Effects of Tea Residue Extracts with Different Molecular Weight on the Pasting Characteristics of Potato Starch

Tea residues are the remaining residue of tea after processing and utilization, which are rich in multiple active components. To investigate the effects of different types and molecular weights of tea residue extracts on the pasting characteristics of potato starch (PS), the ethanol extract (TRE), water extract (TRW) and alkali extract (TRA) of tea residue were obtained by continuous extraction method. On this basis, the different molecular weights of ethanol extract (TRE-1, 30 kDa) and water extract (TRW-1, 100 kDa) were prepared by a membrane separation. The effects of different tea residue extracts on the viscosity properties were investigated, and the microstructure of potato starch added with tea residue extract was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that different types and molecular weights of tea residue extracts could significantly (PTRW-2>TRE-2>TRW-1>TRE-1. The peak viscosity of potato starch was gradually decreased with the increase of different extracts. After adding 10% TRA, TRW-2, TRE-2, TRW-1 and TRE-1, the peak viscosity of potato starch was 4624, 5013, 5431, 5911 and 6195 cP, respectively. TRE-2, TRW-2 and TRA could better promote the link between potato starch fragments and result in a more complete and smooth lamellar structure, compared with TRE-1, TRW-1. In summary, the addition of different types and molecular weights of tea residue extracts could effectively inhibit the gelatinization of potato starch, and the inhibitory effect of 10% alkali extract was the best

Cross-Sectional Study Protocol for the COVID-19 Impact Survey of Mothers and Their 7–11 Year Old Children in Alberta, Canada

Objectives: Our aim is to understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on families who have been followed longitudinally in two cohorts studied in Alberta, Canada. We will examine household infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, financial impact, domestic violence, substance use, child school and daily life and relationships in the home. We will identify risk and protective factors for maternal mental health outcomes using longitudinal data that can inform policy and government resource allocation in future disasters.Methods: Mothers who are currently participating in two longitudinal studies, Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON; N = 1,800) and All Our Families (AOF: N = 2,534) were eligible to participate. Mothers were invited to complete the baseline COVID-19 Impact Survey (20–30 min) within 4 months of March 15, 2020, which was when the province of Alberta, Canada, implemented school closures and physical-distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Mothers were asked to report on their own, their child's and their family's functioning. Mothers were re-surveyed at 6 months after completion of the initial COVID-19 Impact Survey, and will be re-surveyed again at 12 months.Results: Responses from participants in both cohorts will be examined in harmonized analyses as well as separately. Descriptive, multivariable analysis will be undertaken to examine risk and resiliency over time and factors that predict mental health and well-being.Conclusions: This study will provide timely information on the impact of COVID-19 for Albertan families. It will identify risk and protective factors for mental health and well-being among contemporary urban families supported by a publicly funded health care system to inform allocation of resources to support those most vulnerable during a global pandemic

All Our Families: Five Year Follow-Up (Q7) Descriptive Report March 2020

ReportThe All Our Families cohort includes over 3,000 mothers and children who have been participants since the mothers were pregnant. This report is a summary of information collected when the children were 5 years of age. Recruitment into the All Our Families (formerly All Our Babies) cohort began in 2008 and concluded in 2011. Since then, we have collected information twice during pregnancy and at 4 months postpartum, as well as 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 5 years post-birth. This report presents findings from All Our Families mothers and children at 5 years of age and integrates information from earlier time points. The history of this cohort is described and more details can be found at allourfamiliesstudy.com.Alberta Innovates - Research Gran

All Our Families: Three Year Follow-up (Q6) Descriptive Report December 2018

The All Our Families cohort includes over 3,000 mothers and children who have been participants since mothers were pregnant. This report is a summary of information collected when the children were 3 years of age. Recruitment into the All Our Families (formerly All Our Babies) cohort began in 2008 and concluded in 2011. Since then, we have collected information twice during pregnancy and at 4 months postpartum, as well as 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years post-birth. This report presents findings from All Our Families mothers and children at 3 years of age and integrates information from earlier time points. The history of this cohort is described briefly below, more details can be found on allourfamiliesstudy.com.Alberta Innovates - Research Gran

Stability and Antiproliferative Activity of Malvidin-Based Non-Oxonium Derivative (Oxovitisin A) Compared with Precursor Anthocyanins and Pyranoanthocyanins

Oxovitisins are a unique group of anthocyanin derivatives with a non-oxonium nature and α-pyranone (lactone) D ring on the structure. In this study, oxovitisin A was synthesized through the micro-oxidative reaction of carboxypyranomalvidin-3-O-glucoside (vitisin A) with water, and its thermostability, pH, and SO2 color stability were studied compared with its two precursors, malvidin-3-O-glucoside (Mv3glc) and vitisin A, as well as methylpyrano-malvidin-3-O-glucoside (Me-py). Results showed that oxovitisin A exhibited the highest stabilities, which were inseparably related to its noncharged structure and the additional carbonyl group on the D ring. Moreover, the antiproliferative capacity of oxovitisin A was comparatively evaluated against two human gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. Interestingly, oxovitisin A presented the strongest antiproliferative ability on MKN-28 (IC50 = 538.42 ± 50.06 μM) and Caco-2 cells (IC50 = 434.85 ± 11.87 μM) compared with two other pyranoanthocyanins. Therefore, we conclude that oxovitisin A as a highly stable anthocyanin derivative still exhibits a satisfactory antiproliferative ability

RETINAL VASCULAR ABNORMALITIES RELATED TO NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1

PURPOSE: To analyze and classify neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) related retinal vascular abnormalities (RVAs), their natural history and correlation with disease severity, in a large cohort of patients.METHODS: This was an observational longitudinal study with prospective enrollment. Four hundred and seventy-three patients affected by NF1 and 150 age-matched healthy subjects were consecutively enrolled. RVAs were detected by means of near-infrared reflectance and studied by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). The superficial vascular plexus (SVP) and the deep vascular complex (DVC) were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed.RESULTS: We identified RVAs in 82 of 473 (17%) NF1 patients, but in none of the 150 healthy subjects. A comparison revealed that NF1 patients with RVAs showed a higher number of NF1 diagnostic criteria (4.3 ± 1.5 versus 3.9 ±1.5, respectively; p=0.02) than patients without RVAs. Three different RVA types were identified on OCTA: macrovascular angiomatosis of the sole SVP; macrovascular angiomatosis of the SVP combined with microvascular angiomatosis of the DVC; and combined macrovascular angiomatosis of both SVP and DVC. The prospective analysis of OCTA images showed no significant longitudinal evolution of RVAs (mean follow-up: 3.7 ± 2.8 years). A single patient developed de novo a single RVA, and two RVAs showed detectable changes during follow-up.CONCLUSION: In NF1 patients RVAs are a characteristic sign that correlates with a more severe systemic disease expression, usually remaining stable during time. OCTA allows for the identification of different RVAs subtypes

A review of numerical analysis of friction stir welding

Friction stir welding is a relatively new solid-state joining technique which is widely adopted in different industry fields to join different metallic alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding. Friction stir welding is a highly complex process comprising several highly coupled physical phenomena. The complex geometry of some kinds of joints and their three dimensional nature make it difficult to develop an overall system of governing equations for theoretical analyzing the behavior of the friction stir welded joints. The experiments are often time consuming and costly. To overcome these problems, numerical analysis has frequently been used since the 2000s. This paper reviews the latest developments in the numerical analysis of friction stir welding processes, microstructures of friction stir welded joints and the properties of friction stir welded structures. Some important numerical issues such as materials flow modeling, meshing procedure and failure criteria are discussed. Numerical analysis of friction stir welding will allow many different welding processes to be simulated in order to understand the effects of changes in different system parameters before physical testing, which would be time-consuming or prohibitively expensive in practice. The main methods used in numerical analysis of friction stir welding are discussed and illustrated with brief case studies. In addition, several important key problems and issues remain to be addressed about the numerical analysis of friction stir welding and opportunities for further research are identified