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System Decreases (system + decrease)
Selected AbstractsFunctional status of masticatory system, executive function and episodic memory in older personsJOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 5 2008E. SCHERDER Summary, Findings from human experimental studies suggest that mastication positively influences cognitive function. The participants in those studies were relatively young. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between the functional status of the masticatory system, episodic memory, and executive functions in elderly people. The participants, elderly people living independently at home, were divided into two groups. One group had a full complement of natural teeth (n = 19) and the other group had full dentures (n = 19). The functional status of the masticatory system was assessed by measuring mandibular excursions (i.e. the distances over which the mandible can move in the open, lateral, and forward directions), bite force, number of occluding pairs and complaints of the masticatory system (facial pain, headaches/migraine). Executive functions and episodic memory were assessed by neuropsychological tests. Backward regression analysis showed that only in the group of elderly people with full dentures, 22% of executive functions were predicted by complaints of the masticatory system and 19·4% of episodic memory was predicted by masticatory performance (composed of mandibular excursions and bite force). The conclusion of this study is that only in older persons with full dentures the relationship between mastication, episodic memory, and executive function becomes evident when the functional status of the masticatory system decreases. [source] Potent therapeutic effect of melatonin on aging skin in pinealectomized ratsJOURNAL OF PINEAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005Mukaddes E Abstract:, It is generally agreed that one of the major contributors to skin aging is reactive oxygen species. As organisms reach advanced age, free radical generation increases and the activity of tissue antioxidant enzyme system decreases. Melatonin is an antioxidant and free radical scavenger. The present study was first aimed to determine the morphometric and biochemical changes caused by long-term pinealectomy in order to investigate the role of melatonin as skin architecture. Secondly, the effect of exogenous melatonin administration on these changes was determined. Rats were pinealectomized or sham operated (control) for 6 months. Half of the pinealectomized rats were treated with 4 mg/kg melatonin during the last month of the experiment. Pinealectomy resulted in important morphometric and biochemical changes in the back, abdominal and thoracic skin. The thickness of epidermis and dermis and the number of dermal papillae and hair follicles were reduced. Melatonin administration to pinealectomized rats significantly improved these alterations in all body areas (P < 0.005). On the contrary, in pinealectomized rats the levels of antioxidant enzymes, catalase and glutathione peroxidase were decreased. Melatonin restored the levels of these enzymes. The pinealectomy-induced increases in lipid peroxidation in the abdominal and thoracic skin were significantly reduced by melatonin treatment (P < 0.005 and 0.01 respectively). These results suggest that melatonin is highly efficient anti-aging factor and, as melatonin levels decrease with age, melatonin treatment may reduce age-related skin changes. [source] The influence of small- and large-scale composting on the dissipation of pesticide residues in a biopurification matrixJOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 7 2010Tineke De Wilde Abstract BACKGROUND: Pesticides are efficiently retained and degraded in the organic matrix of a biopurification system. However, as this matrix mineralizes slowly over time, nutrients will start to become depleted and thus a decay in biomass will probably occur. At that moment, the efficiency of the system decreases and the matrix should be replaced. The spent matrix might still contain residues of pesticides. Hence treatment of this matrix is essential. In this study we opted to use composting or incubation as an effective and environmentally friendly treatment strategy. RESULTS: Small- and large-scale composting/incubation trials were set up to treat the presence of linuron, bentazone, metalaxyl and bifenthrin in a contaminated matrix. Large-scale composting, performed in an industrial composting facility, resulted in decreased concentrations of metalaxyl, linuron and bentazone. Degradation of bifenthrin was very limited. In the small-scale incubation process, a decrease in concentration was noted for bifenthrin, metalaxyl and bentazone. A reduction in extractable pesticide concentration does not, however, always indicate degradation but could be attributed to the formation of non-extractable residues. CONCLUSION: Industrial and small-scale composting/incubation reduced the concentration of some pesticides during the timeframe studied, although little reduction was obtained for the persistent pesticide bifenthrin in the industrial composting process and for linuron in barrel incubation. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Theoretical characterizations of HAsXH (X = N, P, As, Sb, and Bi) isomers in the singlet and triplet statesJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 15 2008Chin-Hung Lai Abstract The lowest singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces for all group 15 HAsXH (X = N, P, As, Sb, and Bi) systems have been explored through ab initio calculations. The geometries of the various isomers were determined at the QCISD/LANL2DZdp level and confirmed to be minima by vibrational analysis. In the case of nitrogen, the global minimum is found to be a triplet H2NAs structure. For the phosphorus case, singlet trans -HAsPH is found to be global minima surrounded by large activation barriers, so that it should be observable. For arsenic, theoretical investigations demonstrate that the stability of HAsAsH isomers decreases in the order singlet trans -HAsAsH > triplet H2AsAs > singlet cis -HAsAsH > triplet HAsAsH > singlet H2AsAs. For antimony and bismuth, the theoretical findings suggest that the stability of HAsXH (X = Sb and Bi) systems decreases in the order triplet H2AsX , singlet trans -HAsXH > singlet cis -HAsXH > triplet HAsXH > triplet H2XAs > singlet H2AsX > singlet H2XAs. Our model calculations indicate that the relativistic effect on heavier group 15 elements should play an important role in determining the geometries as well as the stability of HAsXH molecules. The results obtained are in good agreement with the available experimental data and allow a number of predictions to be made. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008 [source] | ||||||||||