Search results for: lower-body activity monitoring

Authors: Khadidja Bouzid, Fouzia Benali Toumi, Mohamed Bouzouina

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We made a comparison between the total phenolic content, concentrations of flavonoids and antioxidant activity of four different extracts (butanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, water) of Arbutus unedo L. fruit (Ericacea) of El Marsa and Terni area. The total phenolic content in the extracts was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and it ranged between 26.57 and 48.23 gallic acid equivalents mg/g of dry weight of extract. The concentrations of flavonoids in plant extracts varied from 17.98 to 56.84 catechin equivalents mg/g. The antioxidant activity was analyzed in vitro using the DPPH reagent; among all extracts, ethyl acetate fraction from El Marsa area showed the highest antioxidant activity.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, Arbutus unedo L., fruit flavonoids, phenols, Western Algeria

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Authors: Md. Aftabuzzaman, Md. Kamruzzaman

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Road-related expenditure and building construction activity are two significant drivers of the Victorian economy. This paper investigates the relationship between building construction activity and road-related expenditure. Data for construction activities were collected from Victorian Building Authority, and road-related expenditure data were explored by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics. The trend between these two sectors was compared. The analysis found a strong relationship between road-related expenditure and the volume of construction activity, i.e., the more construction activities, the greater the requirement of road-related expenditure, or vice-versa. The road-related expenditure has a two-year lag period, suggesting that the road sector requires two years to respond to the growth in the building sector.

Keywords: building construction activity, infrastructure, road expenditure, Victorian Building Authority

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Authors: Zohreh Bayat, Dariush Minai-Tehrani

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Lipases constitute one of the most important groups of industrial enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of triacylglycerol to glycerol and fatty acids. Muscarinic antagonist relieves smooth muscle spasm of the gastrointestinal tract and effect on the cardiovascular system. In this research, the effect of a muscarinic antagonist on the lipase activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied. Lineweaver–Burk plot showed that the drug inhibited the enzyme by competitive inhibition. The IC50 value (60 uM) and Ki (30 uM) of the drug revealed the drug bound to the enzyme with high affinity. Determination of enzyme activity in various pH and temperature showed that the maximum activity of lipase was at pH 8 and 60°C both in presence and absence of the drug.

Keywords: bacteria, inhibition, kinetics, lipase

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Authors: Sudhakar Kadiyala, Sripad R. Naik

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Large cavern in Bhutan Himalayas is being monitored since the construction period. The behavior of the cavern is being monitored for last 16 years. Instrumentation includes measurement of convergence of high walls by geodetic monitoring, load on the support systems with load cells and instrumented bolts. Analysis of the results of instrumentation showed that during the construction period of the cavern, the convergence of the cavern varied from 181 - 233 mm in the unit bay area with maximum convergence rate of 2.80mm/day. Whereas during the operational period the total convergence observed was in the range of 21 to 45 mm during a period of 11.30 years with convergence rate of 0.005 to 0.011 mm/day. During the last five years, there were no instances of high tensile stress recorded by the instrumented bolts. Load on the rock bolts have shown stabilization trend at most of the locations. This paper discusses in detail the results of long-term monitoring using the geotechnical instruments and how the data is being used in 3D numerical model to confirm the stability of the cavern.

Keywords: convergence, displacements, geodetic monitoring, long-term stability

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Authors: Cheng-Yen Lu, Chin-Yuan Hsu

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Ambient temperature reduction (ATR) can extend the lifespan of an annual fish (Nothobranchius rachovii), but the underlying mechanism is unknown. In this study, the expression, concentration, and activity of cellular-degraded molecules were evaluated in the muscle of N. rachovii reared under high (30 °C), moderate (25 °C), and low (20 °C) ambient temperatures by biochemical techniques. The results showed that (i) the activity of the 20S proteasome, the expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3-II), the expression of lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2a (Lamp 2a), and lysosome activity increased with ATR; (ii) the expression of the 70 kD heat shock cognate protein (Hsc 70) decreased with ATR; (iii) the expression of the 20S proteasome, the expression of lysosome-associated membrane protein type 1 (Lamp 1), the expression of molecular target of rapamycin (mTOR), the expression of phosphorylated mTOR (p-mTOR), and the p-mTOR/mTOR ratio did not change with ATR. These findings indicated that ATR activated the activity of proteasome, macroautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. Taken together these data reveal that ATR likely activates cellular degradation activity to extend the lifespan of N. rachovii.

Keywords: ambient temperature reduction, autophagy, degradation activity, lifespan, proteasome

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Authors: Muanfun Kongsomsawaeng, Bavonsan Chiadamrong

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According to statistics, Chanthaburi Province has a high proportion of persons who will become elders, and the knowledge gap surrounding Naive art activities is still not significant. It leads the researcher to discover an exciting possibility. This research will produce an alternate activity to increase meditation in a way that is not directly tied to religion or must be done solely at religious places. This article describes the Naive art communication guideline to enhance the meditation of the person preparing to be a quality elder that must consider communication elements, which consists of sender, message, channel, which includes mainly personal media and activity media, receiver, and the factors that contribute to the success of Naive art, that are the activity leader (if any), the person preparing to be quality elders, communication context, and related person or agency. The intrapersonal communication with this activity brings those people to get an experience of meditation at the momentary level. Therefore, it is another option to enhance meditation in daily life, which can be done continuously and developed into a career. However, if those preparing to be quality elders want to focus more on meditation practice, they can try both Naive art activity and direct meditation practice together. In addition, Naive art activity can be applied to people who are interested in art activity and other target groups as well, such as children with ADHD and other vulnerable groups. However, Naive art activity has no fixed rules and no restrictions on creativity. This affects both the ease of making the works of art and, at the same time, it may be a too broad proposition for some people.

Keywords: naive art, communication guideline, meditation, quality elders

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Authors: Christophe Gonçalves, Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela Teixeira, Fernando J. Gonçalves

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Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke, Bluecrop, and Ozarblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms. Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 mol TE/g, and from 24.7 to 53.4 mol TE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents or the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, blueberry cultivar, geographical origin, phenolic compounds

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Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

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Continuous monitoring of industrial plants is one of necessary tasks when it comes to ensuring high-quality final products. In terms of monitoring and diagnosis, it is quite critical and important to detect some incipient abnormal events of manufacturing processes in order to improve safety and reliability of operations involved and to reduce related losses. In this work a new multivariate statistical online diagnostic method is presented using a case study. For building some reference models an empirical discriminant model is constructed based on various past operation runs. When a fault is detected on-line, an on-line diagnostic module is initiated. Finally, the status of the current operating conditions is compared with the reference model to make a diagnostic decision. The performance of the presented framework is evaluated using a dataset from complex industrial processes. It has been shown that the proposed diagnostic method outperforms other techniques especially in terms of incipient detection of any faults occurred.

Keywords: data mining, empirical model, on-line diagnostics, process fault, process monitoring

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Authors: Naoki Ohshima, Ken Kaminishi

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Four types of dependencies, which are 'Finish-to-start', 'Finish-to-finish', 'Start-to-start' and 'Start-to-finish (S-F)' as logical relationship are modeled based on the definition by 'the predecessor activity is defined as an activity to come before a dependent activity in a schedule' in PMBOK. However, it is found a self-contradiction in the precedence diagram for S-F relationship by PMBOK. In this paper, author would like to validate logical relationship of S-F by Graph Theory and propose a new interpretation of the precedence diagram for S-F relationship.

Keywords: project time management, sequence activity, start-to-finish relationship, precedence diagram, PMBOK

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Authors: Ezgi Cetinkaya

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In the psychological literature, there are a few studies that focus on actors' self-perceptions and their social adjustment skills. Therefore the aim of the study was to shed light on the self-concept clarity, sociotrophy, and self-monitoring levels of professional actors. For this purpose, actors and non-actors are compared to their peers. The study was conducted with the participation of 106 actors and 131 non-actors. A descriptive method of research was employed and data was collected through the concept Clarity scale by Campbell et al. (1996), the Pleasing Others and Concern For Disapproval subscales of Sociotrophy and Autonomy scale by Beck et al. (1983), and the Self-Monitoring Scale by Snyder ( 1983). ANOVA and correlation analysis was done by using SPSS. Results showed that there is no significant difference between actors and non-actors at any age in terms of Self Concept Clarity. 25-25 years non-actors were found to have the highest self-concept clarity while the young actors had the lowest. The study didn’t reveal significant differences between the groups in terms of Sociotropy scores. The actor’s sociothropic tendencies weren’t enhanced by the experience. The study demonstrated that 25-35-year-old actors are higher self-monitors than 25-35-year-old non-actors.

Keywords: self-concept, self-monitoring, autonomy, sociotropy, theatre, acting, creativity, identity

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Authors: A. Kistaubayeva, I. Savitskaya, D. Ibrayeva, M. Abdulzhanova, N. Voronova

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36 strains of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were isolated in Southern Kazakhstan soda-saline soils and identified. Screening of strains according bio-oxidation (destruction thiosulfate to sulfate) and enzymatic (Thiosulfate dehydrogenises and thiosulfate reductase) activity was conducted. There were selected modes of aeration and culture conditions (pH, temperature), which provide optimum harvest cells. These strains can be used in bio-melioration technology.

Keywords: elemental sulfur, oxidation activity, Тhiobacilli, fertilizers, heterotrophic S-oxidizers

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Authors: Monthon Tangjitmungman

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Numerous diseases have been linked to oxidative stress, in which a disproportion of free radicals in the body leads to tissue or cell damage. Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants found in plants, and they are highly effective at scavenging oxidative free radicals. Due to the presence of phenolic compounds in Caesalpinia sappan has been discovered to have antioxidant activity. It has several health benefits, the most important of which is preventing cardiovascular and cancer diseases. This study aimed to determine the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract using a variety of antioxidant assays. The extract of C. sappan was made using a mixture of solvents (ethyl alcohol: water in ratio 8:2). The total phenolic content of C. sappan extract was determined and expressed as gallic acid equivalents using the Folin-Cioucalteu method (GAE). The antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract was assessed using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and the ABTS radical scavenging capacity assay. An association was found between antioxidant activity and total phenol content. The antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract was also determined by DPPH and ABTS assays. The IC50 values for C. sappan extract from DPPH and ABTS assays were 54.48 μg/mL ± 0.545 and 25.46 μg/mL ± 0.790, respectively, in the DPPH assay. In the DPPH assay, vitamin C was used as a positive control, whereas Trolox was used as a positive control in the ABTS assay. In conclusion, C. sappan extract contains a high level of total phenolics and exhibits significant antioxidant activity. Nevertheless, more research should be done on the antioxidant activity, such as SOD and ROS scavenging assays and in vivo experiments, to determine whether the compound has antioxidant activity.

Keywords: ABTS assay, antioxidant activity, Caesalpinia sappan, DPPH assays, total phenolic content

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Authors: Amira Zrelli, Tahar Ezzeddine

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Measurement and monitoring of temperature, humidity and strain variation are very requested in great fields and areas such as structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. Currently, the use of fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBGS) is very recommended in SHM systems due to the specifications of these sensors. In this paper, we present the theory of Bragg sensor, therefore we try to measure the efficient variation of strain, temperature and humidity (SV, ST, SH) using Bragg sensor. Thus, we can deduce the fundamental relation between these parameters and the wavelength of Bragg sensor.

Keywords: Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors (FBGS), strain, temperature, humidity, structural health monitoring (SHM)

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Authors: Mohamed Chabi

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The project of helping students at risk started at the Math department in the new foundation program at Qatar University in the fall 2012 semester. The purpose was to find ways to help students who were struggling with their math courses Elementary algebra or Precalculus course due to many factors. Department had formed the Committee “students at Risk” at the start of 12-13 to assist struggling students in our math courses to get their studies on track. A mechanism was developed to support students who are at risk using a developed E-Monitoring system. E-Monitoring system was developed to manage automatically all transactions relevant to the students’ attendance, Students ‘‘warning Students’’ grading, etc. E-Monitoring System produce various statistics such as, Overall course statistics, Performance, Students at Risk… to help department to develop a higher quality of education in the Foundation Program at Math department. The mechanism was studies and evaluated. Whatever the cause, the sooner we identify students who are not performing well academically, the sooner we can provide, or direct them to the resources that are available to them. In this paper, we outline the mechanism and its effect on students’ performance. The collected data from various exams shows that students had benefited from the mechanism.

Keywords: students at risk, e-monitoring system, warning students, performance

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Authors: Jocelyn B. Barbosa, Angeli L. Magbaril, Mariel T. Sabanal, John Paul T. Galario, Mikka P. Baldovino

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The use of technology has become ubiquitous in different areas of business today. With the advent of digital imaging and database technology, business owners have been motivated to integrate technology to their business operation ranging from small, medium to large enterprises. Technology has been found to have brought many benefits that can make a business grow. Hog or swine raising, for example, is a very popular enterprise in the Philippines, whose challenges in production monitoring can be addressed through technology integration. Swine production monitoring can become a tedious task as the enterprise goes larger. Specifically, problems like delayed and inconsistent reports are most likely to happen if counting of swine per pen of which building is done manually. In this study, we present iCount, which aims to ensure efficient swine detection and counting that hastens the swine production monitoring task. We develop a system that automatically detects and counts swine based on Sobel filter and ellipse fitting model, given the still photos of the group of swine captured in a pen. We improve the Sobel filter detection result through 8-neigbhorhood rule implementation. Ellipse fitting technique is then employed for proper swine detection. Furthermore, the system can generate periodic production reports and can identify the specific consumables to be served to the swine according to schedules. Experiments reveal that our algorithm provides an efficient way for detecting swine, thereby providing a significant amount of accuracy in production monitoring.

Keywords: automatic swine counting, swine detection, swine production monitoring, ellipse fitting model, sobel filter

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Authors: M. Marín-Ferrer, M. A. Hernández, T. Tollefsen, S. Vanzo, E. Nweke, P. V. Tognoli, M. De Cort

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Under the terms of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty, European Union Member States (MSs) shall periodically communicate to the European Commission (EC) information on environmental radioactivity levels. Compilations of the information received have been published by the EC as a series of reports beginning in the early 1960s. The environmental radioactivity results received from the MSs have been introduced into the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring database (REMdb) of the Institute for Transuranium Elements of the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) sited in Ispra (Italy) as part of its Directorate General for Energy (DG ENER) support programme. The REMdb brings to the scientific community dealing with environmental radioactivity topics endless of research opportunities to exploit the near 200 millions of records received from MSs containing information of radioactivity levels in milk, water, air and mixed diet. The REM action was created shortly after Chernobyl crisis to support the EC in its responsibilities in providing qualified information to the European Parliament and the MSs on the levels of radioactive contamination of the various compartments of the environment (air, water, soil). Hence, the main line of REM’s activities concerns the improvement of procedures for the collection of environmental radioactivity concentrations for routine and emergency conditions, as well as making this information available to the general public. In this way, REM ensures the availability of tools for the inter-communication and access of users from the Member States and the other European countries to this information. Specific attention is given to further integrate the new MSs with the existing information exchange systems and to assist Candidate Countries in fulfilling these obligations in view of their membership of the EU. Article 36 of the EURATOM treaty requires the competent authorities of each MS to provide regularly the environmental radioactivity monitoring data resulting from their Article 35 obligations to the EC in order to keep EC informed on the levels of radioactivity in the environment (air, water, milk and mixed diet) which could affect population. The REMdb has mainly two objectives: to keep a historical record of the radiological accidents for further scientific study, and to collect the environmental radioactivity data gathered through the national environmental monitoring programs of the MSs to prepare the comprehensive annual monitoring reports (MR). The JRC continues his activity of collecting, assembling, analyzing and providing this information to public and MSs even during emergency situations. In addition, there is a growing concern with the general public about the radioactivity levels in the terrestrial and marine environment, as well about the potential risk of future nuclear accidents. To this context, a clear and transparent communication with the public is needed. EURDEP (European Radiological Data Exchange Platform) is both a standard format for radiological data and a network for the exchange of automatic monitoring data. The latest release of the format is version 2.0, which is in use since the beginning of 2002.

Keywords: environmental radioactivity, Euratom, monitoring report, REMdb

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Authors: A. Miškinytė, A. Dėdelė

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Road traffic is one of the main sources of air pollution in urban areas associated with adverse effects on human health and environment. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is considered as traffic-related air pollutant, which concentrations tend to be higher near highways, along busy roads and in city centres and exceedances are mainly observed in air quality monitoring stations located close to traffic. Atmospheric dispersion models can be used to examine emissions from many various sources and to predict the concentration of pollutants emitted from these sources into the atmosphere. The study aim was to compare modelled concentrations of nitrogen dioxide using ADMS-Urban dispersion model with air quality monitoring network in cold and warm seasons in Kaunas city. Modelled average seasonal concentrations of nitrogen dioxide for 2011 year have been verified with automatic air quality monitoring data from two stations in the city. Traffic station is located near high traffic street in industrial district and background station far away from the main sources of nitrogen dioxide pollution. The modelling results showed that the highest nitrogen dioxide concentration was modelled and measured in station located near intensive traffic street, both in cold and warm seasons. Modelled and measured nitrogen dioxide concentration was respectively 25.7 and 25.2 µg/m3 in cold season and 15.5 and 17.7 µg/m3 in warm season. While the lowest modelled and measured NO2 concentration was determined in background monitoring station, respectively 12.2 and 13.3 µg/m3 in cold season and 6.1 and 7.6 µg/m3 in warm season. The difference between monitoring station located near high traffic street and background monitoring station showed that better agreement between modelled and measured NO2 concentration was observed at traffic monitoring station.

Keywords: air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, modelling, ADMS-Urban model

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Authors: Kriyapa lairungruang, Arunporn Itharat

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Limonia acidissima L. (LA) (Common name: wood apple, Thai name: ma-khwit) is a medicinal plant which has long been used in Thai traditional medicine. Its bark is used for treatment of diarrhea, abscess, wound healing and inflammation and it is also used in oral cancer. Thus, this research aimed to investigate antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the LA bark extracts produced by various extraction methods. Different extraction procedures were used to extract LA bark for biological activity testing: boiling in water, maceration with 95% ethanol, maceration with 50% ethanol and water boiling of each the 95% and the 50% ethanolic residues. All extracts were tested for antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging assay, cytotoxic activity against human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) cells and human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB) cells using sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The results found that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed the highest antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 29.76±1.88 µg/ml. For cytotoxic activity, the 50% ethanolic extract showed the best cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells with IC50 values of 9.55±1.68 and 18.90±0.86 µg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrated that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed moderate antioxidant activity and the 50% ethanolic extract provided potent cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells. These results confirm the traditional use of LA for the treatment of oral cancer and laryngeal cancer, and also support its ongoing use.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cytotoxic activity, Laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma, Limonia acidissima L., oral epidermoid carcinoma

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Authors: Thiwanka Weerakkody, Lakmali Handagiripathira, Poshitha Dabare, Thisari Guruge

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The determination of gross alpha and beta activity in water is important in a wide array of environmental studies and these parameters are considered in international legislations on the quality of water. This technique is commonly applied as screening method in radioecology, environmental monitoring, industrial applications, etc. Measuring of Gross Alpha and Beta emitters by using iSolo alpha beta counting system is an adequate nuclear technique to assess radioactivity levels in natural and waste water samples due to its simplicity and low cost compared with the other methods. Twelve water samples (Six samples of commercially available bottled drinking water and six samples of industrial waste water) were measured by standard method EPA 900.0 consisting of the gas-less, firm wear based, single sample, manual iSolo alpha beta counter (Model: SOLO300G) with solid state silicon PIPS detector. Am-241 and Sr90/ Y90 calibration standards were used to calibrate the detector. The minimum detectable activities are 2.32mBq/L and 406mBq/L, for alpha and beta activity, respectively. Each of the 2L water samples was evaporated (at low heat) to a small volume and transferred into 50mm stainless steel counting planchet evenly (for homogenization) and heated by IR lamp and the constant weighted residue was obtained. Then the samples were counted for gross alpha and beta. Sample density on the planchet area was maintained below 5mg/cm. Large quantities of solid wastes sludges and waste water are generated every year due to various industries. This water can be reused for different applications. Therefore implementation of water treatment plants and measuring water quality parameters in industrial waste water discharge is very important before releasing them into the environment. This waste may contain different types of pollutants, including radioactive substances. All these measured waste water samples having gross alpha and beta activities, lower than the maximum tolerance limits for industrial waste water discharge of industrial waste in to inland surface water, that is 10-9µCi/mL and 10-8µCi/mL for gross alpha and beta respectively (National Environmental Act, No. 47 of 1980). This is according to extraordinary gazette of the democratic socialist republic of Sri Lanka in February 2008. The measured water samples were below the recommended radioactivity levels and do not pose any radiological hazard when releasing the environment. Drinking water is an essential requirement of life. All the drinking water samples were below the permissible levels of 0.5Bq/L for gross alpha activity and 1Bq/L for gross beta activity. The values have been proposed by World Health Organization in 2011; therefore the water is acceptable for consumption of humans without any further clarification with respect to their radioactivity. As these screening levels are very low, the individual dose criterion (IDC) would usually not be exceeded (0.1mSv y⁻¹). IDC is a criterion for evaluating health risks from long term exposure to radionuclides in drinking water. Recommended level of 0.1mSv/y expressed a very low level of health risk. This monitoring work will be continued further for environmental protection purposes.

Keywords: drinking water, gross alpha, gross beta, waste water

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Authors: Salmin K. Alshalmani, Nada H. Zobi, Ismaeel H. Bozakouk

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Marine organisms are potentially prolific sources of highly bio active secondary metabolites that might represent useful leads in the development of new pharmaceutical agents. The Libyan marine biodiversity including macroalgae remains partially unexplored in term of their potential bio activities. The phytochemical analysis of the alcoholic extracts of some commonly occurring seaweed Cystoseira compressa, enteromorpha intestinals, corallina, and Ulva lactuca and their evaluated for antibacterial activity by well diffusion assay were studied. Four different solvents namely water, ethanol 99 %, methanol 99 %, and methylated spirit 95 % were used for extraction. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of carbohydrates, steroids, tannin & phenols, saponins, proteins, and glycosides. The extracts were subjected for study of antibacterial activity. The zone of inhibition ranged between 8 to 16 mm in aqueous extract and up to 16 mm in methanol extract. The maximum activity (16 mm) was recorded from methanol extract of Ulva lactuca against Staphylococcus aureus and, minimum activity (8mm) recorded by Cystoseira compressa against S. aureus.

Keywords: macroalgae, phytochemicals, antibacterial activity, methanolic extract

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Authors: Kamila Mazur-Oleszczuk, Rafal Banasiuk, Dawid Krasnowski, Maciej Pek, Marcin Podgorski, Krzysztof Rykaczewski, Sabina Zoledowska, Dawid Nidzworski

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Workout safety is one of the most significant challenges of recreational sports. Loss of water and electrolytes is a consequence of thermoregulatory sweating during exercise. The rate of sweat loss and its chemical composition can fluctuate within and among individuals. That is why we propose our sportband 'Flow' as a device for monitoring these parameters. 'Flow' consists of two parts: an intelligent module and a mobile application. The application allows verifying the training progress and data archiving. The sportband intelligent module includes temperature, heart rate and pulse measurement (non-invasive, continuous methods of workout monitoring). Apart from the standard components, the device will consist of a sweat composition analyzer situated in sportband intelligent module. Sweat is a water solution of numerous compounds such as ions (sodium up to 1609 µg/ml, potassium up to 274 µg/ml), lactic acid (skin pH is between 4.5 - 6) and a small amount of glucose. Awareness of sweat composition allows personalizing electrolyte intake after training. A comprehensive workout monitoring (sweat composition, heart rate, blood oxygen level) will provide improvement in the training routine and time management, which is our goal for the development of the sweat composition analyzer.

Keywords: flow, sportband, sweat, workout monitoring

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Authors: A. M. Gadanya, B. A. Ahmad, U. Maigatari

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Effect of oral administration of Gadagi tea on superoxide dismutase activity was assessed on twenty (20) male subjects (aged 21-40years). Ten (10) male non Gadagi tea consumers (aged 20-26 years), were used as control. Blood samples were collected from the subjects and analysed for serum superoxide dismutase activity using R&D Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay method (ELISA). The subjects were grouped into four based on age i.e group I (21-25 years), group II (26-30 years), and also based on duration of the tea consumption, i.e group A (5-9 years) , group B (10-14 years), group C (15-19 years) and group D (20-24 years). The subjects in group I (0.12 U mg-l +0.05), group II (0.11 U mg-l +0.01), group III (0.14 U mg-l +0.08) and group IV (0.17 U mg-l +0.11) showed increased activity of serum superoxide dismutase when compared with the control subjects (0.88 U mg-l +0.02) (P<0.05). There was no statistical significant difference in superoxide dismutase activity within the case groups (P<0.05), based on age and duration of consumption of the tea. Thus, Gadagi tea consumption could increase serum superoxide dismutase activity in humans.

Keywords: “Gadagi” tea, Serum, Superoxide dismutase, Humans.

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Authors: T. H. Derdzyan, K. A. Ghazaryan, G. A. Gevorgyan

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Beta-glucosidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid phosphomonoestearse and acetate-esterase enzyme activities in the soils under the impact of metallurgical industrial activity in Lori marz (district) were investigated. The results of the study showed that the activities of the investigated enzymes in the soils decreased with increasing distance from the Shamlugh copper mine, the Chochkan tailings storage facility and the ore transportation road. Statistical analysis revealed that the activities of the enzymes were positively correlated (significant) to each other according to the observation sites which indicated that enzyme activities were affected by the same anthropogenic factor. The investigations showed that the soils were polluted with heavy metals (Cu, Pb, As, Co, Ni, Zn) due to copper mining activity in this territory. The results of Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between heavy metal pollution degree (Nemerow integrated pollution index) and soil enzyme activity. All of this indicated that copper mining activity in this territory causing the heavy metal pollution of the soils resulted in the inhabitation of the activities of the enzymes which are considered as biological catalysts to decompose organic materials and facilitate the cycling of nutrients.

Keywords: Armenia, metallurgical industrial activity, heavy metal pollutionl, soil enzyme activity

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Authors: Hye Jin Kim, Hwa Sung Shin

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Ischemic stroke means the caused brain damage due to neurological defects, occurring occlusion of cerebral vascular resulting in thrombus or embolism. t-PA (tissue Plasminogen Activator) is the only thrombolytic agent passed the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). However, t-PA directly dissolves the thrombus (direct activity) through fibrinolysis, showing side effects such as re-occlusion. In this study, we evaluated the thrombolytic activities of the serine protease extracted from lugworms inhabiting tidal flats. The new serine protease identified as 38 kDa by SDS-PAGE was not toxic to brain endothelial cells line (hCMEC/D3). Also, the plasmin synthesis inhibition activity (indirect activity) of the new serine protease was confirmed through fibrin zymography assay and fibrin plate assay. It was higher than direct activity as compared to u-PA (urokinase Plasminogen Activator). The activities were found to be maintained at a wide range of temperature (4-70 ℃) and pH 7-10 compared to previous thrombolytic agents from the azocasein assay. In addition, the new serine protease has shown anticoagulant activity from fibrinogenolytic activity assay. In conclusion, the serine protease in lug worms inhabiting the tidal flats could be considered a promising thrombolytic candidate for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Keywords: alkaline serine protease, bifunctional thrombolytic activity, fibrinolytic activity, ischemic stroke, lug worms

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Authors: Jonghoon Kim, Gilwon Yoon

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A wrist-band type biosignal measurement system and its data transfer through human body communication (HBC) were investigated. An HBC method based on pulses of ultra-wide band instead of using frequency or amplitude modulations was studied and implemented since the system became very compact and it was more suited for personal or mobile health monitoring. Our system measured photo-plethysmogram (PPG) and measured PPG signals were transmitted through a finger to a monitoring PC system. The device was compact and low-power consuming. HBC communication has very strong security measures since it does not use wireless network. Furthermore, biosignal monitoring system becomes handy because it does not need to have wire connections.

Keywords: biosignal, human body communication, mobile health, PPG, ultrawide band

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Authors: Ozgun Oktar, Sevilay Can, Cengiz V. Ekici

Abstract:

The oil spill is a form of pollution caused by releasing of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the marine environment. Considering the growth of ship traffic, increasing of off-shore oil drilling and seaside refineries affect the risk of oil spill upward. The oil spill is easy to spread to large areas when occurs especially on the sea surface. Remote sensing technology offers the easiest way to control/monitor the area of the oil spill in a large region. It’s usually easy to detect pollution when occurs by the ship accidents, however monitoring non-accidental pollution could be possible by remote sensing. It is also needed to observe specific regions daily and continuously by satellite solutions. Remote sensing satellites mostly and effectively used for monitoring oil pollution are RADARSAT, ENVISAT and MODIS. Spectral coverage and transition period of these satellites are not proper to monitor Marmara Sea and Istanbul Strait continuously. In this study, RASAT and GOKTURK-2 are suggested to use for monitoring Marmara Sea and Istanbul Strait. RASAT, with spectral resolution 420 – 730 nm, is the first Turkish-built satellite. GOKTURK-2’s resolution can reach up to 2,5 meters. This study aims to analyze the images from both satellites and produce maps to show the regions which have potentially affected by spills from shipping traffic.

Keywords: Marmara Sea, monitoring, oil spill, satellite remote sensing

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Authors: Yuva Bellik, Selles Mohamed Amar

Abstract:

The beneficial health effects including antioxidant properties of mint (Mentha spicata) and honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been extensively studied. However, there is no data about the effects of their associated use. In this study the total phenolic and flavonoid contents for individual extracts of mint and honey and their combination were determined. The antioxidant activity was investigated by using reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2´- azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid diamonium salt (ABTS), and chelating power methods. The results showed that individual extracts contained important quantity of phenolics and flavonoids and their combination was found to produce best antioxidant activity. A significant linear correlation between the phenolic/flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity, especially with reducing power and free radical scavenging abilities, was observed.

Keywords: honey, mint, synergy, antioxidant activity

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Authors: Supriyono Supriyono, Sumardiyono Sumardiyono, Peni Pujiastuti, Dian Indriana Hapsari

Abstract:

Crude palm oil (CPO) is a vegetable oil that came from a palm tree bunch. The productivity of the oil is 12 ton/hectare/year. Thus palm oil tree was known as highest vegetable oil yield. It was grown across Equatorial County, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. The greenish-red color on CPO was come from carotenoid. Carotenoid is one of the antioxidants that could be extracted. Carotenoid could be used as functional food and other purposes. Another antioxidant that also found in CPO is tocopherol. The aim of the research work is to find antioxidant activity on CPO comparing to the synthetic antioxidant that available in a market. In this research work, antioxidant was extracted by a mixture of acetone and n.hexane, while the activity of the antioxidant extract was determined by DPPH method. Antioxidant activity of the extracted compound about 46% compared to pure tocopherol. While the solvent mixture compose by 90% acetone and 10% n. hexane meet the best on the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: antioxidant, beta carotene, crude palm oil, DPPH, tocopherol

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Awatif Boumaza, Abderraouf Hilali, Hayat Talbi, Houda Sbayou

Abstract:

The methanolic extract of Zygophyllum cornutun coss, an Algerian medicinal plant, was screened to the presence of mutagenic activity and genotoxic effect using the Ames test (Salmonella/microsome) and the micronucleus assay respectively. Positive results were obtained with both tests. The Ames test showed mutagenic activity in the presence of microsomal activation, while negative result was observed without microsomal activation. In the micronucleus test, two parameters were evaluated: the frequency of the micronucleus that increased in a dose dependent way and the proliferation index that decreased according to the micronucleus frequency. Even that further studies must be carried out, the mutagenic activity and the genotoxic effect of Zygophyllum cornutum should be taken in consideration when used as therapeutic plant.

Keywords: ames test, micronucleus test, mutagenic activity, genotoxicity, Zygophyllum cornutum

Procedia PDF Downloads 474

Authors: Supriya Chatla, Anjana Male, Srikala Kamireddy

Abstract:

L-asparaginase (E.C.3.5.1.1) is an anti-cancer enzyme that has been purified and characterized for decades to study and evaluate its anti-carcinogenic activity against Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The present investigation deals with screening, isolation and optimization of L-asparaginase giving fungal strain of soil samples from different areas of AP, India. L-Aspariginase activity was estimated on the basis of the pink color surrounding the growing colony. A total of 132 colonies were screened and isolated from different samples. Based on the zone diameter, L-asparaginase activity is determined, L- asparaginase activity is optimized at 28oc and Immobilized Aspariginase had more potency than the free enzymes.

Keywords: aspariginase, anticancer enzyme, Isolation, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 52