Microscopic functional specificity can be predicted from fMRI signals in ventral visual areas

Functional areas specialized for recognition can be activated by a non-preferred stimulus as well as a preferred stimulus. The functional magnetic resonance imaging signals detected in response to different stimuli in an area may have the same or different amplitudes. However, it is uncertain whether the responses originate from the same neuronal populations or heterogeneous ones. To address this concern, we propose a novel method that uses multi-echo echo-planar imaging sequences to evaluate changes in the transverse relaxation profile caused by stimulation. According to this method, the areas related with visual recognition, i.e. fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area, have different transverse relaxation profiles to preferred and non-preferred stimuli, which can be considered as reflecting a difference in neuronal population processing stimuli in those areas. The proposed method can be useful for probing the microscopic functional specificity of brain areas.     

Determination of SFC, FFA, and equivalent reaction time for enzymatically interestified oils using NIRS

The use of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for rapid determination of the degree of interesterification of blends of palm stearin, coconut oil, and rapeseed oil obtained using an immobilized Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase at 70 °C was investigated. Interesterification was carried out by applying both fixed bed and batch reactors. Calibrations were developed for quantitative determination of solid fat content (SFC) at 10, 20, 30, 35, and 40 °C and free fatty acid (FFA) resulting in root mean square errors of prediction of 1.0, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 1.7, and 0.19% (w/w), respectively. The data showed that NIRS could be used to replace the traditional methods for determining FFA and SFC in vegetable oils.It was possible to monitor the activity of the immobilized enzyme for interesterification of margarine oils by predicting the equivalent reaction time in a batch reactor from NIR spectra. Root mean square errors of prediction for two different oil blends interesterified for 300 and 170 min were 21 and 12 min, respectively.     

Application of microwave heating for the fast extraction of fat content from the poultry feeds

A rapid method has been developed to extract and quantitatively measure the total oil content in poultry feeds using a domestic microwave oven. The optimized extraction procedure involves the replicate (6×) extraction of 5 g of ground feed with 12 ml of hexane for 20 s in a 900 W oven. Each replicate involves the collection of the resulting miscella and its replacement with fresh solvent for re-extraction. The collected extracts were centrifuged and transferred to a vial. The solvent was evaporated to a constant weight and the residual lipid weighed. In comparison to conventional Soxhlet extraction method, lipid contents obtained using the optimized microwave procedure was not significantly different. However, FTIR analysis indicated that the microwave procedure was superior in minimizing the formation of free fatty acids (FFA) relative to the Soxhlet procedure if the temperature of the sample was kept within the range of 45–50 °C. This simple, sequential extraction procedure is rapid, highly efficient and provides a simple mean of quantitating the lipid content of poultry feed in less than 40 min without the need for specialized microwave oven.     

一种新型的轻质反射镜材料

对使用轻质材料制作的轻量化空间光学反射镜的应用背景进行了阐述,并论述了轻量化技术的关键环节-镜体材料的选择;提出高轻量化率镜体的材料选择准则:将碳纤维增强树脂基复合材料(CFRP)与铍(Be)、碳化硅(SiC)材料进行了综合比较和讨论,并针对CFRP材料的镜体结构进行了有限元仿真计算,最终选择了CFRP作为轻质空间光学反射镜的镜体材料.     

Lipid analysis by thin-layer chromatography--a review of the current state

High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) is a widely used, fast and relatively inexpensive method of separating complex mixtures. It is particularly useful for smaller, apolar compounds and offers some advantages over HPLC. This review gives an overview about the special features as well as the problems that have to be considered upon the HPTLC analysis of lipids. The term "lipids" is used here in a broad sense and comprises fatty acids and their derivatives as well as substances related biosynthetically or functionally to these compounds. After a short introduction regarding the stationary phases and the methods how lipids can be visualized on an HPTLC plate, the individual lipid classes will be discussed and the most suitable solvent systems for their separation indicated. The focus will be on lipids that are most abundant in biological systems, i.e. cholesterol and its derivates, glycerides, sphingo- and glycolipids as well as phospholipids. Finally, a nowadays very important topic, the combination between HPTLC and mass spectrometric (MS) detection methods will be discussed. It will be shown that this is a very powerful method to investigate the identities of the HPTLC spots in more detail than by the use of common staining methods. Future aspects of HPTLC in the lipid field will be also discussed.     

A New FTIR Method for the Analysis of Low Levels of FFA in Refined Edible Oils

Abstract

This paper summarizes the application of stoichiometric analytical approaches to quantitative IR analysis and describes the development of a rapid and sensitive Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) method using such an approach for the determination of low levels (<0.005%) of free fatty acids (FFA) in refined edible oils. The method simply involves mixing the sample with methanol containing 2 g /L sodium carbodiimide (NaHNCN) on a vortex mixer for 30 s to convert the FFA to their salts, centrifuging the sample to separate the methanol phase containing the FFA salts from the oil, recording the FTIR spectrum of the upper methanol layer in a 100‐µm CaF₂ transmission flow cell, and ratioing this spectrum against that of the NaHNCN/methanol solution. The concentration of FFA salts is determined from the resulting differential spectrum by measurement of the v(COO^?) absorbance at 1573 cm^?1 relative to a reference wavelength of 1820 cm^?1. A calibration spanning the range 0–0.1% FFA (expressed as oleic acid) was devised by gravimetric addition of a defined, pure fatty acid to an acid‐free oil. Validation of the method by standard addition of palmitic acid to a variety of oils yielded an overall standard error of <±0.001% FFA. Comparison of triplicate FTIR and IUPAC titrimetric analyses of oils spiked with palmitic acid demonstrated that this FTIR method was more sensitive, accurate, and reproducible than the titration procedure, the latter having a significant positive bias of ～0.02%. Solvent/oil consumption in the FTIR method is 2 mL/10 g versus 150 mL/20 g for the titrimetric procedure. The FTIR method developed is particularly well suited for the determination of the low levels of FFA in refined oils but can readily be adapted with a simple adjustment of the oil/methanol ratio to cover FFA levels of up to 4.0%.     

Application of matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the characterization of the substrate specificity of neutrophil phospholipase A2

Matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was successfully applied for the analysis of various lipid classes. It can also be used for monitoring the digestion of phosphatidylcholine (PC) with phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) and it was shown that MALDI-TOF MS possesses a number of advantages over well established methods for this purpose. In this work, we use MALDI-TOF MS for determination of the substrate specificity of neutrophil PLA₂. For the comparison of the selectivity of the enzyme to various phospholipid (PL) classes, the intensities of the signals arising from the product of the reaction (Sp) and the signal intensity of the residual substrate (Ss) were compared and the resulting Sp/Ss ratio was used as the measure. This approach was first tested with a model system pancreatic PLA₂ and afterwards two sources of the neutrophil PLA₂—the enzyme extracted from the neutrophils and the enzyme released from these cells—were tested for their substrate specificity. We will show that the neutrophil-secreted PLA₂ possesses high preferences for digestion of phosphatidic acid (PA) over other phospholipids. The method applied here is simple and much information can be obtained from a single mass spectrum. Moreover, this approach works well also with a crude biological systems, i.e. no prior purification of the enzyme is required for means of characterisation.     

超细Ni-B非晶态合金催化糠醛液相加氢制备糠醇

报道了超细Ni－B非晶态合金应用于糠醛液相选择加氢制备糠醇，研究发现，Ni－B非晶态合金催化剂对糠醇的选择性接近100％，而且其催化活性显著高于RaneyNi和超细Ni催化剂，进一步的研究表明，对于Ni-B非晶态合金，其在423K以下进行热处理时，未出现明显的晶化；但在高温下，逐渐发生晶化，并导致催化活性和选择性显著下降，在XRD、SEM、XPS和氢吸附等一系列表征的基础上，初步探讨了催化活性与催化剂结构的关系，并考察了高温晶化对催化性能的影响。     

模糊有穷自动机的互模拟关系

互模拟是离散事件系统中的一个等价关系,它已经应用到概率、随机和加权自动机中.本文给出模糊有穷自动机(FFA)前向互模拟关系和后向互模拟关系的定义,并给出它们的一些性质,证明前向和后向互模拟关系对于模糊有穷自动机(FFA)的一些运算(并,连接,交)和模糊正则语言的表现定理是封闭的.另外文中还给出一个可在有限步计算极大前向互模拟关系的算法,最后指出前向和后向互模拟之间的区别.     

Ammonia-treated N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dihydrochloride as a novel matrix for rapid quantitative and qualitative determination of serum free fatty acids by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

The blood free fatty acids (FFAs), which provide energy to the cell and act as substrates in the synthesis of fats, lipoproteins, liposaccharides, and eicosanoids, involve in a number of important physiological processes. In the present study, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (MALDI-FTICR MS) with ammonia-treated N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dihydrochloride (ATNEDC) as a novel MALDI matrix in a negative ion mode was employed to directly quantify serum FFAs. Multiple point internal standard calibration curves between the concentration ratios of individual fatty acids to internal standard (IS, C_17:0) versus their corresponding intensity ratios were constructed for C_14:0, C_16:1, C_16:0, C_18:0, C_18:1, C_18:2, C_18:3, C_20:4, and C_22:6, respectively, in their mixture, with correlation coefficients between 0.991 and 0.999 and limits of detection (LODs) between 0.2 and 5.4 μM, along with the linear dynamic range of more than two orders of magnitude. The results indicate that the multiple point internal standard calibration could reduce the impact of ion suppression and improve quantification accuracy in the MALDI mode. The quantitative results of nine FFAs from 339 serum samples, including 161 healthy controls, 118 patients with hyperglycemia and 60 patients without hyperglycemia show that FFAs levels in hyperglycemic patient sera are significantly higher than those in healthy controls and patients without hyperglycemia, and elevated FFA levels are also associated with increased levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG) in hyperglycemic patient sera. Serum FFAs were identified on the basis of the observed accurate molecular masses and reliable isotope distributions obtained by MALDI-FTICR MS.