Reduction of anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors in rats after one month of drinking Aronia melanocarpa berry juice

The treatment of mood and anxiety disorders by nutraceuticals is gaining growing awareness. Berries of Aronia melanocarpa (Black chokeberry) and their extracts, exceptionally abundant in diverse phenolic compounds, have become famous for the highest in vitro antioxidant activity among fruits and notable health benefits (e.g. anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective). This study was designed to investigate the behavioral effects of month-long unlimited consumption of Aronia master juice (AJ) and/or juice reconstruct without polyphenols (RJ), in young male rats. AJ was initially evaluated for its content of phenolic compounds by spectrophotometric assays and HPLC-DAD. Rats that were supplied with three various water concentrations of AJ and RJ, respectively: 20% + 0% (ARO group), 5% + 15% (RAJ) and 0 + 20% (PLC), were compared with those which consumed only water (CTL). Daily drinking of AJ solution was significantly elevated from the second or third week onward, which was most expressed in the ARO group. Only this group displayed behavioral variations, manifested by certain hyperactivity in open field tests and prominent reductions of anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus maze. The ARO rats also expressed an alleviation of depression-like behavior in forced swimming tests. These findings demonstrate the beneficial behavioral effects of the one-month-long free drinking of phenolic-rich AJ in rats ( gt 20 ml per kg b. mass daily) that may be recognized as stimulating, anxiolytic-like and antidepressant-like. The in vitro assays suggested that MAO-A/MAO-B inhibitions by the phenolic compounds of AJ might be the possible in vivo mechanisms for such behavioral actions

Metallic, magnetic and molecular nanocontacts

Scanning tunnelling microscopy and break-junction experiments realize metallic and molecular nanocontacts that act as ideal one-dimensional channels between macroscopic electrodes. Emergent nanoscale phenomena typical of these systems encompass structural, mechanical, electronic, transport, and magnetic properties. This Review focuses on the theoretical explanation of some of these properties obtained with the help of first-principles methods. By tracing parallel theoretical and experimental developments from the discovery of nanowire formation and conductance quantization in gold nanowires to recent observations of emergent magnetism and Kondo correlations, we exemplify the main concepts and ingredients needed to bring together ab initio calculations and physical observations. It can be anticipated that diode, sensor, spin-valve and spin-filter functionalities relevant for spintronics and molecular electronics applications will benefit from the physical understanding thus obtained

Does the administration of the calcium-antagonist verapamil in tocolysis with beta-sympathicomimetics still make sense?

Peer Reviewe

Volcanic tremor and magma flow

The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has signed a series of agreements on bilateral cooperation in scientific research and technological development with a considerable number of countries around the world.Among these are Third World countries in the developing stage or on the threshold of industrialization. The general goals of the national German research and technology policy are also applicable to these governmentalagreements. Bilateral cooperation is aimed at to contribute to the broadening of scientific knowledge, to safeguard natural resources and the environment, and to improve the living and working conditions of the populationthrough an increase of the economic strength and of the competitiveness on the international markets. Through the strengthening of the scientifictechnological infrastructure as a prerequisite for industrialization, throughthe joint implementation of projects, and through the exchange of scientists and engineers a contribution to solve the most urgent problems in the partner countries can be achieved, helping thus to narrow the technological gap existing between the developed and the developing world. On March 20, 1979, a governmental agreement on cooperation in scientific research and technological development with the Republic of Indonesia was signed. On the German side, the responsible Federal Ministry for Research and Technology has entrusted the Forschungszentrum Jülich through its International Bureau with the organisation and coordination of this cooperation.Funds are put at the disposal of the International Bureau to at least partially help financing these bilateral efforts. Among the manifold contacts established in the past decade to strengthen the bilateral links between the Republic of Indonesia and the Federal Republic of Germany the partnership between the Laboratory of Geophysics, Physics Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta and the Institute of Geophysics, University of Stuttgart play an outstanding role. The scientific results of 10 years of fruitful cooperation investigating the volcanological activities of Mount Merapi in Central Java are documented in the presented book and compared with Mount Etna in Sicily, another major volcano in the world. The expectation on both sides is great that these results go beyond the mere scientific merits and will also yield ways and means to work out methods of predicting the volcano's activities for the benefit and safety of the numerous population living nearby. Bilateral cooperation has sometimes to surmount difficulties which do not necessarily occur on the national level. These difficulties have to do with the cultural and ethnic differences into which the partners are embedded, [...