Lactic acid fermentation of osmo-dehydrated onion.

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of osmoconcentration in a sucrose and sodium chloride solution on the efficiency of lactic fermentation and the content of polyphenols and oligosaccharides in yellow and red onion varieties: Alonso, Hysky, Hystore, and Red Lady. In most cases, no negative effect of onion dehydration was noted on the growth or number of the bacteria tested. Osmotic dehydration of onions prior to lactic fermentation may positively modify the profile of lactic acid isomers by increasing the proportion of the L (+) isomer.

Protocatechuic acid and quercetin glucosides in onions attenuate changes induced by high fat diet in rats.

Yellow onion waste from industrial peeling was used to obtain three pure preparations: protocatechuic acid (PA), quercetin diglycosides (QD) and quercetin monoglycosides (QM). PA contained 61% protocatechuic acid, QD contained 35% quercetin diglucosides, mainly quercetin-3,4'-diglucoside, and QM contained 41% monoglucosides, mainly quercetin-4'-glucoside. The highest antioxidant activity was shown by PA.

The effect of osmotic dehydration on the polyphenols content in onion.

Background: The onion is one of the most popular vegetables in the world, often used in the food industry. The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of osmotic dehydration of onions after storage in solutions containing various amounts of sucrose and sodium chloride on the course of osmoconcentration and the level of polyphenols in the dehydrated vegetables. The results could be useful to define the dehydration conditions under which a product retains the highest content of these health-promoting substances.

Neutron Lifetime and Axial Coupling Connection.

Experimental studies of neutron decay, n→peν[over ¯], exhibit two anomalies. The first is a 8.6(2.

Onion quercetin monoglycosides alter microbial activity and increase antioxidant capacity.

The effects on fermentation processes in the digestive tract, the biochemical parameters and antioxidant capacity of blood in rats fed high-fat diets with quercetin (Q) and quercetin with quercetin monoglycosides (Q+MQ) preparations obtained from onion waste were evaluated. Four groups of eight animals were fed for 4 weeks with a control diet (C), a high-fat diet (HF) and high-fat diets with 0.15% addition of Q and Q+MQ preparations.

Two-Loop Binding Corrections to the Electron Gyromagnetic Factor.

We compute corrections to the gyromagnetic factor of an electron bound in a hydrogenlike ion at order α^{2}(Zα)^{5}. This result removes a major uncertainty in predictions for silicon and carbon ions, used to determine the atomic mass of the electron.

Dipole excitation of the positronium molecule ps2.

The energy interval between the ground and the P-wave excited states of the recently discovered positronium molecule Ps2 is evaluated, including the relativistic and the leading logarithmic radiative corrections, E_{P}-E_{S}=0.181 586 7(8) a.u.

Mass effects in muon and semileptonic b-->c decays.

Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) effects in the semileptonic decay b-->clnu are evaluated to the second order in the coupling constant, O(alpha(s){2}), and to several orders in the expansion in quark masses, m{c}/m{b}. Corrections are calculated for the total decay rate as well as for the first two moments of the lepton energy and the hadron system energy distributions. Translated into QED and applied to the muon decay, they decrease its predicted rate by -0.

Positronium-ion decay.

We present a precise theoretical prediction for the decay width of the bound state of two electrons and a positron (a negative positronium ion), Gamma(Ps-)=2.087 963(12)/ns. We include O(alpha2) effects of hard virtual photons as well as soft corrections to the wave function and the decay amplitude.

Intelligent risk communication: can it be improved?

Every year, regulators and scientists from academia and industry invest considerable time and effort into drug development, the assessment of safety, and subsequent risk-benefit communication. The observation of everyday medical practice, lay press releases and drug information indicates that all these efforts do not do justice to the work and effort invested. Risk communication is a complex scientific activity, which, when done properly, benefits patients, and when done poorly, may lead to harm.

Electroweak radiative corrections to muon capture.

Electroweak radiative corrections to muon capture on nuclei are computed and found to be sizable. They enhance the capture rates for hydrogen and helium by 2.8% and 3.

Enhancement of hadronic b quark decays.

A class of previously unknown strong-interaction corrections is found to enhance the rate of nonleptonic decays of the quark by 5%-8%. This effect decreases the predicted fraction of semileptonic decays and brings it into fair agreement with experimental results. As well as solving a long-standing puzzle of measurements disagreeing with the standard model prediction, our work suggests a way for future precise studies of nonleptonic quark decays and their application to searching for "new physics.

Calculation of the one- and two-loop lamb shift for arbitrary excited hydrogenic states.

General expressions for quantum electrodynamic corrections to the one-loop self-energy [of order alpha(Zalpha)6] and for the two-loop Lamb shift [of order alpha2(Zalpha)6] are derived. The latter includes all diagrams with closed fermion loops. The general results are valid for arbitrary excited non-S hydrogenic states and for the normalized Lamb shift difference of states, defined as Delta N = n3deltaE(nS) - delta E(1S).

Heavy-to-light-quark decays with two-loop accuracy.

We present a determination of a new class of three-loop Feynman diagrams describing heavy-to-light transitions. We apply it to find the O(alpha2(s)) corrections to the top quark decay t --> bW and to the distribution of lepton invariant mass in the semileptonic b quark decay b --> ulnu. We also confirm the previously determined total rate of that process as well as the O(alpha2) corrections to the muon lifetime.

Semileptonic b-->u decays: lepton invariant mass spectrum.

We compute O(alpha(2)(s)) QCD corrections to the lepton invariant mass spectrum in the decay b-->ulnu(l), relevant for the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element /V(ub)/. Our method can also be used to evaluate moments of the lepton energy distribution with an O(alpha(2)(s)) accuracy. The Abelian part of our result gives the neutrino invariant mass spectrum in the muon decay and, upon integration, the O(alpha(2)) correction to the muon lifetime.

Pion pole contribution to hadronic light-by-light scattering and muon anomalous magnetic moment.

We derive an analytic result for the pion pole contribution to the light-by-light scattering correction to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, a(mu) = (g(mu)-2)/2. Using the vector meson dominance model for the pion transition form factor, we obtain a(LBL,pi0)mu = +56x10(-11).