Development of a capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of soybean proteins in soybean-rice gluten-free dietary products. Research Article

CE has been applied for the first time to the simultaneous separation of soybean and\ud rice proteins. Treated and untreated capillaries with different effective lengths as well\ud as separation media at different pHs were tested. For that purpose, samples and\ud standard solutions were prepared in 25:75 ACN–water media containing 0.3% v/v\ud acetic acid. The use of an untreated capillary of 50 cm effective length together with an\ud 80 mM borate buffer (pH 8.5) modified with 20% v/v ACN and UV detection at 254 nm\ud were the conditions working the best. These conditions enabled the determination of\ud soybean proteins in gluten-free dietary commercial products elaborated with soybean\ud protein and/or soybean flour and rice flour using the standard additions calibration\ud method. The method was linear up to 26 mg/mL of soybean proteins, the precision\ud (expressed as RSD) was always better than 6%, and recoveries obtained for soybean\ud proteins when spiking commercial products were very close to 100%The authors thank the Ministry of Science and Technology\ud (Spain) for the research project BQU2002–01199 and F. J.\ud Cabello-Murillo for technical assistance. C.G.-R. also\ud thanks the Ministry of Science and Technology for the\ud Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2003–001)

Equity pricing in the mining sector: evidence from NYSE and LSE

The study examines the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) for the mining sector using weekly stock returns from 27 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for the period of December 2008 to December 2010. The results support the use of the CAPM for the allocation of risk to companies. Most companies involved in precious metals (particularly gold), which have a beta value less than unity (Table 1), have been actuated as shelter values during the financial crisis. Values of R2 do not shown very explanatory power of fitted models (R2 < 70 %). Estimated coefficients beta are not sufficient to determine the expected returns on securities but the results of the tests conducted on sample data for the period analysed do not appear to clearly reject the CAP

Capillary liquid-chromatography-ion trap-mass spectrometry methodology for the simultaneous quantification of four angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitory peptides in Prunus seed hydrolysates

Prunus genus fruit seeds are sources of highly angiotensin-l-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides. The presence of peptides IYSPH, IYTPH, IFSPR, and VAIP seems to be related to this activity but no previous work has demonstrated the direct relationship between the concentration of these peptides and the antihypertensive activity of hydrolysates. This work describes the development of a method for the quantification of these peptides in Prunus seeds hydrolysates based on capillary liquid chromatography-IT-MS/MS. The analytical characteristics of the method were evaluated through the study of the linearity, LOD, LOQ presence of matrix interferences, precision, and recovery. The developed methodology was applied to the determination of the four peptides in seed hydrolysates from different Prunus genus fruits: peaches (7 varieties), plums (2 varieties), nectarines (3 varieties), apricots (2 varieties), cherry, and paraguayo. Peaches and plums seed hydrolysates yielded the highest concentrations of these peptides while paraguayo one showed the lowest concentrations. A high correlation between peptides concentrations was demonstrated suggesting that the four peptides could be released from the same seed proteins

Development and Assessment of the Competence Creativity Applied to Technical Drawing

The results obtained after incorporating the competence “creativity” to the subject Technical Drawing of the first course of the Degree in Forestry, Technical University of Madrid, are presented in this study.At first, learning activities which could serve two functions at the same time -developing students’ creativity and developing other specific competences of the subject- were considered. Besides, changes in the assessment procedure were made and a method which analyzes two aspects of the assessment of the competence creativity was established. On the one hand, the products are evaluated by analyzing the outcomes obtained by students in the essays suggested and by establishing a parameter to assess the creativity expressed in those essays. On the other, an assessment of the student is directly carried out through a psychometric test which has been previously chosen by the team.Moreover, these results can be applied to similar or could be of general applicatio

HPLC-Q-TOF-MS identification of antioxidant and antihypertensive peptides recovered from cherry (Prunus Cerasus L.) subproducts

The processing of fruits, such as cherries, is characterized by generating a lot of waste material such as fruit stones, skins, etc. To contribute to environmental sustainability, it is necessary to recover these residues. Cherry stones contain seeds with a significant amount of proteins that are underused and undervalued. The aim of this work was to extract cherry seed proteins, to evaluate the presence of bioactive peptides, and to identify them by mass spectrometry. The digestion of cherry seed proteins was optimized, and three different enzymes were employed: Alcalase, Thermolysin, and Flavourzyme. Peptide extracts obtained by the digestion of the cherry seed protein isolate with Alcalase and Thermolysin yielded the highest antioxidant and antihypertensive capacities. Ultrafiltration of hydrolysates allowed obtaining fractions with high antioxidant and antihypertensive capabilities. HPLC-Q-TOF-MS together with bioinformatics tools enabled one to identify peptides in these fractions

GEN4MAST: A Tool for the Evaluation of Real-Time Techniques Using a Supercomputer

REACTION 2014. 3rd International Workshop on Real-time and Distributed Computing in Emerging Applications. Rome, Italy. December 2nd, 2014.The constant development of new approaches in real-time systems makes it necessary to create tools or methods to perform their evaluations in an efficient way. It is not uncommon for these evaluations to be constrained by the processing power of current personal computers. Thus, it is still a challenging issue to know whether a specific technique could perform better than another one, or the improvement remains invariable in all circumstances. In this paper we present the GEN4MAST tool, which can take advantage of the performance of a supercomputer to execute longer evaluations that wouldn’t be possible in a common computer. GEN4MAST is built around the widely used MAST tool, automating the whole process of distributed systems generation, execution of the requested analysis or optimization techniques, and the processing of the results. GEN4MAST integrates several generation methods to create realistic workloads. We show that the different methods can have a great impact on the results of distributed systems.This work has been funded in part by the Spanish Government and FEDER funds under grant number TIN2011-28567-C03-02 (HI-PARTES)

Accommodative and binocular disorders in preteens with computer vision syndrome: a cross-sectional study

To assess computer vision syndrome (CVS) in a preteen population through an adult-validated CVS questionnaire and to evaluate how digital devices affect accommodative and binocular vision, we enrolled 309 preteens in this cross-sectional study. An adult-validated CVS questionnaire adapted to preteens was used for all subjects. Visual acuity testing, unilateral and alternate cover tests, and tests for accommodative and vergence responses were performed for all preteens. The mean age was 10.75 ± 0.67 (10–12) years. Subjects were divided into two groups: the mild CVS group with a mean CVS score ≤2 and the severe CVS group with a mean CVS score >2. Between the mild and severe CVS groups, statistically significant differences were found in near point of convergence break and recovery (P = 0.03 and P = 0.02, respectively) and distance negative fusional vergence break and recovery (P = 0.02 and P < 0.01, respectively). More children with severe CVS developed vergence disorders than those with mild CVS. Optometric clinical screening assessments could reduce ocular symptomatology and prevent long-term effects. However, poor optometric findings might have occurred first, and the poor convergence skills resulted in the symptoms reported while using devices

Un modelo para la descripción de las transiciones de fases en una barra de acero

El acero es una aleación de hierro y carbono al que se pueden unir una serie de elementos aleantes (Si, Mn, Ni, Cr, Al,. . . ). La cantidad de cada uno de ellos determina las propiedades del material y, por tanto, sus usos y aplicaciones industriales. En los aceros hipoeutectoides (con un nivel de C inferior al 0’77 %), se aprecia un cambio significativo en su estructura cristalina en un rango de temperaturas entre los 727◦C y los 912◦C, aproximadamente. A partir de este proceso de austenización, tras un enfriamiento “brusco” aparecen nuevas fases: perlita, ferrita, bainita y, fundamentalmente, martensita. Las propiedades físicas asociadas a cada una de ellas resultan cualitativamente diferentes: la martensita presenta un nivel de dureza superior a las demás fases pero tiene el inconveniente de ser frágil; por contra, la perlita es dúctil. En este trabajo nos centramos en el estudio de un modelo que describe las transiciones de fases en el acero (concretamente, para los aceros 42CrMo4 y SAE 1145). Se trata de un sistema de ecuaciones diferenciales ordinarias en las que la temperatura será considerada inicialmente un dato, de acuerdo a un perfil de temperatura previamente fijado

Dietary Patterns and Their Association with Body Composition and Cardiometabolic Markers in Children and Adolescents: Genobox Cohort

Diet is a key factor for obesity development; however, limited data are available on dietary cluster analysis in children with obesity. We aimed to assess the associations between dietary patterns and obesity and several cardiometabolic markers. Anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance, blood pressure and plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation and endothelial damage were determined in 674 Caucasian children, aged 5–16, with normal or excess weight. Using a food frequency questionnaire and cluster analysis, two consistent dietary patterns were shown, labeled as health conscious (HC) and sweet and processed (SP). The HC pattern included a greater proportion of participants with overweight/obesity than the SP cluster (80.1% vs. 63.8%). However, children with obesity within the HC cluster, showed less abdominal fat, through waist to hip (0.93 vs. 0.94) and waist to height (0.61 vs. 0.63) indexes (p < 0.01). Univariate general models showed several additional di erences in cardiometabolic risk biomarkers in the global and stratified analyses, with a healthier profile being observed mainly in the HC cluster. However, multivariate models questioned these findings and pointed out the need for further studies in this field. Anyhow, our findings support the benefits of a healthy diet and highlight the importance of dietary patterns in the cardiometabolic risk assessment of children with overweight/obesity, beyond weight control.Plan Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica, Desarrollo e Innovacion Tecnologica (I+D+I), Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Health Research Funding (FONDOS FEDER) PI05/1968 PI11/01425 PI11/02042 PI11/02059 PI16/01301 PI16/01205 PI1600871CIBEROBN Network CB15/00131 CB15/00043Juan de la Cierva-Formacion from the Spanish Government FJCI-2017-34967 FJCI-2014-19795Vice-Rectorate of Research and Transfer of the University of Granada, Spai

Total Hydrolysis of a New Imidazolidine Induced by ZnII

The 18th International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry session General Organic Synthesis2,2´-(2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)imidazolidin-1,3-diyl)diethanol(H3L) was obtained by condensation between 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde and N,N'-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine. Its potential ability as NNOOO donor towards ZnII was tested. This study shows that zinc(II) mediates the fast hydrolysis of H3L, yielding the free aldehyde and amine. This latter was crystallographically characterised, showing a supramolecular 1D architecture based on hydrogen bond interaction