Arachidonic acid supplementation modulates blood and skeletal muscle lipid profile with no effect on basal inflammation in resistance exercise trained men.

Arachidonic acid (ARA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), is the metabolic precursor to the eicosanoid family of lipid mediators. Eicosanoids have potent pro-inflammatory actions, but also act as important autocrine/paracrine signaling molecules in skeletal muscle growth and development. Whether dietary ARA is incorporated into skeletal muscle phospholipids and the resulting impact on intramuscular inflammatory and adaptive processes in-vivo is not known. In the current study, resistance trained men (≥1 year) received dietary supplementation with 1.5g/day ARA (n=9, 24 ± 1.5 years) or placebo (n=10, 26 ± 1.3 years) for 4-weeks while continuing their normal training regimen. Plasma and vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were collected in an overnight fasted state at baseline and week 4. ARA supplementation increased plasma content of ARA and gamma-linolenic acid, while decreasing relative abundance of linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid. In skeletal muscle, ARA and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid content increased, whereas alpha-linolenic-acid was reduced. Compared to placebo, ARA supplementation reduced circulating platelet and monocyte number, and decreased the mRNA expression of the immune cell surface markers; neutrophil elastase/CD66b and interleukin 1-beta, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In muscle, ARA supplementation increased mRNA expression of the myogenic regulatory factors; MyoD and myogenin, but had no effect on a range of immune cell markers or inflammatory cytokines. These data show that dietary ARA supplementation can rapidly and safely modulate plasma and muscle fatty acid profile and promote myogenic gene expression in resistance trained men, without a risk of increasing basal systemic or intramuscular inflammation.

Solar photocatalytic thin film cascade reactor for treatment of benzoic acid containing wastewater.

A solar photocatalytic cascade reactor was constructed to study the photocatalytic oxidation of benzoic acid in water under various experimental and weather conditions at HKUST. Nine stainless steel plates coated with TiO(2) catalyst were arranged in a cascade configuration in the reactor. Photolytic degradation and adsorption were confirmed to be insignificant total organic carbon (TOC) removal mechanisms. A turbulent flow pattern and, hence, improved mixing in the liquid film were achieved due to the unique cascade design of the reactor. The photoinduced consumption of oxygen during reactions was demonstrated in a sample experiment. The proposed rate equations provided good fits to 90 data points from 17 experiments. The regression results showed that the TOC removal rates averaged over 30 min intervals did not illustrate significant dependence on TOC(0) and that I(mean) was more important in affecting the photocatalytic process within the ranges of the data examined. The percentage removal of TOC in 7 l of 100 mg/l (or 100 ppm) benzoic acid solutions increased from 30% to 83% by adding 10 ml of hydrogen peroxide solution (30 wt%). Hydrogen peroxide was also shown to enhance the efficiency of the degradation process at elevated temperatures. Ortho-, meta- and para-hydroxybenzoic acids were identified by HPLC analysis as the intermediates of benzoic acid during reactions without the addition of hydrogen peroxide solutions.