Diabet. Med. 27, 1178–1187 (2010)
Aims Beradinelli–Seip congenital generalized lipodystrophy is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by near‐complete absence of adipose tissue, ...Herculean appearance, insulin resistance, hypoleptinaemia and diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of pioglitazone on the expression of genes involved in adipogenesis in fibroblasts from a patient with this condition due to a seipin mutation.
Methods Primary cultures of fibroblasts from the skin of the patient were obtained. Fibroblasts were treated with classic adipose differentiation medium, with and without pioglitazone. Several adipogenes were evaluated by real‐time reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Intracellular localization of prelamin A was studied by immunofluorescence microscopy.
Results The expression of the adipogenic genes PPARG, LPL, LEP and SLC2A4 was reduced in lipodystrophic fibroblasts, while treatment with pioglitazone increased the expression of these genes. Moreover, and unexpectedly, we found an accumulation of farnesylated prelamin A in lipodystrophic fibroblasts.
Conclusions The process of adipocyte differentiation is compromised in patients with Beradinelli‐Seip congenital lipodystrophy owing to diminished expression of the regulatory genes involved, which pioglitazone treatment partially rescues. Prelamin A accumulation establishes a link with other types of familial lipodystrophies, as familial partial lipodystrophy.
This study investigated the effects of microwave radiation on the PVN of the hypothalamus, extracted from rat brains. Expression of c-Fos was used to study the pattern of cellular activation in rats ...exposed once or repeatedly (ten times in 2 weeks) to 2.45 GHz radiation in a GTEM cell. The power intensities used were 3 and 12 W and the Finite Difference Time Domain calculation was used to determine the specific absorption rate (SAR). High SAR triggered an increase of the c-Fos marker 90 min or 24 h after radiation, and low SAR resulted in c-Fos counts higher than in control rats after 24 h. Repeated irradiation at 3 W increased cellular activation of PVN by more than 100% compared to animals subjected to acute irradiation and to repeated non-radiated repeated session control animals. The results suggest that PVN is sensitive to 2.45 GHz microwave radiation at non-thermal SAR levels.
The Production and Distributed Analysis (PanDA) system has been developed to meet ATLAS production and analysis requirements for a data-driven workload management system capable of operating at the ...Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data processing scale. Heterogeneous resources used by the ATLAS experiment are distributed worldwide at hundreds of sites, thousands of physicists analyse the data remotely, the volume of processed data is beyond the exabyte scale, dozens of scientific applications are supported, while data processing requires more than a few billion hours of computing usage per year. PanDA performed very well over the last decade including the LHC Run 1 data taking period. However, it was decided to upgrade the whole system concurrently with the LHC's first long shutdown in order to cope with rapidly changing computing infrastructure. After two years of reengineering efforts, PanDA has embedded capabilities for fully dynamic and flexible workload management. The static batch job paradigm was discarded in favor of a more automated and scalable model. Workloads are dynamically tailored for optimal usage of resources, with the brokerage taking network traffic and forecasts into account. Computing resources are partitioned based on dynamic knowledge of their status and characteristics. The pilot has been re-factored around a plugin structure for easier development and deployment. Bookkeeping is handled with both coarse and fine granularities for efficient utilization of pledged or opportunistic resources. An in-house security mechanism authenticates the pilot and data management services in off-grid environments such as volunteer computing and private local clusters. The PanDA monitor has been extensively optimized for performance and extended with analytics to provide aggregated summaries of the system as well as drill-down to operational details. There are as well many other challenges planned or recently implemented, and adoption by non-LHC experiments such as bioinformatics groups successfully running Paleomix (microbial genome and metagenomes) payload on supercomputers. In this paper we will focus on the new and planned features that are most important to the next decade of distributed computing workload management.
Rigid polyurethane (RPU) foams have been synthesized using lignin-based polyols obtained by oxypropylation of four distinct lignins (Alcell, Indulin AT, Curan 27-11P, and Sarkanda). Polyol ...formulations with two lignin/propylene oxide/catalyst content (L/PO/C) ratios were chosen (30/70/2 and 20/80/5). RPU foams have been prepared with a polyol component that incorporates the lignin-based one at contents ranging from 25 to 100%. A 100% commercial polyol-based (Lupranol® 3323) RPU foam was also prepared and used as the reference. RPU foams were characterized in terms of density, compressive modulus, and conductivity. Cell morphology and size estimation were accessed by scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, biodegradation of the Alcell- and Indulin AT-based foams was evaluated using respirometry tests in liquid and solid media. The Alcell- and Indulin AT-based polyols together with the 20/80/5 Curan 27-11P-based one led to RPU foams with properties quite similar to those of the reference homolog. Biodegradation seems to be, particularly, favored if using Indulin AT-based polyols mixed with Lupranol® 3323.
Release of Thyme Oil from Polylactide Microcapsules Martins, Isabel M; Rodrigues, Sofia N; Barreiro, Maria F ...
Industrial & engineering chemistry research,
12/2011, Letnik:
50, Številka:
24
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Microencapsulation reveals numerous advantages over conventional applications of flavors or fragrances. Thus, the goal of this work was to study the release rate of thyme oil through the polylactide ...(PLA) microcapsules prepared by coacervation. Microcapsules have spherical shape and a mean particle size of 36 μm. The results show that the release of thymol is faster in the first hour and remains almost constant in the next days. Moreover, it was observed that the release of the polar compounds of thyme oil is faster than the apolar ones. The diffusion coefficient in the first hour of release was 1.39 × 10–15 m2/s for thymol and 5.21 × 10–17 m2/s for p-cymene. For a period of 5 days, diffusion coefficients of 3.81 × 10–17 m2/s for thymol and 1.43 × 10–18 m2/s for cymene were determined. The diffusion of thyme oil from the PLA cross-linked membrane was dependent on the microcapsules morphological characteristics.
In this study, for the first time, red LED light radiation was applied to the fermentation process of table olives using the Negrinha de Freixo variety. Photostimulation using LED light emission ...(630 ± 10 nm) is proposed to shorten and speed up this stage and reduce time to market. Several physical-chemical characteristics and microorganisms (total microbial count of mesophilic aerobic, molds, yeasts, and lactic acid bacteria) and their sequence during fermentation were monitored. The fermentation occurred for 122 days, with two irradiation periods for red LED light. The nutritional composition and sensory analysis were performed at the end of the process. Fermentation under red LED light increased the viable yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) cell counts and decreased the total phenolics in olives. Even though significant differences were observed in some color parameters, the hue values were of the same order of magnitude and similar for both samples. Furthermore, the red LED light did not play a relevant change in the texture profile, preventing the softening of the fruit pulp. Similarly, LED light did not modify the existing type of microflora but increased species abundance, resulting in desirable properties and activities. The species identified were yeasts - Candida boidinii, Pichia membranifaciens, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and bacteria - Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides, being the fermentative process dominated by S. cerevisiae and L. plantarum. At the end of fermentation (122 days), the irradiated olives showed less bitterness and acidity, higher hardness, and lower negative sensory attributes than non-irradiated. Thus, the results of this study indicate that red LED light application can be an innovative technology for table olives production.
•Red LED light is an innovative technology to be applied to table olives.•Red LED light promoted a slightly faster decrease in the pH to the safe value.•Red LED light did not modify the type of microflora present in fermentation.•Red LED light was able to increase the abundance of desirable species.•The irradiated fruits were classified in the extra category.
Operations for sorting mushrooms at the industrial level usually generate large amounts of bio-residues not conforming to strict morphological criteria for commercial purposes, even though their ...biological content is not compromised. In this context, the present work aimed at evaluating the potential for reutilizing industrially discarded Agaricus blazei Murill (ABM). Thus, the content of essential nutrients and the chemical composition were determined, and MTT and LDH assays were used to evaluate the viability and cell death of Caco-2 and HT29 cell lines of an ethanolic extract prepared from ABM (preliminary safety tests for nutraceutical applications). The extract was incorporated into a semi-solid base cosmetic cream and cell viability effects of the extract, and of the final cream formulation, on a keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were studied (preliminary safety tests for cosmeceutical applications). Essential nutrients, such as proteins and carbohydrates, and a low fat content were determined for ABM. Twenty-two fatty acids were detected, with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (∼53%) being the most abundant fraction. The cell viabilities of Caco-2 and HT29 cells were maintained up to 100 μg mL-1. After incorporation into the base cream, a formulation with a pale yellow colour and favourable pH was obtained. The cell viability of HaCaT cells in the presence of the extract and the final cream formulation was maintained in a concentration dependent manner, which indicates the safety of this extract for cosmeceutical applications. The results suggest that ABM residues can be used as an inexpensive and sustainable source of nutraceutical and cosmeceutical ingredients.
Phosphate rock (PR) is the main source of phosphorous used in fertilizers for Colombian soils. In many regions of Colombia, PR is applied directly to the soil, which affects eutrophication problems ...and phosphorus losses due to runoff, because to the low solubility of phosphorus in this georesource. In this article, phosphate rock samples from Colombia were treated with ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid disodium salt dihydrate (2Na-EDTA) at different concentrations. PR obtained from the Media Luna Mine, located in Aipe, Huila (Colombia), was characterized using Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Carbonate fluorapatite Ca9.74(PO4)5.45F2.05(CO3)0.53 (0.5%–61.5 %), hydroxyapatite - Ca5(PO4)3OH (26.6 %–84.0 %) and quartz- SiO2 (13.2 %) were the minerals found in the largest composition in the two samples of PR. The PR was crushed to powder (~125 μm) and it was treated with disodium EDTA dihydrate solutions at different concentrations 0.0025–0.1000 M. Water-soluble phosphate was determined by UV–Vis spectrophotometry based on the ASTM -4500P method. The modified absolute solubility index (ASI*) was calculated for each EDTA treatment used in the phosphate rock, considering the total phosphorus solubilized in H2SO4 (40 % v/v) at 30 °C. The statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences between the treatments used, where (16.87 %) was presented highest ASI* for the treatment with 2Na-EDTA (0.353 M).
•Colombia has important phosphate rock reserves for production of phosphorous in fertilizers.•Eutrophication problems and phosphorus losses due to runoff can be due to the low solubility of phosphorus.•The partial solubilisation of the phosphate rock with EDTA disodium is an alternative to conventional processes.•Application of phosphate rock in field can extend to the solubilisation of fixed phosphates in the soil.
The objective of this work is to prepare microcapsules of polylactide-containing thyme oil by coacervation using a variety of nonionic surfactants with different hydrophilic−lipophilic balance (HLB) ...values and evaluate the encapsulation efficiency of polar and apolar compounds of oil. Thus, Tween 20, Tween 80, Tergitol 15-S-9, and a combination of Tergitol 15-S-9 with Span 85 have been used. The HLB value was comprised between 11 and 16.5. For all the studied cases, microcapsules are spherical in shape and have bimodal particle size distribution with mean size between 30 and 40 μm. The amount of encapsulated thyme oil reaches a maximum of 65% for Tergitol 15-S-9, a polyglycol ether surfactant with a HLB value of 13.3. The results confirm the dependence of the encapsulation efficiency as result of the hydrophobic properties of the surfactants. Moreover, it was confirmed a preferential encapsulation of apolar compounds of thyme oil in detriment of polar ones.
•Two bio-based polyols were evaluated in the replacement of a petrochemical polyol in rigid polyurethane foam formulations.•Bio-polyols lead to a reduction of the average cell cross-sectional area of ...foams.•The introduction of lignin-based polyols to polyurethane systems increases their reactivity.•The bio-polyols have not significant effect on thermal stability of bio-foams.
Nowadays, a large number of polyurethane (PU) system modifications relies on the use of different bio-polyols. In this context, two bio-based polyols, one synthesized from lignin and one from rapeseed oil were evaluated in the replacement of a petrochemical polyol at an amount of 10–30 wt.% in rigid polyurethane foam formulations (RPU). The lignin-based polyol was produced by oxypropylation from an organosolv lignin (ALCELL) and the rapeseed oil-based one prepared by a two-step method of epoxidation followed by oxirane ring opening with diethylene glycol. The replacement of the petrochemical polyol with the lignin bio-polyol increased the reactivity of the reactive mixtures, while the rapeseed oil bio-polyol gave the opposite effect. This was confirmed by the respective changes observed in the dielectric polarization of the reactive mixtures together with the maximum temperature achieved in the foam core during the foaming process. The foams modified with the tested bio-polyols had both lower apparent density (40–45 kg/m3) and closed cell content (86–89%), comparatively with a reference foam. The replacement of petrochemical polyol with the bio-polyols up to 30 wt% caused, in the modified foams, a slight decrease of the compressive strength. Moreover, the introduction of the bio-polyols into PU formulations generally did not influence the thermal conductivity coefficient that was around 23 mW/m·K for the obtained materials.
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