Polyphenols and Fish Oils for Improving Metabolic Health: A Revision of the Recent Evidence for Their Combined Nutraceutical Effects

Polyphenols and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oils, i.e., eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, are well-recognized nutraceuticals, and their single antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties have been demonstrated in several studies found in the literature. It has been reported that the combination of these nutraceuticals can lead to three-fold increases in glutathione peroxidase activity, two-fold increases in plasma antioxidant capacity, decreases of 50–100% in lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, and urinary 8-isoprotanes, as well as 50–200% attenuation of common inflammation biomarkers, among other effects, as compared to their individual capacities. Therefore, the adequate combination of those bioactive food compounds and their single properties should offer a powerful tool for the design of successfully nutritional interventions for the prevention and palliation of a plethora of human metabolic diseases, frequently diet-induced, whose etiology and progression are characterized by redox homeostasis disturbances and a low-grade of chronic inflammation. However, the certain mechanisms behind their biological activities, in vivo interaction (both between them and other food compounds), and their optimal doses and consumption are not well-known yet. Therefore, we review here the recent evidence accumulated during the last decade about the cooperative action between polyphenols and fish oils against diet-related metabolic alterations, focusing on the mechanisms and pathways described and the effects reported. The final objective is to provide useful information for strategies for personalized nutrition based on these nutraceuticals.     

Preparation and characterization of octadecyl acrylate monoliths for capillary electrochromatography by photochemical,thermal, and chemical initiation†

Monolithic stationary phases based on octadecyl acrylate for CEC using different initiating systems (UV irradiation, thermal, and chemical initiation) in the presence of lauroyl peroxide as initiator were synthesized. For each initiation mode, the influence of the porogenic solvent composition on both the morphological and electrochromatographic properties of the resulting monoliths was investigated. Under optimal conditions, excellent efficiencies for the photochemically and chemically polymerized monoliths (minimum plate heights of 6.9–10.7 and 6.5–12.6 μm, respectively) were achieved. Thermally initiated columns gave lower efficiency values, permeabilities, and longer analysis times compared to these initiating systems. The produced monolithic stationary phases were evaluated in terms of reproducibility and gave RSD values below 9.2, 10.6, and 9.8% for UV, thermally, and chemically initiated columns, respectively.     

Novel combination of non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares to determine phenolic acids in virgin olive oil

This paper presents the development of a non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis method coupled to UV detection combined with multivariate curve resolution-alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS) to carry out the resolution and quantitation of a mixture of six phenolic acids in virgin olive oil samples. p-Coumaric, caffeic, ferulic, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic, vanillic and 4-hydroxyphenilacetic acids have been the analytes under study. All of them present different absorption spectra and overlapped time profiles with the olive oil matrix interferences and between them. The modeling strategy involves the building of a single MCR-ALS model composed of matrices augmented in the temporal mode, namely spectra remain invariant while time profiles may change from sample to sample. So MCR-ALS was used to cope with the coeluting interferences, on accounting the second order advantage inherent to this algorithm which, in addition, is able to handle data sets deviating from trilinearity, like the data herein analyzed. The method was firstly applied to resolve standard mixtures of the analytes randomly prepared in 1-propanol and, secondly, in real virgin olive oil samples, getting recovery values near to 100% in all cases. The importance and novelty of this methodology relies on the combination of non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis second-order data and MCR-ALS algorithm which allows performing the resolution of these compounds simplifying the previous sample pretreatment stages.     

Influence of pH and Matrix Components in the Chromatographic Response of Pesticides

The pH effect of potato, apple, and soil matrices on the chromatographic response of nine pesticides was evaluated. All chromatographic analyses were performed in duplicate on a gas chromatograph with electron capture detection. The matrix effect observed in the chromatographic response of the pesticides was evaluated by comparison. We compared the chromatographic response of each pesticide in pure solvent and in organic extract obtained for the matrices. The organic extracts were obtained by solid–liquid extraction with partition at low temperature. Depending on the matrix pH, a greater or lesser amount of co-extractives can be extracted into the organic phase, which affects the matrix effect. The pH of the samples before the extraction process was modified in order to check their influence on pesticide responses. Statistical analyses involving principal component analysis and marginal means revealed that, in the potato and apple matrices, the co-extractives exerted positive effects on the chromatographic response of the analytes. At lower pH, the extraction of co-extractives from potato and apple was favored, thus increasing the matrix effect for these samples.     

A Convenient Synthesis of Unsymmetrical N,N′-Disubstitutedα,ω-Diaminoalkanes

A general procedure is described for regiospecific construction of unsymmetrical N-alkyl (or aralkyl)-N′-aryl-α,ω-diaminoalkanes 3 (n=2,3,4) by reduction of N-(ω -arylaminoalkyl)amides 2 with borane. Compounds 2 are readily obtained by condensation of N-(ω-haloalkyl)amides 1 with aromatic amines.     

The Effect of Gluconate and EDTA on Thorium Solubility Under Simulated Cement Porewater Conditions

α-Hydroxy carboxylate ligands like gluconate or polyaminocarboxylate ligands such as ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) are frequently used in decontamination procedures at nuclear power plants. The presence of these organic substances among nuclear wastes could enhance the solubility of actinides by forming soluble complexes. Thermodynamic data on the stability of gluconate and EDTA with actinides are essential to predict their increase in mobility, especially in high pH systems characteristic of cement environments of a nuclear waste repository. In this work, the solubility of thorium oxyhydroxide in the presence of gluconate and EDTA has been studied. The results highlight the key role of these organics in increasing the solubility of thorium at pH_c = 12. The presence of calcium at concentrations below 10^?2 mol·dm^?3 (characteristic of cement porewaters corresponding to cement compositions at the second degradation stage) does not seem to affect significantly the thorium solubility under the studied conditions.