The Effect of Food Type (Fish Nuggets or French Fries) on Oil Blend Degradation during Repeated Frying

Abstract: Oil that is reused multiple times for deep frying goes through changes in chemical composition and physical characteristics, affecting the quality of the fried foods. In this study, the effect of the food type (fish nuggets or French fries) on the degradation of an oil blend during the deep‐fat frying of each food at 180°C during 12 days was determined, and the characteristics of the fried products were evaluated. The degradation of oil during repeated use was relatively faster when fish nuggets were fried than when French fries were fried, as higher values of total polar compounds were obtained. Practical Application: The results are useful for producers of French fries and fish nuggets, such as restaurants or fast foods sellers, providing them with practical guidelines within the permitted values established by the regulatory authorities. The studied foods have high economic importance and are different in their composition. Under the studied conditions, the tested oil blend may be used during 4 d (4 h per day) with a daily replenishment, without discarding the oil when frying fish nuggets, and must be discarded after 8 d when French fries are processed. This suggestion allows preparing safe fried foods for consumers.     

Molecular Dynamics and Evolution of Centromeres in the Genus Equus

The centromere is the chromosomal locus essential for proper chromosome segregation. While the centromeric function is well conserved and epigenetically specified, centromeric DNA sequences are typically composed of satellite DNA and represent the most rapidly evolving sequences in eukaryotic genomes. The presence of satellite sequences at centromeres hampered the comprehensive molecular analysis of these enigmatic loci. The discovery of functional centromeres completely devoid of satellite repetitions and fixed in some animal and plant species represented a turning point in centromere biology, definitively proving the epigenetic nature of the centromere. The first satellite-free centromere, fixed in a vertebrate species, was discovered in the horse. Later, an extraordinary number of satellite-free neocentromeres had been discovered in other species of the genus Equus, which remains the only mammalian genus with numerous satellite-free centromeres described thus far. These neocentromeres arose recently during evolution and are caught in a stage of incomplete maturation. Their presence made the equids a unique model for investigating, at molecular level, the minimal requirements for centromere seeding and evolution. This model system provided new insights on how centromeres are established and transmitted to the progeny and on the role of satellite DNA in different aspects of centromere biology.     

Superior Cerebellar Atrophy: An Imaging Clue to Diagnose ITPR1-Related Disorders

The inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor type 1 (ITPR1) gene encodes an InsP₃-gated calcium channel that modulates intracellular Ca²⁺ release and is particularly expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Pathogenic variants in the ITPR1 gene are associated with different types of autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia: SCA15 (adult onset), SCA29 (early-onset), and Gillespie syndrome. Cerebellar atrophy/hypoplasia is invariably detected, but a recognizable neuroradiological pattern has not been identified yet. With the aim of describing ITPR1-related neuroimaging findings, the brain MRI of 14 patients with ITPR1 variants (11 SCA29, 1 SCA15, and 2 Gillespie) were reviewed by expert neuroradiologists. To further evaluate the role of superior vermian and hemispheric cerebellar atrophy as a clue for the diagnosis of ITPR1-related conditions, the ITPR1 gene was sequenced in 5 patients with similar MRI pattern, detecting pathogenic variants in 4 of them. Considering the whole cohort, a distinctive neuroradiological pattern consisting in superior vermian and hemispheric cerebellar atrophy was identified in 83% patients with causative ITPR1 variants, suggesting this MRI finding could represent a hallmark for ITPR1-related disorders.     

Dispirooxindole-β-Lactams: Synthesis via Staudinger Ketene-Imine Cycloaddition and Biological Evaluation

In this work, we present the first synthesis of dispirooxindole-β-lactams employing optimized methodology of one-pot Staudinger ketene-imine cycloaddition with N-aryl-2-oxo-pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acids as the ketene source. Spiroconjugation of indoline-2-one with β-lactams ring is considered to be able to provide stabilization and wide scope of functionalization to resulting scaffolds. The dispipooxindoles obtained demonstrated medium cytotoxicity in the MTT test on A549, MCF7, HEK293, and VA13 cell lines, and one of the compounds demonstrated antibacterial activity against E. coli strain LPTD.     

Early Postoperative Immunothrombosis of Bioprosthetic Mitral Valve and Left Atrium: A Case Report

A 72-year-old female patient with mixed rheumatic mitral valve disease and persistent atrial fibrillation underwent mitral valve replacement and suffered from a combined thrombosis of the bioprosthetic valve and the left atrium as soon as 2 days post operation. The patient immediately underwent repeated valve replacement and left atrial thrombectomy. Yet, four days later the patient died due to the recurrent prosthetic valve and left atrial thrombosis which both resulted in an extremely low cardiac output. In this patient’s case, the thrombosis was notable for the resistance to anticoagulant therapy as well as for aggressive neutrophil infiltration and release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) within the clot, as demonstrated by immunostaining. The reasons behind these phenomena remained unclear, as no signs of sepsis or contamination of the BHV were documented, although the patient was diagnosed with inherited thrombophilia that could impede the fibrinolysis. The described case highlights the hazard of immunothrombosis upon valve replacement and elucidates its mechanisms in this surgical setting.     

Radiationless anapole states in on-chip photonics

High-index nanoparticles are known to support radiationless states called anapoles, where dipolar and toroidal moments interfere to inhibit scattering to the fa...     

Thymosin β4 is differentially expressed in the cerebrospinal fluid of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease patients: a MALDI‐TOF MS protein profiling study

MALDI‐TOF protein profiling analysis permits the detection of peptides and small proteins in complex protein mixtures with great accuracy. We applied this analysis to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 15 patients affected by Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease (CJD). We compared the levels of the normalized ion signals of 11 sporadic and 4 genetic CJD forms with those from ten healthy control subjects and eight non‐CJD relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis patients. In so doing, we detected 61 differentially expressed ion signals in CJD samples compared to controls. Among the 61 signals, 3 signals had significantly increased levels with high statistical significance (p <0.0001) and were located at 3238.3 m/z, 4963.7 m/z, and 8565.3 m/z. We characterized the 5.0 and 8.6 kDa proteins as thymosin β4 N‐acetylated and free ubiquitin, respectively, while the 3.2‐kDa peptide remained uncharacterized. Although elevated ubiquitin levels have previously been described in CJD, we have demonstrated for the first time the involvement of thymosin β4 in a neurodegenerative disease. To support the validity of thymosin β4 levels obtained by MALDI‐TOF analysis, an independent enzyme immunoassay analysis was performed. Moreover, a validation cohort consisting of CSF from three CJD patients, five healthy subjects, and six non‐CJD relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis patients was analyzed in a similar way, yielding superimposable results. We propose that thymosin β4 is a potential new candidate marker for the ante mortem diagnosis of CJD disease.     

A novel model for arc territory design: promoting Eulerian districts

The problem of district design for the implementation of arc routing activities is addressed. The aim is to partition a road network into a given number of sectors to facilitate the organization of the operations to be implemented within the region. This problem arises in numerous applications such as postal delivery, meter readings, winter gritting, road maintenance, and municipal solid waste collection. An integer linear programming model is proposed where a novel set of node parity constraints to favor Eulerian districts is introduced. Series of instances were solved to assess the impact of these parity constraints on the objective function and deadhead distance. Networks with up to 401 nodes and 764 edges were successfully solved. The model is useful at a tactical level as it can be used to promote workload balance, compactness, deadhead distance reduction and parity in districts.     

Survey of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds in commercial honey of different floral origin

In this study we conducted a survey of the concentrations of the major 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds in 40 commercial honey samples from 12 different floral origins. 3-Deoxyglucosone (3-DG), glyoxal (GO), and methylglyoxal (MGO) were measured, using their corresponding quinoxaline derivatives, by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The analytical performance of the HPLC method for the analysis of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds was evaluated in terms of linearity, limits of detection (LODs), limits of quantification (LOQs), and precision. Linearity over 2 orders of magnitude, LODs (0.01-0.04 mg/kg), and LOQs (0.03-0.12 mg/kg) were calculated. Instrumental precision, as measured by the repeatability relative standard deviation% (RSDr%), was found to be between 0.22% and 0.55%. Furthermore, the concentrations of factors GO and MGO with respect to 3-DG were also calculated for rapid quantification in honey. In honey samples, the concentrations of 3-DG ranged from 75.9 to 808.6 mg/kg and were significantly higher (up to 100-fold) than those of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Values for GO and MGO were 0.1-10.9 and 0.2-2.9 mg/kg, respectively. The chemical characteristics that most influenced the levels of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds in honey were found to be pH and total phenols. This was supported by multivariate analysis used to classify different honey types with respect to their chemical characteristics. In addition, both dicarbonyls and phenols are believed to contribute to the development of the final color of honey.     

Meta‐Analysis for Correlating Structure of Bioactive Peptides in Foods of Animal Origin with Regard to Effect and Stability

Amino acid (AA) sequences of 807 bioactive peptides from foods of animal origin were examined in order to correlate peptide structure with activity (antihypertensive, antioxidative, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, hypolipidemic, antithrombotic, and opioid) and stability in vivo. Food sources, such as milk, meat, eggs, and marine products, show different frequencies of bioactive peptides exhibiting specific effects. There is a correlation of peptide structure and effect, depending on type and position of AA. Opioid peptides contain a high percentage of aromatic AA residues, while antimicrobial peptides show an excess of positively charged AAs. AA residue position is significant, with those in the first and penultimate positions having the biggest effects on peptide activity. Peptides that have activity in vivo contain a high percentage (67%) of proline residues, but the positions of proline in the sequence depend on the length of the peptide. We also discuss the influence of processing on activity of these peptides, as well as methods for predicting release from the source protein and activity of peptides.