Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.: a rich source of lipophilic phytochemicals

The lipophilic extracts from the storage root of 13 cultivars of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) were evaluated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with the aim to valorize them and offer information on their nutritional properties and potential health benefits. The amount of lipophilic extractives ranged from 0.87 to 1.32% dry weight. Fatty acids and sterols were the major families of compounds identified. The most abundant saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were hexadecanoic acid (182-428 mg/kg) and octadeca-9,12-dienoic acid (133-554 mg/kg), respectively. β-Sitosterol was the principal phytosterol, representing 55.2-77.6% of this family, followed by campesterol. Long-chain aliphatic alcohols and α-tocopherol were also detected but in smaller amounts. The results suggest that sweet potato should be considered as an important dietary source of lipophilic phytochemicals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pressure and Flow Properties of Cannulae for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation I: Return (Arterial) Cannulae

Adequate extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in the adult requires cannulae permitting blood flows up to 6-8 L/minute. In accordance with Poiseuille's law, flow is proportional to the fourth power of cannula inner diameter and inversely proportional to its length. Poiseuille's law can be applied to obtain the pressure drop of an incompressible, Newtonian fluid (such as water) flowing in a cylindrical tube. However, as blood is a pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid, the validity of Poiseuille's law is questionable for prediction of cannula properties in clinical practice. Pressure-flow charts with non-Newtonian fluids, such as blood, are typically not provided by the manufacturers. A standardized laboratory test of return (arterial) cannulae for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was performed. The aim was to determine pressure-flow data with human whole blood in addition to manufacturers' water tests to facilitate an appropriate choice of cannula for the desired flow range. In total, 14 cannulae from three manufacturers were tested. Data concerning design, characteristics, and performance were graphically presented for each tested cannula. Measured blood flows were in most cases 3-21% lower than those provided by manufacturers. This was most pronounced in the narrow cannulae (15-17 Fr) where the reduction ranged from 27% to 40% at low flows and 5-15% in the upper flow range. These differences were less apparent with increasing cannula diameter. There was a marked disparity between manufacturers. Based on the measured results, testing of cannulae including whole blood flows in a standardized bench test would be recommended.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Whole Genome Sequencing and Evolutionary Analysis of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus A and B from Milwaukee, WI 1998-2010

BACKGROUND: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory-tract infections in infants and young children worldwide. Despite this, only six complete genome sequences of original strains have been previously published, the most recent of which dates back 35 and 26 years for RSV group A and group B respectively. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We present a semi-automated sequencing method allowing for the sequencing of four RSV whole genomes simultaneously. We were able to sequence the complete coding sequences of 13 RSV A and 4 RSV B strains from Milwaukee collected from 1998-2010. Another 12 RSV A and 5 RSV B strains sequenced in this study cover the majority of the genome. All RSV A and RSV B sequences were analyzed by neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogeny methods. Genetic diversity was high among RSV A viruses in Milwaukee including the circulation of multiple genotypes (GA1, GA2, GA5, GA7) with GA2 persisting throughout the 13 years of the study. However, RSV B genomes showed little variation with all belonging to the BA genotype. For RSV A, the same evolutionary patterns and clades were seen consistently across the whole genome including all intergenic, coding, and non-coding regions sequences. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The sequencing strategy presented in this work allows for RSV A and B genomes to be sequenced simultaneously in two working days and with a low cost. We have significantly increased the amount of genomic data that is available for both RSV A and B, providing the basic molecular characteristics of RSV strains circulating in Milwaukee over the last 13 years. This information can be used for comparative analysis with strains circulating in other communities around the world which should also help with the development of new strategies for control of RSV, specifically vaccine development and improvement of RSV diagnostics

Ultrafast photo-induced phonon hardening due to Pauli blocking in MAPbI3 single-crystal and polycrystalline perovskites

Metal-halide perovskite semiconductors have attracted intensive interest in the last decade, particularly for applications in photovoltaics. Low-energy optical phonons combined with significant crystal anharmonicity play an important role in charge-carrier cooling and scattering in these materials, strongly affecting their optoelectronic properties. We have observed optical phonons associated with Pb—I stretching in both MAPbI3 single crystals and polycrystalline thin films as a function of temperature by measuring their terahertz (THz) conductivity spectra with and without photoexcitation. An anomalous bond hardening was observed under above-bandgap illumination for both single-crystal and polycrystalline MAPbI3. First-principles calculations reproduced this photo-induced bond hardening and identified a related lattice contraction (photostriction), with the mechanism revealed as Pauli blocking. For single-crystal MAPbI3, phonon lifetimes were significantly longer and phonon frequencies shifted less with temperature, compared with polycrystalline MAPbI3. We attribute these differences to increased crystalline disorder, associated with grain boundaries and strain in the polycrystalline MAPbI3. Thus we provide fundamental insight into the photoexcitation and electron–phonon coupling in MAPbI3

The tocopherol transfer protein mediates vitamin E trafficking between cerebellar astrocytes and neurons.

Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) is an essential nutrient that functions as a major lipid-soluble antioxidant in humans. The alpha-tocopherol transfer protein (TTP) binds α-tocopherol with high affinity and selectivity and regulates whole-body distribution of the vitamin. Heritable mutations in the TTPA gene result in familial vitamin E deficiency, elevated indices of oxidative stress, and progressive neurodegeneration that manifest primarily in spinocerebellar ataxia. Although the essential role of vitamin E in neurological health has been recognized for over 50 years, the mechanisms by which this essential nutrient is transported in the central nervous system are poorly understood. Here we found that, in the murine cerebellum, TTP is selectively expressed in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes, where it facilitates efflux of vitamin E to neighboring neurons. We also show that induction of oxidative stress enhances the transcription of the TtpA gene in cultured cerebellar astrocytes. Furthermore, secretion of vitamin E from astrocytes is mediated by an ABC-type transporter, and uptake of the vitamin into neurons involves the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1. Taken together, our data indicate that TTP-expressing astrocytes control the delivery of vitamin E from astrocytes to neurons, and that this process is homeostatically responsive to oxidative stress. These are the first observations that address the detailed molecular mechanisms of vitamin E transport in the central nervous system, and these results have important implications for understanding the molecular underpinnings of oxidative stress-related neurodegenerative diseases

Bandlike transport and charge-carrier dynamics in BiOI films

Following the emergence of lead halide perovskites (LHPs) as materials for efficient solar cells, research has progressed to explore stable, abundant, and nontoxic alternatives. However, the performance of such lead-free perovskite-inspired materials (PIMs) still lags significantly behind that of their LHP counterparts. For bismuth-based PIMs, one significant reason is a frequently observed ultrafast charge-carrier localization (or self-trapping), which imposes a fundamental limit on long-range mobility. Here we report the terahertz (THz) photoconductivity dynamics in thin films of BiOI and demonstrate a lack of such self-trapping, with good charge-carrier mobility, reaching ∼3 cm 2 V -1 s -1 at 295 K and increasing gradually to ∼13 cm 2 V -1 s -1 at 5 K, indicative of prevailing bandlike transport. Using a combination of transient photoluminescence and THz- and microwave-conductivity spectroscopy, we further investigate charge-carrier recombination processes, revealing charge-specific trapping of electrons at defects in BiOI over nanoseconds and low bimolecular band-to-band recombination. Subject to the development of passivation protocols, BiOI thus emerges as a superior light-harvesting semiconductor among the family of bismuth-based semiconductors. </p

The [alpha]-Tocopherol Transfer Protein Is Essential for Vertebrate Embryogenesis

This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the Public Library of Science and can be found at: http://www.plosone.org/home.action.The hepatic α-tocopherol transfer protein (TTP) is required for optimal α-tocopherol bioavailability in humans; mutations in the human TTPA gene result in the heritable disorder ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED, OMIM #277460). TTP is also expressed in mammalian uterine and placental cells and in the human embryonic yolk-sac, underscoring TTP's significance during fetal development. TTP and vitamin E are essential for productive pregnancy in rodents, but their precise physiological role in embryogenesis is unknown. We hypothesize that TTP is required to regulate delivery of α-tocopherol to critical target sites in the developing embryo. We tested to find if TTP is essential for proper vertebrate development, utilizing the zebrafish as a non-placental model. We verify that TTP is expressed in the adult zebrafish and its amino acid sequence is homologous to the human ortholog. We show that embryonic transcription of TTP mRNA increases >7-fold during the first 24 hours following fertilization. In situ hybridization demonstrates that Ttpa transcripts are localized in the developing brain, eyes and tail bud at 1-day post fertilization. Inhibiting TTP expression using oligonucleotide morpholinos results in severe malformations of the head and eyes in nearly all morpholino-injected embryos (88% compared with 5.6% in those injected with control morpholinos or 1.7% in non-injected embryos). We conclude that TTP is essential for early development of the vertebrate central nervous system