Traces of (131)I, (134)Cs and (137)Cs were measured after the Fukushima nuclear accident between 23 March and 13 April 2011 in southeast Spain. The movement of the radioactive cloud toward southeast Spain was reconstructed based on the backward and forward trajectory cluster analyses. Polar maritime air masses which had originated ...

The cationic biopolymer ε-polylysine (ε-PL) is a potent food-grade antimicrobial that is highly effective against a range of food pathogens and spoilage organisms. In compositionally complex systems like foods and beverages, cationic ε-PL molecules may associate with anionic substances, leading to increased turbidity, sediment formation, and reduced antimicrobial activity. In ...

NMR-based metabolic analysis of foods has been widely applied in food science. In this study, we performed discrimination of five different mango cultivars, Awin, Carabao, Keitt, Kent, and Nam Dok Mai, using metabolic analysis with band-selective excitation NMR spectra. A combination of unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) with low-field region ...

Reduction in global ocean pH due to the uptake of increased atmospheric CO(2) is expected to negatively affect calcifying organisms, including the planktonic larval stages of many marine invertebrates. Planktonic larvae play crucial roles in the benthic-pelagic life cycle of marine organisms by connecting and sustaining existing populations and colonizing ...

The effects of a commercially available anionic surfactant solution (FFD-6) on growth and morphology of a common green alga (Scenedesmus obliquus) and on survival and clearance rates of the water flea Daphnia magna were studied. The surfactant-solution elicited a morphological response (formation of colonies) in Scenedesmus at concentrations of 10-100 μl l(-1) ...

The larvae of marine annelids capture food using an unusual diversity of suspension-feeding mechanisms. Many of the feeding mechanisms of larval annelids are poorly known despite the abundance and ecological significance of both larvae and adults of some annelid taxa. Here we show that larvae of two species of sabellariid ...

ε-Polylysine (ε-PL) is a food-grade cationic antimicrobial that is highly effective against a wide range of food pathogens and spoilage organisms. However, its application within foods and beverages is currently limited because of its tendency to associate with anionic substances, thereby increasing product turbidity or forming sediments. In this study, ...

A quantitative analysis was developed for eight acidic and neutral preservatives in foods and daily necessities using the inline dialysis-IC combined with hydrophobic anion-exchange separation. The eight preservatives were dialyzed by inline dialysis and separated on a hydrophobic anion exchange column. Under the optimized separation conditions, the detection limits (S/N ...

Poor quality irrigation water is a major cause of disease transmission for urban inhabitants consuming fresh produce in many developing countries. Irradiation of food is an alternative approach to reducing health risks for consumers, but its implementation depends heavily on consumer acceptance. In this pilot study, we show that most ...

Microwave (MW) irradiation is a relatively new possibility of conditioning and pretreating for wastewater sludge. Following its application in the telecommunications and food-industries, the environmental use of this technique has come into the limelight in recent years, and has become increasingly popular. Various publications have dealt with the examination of ...

Food irradiation is a preservation method that has been approved by the European Union for a limited number of foods or food products and within a limited range of doses. European Community legislation states that all foods or food ingredients treated in this manner and authorized for sale in the ...

Concern regarding the potential for radiation exposure from accidents or nuclear and radiologic terrorism is increasing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the addition of minimal supportive care consisting of hydration or nutritional gels could be used to reduce mortality in mice exposed to (60)Co gamma-radiation. Male ...

Iprodione is an agricultural fungicide that is difficult to detect in foods by HPLC because it coelutes with natural compounds in the food. We previously showed that food matrix could be degraded with titanium dioxide powder (TP). Here we describe an improved method for detection of iprodione using silica gel ...

The analysis of luminescence of minerals extracted from pottery and bricks is a well-known tool in retrospective dosimetry. In the past, the detection limit of this method has been reported to lie in general in the order of magnitude of about 10 mGy. For most applications in accidental dosimetry, this ...

BACKGROUND: Perilla and sesame seeds, a rich source of energy, are commonly utilized in different forms in many countries. During the post-harvest period, they are contaminated with insects as well as microbes that may have importance for keeping quality and quarantine, and thus they can be treated with ionizing radiation ...

Many food guides are used around the world, with most based on a graphical design to indicate how much of each food group should be eaten. However, the most recent versions of the food guides used in the United States (MyPyramid) and Canada (Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide) have ...

Yeasts of the genus Lipomyces are known as fat yeasts, and they store large amounts of lipids. Because the major lipid produced by Lipomyces is triglyceride, which can be used as a food and energy resource, the control of lipid production by Lipomyces sp. is an important issue. Here we ...

In the present study, we investigated the physicochemical and functional properties of lotus seed flour exposed to low and high doses of gamma-radiation (0-30 kGy; the dose recommended for quarantine and hygienic purposes). The results indicated raw seed flour to be rich in nutrients with minimal quantities of antinutritional factors. ...

Low-dose gamma irradiation causes minimal changes in food matrix making identification of radiation-processed foods a challenging task. In the present study, soybean samples were irradiated with commercially permitted gamma radiation dose in the 0.25 to 1.0 kGy range for insect disinfestations of food. Immediately after irradiation electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) ...

Eight foods common to the Nigerian diet were analyzed for trace amounts of uranium using epithermal neutron activation analysis. Food sample sizes of roughly one-half gram, irradiated for 10 min, with a 15 min decay time and counting time for 10 min yielded detection limits between 0.02 and 0.04 Bq/kg. ...

There is an increasing trend both in advanced countries and many developing countries to centrally process fresh fruits and vegetables, properly packaged, for distribution and marketing. Irradiation technology proved to be effective in reducing post-harvest losses, and controlling the stored product insects and the microorganisms. Gamma irradiation was employed to ...

We consider wavelength-selective splitting of radiation using directional couplers (DCs) formed by dielectric-loaded surface-plasmon-polariton waveguides (DLSPPWs). The DCs were fabricated by depositing sub-wavelength-sized polymer ridges on a gold film using large-scale UV photolithography and characterized at telecommunications wavelengths with near-field microscopy. We demonstrate a DLSPPW-based 45-microm-long DC comprising 3 microm ...

A Pd nanoshell was epitaxially grown on a Au nanorod (NR) via simple seed-mediated growth. Compared with the cylindrical shape of the Au NR, the Au core/Pd shell (Au@Pd) nanorods change to a rectangular shape due to the disappearance of {110} facets. The Au NRs exhibit a strong longitudinal surface ...

Irradiation is one of the most important and effective methods towards food preservation despite the consumer lack of trust and aversion towards this method. Irradiation effectiveness greatly depends on the dose provided to food. This review aims at summarizing all available information regarding the impact of irradiation dose on the ...

Increased outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, including deaths in recent years, attributed in large part to consumption of food contaminated with Escherichia coli O157:H7, have become a worldwide concern. Food-borne illnesses constitute an unacceptable health risk demanding stringent food safety controls. Despite food irradiation being a known effective method to eliminate ...

The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for over 3000 years and ended in 30 BCE. Many aspects of ancient Egyptian culture, including the existence of skeletal dysplasias, and in particular achondroplasia, are well known through the monuments and records that survived until modern times. The hot and dry climate in Egypt ...

It is well-known that chronic ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure at low-dose causes skin photoaging including increases in skin thickness and wrinkle formation and reduction in skin elasticity. This study examined the effects of total saponins and ginsenoside Rb(1) isolated from Red Ginseng roots on skin thickness, elasticity, and wrinkle formation ...

Mesoporous Si@carbon core-shell nanowires with a diameter of approximately 6.5 nm were prepared for a lithium battery anode material using a SBA-15 template. As-synthesized nanowires demonstrated excellent first charge capacity of 3163 mA h/g with a Coulombic efficiency of 86% at a rate of 0.2 C (600 mA/g) between 1.5 ...

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the efficacy and safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment in an animal model of vascular anomalies together with the energy efficiency relationship after varying exposure times and energy levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hainanhui cockscombs were irradiated using a CZP therapeutic apparatus with an optimal focus over ...

The effect of grip activities on wrist flexion/extension strength was examined. Twelve healthy subjects performed maximum wrist flexion/extension exertions with one of five levels of simultaneous grip effort: minimum effort; preferred effort; 30%, 60% and 100% maximum voluntary contraction. As grip force increased from the minimum to the maximum effort, ...

If there is a light Abelian gauge boson gamma' in the hidden sector its kinetic mixing with the photon can produce a hidden cosmic microwave background (HCMB). For meV masses, resonant oscillations gamma<-->gamma' happen after big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) but before CMB decoupling, increasing the effective number of neutrinos Nnu(eff) ...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the food additive regulations to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for control of food-borne pathogens, and extension of shelf-life, in fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach (hereinafter referred to in this document as "iceberg lettuce and spinach") at a ...

Heterodimers of BMAL1 and CLOCK drive rhythmic expression of clock-controlled genes, thereby generating circadian physiology and behavior. Posttranslational modifications of BMAL1 play a key role in modulating the transcriptional activity of the CLOCK/BMAL1 complex during the circadian cycle. Recently, we demonstrated that circadian activation of the heterodimeric transcription factor is ...

The most prominent feature on the surface of Mars is the near-hemispheric dichotomy between the southern highlands and northern lowlands. The root of this dichotomy is a change in crustal thickness along an apparently irregular boundary, which can be traced around the planet, except where it is presumably buried beneath ...

BACKGROUND: Synthetic musk compounds are widely used as additives in personal care and household products. The photochemical degradation of musk tibetene in aqueous solutions or in acetonitrile/water mixtures under different conditions was studied in order to assess its environmental fate. METHODS: Musk tibetene dissolved (or suspended) in water and/or acetonitrile/water ...

For more than 100 years research on food irradiation has demonstrated that radiation will make food safer and improve the shelf life of irradiated foods. Using the current food safety technology, we may have reached the point of diminishing returns even though recent figures from the CDC show a significant ...

We examine the effect of Landau level mixing on the braiding statistics of quasiparticles of Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states. While path dependent geometric phases can perturb the Abelian part of the statistics, we find that the non-Abelian properties remain unchanged to an accuracy that is exponentially small in ...

Current experimental data on neutrino mixing are very well described by tribimaximal mixing. Accordingly, any phenomenological parametrization of the Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata-Pontecorvo matrix must build upon tribimaximal mixing. We propose one particularly natural parametrization, which we call "triminimal." The three small deviations of the Particle Data Group angles from their tribimaximal values, ...

Currently, there is a major gap in the knowledge that is needed to optimize the beneficial effects related to ultraviolet (UV) radiation at wavelengths that induce vitamin D(3) synthesis (UV(D3)) compared to reducing the biologically damaging overexposure to UV radiation. The aim of this study was to investigate the use ...

Little is known about potential environmental impact of nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles can cause unexpected biological responses. Here, Mytilus edulis were exposed (24h) to gold-citrate nanoparticles (GNP), menadione and both compounds simultaneously (GNP/menadione). Protein ubiquitination and carbonylation were determined in gill, mantle and digestive gland, along with traditional oxidative stress biomarkers; ...

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of a tau to a lighter-mass charged lepton and an omega vector meson is performed using 384.1 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center PEP-II storage ring. No signal is found, and the upper ...

Photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and thermo-luminescence (TL) analyses were conducted to detect irradiated kiwifruits. Samples were irradiated with Co-60 gamma-rays at 0-2 kGy. The freeze-dried kiwifruit peel showed 309 photon counts (PCs) for nonirradiated samples that accounted for less than the lower threshold value (700 counts/60 s, negative) and above 9306 ...

BACKGROUND: Combining phototherapy with topical vitamin D3 analogues is a useful therapy for the treatment of psoriasis by reducing the cumulative UV dose required for clearance of lesions. Experimental investigations demonstrated that calcipotriol is degraded by UV radiation, and suggested that calcipotriol should be applied after phototherapy but not immediately ...

Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase (5PTase) is a key enzyme in the phosphatidylinositol metabolic pathway, which plays critical roles in a number of cellular processes in plants. Our previous work implicated the role of 5PTase13, which encodes a WD40-containing type II 5PTase, in hormone-mediated cotyledon vein development. Here, we show that 5PTase13 ...

Recently, Supernova 2006gy was noted as the most luminous ever recorded, with a total radiated energy of approximately 10(44) Joules. It was proposed that the progenitor may have been a massive evolved star similar to eta Carinae, which resides in our own Galaxy at a distance of about 2.3 kpc. ...

We investigate possible mass shift and width broadening of J/psi in hot gluonic matter using QCD sum rules. Input values of gluon condensates at finite temperature are extracted from lattice QCD data for the energy density and pressure. Although stability of the moment ratio is achieved only up to T/Tc ...

The systematic affinities of several Palaeozoic skeletal taxa were only resolved when their soft-tissue morphology was revealed by the discovery of exceptionally preserved specimens. The conodonts provide a classic example, their tooth-like elements having been assigned to various invertebrate and vertebrate groups for more than 125 years until the discovery ...

Irradiation of the melatonin metabolite N(1)-acetyl-N(2)-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AFMK) with UV light of 254 nm causes the release of carbon monoxide (CO) and, thus, deformylation to N(1)-acetyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AMK). Liberation of CO was demonstrated by reduction of PdCl(2) to metallic palladium, under avoidance of actions by other reductants. Photochemical AMK formation was not ...

PEGylation induced increase in colloidal osmotic pressure (COP) of Hb, one of the unique molecular properties of PEG-Hb conjugates, facilitates the neutralization of the vasoconstrictive activity of acellular Hb is a function of chemistry of conjugation of PEG-chains. The dependence of COP with the chemistry is a consequence of PEGylation ...

Grid illusions, including the Hermann grid and scintillating grid (in which light disks are superimposed upon the grid intersections), are diminished by curving the alleys that limn the repeating pattern. Curvature might either disrupt the processes that induce the illusion, or simply make the illusory effects harder to see. To ...