Kinetics and mathematical modeling of infrared thin-layer drying of garlic slices

Drying of garlic slices in thin-layer have been studied with Infrared (IR) at 0.075, 0.15, 0.225 and 0.3 W cm^?2 radiation intensity and 0.75 and 1.25 m s^?1 air flow velocity. The results showed increasing in drying rate and decreasing at the time of drying with decreasing air flow velocity and increasing IR radiation intensity. The effective moisture diffusivity (D_eff) was obtained using Fick’s diffusion equation and its mean values ranged between 5.83×10^?11 and 7.66×10^?10 m² s^?1 for all investigated conditions. In addition, a third-order polynomial equation linking the effective moisture diffusivity and moisture content was found. Average activation energy increased with the decrease of IR radiation and increase of air flow velocity. Thirteen different mathematical models were verified with non-linear regression analysis for describing the garlic drying process. Modified Henderson and Pabis model presented the best prediction of the drying of garlic slices.     

Fixed and random effects selection in linear and logistic models

We address the problem of selecting which variables should be included in the fixed and random components of logistic mixed effects models for correlated data. A fully Bayesian variable selection is implemented using a stochastic search Gibbs sampler to estimate the exact model-averaged posterior distribution. This approach automatically identifies subsets of predictors having nonzero fixed effect coefficients or nonzero random effects variance, while allowing uncertainty in the model selection process. Default priors are proposed for the variance components and an efficient parameter expansion Gibbs sampler is developed for posterior computation. The approach is illustrated using simulated data and an epidemiologic example.     

Mg2+ Induced Fluorescence Change in Relation to Thylakoid Surface Electric Charge in Two Varieties of Soybean Chloroplasts

The effects of Mg2+ concentration on chlorophyll a light-in-duced variable fluorescence and eleetrophoretie velocity of chloroplasts obtained from two varieties of soybean (Ji-Pei No. 1 and Feng-Shou Yellow) were recorded. The light induced variable fluorescence yield and the eleetrophoretie mobility of two kinds of ehloroplasts in the suspending medium containing low level of salt differs from each other. But, the fluorescence yield of chloroplast membranes from two varieties of soybean is relative to that of eleetrophoretic mobility. The pattern of kinetic change of Mg2+ induced variable fluorescence intensity is similar to that of eleetrophoretie mobility. The optimum concentrations of Mg2+ required for the effect on chlorophyll fluorescence and the electrophoretie velocity change are also similar These results indicate that Mg2+ induced excitation energy distribution change between the two photosystems is intimately related to Mg2+-indueed alteration of thylakoil membrane surface eleetrostat.ie property. The possible role of earboxyl group of proteins on Mg2+ induced effects has been discussed in this paper.     

Artificial cell-immobilization: a model simulating immobilization in natural environments?

A study of the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia was performed in controlled culture conditions. Biofilm formation by cells grown in liquid medium was studied through macroscopic events and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) production. Alcian blue staining and image analysis methods were used to quantify EPS production in regard to the usual pattern (lag, exponential and stationary phases) of microalgal growth. Simultaneously, an artificial immobilization of H. ostrearia cells was carried out using an agar layer. Samples from liquid medium and artificially immobilized cultures were studied in scanning electron microscopy. They revealed the structure of the entrapping material and progressive changes of the natural biofilm along culture ageing. The use of artificially immobilized cultures for solute diffusivity investigations is discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

抗人AEG-1单克隆抗体可变区基因克隆及序列分析

AEG-1基因位于人染色体8q22,编码582个氨基酸,参与多种信号转导途径并与多种恶性肿瘤的发生、发展及生物学表型密切相关。为更好地探讨AEG-1生物学功能,以纯化的pGSTag-AEG-1蛋白免疫BALB/c小鼠,应用细胞融合技术并经筛选及鉴定,获得了分泌抗人AEG-1单克隆抗体的杂交瘤细胞株1E3;Western blot及免疫组化证实该细胞株分泌的单克隆抗体能与肿瘤细胞中AEG-1蛋白特异性结合;RT-PCR方法从1E3细胞中克隆出抗AEG-1抗体的VH和VL基因片段,通过测序分析、碱基和蛋白序列的比对确认该株抗体为鼠源性IgG的轻、重链可变区基因。进一步运用Kabat System在线分析系统对VH和VL基因进行结构分析,确证FWRs和CDRs的结构完整,VH编码117个氨基酸;VL编码119个氨基酸,属于轻链κV家族。实验结果为进一步研究AEG-1与恶性肿瘤发生、发展的关系及在其临床诊断中的应用奠定了基础。     

Bayesian biomarker identification based on marker-expression proteomics data

We are studying variable selection in multiple regression models in which molecular markers and/or gene-expression measurements as well as intensity measurements from protein spectra serve as predictors for the outcome variable (i.e., trait or disease state). Finding genetic biomarkers and searching genetic–epidemiological factors can be formulated as a statistical problem of variable selection, in which, from a large set of candidates, a small number of trait-associated predictors are identified. We illustrate our approach by analyzing the data available for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). CFS is a complex disease from several aspects, e.g., it is difficult to diagnose and difficult to quantify. To identify biomarkers we used microarray data and SELDI-TOF-based proteomics data. We also analyzed genetic marker information for a large number of SNPs for an overlapping set of individuals. The objectives of the analyses were to identify markers specific to fatigue that are also possibly exclusive to CFS. The use of such models can be motivated, for example, by the search for new biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer and measures of response to therapy. Generally, for this we use Bayesian hierarchical modeling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo computation.