University of Monastir

About: University of Monastir is a education organization based out in Monastir, Tunisia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Adsorption & Population. The organization has 5072 authors who have published 7488 publications receiving 78620 citations. The organization is also known as: UM.

Carotenoids, Phenolic Profile, Mineral Content and Antioxidant Properties in Flesh and Peel of Prunus persica Fruits during Two Maturation Stages.

Abstract: Carotenoids and phenolic profile, antioxidant activity as well as concentrations of selected macronutrients (K, N, Mg, Ca and Na) and micronutrients (Zn, Cu and Mn) in flesh and peel of peach fruit were recorded at two harvest dates. Predominant mineral was potassium, followed by calcium, magnesium and sodium. The concentration of most micronutrients was greater in the peel than in the flesh especially in early season. The concentration of most elements in flesh and peel decreased during fruit maturation. Total carotenoids content varied with respect to the cultivar. β-cryptoxanthin and β-carotene were the major carotenoids in both tissues and flesh contain the lowest amounts. Neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, catechin, epicatechin, gallic acid, rutin, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, were detected in both peel and flesh, with chlorogenic acid and catechin being the predominant components. Peel extracts showed markedly higher antioxidant activities, when estimated by ABTS or DPPH assays, than the flesh counterparts, consistent with the observed higher phenolic content. Overall, total phenolics levels increased at full ripening stage in both peel and flesh. The results found herein provide important data on carotenoids, phenolic and macro- and micronutrient changes during fruit growth, and emphases peach fruit as a potential functional food.

Cadmium exposure affects the expression of genes involved in skeletogenesis and stress response in gilthead sea bream larvae

Abstract: Gilthead sea bream larvae (Sparus aurata) aged 47 days post hatching (dph) (11.6-12.8 mg in wet weight) were exposed to several sublethal concentrations of Cd(2+) (0.1, 5 and 10 mg/L) during 6 days in order to investigate the effects of this heavy metal on the expression of selected genes involved in detoxification (metallothionein-mt, glutathione peroxidase 1-gpx1), stress response (heat shock protein 70-hsp70, tumour necrosis factor α-tnfα) and ossification (osteocalcin-oc) processes. For this purpose, specimens of 47 dph were exposed first for 72 h from 0.1 to 20 mg/L of Cd(2+) in order to evaluate the median lethal concentration (LC(50)) for this metal, which was determined at 15.32 mg/L. Considering the results regarding the relative transcript levels of gpx1 and hsp70, Cd(2+) at any of the tested levels (0.1, 5 and 10 mg/L) did not induce oxidative stress in gilthead sea bream larvae, whereas relative transcript levels of mt were increased at 5 and 10 mg/L of Cd(2+) probably to detoxify this metal excess. Relative transcript levels of tnfα were not level dependent and were down-regulated in larvae exposed to 5 and 10 mg/L of Cd(2+). At those concentrations, transcript levels of oc were down-regulated suggesting a disruption in bone mineralization. Results from this study provided insights in some molecular mechanisms underlying Cd(2+)-induced toxicity in fish at early stages of development. This is the first study to show that cadmium contamination can depress oc expression in teleosts.

disassembly plan approach based on subassembly concept

Abstract: For complex products, the generation of an assembly or disassembly plan becomes a difficult task as the assembly parts’ numbers increase. To bypass this problem, the use of a subassembly concept represents an original technique. It aims to organize the multipart assembly product into some subassembly encapsulation. Each subassembly contains, relatively, a small number of parts. As a result, the assembly or disassembly plan problem becomes between the identified subassemblies and, in that case, can be generated easily. Despite the attractiveness of the subassembly concept, the identification of subassemblies from the CAD model product remains a relevant research subject to be improved. In fact, the resolution of the precedence relation problem from the CAD model data constitutes the biggest difficulty of this technique. In this work, a novel disassembly plan approach based on a subassembly concept is presented. The proposed approach starts with the investigation of the CAD assembly data to extract a contact matrix. Then, the extracted matrix is enriched by assembling conditions in order to search the set of base parts initiating subassemblies. Once the subassemblies were recognized, a new subassembly interference matrix is regenerated. The disassembly plan is carried out, between the known subassemblies, using a simplification method of subassemblies interference matrix. An example of the CAD assembly product is treated during this paper to clarify the different steps of the proposed approach. The simulated results of both subassembly identification and disassembly plan were compared to examples given by the literature in order to validate the developed approach.