Westhmeyers1900

A simple, biocompatible and an enzyme-free sensing platform was developed for detection of paraoxon. The surface of a glassy carbon electrode was modified with an electrodeposition of stearic acid/nanosilver composite at -0.7 V for 40 s. The paraoxon undergoes electro-reduction at -550 mV on the modified electrode, and the limits of detection (LOD) was calculated as 0.1 nM (S/N = 3) using differential pulse voltammetry which is lower than that of the existing materials reported. The high stability observed with the modified electrode for prolonging period indicated that the sensitivity of the electrode remains active for several runs of the analysis. The developed analytical strategy was implemented for onion and paddy grain samples and good recovery rates were observed. Also, it was applied for analyzing the purity of the commercial paraoxon sample. The reliability of the developed strategy was confirmed by comparing the results of electrochemical approach with that of HPLC technique. The current study explores the first full mode liquid microextraction technique coupled with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and has been successfully applied for chromium speciation in food and environmental matrices. Herein, chromium as chlorochromate anion [CrO3Cl]- and the cationic rhodamine 6G [RG]+ dye has been extracted in organic phase as a complex ion associate [RG+.CrO3Cl-.nS]org at pH ≤ 1.0. Afterwards, the extracted phase was deposited on the surface of the nano-flower shaped silver nanoparticles substrate and the SERS response was monitored against the reagent blank at 1505 cm-1. Substrate characterizations, reaction mechanism assignment, stoichiometry, speciation, analytical applications, selectivity and validation were performed. The analytical procedure exhibits a detection limit of 0.03 µg L-1 under the optimized experimental conditions. The accuracy of the proposed strategy was validated by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry method using student's t- and F tests at 95% confidence. Hydroxytyrosol (HT) possesses significant biological activity. However, the methodologies for its quantification always suffered from low sensitivity, intricate treatment and high sample consumption. Here, we presented the very first attempt for specific extraction of HT through cis-diol recognition mechanism. By using easily prepared zirconia as dispersive solid phase extraction medium, HT from small amount of wine (10 μL), oil (20 mg) and plasma (100 μL) was efficiently purified within ten minutes. Coupled with LC-MS/MS analysis, the method limit of detection (LOD) could reach 1 ng/mL in wine, 0.5 μg/kg in oil and 0.1 ng/mL in plasma. Profited by this superior method, HT analysis was successfully performed in diverse wine and oil products as well as human plasma samples after intake of extra virgin olive oil. In addition, we further confirmed the endogenous HT was undetectable from routine human plasma even after upgrading the detection sensitivity through post isonicotinoyl chloride derivatization. The network of the Maillard reaction can be influenced by the presence of polyphenols. In this paper, we evaluated the ability of secoiridoids to interact with asparagine and lysine tuning the formation of dietary advanced glycation end-products (d-AGEs), dicarbonyls and acrylamide. Olive oil mill wastewater polyphenol powders (OMWP) were added to glucose and lysine or asparagine in silica model systems to mimic water activity present in cookies. Results revealed that acrylamide, Amadori compounds and N-ε-carboxyethyllysine (CEL) were reduced to 50%, after 13 min at 180 °C; for the reduction of N-ε-carboxymethyllysine (CML), secoiridoids were effective only in model systems with the addition of acacia fiber and maltodextrin as coating agents. In cookies, OMWP at three different concentrations decreased the concentration of protein bound Amadori compounds, CML, CEL and dicarbonyls. Acrylamide and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural were reduced to 60% and 76% respectively, highlighting the ability of secoiridoids-based functional ingredients in controlling d-AGEs formation. Interactions between bile acids and plant-based materials, and the related feedback mechanisms in enterohepatic circulation, have been considered targets for lowering cholesterol. This study aimed to identify lupin compounds that interact with primary bile acids on molecular level. Lupin cotyledons were fractionated and bile acid adsorbing activities were investigated using in vitro digestion, equilibrium dialysis and kinetic analyses. Protein- and fibre-enriched fractions significantly (p ≤ 0.05) adsorbed chenodesoxycholic acids (up to 2.33 µmol/100 g DM). Alcohol purification showed that bile acid adsorption is independent of protein and fibre structures. Moreover, high adsorption was observed with an alcohol extract (6.97 µmol chenodesoxycholic acids/100 g DM) that was rich in phytochemicals, such as flavonoids (1842 mg/100 g DM). These results suggest the formation of hydrophobic interactions between polyphenols and bile acids. Further studies of molecular mechanisms are required to define the contributions of polyphenols to the cholesterol-lowering actions of lupins. Tropomyosin (TM) is a highly conserved protein that considered as the major allergen of crustacean and mollusk species, while, fish-TM also shares high homology with low allergenicity. In this study, the amino acid sequence, B cell epitopes and allergenicity of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), which is widely consumed, were evaluated by using immunoinformatic tools, dot-blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and mediator release assay. Meanwhile, cross-reactivity of allergic epitopes of fish-TM, shrimp-TM and clam-TM were assessed. Results showed that three IgE-binding epitopes (X1 47-61, QKRMQQLENDLDQVQ; X2 97-108, EDLERSEERLNT and X3 244-257, RSVQKLQKEVDRLE) of shrimp-TM also exhibited degranulation ability. In comparison with epitopes from shrimp-TM, those from clam-TM showed high cross-reactivity (>80%) and degranulation ability, while those from fish-TM showed low cross-reactivity ( less then 20%). These findings would apply a new understanding of the cross-reactivity of TM from fish, shrimp and clam in terms of allergenic epitopes. Fat-filled milk powders (FMP) are exported to tropical developing markets as inexpensive milk alternatives. Consequently, FMP are exposed to high temperature and humidity over long distribution and storage times, presenting challenges in preserving product quality and stability. Efficient and cost-effective methods for quality assurance under such conditions are needed. We utilised the changes in profile of the fatty acids, amino acids and near infrared spectra to investigate the quality alterations in 4 types of FMP produced onsite with 4 different vegetable oils (i.e., coconut, palm, soya-bean and sunflower) and stored for 7 weeks at 40 °C. Stearic acid decreased while the leucine content increased upon storage, but palm oil FMP appeared to be the most stable. Multiclass analyses offered substantive separation between fresh and aged samples. The models based on interval-PLS efficiently (NSE ≥ 0.90) predicted storage time with low errors (RSR ≤ 0.28), indicative of FMP freshness and stability. Phenolic compounds in barley grains have an important influence on beer flavor and stability. Drought condition enhances the content of phenolics in barley grains, leading to reduced malt quality. In this study, two barley genotypes, XZ20 and XZ25 with different total phenolics content were used to investigate the effect of drought on phenolic compounds during grain developing stage. Totally, 118 phenolic metabolites were affected by drought stress. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of 17,424 highly expressed genes uncovered black (two hub genes belonged to UGT family) and turquoise modules (three hub genes belonged to phenolics pathway) that are significantly associated with the variation of phenolics. All these results reveal the changes of phenolic metabolites during grain development and provide a new insight into the regulation network of phenolic compounds under drought stress. All healthcare services strive to achieve the six factors of quality health care - safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. Yet multiple structural, process, policy and people factors can combine to result in medical error and patient harm. Measuring the quality of palliative care has many challenges due to its presence across multiple health sectors, variable skill and experience of providers and lack of defined processes for providing services. In Canada there is screening for symptoms and distress in most cancer centers, but not in non-cancer diseases. Screening for distress and disease burden can identify suffering, that when properly addressed, improves quality of life and reduces depression and hopelessness that can lead to requests for hastened death. Our hypothesis is that some requests for hastened death (known as Medical Assistance in Dying or MAiD in Canada) are driven by lack of access to palliative care or lack of quality in the palliative care attempting to address disity or underservicing of the Canadian population with regards to palliative care are reviewed. We examine a recent framework for palliative care in Canada and point out the need for more aggressive use of standards, process and policies to ensure that Canadians are receiving quality palliative care and that it is equitably accessible to all. We propose an efficient and convenient procedure for estimating the thermodynamic equilibrium constants of the surface dissociation/association reactions of metal oxide particles through electrophoresis measurements and a general electrophoresis model, which takes account of essentially all the relevant factors. These constants are usually estimated experimentally through a tedious potentiometric acid-base titration procedure. In addition, since several assumptions need be made in applying this procedure, the results obtained can be unreliable, especially when the difference between the equilibrium constant of the dissociation reaction and that of the association reaction is small. Another merit of the procedure proposed is that the site density of the surface dissociation/associations functional groups need not be known in advance so that it becomes much more convenient and efficient than previous procedures. The applicability of the present procedure is examined by applying it to the cases of SiO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in an aqueous NaCl solution. HYPOTHESIS A water jet penetrating into a water pool produces air entrainment and bubbles that rise to the surface and disintegrate. A similar scenario can be expected when a granular jet enters into water. This phenomenon is common in natural and industrial processes but remains so far unexplored. EXPERIMENTS A collimated jet of monodisperse silica beads was poured into water and the process was filmed with a high-speed camera. The grain size, jet impact velocity, and the liquid physical properties were systematically varied. CompK FINDINGS For grains of ~50-300μm in diameter, the granular jet deforms the air-water interface, penetrates the pool and produces air entrainment. Most of the entrained air is contained in the interstitial space of the jet, and its volume is linearly proportional to the volume of grains. The bubbles formed in this process are covered by a layer of grains attached to the bubble air-water interface due to capillary-induced cohesion. These "granular bubbles" are stable over time because the granular shell prevents coalescence and keeps the air encapsulated, either if the bubbles rise to the surface or sink to the bottom of the pool, which is determined by the competition of the buoyancy and the weight of the assembly.