Subcritical water extraction of antioxidant compounds from canola meal

Antioxidant compounds were extracted from canola meal by subcritical water extraction (SWE), hot water (80°C) extraction and ethanolic (95%) extraction. The highest extract yields were obtained with SWE at 160°C, and the lowest with ethanolic extraction (SWE 160°C > SWE sequential > SWE 135°C > SWE 110°C = hot water extraction > ethanolic extraction). Ethanolic extracts exhibited the highest total phenolics contents and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) values on a per gram of extract basis, and hot water extracts, the lowest (ethanolic extraction > SWE 110°C > SWE 160°C > hot water extraction). Extraction pressure (3.44-6.89 MPa) had no effect on the yields, total phenolics contents or TEAC values of extracts from SWE. The use of buffered water (pH 2-8) for SWE increased extract yield but had adverse effects on the total phenolics contents and TEAC values of extracts. No increase in efficacy of SWE at 110 or 160°C was observed at extraction times longer than 25-30 min. The total phenolics contents and antioxidant capacities of extracts were assessed by the total phenolics assay, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) scavenging method, TEAC method, the β-carotene-linoleic acid (linoleate) model system, the reducing power assay and the stripped oil model system. Ethanolic extracts exhibited the highest total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities on a per gram of extract basis. Subcritical water extraction at 160°C exhibited the highest total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities on a per gram of meal basis. Results from the total phenolics assay and the antioxidant capacity assays were significantly correlated, with the exception of those from the stripped oil model system

ELSIM: End-to-end learning of reusable skills through intrinsic motivation

Taking inspiration from developmental learning, we present a novel reinforcement learning architecture which hierarchically learns and represents self-generated skills in an end-to-end way. With this architecture, an agent focuses only on task-rewarded skills while keeping the learning process of skills bottom-up. This bottom-up approach allows to learn skills that 1- are transferable across tasks, 2- improves exploration when rewards are sparse. To do so, we combine a previously defined mutual information objective with a novel curriculum learning algorithm, creating an unlimited and explorable tree of skills. We test our agent on simple gridworld environments to understand and visualize how the agent distinguishes between its skills. Then we show that our approach can scale on more difficult MuJoCo environments in which our agent is able to build a representation of skills which improve over a baseline both transfer learning and exploration when rewards are sparse.Comment: Accepted at ECML 202

IgA vasculitis in Henoch-Schönleinpurpura

Henoch-Schönleinpurpura (HSP), also termed IgA vasculitis(IgAV), is a systemic vasculitis with anoutstanding cutaneous involvement.Henoch-Schönleinpurpura (HSP) is a small-vessel vasculitisfeatured by palpable purpura on the lower extremities and IgA-dominant immune complex deposition within the wall and lumen of dermal vessels in the lesions. This disorder is associated with joint, gastrointestinal and renal involvement, although the level and severity of involvement is variable.The histologic findings in the kidney are identical to those in IgAnephropathy. Additionally,high circulating levels of galactose-deficient IgA1 are found in patients with both IgAnephropathy and HSP (IgAV). Both of these two findingsadvocate that the two disorders may have a common pathogenesis

Kartlegging av biopsibruk ved en universitetsklinikk i Bergen

Denne studien kartlegger og vurderer diagnostikken ved hjelp av bløtvevsbiopsi på Klinikk for Oral Kirurgi og Oral Medisin ved Universitetet i Bergen. Dette ble gjort ved en systematisk gjennomgang av 101 journaler til pasienter som det har blitt tatt biopsi fra. Konklusjon: samsvar mellom tentative diagnoser og biopsisvar var lavere for allmenntannleger enn for spesialister eller spesialistkandidater i oral kirurgi og oral medisin ved denne avdelingen. Den tentative diagnosen stilt av allmenntannleger stemte med biopsisvaret i 42 av tilfellene, mens for spesialister og spesialistkandidater var dette tallet 75. Allmenntannleger var usikre på diagnosen i 31 av tilfellene, mens spesialister eller spesialistkandidater var usikre i 2 tilfeller. Fleste biopsier ble tatt av pasienter rundt 20- og 60-års alder, og de vanligste diagnosene var mucocele, cyste, fibroepitelial polypp og lichen planus. Det ble funnet en statistisk signifikant sammenheng mellom de vanligste orale lesjonene og alder. Mucocele ble oftere diagnostisert hos yngre mennesker, mens lichen planus ble funnet hos eldre. Mucocele, cyste og fibroepitelial polypp ble oftere diagnostisert hos menn, men lichen planus oftere hos kvinner. Det ble ikke funnet direkte sammenheng mellom helsetilstand, medisinering eller bruk av stimulansia (tobakk og/eller alkohol) og forekomst av orale lesjoner i denne pasientgruppen. Eksisjonsbiopsi var den biopsi typen som ble brukt mest i denne studien.MAOD-ODONTOD3PROS

An Assessment of Preoperative and Postoperative Nutritional Status in Children with Cleft Lip and Palate

Background: Children with cleft lip and palate generally suffer from inappropriate and inadequate feeding, resulting in insufficient weight gain leading to malnutrition and poor growth. We aimed to evaluate the nutritional and growth status of cleft lip and palate children before and after reconstructive cleft lip and palate surgery.Methods: All cleft lip and palate children aging from birth up to 36 months who were admitted to a referral Children's Hospital were investigated by a nutritionist. Data were collected using a questionnaire. About 5-6 months after surgery, data regarding their height, weight, feeding status and feeding difficulties were collected by telephone. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18 software. For qualitative variables we used frequency and percentage and for quantitative variables we measured mean and standard deviation. We used Paired Sample T-test for comparing weight differences before and after surgery.Results: In this study, formula was the most common type of feeding before and after surgery. Nasal regurgitation and insufficient sucking was the most common complaint of mother's before surgery, and also nasal regurgitation was reported as the most common difficulty after surgery, probably due to the need for reoperation. Bottle feeding was the most common method of feeding before and after surgery. After surgery only one mother claimed that her child spent more than 30 minutes for feeding. Weight for age of 18 children before surgery was lower than 5th percentile while after surgery this was reduced to 13 children. Also, there were significant differences between mean age before and after surgery which could implicate increase of weight after surgery.Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the results of surgical repair of cleft lip and palate on nutritional status in children.

Proceedings of The Multi-Agent Logics, Languages, and Organisations Federated Workshops (MALLOW 2010)

http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-627/allproceedings.pdfInternational audienceMALLOW-2010 is a third edition of a series initiated in 2007 in Durham, and pursued in 2009 in Turin. The objective, as initially stated, is to "provide a venue where: the cost of participation was minimum; participants were able to attend various workshops, so fostering collaboration and cross-fertilization; there was a friendly atmosphere and plenty of time for networking, by maximizing the time participants spent together"

The Effect of Technical Default Cost on Discretionary Accounting Decisions

This is the author's final draft. Copyright 2014 Kaizen Publications.This study investigates whether the variation in the expected costs of technical default leads managers to manipulate earnings in periods prior to, as well as in, the year in which avoidance of technical default becomes unlikely. We argue that managers have private information about the expected costs and consequences of default and, prior to default, condition their decisions about accounting choice and discretion on these expectations. We provide evidence on the endogeneity of two forms of discretion in accounting choices in the context of testing the debt covenant hypothesis. We document that both forms of earnings management are associated with a lower cost of technical default. Our findings also suggest earnings management is less likely when the expected cost of technical default is low, and such decisions are associated with a lower default cost for firms that actually enter technical default

Control and Management of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems: Review and Comparison of Methods

Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) have been introduced to overcome intermittent nature of single-source renewable energy generation. In order to utilize HRES optimally, two issues must be considered: optimal sizing and optimal operation. The first issue has been considered vastly in several articles but the second one needs more attention and work. The performance of hybrid renewable energy systems highly depends on how efficient the control of energy production is. In this paper, paradigms and common methods available for control and management of energy in HRES are reviewed and compared with each other. At the end, a number of challenges and future research in relation to HRES are addressed

The psychological consequences of COVID-19 on children’s world

Dear Editor-in-ChiefThe world’s countries are presently shaken by a novel member of the coronavirus family. Apparently, a very tiny creature has been commissioned to carry out a large mission. This issue causes us to experience a universal life-threatening condition that is changing the life framework for humans. It appears that humans are showing a more real picture of themselves in the current turmoil

Prevention of Periprosthetic Joint Infection

Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a serious complication with high morbidity, mortality, and substantial cost. The reported incidence is probably underestimated due to the problems of proper diagnosis. PJI has haunted the orthopedic community for several years and despite all the advances in this field, it is still a demanding issue with a huge impact on patients, surgeons, and healthcare. Numerous elements can predispose patients to PJI. In this chapter, we tried to summarize the effective prevention strategies along with the recommendations of a recent International Consensus Meeting on Surgical Site and Periprosthetic Joint Infection