Dietary levels of pure flavonoids improve spatial memory performance and increase hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

Evidence suggests that flavonoid-rich foods are capable of inducing improvements in memory and cognition in animals and humans. However, there is a lack of clarity concerning whether flavonoids are the causal agents in inducing such behavioral responses. Here we show that supplementation with pure anthocyanins or pure flavanols for 6 weeks, at levels similar to that found in blueberry (2% w/w), results in an enhancement of spatial memory in 18 month old rats. Pure flavanols and pure anthocyanins were observed to induce significant improvements in spatial working memory (p = 0.002 and p = 0.006 respectively), to a similar extent to that following blueberry supplementation (p = 0.002). These behavioral changes were paralleled by increases in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (R = 0.46, p<0.01), suggesting a common mechanism for the enhancement of memory. However, unlike protein levels of BDNF, the regional enhancement of BDNF mRNA expression in the hippocampus appeared to be predominantly enhanced by anthocyanins. Our data support the claim that flavonoids are likely causal agents in mediating the cognitive effects of flavonoid-rich foods

Characterization of polylactic acid/organoclay nanocomposites

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer that can be substituted in usage of conventional non-degradable polymers. The strength of the PLA can be enhanced by incorporating clay. In this research, PLA was mixed with organoclay (Cloisite 30B, C30B) using Haake internal mixer. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed that PLA chains were intercalated into the layers of the organoclay. The thermal properties showed a slight decrease in the glass transition temperature of PLA, and similar trend was observed in Tan delta. The nanocomposites exhibited higher storage modulus than the matrix. The PLA/C30B nanocomposites exhibited increment in modulus of PLA by using organoclay, in which it is suitable to replace non-degradablematerials

Water vapor corrosion test using supersonic gas velocities

Testing of the corrosion resistance of environmental barrier coating (EBC) systems is necessary for developing reliable coatings. Unfortunately tests under realistic gas turbine conditions are difficult and expensive. The materials under investigation as well as parts of the test setup have to withstand high temperatures (>= 1200 degrees C), high pressure (up to 30 bar) as well as the corrosive atmosphere (H2O, O-2, NOx). Therefore most lab scale test-rigs focus on simplified test conditions. In this work water vapor corrosion testing of EBCs with a high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) facility is introduced which combines high temperatures and high gas velocities. It leads to quite high recession rates in short periods of time, which are comparable to results from literature. It was found that high flow velocities can easily compensate low gas pressures. HVOF-testing is a simple and fast way to measure the recession rate of an EBC-system. As proof of concept the recession rates of an oxide/oxide CMC with and without EBC were measured