The Potential of Probiotics in the Prevention and Treatment of Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, and peripheral vascular disease, is the leading cause of global mortality. Current therapies against atherosclerosis, which mostly target the dyslipidemia associated with the disease, have considerable residual risk for cardiovascular disease together with various side effects. In addition, the outcomes from clinical trials on many promising pharmaceutical agents against atherosclerosis (e.g., low‐dose methotrexate, inhibitors against cholesteryl ester transfer protein) have been disappointing. Nutraceuticals such as probiotic bacteria have, therefore, generated substantial recent interest for the prevention of atherosclerosis and potentially as add‐ons with current pharmaceutical drugs. This review will discuss the current understanding of the anti‐atherogenic actions of probiotics from preclinical and clinical studies together with their potential underlying mechanisms of action.     

Blends of ethylene 1‐octene copolymer synthesized by Ziegler–Natta and metallocene catalysts. II. Rheology and morphological behaviors

The rheological and morphological behaviors of commercially available three binary blends of ethylene 1‐octene copolymer (EOC) regarding the melt index (MI), density and comonomer contents, one component made by the Ziegler–Natta and the other by the metallocene catalysts, were investigated to elucidate miscibility and phase behavior. Miscibility of the EOCs blend in a melt state was related to the value of the MI, density, and comonomer content. If the comonomer contents are similar, then the melt viscosity is weight average value, otherwise it is positively or negatively deviated. The microtomed surface prepared by two different cooling processes—one is fast cooling and the other is slow cooling—indicated that all the blends were not homogenous regardless the density, MI, and comonomer content. The Ziegler–Natta catalyzed EOCs exhibited bigger spherulitic diameter and larger ring space than those of the metallocene EOCs prepared by a cooling process. The blends consisting of similar MI showed banded spherulites with different diameter, whereas the blend consisting of different MI and density takes place of explicit phase separation and phase inversion at 1 : 1 blend composition. The melt rheology appeared to influence the mechanical and film properties in the solid state. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 1950–1964, 2000     

Nutritional effects of mustard seed protein detoxified with aqueous isopropanol in young rats

The effect of removing anti‐nutritional factors from n‐hexane‐extracted mustard meal using 80% isopropanol (to reduce thioglucosides, phenolics, etc.) on growth, food efficiency ratio, serum and liver lipid profiles and protein content of young rats was examined. For this n‐hexane‐extracted mustard meal was extracted with 80% isopropanol giving a fraction with 68% protein and low residual thioglucoside (0.5%) as well as phenolic (0.3%) content. This isopropanol‐extracted mustard seed protein fraction reduced the growth of young rats slightly when compared with casein. The food efficiency ratio between rats fed isopropanol‐extracted mustard seed protein or casein did not differ, nor did the protein composition affect serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL‐cholesterol, LDL‐cholesterol, VLDL‐cholesterol and LDL‐C/HDL‐C ratio. However, rats fed isopropanol‐extracted mustard seed protein showed a significantly lower (p<0.05) liver cholesterol concentration than rats fed casein. Liver triglyceride and phospholipid concentrations did not differ between rats fed the two proteins, nor was serum protein affected. This study indicates that extraction of hexane‐extracted mustard meal with 80% isopropanol reduced a number of anti‐nutritional factors like thioglucoside and phenolics. Furthermore the nutritional quality of mustard seed protein fraction is comparable to casein in respect to growth, food efficiency ratio, serum lipid and protein concentrations and organ weights.     

Enzymatic interesterification of blends of castor oil and some oils rich in saturated fatty acids

Interesterification of castor oil blended with some oils rich in saturated fatty acids was done with the help of 1,3-specific lipase from Mucor miehei in order to alter its viscosity characteristics and adhesion properties by the introduction of saturated fatty acid molecules. The interesterification was done by an oil blend ratio of 50 : 50. 10% enzyme were used. Temperature was kept at 60 °C under 2—5 mm Hg pressure with constant stirring, and the reactions were carried out for 6 h. The products were filtered to remove the enzyme and then analyzed for slip point, specific gravity, and kinematic viscosity. The slip point of the interesterified products was found to be much lower than the parent blend and was in the range of 15—25 °C. Specific gravity and iodine value of the products were in comparison with the theoretical ones. A very large depression in kinematic viscosity was found with every interesterified product from original castor oil and also from the blends at three different temperatures.     

Ultrasensitive detection of cancer biomarkers in the clinic by use of a nanostructured microfluidic array

Multiplexed biomarker protein detection holds unrealized promise for clinical cancer diagnostics due to lack of suitable measurement devices and lack of rigorously validated protein panels. Here we report an ultrasensitive electrochemical microfluidic array optimized to measure a four-protein panel of biomarker proteins, and we validate the protein panel for accurate oral cancer diagnostics. Unprecedented ultralow detection into the 5-50 fg·mL(-1) range was achieved for simultaneous measurement of proteins interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and VEGF-C in diluted serum. The immunoarray achieves high sensitivity in 50 min assays by using off-line protein capture by magnetic beads carrying 400,000 enzyme labels and ~100,000 antibodies. After capture of the proteins and washing to inhibit nonspecific binding, the beads are magnetically separated and injected into the array for selective capture by antibodies on eight nanostructured sensors. Good correlations with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for protein determinations in conditioned cancer cell media confirmed the accuracy of this approach. Normalized means of the four protein levels in 78 oral cancer patient serum samples and 49 controls gave clinical sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 98% for oral cancer detection, demonstrating high diagnostic utility. The low-cost, easily fabricated immunoarray provides a rapid serum test for diagnosis and personalized therapy of oral cancer. The device is readily adaptable to clinical diagnostics of other cancers.     

Influence of novel surface modifying macromolecules and coagulation media on the gas permeation properties of different polymeric gas separation membranes

Integrally skinned asymmetric membranes for the separation of O₂ and N₂ were fabricated by the phase inversion technique from polysulfone, polyetherimide, and polyimide. Two types of surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) including hydrophilic SMM (LSMM) and charged SMM (cSMM) were synthesized and blended with the casting solution to modify the membrane surface. The cast film was then immersed in the first coagulant alcohol (methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol) for a predetermined period, before being immersed in the second coagulant (water). The SMMs used in these experiments were laboratory synthesized by the two‐step process of polyurethane prepolymer synthesis and end capping, before being characterized by differential scanning calorimetry. Their molecular structure was determined from the molecular weight obtained by gel permeation chromatography. The membranes were characterized by contact angle measurement and O₂ and N₂ gas permeation performance. Attempts were made to interpret the gas permeation data by delayed demixing affected by solubility parameters of polymer, solvent, and nonsolvent. Furthermore, the permeation performance of cSMM membranes was interpreted by the solvation of the charged sulfonate groups present in cSMM. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Surface modification of low density polyethylene films by homogeneous catalytic ozonation

Low density polyethylene films were treated by ozone to generate peroxides on the surfaces. The peroxides generated are capable of initiating radical graft polymerization of hydrophilic vinyl monomers onto the polymers, resulting in hydrophilic surfaces. Results of ozonation revealed that molecular ozone instead of hydroxyl radicals was the main oxidant for peroxide generation. A novel approach, aqueous ozonation with the addition of a soluble transitional metal salt, FeCl₃, as a homogeneous catalyst, was proposed and proved to be successful in this study. The addition of FeCl₃ could increase peroxide generation by 22.7%, compared to its non-catalyzed counterpart. An optimum catalyst concentration, 0.04 g/L, was determined. Also, the effects of pH, ozonation time and applied ozone dose on peroxide generation were investigated. The loss in tensile strength of the films would be 15% or less if the applied ozone dose was not over 2 wt.%. The functional groups generated on the film surfaces were characterized by FTIR, the contact angle and surface roughness of the film were also examined before and after ozonation.     

Synthesis of hydrophilic superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles via thermal decomposition of Fe(acac), in 80 vol% TREG + 20 vol% TREM

In this paper, we report single step synthesis of hydrophilic superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles by thermolysis of Fe(acac)3 and their characterization of the properties relevant to biomedical applications like hyperthermia and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Size and morphology of the particles were determined by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) while phase purity and structure of the particles were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Magnetic properties were evaluated using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements. The as prepared nanoparticles were found to be superparamagnetic with the blocking temperature of 136 K and were easily suspendable in water. Cytotoxicity studies on human cervical (SiHa), mouse melanoma (B16F10) and mouse primary fibroblast cells demonstrated that up to a dose of 0.1 mg/ml, the magnetite nanoparticles were nontoxic to the cells. To evaluate the feasibility of their uses in hyperthermia and MRI applications, specific absorption rate (SAR) and spin-spin relaxation time (T2) were measured respectively. SAR has been calculated to be above 80 Watt/g for samples with the iron concentration of 5-20 mg/ml at 10 kA/m AC magnetic field and 425 kHz frequency. r2 relaxivity value was measured as 358.4 mM(-1)S(-1) which is almost double as compared to that of the Resovist, a commercially available MRI contrast agent. Thus the as-prepared magnetite nanoparticles may be used for hyperthermia and MRI applications due to their promising SAR and r2 values.     

Production of PUFA Concentrates from Poultry and Fish Processing Waste

In fish and poultry processing, viscera are generally considered as a waste product and often discarded. Chicken and hilsa fish (Hilsa ilisa) viscera were used for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) linoleic (18:2n-6), eicosapentaenoic (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3). Free fatty acids (FFA) were extracted by alkaline hydrolysis of chicken and fish viscera; yields were 5.2 and 5.9% (w/w) respectively. PUFA concentrates were obtained by a two step process—deduction of saturated fatty acids (FA) by low temperature crystallization in acetone followed by urea inclusion compound-based fractionation. Acetone treatment removed 90 and 96% of saturated FA in chicken and fish viscera respectively with FA to acetone ratio of 1:12 (w/v). Using an urea to FA ratio (w/w) of 4.0, chicken viscera produced a maximum of 84.1% of PUFA concentrates containing 82.1% of linoleic acid with a yield of 10% where as in the case of fish viscera the maximum PUFA concentrates were 91.3% containing 78.2% of EPA-DHA with the yield of 11%. Thus, the utilization of poultry and fish processing waste into the production of PUFA concentrates has been shown.