Liquid crystalline phthalocyanines as a self-assembling organic semiconductor for solution-processing thin film devices

SPIE OPTO, 2011, San Francisco, California, United StatesY. Miyake, T. Hori, H. Yoshida, H. Monobe, A. Fujii, M. Ozaki, and Y. Shimizu "Liquid crystalline phthalocyanines as a self-assembling organic semiconductor for solution-processing thin film devices", Proc. SPIE 7955, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies VI, 795505 (2 February 2011). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.87371

Pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside and its metabolites have modest anti-inflammatory effects in human whole blood cultures

This study hypothesized that the predominant strawberry anthocyanin, pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside (Pg-3-glc), and three of its plasma metabolites (4-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid and phloroglucinaldehyde [PGA]) would affect phagocytosis, oxidative burst and the production of selected pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in a whole blood culture model. For the assessment of phagocytosis and oxidative burst activity of monocytes and neutrophils, whole blood was pre-incubated in the presence or absence of the test compounds at concentrations up to 5 μM, followed by analysis of phagocytic and oxidative burst activity using commercially available test kits. For the cytokine analysis, diluted whole blood was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in the presence or absence of the test compounds at concentrations up to 5 μM. Concentrations of selected cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α], interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10) were determined using a cytometric bead array kit. There were no effects of any of the test compounds on phagocytosis of opsonized or non-opsonized E. coli or on oxidative burst activity. Pg-3-glc and PGA at 0.08 μM increased the concentration of IL-10 (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively), but there was no effect on TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 and there were no effects of the other compounds. In conclusion, this study demonstrated a lack of effect of these compounds on the opsonization, engulfment and subsequent destruction of bacteria. Pg-3-glc and PGA, at physiologically relevant concentrations, had anti-inflammatory properties; however, effects were modest, only observed at the lowest dose tested and limited to IL-10

Prebiotic Effects of Wheat Arabinoxylan Related to the Increase in Bifidobacteria, Roseburia and Bacteroides/Prevotella in Diet-Induced Obese Mice

BACKGROUND: Alterations in the composition of gut microbiota--known as dysbiosis--has been proposed to contribute to the development of obesity, thereby supporting the potential interest of nutrients targeting the gut with beneficial effect for host adiposity. We test the ability of a specific concentrate of water-extractable high molecular weight arabinoxylans (AX) from wheat to modulate both the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism in high-fat (HF) diet-induced obese mice. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mice were fed either a control diet (CT) or a HF diet, or a HF diet supplemented with AX (10% w/w) during 4 weeks. AX supplementation restored the number of bacteria that were decreased upon HF feeding, i.e. Bacteroides-Prevotella spp. and Roseburia spp. Importantly, AX treatment markedly increased caecal bifidobacteria content, in particular Bifidobacterium animalis lactis. This effect was accompanied by improvement of gut barrier function and by a lower circulating inflammatory marker. Interestingly, rumenic acid (C18:2 c9,t11) was increased in white adipose tissue due to AX treatment, suggesting the influence of gut bacterial metabolism on host tissue. In parallel, AX treatment decreased adipocyte size and HF diet-induced expression of genes mediating differentiation, fatty acid uptake, fatty acid oxidation and inflammation, and decreased a key lipogenic enzyme activity in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. Furthermore, AX treatment significantly decreased HF-induced adiposity, body weight gain, serum and hepatic cholesterol accumulation and insulin resistance. Correlation analysis reveals that Roseburia spp. and Bacteroides/Prevotella levels inversely correlate with these host metabolic parameters. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Supplementation of a concentrate of water-extractable high molecular weight AX in the diet counteracted HF-induced gut dysbiosis together with an improvement of obesity and lipid-lowering effects. We postulate that hypocholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity effects are related to changes in gut microbiota. These data support a role for wheat AX as interesting nutrients with prebiotic properties related to obesity prevention

Proteomic and Physiological Responses of Kineococcus radiotolerans to Copper

Copper is a highly reactive, toxic metal; consequently, transport of this metal within the cell is tightly regulated. Intriguingly, the actinobacterium Kineococcus radiotolerans has been shown to not only accumulate soluble copper to high levels within the cytoplasm, but the phenotype also correlated with enhanced cell growth during chronic exposure to ionizing radiation. This study offers a first glimpse into the physiological and proteomic responses of K. radiotolerans to copper at increasing concentration and distinct growth phases. Aerobic growth rates and biomass yields were similar over a range of Cu(II) concentrations (0–1.5 mM) in complex medium. Copper uptake coincided with active cell growth and intracellular accumulation was positively correlated with Cu(II) concentration in the growth medium (R2 = 0.7). Approximately 40% of protein coding ORFs on the K. radiotolerans genome were differentially expressed in response to the copper treatments imposed. Copper accumulation coincided with increased abundance of proteins involved in oxidative stress and defense, DNA stabilization and repair, and protein turnover. Interestingly, the specific activity of superoxide dismutase was repressed by low to moderate concentrations of copper during exponential growth, and activity was unresponsive to perturbation with paraquot. The biochemical response pathways invoked by sub-lethal copper concentrations are exceptionally complex; though integral cellular functions are preserved, in part, through the coordination of defense enzymes, chaperones, antioxidants and protective osmolytes that likely help maintain cellular redox. This study extends our understanding of the ecology and physiology of this unique actinobacterium that could potentially inspire new biotechnologies in metal recovery and sequestration, and environmental restoration

Plasticity‐controlled failure of sintered and molded polyamide 12: Influence of temperature and water absorption

The influence of stress, temperature, and relative humidity on plasticity-controlled failure of molded and laser-sintered polyamide 12 (PA12) has been investigated. Ree–Eyring’s flow theory is employed and modified to take into account the effect of relative humidity on the deformation kinetics. By introducing the concept of critical strain, time to failure in plasticity-controlled regime is predicted starting from the yield kinetics. Creep test is performed to estimate the critical strain and to validate model predictions. The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results, showing that the model is a suitable and reliable tool to evaluate mechanical response as function of temperature and relative humidity. We demonstrate that, while, at high applied strain rates, a significant difference is found, the mechanical response under constant strain rate as well as the failure kinetics in plasticity-controlled regime of the sintered PA12 are comparable with those of the molded material

Kaiser Project in Kansai University : design and development of 3D-CAD engine

Civil infrastructure drawing data are normally generated by computer-aided design (CAD) software in the design phase, and are also frequently needed during the construction and maintenance phases. An environment would be provided in which 3D construction information can efficiently and smoothly be used throughout the project lifecycle. Then, a 3D-CAD engine should be developed and operated to create and modify 3D structure information, but Japan’s CAD venders have not had a product of the 3D-CAD software. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to spread 3D-CAD rapidly and at low cost throughout the construction industry in Japan. To achieve this purpose, we designed and developed a 3D-CAD engine. Our research and development made progress step by step with the research, the outline design, the primary design, and the detailed design. To verify the designed algorithm, we developed a prototype. After this we developed a 3D-CAD engine, and also simple 3D-CAD software equipped with this engine.Applied Science, Faculty ofCivil Engineering, Department ofNon UBCUnreviewedFacultyOthe