Dietary fibres are an integral part of a balanced diet. Consumption of a high-fibre diet confers many physiological and metabolic benefits. However, fibre is generally avoided by individuals with gastrointestinal motility disorders like gastroparesis due to increased likelihood of exacerbated symptoms. Low-viscosity soluble fibres have been identified as a possible source of fibre tolerable for these individuals. The aim of this study is to determine the rheological properties of 10 common commercially available soluble fibres in chemically simulated digestive conditions and evaluate their suitability for individuals with mild to moderate gastroparesis, a gastric motility disorder. Rheological testing under neutral condition (distilled water pH 7) and chemically simulated gastric digestion were evaluated to determine the yield point and relative viscosity of each fibre. Our results reveal two rheological categories of soluble fibres; pseudoplastic and dilatant. Simulated digestion was shown to significantly alter the yield-points of psyllium husk, iota-carrageenan, beta-glucan, apple-fibre pectin, and inulin. Gum Arabic and partially hydrolysed guar gum showed the lowest viscosities and were not affected under simulated digestion, characteristics that make them potential candidate fibres for patients with gastroparesis. Altogether, our results demonstrate that digestion can have a significant impact on fibre viscosity and should be taken into consideration when evaluating the suitability of fibres for patients with gastric motility disorders.
The response of spermatogonial cells to X-irradiation is well documented. It has been shown that there is a radiation resistent stem cell (As) which, after irradiation, replenishes the seminiferous epithelium. Most investigations in this area have dealt with radiation dosages of 100R or more. This study was undertaken to observe cellular responses at doses less than 100R of X-irradiation utilizing a system in which the tissue can be used for light and electron microscopy.Brown B6D2F1 mice aged 16 weeks were exposed to X-irradiation (225KeV; 15mA; filter 0.35 Cu; 50-60 R/min). Four mice were irradiated at each dose level between 1 and 100 rads. Testes were removed 3 days post-irradiation, fixed, and embedded. Sections were cut at 2 microns for light microscopy. After staining, surviving spermatogonia were identified and counted in tubule cross sections. The surviving fraction of spermatogonia compared to control, S/S0, was plotted against dose to give the curve shown in Fig. 1.
Previous work has shown that post-irradiation annealing, at temperatures near 1100°C, produces resolvable dislocation loops in tungsten irradiated to fast (E > 1 MeV) neutron fluences of about 4 x 1019 n/cm2 or greater. To crystallographically characterize these loops, tilting experiments were carried out in the electron microscope on a polycrystalline specimen which had been irradiated to 1.5 × 1021 n/cm2 at reactor ambient temperature (∼ 70°C), and subseouently annealed for 315 hours at 1100°C. This treatment produced large loops averaging 1000 Å in diameter, as shown in the micrographs of Fig. 1. The orientation of this grain was near (001), and tilting was carried out about axes near [100], [10] and [110].
Mullite is an aluminium-silicate mineral of current interest since it is a potential candidate for high temperature applications in the ceramic materials field.In the present work, conditions under which the structure of mullite can be optimally imaged by means of High Resolution Electron Microscopy (HREM) have been investigated. Special reference is made to the Atomic Resolution Microscope at Berkeley which allows real space information up to ≈ 0.17 nm to be directly transferred; numerous multislice calculations (conducted with the CEMPAS programs) as well as extensive experimental through-focus series taken from a commercial “3:2” mullite at 800 kV clearly show that a resolution of at least 0.19 nm is required if one wants to get a straightforward confirmation of atomic models of mullite, which is known to undergo non-stoichiometry associated with the presence of oxygen vacancies.Indeed the composition of mullite ranges from approximatively 3Al2O3-2SiO2 (referred here as 3:2-mullite) to 2Al2O3-1SiO2, and its structure is still the subject of refinements (see, for example, refs. 4, 5, 6).
SummaryIt has been demonstrated that activation of platelets by platelet-activating factor (PAF) results in a dramatic increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of several cellular proteins. We report here that p72
syk
is a potential candidate for the protein-tyrosine phosphorylation following PAF stimulation in porcine platelets. Immunoprecipitation kinase assay revealed that PAF stimulation resulted in a rapid activation of p72
syk
which peaked at 10 s. The level of activation was found to be dose dependent and could be completely inhibited by the PAF receptor antagonist, CV3988. Phosphorylation at the tyrosine residues of p72
syk
coincided with activation of yllsyk. Pretreatment of platelets with aspirin and apyrase did not affect PAF induced activation of p72
syk
.Furthermore, genistein, a potent protein-tyrosine-kinase inhibitor, diminished PAF-induced p72
syk
activation and Ca2+ mobilization as well as platelet aggregation. These results suggest that p72
syk
may play a critical role in PAF-induced aggregation, possibly through regulation of Ca2+ mobilization.
Rheological Characteristics of Soluble Fibres during Chemically Simulated Digestion and their Suitability for Gastroparesis Patients