Carbohydrate content and structure during malting and brewing: a mass balance study

A holistic view of the fate of barley starch, arabinoxylan and β-glucan throughout malting and brewing is largely missing. Here, an industrial scale malting trial and pilot brewing trial were performed, and the concentration and structural characteristics of carbohydrates were analysed at 28 key points in the process. The barley starch content decreased during malting from 75.0% to 69.7%. During mashing, malt starch was converted to fermentable sugars (75.3%), dextrin (22.8%) or was retained in spent grains (1.8%). Arabinoxylan was partially hydrolysed during malting. Despite mashing-in at 45°C, no further solubilisation of arabinoxylan was observed during mashing. However, the average degree of polymerisation of the soluble arabinoxylan fraction decreased slightly. During fermentation, the arabinoxylan content decreased to 2.5 g/L. The amount of barley β-glucan decreased gradually in time during malting. Of the solubilised β-glucan, 31% was retained in the spent grains during wort filtration, slightly lowering the β-glucan content in the wort. The β-glucan content remained at 0.5 g/L during fermentation. Sucrose was hydrolysed during mashing, probably by barley invertases. From the total amount of malt used, 41.0% was converted to fermentable sugars. This mashing yield could have been improved by the full hydrolysis to fermentable sugars of the present β-glucan (to 41.1%), the remaining starch in spent grains (to 42.0%) and dextrin in wort (to 50.3%). These results provide more insight into the carbohydrate conversions during malting and brewing and can act as a baseline measurement for future work. © 2020 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Consumer Acceptability of Muffins with Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum)

Flaxseed has recently gained attention as a functional food. The effect of adding flaxseed (7.3%, 11.6%, and 15.5%) to muffins on consumer acceptability was evaluated by a focus group, hedonic scoring, and food action rating scale (FACT). The majority of consumers (82.6%, P < 0.001) rated the control muffin (0 % flaxseed) higher than the flax muffin for appearance, color, flavor, texture, overall acceptability, and food acceptance. Flaxseed muffin (11.6%) was “neither liked nor disliked” to “liked slightly” in overall acceptability. This may have been accounted for by the observation that many persons aged 18 to 25 y did not think they needed to consume “health foods”. This “indifferent” and in some cases “negative” attitude toward the flax muffins, which they considered a “health food”, may have influenced the ratings the flax muffins received. Texture and flavor were strongly and positively correlated (P < 0.01) to overall acceptability. A flaxseed muffin provided at least 16% fiber of the daily recommended value.     

2-Aminoimidazoles Inhibit Mycobacterium abscessus Biofilms in a Zinc-Dependent Manner

Biofilm growth is thought to be a significant obstacle to the successful treatment of Mycobacterium abscessus infections. A search for agents capable of inhibiting M. abscessus biofilms led to our interest in 2-aminoimidazoles and related scaffolds, which have proven to display antibiofilm properties against a number of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis. The screening of a library of 30 compounds led to the identification of a compound, AB-2-29, which inhibits the formation of M. abscessus biofilms with an IC₅₀ (the concentration required to inhibit 50% of biofilm formation) in the range of 12.5 to 25 μM. Interestingly, AB-2-29 appears to chelate zinc, and its antibiofilm activity is potentiated by the addition of zinc to the culture medium. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that AB-2-29 acts through a distinct mechanism from those reported to date for 2-aminoimidazole compounds.     

The Roles of NEDD4 Subfamily of HECT E3 Ubiquitin Ligases in Neurodevelopment and Neurodegeneration

The ubiquitin pathway regulates the function of many proteins and controls cellular protein homeostasis. In recent years, it has attracted great interest in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we have presented the first review on the roles of the 9 proteins of the HECT E3 ligase NEDD4 subfamily in the development and function of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). We discussed their regulation and their direct or indirect involvement in neurodevelopmental diseases, such as intellectual disability, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Further studies on the roles of these proteins, their regulation and their targets in neurons will certainly contribute to a better understanding of neuronal function and dysfunction, and will also provide interesting information for the development of therapeutics targeting them.     

Fourier-Transform Infra-Red Microspectroscopy Can Accurately Diagnose Colitis and Assess Severity of Inflammation

The diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease relies on histological assessment, which is costly, subjective, and lacks utility for point-of-care diagnosis. Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy provides rapid, non-destructive, reproducible, and automatable label-free biochemical imaging of tissue for diagnostic purposes. This study characterises colitis using spectroscopy, discriminates colitis from healthy tissue, and classifies inflammation severity. Hyperspectral images were obtained from fixed intestinal sections of a murine colitis model treated with cell therapy to improve inflammation. Multivariate analyses and classification modelling were performed using supervised and unsupervised machine-learning algorithms. Quantitative analysis of severe colitis showed increased protein, collagen, and nucleic acids, but reduced glycogen when compared with normal tissue. A partial least squares discriminant analysis model, including spectra from all intestinal layers, classified normal colon and severe colitis with a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 93.3%. Colitis severity was classified by a stacked ensemble model yielding an average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.95, 0.88, 0.79, and 0.85 for controls, mild, moderate, and severe colitis, respectively. Infra-red spectroscopy can detect unique biochemical features of intestinal inflammation and accurately classify normal and inflamed tissue and quantify the severity of inflammation. This is a promising alternative to histological assessment.     

Accelerated storage and isothermal microcalorimetry as methods of predicting carrot juice shelf‐life

The possibility of predicting the shelf‐life of pasteurized carrot juice by isothermal microcalorimetry or change in pH was investigated and compared with traditional plate count results. A small increase in thermal power (2 µW), maximal increase of and acceleration of thermal power all gave rapid, well‐correlated results for the shelf‐life, as did pH, during accelerated storage. The effect of accelerated storage (17 °C) on the microbial flora of pasteurized carrot juice was also compared with the flora from storage at 8 °C, and it was found that accelerated storage is feasible for the rapid evaluation of shelf‐life, but that the microbial flora in the spoilt juice will be different. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Age-Related Changes in Lipidome of Rat Frontal Cortex and Cerebellum Are Partially Reversed by Methionine Restriction Applied in Old Age

Lipids are closely associated with brain structure and function. However, the potential changes in the lipidome induced by aging remain to be elucidated. In this study, we used chromatographic techniques and a mass spectrometry-based approach to evaluate age-associated changes in the lipidome of the frontal cortex and cerebellum obtained from adult male Wistar rats (8 months), aged male Wistar rats (26 months), and aged male Wistar rats submitted to a methionine restriction diet (MetR)—as an anti-aging intervention—for 8 weeks. The outcomes revealed that only small changes (about 10%) were observed in the lipidome profile in the cerebellum and frontal cortex during aging, and these changes differed, in some cases, between regions. Furthermore, a MetR diet partially reversed the effects of the aging process. Remarkably, the most affected lipid classes were ether-triacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, phosphatidylethanolamine N-methylated, plasmalogens, ceramides, and cholesterol esters. When the fatty acid profile was analyzed, we observed that the frontal cortex is highly preserved during aging and maintained under MetR, whereas in the cerebellum minor changes (increased monounsaturated and decreased polyunsaturated contents) were observed and not reversed by MetR. We conclude that the rat cerebellum and frontal cortex have efficient mechanisms to preserve the lipid profile of their cell membranes throughout their adult lifespan in order to maintain brain structure and function. A part of the small changes that take place during aging can be reversed with a MetR diet applied in old age.     

Empirically supported treatments in psychology: Implications for Canadian professional psychology.

Examines several interconnected efforts to develop evidence-based practice in professional psychology. We first review the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force on the Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures' development of criteria and listings for empirically supported psychological treatments. Next, we present related efforts to develop procedures to identify treatments that have established efficacy and to develop practice guidelines. The possible impact of these initiatives on Canadian professional psychology in the domains of training, credentialing, practice, and research are then examined. Finally, we present recommendations for steps that should be taken by Canadian psychology organizations to respond to these initiatives in order to ensure that psychological practice in Canada is optimally supported by scientific evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure and mobility in water plasticized poly(ethylene oxide)

The change in structure and mobility of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) containing 2 wt% of fumed silica and the water self-diffusion coefficient in concentrated PEO-water systems have been investigated at room temperature in the water weight fraction, w_w, range 0-0.50 w/w. Pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance was used to measure the self-diffusion coefficients. Structure and mobility properties of PEO were measured with differential scanning calorimetry as well as with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. The largest reduction of the degree of crystallinity of PEO was observed when w_w was increased from 0.13 w/w to 0.50 w/w. Moreover, water induced relaxation of the PEO segments in the amorphous phase, which seemed to have been strained by the crystals during compression molding. The water self-diffusion coefficient increased logarithmically with increased water content below water weight fractions in the amorphous phase of 0.30 w/w and the water molecules were obstructed by the crystalline phase.