Interactions between Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) Protein and Phenolics and In Vitro Gastrointestinal Digestibility

In this study, we investigated the formation of protein–phenolic complexes from dephenolized hazelnut meal protein isolates (dHPI) and hazelnut skin phenolic extracts (HSE) and their effects on the bioaccessibility of both hazelnut proteins and phenolics. The dHPI–HSE complexes were of considerable size and were dependent on HSE concentration due to aggregation. Although catechin was the main component of HSE, it did not cause aggregation, except for a slight rise in particle size. According to fluorescence quenching, the hazelnut protein–phenolic extract complex had a linear Stern–Volmer plot expressing static quenching between 0–0.5 mM concentration; the interaction was mainly dependent on hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces (ΔH < 0 and ΔS < 0), and the reaction was spontaneous (ΔG < 0). According to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results, higher phenolic extract concentration caused an increase in irregular structures in hazelnut protein, while the lowest catechin and phenolic concentration altered the regular structure. Skin extracts did not alter the digestibility of dephenolized proteins, but dephenolization reduced the degree of hydrolysis by pancreatin. The formation of the protein–phenolic complex had a beneficial effect on the bioaccessibility of hazelnut skin phenols, predominantly those on the galloylated form of the catechins, such as gallocatechin gallate and epigallocatechin gallate. Thus, the bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity analysis results showed that protein–phenolic complexes obtained from hazelnut meal and skin may promote the transition of phenolic compounds from the gastrointestinal tract without degradation

Ultrafast electron/energy transfer and intersystem crossing mechanisms in bodipy-porphyrin compounds

Meso-substituted borondipyrromethene (BODIPY)-porphyrin compounds that include free base porphyrin with two different numbers of BODIPY groups (BDP-TTP and 3BDP-TTP) were designed and synthesized to analyze intramolecular energy transfer mechanisms of meso-substituted BODIPY-porphyrin dyads and the effect of the different numbers of BODIPY groups connected to free-base porphyrin on the energy transfer mechanism. Absorption spectra of BODIPY-porphyrin conjugates showed wide absorption features in the visible region, and that is highly valuable to increase light-harvesting efficiency. Fluorescence spectra of the studied compounds proved that BODIPY emission intensity decreased upon the photoexcitation of the BODIPY core, due to the energy transfer from BODIPY unit to porphyrin. In addition, ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy measurements indicated that the energy transfer of the 3BDP-TTP compound (about 3 ps) is faster than the BDP-TTP compound (about 22 ps). Since the BODIPY core directly binds to the porphyrin unit, rapid energy transfer was seen for both compounds. Thus, the energy transfer rate increased with an increasing number of BODIPY moiety connected to free-base porphyrin

The Mediterranean Island Wetlands (MedIsWet) inventory: strengths and shortfalls of the currently available floristic data

MedIsWet (Conservation of the island wetlands of the Mediterranean Basin) is a MAVA funded project which aims at investigating all seasonal or permanent island wetlands both natural and artificial, with a minimum extent of 0.1 hectares. More than 16,000 wetlands from almost all the Mediterranean, including islands from France, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Spain were mapped. Over 2,500 of them were inventoried in the field and more than 500 scientific contributions catalogued. In total, more than 35,000 plant occurrences were uploaded, in a standardised and comparable way, on the national open-source web portals. These can be related to the recorded threats, uses and other spatially retrievable information. Here, we show strengths and shortfalls of the already available information about the floristic records. Although further improvements are needed, we discuss how these data can be used for research and policy actions and to develop conservation projects

Defect-mediated ferromagnetism in ZnO:Mn nanorods

In this work, the structural, chemical and magnetic properties of ZnO:Mn nanorods were investigated. Firstly, well-aligned ZnO nanorods with their long axis parallel to the crystalline c-axis were successfully grown by the vapor phase transport technique on Si substrates coated with a ZnO buffer layer. Mn metal was then diffused into these nanorods at different temperatures in vacuum. From SEM results, ZnO:Mn nanorods were observed to have diameters of ~100 nm and lengths of 4 µm. XPS analysis showed that the Mn dopant substituted into the ZnO matrix with a valence state of +2. Magnetic measurements performed at room temperature revealed that undoped ZnO nanorods exhibit ferromagnetic behavior which may be related to oxygen vacancy defect-mediated d0 ferromagnetism. ZnO:Mn samples were seen to show an excess room temperature ferromagnetism that is attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancy defects forming bound magnetic polarons involving Mn

Absolute dimensions of solar-type eclipsing binaries : NY Hya: a test for magnetic stellar evolution models

Funding: Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871149. N.P.’s work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the research grants UIDB/04434/2020 and UIDP/04434/2020. U.G.J. acknowledges funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme grant no. NNF19OC0057374 and from the European Union H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019 under Grant no. 860470 (CHAMELEON). J.V. acknowledges support from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (GACR 22-34467S). J.C.M. acknowledges financial support by Spanish grants PID2021-125627OBC31 funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, PGC2018-098153-B-C33 funded by MCIU/AEI, by the programme Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2020-001058-M, and by the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. P.L.P. was partly funded by Programa de Iniciación en Investigación-Universidad de Antofagasta. INI-17-03.The binary star NY Hya is a bright, detached, double-lined eclipsing system with an orbital period of just under five days with two components each nearly identical to the Sun and located in the solar neighbourhood. The objective of this study is to test and confront various stellar evolution models for solar-type stars based on accurate measurements of stellar mass and radius. We present new ground-based spectroscopic and photometric as well as high-precision space-based photometric and astrometric data from which we derive orbital as well as physical properties of the components via the method of least-squares minimisation based on a standard binary model valid for two detached components. Classic statistical techniques were invoked to test the significance of model parameters. Additional empirical evidence was compiled from the public domain; the derived system properties were compared with archival broad-band photometry data enabling a measurement of the system's spectral energy distribution that allowed an independent estimate of stellar properties. We also utilised semi-empirical calibration methods to derive atmospheric properties from Str\"{o}mgren photometry and related colour indices. Data was used to confront the observed physical properties with classic and magnetic stellar evolution models.Peer reviewe