A study on composition and hypolipidemic effect of dietary fibre from some plant foods

Dietary fibre content of foods namely,khejri beans (Prsopsis cinceria),peepalbanti (Ficus religiosa),barbanti (Ficus bengalensis),gullar (Ficus glomerata) andteent (Capparis decidua) varied from 38.5% to 55.7%. Cellulose and lignin were predominating constituents inpeepalbanti,barbanti andgullar; hemicellulose inteent and pectin inkhejri beans. Fibre from all these plant foods, fed at the 10% dietary level to rats, induced a greater resistance to hyperlipidemia than cellulose.Teent had the most pronounced hypocholesterolemic effect which appeared to operate through increased fecal excretion of cholesterol as well as bile acids. Dietary hemicellulose showed a significant negative correlation with serum and liver cholesterol and a significant positive correlation with fecal bile acids. The dietary fibre influenced total lipids, cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids of the liver to varying extents.     

Accumulation and metabolism of DDT and its metabolites byTetrahymena

Tetrahymena pyriformis readily accumulated DDT and its metabolites from the medium initially containing 1 ppm of each compound. These compounds were accumulated in a decreasing order of DDD, DDE, o,p′-DDT, DDMU, and p,p′-DDT. DDT was metabolized to DDE, o,p′-DDT, and DDMU. DDD was metabolized to DDMU whereas o,p′-DDT, DDE and DDMU were not metabolized. When the organisms were transferred to toxicant free medium excretion of p,p′-DDT and its metabolite occurred in two phases: (a) rapid phase of elimination which was completed during the first 3 h and (b) slow phase of elimination which continued for another 21 h. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Liquid chromatographic determination of vitamin D in fortified milk

A method for the determination of vitamins D2 + D3 in fortified milk is described. Vitamins D2 and D3 are extracted from the saponified sample and converted to isotachysterols with antimony trichloride. The isotachysterols are quantitated using liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection at 301 nm, which is the absorption maximum. At this wavelength other materials present in the sample do not interfere with the analysis of isotachysterols and therefore a cleanup step is avoided. Recoveries of vitamin D added to skim milk were 98.1% (SD 5.3), 96.7% (SD 3.3), and 96.0% (SD 5.1) for samples fortified with 200, 400, and 600 IU/quart, respectively. For whole milk, recoveries were 102.0% (SD 6.5) and 97.1% (SD 3.5) in samples fortified with vitamin D equivalent to 200 and 400 IU/quart, respectively. The detection limit for vitamin D is 40 IU/quart.     

Characterisation of peach (Prunus persica L.) cultivars using isozymes as molecular markers

Six enzyme systems were surveyed in 12 peach cultivars using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of leaf extracts. Variation between cultivars was observed in four enzymes: peroxidase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase. Genetic variation parameters revealed that the maximum proportion of polymorphic loci was 46.1%. Out of 15 loci studied, 9 were monomorphic and 6 were polymorphic for 20 alleles. A dendrogram showed the grouping of cultivars on the basis of genetic distance values. The use of isozyme electrophoresis to find the inter-relationship of cultivars is discussed.     

Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai)

The fruit of Euterpe oleraceae, commonly known as acai, has been demonstrated to exhibit significantly high antioxidant capacity in vitro, especially for superoxide and peroxyl scavenging, and, therefore, may have possible health benefits. In this study, the antioxidant capacities of freeze-dried acai fruit pulp/skin powder (OptiAcai) were evaluated by different assays with various free radical sources. It was found to have exceptional activity against superoxide in the superoxide scavenging (SOD) assay, the highest of any food reported to date against the peroxyl radical as measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay with fluorescein as the fluorescent probe (ORACFL), and mild activity against both the peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radical by the peroxynitrite averting capacity (NORAC) and hydroxyl radical averting capacity (HORAC) assays, respectively. The SOD of acai was 1614 units/g, an extremely high scavenging capacity for O2*-, by far the highest of any fruit or vegetable tested to date. Total phenolics were also tested as comparison. In the total antioxidant (TAO) assay, antioxidants in acai were differentiated into "slow-acting" and "fast-acting" components. An assay measuring inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in freshly purified human neutrophils showed that antioxidants in acai are able to enter human cells in a fully functional form and to perform an oxygen quenching function at very low doses. Furthermore, other bioactivities related to anti-inflammation and immune functions were also investigated. Acai was found to be a potential cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 inhibitor. It also showed a weak effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide but no effect on either lymphocyte proliferation and phagocytic capacity.     

Ovarian morphology and internal vis-à-vis non internal laying in relation to triacylglycerol,hormones and their receptors concentration around the age of sexual maturity in broiler breeder hens

1. Ovarian morphology, serum hormone concentrations of 17-β-estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, tri-iodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and triacylglycerol (TAG) were investigated at 23 and 26 weeks of age in broiler breeder hens provided with ad libitum access to feed. Progesterone, oestrogen-β, thyroid-α and -β receptor mRNAs were also quantified in the infundibulum at the same ages.

2. A large variation in the ovarian morphology was observed at 23 weeks of age including hens with undeveloped ovaries, non-laying hens with post ovulatory follicles (POF) and a predominance of non-laying hens without a POF.

3. Serum concentrations of triglyceride, 17-β-estradiol and progesterone at 23 weeks of age were lower in hens with an undeveloped ovary compared with other groups of hens, whereas testosterone, triiodothyronine and thyroxin were higher.

4. At 26 weeks of age, the average number of hierarchical yellow follicles in normal layers was 7.64?±?0·41 whereas in internal layers, the follicular numbers were significantly greater at 8.66?±?0·53. The higher follicular numbers in internal layers were associated with higher serum triglyceride and progesterone concentrations.

5. Oestrogen receptor-β and thyroid receptor-β mRNA was up regulated in the infundibulum of internal layers compared with normal laying hens at 26 weeks of age.     

Molecular characterization and expression profile of ghrelin gene during different reproductive phases in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Ghrelin, a novel motilin-related endogenous ligand for growth hormone secretagouge receptor, is implicated in various biological functions, including regulation of female reproduction. But the presence of ghrelin and its role in reproductive functions in buffalo, a species with poor reproductive efficiency, is not known. In the present study full-length ghrelin cDNA was isolated from bubaline abomasum, which encodes the entire prepropeptide of 116 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of ghrelin of buffalo showed >95% and 31% identity with that of ruminants (cattle, sheep, and goat) and humans, respectively. Analysis of synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions in the coding region of ghrelin indicated that these sequences of different species have been under purifying selection. The 3995-bp amplicon of ghrelin gene consisting of 4 exons and 3 introns was cloned with genomic DNA from buffalo. Further, ghrelin expression was determined by quantitative real-time PCR, in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry in bubaline endometrial tissues at different stages of the estrous cycle and early pregnancy. Our results indicated the persistent expression of ghrelin mRNA and protein in the endometrium during stage I (day 3–5), stage II (day 6–15), and stage III (day 16–21) of the estrous cycle and also during early (∼day 30–40) pregnancy. Immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR experiments indicated the relatively higher expression of ghrelin in the endometrium during stage II (day 6–15) of the estrous cycle and early pregnancy than during stage I (day 3–5) and stage III (day 16–21) of the estrous cycle, but no statistically significant difference in ghrelin expression was observed among stages. To conclude, the results of the present study indicate the persistent expression of ghrelin in the uterine endometrium throughout the estrous cycle and in early pregnancy which might be helpful in determining its role in buffalo reproduction.     

Electrical wind force-driven and dislocation-templated amorphization in phase-change nanowires

Phase-change materials undergo rapid and reversible crystalline-to-amorphous structural transformation and are being used for nonvolatile memory devices. However, the transformation mechanism remains poorly understood. We have studied the effect of electrical pulses on the crystalline-to-amorphous phase change in a single-crystalline Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) (GST) nanowire memory device by in situ transmission electron microscopy. We show that electrical pulses produce dislocations in crystalline GST, which become mobile and glide in the direction of hole-carrier motion. The continuous increase in the density of dislocations moving unidirectionally in the material leads to dislocation jamming, which eventually induces the crystalline-to-amorphous phase change with a sharp interface spanning the entire nanowire cross section. The dislocation-templated amorphization explains the large on/off resistance ratio of the device.