Sequential Conditions Research Articles

Oral Fat Exposure Pattern and Lipid Loading Effects on the Serum Triacylglycerol Concentration of Humans

Orosensory exposure to dietary fat elicits an early, transient spike (first phase; minutes 0-60) and augmented, more sustained postprandial (second phase; minutes 120-360) elevation of serum triacylglycerol (TAG) in humans. To assess the physiological significance of these effects, TAG concentrations were monitored following manipulation of the oral exposure pattern and accompanying lipid load. Fifteen healthy adults participated in a randomized, 6-arm, crossover design study. Conditions consisted of ingestion of 30-g loads of safflower oil, provided as capsules to bypass oral stimulation, followed by 15 min of oral stimulation (mastication and expectoration) with full-fat or nonfat cream cheese (conditions 1 and 2); the same oral load ingested intermittently with oral stimulation by both food forms (conditions 3 and 4); and 10-g lipid loads ingested with intermittent oral stimulation by both food forms (conditions 5 and 6). Blood was collected via an indwelling catheter and TAG was measured at minutes -15, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, 240, and 360 relative to the onset of sensory stimulation. Testing was conducted weekly. Sequential (lipid loading followed by oral stimulation) and intermittent (intermixed lipid loading and oral stimulation) conditions led to comparable TAG responses. Significant first- and second-phase TAG concentration increases were observed with the 30-g loads, but not the 10-g loads. TAG responses to the full-fat and nonfat stimuli were similar. These data support the veracity of the earlier literature based on sequential oral exposure regimens and indicate that TAG responses reflect an interaction between oral fat signaling and gut lipid content. The augmentation of TAG associated specifically with dietary fat exposure, as compared to a nonfat food matched on other sensory properties, may only occur with higher fat loads.

Assessment of the Sequential Simulated Gastrointestinal Tolerance of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Kefir Grains by Response Surface Methodology

The tolerance of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from kefir grains to gastrointestinal tract conditions was evaluated in vitro. The effects of pH values and bile salts on the viability of LAB were investigated. The results demonstrated that pH value showed a significant effect on the viability. The viable counts exhibited a reduction of 1.5 to 2 log cycles in 0.3% to 0.5% bile salts after 4 h. The viability of LAB exposure to sequential simulated gastric and intestinal juices was assessed by response surface model (RSM). RSM indicated that the gastric pH and gastric contact time significantly affected the viability (P < 0.05), while the effect of intestinal contact time was not significant. Moreover, RSM revealed the interactions of pH and gastric contact time, and of pH and intestinal contact time. The LAB cells, temporarily damaged by the low pH of gastric juice (pH < 2), could recover in the intestinal juice; and the longer the intestinal contact time, the higher the viability of LAB. RSM proved to be a useful and accurate method to predict the viability of LAB under certain laboratory conditions by the model validation. This study indicated that LAB from kefir grains exhibited excellent tolerance to sequential simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions, and that kefiran possessed a significant protective effect on LAB in hostile environments.

The proximal hip joint capsule and the zona orbicularis contribute to hip joint stability in distraction

The structure and function of the proximal hip joint capsule and the zona orbicularis are poorly understood. We hypothesized that the zona orbicularis is an important contributor to hip stability in distraction. In seven cadaveric hip specimens from seven male donors we distracted the femur from the acetabulum in a direction parallel to the femoral shaft with the hip in the neutral position. Eight sequential conditions were assessed: (1) intact specimen (muscle and skin removed), (2) capsule vented, (3) incised iliofemoral ligament, (4) circumferentially incised capsule, (5) partially resected capsule (distal to the zona orbicularis), (6) completely resected capsule, (7) radially incised labrum, and (8) completely resected labrum. The reduction of the distraction load was greatest between the partially resected capsule phase and completely resected capsule phase at 1, 3, and 5 mm joint distraction (p = 0.018). The proximal to middle part of the capsule, which includes the zona orbicularis, appears grossly and biomechanically to act as a locking ring wrapping around the neck of the femur and is a key structure for hip stability in distraction.

Affiliative and disaffiliative uses of you say x questions

This article explores a question format consisting of `you say' plus a version of what the co-participant has said, which is used to ask for confirmation of something said in an earlier sequence. Questions using this you say x format often request not only confirmation but also accounts and can, on occasions, be taken as challenging the interactional balance, that is, be treated as disaffiliative. The article investigates the sequential, prosodic and grammatical conditions for affiliative and disaffiliative uses of you say x questions and discusses the potential institution specificity of the phenomenon. It is found that the clearly disaffiliative you say x questions are parts of dispreferred and disaligning moves, that they have `marked' prosody, that they raise problems, and that they are most often prefaced by `objecting' particles. Affiliative you say x questions are aligning next sequences in environments where the focus is on information delivery. They have `unmarked' prosody and they contribute to getting information on record. You say x questions which call for accounts without being clearly disaffiliative, are also examined. Even though they often raise problematic issues, they are not sequentially disaligning and have less `marked' prosody than the disaffiliative cases.

Sequential optimality conditions for composed convex optimization problems

Using a general approach which provides sequential optimality conditions for a general convex optimization problem, we derive necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for composed convex optimization problems. Further, we give sequential characterizations for a subgradient of the precomposition of a K-increasing lower semicontinuous convex function with a K-convex and K-epi-closed (continuous) function, where K is a nonempty convex cone. We prove that several results from the literature dealing with sequential characterizations of subgradients are obtained as particular cases of our results. We also improve the above mentioned statements.

Analyzing the Impacts of Dams on Riparian Ecosystems: A Review of Research Strategies and Their Relevance to the Snake River Through Hells Canyon

River damming provides a dominant human impact on river environments worldwide, and while local impacts of reservoir flooding are immediate, subsequent ecological impacts downstream can be extensive. In this article, we assess seven research strategies for analyzing the impacts of dams and river flow regulation on riparian ecosystems. These include spatial comparisons of (1) upstream versus downstream reaches, (2) progressive downstream patterns, or (3) the dammed river versus an adjacent free-flowing or differently regulated river(s). Temporal comparisons consider (4) pre- versus post-dam, or (5) sequential post-dam conditions. However, spatial comparisons are complicated by the fact that dams are not randomly located, and temporal comparisons are commonly limited by sparse historic information. As a result, comparative approaches are often correlative and vulnerable to confounding factors. To complement these analyses, (6) flow or sediment modifications can be implemented to test causal associations. Finally, (7) process-based modeling represents a predictive approach incorporating hydrogeomorphic processes and their biological consequences. In a case study of Hells Canyon, the upstream versus downstream comparison is confounded by a dramatic geomorphic transition. Comparison of the multiple reaches below the dams should be useful, and the comparison of Snake River with the adjacent free-flowing Salmon River may provide the strongest spatial comparison. A pre- versus post-dam comparison would provide the most direct study approach, but pre-dam information is limited to historic reports and archival photographs. We conclude that multiple study approaches are essential to provide confident interpretations of ecological impacts downstream from dams, and propose a comprehensive study for Hells Canyon that integrates multiple research strategies.

A rapid, small-scale procedure for the structural characterization of lipid A applied to Citrobacter and Bordetella strains: discovery of a new structural element

Endotoxins [lipopolysaccharides (LPSs)] are part of the outer cell membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Their biological activities are associated mainly with the lipid component (lipid A) and even more specifically with discrete aspects of their fine structure. The need for a rapid and small-scale analysis of lipid A motivated us to develop a procedure that combines direct isolation of lipids A from bacterial cells with sequential release of their ester-linked fatty acids by a mild alkali treatment followed by MALDI-MS analysis. This method avoids the multiple-step LPS extraction procedure and lipid A isolation. The whole process can be performed in a working day and applied to lyophilized bacterial samples as small as 1 mg. We illustrate the method by applying it to the analysis of lipids A of three species of Citrobacter that were found to be identical. On the other hand, when applied to two batches of Bordetella bronchiseptica strain 4650, it highlighted the presence, in one of them, of hitherto unreported hexosamine residues substituting the lipid A phosphate groups, possibly a new camouflage opportunity to escape a host defense system.

Sequential co-culture of preimplantation embryos with oviductal epithelial cells first is more effective than that with endometrial epithelial cells first in human

To address the physiological relevance of the process that fertilized embryos gradually move from the oviduct to the uterine cavity during their development into the blastocyst. We studied preimplantation embryo development in vitro using two sequential co-culture conditions. One hundred and two surplus frozen embryos (G2 or G3 based on the Veeck's classification) in the IVF program were used for the co-culture. Such embryos at 4 cell stage were randomly allocated into two groups as follows: the oviductal (2 days)-endometrial (2 days) sequential co-culture group (OEG) and the endometrial (2 days)-oviductal (2 days) sequential co-culture group (EOG). SV40TAg-transfected oviductal or endometrial epithelial cell lines were used for co-culture. Cells were cultured in RPMI1640 supplemented with 10% FCS. The medium was replaced 24 h before co-culture was started. Only cells at 80% confluence in 6-well plates (Falcon) were used for embryo co-culture. Conditioned medium for 48 h cell culture was assayed for bFGF, HGF (hepatocyte growth factor), TGF-β1, IGF-I, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-8 with EIA (for bFGF, TGF-β1, IL-1β, IL-6) or IRMA (for IGF-I) or ELISA (for IL-4, IL-8 and HGF). Differences in embryonic development between OEG and EOG were compared with Fisher's exact test. Differences in concentrations between culture conditions were compared with two-tailed t-test. Of 46 and 43 frozen-thawed embryos with good quality (3 or 4 blastomeres were viable after thawing) in OEG and EOG, 31 (67.4%) and 26 (60.5%) embryos reached the morula stage (N.S.), 23 (50.0%) and 12 (27.9%) embryos reached the early blastocyst stage (P<0.05), and 8 (17.4%) and 6 (14.0%) reached the expanded blastocyst stage (N.S.), respectively. IL-1β and HGF concentrations were significantly higher in the conditioned medium of the oviductal epithelial cell culture. IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations were significantly higher in the conditioned medium of the endometrial epithelial cell culture. IGF-I and IL-4 were not detected in each assay. Although both oviduct and uterus are developed from the Müllerian tubercle, each tissue might play differentiated roles in the preimplantation embryo growth. We could not show clear difference in the development into expanded blastocyst stage possibly due to the limitation of our co-culture conditions that did not include hormonal regulation or stromal cells.

Sequential behavior in the rat: role of skill and attention

The serial reaction time task (SRTT) is a well-established experimental tool to study cognitive and neural mechanisms of sequential performance in humans. We have recently developed a rodent version of the human serial reaction time task, in which rats have to respond to visual stimuli by nose-poking into one of four spatial locations in order to obtain food reward. In this task, rats display superior performance under sequential as compared to random conditions of stimulus presentation. Specifically, the subjects are able to profit from sequential regularities in terms of faster reaction times and higher response accuracy. Here, we studied the effects of violating a single stimulus in rats, which had been intensively trained under sequential conditions, and we asked whether these subjects, when confronted with sequence violations, still attend to the actual stimulus order (that is, show correct responses), or whether their behavior has become fully automated (leading to specific incorrect responses to violated stimulus positions). In two independent experiments using partly differing instrumental set-ups, we found that the responses to non-cued violations of single stimulus positions were mostly correct, that is, the animals were apparently attending to the stimuli. Nevertheless, these reaction times were slowed, which probably reflects cognitive resources necessary to respond correctly to the unexpected irregularities. When quantifying the minority of responses, which were incorrect, we found that most of them were directed to the position, where the stimulus would have appeared if the sequence had not been violated. These responses were faster than the correct ones (to the violated stimulus), which indicates that sequential responding had become partly automated. Together, our data show that both, attention and skill play a role for sequential performance in our SRT task, and that they can be dissected by quantification of specific response types. In future work, the neural correlates underlying these functional mechanisms will have to be addressed.

Differentiation of neonatal rat epithelial cells from biliary origin into immature hepatic cells by sequential exposure to hepatogenic cytokines and growth factors reflecting liver development

It was investigated whether cryopreserved rat liver epithelial cells (RLEC) from biliary origin are capable of undergoing hepatic differentiation upon sequential exposure to liver-specific factors (fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-4, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), insulin-transferrin-sodium-selenite (ITS), dexamethasone (Dex) and oncostatin M (OSM)), reflecting liver embryogenesis in vivo. As differentiation progressed, cells acquired a hepatic morphology (polygonal-to-cuboidal shaped, binucleated cells), corresponding well with the phenotypic changes observed. Biliary cytokeratin (CK)19 and connexin (Cx)43-expression both gradually decreased; CK19-expression disappeared even completely. In contrast, hepatic CK18-expression persisted throughout the culture time. Hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)3β, alpha-foetoprotein (AFP), transthyretin (TTR), HNF4, albumin (ALB), HNF1α, multidrug resistance protein (MRP)2 and Cx32 were expressed at specific stages during RLEC-differentiation, thereby showing a progressive hepatic maturation. Indeed, immature AFP and mature ALB were sequentially expressed, in line with the in vivo liver embryogenesis. Expression of the early and mid-late ‘liver-enriched’ transcription factors (LETF) HNF3β and HNF4 declined and translocated to the cytosol, respectively, while the late LETF HNF1α underwent a nuclear upregulation. In conclusion, RLEC are bipotent cells, capable of differentiation into immature hepatocytes in a hepatic-stimulating micro-environment. The robustness of the sequential conditions, developed before for hepatic ‘transdifferentiation’ of rat bone marrow stem cells (rBMSC), was hereby confirmed.

Eyewitness Misidentification: Single vs Double-Blind Comparison of Photospread Administration

Interactive effects of photospread procedures (blind administration or has knowledge of suspect identity) and presentation techniques (sequential or simultaneous photospreads) on false eyewitness identification rates were examined. Of 117 subjects (57 men and 60 women), 87 served as a witness sample and 30 as a photospread administrator sample. Witnesses viewed a 20-sec. mock robbery video prior to viewing a photospread of six photographs either simultaneously or sequentially. Half of the administrators, prior to displaying the photospreads, were made aware of the photograph of the designated suspect (single-blind condition). Consistent with previous findings, sequential presentation was associated with both lower overall false identification rates as well as lower suspect designated-misidentification rates. In each case, there was evidence that administrators' knowledge increased false identification rates more in simultaneous than in sequential presentation conditions. Implications for administrations by police investigators are discussed.

Gliding Resistance of the Flexor Pollicis Longus Tendon after Repair: Does Partial Excision of the Oblique Pulley Affect Gliding Resistance?

After tendon repair, it is critical for the repair site to pass smoothly under the pulley edge to promote gliding and reduce the risk of adhesion or rupture. In this study, the authors assessed the effect of partial excision by "squaring off" the distal edge of the oblique pulley on the gliding resistance of the flexor pollicis longus tendon after repair in vitro. Gliding resistance of 10 human thumbs was measured directly with three different sequential conditions: intact flexor pollicis longus tendon with intact A1 and oblique pulleys (group A), intact pulleys after repair of the tendon (group B), and after repair and excision of the distal triangular part (squaring off) of the oblique pulley (group C). Gliding resistance increased significantly after repair and squaring off the oblique pulley (group A, 0.22 +/- 0.08 N; group B, 1.29 +/- 0.68 N; and group C, 2.01 +/- 0.84 N). Previous studies suggest that the trimming of an annular pulley in the finger would not result in any significant mechanical disadvantage if other parts of the pulley system were intact. However, the authors' results suggest that in the case of the thumb oblique pulley, gliding resistance is increased after trimming and tendon repair, and thus the oblique pulley should be left intact if possible.

Event-related Potential Signatures of Relational Memory

Various lines of evidence suggest that memory for the relations among arbitrarily paired items acquired prior to testing can influence early processing of a probe stimulus. The event-related potential experiment reported here was designed to explore how early in time memory for a previously established face-scene relationship begins to influence processing of faces, under sequential presentation conditions in which a preview of the scene can promote expectancies about the to-be-presented face. Prior to the current work, the earliest component documented to be sensitive to memory for the relations among arbitrarily paired items was the late positive complex (LPC), but here relational memory effects were evident as early as 270-350 msec after face onset. The latency of these relational memory effects suggests that they may be the precursor to similar effects observed in eye movement behavior. As expected, LPC amplitude was also affected by memory for face-scene relationships, and N400 amplitude reflected some combination of memory for items and memory for the relations among items.

Path of Glenohumeral Articulation Throughout the Rotational Range of Motion in a Thrower's Shoulder Model

Background Overhead-throwing athletes have increased external and diminished internal glenohumeral rotation that may alter glenohumeral kinematics. Purpose To quantify the kinematic changes present in a cadaveric model of a thrower's shoulder. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods In 8 fresh-frozen cadaveric shoulders, the rotator cuff and overlying muscles were removed, and the glenohumeral capsule, coracoacromial ligament, and coracohumeral ligament were left intact. The scapula was fixed, and the humerus was placed in 90° of shoulder abduction in a 6 degrees of freedom testing device. A compressive force of 44 N was applied. A thrower's shoulder model was created, and sequential conditions were examined: intact, after anterior stretching, and after the addition of posterior-inferior capsular plication. Kinematic measurements were obtained through a complete range of glenohumeral rotation. Results Glenohumeral external rotation increased 16%, from 149° to 173° (P <. 001), after stretching in external rotation and remained increased by 11% to 166° (P <. 001) after posterior-inferior capsular plication. With the addition of the posterior-inferior capsular plication, internal rotation averaged 7°, which was not significantly different from the intact state (11°, P =. 55) or the stretched state (16°, P =. 07). The total glenohumeral rotation after stretching followed by posterior-inferior capsular plication did not differ significantly from intact state (P =. 25). At maximum external rotation, the humeral head apex was shifted posteriorly in the stretched (P =. 003) and plicated (P <. 001) states compared with the intact state. The humeral head apex was posteriorly displaced at 135° and 150° of external rotation compared with the intact condition (P =. 039 and. 049, respectively). In maximum internal rotation, anterior stretching had no significant effect on the humeral head apex position. However, after posterior-inferior capsular plication, the humeral head apex was significantly shifted inferiorly (P =. 005) and anteriorly (P =. 03) in maximum internal rotation compared with the intact state. Conclusion Significant changes in glenohumeral motion occur in this model during the simulated late-cocking and follow through phases of throwing. In this model, posterior capsular tightness alters the humeral head position most profoundly during the deceleration and follow-through phases of throwing.

The serial reaction time task in the rat: Effects of D1 and D2 dopamine-receptor antagonists

Sequential behaviour, probably reflecting procedural learning, has intensively been investigated in humans and monkeys using so-called serial reaction time tasks (SRTT), where serial stimuli are either presented in a random or sequential fashion. Learning of sequences is typically inferred from faster reaction times to such sequences as compared to random blocks of stimuli. Work with such tasks has shown that sequential behaviour seems to be mediated by specific brain systems, including the basal ganglia and the neurotransmitter dopamine. We have recently developed a rat version of the human serial reaction time task, in which rats have to respond to visual stimuli in one of four spatial locations by nose-poking in order to obtain food reward under a fixed ratio schedule (FR13). Here, we used a test version where random and sequential condition phases (10 min each) were alternated within-sessions. In support of our previous work, we found that well-trained (i.e. skilled) rats display superior performance under sequential than random conditions, namely, faster reaction times and higher response accuracies. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of selective dopamine-receptor blockade, by systemically administering SKF 83566, a D1 antagonist (.05–.15 mg/kg), or raclopride, a D2 antagonist (.05–.20 mg/kg), in two separate experiments. Both antagonists impaired responding to the conditioned visual stimuli in a dose-related way, i.e. they decreased, or even blocked, nose-poke rates. In those rats, which kept responding, the speeding of reaction times during sequential conditions was no longer observed with the D1 antagonist, whereas the enhancements in accuracy were preserved, or even enhanced as compared to vehicle. The D2 antagonist also impaired instrumental behaviour, but did not alter sequence effects on accuracy or reaction times. In contrast to responses to the conditioned stimuli, reaction times to the unconditioned stimuli (food pellets) were not substantially affected by either drug. These results are discussed with respect to methodological factors, and the possible role of dopamine for instrumental behaviour, in general, and sequential behaviour, in specific.

A rapid fractionation method for heavy metals in soil by continuous-flow sequential extraction assisted by focused microwaves

A microwave-assisted continuous-flow sequential extraction system was developed for rapid fractionation analysis of heavy metals in soil. Insertion of pressure-adjusted air between the extractants provided stable flows of the extractants without mutual mixing and back-pressure influence of a column packed with soil, thereby facilitating reliable continuous-flow extractions. In addition, use of pure water as a pumping solvent removed metal contamination because of direct contact between corrosive extractants and the pump containing metallic materials. Focused microwave irradiation to the soil accelerated the selective extractions of the acid-soluble and reducible fractions of heavy metals in soil in the first and second steps of the sequential extraction conditions, as defined by the Commission of the European Bureau of Reference (BCR). The microwave-assisted continuous-flow extraction provided high correlations in amounts of six heavy metals except Zn in the first step and Cu in the second step extracted from a reference sludge soil, BCR CRM 483, with a conventional batchwise extraction proposed by BCR; continuous-flow extraction assisted by conductive heating provided lower correlations for all the six metals. The proposed method drastically reduced the time required for the sequence extraction to ca. 65 min without losing accuracy and precision of the fractionation analysis of heavy metals in soil, whereas the BCR batchwise method requires ca. 33 h.

Facile Synthesis of Tetrahydroquinolines and Julolidines through ­Multicomponent Reaction

Aldehydes, anilines and enol ethers react in trifluoro­ethanol (TFE) through an aza-Diels-Alder reaction (Povarov reaction) to afford the corresponding substituted tetrahydroquinolines. This reaction occurs, without any catalyst, under sequential three-component conditions, allowing thus the use of aliphatic aldehydes. In the presence of formaldehyde and an excess of dienophile, the product undergoes a second Povarov reaction affording new ­julolidine derivatives.

Dynamic monitoring of brain activation under visual stimulation using fMRI—The advantage of real-time fMRI with sliding window GLM analysis

An fMRI technique based on real-time analysis was applied to evaluate the advantages of dynamic monitoring of the t-statistics based on a general linear model. The temporal change of the t-statistics in V1 and V4 under four conditions of visual stimuli covering different visual fields with or without coloring was estimated using an incremental analysis and a sliding window analysis (SWA). The SWA not only visualized the dynamic change of the activation in response to the task conditions and switching, but also enabled us to evaluate the temporal correlation of the t-statistics among the four visual areas. It was suggested that the activity in the V4 was bilaterally organized, and the altering color stimuli gave stronger stimulation to the V1 than did the black and white stimuli. Although the activation map at each time point represents the brain activity during several task and rest blocks, a SWA will be useful to evaluate the transition of neuronal activation in response to several sequential task conditions. An incremental analysis will be useful to monitor the ongoing activation in real-time during the scan, since it gives a higher t-value according to the accumulation of volume data. These two methods will be complementary.

Liberating the Subgradient Optimality Conditions from Constraint Qualifications

In convex optimization the significance of constraint qualifications is evidenced by the simple duality theory, and the elegant subgradient optimality conditions which completely characterize a minimizer. However, the constraint qualifications do not always hold even for finite dimensional optimization problems and frequently fail for infinite dimensional problems. In the present work we take a broader view of the subgradient optimality conditions by allowing them to depend on a sequence of ?-subgradients at a minimizer and then by letting them to hold in the limit. Liberating the optimality conditions in this way permits us to obtain a complete characterization of optimality without a constraint qualification. As an easy consequence of these results we obtain optimality conditions for conic convex optimization problems without a constraint qualification. We derive these conditions by applying a powerful combination of conjugate analysis and ?-subdifferential calculus. Numerical examples are discussed to illustrate the significance of the sequential conditions.

Dietary Fibers from Mushroom Sclerotia: 2. In Vitro Mineral Binding Capacity under Sequential Simulated Physiological Conditions of the Human Gastrointestinal Tract

The in vitro mineral binding capacity of three novel dietary fibers (DFs) prepared from mushroom sclerotia, namely, Pleurotus tuber-regium, Polyporous rhinocerus, and Wolfiporia cocos, to Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, and Zn under sequential simulated physiological conditions of the human stomach, small intestine, and colon was investigated and compared. Apart from releasing most of their endogenous Ca (ranged from 96.9 to 97.9% removal) and Mg (ranged from 95.9 to 96.7% removal), simulated physiological conditions of the stomach also attenuated the possible adverse binding effect of the three sclerotial DFs to the exogenous minerals by lowering their cation-exchange capacity (ranged from 20.8 to 32.3%) and removing a substantial amount of their potential mineral chelators including protein (ranged from 16.2 to 37.8%) and phytate (ranged from 58.5 to 64.2%). The in vitro mineral binding capacity of the three sclerotial DF under simulated physiological conditions of small intestine was found to be low, especially for Ca (ranged from 4.79 to 5.91% binding) and Mg (ranged from 3.16 to 4.18% binding), and was highly correlated (r > 0.97) with their residual protein contents. Under simulated physiological conditions of the colon with slightly acidic pH (5.80), only bound Ca was readily released (ranged from 34.2 to 72.3% releasing) from the three sclerotial DFs, and their potential enhancing effect on passive Ca absorption in the human large intestine was also discussed.