A Statistical Method to Enhance the Analysis of the Differences Among High-Resolution Melting (HRM) Curves of PCR-Amplified DNA Fragments.

Consistent differences among melting curves of PCR-amplified DNA fragments are treated by normalizing the relative fluorescence units (RFU) and performing a clustering analysis, but statistically significant differences among curves are not usually determined. In the present study, an analysis based on functional data analysis (FDA) was implemented to evaluate the existence of statistically significant differences between normalized RFU curves obtained from PCR-HRM (high-resolution melting) analysis by using ANOVA for functional data. The effectiveness of the FDA method was analyzed with data from a set of samples of eight animal species of interest in food analysis, as well as mixtures of DNA from these species, analyzed by PCR-HRM to differentiate them.

Plant litter dynamics in the forest-stream interface: precipitation is a major control across tropical biomes.

Riparian plant litter is a major energy source for forested streams across the world and its decomposition has repercussions on nutrient cycling, food webs and ecosystem functioning. However, we know little about plant litter dynamics in tropical streams, even though the tropics occupy 40% of the Earth's land surface. Here we investigated spatial and temporal (along a year cycle) patterns of litter inputs and storage in multiple streams of three tropical biomes in Brazil (Atlantic forest, Amazon forest and Cerrado savanna), predicting major differences among biomes in relation to temperature and precipitation regimes.

Quantitative Analysis of Bioactive Compounds from Aromatic Plants by Means of Dynamic Headspace Extraction and Multiple Headspace Extraction-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Seven monoterpenes in 4 aromatic plants (sage, cardamom, lavender, and rosemary) were quantified in liquid extracts and directly in solid samples by means of dynamic headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DHS-GC-MS) and multiple headspace extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MHSE), respectively. The monoterpenes were 1st extracted by means of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and analyzed by an optimized DHS-GC-MS. The optimization of the dynamic extraction step and the desorption/cryo-focusing step were tackled independently by experimental design assays.

2,6-Di-Tert-Butyl-Hydroxytoluene and Its Metabolites in Foods.

2,6-Di-tert-butyl-hydroxytoluene (BHT, E-321) is a synthetic phenolic antioxidant which has been widely used as an additive in the food, cosmetic, and plastic industries for the last 70 y. Although it is considered safe for human health at authorized levels, its ubiquitous presence and the controversial toxicological data reported are of great concern for consumers. In recent years, special attention has been paid to these 14 metabolites or degradation products: BHT-CH OH, BHT-CHO, BHT-COOH, BHT-Q, BHT-QM, DBP, BHT-OH, BHT-OOH, TBP, BHQ, BHT-OH(t), BHT-OH(t)QM, 2-BHT, and 2-BHT-QM.

Optimization of supercritical fluid consecutive extractions of fatty acids and polyphenols from Vitis vinifera grape wastes.

In this study, supercritical fluid extraction has been successfully applied to a sequential fractionation of fatty acids and polyphenols from wine wastes (2 different vitis vinifera grapes). To this aim, in a 1st step just fatty acids were extracted and in a 2nd one the polyphenols. The variables that affected to the extraction efficiency were separately optimized in both steps following an experimental design approach.

Effects of different doses of resveratrol on body fat and serum parameters in rats fed a hypercaloric diet.

Recently resveratrol, a compound naturally occurring in various plants, has been proposed as a potential anti-obesity compound. The aim of the present work was to analyse the effects of different doses of resveratrol on body fat and serum parameters in rats. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups and fed on a hypercaloric diet for 6 weeks.

Acid, basic, and neutral peptidases present different profiles in chromophobe renal cell carcinoma and in oncocytoma.

Renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) are neoplasias with high prevalence and mortality. We previously reported that several peptidases may be involved in the pathophysiology of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). Now, to gain insight into the reasons that lead the various RCC types to behave very differently with regard to aggressiveness and response to anticancer treatments, we analyzed subsets of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC), and renal oncocytoma (RO), a benign tumor; as well as different grades and stages of CCRCCs.

Structure of the high-order Boltzmann machine from independence maps.

In this paper we consider the determination of the structure of the high-order Boltzmann machine (HOBM), a stochastic recurrent network for approximating probability distributions. We obtain the structure of the HOBM, the hypergraph of connections, from conditional independences of the probability distribution to model. We assume that an expert provides these conditional independences and from them we build independence maps, Markov and Bayesian networks, which represent conditional independences through undirected graphs and directed acyclic graphs respectively.

The high-order Boltzmann machine: learned distribution and topology.

In this paper we give a formal definition of the high-order Boltzmann machine (BM), and extend the well-known results on the convergence of the learning algorithm of the two-order BM. From the Bahadur-Lazarsfeld expansion we characterize the probability distribution learned by the high order BM. Likewise a criterion is given to establish the topology of the BM depending on the significant correlations of the particular probability distribution to be learned.