The composition of carotenoids, along with anthocyanins and chlorophyll, accounts for the distinctive range of colour found in the Actinidia (kiwifruit) species. Lutein and beta-carotene are the most abundant carotenoids found during fruit development, with beta-carotene concentration increasing rapidly during fruit maturation and ripening. In addition, the accumulation of beta-carotene and lut...

Lutein, a dihydroxy derivative of alpha-carotene (beta,epsilon-carotene), is the most abundant carotenoid in photosynthetic plant tissues where it plays important roles in light-harvesting complex-II structure and function. The synthesis of lutein from lycopene requires at least four distinct enzymatic reactions: beta- and epsilon-ring cyclizations and hydroxylation of each ring at the C-3 posi...

Electromagnetic shield made up of single conductor layer of chosen thickness and conducting material can be designed to achieve required shielding performance . This single conductor layer electromagnetic shield would be bulky and occupy more volume when the size of the electronic circuit is shrinking with the advent of microelectronic technologies. In order to optimize the thickness of the ele...

Because animals are not able to synthesize retinoids de novo, ultimately they must derive them from dietary provitamin A carotenoids through a process known as carotene cleavage. The enzyme responsible for catalyzing carotene cleavage ( -carotene 15,15 -dioxygenase) has been characterized primarily in rat intestinal scrapings. Using a recently reported cDNA sequence for a carotene cleavage enzy...

β-Carotene is the precursor of vitamin A, and also exhibits multiple pharmaceutical functions by itself. In comparison to chemical synthesis, the production of β-carotene in microbes by metabolic engineering strategy is relatively inexpensive. Identifying genes enhancing β-carotene production in microbes is important for engineering a strain of producing higher yields of β-carotene. Most of pre...

Four 12-rung linear birdcage-type coils were built to experimentally examine the effects of the end-ring/shield configuration on radiofrequency magnetic field (B(1)) homogeneity and SNR at 125 MHz. The coil configurations include (a) a cylindrical shield (conventional), (b) a shield with annular extensions to closely shield the end-rings (surrounding shield), (c) a shield with annular extension...

The design and performance of an inductively fed low-pass birdcage radiofrequency (RF) coil for applications at 9.4 T are described where tuning is accomplished by mechanically moving a concentric RF shield about the longitudinal axis of an RF coil. Moving the shield about the RF coil effectively changes the mutual inductance of the system, providing a mechanism for adjusting the resonant frequ...

The analysis of beta-carotene and lycopene, the two predominant carotenoids in human serum and tissues, was extended to the level of geometrical (cis-trans) isomers by using an improved reversed-phase HPLC methodology. We separated five geometrical isomers of beta-carotene and seven of lycopene in human serum and tissues. 13-cis-beta-Carotene was identified as the predominant cisisomer in human...

 ABSTRACT Background: Dietary antioxidant intake has been reported to be inversely associated with coronary miery disease. To clarify the possible role oflipophilic antioxidants in the prevention of atherosclerosis, we investigated the effects ofubiquinol-1 0 and ~-carotene on the susceptibility oflow-density lipoprotein(LD L) to oxidative modification. Methods: In this study, first "u...