Visual spatial memory is enhanced in female rats (but inhibited in males) by dietary soy phytoestrogens

Background  

In learning and memory tasks, requiring visual spatial memory (VSM), males exhibit superior performance to females (a difference attributed to the hormonal influence of estrogen). This study examined the influence of phytoestrogens (estrogen-like plant compounds) on VSM, utilizing radial arm-maze methods to examine varying aspects of memory. Additionally, brain phytoestrogen, calbindin (CALB), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) levels were determined.     

The assembly of rotaxane-like dye/cyclodextrin/surface complexes on aluminium trihydroxide or goethite

Simple azo-dyes carrying phosphonic acid and arsonic acid substituents such as 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl azo)phenylphosphonic acid (5) and 4-(4-hydroxyphenylazo)phenylarsonic acid (6) bind more strongly to high surface area oxides such as aluminium trihydroxide and goethite than their carboxylic and sulfonic acid analogues and the phosphonate-functionalized dyes have been shown to have greater humidity fastness when printed onto commercial alumina-coated papers. Adsorption isotherm measurements provide evidence for the formation of ternary dye/cyclodextrin/surface complexes. Dyes which form such ternary complexes show higher light fastness when printed onto alumina coated papers in an ink formulation containing alpha-cyclodextrin.     

The application of homotopy analysis method to solve nonlinear differential equation governing Jeffery–Hamel flow

In this paper Jeffery–Hamel flow has been studied and its nonlinear ordinary differential equation has been solved through homotopy analysis method (HAM). The obtained solution in comparison with the numerical ones represents a remarkable accuracy. The results also indicate that HAM can provide us with a convenient way to control and adjust the convergence region.     

Crystal, molecular and electronic structure of N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(2,4-dimethylphenyl)-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine and the corresponding radical cation

Oxidation of N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (TPD, 1 a) and N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(2,4-dimethylphenyl)-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (1 b) with SbCl(5) affords the corresponding radical cations quantitatively. The crystal and molecular structure of 1 b and [1 b]SbCl(6), the first tetraphenyl benzidene derivatives to be characterised crystallographically in both the neutral and radical cation states, reveal molecular parameters in agreement with the predictions made on the basis of DFT studies. Analysis of the NIR transition in the radical cations [1](+) (.) allows an estimate of the electronic coupling parameter V (1 a(+) (.) 3200 cm(-1); 1 b(+) (.) 3300 cm(-1)), the reorganisation energy lambda(1 a(+) (.) 7500 cm(-1); 1 b(+) (.) 7800 cm(-1)), and the linear coupling constant l (1 a(+) (.) 3100 cm(-1); 1 b(+) (.) 2700 cm(-1)) of the symmetric mode.     

Neuromodulation by soy diets or equol: Anti-depressive &; anti-obesity-like influences,age- &; hormone-dependent effects

Background  

Soy-derived isoflavones potentially protect against obesity and depression. In five different studies we examined the influence of soy-containing diets or equol injections on depression, serotonin levels, body weight gain (BW) and white adipose tissue (WAT) deposition in female Long-Evans rats at various stages of life [rats were intact, ovariectomized or experienced natural ovarian failure (NOF)].     

Development of a Stokes flow solver robust to large viscosity jumps using a Schur complement approach with mixed precision arithmetic

We develop an iterative solution technique for solving Stokes flow problems with smooth and discontinuous viscosity structures using a three dimensional, staggered grid finite difference discretization. Two preconditioned iterative methodologies are applied to the saddle point arising from the discrete Stokes problem. They consist of a velocity–pressure coupled approach (FC) and a decoupled, Schur complement approach (SC). Within both of these methods, we utilize either the scaled BFBt, or an identity matrix scaled by the local cell viscosity (LV) to define a preconditioner for the Schur complement. Additionally, we propose to use a mixed precision Krylov kernel to improve the convergence by reducing round-off error. In this approach, standard double precision is used during the application of the preconditioner, whilst higher precision arithmetic is used to define the matrix vector product, dot products and norms required by the Krylov method. In our Krylov kernel, we utilize quad precision arithmetic which is emulated via the double–double precision method. We consider several simplified geodynamic problems with a viscosity contrast to demonstrate the robustness and scalability of our solution methods. Through a careful choice of stopping conditions, we are able to quantitatively compare the residuals between the SC and FC approaches. We examine the trade-off relationship between the number of outer iterations required for convergence, and the computational cost per iteration, for the each solution methods. We find that it is advantageous to use the FC approach utilizing relaxed tolerances for solution of the sub-problems, combined with the LV preconditioner. We also observed that in general, the SC approach is more robust than FC and that BFBt is more robust than LV when used in our numerical experimental. In addition, our mixed precision method produces improved convergence rates of Arnoldi type Krylov subspace methods without a drastic increasing the computational time. The usage of a high precision Krylov kernel is found to be useful for the solver associated with the velocity sub-problem.     

The physics of diamond

The accurate measurement of the thermal conductivity of metals still poses considerable experimental difficulty. The reasons for this, and the main ways in which the problem has been approached, are summarized. A detailed examination of the development in technique and methods of measurement shows that while most of the steady-state methods introduced over 50 years ago are still being improved, the emphasis in the last few years has been on the development of methods which give more rapid results, particularly at high temperatures.