Effect of high hydrostatic pressure on immunomodulatory activity of cloudy apple juice

Present study investigated the effects of high hydrostatic pressure treatment (HHP, 500 MPa/3 min/ 25°C) on bioactive compound as well as antioxidant, immunomodulatory potentials, and microbial safety of cloudy juice from ‘Fuji’ apples. HHP did not cause any significant changes in vitamin C content whereas total polyphenol content was increased. The antioxidant potentials measured by DPPH and nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging tests were preserved by HHP, while thermal treatment reduced antioxidant potentials. NO scavenging activity was greater than DPPH scavenging activity. The immunomodulatory effect assessed by splenocyte proliferation was increased in a dose-dependent manner, and HHP preserved immunomodulatory activity of apple juice. Furthermore, HHP treated juice was microbiologically safe without any physicochemical changes during 21 days of storage at 4°C. These results demonstrated the efficacy of HHP for preserving both nutritional and immunomodulatory functional characteristics of apple juice, and alternative method for preserving as freshly squeezed for up to 21 days.     

A new sol‐gel route alumina for selective oxidation of H2S to sulphur

In this study, a new synthesis method was developed for the production of modified sol‐gel alumina (SG‐M) for the selective oxidation of H₂S to elemental sulphur. The catalytic activity of this modified alumina without any active metal incorporation was then compared with the activity of commercial alumina (alumina‐com) for H₂S selective oxidation. The N₂ adsorption‐desorption isotherm showed that the SG‐M alumina synthesized in this work has a mesoporous structure with well‐defined hysteresis loops. Both alumina materials showed a γ‐Al₂O₃ crystalline phase with an amorphous structure in their crystal structure. The surface acidity of the alumina materials was determined using pyridine‐adsorbed FTIR analyses, and both alumina showed Lewis acid sites on their surfaces. The catalytic activity tests were performed at 250°C using a feed ratio of O₂/H₂S:0.5. The complete conversion of H₂S over SG‐M was achieved during 400 minutes of reaction time. However, the commercial alumina lost its activity at earlier reaction times. Lewis acid sites and surface hydroxyl groups caused the alumina to be active in H₂S selective catalytic oxidation, and the formation of Al‐S bonds, observed when the H₂S conversion fell, caused a decrease in the catalytic activity of the alumina materials. A high sulphur yield (≥95%) was obtained over SG‐M, even though there was no active metal incorporation and even in the presence of excess oxygen. Considering the catalytic activities, the new sol‐gel alumina synthesized in this work is superior to commercial alumina. It was concluded that, as a catalyst without any active metal, SG‐M is a promising catalyst in H₂S selective oxidation to sulphur.     

Association between SNPs in microRNAs and microRNAs-Machinery Genes with Susceptibility of Leprosy in the Amazon Population

Leprosy is a chronic neurodermatological disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae. Recent studies show that SNPs in genes related to miRNAs have been associated with several diseases in different populations. This study aimed to evaluate the association of twenty-five SNPs in genes encoding miRNAs related to biological processes and immune response with susceptibility to leprosy and its polar forms paucibacillary and multibacillary in the Brazilian Amazon. A total of 114 leprosy patients and 71 household contacts were included in this study. Genotyping was performed using TaqMan Open Array Genotyping. Ancestry-informative markers were used to estimate individual proportions of case and control groups. The SNP rs2505901 (pre-miR938) was associated with protection against the development of paucibacillary leprosy, while the SNPs rs639174 (DROSHA), rs636832 (AGO1), and rs4143815 (miR570) were associated with protection against the development of multibacillary leprosy. In contrast, the SNPs rs10739971 (pri-let-7a1), rs12904 (miR200C), and rs2168518 (miR4513) are associated with the development of the paucibacillary leprosy. The rs10739971 (pri-let-7a1) polymorphism was associated with the development of leprosy, while rs2910164 (miR146A) and rs10035440 (DROSHA) was significantly associated with an increased risk of developing multibacillary leprosy.     

Performance analysis of hybrid WiMAX/DSRC scenarios for vehicular communication environment

Microsystem Technologies - Internet becomes a vital and important service being integrated in the current scenarios of competing technologies, therefore there is a need for higher speed broadband...     

Entanglement measure for pure six-qubit quantum states

In this work we propose a six-way entanglement measure for pure six-qubit quantum states. The proposed measure is used to quantify the entanglement of some six-qubit states useful in quantum information processing and in the analysis of entanglement variation of some parameterized six-qubit states.     

Vehicular HetNet load distribution using centralized control of software‐defined network

Current vehicular communication systems experience from nonflexible and costly devices, complicated control‐plane protocols, and vendor‐specific configuration interfaces. In the next generation vehicular communication, a mobile device (MD) will be installed on a car capable of accessing multiple services from different networks. So heterogeneous networks (HetNets) may play a vital role in vehicular communication. Despite heterogeneity, flawless connectivity between different systems is a basic need of the travellers. The key challenge for seamless connectivity is the design of a vertical handover (VHO) scheme. We claim that software‐defined networking (SDN) can make things easier in the design and supervision of VHO in vehicular HetNet. The proposed method maximizes the HetNet utilization with lesser handover by balancing the load among the HetNets. Simulation results performed in MATLAB justified that this novel architecture with proper VHO technique boosts the performance by balancing the load, reducing unnecessary VHO, etc. Performance is analyzed by considering four studies, ie, handover served ratio (HSR), on board units (OBUs), OBU served ratio (OSR), and total throughput and total capacities of road side units (RSUs) to serve handover demands from OBUs. It is observed that the HSR increases rapidly as the number of OBUs increases, which indicates almost all the handover requested OBUs are allocated resources by a connected RSU. We also studied the served total throughput by considering VHO with SDN, without SDN in the average case and without SDN in the best case, and it is observed that with SDN as a central controller, the total OSR and total throughput is increased.     

Breakthrough Analysis OF H 2 S removal on CU-V-MO,CU-V,and CU-MO mixed oxides

Kinetic studies carried out for the sorption of H 2 S in the presence and absence of hydrogen on Cu-V-Mo, Cu-V, and Cu-Mo mixed oxides gave detailed information about the reaction sequences. Formation of SO 2 even in the presence of hydrogen at the initial stages of the sorption process showed the partial reduction of the metal oxides prior to the sulfidation step. A sorption experiment carried out with Cu-Mo mixed oxide gave incomplete sulfidation of molybdenum, whereas with Cu-V mixed oxide complete sulfidation was obtained. Predictions of the breakthrough curves by the deactivation model showed good agreement with the experimental results.     

Development and Analytical Validation of Robust Near-Infrared Multivariate Calibration Models for the Quality Inspection Control of Mozzarella Cheese

This paper proposed and validated robust diffuse reflectance near-infrared methods for the direct determination of fat and moisture in cow mozzarella cheeses using partial least squares regression. They were developed under the realistic conditions of routine analysis in a state laboratory of quality inspection control and were used for analyzing a great variety of mozzarella samples manufactured by different manufacturing procedures and originating from the whole state of Minas Gerais, Brazil (more than 100 different producers). A robust methodology was implemented, including the detection of outliers and the harmonization of the multivariate concepts with the traditional univariate guidelines. The models were constructed in the ranges from 38.7 to 58.0 % w/w on dry basis for fat and from 41.5 to 55.1 % w/w for moisture, providing root mean square errors of prediction of 2.1 and 0.9 %, respectively. Both methods were validated through the estimation of figures of merit, such as linearity, trueness, precision, analytical sensitivity, ruggedness, bias, and residual prediction deviation. Once the methods were adopted, their performances were monitored for approximately 1 year through control charts and were considered satisfactorily stable with prediction errors within the established limits. Beyond these specific methods, it was also pursued to present a complete methodology for multivariate analytical validation, an important aspect for the implementation of near-infrared spectroscopy methods in the routine of food quality inspection.     

Factors influencing fungal and aflatoxin levels in Turkish hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.) during growth, harvest, drying and storage: A 3-year study

The levels aflatoxins in Turkish hazelnuts have been monitored over a 3-years period (2002-2004). Periodical sampling was made in 72 different orchards at different locations representative of the hazelnut-growing areas and post-harvest applications. Various parameters (aflatoxins, water activity, moulds) were analysed and environmental conditions (temperature and relative humidity) recorded during growing and at different stages of harvest and post-harvest processing, involving three different harvesting methods (collection in nets, from the ground, etc.) and four drying techniques (traditional sun-drying, mechanical drying, etc.). Fungal and aflatoxin analyses (HPLC) showed no significant difference except between samples which had been in contact with the ground and those which had not (at 95% confidence level). Aflatoxins levels from the orchard recorded a maximum of 0.77 ± 0.08 ng g^-1 from a total of 1624 samples. Regarding harvesting and post-harvest processes, the only application where aflatoxins were detected was in samples which had been in direct contact with the ground (max. 3.18 ± 0.03 ng g^-1). Aflatoxin formation was low during storage (max. 0.34 ± 0.003 ng g^-1). As a result of mycological studies, a total of 5546 Aspergillus flavus (89%) and A. parasiticus (11%) species were isolated and identified from samples. The results indicated that harvesting hazelnuts into a canvas by shaking the trees, manual harvesting of mature hazelnuts where possible, use of jute instead of nylon sacks and mechanical drying technique would minimize aflatoxin levels in hazelnuts. These recommendations have been implemented and about 4000 people in the hazelnut industry have been trained in these practices.