Caftaric acid in grapes and conversion to a reaction product during processing

Grapes were crushed in the presence of high levels of the anti-oxidants SO2 and ascorbic acid, in an atmosphere deprived of oxygen. Hydroxycinnamic derivatives, particularly caftaric acid in the grape juice were found in much higher amounts than when the usual processing methods were employed.Partial oxidation of caftaric acid is not only very rapid and extensive during unprotected grflpe crushing and juice separation but gives a major reaction product that behaves as a single entity and survives through vinification. It gives a sharp HPLC peak and behaves reciprocally with caftaric, i.e., when caftaric acid in must remains high relative to the berry content the reaction product is low and vice versa. The product appeared identical in all grape varieties tested.The reaction product is about one-sixth as extractable by immiscible solvents as is the parent caftaric acid. It can constitute a large part of the 320 nm absorbance of a wine and explains the variable results and poor yields in attempts to isolate caftaric acid from ordinary wine or juice.L'acide caftarique des raisins et sa conversion en produit de réaction au cours de la vinificationA l'aide de HPLC il a été mis en évidence que l'acide caftarique (caffeoyl tartrique) subit des pertes rapides lors du foulage des raisins dans le cas où ceux-ci ne sont pas complètement protégés contre l'oxidation, comme par ex. foulage en atmosphère inerte en présence d'un niveau élevé de métabisulfite de potassium et d'acide ascorbique. En l'absence de telles précautions les valeurs de la teneur originelle en acide caftarique, considérées comme étant caractéristiques des variétés de vigne, sont douteuses. Des échantillons totalement protégés de 5 variétés blanches et 3 variétés rouges de Vitis vinifera, mûres, se rangent entre 200 mg/l de jus pour Grenache et 50 mg/l pour Carignane. Dans la mesure que l'exposition à l'oxygène et l'activité de phénolase sont évaluables la perte peut être importante. Une majeure partie de cette perte consiste dans un produit de réaction de l'acide caftarique ici pour la première fois décelé (CRP). Ce CRP peut pénétrer dans le vin et sa détermination par HPLC ainsi que celle de l'acide caftarique non transformé montrent, en fonction de la variété de vigne, une grande conversion au cours de la préparation normale du moût. De telles analyses de vins peuvent servir d'indicateurs de l'exposition à l'oxygène au cours de la préparation du moût. La nature du CRP est actuellement étudiée et sa présence peut contribuer à expliquer la faible récupération de l'acide caftarique du moût ou du vin

KAPASITAS ADSORPSI ARANG AKTIF CANGKANG BINTARO (Cerbera odollam) TERHADAP ZAT WARNA SINTETIS REACTIVE RED-120 DAN REACTIVE BLUE-198

The objective of this research was to utilize bintaro shell waste (Cerbera odollam). The morphology of bintaro shell is similar with coconut shell and the contains of lignin and cellulose is higher than coconut. Bintaro shell waste used as activated charcoal to remove environmental pollution caused by synthetic dyes waste of batik industry. The adsorbents were then applied to remove of Reactive Red-120 (RR) and Reactive Blue-198 (RB) dyes in aqueous solution using Visible Spectrophotometer analysis method. Bintaro shell was dried, cut and carbonized at 400°C for 1 hour, then activated with ZnCl2 20% for 24 hours at 27°C and dryed in oven at 105°C for 30 minutes. The activated charcoal of bintaro shell has proven afford to adsorbing RR and RB dyes. The optimum conditions (pH, contact time, adsorbent weight and temperature) were determined to obtain best adsorption capacity. The optimum of conditions for RR occured at pH 2, contact time of 40 minutes and adsorbent weight 100 mg while RB occurred at pH 11, contact time of 60 minutes and adsorbent weight 50 mg and with each the temperature 30°C. At optimum conditions the adsorption isotherm followed Freundlich model with maximum adsorption capacity obtained for RR and RB were 332.6 and 243.9 mg/g, respectively

The relationship of attitude, subjective norms, trust and intention to use halal cosmetic products at public institutions of higher learning in Malaysia

Background: Halal branding is not a new issue in the halal market.Even though it still in the early stages for some products, it is well known that branding has a good.Besides that, the application of brand theory unnecessarily restrict to the term of halal and the interpretation of its meaning and overall concept of halal in Islam.Halal conscious customers have a high regard for halal concept, and they tend to use behavioral traits decision making.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine empirically the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, trust and intention to use Halal cosmetics products among students at public institutions of higher learning in northern region Malaysia.The respondents of this study are 327 students in various backgrounds.The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis, ANOVA, T-test, Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regressions by using SPSS version 19.0.Suggestion for further research and recommendation for the decision makers have been forwarded

Monarch butterflies do not place all of their eggs in one basket: oviposition on nine Midwestern milkweed species

Over the past two decades, the population of monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains has experienced a significant decline in overwintering numbers. Habitat restoration that includes planting milkweeds is essential to boost monarch numbers within the breeding range. Milkweeds are the only host plants for larval monarch butterflies, but female oviposition preference for different milkweed species, especially those with overlapping ranges, is not well documented. We examined the relative inclination to lay eggs on nine milkweed species native to Iowa (no choice), and oviposition preference (choice) among the four most commonly occurring Iowa species (Asclepias incarnata, Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias tuberosa, and Asclepias verticillata). In both experiments, eggs were counted daily for four days. The milkweeds tested were Asclepias exaltata (poke milkweed), Asclepias hirtella (tall green milkweed), A. incarnata (swamp milkweed), Asclepias speciosa (showy milkweed), Asclepias sullivantii (prairie milkweed), A. syriaca (common milkweed), A. tuberosa (butterfly milkweed), A. verticillata (whorled milkweed), and Cynanchum laeve (honeyvine milkweed). When females were given only a single species on which to lay eggs, there were significant differences among milkweed species in the average number of eggs laid; A. incarnata had the highest average egg count. When females were given a choice among A. incarnata, A. syriaca, A. tuberosa, and A. verticillata, there were also differences among milkweed species in the number of eggs laid; again, A. incarnata had the highest average number of eggs laid. Additionally, females laid more total eggs when four plants of different milkweed species were available than when there were four plants of a single milkweed species. Our results show that monarch butterflies will lay eggs on all nine milkweeds, but that there are clear preferences for some milkweed species over others

Resistencia a la compresión de Biodentine®: mezcla manual vs. Mecánica

INTRODUCCIÓN: La incorporación de innovaciones tecnológicas en determinados materiales dentales, especialmente aquellos que requieren de aparatología específica para su uso y/o cuya pre-dosificación implica el descarte de una porción de su contenido, está condicionada por la relación costo-beneficio del producto. Según las instrucciones del fabricante, las cápsulas del silicato tricálcico Biodentine® (Septodont) deben activarse mediante el uso de mezcladores mecánicos luego de adicionar las proporciones exactas del líquido ad-hoc, utilizando la totalidad de cada cápsula de polvo y su respectiva ampolla del líquido, con un excedente de material considerable, según su indicación. Si bien es posible realizar la mezcla del cemento en forma manual prescindiendo de un amalgamador, una modificación en las recomendaciones del fabricante podría alterar las propiedades del material. OBJETIVO: Determinar si existen diferencias en la resistencia compresiva de Biodentine® según el método de mezcla utilizado: con activación mecánica y con mezcla manual. MATERIALES Y METODOS: Se confeccionaron probetas cilíndricas de 6 mm de alto por 4 mm de diámetro (n=6) para los dos grupos de estudio A) Biodentine® / Mezcla manual y B) Biodentine® / Mezcla mecánica. Las muestras fueron sometidas a la aplicación de una fuerza continua en máquina universal de ensayos Digimess RS-8000-5 a una velocidad de carrera de 1 mm/min hasta su ruptura. Se compararon los valores obtenidos entre los grupos mediante test de Student, determinando diferencias significativas para valores de p>0,05. RESULTADOS: Los valores medios obtenidos y su desviación estándar fueron A) 52.6 (16.3) MPa y B) 65.7 (30.6) MPa respectivamente. La distribución de valores de resistencia a la compresión según el grupo de estudio fue levemente superior en el grupo B, aunque las diferencias no fueron significativas (p=3,77). CONCLUSIONES: La mezcla manual no disminuye significativamente la resistencia a la compresión de Biodentine® en comparación al cemento mezclado mecánicamente

Gene Expression Responses Linked to Reproduction Effect Concentrations (EC10,20,50,90) of Dimethoate, Atrazine and Carbendazim, in Enchytraeus albidus

BACKGROUND: Molecular mechanisms of response to pesticides are scarce and information on such responses from soil invertebrates is almost inexistent. Enchytraeus albidus (Oligochaeta) is a standard soil ecotoxicology model species for which effects of many pesticides are known on survival, reproduction and avoidance behaviour. With the recent microarray development additional information can be retrieved on the molecular effects. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Experiments were performed to investigate the transcription responses of E. albidus when exposed to three pesticides - dimethoate (insecticide), atrazine (herbicide) and carbendazim (fungicide) - in a range of concentrations that inhibited reproduction by 10%, 20%, 50% and 90% (EC(10), EC(20), EC(50) and EC(90), respectively). The goal of this study was to further identify key biological processes affected by each compound and if dose-related. All three pesticides significantly affected biological processes like translation, regulation of the cell cycle or general response to stress. Intracellular signalling and microtubule-based movement were affected by dimethoate and carbendazim whereas atrazine affected lipid and steroid metabolism (also by dimethoate) or carbohydrate metabolism (also by carbendazim). Response to DNA damage/DNA repair was exclusively affected by carbendazim. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in gene expression were significantly altered after 2 days of exposure in a dose-related manner. The mechanisms of response were comparable with the ones for mammals, suggesting across species conserved modes of action. The present results indicate the potential of using gene expression in risk assessment and the advantage as early markers

Ontogeny of midazolam glucuronidation in preterm infants

Purpose: In preterm infants, the biotransformation of midazolam (M) to 1-OH-midazolam (OHM) by cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is developmentally immature, but it is currently unknown whether the glucuronidation of OHM to 1-OH-midazolam glucuronide (OHMG) is also decreased. The aim of our study was to investigate the urinary excretion of midazolam and its metabolites OHM and OHMG in preterm neonates following the intravenous (IV) or oral (PO) administration of a single M dose. Methods: Preterm infants (post-natal age 3-13 days, gestational age 26-34 4/7 weeks) scheduled to undergo a stressful procedure received a 30-min IV infusion (n=15) or a PO bolus dose (n=7) of 0.1 mg/kg midazolam. The percentage of midazolam dose excreted in the urine as M, OHM and OHMG up to 6 h post-dose was determined. Results: The median percentage of the midazolam dose excreted as M, OHM and OHMG in the urine during the 6-h interval after the IV infusion was 0.44% (range 0.02-1.39%), 0.04% (0.01-0.13%) and 1.57% (0.36-7.7%), respectively. After administration of the PO bolus dose, the median percentage of M, OHM and OHMG excreted in the urine was 0.11% (0.02-0.59%), 0.02% (0.00-0.10%) and 1.69% (0.58-7.31%), respectively. The proportion of the IV midazolam dose excreted as OHMG increased significantly with postconceptional age (r=0.73, p <0.05). Conclusion: The glucuronidation of OHM appears immature in preterm infants less than 2 weeks of age. The observed increase in urinary excretion of OHMG with postconceptional age likely reflects the combined maturation of glucuronidation and renal function