Technological and sensorial properties of liquid nitrogen ice cream enriched with protein from brewing waste (trub)

Debittered trub (brewing waste) is an important source of protein source (70.26%). Trub and whey protein were used for 5% protein enrichment of ice cream frozen by liquid nitrogen. Three formulations were elaborated: ice cream standard (ICS), ice cream with whey protein (ICW) and ice cream with trub (ICT). Chemical composition, rheological properties, texture, overrun, melting rate, scanning electron microscopy and a sensorial test were performed. Results showed that ICT presented a higher viscosity, obtained on the upward curve up to 6.76 Pa s⁻¹, consistency index (22.96 (Pa s⁻¹)ⁿ), hysteresis area (140.40 mPa s⁻¹) and hardness (31113.33 g) but a lower melting rate (0.38 g min⁻¹), overrun (13.92%) and sensorial acceptability than the other formulations. The addition of trub debittered for protein enrichment improved ice cream properties and demonstrated that it could be used as a food ingredient.     

An automated treatment planning strategy for highly noncoplanar radiotherapy arc trajectories

Radiation therapy is a technology-driven cancer treatment modality that has experienced significant advances over the last decades, due to multidisciplinary contributions that include engineering and computing. Recent technological developments allow the use of noncoplanar volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), one of the most recent photon treatment techniques, in clinical practice. In this work, an automated noncoplanar arc trajectory optimization framework designed in two modular phases is presented. First, a noncoplanar beam angle optimization algorithm is used to obtain a set of noncoplanar irradiation directions. Then, anchored in these directions, an optimization strategy is proposed to compute an optimal arc trajectory. The computational experiments considered a pool of twelve difficult head-and-neck tumor cases. It was possible to observe that, for some of these cases, the optimized noncoplanar arc trajectories led to significant treatment planning quality improvements, when compared with coplanar VMAT treatment plans. Although these experiments were done in a research environment treatment planning software (matRad), the conclusions can be of interest for a clinical setting: automated procedures can simplify the current treatment workflow, produce high-quality treatment plans, making better use of human resources and allowing for unbiased comparisons between different treatment techniques.     

Synthesis of Benzophenones and in vitro Evaluation of Their Anticancer Potential in Breast and Prostate Cancer Cells

Breast and prostate cancers are frequently treated with chemotherapy. Several novel chemicals are being reported for this purpose, particularly synthetic and natural benzophenones. This work reports the synthesis of substituted 2-hydroxybenzophenones through 1,4-conjugate addition/intramolecular cycloaddition/dehydration of nitromethane on key intermediate chromones. Structures were extensively studied by means of 2D NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal XRD. Their cytotoxicity was evaluated in vitro in two breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and T47-D) and one prostate cancer cell line (PC3). The most potent compound exhibited good cytotoxic effects against the three cancer cell lines (IC₅₀ values ranging from 12.09 to 26.49 μm ) and induced cell-cycle retardation only on prostate cancer cells, which suggested that it might exert cell-type-specific effects.     

Real‐time monitoring by proton relaxometry of radical polymerization reactions of acrylamide in aqueous solution

The potential of time‐domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD‐NMR) for the real‐time monitoring of solution radical polymerizations is demonstrated. A model system composed of a redox‐pair initiator system, acrylamide as monomer and water as solvent was investigated. A second‐generation continuous wave free precession technique was employed to measure the longitudinal relaxation time constant (T₁) of the samples throughout the polymerization reactions. This parameter was shown to be sensitive to the reactant feed free‐radical enhancement of the water molecule relaxation time, making it a good probe to monitor monomer conversion in real time in an automated, non‐destructive fashion. It was found that the T₁ value was better than the transverse relaxation time constant (T₂) for describing the evolution of the polymerization reactions, due to its greater sensitivity to paramagnetic effects. The TD‐NMR signal variation observed was linked to the formation, propagation and termination steps of the radical polymerization kinetics scheme. These first results may contribute to the application of real‐time monitoring of radical polymerization reactions employing low‐cost and robust TD‐NMR spectrometers. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Patterning of the chick forebrain anlage by the prechordal plate

We analysed the role of the prechordal plate in forebrain development of chick embryos in vivo. After transplantation to uncommitted ectoderm a prechordal plate induces an ectopic, dorsoventrally patterned, forebrain-like vesicle. Grafting laterally under the anterior neural plate causes ventralization of the lateral side of the forebrain, as indicated by a second expression domain of the homeobox gene NKX2.1. Such a lateral ventralization cannot be induced by the secreted factor Sonic Hedgehog alone, as this is only able to distort the ventral forebrain medially. Removal of the prechordal plate does not reduce the rostrocaudal extent of the anterior neural tube, but leads to significant narrowing and cyclopia. Excision of the head process results in the caudal expansion of the NKX2.1 expression in the ventral part of the anterior neural tube, while PAX6 expression in the dorsal part remains unchanged. We suggest that there are three essential steps in early forebrain patterning, which culminate in the ventralization of the forebrain. First, anterior neuralization occurs at the primitive streak stage, when BMP-4-antagonizing factors emanate from the node and spread in a planar fashion to induce anterior neural ectoderm. Second, the anterior translocation of organizer-derived cells shifts the source of neuralizing factors anteriorly, where the relative concentration of BMP-4-antagonists is thus elevated, and the medial part of the prospective forebrain becomes competent to respond to ventralizing factors. Third, the forebrain anlage is ventralized by signals including Sonic Hedgehog, thereby creating a new identity, the prospective hypothalamus, which splits the eye anlage into two lateral domains.     

Kinetic analysis of the coding properties of O6-methylguanine in DNA: the crucial role of the conformation of the phosphodiester bond

Production by N-nitroso compounds of O6-alkylguanine (O6-alkylG) in DNA directs the misincorporation of thymine during DNA replication, leading to G:C to A:T transition mutations, despite the fact that DNA containing O6-alkylG:T base pairs is less stable than that containing O6-alkylG:C pairs. We have examined the kinetics of incorporation by Klenow fragment (KF) of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I of thymine (T) and of cytosine (C) opposite O6-MeG in the template DNA strand. Both T and C were incorporated opposite O6-MeG much slower than nucleotides forming regular A:T or G:C base pairs. Using various concentrations of dTTP, dCTP, or their phosphorothioate (Sp)-dNTP alpha S analogues, or a mixture of dTTP and dCTP, the progress of incorporation of a single nucleotide in a single catalytic cycle of a preformed KF-DNA complex was measured (pre-steady-state kinetics). The results were consistent with the kinetic scheme (Kuchta, R. D., Benkovic, P., & Benkovic, S. J. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 6716-6725): (1) binding of dNTP to polymerase-DNA; (2) conformational change in polymerase; (3) formation of phosphodiester between the dNTP and the 3'-OH of the primer; (4) conformational change of polymerase; (5) release of pyrophosphate. The results were analyzed mathematically to identify the steps at which the rate constants differ significantly between the incorporation of T and C. The only significant difference was the 5-fold difference in the rates of formation of the phosphodiester bond (for dTTP, kforward = 3.9 s-1 and kback = 1.9 s-1; for dCTP, kforward = 0.7 s-1 and kback = 0.9 s-1). These pre-steady-state progress curves were biphasic with a rapid initial burst followed by an apparently steady-state rise. Deconvolution of these curves gave direct evidence for the importance of the conformational change after polymerization by showing that the curves represented the sum of the rapid accumulation of the product of step 3 followed by the slow conversion of that to the product of step 5 (because of the rapidity of the release of pyrophosphate there was no significant accumulation of the product of step 4). The equilibrium constants for each step suggest that the greatest change in the Gibbs free energy occurs at the conformational change after polymerization and that while the formation of the phosphodiester bond to T is slightly exothermic, that to C is slightly endothermic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Specific attenuation and depolarisation in rain from 2-dimensional video disdrometer data

Data from 2-dimensional video disdrometers (2DVD) taken in different locations are used to derive the specific attenuation for horizontal and vertical polarisations at 20 GHz. The data include both drop-size distribution and their axis ratio distributions. T-matrix calculations using data over 1 min integration time show a power-law dependence on rain rate. The best-fit coefficients are compared with those given in the ITU-R Recommendation P. 838, both versions 2 and 3. Closest agreement is seen for vertical polarisation for version 2 and the largest discrepancies are seen for horizontal polarisation for version 3. The discrepancies are attributed to the different assumptions in the drop-size distributions, as well as the upper limit of integration for deriving the specific attenuation. The variation of the crosspolar discrimination (XPD) against copolar attenuation (CPA) is also examined. The 2DVD data are used to simulate a beacon experimental scenario at 20 GHz, the actual locations of the two instruments being different but climatically similar. Good agreement is seen with one year of beacon measurements, but the latter shows more spread in the variation, partly attributed to drop oscillations. Calculations also show that XPD-CPA variation is sensitive to the assumed drop shapes     

Triggering of cellulase biosynthesis by cellulose in Trichoderma reesei. Involvement of a constitutive, sophorose-inducible, glucose-inhibited beta-diglucoside permease

We prepared [U-14C]cellobiose by cultivating Acetobacter pasteurianus in the presence of [U-14C]glucose and hydrolyzing the [U-14C]cellulose formed with beta-glucosidase-free cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. This 14C-labeled cellobiose was used to investigate the presence of an uptake system for cellobiose in T. reesei. Evidence was obtained for the presence of a high affinity (Km for cellobiose 0.3 microM) but low activity (2.5 milliunits/mg fungal dry weight) cellobiose permease. The permease is formed constitutively, but higher levels are formed after addition of sophorose (glucosyl-beta-1,2-diglucoside), a reputed cellulase inducer. The permease appears to be specific for beta-diglucosides, as the uptake of [U-14C]cellobiose is inhibited by sophorose, gentiobiose (glucosyl-beta-1,3-glucoside), and cellobiose. Under these conditions, cellooligodextrines (n, 4-7; final concentration, 1 mM) are not inhibitors. Glucose, but no other monosaccharides, inhibits the permease. The hypersecretory mutant T. reesei RUT C-30 exhibits elevated permease activities, whereas in T. reesei QM 9979, a mutant strain defective in the induction of cellulases by cellulose or sophorose, strongly reduced permease activities were demonstrated. The results stress a hitherto not recognized point of control in the induction of cellulases by T. reesei at the level of uptake of cellulose oligosaccharides.