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Beneficial Activities (beneficial + activity)
Selected AbstractsPhytate in foods and significance for humans: Food sources, intake, processing, bioavailability, protective role and analysisMOLECULAR NUTRITION & FOOD RESEARCH (FORMERLY NAHRUNG/FOOD), Issue S2 2009Ulrich Schlemmer Abstract The article gives an overview of phytic acid in food and of its significance for human nutrition. It summarises phytate sources in foods and discusses problems of phytic acid/phytate contents of food tables. Data on phytic acid intake are evaluated and daily phytic acid intake depending on food habits is assessed. Degradation of phytate during gastro-intestinal passage is summarised, the mechanism of phytate interacting with minerals and trace elements in the gastro-intestinal chyme described and the pathway of inositol phosphate hydrolysis in the gut presented. The present knowledge of phytate absorption is summarised and discussed. Effects of phytate on mineral and trace element bioavailability are reported and phytate degradation during processing and storage is described. Beneficial activities of dietary phytate such as its effects on calcification and kidney stone formation and on lowering blood glucose and lipids are reported. The antioxidative property of phytic acid and its potentional anticancerogenic activities are briefly surveyed. Development of the analysis of phytic acid and other inositol phosphates is described, problems of inositol phosphate determination and detection discussed and the need for standardisation of phytic acid analysis in foods argued. [source] Cyclone Mitigation, Resource Allocation and Post-disaster Reconstruction in South India: Lessons from Two Decades of ResearchDISASTERS, Issue 1 2000Peter Winchester This paper opens with a history of development and disaster-prevention strategies in a cyclone-prone area of the east coast of India and traces the evolution in the area of British and Indian governments' programmes and policy over a century. Research over the last 20 years has shown however that the programmes and policies have failed to balance economic growth with safety. Resources intended for the benefit of all have been diverted by alliances of powerful people to a small minority, and recent developments have reduced the physical protection of the area. The result is that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of cyclones and floods. The findings suggest that the best way to reduce vulnerability is to improve the socio-economic standing of the most vulnerable and for this to happen these people must have an assured income based on assets that will enable them to acquire social and economic credit-worthiness within the local economy. This paper presents evidence that suggests that non-governmental organisation (NGO)-supported co-operatives are the best way to achieve this through self-help and self-employment schemes. It also suggests that NGOs should be encouraged to take up environmentally and ecologically beneficial activities involving the poorest groups in the communities, in this way combining sustained self-employment with environmental protection. [source] Congressional Ethics: The Fox and the Henhouse1POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2007Joseph N. Patten Members of Congress have conflicting responsibilities between advancing the public's interest while advocating for the private interests of constituents. This research examines the association between political corruption and the increased devotion to constituent casework. It creates a congressional corruption matrix that gives rise to four types of political corruption illuminated through descriptions of the Abscam Scandal, the Duke Cunningham Scandal, the Keating Five Scandal, and the Jack Abramoff Scandal. It makes a distinction between individual and institutional forms of corruption and differentiates between personal gain and career advancing varieties of corruption. This article contends that Congress is disinclined to enact and enforce substantive reforms in career advancing forms of corruption because of a shared institutional value in expanding politically beneficial activities. [source] PERSPECTIVE: TEACHING EVOLUTION IN HIGHER EDUCATIONEVOLUTION, Issue 10 2002Brian J. Alters Abstract., In the past decade, the academic community has increased considerably its activity concerning the teaching and learning of evolution. Despite such beneficial activity, the state of public understanding of evolution is considered woefully lacking by most researchers and educators. This lack of understanding affects evolution/science literacy, research, and academia in general. Not only does the general public lack an understanding of evolution but so does a considerable proportion of college graduates. However, it is not just evolutionary concepts that students do not retain. In general, college students retain little of what they supposedly have learned. Worse yet, it is not just students who have avoided science and math who fail to retain fundamental science concepts. Students who have had extensive secondary-level and college courses in science have similar deficits. We examine these issues and explore what distinguishes effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher education in general and evolution education in particular. The fundamental problem of students' prior conceptions is considered and why prior conceptions often underpin students' misunderstanding of the evolutionary concepts being taught. These conceptions can often be discovered and addressed. We also attend to concerns about coverage of course content and the influence of religious beliefs, and provide helpful strategies to improve college-level teaching of evolution. [source] Reduction of major histocompatibility complex class I expression on bladder carcinoma following tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine: Implications for immunoresistance in therapyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGY, Issue 7 2010Mengqiang Li Objectives: To clarify the relationship between a decreased major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) expression on bladder tumors and decreased immunological efficacy of tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine in a rat bladder carcinoma model induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea irrigation. Methods: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to evaluate interferon-gamma concentration in the serum and colorimetric lactate dehydrogenase release assay in vitro was used to test the cytotoxicity capability of T lymphocytes. MHC-I expression on tumor cells was detected by flow cytometry and analyzed with CellQuest software. Results: The tumor antigen sensitized dendritic cell vaccine group showed decreased hyperplastic formations, lower pathological stages in rat bladders and more potent cytotoxicity activity (P < 0.001) than the dendritic cell vaccine group. Additionally, immunization with pulsed dendritic cell vaccine induced higher specific cytokine production of interferon-gamma. Nevertheless, a decreased MHC-I expression on bladder tumors was tested after immunotherapy by pulsed dendritic cell vaccine on week 15. As expected, the cytotoxic activity of T lymphocytes from rats on tumor cells with low MHC-I expression was also decreased to 19.70 ± 4.82% as compared with tumor cells with high MHC-I (52.10 ± 8.66%, P = 0.005). Conclusions: Tumor antigen sensitized dendritic cell vaccine has beneficial activity on N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced bladder cancer in situ in rats, but therapeutic responses are accompanied by decreased MHC-I expression on tumors, possibly suggesting poor long-term therapeutic outcomes. [source] | |||||||||||||