Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Iowans Urged to File for CD Payments, January 2003

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Iowans Urged to File for CD Payments

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Iowans Urged to File for CD Payments, January 2003

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Iowans Urged to File for CD Payments

The application of NMR and MS methods for detection of adulteration of wine, fruit juices, and olive oil. A review

This review covers two important techniques, high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS), used to characterize food products and detect possible adulteration of wine, fruit juices, and olive oil, all important products of the Mediterranean Basin. Emphasis is placed on the complementary use of SNIF-NMR (site-specific natural isotopic fractionation nuclear magnetic resonance) and IRMS (isotope-ratio mass spectrometry) in association with chemometric methods for detecting the adulteration.

Caracterització de les metal·lotioneïnes CnMT1 i CnMT2 del fong Cryptococcus neoformans. Estudi de la capacitat coordinant davant dels ions Zn(II), Cd(II) i Cu(I)

En aquest treball de recerca, s’han estudiat les dues isoformes de metal·lotioneïna CnMT1 i CnMT2 presents en el fong patogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Recentment s’ha descobert que aquest fong té com a factor de virulència, els nivells de coure del medi on es troba. Les dues isoformes produïdes en medis rics en Zn(II) s’han utilitzat per a fer valoracions amb Cu(I) i Cd(II), i s’ha seguit l’evolució dels experiments mitjançant les tècniques DC, UV-vis, i ESI-MS. S’ha pogut observar que les dues isoformes tenen preferència per enllaçar Cu(I). Per altra banda també s’ha establert una gran homologia entre les dues seqüències.

Efeito de ZN, Cd e Cu no comportamento de fungos ectomicorrízicos em meio de cultura

Os fungos ectomicorrízicos são capazes de tolerar concentrações de metais pesados tóxicas às plantas hospedeiras, apesar de serem adversamente influenciados pelo excesso de alguns metais. Avaliou-se o crescimento de um isolado de Pisolithus tinctorius e outro de Suillus bovinus em meio de cultura líquido com doses crescentes de sais de Zn, Cu ou Cd adicionados individualmente em frascos de 125 mL que continham 50 mL de meio Mellin-Norkrans modificado (MNM), em pH 4,8. Os fungos cresceram por 20 dias em câmara de crescimento a 28ºC. O crescimento dos fungos foi inibido com a elevação das concentrações dos metais, porém de forma diferenciada. As concentrações suficientes para inibir 50% do crescimento foram de 2,71 x 10-3 mol L-1 de Zn, 1,18 x 10-3 mol L-1 de Cu e 12,2 x 10-6 mol L-1 de Cd, para o P. tinctorius, e de 2,15 x 10-3 mol L-1 de Zn, 0,12 x 10-3 mol L-1 de Cu e 7,2 x 10-6 mol L-1 de Cd, para o S. bovinus. O efeito inibitório dos metais sobre o crescimento dos fungos seguiu a seguinte ordem decrescente: Cd > Cu > Zn. O isolado de S. bovinus apresentou tolerância ao Zn similar à observada para o P. tinctorius, mas foi menos tolerante que este em relação aos outros dois metais. O crescimento de P. tinctorius foi favorecido por pequena dose de Cu. A produção de pigmentos extracelulares nestes isolados foi estimulada por todos os metais estudados. O P. tinctorius, o mais tolerante, produziu mais pigmentos extracelulares por grama de micélio, o que sugere a relação positiva entre a capacidade de produção de pigmentos e a tolerância aos metais.

Transformations in occluded light fraction organic matter in a clayey oxisol: evidence from 13C-CPMAS-NMR and delta13C Signature

We hypothesised that, during occlusion inside granular aggregates of oxide-rich soils, the light fraction organic matter would undergo a strong process of decomposition, either due to the slow process of aggregate formation and stabilisation or due to digestion in the macro- and meso-fauna guts. This process would favour the accumulation of recalcitrant materials inside aggregates. The aim of this study was to compare the dynamics and the chemical composition of free and occluded light fraction organic matter in a natural cerrado vegetation (woodland savannah) and a nearby pasture (Brachiaria spp.) to elucidate the transformations during occlusion of light fraction in aggregates of a clayey Oxisol. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of the 13C, with Cross Polarisation and Magic Angle Spinning (13C-CPMAS-NMR), and 13C/12C isotopic ratio were combined to study organic matter composition and changes in carbon dynamics, respectively. The occluded light fraction had a slower turnover than the free light fraction and the heavy fraction. Organic matter in the occluded fraction also showed a higher degree of decomposition. The results confirm that processes of soil organic matter occlusion in the typical "very fine strong granular" structure of the studied oxide-rich soil led to an intense transformation, selectively preserving stable organic matter. The small amount of organic material stored as occluded light faction, as well as its stability, suggests that this is not an important or manageable sink for sequestration of atmospheric CO2.

Quantification of brain glycogen concentration and turnover through localized 13C NMR of both the C1 and C6 resonances.

We have recently shown that at isotopic steady state (13)C NMR can provide a direct measurement of glycogen concentration changes, but that the turnover of glycogen was not accessible with this protocol. The aim of the present study was to design, implement and apply a novel dual-tracer infusion protocol to simultaneously measure glycogen concentration and turnover. After reaching isotopic steady state for glycogen C1 using [1-(13)C] glucose administration, [1,6-(13)C(2)] glucose was infused such that isotopic steady state was maintained at the C1 position, but the C6 position reflected (13)C label incorporation. To overcome the large chemical shift displacement error between the C1 and C6 resonances of glycogen, we implemented 2D gradient based localization using the Fourier series window approach, in conjunction with time-domain analysis of the resulting FIDs using jMRUI. The glycogen concentration of 5.1 +/- 1.6 mM measured from the C1 position was in excellent agreement with concomitant biochemical determinations. Glycogen turnover measured from the rate of label incorporation into the C6 position of glycogen in the alpha-chloralose anesthetized rat was 0.7 micromol/g/h.

Aplicacions del CD-ROM al mercat editorial: experiències i perspectives a Europa

Atesa la importància que darrerament estan adquirint els suports òptics, presentem una descripció de les aplicacions editorials del CDROM existents actualment a Europa, tot fent especial esment al projecte ADONIS. A més, pretenem fer una avaluació de les possibilitats i perspectives d'aquest nou suport d'informació.

1H-[13C] NMR spectroscopy of the rat brain during infusion of [2-13C] acetate at 14.1 T.

Full signal intensity (1)H-[(13)C] NMR spectroscopy, combining a preceding (13)C-editing block based on an inversion BISEP (B(1)-insensitive spectral editing pulse) with a spin-echo coherence-based localization, was developed and implemented at 14.1 T. (13)C editing of the proposed scheme was achieved by turning on and off the (13)C adiabatic full passage in the (13)C-editing block to prepare inverted and noninverted (13)C-coupled (1)H coherences along the longitudinal axis prior to localization. The novel (1)H-[(13)C] NMR approach was applied in vivo under infusion of the glia-specific substrate [2-(13)C] acetate. Besides a approximately 50% improvement in sensitivity, spectral dispersion was enhanced at 14.1 T, especially for J-coupled metabolites such as glutamate and glutamine. A more distinct spectral structure at 1.9-2.2 ppm(parts per million) was observed, e.g., glutamate C3 showed a doublet pattern in both simulated (1)H spectrum and in vivo (13)C-edited (1)H NMR spectra. Besides (13)C time courses of glutamate C4 and glutamine C4, the time courses of glutamate C3 and glutamine C3 obtained by (1)H-[(13)C] NMR spectroscopy were reported for the first time. Such capability should greatly improve the ability to study neuron-glial metabolism using (1)H-observed (13)C-edited NMR spectroscopy.

NMR and LC-MSn characterisation of two minor saponins from Ilex paraguariensis.

Two minor saponins obtained from the methanolic extract of the leaves of Ilex paraguariensis have been characterised by 13C-NMR, 1H-NMR, API-MS and chemical hydrolysis as oleanolic acid-3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl)-(28-->1)- beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (guaiacin B) and oleanolic acid-3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-(alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl- (1-->2))-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl)-(28-->1)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (nudicaucin C). Both are isomeric forms of the known matesaponins 1 (MSP 1) and 2 (MSP 2) and differ only by the nature of the aglycone: they have oleanolic acid instead of ursolic acid, as found in the matesaponins. These minor saponins have not been fully separated from their major isomers MSP 1 and 2 and were characterised by in-mixture NMR analysis, LC-MS and LC-MSn experiments.