraNZTM) for 7-days. Results A dose effect (P<0.05) was observed for average fat oxidation (0, 300, 600 and 900 mg∙day-1 values of 0.63±0.21; 0.70±0.17; 0.73±0.19 and 0.73±0.14 g∙min-1) and carbohydrate oxidation (0, 300, 600, 900 mg∙day-1 values of 1.78±0.51, 1.65±0.48, 1.57±0.44, and 1.56±0.50 g∙min-1). The individual percentage change of mean fat oxidation was 21.5% and 24.1% for 600 and 900 mg∙day-1 NZBC extract, respectively, compared to no dose. Heart rate, V̇O2, V̇CO2, plasma lactate and glucose were not affected. Conclusion Seven-days intake of New Zealand blackcurrant extract demonstrated a dose-dependent effect on increasing fat oxidation during 120 minutes cycling at 65% V̇O2max in endurance-trained male cyclists