Berry phenolics: isolation, analysis, identification, and antioxidant properties

The main objectives in this thesis were to isolate and identify the phenolic compounds in wild (Sorbus aucuparia) and cultivated rowanberries, European cranberries (Vaccinium microcarpon), lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), and cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus), as well as to investigate the antioxidant activity of phenolics occurring in berries in food oxidation models. In addition, the storage stability of cloudberry ellagitannin isolate was studied. In wild and cultivated rowanberries, the main phenolic compounds were chlorogenic acids and neochlorogenic acids with increasing anthocyanin content depending on the crossing partners. The proanthocyanidin contents of cranberries and lingonberries were investigated, revealing that the lingonberry contained more rare A-type dimers than the European cranberry. The liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis of cloudberry ellagitannins showed that trimeric lambertianin C and sanguiin H-10 were the main ellagitannins. The berries, rich in different types of phenolic compounds including hydroxycinnamic acids, proanthocyanidins, and ellagitannins, showed antioxidant activity toward lipid oxidation in liposome and emulsion oxidation models. All the different rowanberry cultivars prevented lipid oxidation in the same way, in spite of the differences in their phenolic composition. In terms of liposomes, rowanberries were slightly more effective antioxidants than cranberry and lingonberry phenolics. Greater differences were found when comparing proanthocyanidin fractions. Proanthocyanidin dimers and trimers of both cranberries and lingonberries were most potent in inhibiting lipid oxidation. Antioxidant activities and antiradical capacities were also studied with hydroxycinnamic acid glycosides. The sinapic acid derivatives of the hydroxycinnamic acid glycosides were the most effective at preventing lipid oxidation in emulsions and liposomes and scavenging radicals in DPPH assay. In liposomes and emulsions, the formation of the secondary oxidation product, hexanal, was inhibited more than that of the primary oxidation product, conjugated diene hydroperoxides, by hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. This indicates that they are principally chain-breaking antioxidants rather than metal chelators, although they possess chelating activity as well. The storage stability test of cloudberry ellagitannins was performed by storing ellagitannin isolate and ellagitannins encapsulated with maltodextrin at different relative vapor pressures. The storage stability was enhanced by the encapsulation when higher molecular weight maltodextrin was used. The best preservation was achieved when the capsules were stored at 0 or 33% relative vapor pressures. In addition, the antioxidant activities of encapsulated cloudberry extracts were followed during the storage period. Different storage conditions did not alter the antioxidant activity, even though changes in the ellagitannin contents were seen. The current results may be of use in improving the oxidative stability of food products by using berries as natural antioxidants.

Free vibration of a stochastic beam-column using stochastic fem

The free vibrational characteristics of a beam-column, which is having randomly varying Young's modulus and mass density and subjected to randomly distributed axial loading is analysed. The material property fluctuations and axial loadings are considered to constitute independent one-dimensional, uni-variate, homogeneous real, spatially distributed stochastic fields. Hamilton's principle is used to formulate the problem using stochastic FEM. Vibration frequencies and mode shapes are analysed for their statistical descriptions. A numerical example is shown.

Isolation and characterization of a naturally occurring inhibitor from mung bean (Vigna radiata) seedlings for serine hydroxymethyltransferase

A naturally occurring inhibitor of serine hydroxymethyltransferase (EC2.1.2.1) in mung bean seedlings extracts was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation, phenyl-Sepharose chromatography followed by heating to release the inhibitor bound to the protein. The inhibitor had an absorption maximum at 200 nm, was not precipitated by trichloroacetic acid, was dialysable and resistant to inactivation by heating at 98-degrees-C for 4 hr, protease and ribonuclease digestion; but was acid labile. The chromatographically pure preparation inhibited both mung bean and sheep liver SHMT. Qualitative and quantitative analyses indicated that it contained a carbohydrate moiety, an O-amino and vicinal diol groups. Paper electrophoresis at pH 4.3 suggested that the inhibitor was positively charged.

Isolation and characterization of a novel multibridged tetradentate dianionic form of pyridoxic acid. Crystal structure of tetranuclear [Cu4(PAA)2(Bipyam)4(H2O)2Cl2](NO3)2·CH3OH·10H2O

The X-ray analysis of the tetranuclear copper(II) complex formed from pyridoxic acid and 2,2′-dipyridylamine reveals a novel metal binding mode of pyridoxic acid as a multibridged tetradentate dianion. Here the pyridoxic acid moiety uses all possible sites except the pyridine nitrogen for metal coordination.

Isolation of a phosphoryl choline-binding protein from the hemolymph of the snail, Achatina fulica

A phosphorylcholine-binding protein from the hemolymph of the snail Achatina fulica was purified to near homogeneity using a Sepharose phenylphosphorylcholine affinity column. The protein bound to the affinity column was eluted with 5 mM phosphorylcholine as a single symmetrical peak. The purified protein (400 Kda) contained 35–40% carbohydrate. On SDS-PAGE the protein separated into two bands of 20 and 24 Kda, and had a pI of 5.9. On immunodiffusion, antiserum to the snail phosphorylcholine binding protein did not cross-react against other phosphorylcholine binding proteins, like rat serum phosphorylcholine-binding protein (PCBP), limulus C-reactive protein (CRP), or human CRP. On pretreatment of the snail hemolymph with this antiserum, the hemagglutination titer of the hemolymph was markedly decreased. The purified snail phosphorylcholine binding protein agglutinated rabbit erythrocytes in the absence of divalent cation (Ca+2) but trace amount of Ca+2 increased its binding. The strongest inhibitor of the agglutination reaction was lactose, followed by melibiose and 2-deoxygalactose. The relationships of the snail phosphorylcholine binding protein to other hemolymph agglutinins and to CRPs are discussed in light of common phylogeny.

Modelling, Design and Analysis of Low Frequency Platform for Attenuating Micro-Vibration in Spacecraft

One of the most important factors that affect the pointing of precision payloads and devices in space platforms is the vibration generated due to static and dynamic unbalanced forces of rotary equipments placed in the neighborhood of payload. Generally, such disturbances are of low amplitude, less than 1 kHz, and are termed as ‘micro-vibrations’. Due to low damping in the space structure, these vibrations have long decay time and they degrade the performance of payload. This paper addresses the design, modeling and analysis of a low frequency space frame platform for passive and active attenuation of micro-vibrations. This flexible platform has been designed to act as a mount for devices like reaction wheels, and consists of four folded continuous beams arranged in three dimensions. Frequency and response analysis have been carried out by varying the number of folds, and thickness of vertical beam. Results show that lower frequencies can be achieved by increasing the number of folds and by decreasing the thickness of the blade. In addition, active vibration control is studied by incorporating piezoelectric actuators and sensors in the dynamic model. It is shown using simulation that a control strategy using optimal control is effective for vibration suppression under a wide variety of loading conditions.

Isolation and characterization of thiamin-binding protein from chicken egg white

A thiamin-binding protein was isolated and characterized from chicken egg white by affinity chromatography on thiamin pyrophosphate coupled to aminoethyl-Sepharose. The high specificity of interaction between the thiamin-binding protein and the riboflavin-binding protein of the egg white, with a protein/protein molar ratio of 1.0, led to the development of an alternative procedure that used the riboflavin-binding protein immobilized on CNBr-activated Sepharose as the affinity matrix. The thiamin-binding protein thus isolated was homogeneous by the criteria of polyacrylamide-gel disc electrophoresis, double immunodiffusion and sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, had a mol.wt. of 38,000 +/- 2000 and was not a glycoprotein. The protein bound [14C]thiamin was a molar ratio of 1.0, with dissociation constant (Kd) 0.3 micrometer.

Interfamilial transfer of amber suppressor gene for the isolation of amber mutants of mycobacteriophage I3

A suppressor-containing strain of Mycobacterium smegmatis SN2 was isolated by transferring an amber suppressor carried on the plasmid of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes ERA through transformation. Amber mutants of mycobacteriophage I3 were isolated.

The inelastic vibration absorber subjected to earthquake ground motions

Two storey bilinear hysteretic structures have been studied with a view to exploring the possibility of using the dynamic vibration absorber concept in earthquake-resistant design. The response of the lower storey has been optimized for the Taft 1952, S69°E accelerogram with reference to parameters such as frequency ratio, yield strength ratio and mass ratio. The influence of viscous damping has also been examined.

Free vibration of rectangular beams of arbitrary depth

The state space approach is extended to the two dimensional elastodynamic problems. The formulation is in a form particularly amenable to consistent reduction to obtain approximate theories of any desired order. Free vibration of rectangular beams of arbitrary depth is investigated using this approach. The method does not involve the concept of the shear coefficientk. It takes into account the vertical normal stress and the transverse shear stress. The frequency values are calculated using the Timoshenko beam theory and the present analysis for different values of Poisson's ratio and they are in good agreement. Four cases of beams with different end conditions are considered.Die Zustandsraum-Technik wird auf zweidimensionale elastodynamische Probleme ausgedehnt. Die Formulierung ist besonders geeignet für die Aufstellung von Näherungstheorien beliebigen Grades. Freie Schwingungen von Rechteckbalken beliebiger Höhe wurden mit Hilfe dieser Technik untersucht. Das Verfahren umgeht den Begriff des Schubbeiwertsk. Es berücksichtigt die senkrechte Normalbeanspruchung und die Querkraft. Die Frequenzwerte werden mit Hilfe der Balkentheorie von Timoshenko und der vorliegenden Analyse berechnet, und zwar für verschiedene Werte der Querdehnzahl. Die berechneten Werte befinden sich in guter Übereinstimmung. Vier Fälle von Balken mit verschiedenen Endbedingungen werden untersucht.