Determination of Zinc Bioavailability from Soy Protein Concentrates by Slope-Ratio Analysis

Soy protein concentrates were made by 60% ethanol leaching (EC) and hot water leaching (WC), resulting in phytate-to-Zn molar ratios of 52 and 23, respectively. Zn bioavailability was determined by a slope-ratio assay. Varied dietary Zn levels were achieved by either ZnCO₃ or soy concentrate addition to an egg albumin diet. For weight gain, slope ratios relative to ZnCO₃ were 0.67 (P< 0.001) for EC and 0.81 (P<0.01) for WC. Zn bioavailability was higher for WC than for EC (slope ratio of 0.82, P<0.05). For log tibia Zn, slope ratios relative to ZnCO₃ were 0.36 (P< 0.001) for EC and 0.57 (P<0.01) for WC. The appropriateness of the slope-ratio assay for Zn sources of differing bioavailabilities is discussed.     

CHARACTERISTIC PACE AS DETERMINED BY THE USE OF A TRACKING TREADMILL.

IT WAS FOUND THAT WHEN SS WALKED ON A TRACKING TREADMILL UNDER A "COMFORTABLE-BUT-DETERMINED" (C-D) WALKING INSTRUCTIONAL SET FOR A MINIMUM OF 30 MIN. ON EACH OF 3 TESTING DAYS: (1) SS DEMONSTRATED A CHARACTERISTIC C-D PACE THAT WAS STABLE ON ANY GIVEN DAY, (2) SS' C-D PACES DIFFERED STATISTICALLY FROM EACH OTHER (P     

Structure of Phosphorus Oxynitride Glasses

The structures of phosphourus oxynitride glasses have been determined using a combination of solid-state ³¹P, ¹⁵N, and ²³Na nuclear magnetic resonance and Raman spectroscopies. Raman spectra of model phosphazene compounds with different types of P–N bonding have been used to confirm spectral assignments. Results indicate that nitrogen replaces oxygen in the phosphrus atoms (via one double bond and one single bond) and as nitrogen bonded to three phosphorus atoms via three single bonds. The observed structural features are consistent with data which show that nitrogen influences the chemical durability, thermal expansion, and other properties of phosphate glasses by cross-linking ploymeric phosphate chain to gether in the glass network.     

HPLC Analysis of HMF in Orange Juice

An HPLC method for determining HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural) in orange juice has been developed. The method for HMF involves extraction of the juice with ethyl acetate prior to reverse-phase HPLC. Fortification studies indicate an average recovery of 96.1%± 4.1% and a detection limit of 5.0 ppb.     

Cholesterol Content of Raw and Cooked Beef Longissimus Muscles with Different Degrees of Marbling

The relationships of marbling level (eight levels from “Moderately Abundant” to “Practically Devoid”) and cooking to cholesterol content of beef longissimus muscle steaks were studied. Only raw steaks with “Practically Devoid” marbling contained significantly less cholesterol (wet basis) than did raw steaks with any of the other seven marbling scores. However, steaks cooked to an internal temperature of 60° or 75°C showed no significant differences in cholesterol content among any of the eight marbling groups. The cholesterol content of cooked steaks was 22–48% higher than that of raw steaks when cooked to 60°C and 38–65% higher when cooked to 75°C; cooking reduced the weight of each steak, thereby increasing the cholesterol content of the steak expressed as a percentage of the cooked weight.     

0-1 Quadratic programming approach for optimum solutions of two scheduling problems

Two scheduling problems are considered: (1) scheduling n jobs non-preemptively on a single machine to minimize total weighted earliness and tardiness (WET); (2) scheduling n jobs non-preemptively on two parallel identical processors to minimize weighted mean flow time. In the second problem, a pre-ordering of the jobs is assumed that must be satisfied for any set of jobs scheduled on each specific machine. Both problems are known to be NP-complete. A 0-1 quadratic assignment formulation of the problems is presented. An equivalent 0-1 mixed integer linear programming approach for the problems are considered and a numerical example is given. The formulations presented enable one to use optimal and heuristic available algorithms of 0-1 quadratic assignment for the problems considered here.     

Berberine inhibits the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells by targeting pancreatic cancer stem cells through regulating EMT signaling pathway

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is universally acknowledged as the cancer with the highest mortalityrate. Berberine has high medicinal value and has been used as an anti-cancer agent. Hence the purpose of this study was toinvestigate the anti-cancer effect of berberine in PDAC. Berberine was shown to have a selective anti-cancer effect onPDAC by MTT assay in vitro. Pancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSCs), regulated by epithelial–mesenchymal transition(EMT), could promote the proliferation of PDAC cells. However, berberine suppressed the proliferation and stemnessof PCSCs through immunofluorescence staining, stem cell sphere assays and so forth in vitro. In vivo, berberinereduced tumor size and decreased the expression levels of Ki67, a marker of cellular proliferation, in orthotopicpancreatic tumors. In addition, berberine inhibited the EMT signaling pathway by RT-PCR and Western blottingmethods both in vitro and in vivo. Our study indicates that berberine inhibits the proliferation of PDAC cells both invivo and in vitro. The mechanism of the anti-cancer effect of berberine likely involves the inhibition of EMT.Therefore, berberine may be a novel antineoplastic drug with clinical efficacy in PDAC.     

Effect of Cooking on Cholesterol Content of Patties Containing Different Amounts of Beef, Textured Soy Protein and Fat

Ground beef patties were prepared to contain 0, 10, 20 or 30% rehydrated textured soy protein (TSP) and 8, 16 or 27% fat. Patties were cooked from the frozen state on a rack in a preheated oven at 177°C to an endpoint internal temperature of 75°C. The cholesterol content of raw ground beef patties decreased as the amount of TSP increased and also decreased as the fat content decreased from 27 to 16 or 8%. At initial fat levels of 8 and 16%, there were no significant differences in cholesterol retention (per-patty basis) during cooking among patties with initial TSP (rehydrated) levels of 0, 10, 20 and 30%; at an initial fat level of 27%, however, patties containing TSP (10, 20 or 30%) retained substantially higher (P < 0.05) amounts of cholesterol when cooked than did those without TSP.