Spectrophotometric determination of organic nitrogen by a modified Lassaigne method and its application to meat products and baby food

A modified Lassaigne method was developed for N determination based on fusion of the organic substance with metallic Na, conversion of the cyanide in the aqueous leachate to thiocyanate by ammonium polysulfide treatment, and colorimetric measurement of the thiocyanate formed by the addition of excessive ferric ions in acidic medium. The mean molar absorptivity of the Fe(NCS)2+ complex at 480 nm is 2.96 x 10(3) L/mol x cm, enabling quantitation of 0.25-7.72 ppm N (linear range) in the final solution. The relative amounts of Na, (NH4)2S2, and Fe(III) with respect to nitrogen in the analyte were optimized. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of N in various brands of baby food, and it was compared statistically with the conventional Kjeldahl and elemental analysis methods. Protein nitrogen in a number of meat products was also precisely determined by the developed method. Thus, the total digestion time of the conventional Kjeldahl method was reduced considerably (e.g., to approximately 15 min for a dried sample) with a relatively simple spectrophotometric method requiring no sophisticated instrumentation.     

A process control method for the electric current-activated/assisted sintering system based on the container-consumed power and temperature estimation

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the current, voltage and temperature of the container of an electric current-activated/assisted sintering (ECAS) system are measured and...     

Determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity by a New Spectrofluorometric Method Based on Ce(IV) Reduction: Ce(III) Fluorescence Probe for CERAC Assay

A Ce(IV)-based reducing capacity (CERAC) assay was developed to measure the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of foods, in which Ce(IV) would selectively oxidize antioxidant compounds but not citric acid and reducing sugars which are not classified as antioxidants. The method is based on the electron-transfer (ET) reaction between Ce(IV) ion and antioxidants in optimized acidic sulphate medium (i.e., 0.3 M H₂SO₄ and 0.7 M Na₂SO₄) and subsequent determination of the produced Ce(III) ions by a fluorometric method. The fluorescent product, Ce(III), exhibited strong fluorescence at 360 nm with an excitation wavelength of 256 nm, the fluorescence intensity being correlated to antioxidant power of the original sample. The linear concentration range for most antioxidants was quite wide, e.g., 5.0 × 10⁻⁷–1.0 × 10⁻⁵ M for quercetin. The developed procedure was successfully applied to the TAC assay of antioxidant compounds such as trolox, quercetin, gallic acid, ascorbic acid, catechin, naringin, naringenin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, glutathione, and cysteine. The proposed method was reproducible, additive in terms of TAC values of constituents of complex mixtures, and the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities (TEAC coefficients) of the tested antioxidant compounds gave good correlations with those found by reference methods such as ABTS and CUPRAC.     

An Electrochemical DNA Biosensor for the Detection of the Apa I Polymorphism in the Vitamin D Receptor Gene Using Meldola's Blue as a Hybridization Indicator

Electrochemical detection of nucleic acid base mismatches related to Apa I single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the vitamin D receptor gene was performed successfully using 7‐dimethyl‐amino‐1,2‐benzophenoxazinium salt (Meldola's blue, MDB) with 10.9 pmol/100 μL of detection limit. MDB reduction signals obtained from probe, mismatch(probe‐SNP containing target) and hybrid(probe‐target) modified pencil graphite electrode(PGE) increased respectively. The sensor was able to clearly distinguish perfect match from mismatch DNA in a 30 min. detection time. Several factors affecting on the hybridization and indicator response are studied to maximize sensitivity and selectivity. The advantages of the biosensor are discussed in comparison with previous electrochemical assays for DNA hybridization.     

Green’s function,temperature in a convectively cooled sphere with arbitrarily located spherical heat sources

Steady state heat conduction in a convectively cooled sphere having arbitrarily located spherical heat sources inside is treated with the method of Green’s function accompanied by a coordinate transform. Green’s function of the heat diffusion operator for a finite sphere with Robin boundary condition is obtained by spherical harmonics expansion. Verification of the analytical solution is exemplified in some generic cases related to the pebbles of South-African PBMR as of year 2000 with 268 MW thermal power. Analytical results for different sectors of the sphere (pebble) are compared with the results of computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT^™. This work is motivated through a modest effort to assess the stochastic effects of distribution and volumetric effects of fuel kernels within the pebbles of future-promising pebble bed reactors.     

Inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase normalizes cardiovascular function in hypertension without adverse metabolic effects

The enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) catalyzes the in vivo degradation of the endocannabinoid anandamide, thus controlling its action at receptors. A novel FAAH inhibitor, AM3506, normalizes the elevated blood pressure and cardiac contractility of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) without affecting these parameters in normotensive rats. These effects are due to blockade of FAAH and a corresponding rise in brain anandamide levels, resulting in CB? receptor-mediated decrease in sympathetic tone. The supersensitivity of SHR to CB? receptor-mediated cardiovascular depression is related to increased G protein coupling of CB? receptors. Importantly, AM3506 does not elicit hyperglycemia and insulin resistance seen with other FAAH inhibitors or in FAAH?/? mice, which is related to its inability to inhibit FAAH in the liver due to rapid hepatic uptake and metabolism. This unique activity profile offers improved therapeutic value in hypertension.     

Microwave-assisted dilute acid pretreatment of different agricultural bioresources for fermentable sugar production

Microwave-assisted pretreatment can be used for fermentable sugar production from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, the optimum hydrolysis conditions of barley husk, oat husk, wheat bran, and rye bran were determined in power level, treatment time, solid-to-liquid ratio and dilute acid ratio as follows: 700 W, 6.92 min, 1:18.26 w/v, and 3.67% for barley husk, 600 W, 6.96 min, 1:17.22 w/v, and 3.47% for oat husk, 600 W, 6.92 min, 1:16.69 w/v, and 1.85% for wheat bran, and 460 W, 6.15 min, 1:17.14 w/v, and 2.72% for rye bran. The fermentable sugar concentrations were 37.21 (0.68 g/g), 38.84 (0.67 g/g), 49.65 (0.83 g/g), and 36.27 g/L (0.62 g/g) under optimum conditions, respectively. The results showed that microwave-assisted pretreatment is a promising technology which can be successfully implemented for the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for high sugar yield. On the other hand, hydrolysates included some inhibitors such as organic acids, furans, and phenolic compounds. Lignocellulosic biomass used in this study can be employed as good feedstocks for value-added product production in the fermentation process, after the inhibitors have been detoxified/removed with different detoxification methods.     

Flows around moving bodies using a dynamic unstructured overset-grid method

In this article, a computational fluid dynamics algorithm is presented for simulations of complex unsteady flows around rigid moving bodies using an unstructured overset-grid method. For this purpose, a highly automated, three-dimensional, tetrahedral, unstructured overset-grid method is developed with one-cell-width overlapping zone in order to model the arbitrary geometries for steady and unsteady flow simulations. A method has been described to obtain the inter-grid boundaries of the one-cell-wide overlapping zone shared by a background grid and a minor grid. In the overset-grid methodology, vector intersection algorithm and bounding box techniques have been utilised. The mesh refinement and overset-scheme conservation studies proved the accuracy and efficiency of the method developed here. The applications of the developed algorithms were also performed through simulations that included complex internal flows around a flow-control butterfly valve as well as flows in an internal combustion engine with a moving piston. Lastly, validations with experimental data were conducted for both steady and unsteady flows around rigid bodies with relative motions.     

Effects of a Peripherally Restricted Hybrid Inhibitor of CB1 Receptors and iNOS on Alcohol Drinking Behavior and Alcohol-Induced Endotoxemia

Alcohol consumption is associated with gut dysbiosis, increased intestinal permeability, endotoxemia, and a cascade that leads to persistent systemic inflammation, alcoholic liver disease, and other ailments. Craving for alcohol and its consequences depends, among other things, on the endocannabinoid system. We have analyzed the relative role of central vs. peripheral cannabinoid CB1 receptors (CB1R) using a “two-bottle” as well as a “drinking in the dark” paradigm in mice. The globally acting CB1R antagonist rimonabant and the non-brain penetrant CB1R antagonist JD5037 inhibited voluntary alcohol intake upon systemic but not upon intracerebroventricular administration in doses that elicited anxiogenic-like behavior and blocked CB1R-induced hypothermia and catalepsy. The peripherally restricted hybrid CB1R antagonist/iNOS inhibitor S-MRI-1867 was also effective in reducing alcohol consumption after oral gavage, while its R enantiomer (CB1R inactive/iNOS inhibitor) was not. The two MRI-1867 enantiomers were equally effective in inhibiting an alcohol-induced increase in portal blood endotoxin concentration that was caused by increased gut permeability. We conclude that (i) activation of peripheral CB1R plays a dominant role in promoting alcohol intake and (ii) the iNOS inhibitory function of MRI-1867 helps in mitigating the alcohol-induced increase in endotoxemia.