A Nori but not a Konbu, dietary supplement decreases the cholesterolaemia, liver fat infiltration and mineral bioavailability in hypercholesterolaemic growing Wistar rats

The nutritional consequences of algae consumption in young populations consuming hypercholesterolaemic diets have hardly been investigated. This study tests the effect of algae supplementation of cholesterol-enriched balanced diets on growth, dietary efficiency ratio, mineral intake and absorption, organ weight and structure and cholesterolaemia in growing Wistar rats. Three groups of ten rats each were fed for 3 weeks with experimental diets containing 93% casein-soyabean oil base with 2.4% cholesterol-raising agent and 7% supplement. The control group received cellulose (35%), group 2 consumed Nori (33.8% fibre) and group 3 consumed Konbu (36.1% fibre). Food intake and body weight gain were not significantly affected. Algae groups presented significantly higher dietary efficiency ratio values than control rats. Apparent absorption of several minerals appeared significantly affected, mainly in Nori-fed rats, with a significant decrease in the ratio of Zn and Cu intakes and apparent absorption. Nori diet significantly decreased plasma cholesterol. Algae supplement did not significantly affect organ size and structure. Control and Konbu rats showed severe liver fat infiltration, while Nori rats exhibited a significantly lower degree of lipid-like hepatocyte vacuolization but light to moderate leukocyte infiltration. Light to moderate scaling off of the epithelium and moderate submucosa oedema was observed in all groups. Although long-term studies are needed to check the possible extrapolation of these data to human subjects, it can be concluded that a Nori, but not a Konbu, dietary supplement reverses the negative effect of dietary cholesterol intake and also appears to be related to mineral availability in growing subjects. © 2007 The Authors.This work was granted by the Spanish Ministerio de Investigación y Ciencia, Project AGL 2005-07204-C02-C1/ALI.Peer Reviewe

Hallazgo de una nueva columna miliaria perteneciente a la Via Augusta

By means of this article we let you know about the discovery of a new milliary column which belonged to the Roman Via Augusta. It has been found in the environs of La Torrecilla industrial area close to Córdoba. Its chronology based upon epigraphic analysis allow us to date it in the early years of Nero mandate.Mediante este artículo damos a conocer una nueva columna miliaria correspondiente a la Via Augusta y hallada en las inmediaciones del Polígono Industrial de La Torrecilla. Su cronología, basada en el análisis epigráfico, nos permite adjudicarla al emperador Nerón, en los primeros años de su mandato

Dynamic Corrosion Test Using LiNO3 Containing Molten Salt for CSP Applications

Low melting point thermal energy storage (TES) materials have been proposed in the last years to reduce the storage cost in concentrating solar power (CSP) technology. One of the most interesting additive due to the enhancement in thermal properties is lithium nitrate. However, there is a lack of dynamic corrosion tests to simulate real operation conditions in CSP plants. In this work, we present a dynamic reactor set up where a mixture of 30 wt.% LiNO3 + 57 wt.% KNO3 + 13 wt.%. NaNO3 is moved through a mechanical stirrer obtaining a lineal speed of 0.30 m/s. A commercial carbon steel A516 was tested as container material at 390 °C during 1000 h. Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 were obtained as the main corrosion products by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) with a metallographic corrosion rate of 0.015 mm/year.The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (GREiA 2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia

Wave scattering from self-affine surfaces

Electromagnetic wave scattering from a perfectly reflecting self-affine surface is considered. Within the framework of the Kirchhoff approximation, we show that the scattering cross section can be exactly written as a function of the scattering angle via a centered symmetric Levy distribution for general roughness amplitude, Hurst exponent and wavelength of the incident wave. The amplitude of the specular peak, its width and its position are discussed as well as the power law decrease (with scattering angle) of the scattering cross section.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages including 2 figures. Submitted Phys. Rev. Let

A new application of reduced Rayleigh equations to electromagnetic wave scattering by two-dimensional randomly rough surfaces

The small perturbations method has been extensively used for waves scattering by rough surfaces. The standard method developped by Rice is difficult to apply when we consider second and third order of scattered fields as a function of the surface height. Calculations can be greatly simplified with the use of reduced Rayleigh equations, because one of the unknown fields can be eliminated. We derive a new set of four reduced equations for the scattering amplitudes, which are applied to the cases of a rough conducting surface, and to a slab where one of the boundary is a rough surface. As in the one-dimensional case, numerical simulations show the appearance of enhanced backscattering for these structures.Comment: RevTeX 4 style, 38 pages, 16 figures, added references and comments on the satellites peak

Discovery of a new M32-like "Compact Elliptical" galaxy in the halo of the Abell 496 cD galaxy

Aims: ``Compact ellipticals'' are so rare that a search for M32 analogs is needed to ensure the very existence of this class. Methods: We report here the discovery of A496cE, a M32 twin in the cluster Abell 496, located in the halo of the central cD. Results: Based on CFHT and HST imaging we show that the light profile of A496cE requires a two component fit: a Sersic bulge and an exponential disc. The spectrum of A496cE obtained with the ESO-VLT FLAMES/Giraffe spectrograph can be fit by a stellar synthesis spectrum dominated by old stars, with high values of [Mg/Fe] and velocity dispersion. Conclusions: The capture of A496cE by the cD galaxy and tidal stripping of most of its disc are briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Spatio-temporal variability of droughts in Bolivia: 1955-2012

In this study, the spatio-temporal variability and trends of droughts across Bolivia between 1955 and 2012 were investigated using two climate drought indices: the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), which is based on precipitation data, and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which is based on the difference between the precipitation and the reference evapotranspiration (ETo). We found that the average drought conditions across the country showed a temporal behaviour mainly characterized by decadal variations. The spatial pattern of drought evolution showed marked differences between the Amazonian region and the Bolivian Altiplano. Both regions showed different drought periods, a lower frequency of drought variability in the Amazon region and trends towards drier conditions in the Altiplano, mainly due to a higher atmospheric water demand as a consequence of increased ETo. We also showed that inclusion of ETo, obtained from maximum and minimum temperature records, increased the spatial heterogeneity of the drought evolution in relation to the evolution observed when only precipitation droughts were considered. The SPEI, the calculation of which includes precipitation and ETo, indicated intensification in drought severity in the last years analysed relative to the pattern found when precipitation droughts alone were considered, and also indicated an increase in the magnitude and duration of drought events. The potential for increasing drought conditions under various climate change scenarios is discussed. © 2015 Royal Meteorological Society.This work has been supported by research projects I-COOP H2O 2013CD0006: ‘Test multisectorial y actividades demostrativa sobre el potencial desarrollo de sistemas de monitorización de sequías en tiempo real en la región del oeste de Sudamérica’ financed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), CGL2011-27574-CO2-02 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, ‘Demonstration and validation of innovative methodology for regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean area (LIFE MEDACC)’ financed by the LIFE programme of the European Commission, C.A.-M. received a postdoctoral fellowship # JCI-2011-10263. A.S.-L. is supported by the ‘Secretaria per a Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement, de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del programa Cofund de les Accions Marie Curie del 7è Programa marc d'R + D de la Unió Europea’ (2011 BP-B 00078) and the postdoctoral fellowship # JCI-2012-12508.Peer Reviewe