Incorporation of gluten and hydrolysed gluten proteins has different effects on dough rheology and cookie characteristics

This study aims to establish how the substitution of wheat flour by high levels (15%, 30% and 45%) of gluten or hydrolysed gluten proteins affects sugar‐snap cookies properties. An increase in water‐binding capacity was observed when proteins were present. An increase in the dough elastic modulus was observed for gluten protein, but it decreased when hydrolysed gluten protein was used. Regarding the physical characteristics of the cookies, for the same protein percentage, the presence of gluten protein decreased spread ratio and increased hardness, while hydrolysed gluten protein increased spread ratio and yielded darker cookies without modifying the hardness. As for sensory characteristics, taste was negatively influenced by hydrolysed protein and visual acceptability was enhanced when gluten protein was present. Overall acceptability was decreased for the highest levels of hydrolysed gluten protein. Nevertheless, the highest levels of gluten protein did not modify the acceptability.     

Lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants,lipid peroxidation inhibition and radical scavenging activity of two Lamiaceae food plants

Medicinal and aromatic plants are highly prized all over the world. According to local cuisine and pharmacopoeias, they used to be important as dietary supplements, providing bioactive compounds. Herein, we describe lipophilic (fatty acids, tocopherols and carotenoids) and hydrophilic (ascorbic acid, sugars and phenolic compounds) antioxidants, lipid peroxidation inhibition and free radical scavenging activity in aerial parts of two Lamiaceae species (Mentha pulegium and Thymus pulegioides). M. pulegium gave the highest antioxidant properties (EC₅₀<0.56 mg/mL), which is in agreement with its highest content in tocopherols, mainly α‐tocopherol (69.54 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (7.90 mg/100 g), reducing sugars (7.99 g/100 g) and phenolics. The presence of these lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants could explain its use as antiseptic, anti‐inflammatory and as food preservative and special sauce. M. pulegium revealed the highest content of fat, α‐linolenic (ω‐3) and linoleic (ω‐6) fatty acids, while T. pulegioides revealed the highest content of carbohydrates (89.35 g/100 g). This could explain its use to improve the nutrition value of rye flour broth or potato based soups.     

Comparison of oxidation efficiency of disperse dyes by chemical and photoelectrocatalytic chlorination and removal of mutagenic activity

Degradation of Disperse Orange 1, Disperse Red 1 and Disperse Red 13 dyes has been performed using electrochemical oxidation on Pt electrode, chemical chlorination and photoelectrochemical oxidation on Ti/TiO₂ thin film electrodes in NaCl or Na₂SO₄ medium. 100% discoloration was obtained for all tested methods after 1 h of treatment. Faster color removal was obtained by photoelectrocatalytic oxidation in 0.1 mol L⁻¹ NaCl pH 4.0 under UV light and an applied potential of +1.0 V (vs SCE reference electrode), which indicates also values around 60% of TOC removal. The conventional chlorination method and electrochemical oxidation on Pt electrode resulted in negligible reduction of TOC removal. All dyes showed positive mutagenic activity in the Salmonella/microsome assay with the strain TA98 in the absence and presence of S9 (exogenous metabolic activation). Nevertheless, there is complete reduction of the mutagenic activity after 1 h of photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, suggesting that this process would be good option to remove disperse azo dyes from aqueous media.     

Tuning the properties of alginate—chitosan membranes by varying the viscosity and the proportions of polymers

In this study, alginate (A) and chitosan (C)‐based membranes designed for skin tissue engineering applications were prepared using three different A to C mass ratios (3:1, 1:1, and 1:3). Each formulation was produced with alginate of two different viscosities (low and medium). Porous membranes were obtained through foaming by adding the surfactant Poloxamer 188 to the formulations at the concentrations of 1%, 5%, and 10% (w/w) in excess of the biopolymers mass. The physicochemical properties of the membranes were evaluated, showing that the formation of more stable, resistant, and porous structures with Poloxamer 188 was favored in membranes prepared with medium‐viscosity alginate. The surfactant also exerted the most pronounced porogenic effect on the formulation with alginate:chitosan mass ratio equal to 3:1. These membranes consequently had greater thickness, roughness, opacity, water vapor transmission rate, and lower mechanical resistance than 1:1 and 1:3 membranes. Taken together, the results indicated that it is possible to improve and tune the properties of alginate—chitosan polyelectrolyte complexes by varying the viscosity of alginate and proportions of biopolymers and surfactant. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44216.     

An intelligent system for prognosis of noncommunicable diseases’ risk factors

Noncommunicable diseases are the main reason to the rise of diseases incidence in the developed world. The management and prevention of these diseases can be done by controlling the behavioral and biological risk factors which are related to them. ChronicPrediction is an intelligent system for noncommunicable diseases care which determines in real time the impact on risk factors due to actions taken by users. Based on impact information, the system presents on users’ smartphones strategic messages to help in their treatment. ChronicPrediction applies Bayesian Networks (BNs) which use risk factors for mapping the causes of noncommunicable diseases worsening. The support to multiple chronic diseases and the integrated use of multiple BNs based on risk factors are the main contributions of this work and differentiate the proposed system from related work. We have built a functional prototype that allowed us to conduct two experiments. The first one successfully tested the main functionalities provided by ChronicPrediction to support BNs based on risk factors and the sending of messages to users’ smartphones. The evaluation involved the building of a BN for predicting coronary artery disease made with real world data obtained in a prospective cohort study. The study involved 302 patients from a hospital localized in southern Brazil. The second experiment assessed the ChronicPrediction support to multiple BNs at same time. The test involved the previous BN and another from a thirty part research work to map risk factors of diabetes. The results were encouraging and show potential for implementing ChronicPrediction in real-life situations.