Procyanidins are potent inhibitors of LOX-1: a new player in the French Paradox

Lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (LOX-1) is an endothelial receptor for oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and plays multiple roles in the development of cardiovascular diseases. We screened more than 400 foodstuff extracts for identifying materials that inhibit oxLDL binding to LOX-1. Results showed that 52 extracts inhibited LOX-1 by more than 70% in cell-free assays. Subsequent cell-based assays revealed that a variety of foodstuffs known to be rich in procyanidins such as grape seed extracts and apple polyphenols, potently inhibited oxLDL uptake in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing LOX-1. Indeed, purified procyanidins significantly inhibited oxLDL binding to LOX-1 while other ingredients of apple polyphenols did not. Moreover, chronic administration of oligomeric procyanidins suppressed lipid accumulation in vascular wall in hypertensive rats fed with high fat diet. These results suggest that procyanidins are LOX-1 inhibitors and LOX-1 inhibition might be a possible underlying mechanism of the well-known vascular protective effects of red wine, the French Paradox

Analisa cara penyampaian keluhan dan pengaruhnya terhadap kepuasan pelanggan

Penulis melakukan penulisan ini karena ingin mengetahui kepuasan pelanggan terhadap jasa layanan yang diberikan oleh hotel bintang lima di Surabaya. Bagaimana cara-cara penyampaian keluhan yang dilakukan oleh konsumen. Ini yang ingin di teliti oleh penulis karena itu judul penelitian ini adalah Analisa cara penyampaian komplain dan pengaruhnya terhadap kepuasaan pelanggan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui pengaruh penyampaian keluhan (voice response, private response, dan third party response) secara simultan dan signifikan terhadap kepuasan konsumen. Mengetahui pengaruh penyampaian keluhan (voice response, private response, dan third party response) secara parsial dan signifikan terhadap kepuasan konsumen. Mengetahui diantara voice response, private response, dan third party response manakah yang berpengaruh dominan terhadap kepuasan konsumen. Metode penelitian menggunakan analisis regresi linier berganda dengan sampel penelitian berjumlah 84 responden. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa cara penyampaian keluhan (voice response, private response, dan third-party response) berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan konsumen hotel bintang lima di Surabaya, dan Voice response berpengaruh dominan terhadap kepuasan konsumen hotel bintang lima di Surabaya

Generalized spatial mark–resight models with incomplete identification: An application to red fox density estimates

The estimation of abundance of wildlife populations is an essential part of ecological research and monitoring. Spatially explicit capture–recapture (SCR) models are widely used for abundance and density estimation, frequently through individual identification of target species using camera‐trap sampling. Generalized spatial mark–resight (Gen‐SMR) is a recently developed SCR extension that allows for abundance estimation when only a subset of the population is recognizable by artificial or natural marks. However, in many cases, it is not possible to read the marks in camera‐trap pictures, even though individuals can be recognized as marked. We present a new extension of Gen‐SMR that allows for this type of incomplete identification. We used simulation to assess how the number of marked individuals and the individual identification rate influenced bias and precision. We demonstrate the model's performance in estimating red fox (Vulpes vulpes ) density with two empirical datasets characterized by contrasting densities and rates of identification of marked individuals. According to the simulations, accuracy increases with the number of marked individuals (m ), but is less sensitive to changes in individual identification rate (δ). In our case studies of red fox density estimation, we obtained a posterior mean of 1.60 (standard deviation SD: 0.32) and 0.28 (SD : 0.06) individuals/km2, in high and low density, with an identification rate of 0.21 and 0.91, respectively. This extension of Gen‐SMR is broadly applicable as it addresses the common problem of incomplete identification of marked individuals during resighting surveys.This study is a result of CGL2013–40975‐R project, from I+D+I National Plan funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.Peer reviewe

Visual blood group genotyping by lateral-flow dipstick

International audienc

Visual blood group genotyping by lateral-flow dipstick

International audienc

Inducing a mental context for associative memory formation with real-time fMRI neurofeedback

Memory, one of the hallmarks of human cognition, can be modified when humans voluntarily modulate neural population activity using neurofeedback. However, it is currently unknown whether neurofeedback can influence the integration of memories, and whether memory is facilitated or impaired after such neural perturbation. In this study, participants memorized objects while we provided them with abstract neurofeedback based on their brain activity patterns in the ventral visual stream. This neurofeedback created an implicit face or house context in the brain while memorizing the objects. The results revealed that participants created associations between each memorized object and its implicit context solely due to the neurofeedback manipulation. Our findings shed light onto how memory formation can be influenced by synthetic memory tags with neurofeedback and advance our understanding of mnemonic processing