As part of a project to see whether potatoes with a low glycemic-index (GI) could be developed through plant breeding, the GI values of 4 new potato varieties differing in starch structure was determined in 3 studies over 2 years in human subjects. Since cooking and cooling affects starch structure the potatoes were studied both freshly cooked (boiled) and cooled. The first study showed that cooling reduced the GI of two varieties by 40-50% but had no effect in the others (treatment × variety interaction, p=0.024), an effect which was confirmed in study 2. Differences in GI were readily explained by differences in starch structure or in-vitro digestion rate. Carbohydrate malabsorption increased from 3 to 5% upon cooling, not enough to account for the reduced GI. It is concluded that the effect on GI of cooling cooked potatoes varies in different varieties. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism.

Two dimensional photonic crystal slabs are studied theoretically and experimentally for the application of refractive index sensing with a focus on increasing both quality factor and sensitivity simultaneously. An overview of simulation and experimental techniques, along with fabrication protocols used is given. Through the use of new wafer architectures which allow for an air substrate, sensitivity is enhanced in some cases by more than a factor of 2 from our previous studies. Combining this with a novel lattice proposed which greatly reduces fabrication tolerances, experimental quality factors above 10,500 are achieved while maintaining an experimental sensitivity of above 800 nm/RIU. The effects of a finite photonic crystal slab are studied through the group velocity of guided mode resonances, with an emphasis on zero-group velocity. Future applications of the designs proposed are discussed.

Two anthropometric measurements were evaluated as possible risk factors for concussions among university contact-sport athletes: head and neck circumference ratio (HNCR) and body mass index (BMI). Athletes (N=575) competing in intercollegiate football, hockey, and soccer were followed prospectively for concussions over a 4-year period. A total of 86 concussions occurred, with a higher incidence among the female athletes. For HNCR, there was no consistent association observed with the exception of female hockey players. For BMI, there was no consistent association observed with the exception of male soccer players. Linear regression analysis revealed a statistically significant inverse association between HNCR and BMI among concussed athletes for both genders (p<0.001). In conclusion, the novel HNCR was found to be a valid and reliable measurement ratio that may have potential clinical applications in predicting the risk of sustaining a concussion among contact-sport athletes.

This study examined leaf area index (LAI) and relationships with corresponding tree growth, climate and soil characteristics across New Zealand forest plantations. The aim of this study was to determine if quick measures of projected leaf area across environmental gradients of New Zealand were an accurate indicator of site quality. Projected leaf areas of Pinus radiata D Don and Cupressus lusitanica Mills seedlings were measured using a Li-Cor LAI-2000 plant canopy analyser at 22 locations representing the soil and climatic diversity across New Zealand plantation forests. Seedlings planted at 40 000 stems per hectare were used to test treatment effects of fertiliser, site disturbance and species over a 4 year period. It was hypothesised that collected climate and soil information would explain differences in LAI development patterns across sites as the canopies approached site and seasonal maxima. Averaged across sites Cupressus lusitanica 7.28 (± 2.59 Std.) m2 m-2 had significantly (p = 0.0094) greater projected LAIs than Pinus radiata 6.47 (± 2.29) m2m-2. Maximum site LAI (LAImax) varied from 2.9 to 11.8 m2 m-2 for Pinus radiata and from 3.1 to 12.6 m2 m-2 for Cupressus lusitanica. LAImax of both species was significantly and positively correlated with vapour pressure deficit, soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and CEC, but negatively with solar radiation, temperature and soil bulk density. A seasonal model of LAI across sites illustrated an 8.5% fluctuation in LAI of established canopies over the course of a year. Despite considerable variation in climate and soil characteristics across sites the combined effects of LAI at harvest and temperature were significantly correlated with site productivity (r2 = 0.84 and 0.76 for Pinus radiata and Cupressus lusitanica respectively). A national model of LAImax (r2 = 0.96) was proposed for Pinus radiata across climate and soil environments and the significance of LAImax as a component of site quality monitoring tools is discussed.

No description available.

In the catalytic cycle of the glycine cleavage system (GCS), the major physiological pathway for glycine degradation, the lipoic acid-containing hydrogen carrier protein (H-protein) plays a pivotal role as a mobile carrier of reaction intermediates. and as a regulator for glycine decarboxylase (P-protein). Defects in the GCS lead to the accumulation of glycine in all body tissues, resulting in the genetic disease glycine encephalopathy (GE). Defects in P-protein lead to more than 80% of reported cases of GE, therefore. routine biochemical analysis only tests P-protein for activity. Unlike other amino acid decarboxylases, P-protein is itself inactive, and requires H-protein for biochemical activity. Currently. researchers use H-protein purified from chicken liver extracts for the P-protein activity assay. However. extraction and purification of chicken H-protein is laborious. costly. and has poor yield, making the expression and purification of H-protein from an alternate source desirable. We have overexpressed recombinant human H-protein in the methylotropic yeast Pichia pastoris by utilizing the inducible alcohol oxidase (AOX1) promoter and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae a-mating factor secretion signal. Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was used as a fusion partner to aid detection of H-protein during expression and purification. Secreted H-protein was detected from 24-96 hours post induction, and constituted the major protein species in the culture medium. H-protein was purified to apparent homogeneity in a single step using nickel-chelating affinity chromatography, and lipoylated using lipoate protein ligase from E. coli. Functional analysis of holo-H-protein using the NAD+ lipoamide dehydrogenase assay demonstrated biochemical activity with the artificial substrate, suggesting that human H-protein produced in P. pastoris may be an appropriate replacement for the chicken H-protein currently used in the biochemical diagnosis of GE.

A comprehensive worldwide review and revision of the genus Sternaspis (Polychaeta: Sternaspidae) is presented based on type material, or material collected from type localities. The phylogeny was reconstructed using morphological characters and PAUP* with maximum parsimony set as the criterion. The more important characters were: the form of pharyngeal spines or their apposition to each other within a row; the form or distribution of cuticular papillae; number of chaetal fascicles associated with the margins of the ventral shield; and the presence or position of the peg chaetae. Sternaspis scutata (Ranzani. 1817) is synonymised with three other species; S. costata Marenzeller, 1979 is synonymised with one other species. S. affinis Stimpson, 1864 and S. spinosa Sluiter, 1882 are emended. S. fossor var. africana Augener, 1918 is raised to species status as S. africana. Two new species, S. andamana and S. gudmundi are also described. Comments on all valid species are provided.

No description available.

We prove a Fedosov index formula for the index of Toeplitz operators connected with the Hardy space of solutions to an elliptic system of first order partial differential equations in a bounded domain of Euclidean space with infinitely differentiable boundary.

No description available.