Heterologous expression of surface-active proteins from barley and filamentous fungi in Pichia pastoris and characterization of their contribution to beer gushing

The spontaneous over-foaming of beer upon opening, i.e. beer gushing, is an unwanted phenomenon for the brewing industry. Currently, surface-active proteins from filamentous fungi and non-specific lipid transfer proteins (nsLTP1) from barley are discussed as gushing inducers. In our study the class I hydrophobin FcHyd3p from Fusarium culmorum, the class II hydrophobin Hfb2 from Trichoderma reesei, the alkaline foam protein A (AfpA) from F. graminearum and nsLTP1 from Hordeum vulgare cv. Marnie (barley) were heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris and used in gushing tests. The class I hydrophobin FcHyd3p was unable to induce gushing in beer. The class II hydrophobin Hfb2 was able to induce gushing in beer, but proved to be inhibited by heat treatment as well as by the presence of enriched hop compounds. Both resulted in a reduced gushing potential. AfpA and nsLTP1 exhibited no gushing-inducing potential at the amounts added to beer. Addition of these proteins to beer or carbonated water previously treated with class II hydrophobins revealed a gushing reducing character.     

PMP靴压助力江苏长丰造纸提高产量

正本刊讯(报道)3月14日,江苏长丰造纸有限公司对其3号纸机进行升级改造,PMP集团为其提供了Intelli-Nip?靴式压榨设备,通过升级,该3号机的车速由800m/min提高到900m/min,同时,纸机的运行效率和产品的质量尤其是纸张的强度得到了改善。过去8年,PM P集团在中国供销售了29台水力式流浆箱和10台卫生纸机。在2010年10月,PM P集团与江苏长丰造纸签订三台Intelli-JetVTM型水力式流浆箱和一台Intelli-SizerTM型膜转移施胶机。长丰造纸引进以上设备用于其3号机抄造110~220g/m2的牛皮箱纸板生产线。     

Effect of plasma sizing on basalt fibers adhesion with wood-working resins

European Journal of Wood and Wood Products - Basalt fabric with manufacturer-made silane sizing was additionally treated by propane-butane enriched atmospheric pressure nitrogen plasma for 15 and...     

Presence of Electrostatically Adsorbed Polysaccharides Improves Spray Drying of Liposomes

Spray drying of liposomes with conventional wall materials such as maltodextrins often yields nonfunctional powders, that is, liposomes break down during drying and rehydration. Electrostatically coating the surface of liposomes with a charged polymer prior to spray drying may help solve this problem. Anionic lecithin liposomes (approximately 400 nm) were coated with lower (approximately 500 kDa, LMW‐C) or higher (approximately 900 kDa, HMW‐C) molecular weight cationic chitosan using the layer‐by‐layer depositing method. Low (DE20, LMW‐MD) or high molecular weight (DE2, HMW‐MD) maltodextrin was added as wall material to facilitate spray drying. If surfaces of liposomes (1%) were completely covered with chitosan (0.4%), no bridging or depletion flocculation would occur, and mean particle diameters would be approximately 500 nm. If maltodextrins (20%) were added to uncoated liposomes, extensive liposomal breakdown would occur making the system unsuitable for spray drying. No such aggregation or breakdown was observed when maltodextrin was added to chitosan‐coated liposomes. Size changed little or even decreased slightly depending on the molecular weight of maltodextrin added. Scanning electron microscopy images of powders containing chitosan‐coated liposomes revealed that their morphologies depended on the type of maltodextrin added. Powders prepared with LMW‐MD contained mostly spherical particles while HMW‐MD powders contained particles with concavities and dents. Upon redispersion, coated liposomes yielded back dispersions with particle size distributions similar to the original ones, except for LMW‐C coated samples that had been spray dried with HMW‐MD which yielded aggregates (approximately 30 μm). Results show that coating of liposomes with an absorbing polymer allows them to be spray dried with conventional maltodextrin wall materials. Practical Application : Liposomes have attracted considerable attention in the food and agricultural, biomedical industries for the delivery of functional components. However, maintaining their stability in aqueous dispersion represents a challenge for their commercialization. Spray drying may promise a solution to that problem. However, prior to this study spray drying of liposomes often led to the loss of structural integrity. Results of this study suggest that spray drying might be used to produce commercially feasible liposomal powders if proper combinations of adsorbing and nonadsorbing polymers are used in the liquid precursor system.     

Impact of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) on functional characteristics of emulsified sausages

Inclusion of fibers, such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), at the expense of fat or protein in meat batters could be used to produce healthier sausages while lowering production costs. To study the impact of CMC/MCC on structural/functional characteristics of emulsified sausages, standard-fat Lyoner-style sausages were formulated with CMC/MCC at concentrations of 0.3–2.0%. Methods of analysis included rheology, water binding capacity (WBC), texture measurements, and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). WBC, texture measurements, and rheology all indicated that addition of CMC (> 0.7%) led to destabilization of the batter, which upon heating could no longer be converted into a coherent protein network, a fact that was also revealed in CLSM images. In contrast, MCC was highly compatible with the matrix and improved firmness (1405–1651 N/100 g) with increasing concentration compared to control (1381 N/100 g) while keeping WBC (4.6–5.9%) with < 2% MCC at the level of the control (4.8%). Results were discussed in terms of molecular interactions of meat proteins with celluloses.     

Catalytic reduction of NO over the modified MFI metallosilicalites

The metallosilicalites (MFI) containing copper ([Cu,Si]), zinc ([Zn,Si]) or both elements ([Cu,Zn,Si]) were prepared and modified as potential catalysts for the NO reduction with propene. The H-[Cu,Si] samples showed the highest activity, which was initially comparable to that of Cu-ZSM-5, but contrary to the latter, it increased with time. The framework Cu or Cu released from the framework probably act as active sites.     

Time course of eye and head deviation in spatial neglect.

Spatial neglect is characterized by a deviation of the eyes and the head during active search, as well as at rest. Here the authors investigate the hitherto unknown relationship between these striking behaviors in the course of recovery. Gaze, eye-in-head, and head-on-trunk positions were recorded separately under two experimental conditions: (i) at rest (i.e., without any specific requirements, doing nothing) and (ii) during active exploratory search in a large visual array of 240° × 80° over a 10-month period. The authors observed a parallel decrease of eye and head (= gaze) deviation in both conditions, accompanied by a comparable decline in neglect severity. The results strengthen the view that the marked gaze deviation toward the ipsilesional side in patients with spatial neglect is due to a very elementary disturbance of human spatial information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pan-European Optical Transport Networks: An Availability-based Comparison

The traffic to be carried by today's European backbone networks increases very rapidly. An important portion of this traffic consists of data traffic (mainly IP-related). In the future data traffic is expected to become the abundantly dominant traffic type, while voice traffic will only account for a very small portion of the total traffic volume. In this paper, some network topologies for such a pan-European fiber-optic backbone network are presented (more details can be found in [1]). These topologies are compared in terms of the efficiency of the network design both from a cost and capacity point of view and in terms of the availability of the connections routed over this network. In order to be able to assess the network topologies under realistic circumstances, the expected traffic demand is forecasted. This enables to make the comparison for the current traffic volume as well as for the traffic patterns of the future. As not all types of (data) traffic require the same degree of survivability and in order to leverage the total capacity cost of the network design, a distinction is made between different recovery options in the optical layer for the different traffic types considered.