Adipogenesis inhibitory effects of Limonium tetragonum in mouse bone marrow stromal D1 cells

Encapsulation of Lactobacillus rhamnosus was performed using spray and freeze-drying. Maltodextrin and gum arabic were used in different combinations for spray-drying. Values of 50% maltodextrin and 40% gum arabic gave best results. Spray-drying was done at temperatures ranging from 110 to 150oC. Survivability, acid tolerance, antibiotic sensitivity testing, and total anthocyanin content and physical properties of moisture content, water activity, color analysis, bulk density, and tap density were analyzed. The moisture content of encapsulated powders ranged from 6.51 to 7.72% (wet basis) and bulk density and tap density values ranged from 0.334 to 0.308 g/cm³ and 0.350 to 0.330 g/cm³, respectively. Total anthocyanin contents were 19.28 and 7.264 mg/100 mL, respectively, for freeze and spray-dried powders. Freeze-dried probiotic pomegranate juice powder yielded best results with high survivability of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a high total anthocyanin content, and other properties.     

Genetic Characterization of Five Hatchery Populations of the Pacific Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) Using Microsatellite Markers

The Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, is a popular food in Eastern Asia. Aquacultural production of this species has increased because of recent resource declines, the growing consumption, and ongoing government-operated stock release programs. Therefore, the genetic characterization of hatchery populations is necessary to maintain the genetic diversity of this species and to develop more effective aquaculture practices. We analyzed the genetic structures of five cultured populations in Korea using six microsatellite markers. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 15 to 64, with an average of 23.5. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.797 and 0.904, respectively. The inbreeding coefficient F(IS) ranged from 0.054 to 0.184 (mean F(IS) = 0.121 ± 0.056). The genetic differentiation across all populations was low but significant (overall F(ST) = 0.009, P < 0.01). Pairwise multilocus F(ST) tests, estimates of genetic distance, and phylogenetic and principal component analyses did not show a consistent relationship between geographic and genetic distances. These results could reflect extensive aquaculture, the exchange of breeds and eggs between hatcheries and/or genetic drift due to intensive breeding practices. Thus, for optimal resource management, the genetic variation of hatchery stocks should be monitored and inbreeding controlled within the abalone stocks that are being released every year. This genetic information will be useful for the management of both H. discus hannai fisheries and the aquaculture industry.     

Mechanical and barrier properties of poly(lactic acid) films coated by nanoclay–ink composition

In this study, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films were coated by an ink formulation containing nanoclay dispersed with ultrasonic homogenization for 20 min. Mechanical and barrier properties of the coated films were evaluated according to clay type and concentration. PLA films coated by ink formulations containing Cloisite 30B displayed the best mechanical and barrier properties in six types of nanoclays. PLA films coated by Cloisite 30B‐containing ink varying in clay concentration were investigated. Tensile strength and elongation at break of these coated films were improved in 1% Cloisite 30B. Oxygen permeability decreased significantly upon the addition of clay levels up to 1% and slightly decreased with further increases in the amount of the clay. The value of water vapor permeability also decreased depending on the increases of clay (0%–20%). When the clay content in the sample was 2.0%, the surface of coated PLA films displayed aggregation visible using film emission scanning electron microscopy. X‐ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy indicated that a mixture of exfoliated and intercalated structure was formed with addition of 1% (w/w) Cloisite 30B to the ink after ultrasonication. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

A self-emulsifying omega-3 fatty acids delivery system for enhanced gastro-intestinal absorption in rats

Food Science and Biotechnology - Omega-3 fatty acids have many health benefits as they help to prevent and treat coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, arthritis, and autoimmune...     

Asynchronous 2‐Phase Protocol Based on Ternary Encoding for On‐Chip Interconnect

Level‐encoded dual‐rail (LEDR) has been widely used in on‐chip asynchronous interconnects supporting a 2‐phase handshake protocol. However, it inevitably requires 2N wires for N‐bit data transfers. Encoder and decoder circuits that perform an asynchronous 2‐phase handshake protocol with only N wires for N‐bit data transfers are presented for on‐chip global interconnects. Their fundamentals are based on a ternary encoding scheme using current‐mode multiple valued logics. Using 0.25 μm CMOS technologies, the maximum reduction ratio of the proposed circuits, compared with LEDR in terms of power‐delay product, was measured as 39.5% at a wire length of 10 mm and data rate of 100 MHz.     

Association between Cell Microenvironment Altered by Gold Nanowire Array and Regulation of Partial Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Cell microenvironment is an essential factor in determining cell growth and cell fate. Many studies have been carried out to understand the functions and mechanisms of small molecules or growth factors/cytokines; however, the effects of the physical environment on cells are relatively unknown. Changes in the cell's physical microenvironment affect cell adhesion and modify intracellular signaling controlled by adhesion properties, resulting in altering the cytoskeletal structure and cellular properties. Herein, it is demonstrated that the changes in cell adhesion can affect the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of epithelial cells by implementing a cell microenvironment with a gold (Au) nanowire array to influence cell adhesion. A forcible decrease in cell adhesion leads to the downregulation of epithelial biomarkers and the upregulation of mesenchymal biomarkers. The results of force-distance experiments using atomic force microscopy showed that the overall stiffness of epithelial cells declined similarly to the case for mesenchymal-like cells. With this comprehensive analysis of cellular properties, a physical microenvironment for cell adhesion alteration is suggested, that can induce mesenchymal characteristics in both epithelial and mesenchymal cells through partial EMT.     

Effect of Enterococcus faecalis EF-2001 on experimentally induced atopic eczema in mice

Food Science and Biotechnology - Here, the effects of heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis EF-2001 (EF-2001) on atopic eczema (AE) were assessed. An AE model was established in vivo by repetitious...     

Development of non-gel-based two-dimensional separation of intact proteins by an on-line hyphenation of capillary isoelectric focusing and hollow fiber flow field-flow fractionation

A rapid, non-gel-based, on-line, two-dimensional separation method is introduced for proteome analysis. Protein fractionation was carried out by first exploiting the differences in their respective isoelectric points (pI) in a Teflon capillary using isoelectric focusing (IEF), followed by a molecular weight (MW)-based separation in a hollow fiber by flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF). The method developed here (CIEF-HFFlFFF) may be a powerful alternative to two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which is currently used for the separation and purification of proteins. In CIEF-HFFlFFF, proteins can be collected as a fraction of a certain pI and MW interval without being denatured. Additionally, the ampholyte solution is simultaneously removed during separation in the hollow fiber, and the overall process time is significantly reduced. This method was applied to a human urinary proteome sample, leading to the identification of 114 proteins with the subsequent off-line use of nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after the tryptic digestion of each collected protein fraction.