Procyanidins in Theobroma cacao Reduce Plasma Cholesterol Levels in High Cholesterol-Fed Rats

We evaluated the effect of cacao procyanidins (CP) on plasma lipid levels in high cholesterol-fed rats. Animals were divided into 4 groups, and each group was fed on either a normal diet, high cholesterol diet (HCD) containing 1% cholesterol (HCD without CP), HCD with 0.5% (HCD with 0.5% CP) or 1.0% CP (HCD with 1.0% CP) for 4 weeks. Plasma cholesterol level was significantly higher in the HCD without CP group than the normal diet group (p<0.01). Supplementation of CP significantly decreased plasma cholesterol (p<0.01) to levels similar to those of the normal diet group. The liver cholesterol and triglyceride levels in all HCD groups were significantly higher (p<0.01), but 1.0% CP feeding significantly reduced this increase. Fecal excretion of neutral sterol and triglyceride was significantly increased in all HCD groups (p<0.01), and the excreted amounts tended to be higher in the HCD with CP groups. The procyanidins dose-dependently reduced micellar solubility of cholesterol and this activity increased with increasing molecular weight. These results suggest that one of the mechanisms of CP to lower plasma cholesterol is inhibition of intestinal absorption of cholesterol

Infrared imaging video bolometer for the large helical device

A new type of infrared imaging bolometer, known as the infrared imaging video bolometer (IRVB) has been under development at the National Institute of Fusion Science (NIFS) over the last year. A prototype of this diagnostic has been designed and constructed at NIFS and installed on the large helical device (LHD) and successfully operated. This diagnostic utilizes a 66×90×0.001 mm gold foil mounted in a frame to detect the radiation and neutrals from the plasma which are incident on the foil through a 1 cm diameter pinhole. The resulting temperature distribution on the foil is measured using an AGEMA THV 900 LW infrared camera having 136×272 pixels with a frame rate of 15 Hz and a nominal sensitivity of 80 mK. An image of the foil and surrounding frame consisting of 120×160 pixels is resampled down to 12×16 pixels using a linear interpolation scheme. Using a numerical technique the spatial and temporal derivatives of the temperature distribution on the foil are calculated and the incident power density on the foil is determined using a calibration of the foil obtained by means of a HeNe laser. The resulting 10×14 pixel view of the plasma radiation at a 15 Hz frame rate has a noise equivalent power density of 0.5 mW/cm2. The IRVB was mounted on a LHD tangential port for the 1999 campaign. An image of the plasma radiation during a discharge using the inboard vacuum vessel wall as a limiter shows radiation localized near the limiting surface

Calibration and sensitivity of the infrared imaging video bolometer

The infrared (IR) imaging video bolometer (IRVB) is an imaging bolometer which uses a large (9?cm×9?cm) thin (1 μm) gold foil and an IR camera to provide images of radiation from the plasma. Calibration of the IRVB using a lamp has been performed to compensate for any nonuniformities in the foil’s thickness and its thermal properties due to blackening of the foil with graphite to improve the IR emissivity. This calibration revealed close to expected values for the calibration coefficient proportional to the product of the thermal conductivity and the foil thickness in the central region of the foil, while these values were anomalously high near the foil edge. The calibration coefficient proportional to the thermal diffusivity is a factor of 2 smaller than the expected value at the center and drops further at the edge of the foil. Using a derived expression for the IRVB noise equivalent power, a sensitivity comparison shows the IRVB using current IR technologies to be ? 200 times less sensitive than an equivalent conventional resistive bolometer operating under ideal conditions