836 research outputs found

    Effects of Aqueous Extract of Unpolished Dark Purple Glutinous Rice, Var Luem Pua, on ROS in SK-N-SH Cells and Scopolamine-induced Memory Deficit in Mice

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    Purpose: To investigate the antioxidative and memory-enhancing effects of aqueous extract of unpolished Thai rice strain of Luem Pua (LP) in SK-N-SH cells and scopolamine-induced memory deficit in mice.Methods: In SK-N-SH cells, viability was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay while intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were quantified after pretreatment with LP (0, 200, 600 and 1000 μg/mL) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In mice, memory was impaired by injecting 2 mg/kg/day scopolamine, for 18 consecutive days. On each day, mice were also force-fed with LP 0, 90 or 180 mg/kg. On the last 5 days of treatment, memory was tested using passive avoidance (PA) and Morris water maze (MWM) tests.Results: At concentration up to 1,000 μg/mL LP had no effect on SK-N-SH cell viability and significantly reduce intracellular ROS levels of SK-N-SH cells with or without H2O2. Mice that received 90 or 180 mg/kg LP showed a significant decrease in latency time in PA test and an increase in escape latency time in MWM test. These  data suggest that LP antagonizes the effect of scopolamine on memory.Conclusion: LP extract has anti-oxidative and memory-enhancing effects in cell culture and mice. The rice may be a nutraceutical helpful for promoting brain health. Keywords: Dark purple rice, Leum Pua rice, Reactive oxygen species, Memory, Scopolamine, Cell cultur

    The Anatomy of a Grid portal

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    In this paper we introduce a new way to deal with Grid portals referring to our implementation. L-GRID is a light portal to access the EGEE/EGI Grid infrastructure via Web, allowing users to submit their jobs from a common Web browser in a few minutes, without any knowledge about the Grid infrastructure. It provides the control over the complete lifecycle of a Grid Job, from its submission and status monitoring, to the output retrieval. The system, implemented as client-server architecture, is based on the Globus Grid middleware. The client side application is based on a java applet; the server relies on a Globus User Interface. There is no need of user registration on the server side, and the user needs only his own X.509 personal certificate. The system is user-friendly, secure (it uses SSL protocol, mechanism for dynamic delegation and identity creation in public key infrastructures), highly customizable, open source, and easy to install. The X.509 personal certificate does not get out from the local machine. It allows to reduce the time spent for the job submission, granting at the same time a higher efficiency and a better security level in proxy delegation and management.Comment: 6 page

    Influence Of Surface Treatments On Enamel Susceptibility To Staining By Cigarette Smoke.

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    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of remineralizing agents, including artificial saliva, neutral fluoride, and casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP), on the susceptibility of bleached enamel to staining by cigarette smoke. Fifty bovine enamel blocks were randomly divided into five groups (n = 10): G1- bleaching; G2- bleaching and immersion in artificial saliva; G3- bleaching and application of CPP-ACP; G4- bleaching and application of neutral fluoride; and G5- untreated (Control). Teeth were bleached with 35% hydrogen peroxide and treated with the appropriate remineralizing agent. After treatment, all groups were exposed to cigarette smoke. Enamel color measurements were performed at three different times: before treatment (T1), after treatment (bleaching and remineralizing agent) (T2), and after staining (T3), by using the CIE Lab method with a spectrophotometer. The data coordinate L* was evaluated by analysis of repeated-measures PROC MIXED and Tukey-Kramer's test, and the ΔE values were submitted to one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). The G1 group did not show any statistically significant difference for L* values between times T1 and T2. The G4 and G5 groups showed lower L* values at T3 compared to T2. No significant differences between the groups were observed for ΔE (after treatment and staining). However, G4 showed a clinically apparent color change. Treatment of bleached enamel with neutral fluoride can contribute to the increased staining of enamel due to cigarette smoke. Key words:Spectrophotometer, remineralizing agents, bleaching.5e163-

    BEAM TESTS OF THE 12 MHz RFQ RIB INJECTOR FOR ATLAS

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    Abstract Beam tests of the ANL 12 MHz Radio-Frequency Quadruple (RFQ), designed for use as the initial element of an injector system for radioactive beams into the existing ATLAS accelerators, are in progress. Recent highvoltage tests of the RFQ without beam achieved the design intervane voltage of 100 kV CW,enabling beam tests with A/q as large as 132 using beams from the ANI., Physics Division 4 MV Dynamitron accelerator facility. Although the RFQ was designed for bunched beams, initial tests have been performed with unbunched beams. Experiments with stable, unbunched beams of singlycharged '32Xeand %r measured the output beam energy distribution as a function of the RFQ operating voltage. The observed energies are in excellent agreement with numerical beam simulations

    Environmental and financial implications of ethanol as a bioethylene feedstock versus as a transportation fuel

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    Bulk chemicals production from biomass may compete with biofuels for low-cost and sustainable biomass sources. Understanding how alternative uses of biomass compare in terms of financial and environmental parameters is therefore necessary to help ensure that efficient uses of resources are encouraged by policy and undertaken by industry. In this paper, we compare the environmental and financial performance of using ethanol as a feedstock for bioethylene production or as a transport fuel in the US life cycle-based models are developed to isolate the relative impacts of these two ethanol uses and generate results that are applicable irrespective of ethanol production pathway. Ethanol use as a feedstock for bioethylene production or as a transport fuel leads to comparable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil energy consumption reductions relative to their counterparts produced from fossil sources. By displacing gasoline use in vehicles, use of ethanol as a transport fuel is six times more effective in reducing petroleum energy use on a life cycle basis. In contrast, bioethylene predominately avoids consumption of natural gas. Considering 2013 US ethanol and ethylene market prices, our analysis shows that bioethylene is financially viable only if significant price premiums are realized over conventional ethylene, from 35% to 65% depending on the scale of bioethylene production considered (80 000 t yr−1 to 240 000 t yr−1). Ethanol use as a transportation fuel is therefore the preferred pathway considering financial,GHGemissions, and petroleum energy use metrics, although bioethylene production could have strategic value if demand-side limitations of ethanol transport fuel markets are reached

    Synthetic antibodies against BRIL as universal fiducial marks for single-particle cryoEM structure determination of membrane proteins

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    We propose the concept of universal fiducials based on a set of pre-made semi-synthetic antibodies (sABs) generated by customized phage display selections against the fusion protein BRIL, an engineered variant of apocytochrome b562a. These sABs can bind to BRIL fused either into the loops or termini of different GPCRs, ion channels, receptors and transporters without disrupting their structure. A crystal structure of BRIL in complex with an affinity-matured sAB (BAG2) that bound to all systems tested delineates the footprint of interaction. Negative stain and cryoEM data of several examples of BRIL-membrane protein chimera highlight the effectiveness of the sABs as universal fiducial marks. Taken together with a cryoEM structure of sAB bound human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, this work demonstrates that these anti-BRIL sABs can greatly enhance the particle properties leading to improved cryoEM outcomes, especially for challenging membrane proteins

    Environmental and financial performance of mechanical recycling of carbon fibre reinforced polymers and comparison with conventional disposal routes

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    Recovering value from carbon fibre reinforced polymers waste can help to address the high cost and environmental burden of producing carbon fibres, but there is limited understanding of the cost and environmental implications of potential recycling technologies. The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and financial viability of mechanical recycling of carbon fibre composite waste. Life cycle costing and environmental assessment models are developed to quantify the financial and environmental impacts of alternative composite waste treatment routes, comparing landfilling, incineration with energy recovery, and mechanical recycling in a UK context. Current Landfill Tax results in incineration becoming the lowest cost composite waste treatment option; however, incineration is associated with high greenhouse gas emissions as carbon released from composite waste during combustion exceeds CO2 emissions savings from displacing UK electricity and/or heat generation, resulting in a net greenhouse gas emissions source. Mechanical recycling and fibre reuse to displace virgin glass fibre can provide the greatest greenhouse gas emissions reductions of the treatment routes considered (−378 kg CO2 eq./t composite waste), provided residual recyclates are landfilled rather than incinerated. However, this pathway is found to be unfeasible due to its high cost, which exceeds £2500/t composite waste ($3750/t composite waste). The financial performance of mechanical recycling is impaired by the high costs of dismantling and recycling processes; low carbon fibre recovery rate; and low value of likely markets. To be viable, carbon fibre recycling processes must achieve near-100% fibre recover rates and minimise the degradation of fibre mechanical properties to enable higher value applications (e.g., virgin carbon fibre displacement). On-going development of carbon fibre recovery technologies and composite manufacturing techniques using recycled carbon fibres leading to improved material properties is therefore critical to ensuring financial viability and environmental benefit of carbon fibre reinforced polymer recycling
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