Preparation and Characterization of Lutein Co-Amorphous Formulation with Enhanced Solubility and Dissolution.

Lutein is an oxygenated fat-soluble carotenoid and a functional compound with proven health benefits for the human body. Nevertheless, the poor water solubility and low oral bioavailability of lutein greatly limit its application. To address this, we developed an effective approach to enhance the water solubility of lutein through co-amorphous formulation.

Whole-Grain Highland Barley Attenuates Atherosclerosis Associated with NLRP3 Inflammasome Pathway and Gut Microbiota in ApoE Mice.

The efficacy and mechanism of highland barley in the treatment of atherosclerosis have received little attention. Herein, we aimed to explore whether highland barley supplementation can prevent atherosclerosis progression and improve gut microbiota disorder in apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE) mice. Male ApoE mice were fed a high-fat diet with whole-grain highland barley (WHB) or refined highland barley for 18 weeks.

Characteristics and Functional Properties of Maillard Reaction Products from α-Lactalbumin and Polydextrose.

The characteristics and the functions of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) produced by polydextrose (PD), a new type of prebiotic, and α-lactalbumin (α-LA) were valued. PD and α-LA were incubated at 60 °C and 79% relative humidity for up to 72 h to prepare MRPs. The results showed that the absorbance and fluorescence intensity of heated α-LA-PD increased, and the amount of free amino groups reduced as the reaction progressed, which confirmed the formation of different stages of MRPs.

Factors Associated with Chinese Migrant Children's Social Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study in Guangzhou City, China.

This study aims to examine whether social work services can improve migrant children's social engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in urban China. Valid questionnaires of 416 migrant children in Guangzhou were obtained as the samples. Two regression models were employed to analyze the factors associated with social engagement.

Characterization and functional properties of Maillard reaction products of β-lactoglobulin and polydextrose.

The Maillard reaction products (MRPs) between polydextrose (PDX), a popular polysaccharide in formula powder, and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), a major whey protein, were studied in aggregation degree, structure, hydrophobic, antigenic and antioxidant activity changes of β-LG. Incubation of PDX and β-LG (60 ℃, 79% relative humidity) for up to 72 h yielded MRPs with increases in furosine, UV absorbance, fluorescence intensity and loss of free amino groups. High molecular weight β-LG-PDX MRPs were observed by SDS-PAGE.

Long-Range Self-Assembly of an Electron-Deficient Hexaazatrinaphthylene with Out-of-Plane Substituents.

The unprecedented time-dependent long-range supramol-ecular assembly of electron-deficient hexaazatrinaphthylene (HATN) core based on peripheral crowding with three out-of-plane cyclic ketals is reported. The single-crystal X-ray structure of the diethyl derivative provided detailed information as to how four molecules in a repeating unit were packed in order to avoid steric crowding of the out-of-plane cyclic ketal side chain, providing locking and fastening for stabilizing the self-assembled structure. The polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) did not instantaneously show any phase transition upon the cooling process.

Globally Optimal Distributed Kalman Filtering for Multisensor Systems with Unknown Inputs.

In this paper, the state estimation for dynamic system with unknown inputs modeled as an autoregressive AR (1) process is considered. We propose an optimal algorithm in mean square error sense by using difference method to eliminate the unknown inputs. Moreover, we consider the state estimation for multisensor dynamic systems with unknown inputs.

Tracing Acetylene Dissolved in Transformer Oil by Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectrum.

Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) is widely used in monitoring and diagnosing of power transformer, since the insulation material in the power transformer decomposes gases under abnormal operation condition. Among the gases, acetylene, as a symbol of low energy spark discharge and high energy electrical faults (arc discharge) of power transformer, is an important monitoring parameter. The current gas detection method used by the online DGA equipment suffers from problems such as cross sensitivity, electromagnetic compatibility and reliability.

Research on High Sensitive D-Shaped FBG Hydrogen Sensors in Power Transformer Oil.

Dissolved hydrogen is a symbol gas decomposed by power transformer oil for electrical faults such as overheat or partial discharges. A novel D-shaped fiber Bragg grating (D-FBG) sensor is herein proposed and was fabricated with magnetron sputtering to measure the dissolved hydrogen concentration in power transformer oil in this paper. Different from the RI (refractive index)-based effect, D-FBG in this case is sensitive to curvature caused by stress from sensing coating, leading to Bragg wavelength shifts accordingly.

Note: Dissolved hydrogen detection in power transformer oil based on chemically etched fiber Bragg grating.

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor based on chemically etched cladding to detect dissolved hydrogen is proposed and studied in this paper. Low hydrogen concentration tests have been carried out in mixed gases and transformer oil to investigate the repeatability and sensitivity. Moreover, to estimate the influence of etched cladding thickness, a physical model of FBG-based hydrogen sensor is analyzed.

A retrospective study of contributing factors for prognosis and survival length of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis in Southern part of China (1998-2013).

Background: Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis (CM) is the most common opportunistic infection of the central nervous system (CNS). Despite this observation, there have only been a few studies analyzing clinical characteristics as well as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), electroencephalograph (EEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features in CM patients of all ages.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of all patients diagnosed with cryptococcal meningoencephalitis from 1998 to 2013 in the Nanfang Hospital in China and gathered data on the underlying diseases, bird exposure history, and clinical features, including those from CSF, EEG and MRI.

Simultaneous production of fatty acid methyl esters and diglycerides by four recombinant Candida rugosa lipase's isozymes.

In this study, the catalytic efficiency of four recombinant CRL (Candida rugosa lipase) isozymes (LIP1-LIP4) towards the production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was compared and evaluated as an alternative green method for industrial applications. The results indicated that the recombinant C. rugosa LIP1 enzyme exhibited the highest catalytic efficiency for FAME production compared to the recombinant C.

Globally Optimal Multisensor Distributed Random Parameter Matrices Kalman Filtering Fusion with Applications.

This paper proposes a new distributed Kalman filtering fusion with random state transition and measurement matrices, i.e., random parameter matrices Kalman filtering.