Modifications of physical properties of coconut oil and anhydrous milk fat as a result of blending

The role of fats in food technology is mainly to develop the desired consistency. The simplest way to reach this goal is the blending of different fats. The aim of our work was to study the solidification and melting properties of blends of coconut oil and anhydrous milk fat. Pure fats and their 25–75%, 50–50%, and 75–25% blends were investigated. Melting profile and isotherm crystallization were measured by pNMR. Non-isotherm melting and solidification were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Possible applications of the blends were established. Results show that AMF and coconut oil has limited miscibility, which is dependent on the temperature. Below 22 °C AMF is the softening component, above 22 °C the effect is inverse. Coconut oil accelerates solidification of AMF, however, basic crystal forms of AMF remained

Botulinum toxin treatment of urethral and bladder dysfunction.

Tremendous excitement has been generated by the use of botulinum toxin for the treatment of various types of urethral and bladder dysfunction over the past several years. Botulinum toxin is the most lethal naturally occurring toxin known to mankind. Why, then, would an urologist want to use this agent to poison the bladder or urethral sphincter? In this review article we will examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of botulinum toxin treatment. We will discuss the current use of this agent within the urologic community and will provide perspectives on future targets of botulinum toxin.</p

The effects of a single mild dose of morphine on chemoreflexes and breathing in obstructive sleep apnea

The effect of morphine on breathing and ventilatory chemoreflexes in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is unknown. It has been assumed that acute morphine use may induce deeper respiratory depression in OSA but this has not been investigated. We evaluated awake ventilatory chemoreflexes and overnight polysomnography on 10 mild-moderate OSA patients before and after giving 30 mg oral controlled-release morphine. Morphine plasma concentrations were analysed. We found a 30-fold range of morphine plasma concentrations with the fixed dose of morphine, and a higher plasma morphine concentration was associated with a higher CO(2) recruitment threshold (VRT) (r=0.86, p=0.006) and an improvement in sleep time with Sp(O(2)) (T90) (r=-0.87, p=0.005) compared to the baseline. The improvement in T90 also significantly correlated with the increase of VRT (r=-0.79, r=0.02). In conclusion, in mild-to-moderate OSA patients, a single common dose of oral morphine may paradoxically improve OSA through modulating chemoreflexes. There is a large inter-individual variability in the responses, which may relate to individual morphine metabolism.David Wang, Andrew A. Somogyi, Brendon J. Yee, Keith K. Wong, Jasminder Kaur, Paul J. Wrigley, Ronald R. Grunstei

Removal of urothelium affects bladder contractility and release of ATP but not release of NO in rat urinary bladder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of our work was to investigate both the contractile function and the release of ATP and NO from strips of bladder tissue after removal of the urothelium.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The method of removal was a gentle swabbing motion rather than a sharp surgical cutting to separate the urothelium from the smooth muscle. The contractile response and ATP and NO release were measured in intact as well as on swabbed preparations. The removal of the urothelial layer was affirmed microscopically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After the swabbing, the smaller contractions were evoked by electrical as well as by chemical stimulation (50 μM carbachol or 50 μM α, β meATP). Electrical stimulation, carbachol and substance P (5 μM) evoked lower release of ATP in the swabbed strips than in intact strips. Although release of NO evoked by electrical stimulation or substance P was not changed, release of NO evoked by carbachol was significantly less in the swabbed preparations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Since swabbing removes only the urothelium, the presence of the suburothelial layer may explain the difference between our findings and those of others who found an increase in contractility. Evoked release of ATP is reduced in swabbed strips, indicating that ATP derives solely from the urothelium. On the other hand, electrical stimulation and substance P evoke identical degrees of NO release in both intact and swabbed preparations, suggesting that NO can be released from the suburothelium. Conversely, carbachol-induced release of NO is lower in swabbed strips, implying that the cholinergic receptors (muscarinic or nicotinic) are located in the upper layer of the urothelium.</p

The fully differential hadronic production of a Higgs boson via bottom quark fusion at NNLO

The fully differential computation of the hadronic production cross section of a Higgs boson via bottom quarks is presented at NNLO in QCD. Several differential distributions with their corresponding scale uncertainties are presented for the 8 TeV LHC. This is the first application of the method of non-linear mappings for NNLO differential calculations at hadron colliders.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 1 lego plo

Evolution of genes and repeats in the Nimrod superfamily

The recently identified Nimrod superfamily is characterized by the presence of a special type of EGF repeat, the NIM repeat, located right after a typical CCXGY/W amino acid motif. On the basis of structural features, nimrod genes can be divided into three types. The proteins encoded by Draper-type genes have an EMI domain at the N-terminal part and only one copy of the NIM motif, followed by a variable number of EGF-like repeats. The products of Nimrod B-type and Nimrod C-type genes (including the eater gene) have different kinds of N-terminal domains, and lack EGF-like repeats but contain a variable number of NIM repeats. Draper and Nimrod C-type (but not Nimrod B-type) proteins carry a transmembrane domain. Several members of the superfamily were claimed to function as receptors in phagocytosis and/or binding of bacteria, which indicates an important role in the cellular immunity and the elimination of apoptotic cells. In this paper, the evolution of the Nimrod superfamily is studied with various methods on the level of genes and repeats. A hypothesis is presented in which the NIM repeat, along with the EMI domain, emerged by structural reorganizations at the end of an EGF-like repeat chain, suggesting a mechanism for the formation of novel types of repeats. The analyses revealed diverse evolutionary patterns in the sequences containing multiple NIM repeats. Although in the Nimrod B and Nimrod C proteins show characteristics of independent evolution, many internal NIM repeats in Eater sequences seem to have undergone concerted evolution. An analysis of the nimrod genes has been performed using phylogenetic and other methods and an evolutionary scenario of the origin and diversification of the Nimrod superfamily is proposed. Our study presents an intriguing example how the evolution of multigene families may contribute to the complexity of the innate immune response

Using global analysis, partial specifications, and an extensible assertion language for program validation and debugging

We discuss a framework for the application of abstract interpretation as an aid during program development, rather than in the more traditional application of program optimization. Program validation and detection of errors is first performed statically by comparing (partial) specifications written in terms of assertions against information obtained from (global) static analysis of the program. The results of this process are expressed in the user assertion language. Assertions (or parts of assertions) which cannot be checked statically are translated into run-time tests. The framework allows the use of assertions to be optional. It also allows using very general properties in assertions, beyond the predefined set understandable by the static analyzer and including properties defined by user programs. We also report briefly on an implementation of the framework. The resulting tool generates and checks assertions for Prolog, CLP(R), and CHIP/CLP(fd) programs, and integrates compile-time and run-time checking in a uniform way. The tool allows using properties such as types, modes, non-failure, determinacy, and computational cost, and can treat modules separately, performing incremental analysis