The influence of socioeconomic and nutritional status on menarche in Nigerian school girls

Two once-daily electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) produced retrograde amnesia in rats trained on a Hebb-Williams maze; Verapamil (12.5 mg/kg, i.p.) or felodipine (10 mg/kg, p.o.) administered half an hour before each ECS attenuated this ECS-induced amnesia. Hence, these drugs may hold promise for the containment of amnesia induced by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Speculatively, one or more of several mechanisms may be involved: cerebral vasodilatation, enhancement of cholinergic tone, and inhibition of calcium-mediated impairment of neuronal function. These drugs may also act by attenuating the systolic surge in blood pressure during ECT, thereby decreasing edema due to cerebral hyperperfusion, as well as decreasing the possible transfer of potentially neurotoxic macromolecules through a putative breach in the blood-brain barrier.     

LINEAR FEEDBACK EQUIVALENCE AND NONLINEAR CONTROL OF A CLASS OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS

This paper applies the concept of linear feedback equivalence to two-dimensional nonlinear control systems of a certain model structure. Uniqueness and stability characteristics of the system are investigated. It is shown that global asymptotic stability can in general be achieved. A simple mathematical expression for a component of the unique steady-state is derived which provides a guide for the choice of the control parameters to obtain desirable dynamic properties and minimize steady-state offset. Numerical experiments in the phase plane of a model of an exothermic CSTR are employed to verify the analysis.     

Amino acid profile,protein digestibility,thermal and functional properties of Conophor nut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) defatted flour,protein concentrate and isolates

Functional properties, amino acid compositions, in vitro protein digestibility, electrophoretic and thermal characteristics of conophor defatted flour (CDF), conophor protein concentrate (CPC), isoelectric protein isolate (CII) and neutral protein isolate (CNI) were evaluated. The isolates (CII and CNI) showed significantly lower (P < 0.05) water and oil absorption capacities, emulsifying and gelling capacities, but higher emulsion stability and foaming capacity. In vitro protein digestibility, enthalpy and denaturation temperature varied between 52.28% and 73.4%, 1.62–4.04 J g^?1 protein and 79.7–89.3 °C, respectively. The native proteins were comprised of subunits with molecular weights ranging between 15.3 and 129.3 kDa. The major amino acids in all the samples were aspartic acid, glutamic acid and arginine, whereas the percentages of essential amino acids in CDF, CPC, CII and CNI were 39.35%, 40.46%, 44.54% and 46.04%, respectively. Conophor protein products could be used as functional ingredients in food formulations and for enriching low quality protein diets.     

Structure,composition and functional properties of storage proteins extracted from bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) landraces

Bambara groundnut is a protein‐rich traditional legume. In this study, storage proteins were isolated from three bambara landraces. Bambara protein revealed four major protein bands: one broad band at 55 kDa, two medium bands at 62 kDa and 80 kDa and a high molecular weight (HMW) protein at 141 kDa. The vicilin (7S) subunits with molecular weight of 55 kDa and 62 kDa were major fractions in bambara storage proteins. Bambara proteins showed two endothermic peaks ranging from 64 to 69 °C and 76 to 90 °C, respectively. Bambara protein isolates had well‐defined tertiary and secondary structures, respectively, at pH 3.0, and this well‐defined structure decreased slightly at higher pH values. The isolates revealed a strong secondary structure dominated by α‐helical conformation. Foaming capacities of bambara proteins were dependent on pH with maximum percentage FC observed at pH 3.0, while the emulsion activity increased with increasing pH for all the isolates. Vicilin (7S) fraction seems to be the major storage protein fraction of bambara. Bambara proteins could serve as excellent ingredients for the formulation of food foams and emulsions.     

Warm compression tests of aluminum alloy

Compression tests of aluminum alloy were experimentally investigated at specified temperatures ranging from 30 ‡C (room temperature) to 250 ‡C under a constant strain rate of 0.2 X 10^-3/s using powdered graphite as a lubricant throughout the tests. The effective stress method is found to show a significant fall in stress values beyond the barreling point, indicating a serious shortcoming over the barrel correction factor method within the tested temperature range. The compression curves obtained using the barrel correction factor method and the Bridgman remachining technique (no barreling allowed during the test) are found to have close values, even at higher temperatures. The true-stress versus true-strain curves and the barrel sizes obtained follow empirical power laws, even at higher test temperatures.     

Functional properties of protein fractions obtained from commercial yellow field pea (Pisum sativum L.) seed protein isolate

Commercial pea protein isolate was separated into water-soluble (WS), salt-soluble (SS), alkaline-soluble (AS) and ethanol-soluble (ES) fractions. AS fraction was the most abundant, constituting about 87% of the proteins in PPI followed by WS, SS and ES fractions in decreasing order. ES fraction consistently formed emulsions with a narrow range of smaller oil droplet sizes (0.6–19 μm) at pH 4.0, 7.0 or 9.0 compared to a wider range of sizes for emulsions stabilised by WS, SS and AS fractions. Emulsions formed with ES fraction were also the most stable (p < 0.05) over the 3 h test period at all the pH values used in this work. The WS fraction had significantly highest (p < 0.05) protein solubility and foaming capacity at all the pH values when compared to solubility of PPI, SS, and ES. Except for AS and ES fractions, foaming capacities of the protein fractions were higher at pH 9.0 than at pH 4.0 or 7.0.     

Antihypertensive properties of aqueous extracts of vegetable leaf‐fortified bread after oral administration to spontaneously hypertensive rats

This study investigated the potential cardiovascular health benefits of leavened bread produced from wheat flour that contained 1%, 2% and 3% additions of leafy vegetable powders obtained from Amaranthus viridis (AO), Solanum macrocarpon (SM) or Telfairia occidentalis (TO). Dried breads were extracted with water at 60 °C followed by analysis for total polyphenolic content (TPC), as well as in vitro inhibitions of angiotensin‐converting enzyme and renin activities. HPLC analysis of the bread extracts indicated the presence of mainly rutin, gallic acid, myricetin and caffeic acid. TPC of the vegetable‐fortified breads was significantly (P < 0.05) higher (5.8–7.6 mg gallic acid equivalent, GAE/g) than that of control bread (5.5 mg GAE/g). Oral administration of 100 mg dried extract/kg body weight to spontaneously hypertensive rats led to reductions (up to 42 mmHg) in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure in comparison with 20 mmHg for the control bread.     

Synthesis of toughened elastomer from vernonia galamensis seed oil

This paper examines the synthesis of a toughened elastomer fromVernonia galamensis seed oil by reacting vernonia oil with vernonia oil-derived suberic acid (octanedioic acid), and cross-linking the pre-polymer in the immediate presence of cross-linked polystyrene preparedin situ. The paper also demonstrates that the progress of reaction can be followed by monitoring the generation of hydroxyl groups using infrared spectroscopy. Analysis of some crystalline material on the cooler parts of the reaction vessels revealed the presence of component fatty acids of vernonia oil. Transmission electron microscopy characterization of the synthesized toughened elastomer suggests that vernonia oil-suberic acid polyester and polystyrene polymer are interpenetrating.