The effects of high maternal folate status on the offspring are unknown; however, early life exposure to environmental stimuli, including dietary factors, is thought to influence the risk of developing chronic disease. An animal study was performed to determine the effect of maternal folic acid supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on DNA methylation and global gene expression patterns in the offspring. Supplementation of the maternal diet with folic acid (5, 8, and 25 mg/kg diet) induced global DNA hypomethylation in the liver of juvenile and adult offspring, and altered the expression of the imprinted H19 gene and genes involved in lipid metabolism, coagulation, and iron transport and homeostasis. Our data suggest that intrauterine and early postnatal periods are susceptible to changes in DNA methylation and gene expression in response to high levels of folic acid, which may be associated with health status and disease later in life.

We hypothesized that subcutaneous (s.c.) adipose tissue would differ in monounsaturated (MUFA) and saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition among different depots throughout a beef carcass. To test this, 50 carcasses from a variety of breed types and backgrounds were sampled. External fat samples were collected from eight different carcass locations: round, sirloin, loin, rib, chuck, brisket, plate and flank. Samples were used to provide information on slip points, fatty acid composition and MUFA:SFA ratios. Lipids were extracted from s.c. adipose tissue by a modified chloroform:methanol procedure, and fatty acid composition and slip points were measured. The brisket was significantly lower in palmitic (16:0) and stearic (18:0) acid than the other seven sampling sites (P = 0.001). The brisket demonstrated the highest values of MUFA (P = 0.001) with the exception of possessing the lowest value of transvaccenic (18:1t11) acid (P = 0.002). There were also significant differences in the amounts of PUFA among the eight sampling sites. The lowest values were from the brisket with a mean of 25.1. The flank had the highest slip point with a mean of 39.0 (P ≤ 0.001). There was a high negative correlation shown between palmitoleic and stearic acid (R2 = 0.827). The brisket displayed the highest values for MUFA:SFA ratios (P = 0.001), whereas the flank was the lowest. Due to the significant differences amongst fat depots within bovine carcasses in their fatty acid composition we conclude that substantial differences exist across fat depots.

Dietary docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) has been shown to exert beneficial effects on coronary heart disease including the prevention of ischemia reperfusion injury. The ability to acutely infuse DHA to the heart to prevent ischemia reperfusion injury is a potentialy valuable tool in planned surgery where reperfusion and/or ischemia will take place including coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty. In the present study, hearts from chow-fed (AIN-93M) Sprague Dawley rats (male) 9-12 weeks of age were isolated and artificially perfused. The protocol included: 30 min stabilization period, 30 min global no flow ischemia, 15 min fatty acid infusion with reperfusion, and 75 min reperfusion in the absence of fatty acids. The fatty acid infusions included 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 or 120 µM of either palmitate or DHA complexed to 3% essentially fatty acid free bovine serum albumin as well as a vehicle control. Heart functional data was recorded continuously and total heart infarct volume was determined after staining with triphenyltetrazolium chloride. DHA at 10µM significantly reduced the infarction area at the end of the reperfusion period compared to that observed in the10µM of palmitate and vehicle control conditions. Infarction areas after infusions with DHA or palmitate were similar to controls after 20-60 µM infusions and greater than controls after 80-120 µM infusions, except for the 100 µM palmitate conditions which were similar to the low and high doses. In this model of infusion, 120 µM of fatty acid was the maximum amount of DHA tolerated, as several hearts went into fibrillation and did not recover and failed to complete the reperfusion at concentrations greater than 120 µM of DHA. DHA and palmitate also exerted dose dependent effects on functional parameters. In summary, infusion of DHA and palmitate cause dose dependent effects on heart function.

No description available.

This research studied the dietary effect of arachidonic acid (ARA) on growth performance and immune responses in juvenile grouper (Epinephelus coioides). The test diets used casein as protein source, and contained 9 g/100g lipid. Cod liver oil and arachidonic acid oil were used to adjust the ARA levels to 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 g/100 g diet in the 5 test diets, respectively. Result of 12-week feeding trial show that the ARA supplementation had no significantly effect on the weight gain of the grouper, although 0.6 % and 0.8% groups showed higher weight gains than other groups. Liver fatty acid composition of the groupers was affected by dietary ARA. Liver ARA concentration, ARA/EPA and ARA/DHA increased with increasing dietary ARA levels. The immune responses was affected significantly by the dietary treatments. Dietary supplementation of ARA significantly enhanced plasma lysozyme activity. Lysozyme activity was increased with increasing dietary ARA levels. Dietary ARA significantly also enhanced head-kidney leucocytes respiratory burst activity. The respiratory burst activity of the 0.6 % ARA group was significantly higher than the other groups. Dietary ARA significantly enhanced head-kidney leucocyte proliferation and the dosages of 0.6 % and 0.8 % ARA were significantly more effective than the other groups. The blood phagocytic activity of the 0.6 % ARA was significantly higher than the other groups. The blood cytokine IL-1£] and TNF-£\ was significantly higher in the 0.8 % ARA group than the other groups. This research shows that feeding the grouper diets cointaining ARA at an optimal level could significantly increase immune responses of the fish.

The main purpose of acid/water jetting treatments currently applied in the field is to clean up the filter cake formed during the drilling process and perhaps further stimulate the wellbore by creating wormholes if acid jetting is used in carbonate formation. This purpose can be achieved for the reason that the filter cake on the borehole can be mechanically broken by the high speed jetting action, and additionally, if acid is used, some materials in the filter cake can be dissolved, which can facilitate the mechanical breaking action. The knowledge of jetting effectiveness under various conditions is crucial for the purpose of optimizing the treatment design. In order to investigate quantitatively the effectiveness of acid/water jetting for filter cake cleanup and wellbore productivity enhancement, laboratory experiments were carried out under conditions similar to those in the field. Filter cake was deposited on the face of a 4 inch diameter core and then water or 15% HCl were used for jetting treatment. The original permeability, the permeability right after the drill-in fluid damage, and the permeability after the jetting treatment were measured and compared. The effect of overbalance pressure during the jetting treatment was investigated. CT scan was carried out for those cores that may have wormholes after the acid jetting treatment. An analysis of the mechanism for filter cake removal and wormhole creating during acid jetting treatment was proposed. It is discovered that acid jetting can effectively remove the filter cake by penetrating and lifting it from beneath, and efficient wormhole creation can only happen when the overbalance pressure during the acid jetting treatment is above a certain value. Based on this study, several suggestions for field applications were made.

Success of acid fracturing treatment depends greatly on the created conductivity under closure stress. In order to have sufficient conductivity, the fracture face must be non-uniformly etched while the fracture strength maintained to withstand the closure stress. While there have been several experimental studies conducted on acid fracturing, most of these have not scaled experiments to field conditions and did not account for the effect of rock weakening and etching pattern. Hence, acid fracture conductivity predictions based on the above works have not been able to match actual results. In order to develop a more appropriate and accurate prediction of acid fracturing treatment outcome, a laboratory facility was developed that is properly scaled to field conditions and enables analysis of etching pattern and rock strength. A systematic experimental study that covered a variety of formations, acid types, and acid contact times was conducted. An acid fracture conductivity correlation was developed based on etched volume, etched pattern, and fracture strength under closure stress. Results suggested that there is an optimal time of acid exposure resulting in maximum fracture conductivity. There were large differences in the conductivity created with the different acid systems tested due to different etching patterns and degree of rock strength weakening. There was an optimal acid system depending on formation type, contact time and overburden stress. The acid fracture conductivities measured did not agree with the predictions of the Nierode-Kruk correlation. The newly developed correlation predicts conductivity much closer as it includes the effect of rock strength and surface etching pattern on resulting conductivity.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) from fish oil, and butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid fiber-fermentation product, protect against colon tumorigenesis in part by coordinately inducing apoptosis. We have demonstrated that the combination of these two bioactive compounds demonstrates an enhanced ability to induce colonocyte apoptosis by potentiating mitochondrial lipid oxidation. In order to explore the potential involvement of intracellular Ca2+ in the pro-apoptotic effect of DHA and butyrate, young adult mouse colonocytes (YAMC) and human colonocytes (HCT-116: p53+/+ and p53- /-) were treated with DHA or linoleic acid (LA) for 72 h ± butyrate for the final 6, 12 or 24 h. Cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca2+ levels were measured using Fluo-4 and Rhod-2. In addition, IP3 pool, store-operated channel (SOC)-mediated changes and apoptosis were measured. DHA did not alter basal Ca2+ or apoptosis following 6 h butyrate cotreatment. In contrast, at 12 and 24 h, DHA and butyrate treated cultures exhibited a decrease in cytosolic Ca2+ and enhanced apoptosis compared to LA and butyrate. DHA and butyrate also increased the mitochondrial-to-cytosolic Ca2+ ratio at 6, 12 and 24 h. The accumulation of mitochondrial Ca2+ preceded the onset of apoptosis which increased only following 12 h of butyrate co-treatment. RU-360, a mitochondrial uniporter inhibitor, abrogated mitochondrial Ca2+ accumulation and also partially blocked apoptosis in DHA and butyrate co-treated cells. p53+/+ and p53-/- cells demonstrated similar data with respect to all parameters. Additionally, mitochondrial Ca2+ measurements were also made in rat primarycolonocyte- culture. Rats were fed semipurified diets containing either fish oil (a source of DHA) or corn oil (a source of LA), and colonic crypts were incubated in butyrate exvivo and mitochondrial Ca2+ was quantified. Crypts from rats fed fish oil incubated in butyrate exhibited an increase in the mitochondrial-to-cytosolic Ca2+ ratio compared to fish oil only. In summary, our results indicate for the first time that the combination of DHA and butyrate, compared to butyrate alone, further enhances apoptosis by additionally recruiting a p53-independent Ca2+-mediated intrinsic mitochondrial pathway. These data explain in part why fermentable fiber when combined with fish oil exhibits an enhanced ability to induce apoptosis and protect against colon tumorigenesis.

The conductivity created in acid fracturing is a competition between two phenomena: etching of the rock surface and weakening of the rock. This study presents experimental results of acid fracturing conductivity experiments with polymer gelled acid, while varying contact time and rock type. The experiments were conducted in a laboratory facility properly scaled from field to laboratory conditions to account for the hydrodynamic effects that take place in the field. The rocks of study were Indiana limestone, San Andres dolomite and Texas Cream chalk. Our results illustrate that acid fracturing conductivity is governed by the etching pattern of the rock surface and influenced by the hardness of the rock. If channels are created, the fracture is more likely to retain conductivity after closure. The hardness of the rock is the dominating factor to determine the conductivity response when no channeling is present. Among the rocks tested, Texas Cream chalk had the lowest hardness measurement before and after acidizing and the fracture closed at a much lower stress compared with limestone and dolomite. Dolomite had the highest conductivity under all closure stresses even without a channeling pattern. Additionally, it was observed that a higher reduction in rock strength at the contact points for dolomite yielded lower conductivity after closure. The effects of hardness variation on conductivity are higher in dolomite than in limestone and chalk. It is apparent that longer contact times do not always provide higher conductivity after closure.

The primary goal of this research concerns the synthesis and characterization of hybrid main group Lewis acids. Initially, the focus of this work was on the synthesis of derivatives possessing unusual bonding interactions enforced by a rigid 1,8- naphthalenediyl scaffold. After discovering a route to a new dilithio reagent, silicon based derivatives featuring R3Si-F->CR3 + and R3C-H->SiFR3 interactions of 2.703(2) and 2.32(2) Angstrom respectively were successfully synthesized and fully characterized. Another hybrid Lewis acid based on the 1,8-naphthalenediyl scaffold that was studied was a trinuclear B2/Hg Lewis acid. This molecule has been shown to bind two fluoride anions sequentially, and the binding events can be followed by differential pulsed votammetry. The final part of this work concerns the reactivity and redox behavior of main group systems. It has been shown that the p-phenylene linker in 4-dimesitylboryl-1- diarylmethylium benzenes effectively reduces electrochemical communication between the carbocation and borane moieties when compared to systems without the linker. Reduction of these species produces a derivative whose EPR signal is only slightly influenced by the ^11 B center. These findings have been further substantiated by theoretical calculations. Finally, the redox properties of alpha-phosphonio- and alpha- phosphonyl-carbocations have been studied. Chemical reduction of both species leads to a predominately carbon centered radical with coupling to the ^31P center of 18 and 19.7 G respectively. The alpha-phosphonio carbocations, however, also undergo ligand exchange reactions with pyridine derivatives suggesting that these species can also be referred to as ligand stabilized carbodications.