Rice Bran: A Novel Functional Ingredient

Rice (Oryza sativa) is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East and South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. It provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by the human. It is the second leading cereal crop and staple food of half of the world's population. It is grown in at least 114 countries with global production of 645 million tons; share of Asian farmers is about 90% of the total produce. Rice bran, brown outer layer of rice kernel, is mainly composed of pericarp, aleurone, subaleurone layer, and germ. It contains appreciable quantities of nutrients like protein, fat, and dietary fiber. Furthermore, it contains substantial amount of minerals like K, Ca, Mg, and Fe. Presence of antioxidants like tocopherols, tocotrienols, and γ-oryzanol also brighten prospects of rice bran utilization for humans as functional ingredient to mitigate the life-threatening disorders. Moreover, in the developing countries, budding dilemma of food crisis, arising due to lower crop yields and escalating population, needs to utilize each pent of available resources. To provide enough food to all people, there is the holistic approach of using the by-products generated during food processing and preparations. Rice is being processed in well-established industry, but the major apprehension is the utilization of its by-products; rice bran (5–8%) and polishing (2–3%) that are going as waste. Rice processing or milling produces several streams of materials including milled rice, bran, and husk. In developing countries, rice bran is considered as a by-product of the milling process and commonly used in animal feed or discarded as a waste. The potential of producing rice bran at the global level is 29.3 million tons annually, whereas the share of Pakistan is worked out to be 0.5 million tons. In present paper, attempt has been made to highlight the significance of these valuable but neglected ingredients under various headings.     

Utilization of dairy byproduct proteins, surfactants, and enzymes in frozen dough

Use of natural additives is gaining popularity among the masses as they are becoming more conscious about their diet and health. Frozen dough products are one of the recent examples of value-added cereal products which face stability problems during extended storage periods of times. Dairy whey proteins, surfactants, and certain enzymes are considered important natural additives which could be used to control the water redistribution problem in the dough structure during the storage condition. They interact with the starch and gluten network in a dough system and thus behave as dough improvers and strengtheners. These natural additives not only help to bind extra moisture but also to improve texture and sensory attributes in frozen dough bakery products.     

TCP Algorithms and Multiple Paths: Considerations for the Future of the Internet

A TCP flow is expected to traverse over a single path. This is in order to avoid performance problems especially on account of reordering of packets and acknowledgements. Reordering can occur on account of the use of different paths with diverse bandwidth and delay characteristics. We argue that the present approach prevents us from getting the advantages associated with multiple paths. Specifically, use of multiple paths for a flow can be advantageous in improving the performance as well as the dependability of a flow. We model the effects of reordering and derive conditions under which the performance of a TCP flow improves with the use of multiple paths. We also provide recommendations for choosing amongst multiple paths. We then verify the conditions using simulations. We also illustrate the applicability of the derived conditions to multiple flows.     

Spontaneous hemobilia in a hemophiliac treated by factor VIII replacement and nasobiliary drainage

We report a case of spontaneous hemobilia in a hemophilia patient presenting with classical Sandblom's triad of symptoms. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was helpful in establishing the diagnosis. Hemobilia subsided with factor VIII replacement and endoscopic nasobiliary drainage. Endoscopic nasobiliary drainage resulted in lysis of the clots in the biliary tree and relief of obstructive jaundice.     

基于不同目标的电网分区域调度研究

针对电网分区域调度问题,提出基于不同目标的多节点连接的网络模型进行求解。网络模型以复杂网络为理论基础,由发电端、中间点、用电端、连接边等组成,对网络模型进行数学及图形描述,并建立相应的数学模型。通过遗传算法来求解基于模型建立的两区域算例,两区域分别以碳排放最小的单目标为第一子目标,购电成本最小及煤耗最小的双目标为第二子目标,采用加权的方法使两子目标相结合转化为单目标求解,通过编程优化计算得出满足调度目标的电量分配结果。由算例可验证,所提出的模型可用于主网实现分别以不同的调度策略为优化目标的分区域调度。     

使HDMI系统适于深色应用

HDMI 1.3的深色技术带来更鲜明色彩体验。高清媒体接口(HDMI)已成为高清电视(HDTV)与其显示内容媒体源之间的标准接口。HDMI 1.3版本传输的视频数据将具有更高的分辨率,呈现出来的清晰、明快的画面内容也将比以往更为丰富。HDMI 1.3版本的特点包括深色技术(Deep Color)     

The flavohemoglobin of Escherichia coli confers resistance to a nitrosating agent, a "Nitric oxide Releaser," and paraquat and is essential for transcriptional responses to oxidative stress

Escherichia coli possesses a flavohemoglobin (Hmp), product of hmp, the first microbial globin gene to be sequenced and characterized at the molecular level. Although related proteins occur in numerous prokaryotes and eukaryotic microorganisms, the function(s) of these proteins have been elusive. Here we report construction of a defined hmp mutation and its use to probe Hmp function. As anticipated from up-regulation of hmp expression by nitric oxide (NO), S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) or sodium nitroprusside (SNP), the hmp mutant is hypersensitive to these agents. The hmp promoter is more sensitive to SNP and S-nitroso-N-penicillamine (SNAP) than is the soxS promoter, consistent with the role of Hmp in protection from reactive nitrogen species. Additional functions for Hmp are indicated by (a) parallel sensitivity of the hmp mutant to the redox-cycling agent, paraquat, (b) inability of the mutant to up-regulate fully the soxS and sodA promoters in response to oxidative stress caused by paraquat, GSNO and SNP, and (c) failure of the mutant to accumulate reduced paraquat radical after anoxic growth. We conclude that Hmp plays a role in protection from nitrosating agents and NO-related species and oxidative stress. This protective role probably involves direct detoxification of those species and sensing of NO-related and oxidative stress.     

Optimal communication in bluetooth piconets

Bluetooth is a low-power, low-cost, short-range wireless communication system operating in the 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. Bluetooth links use frequency hopping whereby each packet is sent on a single frequency while different packets are sent on different frequencies. Further, there are a limited number of packet sizes. We show that we can exert indirect control over transmission conditions by choosing the packet size transmitted over each frequency as a function of the channel conditions. Our goal then is to provide a packet-size-selection algorithm that can maximize the throughput in a Bluetooth piconet in the presence of lossy wireless channels. We first develop a renewal-theory-based mathematical model of packet transmission in a frequency-hopping system such as a Bluetooth piconet. We use this model to show that a threshold-based algorithm for choosing the packet lengths maximizes the throughput of the system. We provide an algorithm that determines the optimal thresholds efficiently. We show the optimality of this algorithm without using standard optimization techniques, since it is not clear that these techniques would be applicable given the functions involved. Using simulations, we observe that this strategy leads to significantly better throughput as compared to other baseline strategies, even if the assumptions made to prove optimality are relaxed.     

Natural polyphenols: An overview

Plant-derived functional foods are gaining considerable attention due to their safety and therapeutic potentials. Research on plant-based functional foods presents several challenges ranges from hypercholesterolemia to cancer prevention. In last decade, special attention has been paid to edible plants and especially their phytochemicals. Today, there is an increasing interest in their bioactivities provided by these phytochemicals. Polyphenols are the most numerous and widely distributed group of bioactive molecules. Polyphenols have two general classes, one is flavonoids and other is phenolic acids. Among these, flavonoids are further divided into flavones, flavononse, flavonols, flavanols, isoflavones, and phenolic acids are generally classified into hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids. Fruit peel is one of the dense sources for flavonoids and their content may vary from species to species and due to exposure of light. Polyphenols have wide range of molecules and different set of biological activities that are mainly attributed to their structure. Investigations have revealed that polyphenols play a key role to prevent various diseases, like hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and cancer insurgence. The current review article summarizes the literature pertaining to polyphenols and its allied health benefits.     

Isolation and Detection of Extended Spectrum β‐Lactamase (ESBL)‐Producing Enterobacteriaceae from Meat using Chromogenic Agars and Isothermal Loop‐Mediated Amplification (LAMP) Assays

The aim of this work was to develop a molecular method using loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for detection of extended spectrum β‐lactamase (ESBL)‐producing Enterobacteriaceae from meat, and to compare it with different isolation agars and microarrays. LAMP assays were developed for CTX‐M groups 1, 2, and 9 and OXA‐10‐like genes. Chicken, lamb, beef, pork, and turkey samples were spiked with 10, 100, and 1,000 cfu/gram using 8 strains of ESBL‐producing Enterobacteriaceae (CTX‐M sequence types 1, 2, 3, 14, 15, OXA‐11, SHV‐2, TEM‐52) +/– a mix of competitor organisms. Samples were enriched overnight in buffered peptone water (BPW) +/– antibacterials before plating to CHROMagar CTX, OXOID ESBL Brilliance agar, and MacConkey agar with 1 mg/L cefotaxime. Selected BPW broths were also tested using LAMP assays, microarrays and using cefpodoxime discs on agar. For isolation/detection of ESBL producers from beef, pork, lamb, and turkey spiked with 10 or 100 cfu/gram ESBL (natural flora only), all agars and the LAMP assays showed 100% sensitivity and specificity for ESBL spike strains. For chicken samples, both LAMP and chromogenic agars showed improved sensitivity and specificity for isolation of ESBLs compared with MacConkey agar, particularly with competitor bacteria added. In comparison, the cefpodoxime disc method and microarray showed reduced sensitivity.