Environmental-friendly Eco-labeling Matters: Evidences From an ERPs Study

Nowadays, the international community is becoming increasingly concerned about the sustainable utilization of natural resources. In order to protect the environment and reward sustainable practices, eco-labeling that signifies the environmental friendliness of the labeled food is already widely promoted in many regions around the world. Thus, it is of great importance for researchers to study consumers’ attitudes toward eco-labeled food as food is supposed to satisfy consumers’ needs. This study employed the event-related potentials (ERPs) approach to investigate consumers’ attitudes toward eco-labeled food by comparing their neural processing of visual stimuli depicting eco-labeled and non-labeled food. Our results showed that behaviorally, participants preferred to buy eco-labeled food rather than non-labeled one. At the neural level, we observed markedly smaller P2 and N2 amplitudes when pictures of eco-labeled food were presented. Furthermore, we also found that amplitudes of P2 were negatively correlated with participants’ purchase intention. Therefore, our current findings suggest that, while the environmental-friendly eco-labeling was not to one’s own interests, it might still be evocative, which induce consumers’ positive emotion, bring less cognitive conflict to the purchase decision-making and then result in a greater purchasing intention. This effect might be the result of the delivered value of social desirability

4 '-Phosphopantetheine corrects CoA, iron, and dopamine metabolic defects in mammalian models of PKAN

Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is an inborn error of CoA metabolism causing dystonia, parkinsonism, and brain iron accumulation. Lack of a good mammalian model has impeded studies of pathogenesis and development of rational therapeutics. We took a new approach to investigating an existing mouse mutant of Pank2 and found that isolating the disease-vulnerable brain revealed regional perturbations in CoA metabolism, iron homeostasis, and dopamine metabolism and functional defects in complex I and pyruvate dehydrogenase. Feeding mice a CoA pathway intermediate, 4 '-phosphopantetheine, normalized levels of the CoA-, iron-, and dopamine-related biomarkers as well as activities of mitochondrial enzymes. Human cell changes also were recovered by 4 '-phosphopantetheine. We can mechanistically link a defect in CoA metabolism to these secondary effects via the activation of mitochondrial acyl carrier protein, which is essential to oxidative phosphorylation, iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis, and mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis. We demonstrate the fidelity of our model in recapitulating features of the human disease. Moreover, we identify pharmacodynamic biomarkers, provide insights into disease pathogenesis, and offer evidence for 4 '-phosphopantetheine as a candidate therapeutic for PKAN

The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family

Visible light induced electron transfer processes in amine deprotection reactions

During a multistep synthesis, protecting groups are often employed for the amino group to reduce its basicity and nucleophilicity. The benzyl group is a common protecting group for amines. However, its deprotection involves harsh chemical conditions. ^ The purpose of this research is (1) seek a mild debenzylation method by a visible light induced electron transfer reaction, and (2) develop a novel visible light removable quinoline type protecting group for amines which offers some advantages over the benzyl group. ^ Photochemical debenzylation of benzylated tertiary amines was carried out using an inexpensive spotlight, a dye as a photosensitizer and acetonitrile-water as solvent. Illumination under nitrogen led to the cleanest reaction, though under oxygen the reaction was faster. The reaction was about ten times faster in the presence of a cupric salt. The presumed mechanism of reaction involves a photoinduced electron transfer, and a coordination involving cupric ion seems to improve the quantum efficiency of this process. This reaction has been studied on a family of compounds, on quantities of amine as large as 10 grams. This deprotection method was compatible with a wider range of functionality than strong reductive methods for benzyl cleavage. ^ Benzyl protected secondary amines reacted slowly under the same condition but could be transformed into imines on irradiation in acetonitrile and methanol (1:1) solutions. Mild acid hydrolysis led to the desired deprotection, liberating the primary amine as the product. Varying photosensitizers, solvent and salt effects were studied. Inorganic salt, such as magnesium perchlorate increased the rate of the reaction three-fold. The deprotection reaction was compatible with organic compounds bearing other functional groups, such as hydroxyl groups, amides, esters, ketones and double bonds. ^ In order to develop an improved type of benzyl protecting group, a phenyl quinoline system as a possible photoremovable protecting group for amines was explored. The most effective compound was 2-p-tolyl-6-methoxy-4-quinolinemethyl group, and the structure-activity relationships were explored. Primary and secondary amines reacted with the necessary precursor to give amines which were photochemically cleaved in rapid process in good yield, making this moiety a candidate in photoremovable protecting group. Several compounds were successfully protected and deprotected in this manner.

Incidence and Risk Factors of Postoperative Pulmonary Complications in Noncardiac Chinese Patients: A Multicenter Observational Study in University Hospitals

Purpose. To assess the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in Chinese inpatients, and to develop a brief predictive risk index. Methods. Between August 6, 2012, and August 12, 2012, patients undergoing noncardiac operations in four university hospitals were enrolled. The cohort was divided into two subsamples, cohort 1 to develop a predictive risk index of PPCs and cohort 2 to validate it. Results. 1673 patients were enrolled. PPCs were recorded for 163 patients (9.7%), of whom the hospital length of stay (LOS) was longer (P<0.001). The mortality was 1.84% in patients with PPCs and 0.07% in those without. Logistic Regression modeling in cohort 1 identified nine independent risk factors, including smoking, respiratory infection in the last month, preoperative antibiotic use, preoperative saturation of peripheral oxygen, surgery site, blood lost, postoperative blood glucose, albumin, and ventilation. The model was validated within cohort 2 with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.90 (95% CI 0.86 to 0.94). Conclusions. PPCs are common in noncardiac surgical patients and are associated with prolonged LOS in China. The current study developed a risk index, which can be used to assess individual risk of PPCs and guide individualized perioperative respiratory care