Concentration and Ratio of Essential Fatty Acids Influences the Inflammatory Response in Lipopolysaccharide Challenged Mice

The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of both the % of dietary, 18-carbon PUFA (2.5%, 5% and 10%) and the n-6:n-3 ratio (1:1, 10:1 and 20:1) on the acute inflammatory response. Mice were fed diets for 8 weeks and injected intraperitoneally with LPS to induce acute inflammation. After 24. h mice were sacrificed and plasma cytokines measured. Diets significantly affected the erythrocyte PUFA composition and the effect of PUFA ratio was more prominent than of PUFA concentration. The % dietary PUFA affected feed efficiency (

PFI: Commercialization of Advanced Composites in Offshore Wind Energy

This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project--a Type III (A:C) partnership between the University of Maine (UMaine), an NSF PFI graduated grantee (0125343), and Maine Maritime Academy, an institution new to the PFI Program (defined as one that has never been a PFI grantee) and, in this case, new to NSF as well seeks to enable the acceleration of the development of Maine\u27s deepwater offshore wind energy resource by employing an innovation model that will draw upon knowledge and technology from diverse sources. The proposed research addresses the development of key knowledge, experimentally-validated numerical models for combined aerolastic/hydrodynamic loadings; and an enabling technology, Rapid-Formed Composite Structures (RFCS). Neither the knowledge nor the technology currently exists for deepwater offshore wind turbines and both are critical to the development of offshore wind energy. The University of Maine brings to the partnership RFCS technology, which eliminates and will significantly reduce, platform construction and deployment costs. . The project addresses the energy crisis facing Maine and the US which requires new strategies and innovations. Working with floating platform developers and composites manufacturers, platforms for offshore floating turbines will be developed by the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (newly renamed in response to the evolution of its research mission) at the University of Maine. Thus, this project presents an opportunity to progress toward the goal of delivering installed wind power capacity at a cost that is competitive with existing technology. Floating offshore wind platform technology offers the following benefits: 1) reduction of reliance on foreign energy sources, (2) development of a renewable, carbon-free energy, and 3) creation of domestic manufacturing and service jobs focused on offshore wind energy. Partners at the inception of the project are Academic Institutions: University of Maine (lead institution) and Maine Maritime Academy; Federal Laboratory: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); Private Sector Organizations: Cianbro Corporation and Maine Composites Alliance; and State Organizations: Governor?s Ocean Energy Task Force and Maine Technology Institute (MTI)

Immunoregulatory soluble CTLA-4 modifies effector T cell responses in systemic lupus erythematosus

Acknowledgments This work was supported by Arthritis Research UK (Grant no. 19282). We are grateful to Dr. Nick Fluck for his invaluable support in recruiting patients for the study, and Mrs. Vivien Vaughan for her invaluable expertise in recruiting study participants and maintaining ethical documentation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Wind-Tunnel Measurements of Effect of Dive-Recovery Flaps at Transonic Speeds on Models of a Seaplane and a Transport

The effects of wing-lower-surface dive-recovery flaps on the aero- dynamic characteristics of a transonic seaplane model and a transonic transport model having 40 deg swept wings have been investigated in the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel. The seaplane model had a wing with an aspect ratio of 5.26, a taper ratio of 0.333, and NACA 63A series airfoil sections streamwise. The transport model had a wing with an aspect ratio of 8, a taper ratio of 0.3, and NACA 65A series airfoil sections perpendicular to the quarter-chord line. The effects of flap deflection, flap longitudinal location, and flap sweep were generally investigated for both horizontal-tail-on and horizontal-tail-off configurations. Model force and moment measurements were made for model angles of attack from -5 deg to 14 deg in the Mach number range from 0.70 to 1.075 at Reynolds numbers of 2.95 x 10(exp 6) to 4.35 x 10(exp 6). With proper longitudinal location, wing-lower-surface dive-recovery flaps produced lift and pitching-moment increments that increased with flap deflection. For the transport model a flap located aft on the wing proved to be more effective than one located more forward., both flaps having the same span and approximately the same deflection. For the seaplane model a high horizontal tail provided added effectiveness for the deflected-flap configuration

Food Matrix and the Microbiome: Considerations for Preclinical Chronic Disease Studies

Animal models of chronic disease are continuously being refined and have evolved with the goal of increasing the translation of results to human populations. Examples of this progress include transgenic models and germ-free animals conventionalized with human microbiota. The gut microbiome is involved in the etiology of several chronic diseases. Therefore, consideration of the experimental conditions that may affect the gut microbiome in preclinical disease is very important. Of note, diet plays a large role in shaping the gut microbiome and can be a source of variation between animal models and human populations. Traditionally, nutrition researchers have focused on manipulating the macronutrient profile of experimental diets to model diseases such as metabolic syndrome. However, other dietary components found in human foods, but not in animal diets, can have sizable effects on the composition and metabolic capacity of the gut microbiome and, as a consequence, manifestation of the chronic disease being modeled. The purpose of this review is to describe how food matrix food components, including diverse fiber sources, oxidation products from cooking, and dietary fat emulsifiers, shape the composition of the gut microbiome and influence gut health

A Generalised Semantic Cognition Account of Aesthetic Experience

Given that aesthetic experiences typically involve extracting meaning from environment, we believe that semantic cognition research has much to offer the field of neuroaesthetics. In the current paper, we propose a generalised framework that is inspired by the semantic cognition literature and that treats aesthetic experience as just one example of how meaning accumulates. According to our framework, aesthetic experiences are underpinned by the same cognitive and brain systems that are involved in deriving meaning from the environment in general, such as modality-specific conceptual representations and controlled processes for retrieving the appropriate type of information. Our generalised semantic cognition view of aesthetic experience has substantial implications for theory development: it leads to novel, falsifiable predictions and it reconfigures foundational assumptions regarding the structure of the cognitive and brain systems that may be involved in aesthetic experiences.ISSN:1873-3514ISSN:0028-393

Open-Path Fourier Transform Infrared Studies of Large-Scale Laboratory Biomass Fires

A series of nine large-scale, open fires was conducted in the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory (IFSL) controlled-environment combustion facility. The fuels were pure pine needles or sagebrush or mixed fuels simulating forest-floor, ground fires; crown fires; broadcast burns; and slash pile burns. Mid-infrared spectra of the smoke were recorded throughout each fire by open path Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy at 0.12 cm−1 resolution over a 3 m cross-stack pathlength and analyzed to provide pseudocontinuous, simultaneous concentrations of up to 16 compounds. Simultaneous measurements were made of fuel mass loss, stack gas temperature, and total mass flow up the stack. The products detected are classified by the type of process that dominates in producing them. Carbon dioxide is the dominant emission of (and primarily produced by) flaming combustion, from which we also measure nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and most of the water vapor from combustion and fuel moisture. Carbon monoxide is the dominant emission formed primarily by smoldering combustion from which we also measure carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and ethane. A significant fraction of the total emissions is unoxidized pyrolysis products; examples are methanol, formaldehyde, acetic and formic acid, ethene (ethylene), ethyne (acetylene), and hydrogen cyanide. Relatively few previous data exist for many of these compounds and they are likely to have an important but as yet poorly understood role in plume chemistry. Large differences in emissions occur from different fire and fuel types, and the observed temporal behavior of the emissions is found to depend strongly on the fuel bed and product type

Comparative effects of selected non-caffeinated rehydration sports drinks on short-term performance following moderate dehydration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The effect of moderate dehydration and consequent fluid replenishment on short-duration maximal treadmill performance was studied in eight healthy, fit (VO_2max= 49.7 ± 8.7 mL kg^-1min^-1) males aged 28 ± 7.5 yrs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study involved a within subject, blinded, crossover, placebo design. Initially, all subjects performed a baseline exercise test using an individualized treadmill protocol structured to induce exhaustion in 7 to 10 min. On each of the three subsequent testing days, the subjects exercised at 70-75% VO_2maxfor 60 min at 29-33°C, resulting in a dehydration weight loss of 1.8-2.1% body weight. After 60 min of rest and recovery at 22 C, subjects performed the same treadmill test to voluntary exhaustion, which resulted in a small reduction in VO_2maxand a decline in treadmill performance by 3% relative to the baseline results. Following another 60 min rest and recovery, subjects ingested the same amount of fluid lost in the form of one of three lemon-flavored, randomly assigned commercial drinks, namely Crystal Light (placebo control), Gatorade^®and Rehydrate Electrolyte Replacement Drink, and then repeated the treadmill test to voluntary exhaustion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>VO_2maxreturned to baseline levels with Rehydrate, while there was only a slight improvement with Gatorade and Crystal Light. There were no changes in heart rate or ventilation with all three different replacement drinks. Relative to the dehydrated state, a 6.5% decrease in treadmill performance time occurred with Crystal Light, while replenishment with Gatorade, which contains fructose, glucose, sodium and potassium, resulted in a 2.1% decrease. In contrast, treatment with Rehydrate, which comprises fructose, glucose polymer, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, amino acids, thiols and vitamins, resulted in a 7.3% increase in treadmill time relative to that of the dehydrated state.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results indicate that constituents other than water, simple transportable monosaccharides and sodium are important for maximal exercise performance and effective recovery associated with endurance exercise-induced dehydration.</p