Protective Effect of Polysaccharides Extracted from Cudrania tricuspidata Fruit against Cisplatin-Induced Cytotoxicity in Macrophages and a Mouse Model

Although cisplatin is one of most effective chemotherapeutic drugs that is widely used to treat various types of cancer, it can cause undesirable damage in immune cells and normal tissue because of its strong cytotoxicity and non-selectivity. This study was conducted to investigate the cytoprotective effects of Cudrania tricuspidata fruit-derived polysaccharides (CTPS) against cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity in macrophages, lung cancer cell lines, and a mouse model, and to explore the possibility of application of CTPS as a supplement for anticancer therapy. Both cisplatin alone and cisplatin with CTPS induced a significant cytotoxicity in A549 and H460 lung cancer cells, whereas cytotoxicity was suppressed by CTPS in cisplatin-treated RAW264.7 cells. CTPS significantly attenuated the apoptotic and necrotic population, as well as cell penetration in cisplatin-treated RAW264.7 cells, which ultimately inhibited the upregulation of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), cytosolic cytochrome c, poly (adenosine diphosphateribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage, and caspases-3, -8, and -9, and the downregulation of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2). The CTPS-induced cytoprotective action was mediated with a reduction in reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial transmembrane potential loss in cisplatin-treated RAW264.7 cells. In agreement with the results obtained above, CTPS induced the attenuation of cell damage in cisplatin-treated bone marrow-derived macrophages (primary cells). In in vivo studies, CTPS significantly inhibited metastatic colonies and bodyweight loss as well as immunotoxicity in splenic T cells compared to the cisplatin-treated group in lung metastasis-induced mice. Furthermore, CTPS decreased the level of CRE and BUN in serum. In summation, these results suggest that CTPS-induced cytoprotective action may play a role in alleviating the side effects induced by chemotherapeutic drugs.     

Effect of angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory peptide purified from skate skin hydrolysate

Our objective was to evaluate the angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of skate skin protein hydrolysates and its corresponding fractions. The skate skin hydrolysates were obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis using alcalase, α-chymotrypsin, neutrase, pepsin, papain, and trypsin. Amongst the six hydrolysates, the α-chymotrypsin hydrolysate had the highest ACE inhibitory activity compared to other hydrolysates. The amino acid sequences of the purified peptides were identified to be Pro–Gly–Pro–Leu–Gly–Leu–Thr–Gly–Pro (975.38 Da), and Gln–Leu–Gly–Phe–Leu–Gly–Pro–Arg (874.45 Da). The purified peptides from skate skin had an IC₅₀ value of 95 μM and 148 μM, respectively, and the Lineweaver–Burk plots suggest that they act as a non-competitive inhibitor against ACE. Our study suggested that novel ACE inhibitory peptides derived from skate skin protein may be beneficial as anti-hypertension compounds in functional foods.     

Anti-allergic effect of low molecular weight β-glucan prepared by λ-irradiation

This study evaluated the anti-allergic effect of low molecular weight β-glucan (25 kDa) degraded by λ-irradiation. Allergy was induced in mouse models administrated with λ-irradiated low molecular weight and non-irradiated high molecular weight β-glucan, respectively, for 7 days. However, only the mice treated with low molecular weight β-glucan had a significantly decreased the total serum IgE and ovalbumin specific-IgE levels, and significantly increased Th 1 cytokine expression compared to only allergy induced mice. The allergic responses could be reduced by low molecular weight β-glucan treated λ-irradiation through the increased expression of Th 1 response and decreased expression of total IgE and antigen specific IgE.     

Effect of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide purified from enzymatic hydrolysates of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Styela plicata</Emphasis>

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide was isolated from Styela plicata. The S. plicata was hydrolyzed with various proteases including Protamex, Kojizyme, Neutrase, Flavourzyme, Alcalase, trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, pepsin, and papain. The hydrolysate prepared with Protamex had the highest ACE inhibitory activity compared to the other hydrolysates. We attempted to isolate ACE inhibitory peptides from hydrolysate prepared with Protamex using ultra-filtration, gel filtration on a Sephadex G-25 column and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) on an ODS column. IC₅₀ value of the purified ACE inhibitory peptide was 24.7 μM, and Lineweaver–Burk plots suggest that the purified peptide from S. plicata acts as mixed-type inhibitor against ACE. Amino acid sequence of the purified peptide was identified as Met-Leu-Leu-Cys-Ser, with a molecular weight 566.4 Da. The results of this study suggest that peptides derived from S. plicata may be beneficial as anti-hypertension compounds in functional foods resource.     

Bioactive properties of enzymatic hydrolysates from abdominal skin gelatin of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares)

Gelatin (90.6 ± 0.1%) was optimally prepared by response surface methodology from yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares, YT) abdominal skin. To investigate bioactive properties of enzymatic hydrolysates from the abdominal skin gelatin (ASG), ASG was hydrolysed with alcalase, protamex, neutrase and flavourzyme as affected by hydrolysis time. Antioxidant, nitrite scavenging and angiotensin‐I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities of the hydrolysates were determined. Antioxidant activities of the hydrolysates were found through linoleic acid peroxidation inhibitory effects. Alcalase‐derived hydrolysates (AHs) were more effective than others in metal ions chelating, superoxide anion scavenging and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities (P < 0.05). AHs showed significantly stronger nitrite scavenging activities (44.4–60.7%) than others (P < 0.05). Fraction A from AH showed strong ACE inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ of 0.75 mg mL^?1). These results suggest that YT ASG and its enzymatic hydrolysates could be functional food and/or pharmaceutical ingredients with potent antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and antihypertensive benefits.     

Effect of UV-C irradiation on inactivation of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus and quality parameters of roasted coffee bean (Coffea arabica L.)

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the antifungal effect of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) against Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus on roasted coffee beans. Also, any changes in the quality of the roasted coffee beans were measured after UV-C irradiation. As UV-C irradiation time increased (0–2 h), the number of surviving A. flavus and A. parasiticus spores significantly (P < .05) decreased. The reduction values of A. flavus in round part, crack part, and whole roasted coffee beans were 2.16, 0.71, and 1.58 log₁₀ CFU g^?1, respectively, and the reduction values of A. parasiticus in round part, crack part, and whole roasted coffee beans were 1.03, 0.37, and 0.72 log₁₀ CFU g^?1, respectively, after 2 h of UV-C irradiation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy showed that the morphology of A. flavus and A. parasiticus spores included expanded wrinkles that were deformed by UV-C irradiation. The Hunter colours were significantly reduced (P < .05). There was no significant change (P > .05) in moisture content, but the pH was significantly decreased (P < .05). Most of the sensory parameters did not change, but there was a significant difference (P < .05) in flavour. Based on this study, 2 h of UV-C irradiation was effective in reducing 90% of A. flavus, but it was not effective against A. parasiticus present on roasted coffee beans. Also, Hunter colour, pH, and sensory parameters (flavour) were changed by UV-C irradiation.     

A resilient buffer allocation scheme in active queue management: a stochastic cooperative game theoretic approach

During the last decade, a plentiful number of active queue management schemes have been proposed, but their main objectives are simply allocating the buffer resource to all flows evenly, or protecting responsive flows from being degraded by unresponsive flows. However, the sending rates of the responsive flows can be determined diversely, and not all unresponsive flows have aggressively high sending rates. Furthermore, it is rational to reserve a portion of the buffer resource for certain privileged traffic. Grounded by these evidences, in this paper, we present a resilient active queue management algorithm, named Prior‐Core‐based Buffer Allocation considering diverse congestion control algorithms, fair‐unresponsive flows, and some privileged traffic. Our approach is based on stochastic cooperative game theory, where the payoffs yielded by cooperation are described by random variables, and the core is defined only over the distribution of these random payoffs; the core in this situation is called the prior‐core. As a result, it is shown that our buffer allocation, yielded by the prior‐core, achieves completely fair allocation for those flows whose requirement does not exceed the fair‐share regardless of the responsiveness, whereas aggressive flows are restricted according to availability of the buffer; all these are verified through ns‐2 simulation experiments. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A method of accurate position control with a pneumatic cylinder driving apparatus

In this paper, a method of accurate position control using a pneumatic cylinder driving apparatus is presented. To overcome the effect of friction force and transmission line, low friction type cylinder applied externally pressurized air bearing structure is used and two control valves attached both side of the cylinder directly. To compensate nonlinear characteristics of control valves, linearized control input derived from the relation between control input and effective area of control valve, and dither signal are applied to the valve. The controller applied to the pneumatic cylinder driving apparatus is composed of a state feedback controller and a disturbance observer. Experimental results show that the effectiveness of the proposed method and position control error of 5 μm accuracy could be obtained easily.     

Tunnel lane‐positioning system for autonomous driving cars using LED chromaticity and fuzzy logic system

Currently, studies on autonomous driving are being actively conducted. Vehicle positioning techniques are very important in the autonomous driving area. Currently, the global positioning system (GPS) is the most widely used technology for vehicle positioning. Although technologies such as the inertial navigation system and vision are used in combination with GPS to enhance precision, there is a limitation in measuring the lane and position in shaded areas of GPS, like tunnels. To solve such problems, this paper presents the use of LED lighting for position estimation in GPS shadow areas. This paper presents simulations in the environment of three‐lane tunnels with LEDs of different color temperatures, and the results show that position estimation is possible by the analyzing chromaticity of LED lights. To improve the precision of positioning, a fuzzy logic system is added to the location function in the literature [1]. The experimental results showed that the average error was 0.0619 cm, and verify that the performance of developed position estimation system is viable compared with previous works.