Modifying glucose release from high carbohydrate foods with natural polymers extracted from cereals

BACKGROUND: Sustained elevated blood glucose and insulin levels are linked to many health problems that may be prevented or better managed by controlling glucose availability for uptake. Glucose release from consumed starch may be altered by the processing conditions, particle size and structural features of the food, and by the addition of dietary fibres. Many approaches to lower glucose release are not suitable for all high carbohydrate foods, especially bakery products. Methods to modulate the starch digestion without compromising product quality are required. This study describes an approach to protect the granules and alter the particle size of the starch component using an extract from barley (BE). Wheat starch was suspended in the BE at different ratios and cast dried, milled to 2–3 mm particles, or finely ground to produce different particle sizes. RESULTS: The BE treatments resulted in the formation of clusters of starch granules embedded in a matrix of fibres and protein. The rate of in vitro starch digestion was decreased, and further reduction occurred when the particle size of the starch material increased. CONCLUSION: The extract provided a physical barrier that limited the starch exposure to the digestion enzymes and water that led to reduction in starch digestion and the release of glucose Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Diesel bus emissions measured in a tunnel study

The emission factors of a bus fleet consisting of approximately 300 diesel-powered buses were measured in a tunnel study under well-controlled conditions during a 2-d monitoring campaign in Brisbane. Particle number and mass concentration levels of submicrometer particles and PM2.5 were monitored by SMPS and DustTrak instruments at the tunnel's entrance and exit, respectively. Correlation between DustTrak and TEOM response to diesel emissions was assessed, and the DustTrak results were recalculated into TEOM equivalent data. The mean value of the number and mass emission factors was (3.11+/-2.41) x 10(14) particles km(-1) for submicrometer particles and 583+/-451 mg km(-1) for PM2.5 (DustTrak), respectively. TEOM PM2.5 equivalent emission factor was 267+/-207 mg km(-1). The results are in good agreement with the emission factors determined from steady-state dynamometer testing of 12 buses from the same Brisbane City bus fleet. The results indicate that when carefully designed, both approaches, the dynamometer and on-road studies, can provide comparable results, applicable for the assessment of the effect of traffic emissions on airborne particle pollution. A brief overview of emission factors determined from other on-road and dynamometer studies reported in the literature as well as with the regulatory values used for the vehicle emission inventory assessment is presented and compared with the results obtained in this study.     

Pulsed field, PCR ribotyping and multiplex PCR analysis of Yersinia enterocolitica strains isolated from meat food in San Luis Argentina

The characterization of phenotypic and genotypic virulence markers of Yersinia enterocolitica strains belonging to biotypes (B) 1A, 2 and 3, mostly isolated from food in San Luis, Argentina, and the assessment of their genotypic diversity using PFGE and PCR ribotyping, were performed in our laboratory for the first time. Thirty five Y. enterocolitica strains, two reference strains and 33 strains isolated in our laboratory were studied. The presence of virF, ail, ystA, and myfA genes was investigated by multiplex PCR. The pathogenic potential of B1A strains, the most predominant biotype of Y. enterocolitica strains isolated from meat in our region, was investigated by simple PCR. Four B1A strains were positive for ystB gene. Four Y. enterocolitica 2/O:9 (bio/serotype) and two 3/O:5 strains isolated in our laboratory showed virulence-related results in the phenotypic tests and multiplex PCR. A good correlation between the expression of virulence markers and their corresponding genotypes was observed for most strains. Sixteen genomic types (GT) and 9 different intergenic spacer region (SR) groups were generated by PFGE and PCR ribotyping, respectively. In both cases the Y. enterocolitica 2/O:9 strains were separately clustered from 1A and 3/O:5 strains. Meat foods might be vehicles of transmission of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains in our region.     

Effect of species and grinding disc distance on the surface roughness parameters of medium density fiberboard

Surface quality of medium density fiberboard (MDF), as a very important criterion for further finishing and utilization, was evaluated using a wide range of measuring parameters (instruments, filters, filtering cut-off length, measuring length, measuring resolution, roughness parameters). However, these various approaches make any data comparison rather difficult. Furthermore, filtering the measured data with a simple Gaussian filter has proved unreliable for wood surfaces. A new, more robust approach by using a Robust Gaussian Regression filter together with a previously tested set of measuring and evaluating parameters was used in this paper in order to quantify the surface roughness of MDF manufactured from different species (beech, poplar, birch, Scots pine, mixture 50 % Scots pine and 50 % beech) and using three different grinding disc distances (0.06, 0.15 and 0.6 mm). If manufacturing parameters are kept constant, the processing roughness of MDF is similar, but variable species anatomy and fuzziness effects will give differentiation in total roughness. The results indicated that fibers made of a mixture of wood chips from Scots pine and beech led to the smoothest MDF surface, followed closely by poplar, birch, and Scots pine. The roughest surface was measured for the panels made of beech fibers. Investigating the influence of the grinding disc distance, the roughest MDF surface was obtained when a grinding gap of 0.6 mm was used. However, surface roughness was found to be quite similar applying a grinding disc distance of 0.06 mm slightly lower for 0.15 mm. This finding indicates that a too fine grinding gap does not improve the MDF surface roughness.     

Using UML Profiles for Documenting Web-Based Application Frameworks

The Web now offers an exceptional infrastructure for the development of distributed collaborative services and applications. However, most of the existing applications only make use of the Web access and visualization facilities, without exploiting its distributed-processing potential capabilities. Web technologies are currently more focused on the provision of semantics to data and the design of dynamic Web pages, while paying little attention to the distributed architecture of the applications – that should go beyond client-server architectures. Application frameworks are one of the key technologies that may provide the mechanisms required for the design and development of reusable and scalable systems in these environments. However, the way to document such frameworks so they can be effectively tailored and reused still remains unresolved. In this paper we propose the use of UML profiles for documenting Web-based application frameworks, as a standard means for expressing their semantics. UML profiles allow all stakeholders of a system to share a common graphical notation and vocabulary, and permit more precise specifications and better documentation on how to use and customize applications. As an example, we build a UML profile for MultiTEL, a framework particularly well suited for the development of Internet-based multimedia and collaborative systems, and show how systems designers can use it to derive and document their applications.     

Altered Thermal Behavior of Blood Plasma Proteome Related to Inflammatory Cytokines in Early Pregnancy Loss

Early pregnancy loss (EPL) is a relatively common pathology of which almost 50% of cases remain idiopathic. In the search for novel biomarkers, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is intensively used to characterize the thermodynamic behavior of blood plasma/serum proteome in health and disease. Herein, for the first time, we investigate the DSC denaturation profiles of blood plasma derived from patients suffering EPL compared to healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women. Data analysis reveals that 58% of the EPL thermograms differ significantly from those of healthy pregnant women. Thermal stabilization of a fraction of albumin-assigned transition with concomitant suppression of the major and enhancement of the globulin-assigned transition are characteristic features of EPL calorimetric profiles that could be used as a new indicator of a risk pregnancy. The presented results suggest an altered composition or intermolecular interactions of the plasma proteome of women with EPL. In addition, the alterations of the EPL thermograms correlate with the increased blood levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and a higher prevalence of the polymorphism in the plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) gene, suggesting an expression of an overall enhanced immune response. The concomitant changes in plasma thermograms confirm the potential of the DSC approach for distinguishing changes in the pathological state of the blood plasma proteome.     

Platelet Lipidome Fingerprint: New Assistance to Characterize Platelet Dysfunction in Obesity

Obesity is associated with a pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic state that supports atherosclerosis progression and platelet hyper-reactivity. During the last decade, the platelet lipidome has been considered a treasure trove, as it is a source of biomarkers for preventing and treating different pathologies. The goal of the present study was to determine the lipid profile of platelets from non-diabetic, severely obese patients compared with their age- and sex-matched lean controls. Lipids from washed platelets were isolated and major phospholipids, sphingolipids and neutral lipids were analyzed either by gas chromatography or by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Despite a significant increase in obese patient’s plasma triglycerides, there were no significant differences in the levels of triglycerides in platelets among the two groups. In contrast, total platelet cholesterol was significantly decreased in the obese group. The profiling of phospholipids showed that phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine contents were significantly reduced in platelets from obese patients. On the other hand, no significant differences were found in the sphingomyelin and ceramide levels, although there was also a tendency for reduced levels in the obese group. The outline of the glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid molecular species (fatty-acyl profiles) was similar in the two groups. In summary, these lipidomics data indicate that platelets from obese patients have a unique lipid fingerprint that may guide further studies and provide mechanistic-driven perspectives related to the hyperactivate state of platelets in obesity.