BIOLOGICAL EFFICACY, MECHANISMS OF ACTIONS OF SOY-DERIVED PHYTOALEXIN GLYCEOLLINS IN PREVENTION OF CHRONIC DISEASES

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in U.S. male population. Diet-induced hypercholesterolemia and chronic inflammation promote the development of both CVD and prostate cancer. Glyceollins are a group of soy phytoalexins possessing a variety of biological activities. This research project focused on characterizing glyceollins' bioactivities in alleviating cholesterol dysregulation, prevention of prostate cancer, and regulating gut microbiome. The first part of the project aimed to evaluate glyceollins' cholesterollowering effect in-vivo. Male golden Syrian hamsters were fed high-fat diet with or without glyceollins supplementation for 28 days. Glyceollins supplementation led to a significant reduction of plasma VLDL, hepatic cholesterol esters and total lipid content. Consistent with changes in circulating cholesterol, glyceollins supplementation also altered expression of the genes related to cholesterol metabolism in the liver. The second part of the study aimed to evaluate glyceollins' effect in reducing prostate cancer tumor growth in a xenograft model. An initial delayed appearance of tumor was observed in a PC-3 xenograft model. However, no difference in tumor sizes was observed in a LNCaP xenograft model. Extrapolation analysis of tumor measurements indicated that no difference in sizes was expected for both PC-3 and LNCaP tumors. Glyceollins had no effect on the androgen responsive pathway, its proliferation, cell cycle, or on angiogenesis genes in tumor and xenobiotic metabolism, cholesterol transport, and inflammatory cytokine genes in liver. Glyceollins' low bioavailability might have led to the ineffectiveness in reducing tumor growth in-vivo. The microbiome has emerged as an important and integral part of the human physiology with a significant role in human health and disease. The third part of the study aimed to evaluate the effect of glyceollins on the gut microbiome in mice. Fecal and cecal samples collected from mouse feeding studies were analyzed for microbial population and composition. Glyceollins supplementation did not alter gut bacteria groups in cecal sample examined in this study. Glyceollins significantly affected total Enterobacteriaceae and Ruminococcus population in fecal samples collected at 24 h, indicating the impact and importance of time of collection in interpreting gut microbiome data in fecal analysis

Development of Lightweight Geopolymer Concrete: Strength and Density Studied

يتوقع ان يغير الجيوبوليمر مستقبل الاسمنت البورتلاندي. هدف هذه الدراسة هو تحضير خرسانة جيوبوليمرية خفيفة الوزن باستعمال مفروم المطاط كركام. محلول سليكات الصوديوم وهيدروكسيد الصوديوم استعملت لتحضير محلول التفعيل القلوي، الكاؤلين استعمل كمصدر للجزء الصلب للجيوبوليمر. مفروم المطاط استعمل كاستبدال جزئي بنسبة حجم (5, 10, 15%) من جحم الركام لإنتاج خرسانة جيوبوليمرية خفيفة الوزن. لتحسين قوة الترابط بين حبيبات المطاط والجيوبوليمر، تمت معاملة حبيبات المطاط بمادة مليك انهايدرايد (MAn). عرض المحلول القلوي للمعاملة الحرارية، وتمت دراسة تأثير نسبة السليكا الى الالومينا وكمية الماء المستخدم، وكذلك تأثير مفروم المطاط على الخواص الميكانيكية (مقاومة الانضغاط ومقاومة الانحناء) والخواص الفيزيائية (المسامية ونسبة امتصاص الماء والكثافة) للخرسانة الجيوبوليمرية الخفيفة الوزن. بينت هذه الدراسة ان المعاملة الحرارية للمحلول مهمة للحصول على مقاومة عالية، مقاومة تساوي 117 ميكا باسكال تم الحصول عليها عند نسبة سليكا الى الومينا تساوي 3.6 وكمية ماء 8 مل لعجينة الجيوبوليمر. مقاومة انضغاط 60.6 ميكا باسكال ومقامة انحناء 6.076 ميكا باسكال تم الحصول عليها لخرسانة الجيوبوليمر عند 554.5 كغم و1293.6 كغم للركام الناعم والخشن على التوالي. كذلك التجربة بينت بان المقاومة والكثافة للخرسانة الجيوبوليمرية خفيفة الوزن تقل مع زيادة نسبة الاضافة من ركام المطاط. كان النقصان بالوزن للخرسانة الجيوبوليمرية خفيفة الوزن حوالي 100 كغم للمتر المكعب الواحد عن خرسانة الجيوبوليمر العادي، وحوالي 300 كغم عند المقارنة مع خرسانة السمنت البورتلاندي.Geopolymer is a promising alterative of the ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The aim of this study is to prepared lightweight geopolymer concrete by using crumb rubber as aggregate. Sodium silicate solution and sodium hydroxide were used to prepare the alkali activator solution, kaolin was used as a source of the solid part of the geopolymer paste. Crumb rubber was used as partial replacement (5, 10, 15%) by volume of aggregate to produce of lightweight geopolymer concrete. To enhance the bond strength between crumb rubber and geopolymer paste, the crumb rubber was treated with Maliec Anhydride (MAn). The alkali solution was subjected to heat treatment, the effect of the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio, and amount of water were investigated, also, the impact of waste rubber on the mechanical characteristics (compressive strength, flexural strength) and physical properties (density, water absorption and porosity) of lightweight geopolymer concrete were investigated. This study shows that the heat treatment is important to achieve high compressive strength; a strength of 117 MPa was obtained using a ratio of SiO2/Al2O3 of 3.6 and 8 ml of water for geopolymer paste. A compressive strength of 60.6 MPa and flexural strength of 6.076 MPa were obtained for a geopolymer concrete with 554.4 kg and 1293.6 kg fine and course aggregate respectively. Also, the experimental results showed that the strengths and density of lightweight geopolymer concrete were decreased with the increase of waste rubber content. The reduction in weight was about 100 kg per cubic meter for lightweight geopolymer concrete compared with the geopolymer concrete and 300 kg as compared with OPC concrete

Design of Low Alkali activator Geopolymer Concrete Mixtures

This paper presents the results of research on the design of geopolymer concrete mixes. The main objective of this research is to develop an efficient and easy design of low-alkaline activator geopolymer concrete mixture, which until now has been the biggest obstacle in the use of geopolymer concrete. The variables reviewed were the amount of alkaline activator was quite low at 4%, room temperature and 60oC ratio of alkaline activator/fly ash (AAS/FA) were 0.35, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6. The test results show the parameters of geopolymer concrete with low alkali activator 4%, sodium silicate/sodium hydroxide ratio 2.5%, sodium hydroxide molarity 14M, type F fly ash and the discovery of the relationship model of compressive strength and the ratio of alkali activator/fly ash with a very high correlation as basic development of geopolymer concrete mix design. The design of the geopolymer concrete mix developed is easy because it is application-based and efficient because it only requires 4% alkaline activator

Diagnosis for ecological intensification of maize-based smallholder farming systems in the Costa Chica, Mexico

Enhanced utilization of ecological processes for food and feed production as part of the notion of ecological intensification starts from location-specific knowledge of production constraints. A diagnostic systems approach which combined social-economic and production ecological methods at farm and field level was developed and applied to diagnose extent and causes of the perceived low productivity of maize-based smallholder systems in two communities of the Costa Chica in South West Mexico. Social-economic and production ecological surveys were applied and complemented with model-based calculations. The results demonstrated that current nutrient management of crops has promoted nutrition imbalances, resulting in K- and, less surprisingly N-limited production conditions, reflected in low yields of the major crops maize and roselle and low resource use efficiencies. Production on moderate to steep slopes was estimated to result in considerable losses of soil and organic matter. Poor crop production, lack of specific animal fodder production systems and strong dependence on animal grazing within communal areas limited recycling of nutrients through manure. In combination with low prices for the roselle cash crop, farmers are caught in a vicious cycle of cash shortage and resource decline. The production ecological findings complemented farmers opinions by providing more insight in background and extent of livelihood constraints. Changing fertilizer subsidies and rethinking animal fodder production as well as use of communal lands requires targeting both formal and informal governance structures. The methodology has broader applicability in smallholder systems in view of its low demand on capital intensive resource

Adaptive optics with reflected light and deep neural networks

Light scattering and aberrations limit optical microscopy in biological tissue, which motivates the development of adaptive optics techniques. Here, we develop a method for adaptive optics with reflected light and deep neural networks compatible with an epi-detection configuration. Large datasets of sample aberrations which consist of excitation and detection path aberrations as well as the corresponding reflected focus images are generated. These datasets are used for training deep neural networks. After training, these networks can disentangle and independently correct excitation and detection aberrations based on reflected light images recorded from scattering samples. A similar deep learning approach is also demonstrated with scattering guide stars. The predicted aberration corrections are validated using two photon imaging

A Study on China\u27s Rural Land Transfer Policy in the Process of Urbanization from the Perspective of Punctuated-Equilibrium Theory

China’s rural land transfer policy has changed dramatically over the past several decades. The policy process is not linear, but is defined by the dual and contrasting characteristics of stability and dramatic change. This paper introduces punctuated-equilibrium theory as a critical lens to examine China\u27s rural land transfer policy in the process of urbanization, and finds that the interaction of policy venue and policy image are the main factors causing dramatic changes. China is a transitional country and the needs of farmers and shifts from local practice to central decision-making as well as policies related to land transfer should be taken into consideration in the context of policy venues. Social environment, development strategy and policies side effects all have an important impact on the policy image

Effects of Processing Strategies and La + Sm Co-Doping on the Thermoelectric Performance of A-Site-Deficient SrTiO3-δ Ceramics

The effect of calcining in either air (VSTO-A) or 5% H2/N2 (VSTO-H) on the thermoelectric performance of La and Sm co-doped A-site-deficient Sr1-3x/2Lax/2Smx/2TiO3-δ ceramics is reported. All calcined powders were sintered 6 h in 5% H2/N2 at 1773 K to ≥96% relative density. All peaks in X-ray diffraction patterns indexed as a cubic perovskite phase. Scanning electron microscopy revealed grain sizes ~14 and ~10 μm for VSTO-A and VSTO-H ceramics, respectively. x = 0.30 showed the lowest k (2.99 W/m.K at 973 K) for VSTO-A, whereas x = 0.20 had the lowest (2.67 W/m. K at 973 K) for the VSTO-H ceramics. x = 0.30 VSTO-A showed a thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT = 0.25 (at 973 K), whereas the maximum ZT = 0.30 (at 973 K) was achieved for x = 0.20 VSTO-H ceramics, demonstrating that thermoelectric properties are optimized when all processing is carried out in 5% H2/N2

Emerging land markets in rural and urban China: Policies and practices

This article examines the evolution of China's land system in the past two decades. Since the early 1980s, China has altered its land use arrangements and introduced new regulations to manage land use changes. In the process the administrative allocation of land to users has been transformed into a complex hierarchical system of primary and secondary markets for land use rights. The changes in China's land system were adopted primarily for two reasons: to develop land markets to allocate land more efficiently and to protect agricultural land. An analysis of available data suggests that the development of land markets is still at an early stage, that the conversion of land to non-agricultural use continues but at a slower pace, and that illegal land use is pervasive. The article concludes with an assessment of the new land system and a discussion of some likely future changes.published_or_final_versio