Antioxidant potential and authenticity of some commercial fruit juices studied by EPR and IRMS

Antioxidant status of foods, plant, or fruit products is generally characterized by means of spectroscopic methods. Methods like HPLC, UV-VIS, or MS spectroscopy are used to understand the chemical and physical properties of different samples, and also EPR spectroscopy seems to be a valuable tool to characterize antioxidant activity of juice beverages. In this technique, certain antioxidants present in fruit juices interact with free radicals interrupting the chain reaction that can possibly damage essential molecules. Recording the EPR signal decay caused by the reaction with a natural or artificial reducing agent, it is possible to draw conclusions about the antioxidant capability of materials. IRMS is a powerful tool to distinguish between an authentic fruit juice and a juice obtained by concentrate dilution. This technique allows also the detection of commercial C₄ cane or corn derived sugar syrups in C₃ fruit juices. In the present study, four commercial fruit juices were investigated using stable isotope measurements (oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon) and EPR measurements in order to check the correct labeling in the Romanian markets and to compare antioxidant activity of the studied juices and the reference. It was proven that the number of paramagnetic species decreases in time with different reaction rates and this was correlated with the antioxidant activity of the studied juices. Stable isotope ratio measurements have demonstrated that the fruit juices studied were reconstructed from concentrates with tap water, according to their label.     

自由质点测地线仿射参量时空坐标系

以时序t为自变量,可给出自由质点空间测地线的参数方程组{Xⁱ(t)},借助于仿射参量R(t)变换实现测地线微分方程的齐次化, 推导出仿射参量R满足的一阶微分方程、获得以有理数C_u为标志的序列解析解R.基于R定义平直四维坐标系{t,r,θ,φ}的空间距离单位,建立自由质点测地线仿射参量时空坐标系{t,ξ,θ,φ}.研究{t,ξ,θ,φ}中狭义相对论时空间隔模型度规张量g的对角化过程, 发现与对角化度规对应的特征量t₁(t,ξ), τ₁(τ,ξ),t_t(t,τ,ξ),τ_τ1(t,τ,ξ); 从而推出时空坐标系{t,ξ,θ,φ}维数小于4.     

Actively Q-switched mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser with high mode-locking contrast

Reliable Q-switched and mode-locked operation of Yb-doped fiber lasers is investigated by employing an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) in a linear cavity configuration. The widths and shapes of the Q-switched envelopes mainly depend on the external modulation frequency of the AOM and near symmetric Q-switched pulses can be generated. Within the Q-switched envelopes, harmonic mode-locked pulses with near 100% modulation depth at the 40 MHz repetition rate are experimentally observed.     

Enhancement of optical absorption in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells with periodical nanorods to increase optical path length

In this paper, we demonstrate an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cell (TFSC) with a homogeneous layer of a-Si to absorb short wavelength photons and periodical a-Si nanorod structures for light trapping enhancement for longer wavelength photons. In such a design, the total absorption can be greatly improved. The periodicity and duty ratio of the nanorods were optimized to enhance the total optical absorption within 500 nanometer (nm) to 1000 nm in the hybrid TFSC structure. The best overall absorption can be achieved when period of nanorods is about 500 nm. When the duty ratio of nanorods is 0.6, the average absorption can reach 80% which represents an improvement by 40% compared to the conventional thin film a-Si solar cell without nanorod structures.     

The strong chromatic index of Halin graphs

A strong edge coloring of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors to the edges of $G$ such that two distinct edges are colored differently if their distance is at most two. The strong chromatic index of a graph $G$, denoted by $s{\chi }^{\prime }\left(G\right)$, is the minimum number of colors needed for a strong edge coloring of $G$. A Halin graph $G$ is a plane graph constructed from a tree $T$ without vertices of degree two by connecting all leaves through a cycle $C$. If a Halin graph $G=T\cup C$ is different from a certain necklace $N{e}_2$ and any wheel $W_n$, $n?0(mod3)$, then we prove that $s{\chi }^{\prime }\left(G\right)?s{\chi }^{\prime }\left(T\right)+3$.     

An efficient 3C-silicon carbide/titania nanocomposite photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cell

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are fabricated using a novel 3C-SiC/TiO(2) nanocomposite as a photoelectrode to enhance the power conversion efficiency. Compared with a pristine nanocrystalline TiO(2) cell, a DSSC based on a 3C-SiC (0.04 wt%)/TiO(2) nanocomposite photoelectrode shows ~115% increase in power conversion efficiency.     

Facile self-assembly of porphyrin-embedded polymeric vesicles for theranostic applications

A robust and uniform porphysome, which reveals an efficient photodynamic therapy and contrast-enhanced ultrasonic imaging for theranostic applications, can be fabricated from a 4-armed porphyrin-polylactide conjugate.     

ChemInform Abstract: Aromatic Metal‐Centered Monocyclic Boron Rings: Co@B‐8 and Ru@B‐9.

Co@B^‐₈, Ru@B^‐₉, Co@B₈, and Ru@B₉ clusters are characterized by photoelectron spectroscopy and DFT calculations.     

The light-activated proton pump Bop I of the archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi

We have isolated and characterized the light-driven proton pump Bop I from the ultrathin square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi, the most abundant component of the dense microbial community inhabiting hypersaline environments. The disruption of cells by hypo-osmotic shock yielded Bop I retinal protein highly enriched membranes, which contain one main 27 kDa protein band together with a high content of the carotenoid bacterioruberin. Light-induced pH changes were observed in suspensions of Bop I retinal protein-enriched membranes under sustained illumination. Solubilization of H. walsbyi cells with Triton X-100, followed by phenyl-Sepharose chromatography, resulted in isolation of two purified Bop I retinal protein bands; mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the Bop I was present as only protein in both the bands. The study of light/dark adaptations, M-decay kinetics, responses to titration with alkali in the dark and endogenous lipid compositions of the two Bop I retinal protein bands showed functional differences that could be attributed to different protein aggregation states. Proton-pumping activity of Bop I during the photocycle was observed in liposomes constituted of archaeal lipids. Similarities and differences of Bop I with other archaeal proton-pumping retinal proteins will be discussed.     

Multiple reaction monitoring-based determination of bovine α-lactalbumin in infant formulas and whey protein concentrates by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry using tryptic signature peptides and synthetic peptide standards

The determination of α-lactalbumin in various dairy products attracts wide attention in multidiscipline fields because of its nutritional and biological functions. In the present study, we quantified the bovine α-lactalbumin in various infant formulas and whey protein concentrates using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring mode. Bovine α-lactalbumin was quantified by employing the synthetic internal standard based on the molar equivalent relationship among the internal standard, bovine α-lactalbumin and their signature peptides. This study especially focused on the recovery rates of the sample preparation procedure and robust quantification of total bovine α-lactalbumin in its native and thermally denatured form with a synthetic internal standard KILDKVGINNYWLAHKALCSE. The observed recovery rates of bovine α-lactalbumin ranged from 95.8 to 100.6% and the reproducibility was excellent (RSD < 6%) at different spiking levels. The limit of quantitation is 10 mg/100 g for infant formulas and whey protein concentrates. In order to validate the applicability of the method, 21 brands of infant formulas were analyzed. The acquired contents of bovine α-lactalbumin were 0.67–1.84 g/100 g in these infant formulas in agreement with their label claimed values. The experiment of heat treatment time showed that the loss of native α-lactalbumin enhanced with an increasing intensity of heat treatment. Comparing with Ren's previous method by analysis of only native bovine α-lactalbumin, the present method at the peptide level proved to be highly suitable for measuring bovine α-lactalbumin in infant formulas and whey protein concentrates, avoiding forgoing the thermally induced denatured α-lactalbumin caused by the technological processing.