A polymeric gas separation membrane utilizing polybenzimidazole based on 4,4 0 -(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(benzoic acid) was prepared. The synthesized membrane has an effective permeating area of 8.3 cm 2 and a thickness of 30 6 2 mm. Gas permeation properties of the membrane were determined using H 2 , CO 2 , CO, and N 2 at temperatures ranging from 248C to 2008C. The PBI-HFA membranes not only exhibited excellent H 2 permeability, but it also displayed superior gas separation performance particularly for H 2 /N 2 and H 2 /CO 2 . The permeation parameters for both permeability and selectivity [P H2 and a(H 2 /N 2 ); P H2 and a(H 2 / CO 2 )] obtained for the new material were found to be dependent on trans-membrane pressure difference as well as temperature, and were found to surpass those reported by Robeson in

The major phenolic compounds isolated from L. spinosa displayed a significant cytoprotective effect against oxidative stress, leading to maintenance of the normal redox status of the cell.

Several researchers have analyzed brain activities by investigating brain networks. However, there is a lack of the research on the temporal characteristics of the brain network during a stroke by EEG and the comparative studies between motor execution and imagery, which became known to have similar motor functions and pathways. In this study, we proposed the possibility of temporal characteristics on the brain networks of a stroke. We analyzed the temporal properties of the brain networks for nine chronic stroke patients by the active and motor imagery tasks by EEG. High beta band has a specific role in the brain network during motor tasks. In the high beta band, for the active task, there were significant characteristics of centrality and small-worldness on bilateral primary motor cortices at the initial motor execution. The degree centrality significantly increased on the contralateral primary motor cortex, and local efficiency increased on the ipsilateral primary motor cortex. These results indicate that the ipsilateral primary motor cortex constructed a powerful subnetwork by influencing the linked channels as compensatory effect, although the contralateral primary motor cortex organized an inefficient network by using the connected channels due to lesions. For the MI task, degree centrality and local efficiency significantly decreased on the somatosensory area at the initial motor imagery. Then, there were significant correlations between the properties of brain networks and motor function on the contralateral primary motor cortex and somatosensory area for each motor execution/imagery task. Our results represented that the active and MI tasks have different mechanisms of motor acts. Based on these results, we indicated the possibility of customized rehabilitation according to different motor tasks. We expect these results to help in the construction of the customized rehabilitation system depending on motor tasks by understanding temporal functional characteristics on brain network for a stroke.

Herein, we prepared standardized antioxidant‐enriched fractions from red (AFR) and purple (AFP) colored potatoes and evaluated their protective effects against hepatotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. The major compound contained in both AFR and AFP was 5‐caffeoylquinic acid. Experiments in vitro showed that AFR and AFP protected against HepG2 cell death induced by tert‐butyl hydroperoxide (t‐BHP) as determined by cell viability assay. AFR and AFP recovered alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) enzyme activities, which increased by t‐BHP treatment in HepG2 cells. AFR and AFP also inhibited the cleavage of PARP and caspase‐3 in HepG2 cells. Moreover, in vivo experiments in mice showed that AFR and AFP protected against t‐BHP‐induced hepatotoxicity and recovered serum ALT and AST enzyme activities. AFR and AFP also rescued serum antioxidant enzyme activities, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, which were disturbed by t‐BHP treatment. Our data clearly demonstrate that AFR and AFP protect against hepatic damage induced by oxidative stress. Practical Applications Colored potatoes contain plentiful amounts of antioxidant compounds that can be developed into dietary supplements for the improvement of human health. We prepared antioxidant‐enriched fractions from red and purple colored potatoes (AFR and AFP, respectively) to be used as hepatoprotective agents. Based on chemical profiling analysis, we found that 5‐caffeoylquinic acid can serve as a marker for the standardization of AFR and AFP as functional food materials. AFR and AFP strongly protected against oxidative stress and injury both in cultured hepatocytes and mice. AFR and AFP prevented the cell death of hepatocytes, and they also rescued hepatic damage markers ALT and AST both in cell and animal experiments. Generally, AFP showed higher hepatoprotective activity than AFR. Taken together, AFR and AFP may be promising candidates as functional foods for improving human liver function.

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