Resistant starches and health

It was initially hypothesized that resistant starches, i.e., starch that enters the colon, would have protective effects on chronic colonic diseases, including reduction of colon cancer risk and in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Recent studies have confirmed the ability of resistant starch to increase fecal bulk, increase the molar ratio of butyrate in relation to other short-chain fatty acids, and dilute fecal bile acids. However the ability of resistant starch to reduce luminal concentrations of compounds that are damaging to the colonic mucosa, including fecal ammonia, phenols, and N-nitroso compounds, still requires clear demonstration. As such, the effectiveness of resistant starch in preventing or treating colonic diseases remains to be assessed. Nevertheless, there is a fraction of what has been termed resistant (RS1) starch, which enters the colon and acts as slowly digested or lente carbohydrate in the small intestine. Foods in this class are low glycemic index and have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic disease. They have been associated with systemic physiological effects such as reduced postprandial insulin levels and higher HDL cholesterol levels. Consumption of low glycemic index foods has been shown to be related to reductions in risk of coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes has in turn been related to a higher risk of colon cancer. If carbohydrates have a protective role in colon cancer prevention this may lie partly in the systemic effects of low glycemic index foods. The colonic advantages of different carbohydrates, varying in their glycemic index and resistant starch content, therefore, remain to be determined. However, as recent positive research findings continue to mount, there is reason for optimism over the possible health advantages of those resistant starches, which are slowly digested in the small intestine.     

Diluent effects on the Debye-type dielectric relaxation in viscous monohydroxy alcohols

With the recognition that the Debye-type dielectric relaxation of liquid monohydroxy alcohols does not reflect the structural relaxation dynamics associated with the viscous flow and the glass transition, its behavior upon dilution is expected to differ from that of real alpha-processes. We have investigated the Debye-type dielectric relaxation of binary alcohol/alkane mixtures across the entire concentration range in the supercooled regimes. The focus is on 2-ethyl-1-hexanol in two nonpolar liquids, 3-methylpentane and squalane, which are more fluid and more viscous than the alcohol, respectively. The Debye relaxation is found to occur only for alcohol mole fractions x > 0.2 and is always accompanied by a non-Debye relaxation originating from the alcohol component. Prior to its complete disappearance, the Debye relaxation is subject to broadening. We observe that the Debye dynamics of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol is accelerated in the more fluid 3-methylpentane, while the more viscous squalane leads to longer Debye relaxation times. The present experiments also provide evidence that the breakdown of the Debye relaxation amplitude does not imply the absence of hydrogen-bonded structures.     

Magnetic-Field-Orientation Dependent Thermal Entanglement of a Spin-1 Heisenberg Dimer: The Case Study of Dinuclear Nickel Complex with an Uniaxial Single-Ion Anisotropy

The bipartite entanglement in pure and mixed states of a quantum spin-1 Heisenberg dimer with exchange and uniaxial single-ion anisotropies is quantified through the negativity in a presence of the external magnetic field. At zero temperature the negativity shows a marked stepwise dependence on a magnetic field with two abrupt jumps and plateaus, which can be attributed to the quantum antiferromagnetic and quantum ferrimagnetic ground states. The magnetic-field-driven phase transition between the quantum antiferromagnetic and quantum ferrimagnetic ground states manifests itself at nonzero temperatures by a local minimum of the negativity, which is followed by a peculiar field-induced rise of the negativity observable in a range of moderately strong magnetic fields. The rising temperature generally smears out abrupt jumps and plateaus of the negativity, which cannot be distinguished in the relevant dependencies above a certain temperature. It is shown that the thermal entanglement is most persistent against rising temperature at the magnetic field, for which an energy gap between a ground state and a first excited state is highest. Besides, temperature variations of the negativity of the spin-1 Heisenberg dimer with an easy-axis single-ion anisotropy may exhibit a singular point-kink, at which the negativity has discontinuity in its first derivative. The homodinuclear nickel complex [Ni2(Medpt)2(μ-ox)(H2O)2](ClO4)2·2H2O provides a suitable experimental platform of the antiferromagnetic spin-1 Heisenberg dimer, which allowed us to estimate a strength of the bipartite entanglement between two exchange-coupled Ni2+ magnetic ions on the grounds of the interaction constants reported previously from the fitting procedure of the magnetization data. It is verified that the negativity of this dinuclear compound is highly magnetic-field-orientation dependent due to presence of a relatively strong uniaxial single-ion anisotropy.     

Silver,iron, and nickel immobilized on hydroxyapatite‐core‐shell γ‐Fe2O3 MNPs catalyzed one‐pot five‐component reactions for the synthesis of tetrahydropyridines by tandem condensation of amines,aldehydes, and methyl acetoacetate

In this study, Ag, Ni²⁺, and Fe²⁺ immobilized on hydroxyapatite‐core‐shell γ‐Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Ag, γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Ni²⁺, and γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Fe²⁺) as a new and reusable Lewis acid magnetic nanocatalyst was successfully synthesized and reported for an atom economic, extremely facile, and environmentally benign procedure for the synthesis of highly functionalized tetrahydropyridines derivatives 4a‐t is described by one‐pot five‐component reaction of 2 equiv of aldehydes 1 , 2 equiv of amines 2 , and 1 equiv of methyl acetoacetate 3 in EtOH at room temperature in good to high yields and short reaction time. The presented methodology offers several advantages such as easy work‐up procedure, reusability of the magnetic nanocatalyst, operational simplicity, green synthesis avoiding toxic reagents and solvent, mild reaction conditions, and no tedious column chromatographic separation.     

Green synthesis of the 1-substituted 1H-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrazoles over bifunctional catalyst based on copper intercalated into Mg/Al hydrotalcite modified magnetite nanoparticles

An effective one-pot, convenient process for the synthesis of 1- substituted 1H-tetrazoles from triethyl orthoformate, amines, and sodium azide is described using copper (II) doped and immobilized on functionalized magnetic hydrotalcite (Fe₃O₄/HT-NH₂ Cu^II) as a novel recyclable catalyst. The application of this catalyst allows the synthesis of a variety of tetrazoles in good to excellent yields in water. The new catalyst was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibration sample magnetometry (VSM) and inductively coupled plasma analysis (ICP-OES). This new procedure offers several advantages such as short operational simplicity, practicability, and applicability to various substrates and the absence of any tedious workup or purification. The loading amount of Cu^II (doped and immobilized) on functionalized magnetic hydrotalcite was indicated to be 4.66 mmol g⁻¹, obtained from the ICP-OES analysis. Also, the excellent catalytic performance, thermal stability, and separation of the catalyst make it an excellent heterogeneous system and a useful alternative to other heterogeneous catalysts. Also, the catalyst could be magnetically separated and reused six times without significant loss of catalytic activity.     

Biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles using Allium noeanum Reut. ex Regel leaves aqueous extract; characterization and analysis of their cytotoxicity,antioxidant, and antibacterial properties

Gold nanoparticles have unique and excellent medical and nonmedical properties and application compared with other metallic nanoparticles. Recently, they have been used for the prevention, control, and treatment of bacterial and fungal diseases. In the recent study, fresh and clean leaves of Allium noeanum Reut. ex Regel leaves have been used for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles. Also, we evaluated the cytotoxicity, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties of HAuCl₄, A. noeanum, and the synthesized nanoparticles (Au NPs). These nanoparticles were analyzed by FT‐IR, UV, XRD, EDS, FE‐SEM, and TEM tests. FTIR results offered antioxidant compounds in the plant were the sources of reducing power, reducing gold ions to Au NPs. In TEM images revealed an average diameter of 10‐30 nm. At the beginning of biological experiments, DPPH free radical scavenging test was carried out to examine the antioxidant property. Also, in the bacterial part of this study, the concentration of HAuCl₄, A. noeanum, and AuNPs with minimum dilution and no turbidity was considered MIC. To determine MBC, 60 μL of MIC and three preceding chambers were cultured on Muller Hinton Agar. The minimum concentration with no bacterial growth was considered MBC. Au NPs revealed excellent antioxidant potential against DPPH, non‐toxicity property against human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pneumonia, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. These findings show that the inclusion of A. noeanum extract improves the solubility of Au NPs, which led to a notable enhancement in the antioxidant and antibacterial effects.     

Uniqueness for inverse Sturm–Liouville problems with a finite number of transmission conditions

We establish various uniqueness results for inverse spectral problems of Sturm–Liouville operators with a finite number of discontinuities at interior points at which we impose the usual transmission conditions. We consider both the cases of classical Robin and of eigenparameter dependent boundary conditions.     

Determination of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCAA) Using CdO Nanoparticles Modified Carbon Paste Electrode

In this paper, the electrochemical behavior of a carbon paste electrode modified with CdO nanoparticles as a potential electrocatalyst for the reduction of trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and double‐potential step chronoamperometry. The modified electrode showed a great enhancement in cathodic peak current with respect to reduction of TCAA in acidic aqueous solution. Using this increment, a quantitative method was developed for the determination of TCAA in aqueous solution. The detection limit and linear dynamic range of TCAA are 2.3×10^?6 M and 2.3×10^?4–3×10^?6 M, respectively.