Oxidation of an oil rich in docosahexaenoic acid compared to linoleic acid in lactating women

Background: We studied the oxidation of an oil rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; DHASCO(R)) in lactating mothers receiving a dietary DHA supplement or a placebo. The results were compared with the oxidation of linoleic acid. Methods: Breast-feeding mothers received a dietary supplement (DHASCO; 200 mg DHA/day, n = 5) or a placebo (n = 5) for 14 days. Six weeks post partum all 10 mothers received a single dose of 2 mg/kg body weight uniformly C-13-labeled DHASCO. In a previously reported study 6 mothers received 1 mg/kg body weight uniformly C-13-labeled linoleic acid. Breath samples were collected over 48 h after tracer application. The total CO2 production was measured by indirect calorimetry and the C-13 isotopic enrichment of labeled CO2 by isotopic ratio mass spectrometry. Results: The oxidation of C-13-labeled DHASCO in the supplemented and placebo groups was similar. Maximal C-13 enrichment was reached earlier in the group receiving C-13-DHASCO (median 1.0 vs. 3.0 h in the linoleic acid group). The cumulative C-13 recovery in breath was higher in the DHASCO versus the linoleic acid group until 10 h after tracer application and comparable thereafter. Conclusions: The difference in oxidation of DHASCO versus linoleic acid after tracer ingestion might be partly due to a faster absorption and oxidation of shorter chain saturated fatty acids contained in DHASCO. The cumulative oxidation of DHASCO and linoleic acid 24 and 48 h after tracer ingestion is similar. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Ab-Initio Study on the Hard Magnetic Properties of MnBi

We have studied the hard magnetic properties of the low-temperature phase of MnBi with first principle calculations based on the density functional theory. The calculations have been carried out on two distinct unit cell configurations MnBi and BiMn with the element in the unit cell origin named first. Our results show that these configurations are not equivalent and that MnBi describes the system better near T = 0K and the BiMn configuration describes the system better for T > 300K. The magnetic moments of both configurations agree well with experimental measurements considering both spin and orbital contributions. At high temperatures the magneto-crystalline anisotropy energy increases with increasing unit cell volume and reaches a maximum of 2:3MJ=m3 and a c=a ratio of 1:375.Comment: Presented at 20th International Conference on Magnetism (ICM2015) in Barcelona, accepted for publication. 5 pages, 2 figures, 4 table

Why Is America So Blue? A Performance Analysis of the Blue Man Group that Demonstrates the Deeper Cultural Significance within the Structure of its Performance

The performance artists known as the Blue Man Group have taken America by storm in their performances through the clever use of household products ranging from Twinkies to toilet paper and not through the traditional presentation of a play script. The Blue Man Group started in the late 1980\u27s as three mute, bald-capped street performers clad entirely in black except for their heads, necks and hands that were covered with cobalt blue paint. Keeping the blue body paint but moving off the street, the group has grown and they have now established themselves in legitimate theatres in four major cities across the country: New York, Boston, Chicago, and Las Vegas. However, the group has not limited themselves to just the stage for performances. They have established themselves on the Internet and they have become the commercial television spokespeople for the computer chip company, Intel and its Pentium 111 and Pentium 4 Processors. Also on television, they have appeared on the national news network CNN (Cable News Network), The 2001 Grammy Awards, and the late night talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Blue Man Group makes all of these audiences feel right at home as they are bonded together by PVC pipe drumming and the knowledge that they are connected by indoor plumbing. Articles and reviews have been written about them in local magazines and nationwide periodicals from WHERE/BOSTON to TIME Magazine but none delve into the overall structure and the cultural significance of the Blue Man Group performances. In fact, this research has revealed very little criticism and skepticism. No one has attempted to do a structural or cultural analysis of their performances in order to explain their grand cultural significance. Current performance theory holds that there is liminality in theatre or rather that the line between ritual and theatre is often obscured. The Blue Man group has taken this idea and tried to shape a theatre performance into a ritual so that people may experience it more readily. Furthermore, the group has combined drama, dance, and multi-media to ritually bring the spectators into the common kinship of humanity by arthlly constructing a postmodern, Dionysian comedy. They have taken an approach geared toward the mass market in order to spread the word of these experiences. This study will begin with an introduction which focuses on the thesis and theories. This will be followed by Chapter 2 which describes a history of the group, its marketing approach, and a description of the their performance. Chapter 3 contains several sections but begins with an introduction to Postmodernism, which is followed by a section on Theatre Anthropology and an application of its concepts to the Blue Man Group Performers. The following sections explore the connections between ritual and theatre using Semiotics and Performance Theory that demonstrate how the Blue Man Group\u27s show demonstrates these connections. The final chapter, Chapter 4 applies the results of the study to culture and discusses the significance of the group

Investigation of characteristics of feed system instabilities

The relationship between the structural and feed system natural frequencies in structure-propulsion system coupled longitudinal oscillations (pogo) is investigated. The feed system frequencies are usually very dependent upon the compressibility (compliance) of cavitation bubbles that exist to some extent in all operating turbopumps. This document includes: a complete review of cavitation mechanisms; development of a turbopump cavitation compliance model; an accumulation and analysis of all available cavitation compliance test data; and a correlation of empirical-analytical results. The analytical model is based on the analysis of flow relative to a set of cascaded blades, having any described shape, and assumes phase changes occur under conditions of isentropic equilibrium. Analytical cavitation compliance predictions for the J-2 LOX, F-1 LOX, H-1 LOX and LR87 oxidizer turbopump inducers do not compare favorably with test data. The model predicts much less cavitation than is derived from the test data. This implies that mechanisms other than blade cavitation contribute significantly to the total amount of turbopump cavitation

Find your Way by Observing the Sun and Other Semantic Cues

In this paper we present a robust, efficient and affordable approach to self-localization which does not require neither GPS nor knowledge about the appearance of the world. Towards this goal, we utilize freely available cartographic maps and derive a probabilistic model that exploits semantic cues in the form of sun direction, presence of an intersection, road type, speed limit as well as the ego-car trajectory in order to produce very reliable localization results. Our experimental evaluation shows that our approach can localize much faster (in terms of driving time) with less computation and more robustly than competing approaches, which ignore semantic information

A G protein-gated K channel is activated via beta 2-adrenergic receptors and G beta gamma subunits in Xenopus oocytes

In many tissues, inwardly rectifying K channels are coupled to seven- helix receptors via the Gi/Go family of heterotrimeric G proteins. This activation proceeds at least partially via G beta gamma subunits. These experiments test the hypothesis that G beta gamma subunits activate the channel even if released from other classes of heterotrimeric G proteins. The G protein-gated K channel from rat atrium, KGA/GIRK1, was expressed in Xenopus oocytes with various receptors and G proteins. The beta 2-adrenergic receptor (beta 2AR), a Gs-linked receptor, activated large KGA currents when the alpha subunit, G alpha s, was also overexpressed. Although G alpha s augmented the coupling between beta 2AR and KGA, G alpha s also inhibited the basal, agonist-independent activity of KGA. KGA currents stimulated via beta 2AR activated, deactivated, and desensitized more slowly than currents stimulated via Gi/Go-linked receptors. There was partial occlusion between currents stimulated via beta 2AR and the m2 muscarinic receptor (a Gi/Go-linked receptor), indicating some convergence in the mechanism of activation by these two receptors. Although stimulation of beta 2AR also activates adenylyl cyclase and protein kinase A, activation of KGA via beta 2AR is not mediated by this second messenger pathway, because direct elevation of intracellular cAMP levels had no effect on KGA currents. Experiments with other coexpressed G protein alpha and beta gamma subunits showed that (a) a constitutively active G alpha s mutant did not suppress basal KGA currents and was only partially as effective as wild type G alpha s in coupling beta 2AR to KGA, and (b) beta gamma subunits increased basal KGA currents. These results reinforce present concepts that beta gamma subunits activate KGA, and also suggest that beta gamma subunits may provide a link between KGA and receptors not previously known to couple to inward rectifiers

Virus Sharing, Genetic Sequencing, and Global Health Security

The WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework was a milestone global agreement designed to promote the international sharing of biological samples to develop vaccines, while that ensuring poorer countries would have access to those vaccines. Since the PIP Framework was negotiated, scientists have developed the capacity to use genetic sequencing data (GSD) to develop synthetic viruses rapidly for product development of life-saving technologies in a time-sensitive global emergency—threatening to unravel the Framework. Access to GSD may also have major implications for biosecurity, biosafety, and intellectual property (IP). By rendering the physical transfer of viruses antiquated, GSD may also undermine the effectiveness of the PIP Framework itself, with disproportionate impacts on poorer countries. We examine the changes that need to be made to the PIP Framework to address the growing likelihood that GSD might be shared instead of physical virus samples. We also propose that the international community harness this opportunity to expand the scope of the PIP Framework beyond only influenza viruses with pandemic potential. In light of non-influenza pandemic threats such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, we call for an international agreement on the sharing of the benefits of research – such as vaccines and treatments – for other infectious diseases to ensure not only a more secure and healthy world, but also a more just world, for humanity