Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity of bioaccessible compounds from wheat fractions after gastrointestinal digestion

Wholegrain consumption is associated with several health benefits, in contrast to the consumption of refined grains. This can partly be related to the antioxidant compounds in the outer parts of the grain kernel. The bioaccessibility of these antioxidant compounds from the wholegrain matrix during gastrointestinal digestion is crucial for their absorption and bioavailability. In the current study, the bioaccessible compounds from aleurone, bran and flour were obtained from a dynamic in vitro model of the upper gastrointestinal tract. They were collected at 1 h time intervals to assess their antioxidant capacity (TEAC assay) and also their anti-inflammatory effect (TNF-α reduction in U937 macrophages stimulated with LPS). The bioaccessible compounds from aleurone had the highest antioxidant capacity and provided a prolonged anti-inflammatory effect, shown by the TNF-α reduction of a relatively late time-interval (3–4 h after start of digestion). The contribution of ferulic acid to those effects was minor due to its low bioaccessibility. Aleurone seems a promising wheat fraction for cereal products with a healthy added value.     

The Quantum Event of Oceanic Crustal Accretion: Impacts of Diking at Mid-Ocean Ridges

Seafloor diking-eruptive events represent the irreducible, quantum events of upper oceanic crustal accretion. They record events by which a large portion of the oceanic crust has formed through geological history. Since 1993, the U.S. Navy's real-time Sound Surveillance System has allowed location of ongoing acoustic signatures of dike emplacement and basalt eruptions at ridge crests in the northeast Pacific. These diking-eruptive events trigger a sequence of related, rapidly evolving physical, chemical, and biological processes. Magmatic volatiles released during these events may provide nutrients for communities of subseafloor microorganisms, some of which thrive in high-temperature anaerobic environments. Many of the organisms identified from these systems are Archaea. If microorganisms can thrive in the water-saturated pores and cracks within deep, volcanically active portions of our planet, other hydrothermally active planets may harbor similar life forms.     

A whole-genome assembly of Drosophila

We report on the quality of a whole-genome assembly of Drosophila melanogaster and the nature of the computer algorithms that accomplished it. Three independent external data sources essentially agree with and support the assembly's sequence and ordering of contigs across the euchromatic portion of the genome. In addition, there are isolated contigs that we believe represent nonrepetitive pockets within the heterochromatin of the centromeres. Comparison with a previously sequenced 2.9- megabase region indicates that sequencing accuracy within nonrepetitive segments is greater than 99. 99% without manual curation. As such, this initial reconstruction of the Drosophila sequence should be of substantial value to the scientific community.     

Borehole Temperatures and a Baseline for 20th-Century Global Warming Estimates

Lack of a 19th-century baseline temperature against which 20th-century warming can be referenced constitutes a deficiency in understanding recent climate change. Combination of borehole temperature profiles, which contain a memory of surface temperature changes in previous centuries, with the meteorological archive of surface air temperatures can provide a 19th-century baseline temperature tied to the current observational record. A test case in Utah, where boreholes are interspersed with meteorological stations belonging to the Historical Climatological Network, yields a noise reduction in estimates of 20th-century warming and a baseline temperature that is 0.6° ± 0.1°C below the 1951 to 1970 mean temperature for the region.