Compositions of solvent-extracts of a Polish bituminous coal

The compositions of acetone, tetrahydrofuran and pyridine extracts from a bituminous coal were studied using mass spectrometry and the main components were identified. The compositions of the extracts were similar, as predicted by the electron-donor-acceptor mechanism of coal extraction. Different extract yields are due mainly to differences in the fraction of high molecular weight components in the extracts.     

Thermal Decomposition of Partially Hydrogenated Rapeseed Oil During Repeated Frying Traditional and Fast French Fries

The aim of this study was to compare thermal degradation of oil, especially the composition of the polymer in a polar and nonpolar fraction of oil, used for repeated frying of fast and traditional French fries. The French fries were fried using the partially hydrogenated rapeseed oil. Fast French fries were characterized by a half shorter frying time compared to traditional ones. The frying process was done at 170 °C ± 5 °C in 5‐l electric fryers and carried out in 15‐min cycles for 48 hours. The content of thermal decomposition of triacylglycerol (TAG) in both fractions of oil was analyzed by high‐performance size‐exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). In all analyzed samples, thermal decomposition products were found. However, the composition of a polar and nonpolar fraction of oil was not the same. In a nonpolar fraction, only the monomers and hydrolysis products of TAG were observed. In a polar fraction, dimers, trimers, and oligomers of TAG were also found. The shorter time of frying the fast French fries resulted in a lower total and individual polymers content in all steps of analysis compared to the oil used for frying the traditional French fries.     

Reduction of Captan,Boscalid and Pyraclostrobin Residues on Apples Using Water Only,Gaseous Ozone,and Ozone Aqueous Solution

Intensive use of plant protection products in modern agriculture and horticulture often results in increasing residue levels of active ingredients of plant protection products in fruits and vegetables. Even if the maximum residue levels are not exceeded, the synergic effects of various compounds may have a serious impact on consumers' health. In particular, more sensitive consumer groups, e.g., children, may be affected. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective method that could be utilized for reduction of pesticide residue levels in food products of plant origin. In this work, possible application of ozone to reduce pesticide residue levels in apples has been investigated. The fruits were treated with ozone in gaseous state, in ozonized water, and in water alone, which was used for rinsing the fruits. The experiments included tests on apples that were subjected to a protection program using captan, boscalid and pyraclostrobin. The ozonized water and treatment with a gaseous ozone were found to be not more efficient in reducing the pesticide content on the fruits than simple washing procedures, e.g., 81–95% reduction of captan residue or 40–67% reduction of boscalid residue and 20–42% reduction of pyraclostrobin residue. Still, ozonation of water used for rinsing prevented fruits from consecutive contamination by pesticide residues present in water after several rinsing cycles. It was proven that application of ozonation process as a part of post-harvest treatment of apples may be beneficial for the fruit quality.     

Functional Properties and Oxidative Stability of Flaxseed Oil Microencapsulated by Spray Drying Using Legume Proteins in Combination with Soluble Fiber or Trehalose

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of double wall material combinations, using legume protein (soy protein isolate and pea protein isolate) in combination with wheat dextrin soluble fiber or trehalose, as alternative materials for microencapsulation of flaxseed oil by spray drying. The obtained preparations, with oil content of 35%, were fine and difficult flowing powders, regardless of their composition. The 1% addition of silica to the powders significantly reduced their cohesiveness and improved their flowability. The efficiency of microencapsulation, calculated based on oil fat content, ranged from 62 to 98% and was higher in the powders with trehalose and in the powders containing soy protein. Effective protection against oxidation of microencapsulated oil was achieved in the protein-trehalose matrix, especially in the case of the vacuum-packed powders with pea protein during storage at refrigeration temperature. Replacing trehalose with soluble fiber enabled formation of powders less susceptible to caking under conditions of increased humidity, but it resulted in decreased microencapsulation efficiency. The combination of pea protein/carbohydrate resulted in the formation of microcapsules with porous structure, especially in the system with soluble fiber. With time, the structure of the primary emulsions and those reconstituted from powders containing pea protein changed from liquid to greasy and paste-like.     

Functional properties of Lactobacillus acidophilus metabolites

BACKGROUND: This study addressed the characteristics of metabolites synthesized by Lactobacillus acidophilus 5e2, with particular attention paid to exopolysaccharides, biosurfactants, proline peptidases and antibacterial compounds. RESULTS: The strain Lb. acidophilus 5e2 synthesizes low‐molecular‐mass polysaccharides (340 kDa) constituted by glucose, galactose and glucosamine at a ratio of 3.3:2.8:1.0, as well as biosurfactants with a molecular mass of 32 kDa built from a protein fraction, a polysaccharide fraction and phosphate groups. It additionally synthesizes extra‐ and intracellular proline peptidases, including prolyl endopeptidase and thermostable low‐molecular‐mass (<3.5 kDa) compounds with antimicrobiological activity against Escherichia coli strains. CONCLUSION: The strain Lb. acidophilus 5e2 may be applied to the production of functional food. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Optimization of a parallel permutation testing function for the SPRINT R package

The statistical language R and its Bioconductor package are favoured by many biostatisticians for processing microarray data. The amount of data produced by some analyses has reached the limits of many common bioinformatics computing infrastructures. High Performance Computing systems offer a solution to this issue. The Simple Parallel R Interface (SPRINT) is a package that provides biostatisticians with easy access to High Performance Computing systems and allows the addition of parallelized functions to R. Previous work has established that the SPRINT implementation of an R permutation testing function has close to optimal scaling on up to 512 processors on a supercomputer. Access to supercomputers, however, is not always possible, and so the work presented here compares the performance of the SPRINT implementation on a supercomputer with benchmarks on a range of platforms including cloud resources and a common desktop machine with multiprocessing capabilities. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop during flow boiling of pure refrigerants and refrigerant/oil mixtures in tube with porous coating

The experimental stand and procedure for flow boiling investigations are described. Experimental data for pure R22, R134a, R407C and their mixtures with polyester oil FUCHS Reniso/Triton SEZ 32 in a tube with porous coating and smooth, stainless steel reference tube are presented. Mass fraction of oil was equal to 1% or 5%. During the tests inlet vapour quality was set at 0 and outlet quality at 0.7. Mass velocity varied from about 250 to 500 kg/m²s. The experiments have been conducted for average saturation temperature 0 °C. In the case of flow boiling of pure refrigerants, the application of a porous coating on inner surface of a tube results in higher average heat transfer coefficient and simultaneously in lower pressure drop in comparison with the flow boiling in a smooth tube for the same mass velocity. Correlation equation for heat transfer coefficient calculation during the flow boiling of pure refrigerants inside a tube with porous coating has been proposed.     

Induction of apoptosis in human endothelial cells by nanodiamond particles

Carbon nanoparticles are a promising material which finds application in different fields in industry and medicine. For medical applications, biocompatibility of nanoparticles is of critical importance because a lot of medical implants are coated by carbon coating. Our previous results showed that nanoparticles may induce increased production of ROS by the cells so we decided to checked if nanopowders can induce apoptosis. Apoptosis was quantified by double-staining with acridine orange and ethidium bromide. For comparison, we identified apoptotic cells with annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide. Our data demonstrate that treatment of the cells with diamond nanopowders may induce apoptosis and necrosis and this effect is dependent on the time of treatment and concentration of the nanopowders. The highest level of apoptotic cells was observed after incubation with Ultrananocrystalline Detonation Diamond (UDD) suggesting that the size is the main determinant of nanoparticle cytotoxicity.