Barley β-Glucans-Containing Food Enhances Probiotic Performances of Beneficial Bacteria

Currently, the majority of prebiotics in the market are derived from non-digestible oligosaccharides. Very few studies have focused on non-digestible long chain complex polysaccharides in relation to their potential as novel prebiotics. Cereals β-glucans have been investigated for immune-modulating properties and beneficial effects on obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cholesterol levels. Moreover, β-glucans have been reported to be highly fermentable by the intestinal microbiota in the caecum and colon, and can enhance both growth rate and lactic acid production of microbes isolated from the human intestine. In this work, we report the effects of food matrices containing barley β-glucans on growth and probiotic features of four Lactobacillus strains. Such matrices were able to improve the growth rate of the tested bacteria both in unstressed conditions and, importantly, after exposure to in vitro simulation of the digestive tract. Moreover, the effect of β-glucans-containing food on bacterial adhesion to enterocyte-like cells was analyzed and a positive influence on probiotic-enterocyte interaction was observed.     

Die organophile Nanofiltration als neue Grundoperation der Fluidverfahrenstechnik

Organic Solvent Nanofiltration is a relatively new unit operation in fluid processing. It addresses a multitude of applications in all sectors of the chemical industry. The benefit for the customer can be a different one depending on the application, therefore, multiple process examples are discussed. Within these, organic solvent nanofiltration can be applied either as a standalone separation process or as a hybrid process in combination with other thermal separation methods.     

Promoting Entrepreneurship in the Agri-food Industry: Policy Insights from a Pan-European Public–Private Consortium

Despite the importance of entrepreneurship as an engine for socioeconomic growth, few attempts have been made to study how and to what extent industry-specific policies can sustain it. In particular, to date, there is only anecdotal evidence on which factors policy-makers can utilize to foster entrepreneurship within the agri-food sector. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap by developing, testing, and validating a multi-item scale, identifying five factors (i.e. people, money, network, technology, infrastructure) and 16 specific tools (i.e. items) to be leveraged in promoting entrepreneurship within the agri-food industry. We carry out our study in the context of Foodbest, a pan-European public–private consortium created in 2012 to support entrepreneurship and innovation in the agri-food sector. By testing for differences in perceptions of factors’ and tools’ effectiveness, we find variations according to respondents’ organizational and country affiliation. We thus offer new insights into how public policy and public–private consortiums can proactively promote entrepreneurship in the agri-food domain.

Key Points: We cover three key points. First, by conducting a literature review and working with a focus group, we identify a set of theoretically grounded factors and tools that could help promote entrepreneurship in the agri-food industry. Second, we develop and test a multi-item scale of these factors within the context of a pan-European public–private consortium. Third, we show that perceptions of factor effectiveness vary among consortium participants according to participants’ personal characteristics and organizational affiliations.     

Recovery of Formic Acid and Acetic Acid from Waste Water Using Reactive Distillation

Processing of biobased feedstock materials may lead to formation of multicomponent azeotropic mixtures. Reactive separations provide an opportunity to circumvent azeotropes by changing the substance properties through chemical reactions. Exemplarily several effluents from black liquor processing contain aqueous mixtures of low molecular weight fatty acids such as formic acid and acetic acid. These mixtures form inseparable azeotropes. Separation of the system formic acid–acetic acid–water by esterification with methanol was investigated. Reactive distillation experiments in batch and continuous mode confirmed complete removal of formic acid in a first step. Acetic acid may then be isolated by distillation or by reactive distillation.     

Complementary Co‐assembling Peptides: From In Silico Studies to In Vivo Application

Self‐assembling biomaterials offer an unprecedented chance of successfully facing most of the challenges of various biomedical fields, and, in particular, of tissue engineering. Nonetheless co‐assembling peptides (CAPs), taking advantage of the theory and empirical findings developed for self‐assembling peptides, could provide an even better control over cell cultures, drug delivery, and transplantation therapies. This study follows a “full” bottom‐up approach to develop new CAPs for neural tissue engineering applications. After molecular aggregation analysis via coarse‐grained simulations, LKLK12, LDLD12, and the functionalized KLPGWSG‐LDLD12 CAPs are synthesized and characterized assessing their co‐assembled secondary structures, the biomechanical properties of the obtained hydrogels, and the morphological features of the assembled nanofibers. The biological influence on viability and differentiation of human and murine neural stem cells are tested in vitro and neuroregenerative potentials in complete spinal cord transections are verified in vivo. Upon mixing of CAPs, the spontaneous formation of double layers of β‐sheets with a high degree of integration of the two CAP species is demonstrated. The formation of entangled nanofibrous structures give rise to shear‐thinning hydrogels. The in vitro results are comparable to a standard state‐of‐the‐art cell culture substrate and nervous regeneration in vivo is enhanced.     

Integration of binding peptide selection and multifunctional particles as tool-box for capture of soluble proteins in serum

In this paper, we report on a general approach for the detection of a specific tumoural biomarker directly in serum. Such detection is made possible using a protein-binding peptide selected through an improved phage display technique and then conjugated to engineered microparticles (MPs). Protein biomarkers represent an unlimited source of information for non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic tests; MP-based assays are becoming largely used in manipulation of soluble biomarkers, but their direct use in serum is hampered by the complex biomolecular environment. Our technique overcomes the current limitations as it produces a selective MP—engineered with an antifouling layer—that ‘captures’ the relevant protein staying impervious to the background. Our system succeeds in fishing-out the human tumour necrosis factor alpha directly in serum with a high selectivity degree. Our method could have great impact in soluble protein manipulation and detection for a wide variety of diagnostic applications.