Oxidation of the flavonol quercetin by polyphenol oxidase

Because direct oxidation of flavonols by polyphenol oxidase (PPO) has not previously been reported and, given the importance of flavonols, the ability of broad bean seed PPO to oxidize the flavonol quercetin was studied. The reaction was followed by recording spectral changes with time. Maximal spectral changes were observed at 291 nm (increase) and at 372 nm (decrease). The presence of two isosbectic points (at 272 and 342 nm) suggested the formation of only one absorbent product. These spectral changes were not observed in the absence of PPO. The oxidation rate, which varied with pH, was highest at pH 5.0. The following kinetic parameters were also determined: V(m) = 11 microM/min, K(m) = 646 microM, V(m)/K(m) = 17 x 10(-)(2) min(-)(1). Flavonol oxidation was efficiently inhibited (K(I) = 3.5 microM) by specific PPO inhibitors such as 4-hexylresorcinol. The results obtained showed that quercetin oxidation was strictly dependent on the presence of PPO.     

Free galactose concentrations in fresh and stored apples (Malus domestica) and processed apple products

Gas chromatography was used to quantitate free galactose in Braeburn, Fuji, Red Delicious, and Spartan apples during cold storage, after thermal processing of apple slices and in juice produced using clarification and/or liquifaction enzymes. Spartan had significantly higher galactose levels as compared to Red Delicious apples, but changes in galactose in all varieties during 9 months of cold storage were insignificant. Blanching and canning decreased galactose levels, but doubling the thermal processing during canning increased the free galactose concentration detected in plant tissue. An enzymatic liquefaction aid used to prepare apple juice dramatically increased the free galactose content while a clarification aid caused only a slight increase due to its selective action on soluble pectin. These findings provide useful information for dietitians to base diet recommendations for galactosemic patients.     

Investigation into the population growth and its implications for primary schooling in Timor‐Leste by 2020

The nation‐building process of Timor‐Leste, the newest nation in Asia, faces significant demographic challenges due to its high population growth, which is the fastest in Asia. The major contributor for this unprecedented growth is the extremely high total fertility rate of Timor‐Leste, among the highest in the world. It is of great concern that if the current fertility rate and its implied population growth continue the population of Timor‐Leste will double in 17 years. The analysis in this paper clearly shows that the current extremely high dependency ratio will decline only marginally in the next 10 years and this will put tremendous pressure on the government to constantly keep up with the increasing number of children entering school every year. However, as the intrinsic value of human resource development feeds back into the overall society and economy, an adequate public investment in knowledge‐producing services at the earliest stages of life and throughout that life has the potential to change the demographic concern of Timor‐Leste into a future demographic dividend.     

水稻整米率稳定性的估计

本文提出了测定水稻品种对环境稳定性的一个新参数,采用这一参数对美国加利福尼亚州多年多点的水稻品种整米率进行稳定性分析的结果表明,稳定性与熟期类型在统计上有一定的相关性,即整米率稳定性依晚熟品种、早熟品种、特早熟品种而顺序降低,回归分析说明整米率的稳定性有随整米率的提高而增加的趋向,本文还讨论了稳定性系数的优点和局限性。     

Conserving copalillo: The creation of sustainable Oaxacan wood carvings

Most accounts of the effect of the global marketplace on deforestation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America emphasize the demand for timber used in industrial processes and the conversion of tropical forests to pastures for beef cattle. In recent years, numerous scholars and policymakers have suggested that developing a market for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) might slow the pace of habitat destruction. Although increased demand for NTFPs rarely results in massive deforestation, the depletion of the raw materials needed to make particular products is common. Many rural households in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have prospered over the past three decades through the sale of brightly-painted, whimsical wood carvings (alebrijes) to international tourists and the owners of ethnic arts shops in the United States, Canada, and Europe. This paper examines a promising project aimed at providing Oaxacan alebrije-makers with a reliable, legal, and sustainable supply of wood. The ecologists, artisans, merchants, and forest owners involved in the project face formidable obstacles. Gaining permission to harvest wood from land belonging to Oaxacan communities requires the negotiation of a complex social, legal, economic, and political landscape. Artisans’ decisions about where to obtain wood rest largely on price, quality, and reliability of the supplier; they are willing to pay a premium for ecologically sustainable wood only if the additional cost can be passed on to consumers. Nonetheless, a group of carvers has begun to buy sustainably harvested wood. This arrangement has economic advantages for both the alebrije-makers and the owners of the forests where the wood is produced. Michael Chibnik is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. He has conducted fieldwork in Belize, Peru, Mexico, and in various parts of the United States. His research interests include economic anthropology, artisans, work organization, agricultural decision-making, and political ecology. He is the author of Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings (University of Texas Press, 2003) and Risky Rivers: The Economics and Politics of Floodplain Farming in Amazonia (University of Arizona Press, 1994), and editor of Farm Work and Fieldwork: American Agriculture in Anthropological Perspective (Cornell University Press, 1987). Dr. Silvia E. Purata is a Mexican ethnoecologist based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She is a member of People and Plants International, an organization that works to integrate conservation and the use of natural resources. Purata has conducted research on the methods indigenous peoples use to extract non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in tropical forests and the fate of such systems in varying socioeconomic circumstances. She has also been working on the promotion of forest certification in the Selva Maya.     

The chemistry of sexual deception in an orchid-wasp pollination system

The "sexually deceptive" orchid Chiloglottis trapeziformis attracts males of its pollinator species, the thynnine wasp Neozeleboria cryptoides, by emitting a unique volatile compound, 2-ethyl-5-propylcyclohexan-1,3-dione, which is also produced by female wasps as a male-attracting sex pheromone.     

Reversal of neurological defects in a mouse model of Rett syndrome

Rett syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder caused by mosaic expression of mutant copies of the X-linked MECP2 gene in neurons. However, neurons do not die, which suggests that this is not a neurodegenerative disorder. An important question for future therapeutic approaches to this and related disorders concerns phenotypic reversibility. Can viable but defective neurons be repaired, or is the damage done during development without normal MeCP2 irrevocable? Using a mouse model, we demonstrate robust phenotypic reversal, as activation of MeCP2 expression leads to striking loss of advanced neurological symptoms in both immature and mature adult animals.     

基于AutoCAD环境前处理接口程序的开发

本文通过分析传统的结构数据处理方法的缺陷，提出了基于AutoCAD环境下的前处理模式的开发；详细研究了Auto CAD的DXF文件结构，叙述了如何运用嵌套于AutoCAD内部的AutoLISP语言来读取、处理AutoCAD图形文件，进而生成计算程序所需要的数据文件；最后总结了前处理的主要工作。     

套作玉米产量与栽培密度及氮磷钾肥施用量的关系

采用二次回归通用旋转组合设计方法试验,以马铃薯套作玉米产量为目标,以套作的玉米密度、氮、磷、钾肥施用量为探讨对象,建立了套作玉米产量与密度、氮、磷、钾肥施用量间关系的数学模型(y=7396.05-536.7x1 129.0x2 135.6x3 104.7x4-19.65x1x2-5.4x1x3 147.75x1x4 165.15x2x3-86.55x2x4 113.7x3x4-478.8x12-407.7x22-446.25x32-450.3x42),通过模拟寻优,提出了玉米产量≥6750.00kg/hm2的综合农艺栽培方案(玉米密度44856-51135株/hm2,平均48000株/hm2;N279.30-350.70kg/hm2,平均315.00kg/hm2;P2O5189.00-231.00kg/hm2,平均210.00kg/hm2;K2O167.70-222.30kg/hm2,平均195.00kg/hm2。N:P:K=1:0.667:0.619)。