Hydroxytyrosol recovery from olive pomace: a simple process using olive mill industrial equipment and membrane technology.

In this work, pilot-scale nanofiltration was used to obtain aqueous solutions rich in hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol from olive oil by-products. A large-scale simple process involving olive mill standard machinery (blender and decanter) was used for the olive pomace pre-treatment with water. The aqueous extract was then directly fed to a nanofiltration unit and concentrated by reverse osmosis. Final concentration factors ranged between 7 and 9 for hydroxytyrosol and between 4 and 7 for tyrosol. The final aqueous solution, obtained as retentate stream of reverse osmosis, was highly concentrated in hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol and their concentrations remained stable over at least 14 months.

Electronic Cigarettes: Their Role in the Lives of College Students.

BACKGROUND: Electronic cigarettes have increased in popularity amongst college-aged adults. Although often advertised as smoking cessation tools, students have taken to them as their primary exposure to nicotine. For many reasons, e-cigarettes are extremely convenient and have become the most common tobacco products among this generation. OBJECTIVE: To assess perceptions and reasons for e-cigarette use in college students. METHODS: A 20 question online Qualtrics® survey was distributed to college students aged 18 and above across the United States. All responses were anonymous and data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative inferential and descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of those who used e-cigarettes, 67.7% are not likely to smoke when they are upset or sad, 56.8% disagree that stress is a factor, and 83.5% cited that alcohol was involved when smoking. Most respondents, 74% (n = 467), associated smoking with emotions of happiness, joy or peace. 43.7% who associated e-cigarettes with happiness or peace were more likely to agree that stress was an influence versus 26.5% for those who did not (p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Results show a high prevalence of e-cigarette usage among college-aged students. Emotional pleasurable connections with e-cigarettes, similar to traditional cigarettes, play a role in their use. This information will allow healthcare professionals to tailor educational messages surrounding cessation.

Tuning the 1H NMR Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement and Local Order of [Aliquat]+-Based Systems Mixed with DMSO.

Understanding the behavior of a chemical compound at a molecular level is fundamental, not only to explain its macroscopic properties, but also to enable the control and optimization of these properties. The present work aims to characterize a set of systems based on the ionic liquids [Aliquat][Cl] and [Aliquat][FeCl4] and on mixtures of these with different concentrations of DMSO by means of 1H NMR relaxometry, diffusometry and X-ray diffractometry. Without DMSO, the compounds reveal locally ordered domains, which are large enough to induce order fluctuation as a significant relaxation pathway, and present paramagnetic relaxation enhancement for the [Aliquat][Cl] and [Aliquat][FeCl4] mixture. The addition of DMSO provides a way of tuning both the local order of these systems and the relaxation enhancement produced by the tetrachloroferrate anion. Very small DMSO volume concentrations (at least up to 1%) lead to enhanced paramagnetic relaxation without compromising the locally ordered domains. Larger DMSO concentrations gradually destroy these domains and reduce the effect of paramagnetic relaxation, while solvating the ions present in the mixtures. The paramagnetic relaxation was explained as a correlated combination of inner and outer-sphere mechanisms, in line with the size and structure differences between cation and anion. This study presents a robust method of characterizing paramagnetic ionic systems and obtaining a consistent analysis for a large set of samples having different co-solvent concentrations.

Interfacial vs Bulk Phenomena Effects on the Surface Tensions of Aqueous Magnetic Surfactants in Uniform Magnetic Fields.

The literature clearly reports that magnetic surfactant systems respond to magnetic fields. This manuscript investigates if the responses are because the magnetic fields directly alter the interfacial properties or if the surface-active properties are independent of the paramagnetic fluid responses. It uses uniform and gradient magnetic fields to determine the magnetically induced changes to the surface tensions independent of bulk paramagnetic fluid effects for ionic magnetic surfactants. The magnetically induced decrease in surface tensions is small compared to the bulk paramagnetic fluid effects. The reported decrease in surface tensions is significantly smaller than those previously found in the literature, which reported a combined interfacial and bulk paramagnetic effect. The magnetically induced surface tension changes are a function of the degree of association, α, of the magnetic moiety with the surfactant's amphiphilic structure. Therefore, the proposed answer to the question is that as α approaches zero, the magnetic properties of the magnetic surfactant system approaches the behavior of an ordinary paramagnetic fluid. For magnetic surfactants with α approaching one, there is a measurable interfacial response. For example in this study, a magnetic surfactant with α = 0.92 had a 2.5 times greater magnetically induced change in surface tension compared to a magnetic surfactant with α = undetectable, even thought they had similar magnetic moments.

1H NMR Relaxometry and Diffusometry Study of Magnetic and Nonmagnetic Ionic Liquid-Based Solutions: Cosolvent and Temperature Effects.

In this work, 1H NMR relaxometry and diffusometry as well as viscometry experiments were carried out as a means to study the molecular dynamics of magnetic and nonmagnetic ionic liquid-based systems. In order to evaluate the effect of a cosolvent on the superparamagnetic properties observed for Aliquat-iron-based magnetic ionic liquids, mixtures comprising different concentrations, 1% and 10% (v/v), of DMSO-d6 were prepared and studied. The results for both magnetic and nonmagnetic systems were consistently analyzed an suggest that, when at low concentrations, DMSO-d6 promotes more structured ionic arrangements, thus enhancing these superparamagnetic properties. Furthermore, the analysis of temperature and water concentration effects allowed to conclude that neither one of these variables significantly affected the superparamagnetic properties of the studied magnetic ionic liquids.

(1)H NMR Relaxation Study of a Magnetic Ionic Liquid as a Potential Contrast Agent.

A proton nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (1)H NMRD study of the molecular dynamics in mixtures of magnetic ionic liquid [P66614][FeCl4] with [P66614][Cl] ionic liquid and mixtures of [P66614][FeCl4] with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is presented. The proton spin-lattice relaxation rate, R1, was measured in the frequency range of 8 kHz-300 MHz. The viscosity of the binary mixtures was measured as a function of an applied magnetic field, B, in the range of 0-2 T. In the case of DMSO/[P66614][FeCl4] the viscosity was found to be independent from the magnetic field, while in the case of the [P66614][Cl]/[P66614][FeCl4] system viscosity decreased with the increase of the magnetic field strength. The spin-lattice relaxation results were analyzed for all systems taking into account the relaxation mechanisms associated with the molecular motions with correlation times in a range between 10(-11) and 10(-7)s, usually observed by NMRD, and the paramagnetic relaxation contributions associated with the presence of the magnetic ions in the systems. In the case of the DMSO/[P66614][FeCl4] system the R1 dispersion shows the relaxation enhancement due to the presence of the magnetic ions, similar to that reported for contrast agents. For the [P66614][Cl]/[P66614][FeCl4] system, the R1 dispersion presents a much larger paramagnetic relaxation contribution, in comparison with that observed for the DMSO/[P66614][FeCl4] mixtures but different from that reported for other magnetic ionic liquid system. In the [P66614][Cl]/[P66614][FeCl4] system the relaxation enhancement associated with the paramagnetic ions is clearly not proportional to the concentration of magnetic ions, in contrast with what is observed for the DMSO/[P66614][FeCl4] system.

1H NMR relaxometry, viscometry, and PFG NMR studies of magnetic and nonmagnetic ionic liquids.

A study is presented of the molecular dynamics and of the viscosity in pure [Aliquat][Cl] ionic liquid and in a mixture of [Aliquat][Cl] with 1% (v/v) of [Aliquat][FeCl4]. The (1)H spin-lattice relaxation rate, R1, was measured by NMR relaxometry between 8 and 300 MHz. In addition, the translation self-diffusion, D, was measured by pulse field gradient NMR. The ILs' viscosity was measured as a function of an applied magnetic field, B, and it was found that the IL mixture's viscosity decreased with increasing B, whereas the [Aliquat][Cl] viscosity is independent of B. All experimental results were analyzed taking into account the viscosity's magnetic field dependence, assuming a modified Stokes-Einstein diffusion/viscosity relation. The main difference between the relaxation mechanisms responsible for R1 in the two IL systems is related to the additional paramagnetic relaxation contribution associated with the (1)H spins-[FeCl4] paramagnetic moments' interactions. Cross-relaxation cusps in the R1 dispersion, associated with (35)Cl and (1)H nuclear spins in the IL systems, were detected. The R1 model considered was successfully fitted to the experimental results, and it was possible to estimate the value of D at zero field in the case of the IL mixture which was consistent with the values of D measured at 7 and 14.1 T and with the magnetic field dependence estimated from the viscosity measurements. It was observed that a small concentration of [Aliquat][FeCl4] in the [Aliquat][Cl] was enough to produce a "superparamagnetic"-like effect and to change the IL mixture's molecular dynamics and viscosity and to allow for their control with an external magnetic field.

Permanent genetic resources added to molecular ecology resources database 1 December 2012-31 January 2013.

This article documents the addition of 268 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Alburnoides bipunctatus, Chamaerops humilis, Chlidonias hybrida, Cyperus papyrus, Fusarium graminearum, Loxigilla barbadensis, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Odontesthes bonariensis, Pelteobagrus vachelli, Posidonia oceanica, Potamotrygon motoro, Rhamdia quelen, Sarotherodon melanotheron heudelotii, Sibiraea angustata, Takifugu rubripes, Tarentola mauritanica, Trimmatostroma sp. and Wallago attu. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Alburnoides fasciatus, Alburnoides kubanicus, Alburnoides maculatus, Alburnoides ohridanus, Alburnoides prespensis, Alburnoides rossicus, Alburnoides strymonicus, Alburnoides thessalicus, Alburnoides tzanevi, Carassius carassius, Fusarium asiaticum, Leucaspius delineatus, Loxigilla noctis dominica, Pelecus cultratus, Phoenix canariensis, Potamotrygon falkneri, Trachycarpus fortune and Vimba vimba.