University of Saskatchewan

About: University of Saskatchewan is a education organization based out in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 25021 authors who have published 52579 publications receiving 1483049 citations. The organization is also known as: USask.

Letter and category fluency in community-dwelling Canadian seniors: a comparison of normal participants to those with dementia of the Alzheimer or vascular type.

Abstract: Measures of letter (FAS) and category (Animal Naming) fluency were completed by community-dwelling, cognitively normal seniors (n = 635), and by individuals diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) (n = 155), or with vascular dementia (n = 39). Among normal seniors, category, but not letter fluency, declined with age, females performed better than males on letter but not on category fluency, and performance increased with education on both tasks. Among participants with DAT, letter fluency was influenced by level of education, whereas category fluency was education-, age-, and gender-invariant. Both measures differentiated normal seniors from those with dementia. Category fluency was more impaired than letter fluency at both mild and moderate stages of dementia, but neither task differentiated DAT from vascular dementia.

Synthesis of magnetic metal-organic framework (MOF) for efficient removal of organic dyes from water.

Abstract: A novel, simple and efficient strategy for fabricating a magnetic metal-organic framework (MOF) as sorbent to remove organic compounds from simulated water samples is presented and tested for removal of methylene blue (MB) as an example. The novel adsorbents combine advantages of MOFs and magnetic nanoparticles and possess large capacity, low cost, rapid removal and easy separation of the solid phase, which makes it an excellent sorbent for treatment of wastewaters. The resulting magnetic MOFs composites (also known as MFCs) have large surface areas (79.52 m(2) g(-1)), excellent magnetic response (14.89 emu g(-1)), and large mesopore volume (0.09 cm(3) g(-1)), as well as good chemical inertness and mechanical stability. Adsorption was not drastically affected by pH, suggesting pi-pi stacking interaction and/or hydrophobic interactions between MB and MFCs. Kinetic parameters followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and adsorption was described by the Freundlich isotherm. Adsorption capacity was 84 mg MB g(-1) at an initial MB concentration of 30 mg L-1, which increased to 245 mg g(-1) when the initial MB concentration was 300 mg L-1. This capacity was much greater than most other adsorbents reported in the literature. In addition, MFC adsorbents possess excellent reusability, being effective after at least five consecutive cycles.

Ruminant Nutrition Symposium: Molecular adaptation of ruminal epithelia to highly fermentable diets.

Abstract: Feeding highly fermentable diets to ruminants is one strategy to increase energy intake. The increase in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production and reduced ruminal pH associated with highly fermentable diets imposes a challenge to the metabolism and the regulation of intracellular pH homeostasis of ruminal epithelia. The ruminal epithelia respond to these challenges in a coordinated manner. Whereas the enlargement of absorptive surface area is well documented, emerging evidence at the mRNA and transporter and enzyme activity levels indicate that changes in epithelial cell function may be the initial response. It is not surprising that gene expression analysis has identified pathways involved in fatty acid metabolism, ion transport, and intracellular homeostasis to be the pathways dominantly affected during adaptation and after adaptation to a highly fermentable diet. These findings are important because the intraepithelial metabolism of SCFA, particularly butyrate, helps to maintain the concentration gradient between the cytosol and lumen, thereby facilitating absorption. Butyrate metabolism also controls the intracellular availability of butyrate, which is widely regarded as a signaling molecule. Current data indicate that for butyrate metabolism, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase are potential regulatory points with transient up- and downregulation during diet adaptation. In addition to nutrient transport and utilization, genes involved in the maintenance of cellular tight junction integrity and induction of inflammation have been identified as differentially expressed genes during adaptation to highly fermentable diets. This may have important implications on ruminal epithelial barrier function and the inflammatory response often associated with subacute ruminal acidosis. The objective of this review is to summarize ruminal epithelial adaptation to highly fermentable diets focusing on the changes at the enzyme and transporter activity levels, as well as the underlying molecular changes at the mRNA and protein expression levels.