Phytic acid and Fe and Zn concentration in lentil (Lens culinaris L.) seeds is influenced by temperature during seed filling period

Phytic acid (PA), found in cereal and legume staple foods, is considered an antinutrient for iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). Amongst numerous factors, temperature has a substantial effect on PA synthesis in seeds of legumes. PA, Fe, and Zn concentrations were determined for mature seeds of eleven lentil genotypes grown under simulated long term temperature regimes representative of Saskatoon, Canada (decreasing temperatures) and Lucknow, India (increasing temperatures). PA and Zn concentrations in lentil seeds were significantly higher in the rising temperature regime (8.8 mg/g and 69 mg/kg, respectively) than in the decreasing temperature regime (6.7 mg/g and 61 mg/kg, respectively). Fe concentrations followed the same trend (116 vs. 113 mg/kg). The cooler temperatures of temperate summers might be an important factor in the production of seeds with lower PA concentrations. These results are relevant to the development of biofortification strategies aimed at lowering the PA content in staple crops.     

Zur Theorie der Bewegung schwimmender Tiere

Ohne Zusammenfassung Schlu? des Aufsatzes aus Heft 6 (1965) S. 192/97.     

Low-temperature solvent fractionation of corn oil and calculation of its glyceride structure

Summary Corn oil was subjected to a low-temperature solventfractionation process and separated into 19 glyceride fractions; the glyceride structures of the fractions were calculated and added to obtain the glyceride structure of the oil. The experimentally obtained glyceride structure was compared to the structures calculated according to the mono-acid triglyceride, random, even, and partial random schemes and was found to agree most closely with the partial random system. The generous financial assistance of the Corn Products Refining Company, Argo, Illinois, is gratefully acknowledged. Contribution from the Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh.     

The isolation of sucrose from tung kernels

Summary A non-reducing disaccharide has been isolated from the kernels of tung (Aleurites fordi Hemsl.) and identified as sucrose.     

Design of fuzzy expert system for microarray data classification using a novel Genetic Swarm Algorithm

Knowledge gained through classification of microarray gene expression data is increasingly important as they are useful for phenotype classification of diseases. Different from black box methods, fuzzy expert system can produce interpretable classifier with knowledge expressed in terms of if-then rules and membership function. This paper proposes a novel Genetic Swarm Algorithm (GSA) for obtaining near optimal rule set and membership function tuning. Advanced and problem specific genetic operators are proposed to improve the convergence of GSA and classification accuracy. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated using six gene expression data sets. From the simulation study it is found that the proposed approach generated a compact fuzzy system with high classification accuracy for all the data sets when compared with other approaches.     

Comparison of alteplase (tissue plasminogen activator) high‐dose vs. low‐dose protocol in restoring hemodialysis catheter function: The ALTE‐DOSE study

Hemodialysis catheter (HDC) dysfunction due to thrombosis is common, and dysfunction incidence can reach up to 50% within 1 year of use. Although administration of intraluminal alteplase (tissue plasminogen activator [tPA]) is the standard of practice to pharmacologically restore HDC function, there are no evidence‐based guidelines concerning the optimal tPA dose. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of 1.0‐mg vs. 2.0‐mg tPA dwell protocols in restoring the HDC function in thrombotic dysfunctional catheters. A retrospective, single‐center study was conducted on two independent cohorts of patients; the first (n = 129) received 2.0 mg tPA/catheter lumen, while the second (n = 108) received 1.0 mg tPA/catheter lumen. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to compare the catheter survival time between patients who received 1.0 mg tPA and those who received 2.0 mg tPA. Catheter removal occurred in 25 (19.4%) of those catheters treated with 1.0 mg tPA compared with 11 (10.2%) of catheters treated with 2.0 mg tPA (P = 0.05). The hazard ratio (HR) for catheter removal was 2.75 (95% confidence interval [^95%CI] = 1.25–6.04) for the 1.0‐mg tPA cohort compared with the 2.0‐mg tPA cohort. Correction added on 3 December 2012, after first online publication: The tPA cohort values were changed. Female gender (HR = 2.51; ^95%CI = 1.20–5.27) and age (HR = 0.96; ^95%CI = 0.94–0.98) were also associated with catheter survival. Our findings suggest that treatment of dysfunctional HDC with 2.0‐mg tPA dwells is superior to 1.0‐mg tPA dwells.     

Single crystal silicon nanopillars, nanoneedles and nanoblades with precise positioning for massively parallel nanoscale device integration

Arrays of precisely positioned single crystal silicon nanopillars, nanoneedles, and nanoblades with minimum feature sizes as small as 30 nm are fabricated using entirely scalable top-down fabrication techniques. Using the same scalable technologies, devices consisting of electrically connected silicon nanopillars with multiple addressable electrodes for each nanostructure are realized. The arrays of nanopillars, nanoneedles, and nanoblades are shown to exhibit Raman signal enhancement on 1,2-benzenedithiol monolayers, opening a path to nanodevices that manipulate, position, detect and analyze molecules.