Effect of fortification with asparagus powder on the qualitative properties of processed cheese

The qualitative properties of processed cheese (PC) fortified with different levels of asparagus powder (AP) (0.5%, 1% and 1.5% wt/wt) were evaluated during storage. AP decreased the pH and lipolysis indexes and increased the phenolic content, antioxidant activity and proteolysis of the processed cheeses. AP made the structure of the cheese more elastic, increased the rigidity and decreased the spreadability compared with the control sample, which corresponded to the results obtained using dynamic oscillatory rheometry. The results showed that AP as a rich source of bioactive components could be used for the fortification of processed cheeses.     

Thermal,mechanical, and corrosion resistance properties of vinyl ester/clay nanocomposites for the matrix of carbon fiber‐reinforced composites exposed to electron beam

Vinyl ester/clay nanocomposites with 1, 3, and 5% nanoclay contents were prepared. X‐ray diffractography patterns and Scanning Electron micrographs showed that nanocomposites with the exfoliated structure were formed. Thermogravimetric analysis, water absorption test, and Tafel polarization method, respectively, revealed the improvements in thermal resistance, water barrier properties, and corrosion resistance properties of the samples with an increase in the amount of the incorporated nanoclay. Tensile tests showed that nanoclay also enhanced the mechanical properties of the polymer, so that the tensile strength of the samples with 5% nanoclay was more than 3 times higher than tensile strength of pure vinyl ester samples. Overall, the best properties were observed for the samples containing 5% nanoclay. Pure vinyl ester and nanocomposite with 5% nanoclay content were exposed to the electron beam radiation and their mechanical properties improved up to 500 kGy irradiation dose. Finally, pure vinyl ester and vinyl ester/nanoclay (5%) matrixes were reinforced with carbon fiber and the effect of electron beam irradiation on their mechanical properties was examined. The tensile strength and the modulus of the samples initially increased after exposure to the radiation doses up to 500 kGy and then a decrease was observed as the irradiation dose rose to 1000 kGy. Moreover, nanoclay moderated the effect of the irradiation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42393.     

Innovative Diagnostic Peptide-Based Technologies for Cancer Diagnosis: Focus on EGFR-Targeting Peptides

Active targeting using biological ligands has emerged as a novel strategy for the targeted delivery of diagnostic agents to tumor cells. Conjugating functional targeting moieties with diagnostic probes can increase their accumulation in tumor cells and tissues, enhancing signal detection and, thus, the sensitivity of diagnosis. Due to their small size, ease of chemical synthesis and site-specific modification, high tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, rapid blood clearance, low cost, and biosafety, peptides offer several advantages over antibodies and proteins in diagnostic applications. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most promising cancer biomarkers for actively targeting diagnostic and therapeutic agents to tumor cells due to its active involvement and overexpression in various cancers. Several peptides for EGFR-targeting have been identified in the last decades, which have been obtained by multiple means including derivation from natural proteins, phage display screening, positional scanning synthetic combinatorial library, and in silico screening. Many studies have used these peptides as a targeting moiety for diagnosing different cancers in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials. This review summarizes the progress of EGFR-targeting peptide-based assays in the molecular diagnosis of cancer.     

A Novel Alternative Method for Modeling the Effects of Air Temperature and Slice Thickness on Quality and Drying Kinetics of Tomato Slices: Superposition Technique

The effect of air temperature (AT) and slice thickness (ST) on the quality and drying kinetics of tomato slices were studied. The drying period of tomato slices to reach the moisture content of 15% (wb) ranged from 2.6 to 18.7 h. The water diffusivity, activation energy, and resistance to diffusion ranged from 1.4 × 10^?10 to 2.8 × 10^?9 m²/s, 21.25 to 23.4 kJ/mol, and from 939 to 4590 m² s/kg, respectively. Drying had a significant effect on ascorbic acid, soluble solid, acidity, and pH (P = 0.01). The ascorbic acid degradation was greatly influenced by ST. The results show that time-temperature superposition technique (TTST) was very efficient in the modeling of the drying process. The proposed TTST provides a novel alternative in curve-fitting exercise of drying data. Neural networks also showed favorable performance in estimating the drying functions.     

Magnetic behavior of nickel–bismuth ferrite synthesized by a combined sol–gel/thermal method

The bulk NiFe_2?xBi_xO₄ ferrites with various Bi³⁺ concentration (x=0, 0.1, 0.15) were synthesized via sol–gel procedure, starting from nickel, bismuth and iron nitrate powders, followed by the conventional thermal treatment. The structural and magnetic properties of the as-prepared ferrites were studied by means of X-ray diffraction, alternating gradient force magnetometry and Faraday balance. The anisotropy constant was determined by the law of approach to saturation (LAS) model. An increasing Bi³⁺ concentration in NiFe_2?xBi_xO₄ leads to a decrease in the saturation magnetization, Néel temperature and the anisotropy constant of the material.     

Nano ZrP2O7 Catalyzed Multicomponent Reaction for an Easy Access of 4H-pyrans and 1,4-dihydropyridines

ZrP₂O₇ nanoparticle catalyzed one-pot synthesis of 4H-pyran scaffolds installing a one-pot three-component coupling reaction of an aldehyde, malononitrile, and ethyl acetoacetate. Also the synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridines was investigated by using aldehydes, ethyl acetoacetate and ammonium acetate as utilizing nano structured ZrP₂O₇ as an efficient catalyst in ethanol. The attractive features of this process are mild reaction conditions, reusability of the catalyst, short reaction times, easy isolation of the products, and excellent yields.     

Conversion of CO into CO2 by high active and stable PdNi nanoparticles supported on a metal-organic framework

The solubility of Pd(NO₃)₂ in water is moderate whereas it is completely soluble in diluted HNO₃ solution. Pd/MIL-101(Cr) and Pd/MIL-101-NH₂(Cr) were synthesized by aqueous solution of Pd(NO₃)₂ and Pd(NO₃)₂ solution in dilute HNO₃ and used for CO oxidation reaction. The catalysts synthesized with Pd(NO₃)₂ solution in dilute HNO₃ showed lower activity. The aqueous solution of Pd(NO₃)₂ was used for synthesis of mono-metal Ni, Pd and bimetallic PdNi nanoparticles with various molar ratios supported on MOF. Pd₇₀Ni₃₀/MIL-101(Cr) catalyst showed higher activity than monometallic counterparts and Pd+ Ni physical mixture due to the strong synergistic effect of PdNi nanoparticles, high distribution of PdNi nanoparticles, and lower dissociation and desorption barriers. Comparison of the catalysts synthesized by MIL-101(Cr) and MIL-101-NH₂(Cr) as the supports of metals showed that Pd/MIL-101-NH₂(Cr) outperforms Pd/MIL-101-(Cr) because of the higher electron density of Pd resulting from the electron donor ability of the NH₂ functional group. However, the same activities were observed for Pd₇₀Ni₃₀/MIL-101(Cr) and Pd₇₀Ni₃₀/MIL-101-NH₂(Cr), which is due to a less uniform distribution of Pd nanoparticles in Pd₇₀Ni₃₀/MIL-101-NH₂(Cr) originated from amorphization of MIL-101-NH₂(Cr) structure during the reduction process. In contrast, Pd₇₀Ni₃₀/MIL-101(Cr) revealed the stable structure and activity during reduction and CO oxidation for a long time.     

Equilibrium,kinetic and thermodynamic study of removal of reactive orange 12 on platinum nanoparticle loaded on activated carbon as novel adsorbent

The proposed research describes the synthesis and characterization of platinum nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon (Pt-NP-AC) and its efficient application as novel adsorbent for efficient removal of reactive orange 12 (RO-12). The influences of effective parameters following the optimization of variables on removal percentages, their value was set as 0.015 g Pt-NP-AC, pH 1, contact time of 13 min. At optimum values of all variables at 25 and 50 mgL⁻¹ of RO-12 enthalpy (ΔH⁰) and entropy (ΔS⁰) changes was found to be 59.89 and 225.076, respectively, which negative value of ΔG⁰ shows a spontaneous nature, and the positive values of ΔH⁰ and ΔS⁰ indicate the endothermic nature and adsorption organized of dye molecule on the adsorbent surface. Experimental data was fitted to different kinetic models including first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich and intra-particle diffusion models, and it was seen that the adsorption process follows pseudo-second-order model in consideration to intra-particle diffusion mechanism. At optimum values of all variables, the adsorption process follows the second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm model with adsorption capacity 285.143 mg g⁻¹ at room temperature.     

Statistical assessment of starch removal from starchy wastewater using membrane technology

The present work deals with application of 2^5-2 fractional factorial design (FFD) to evaluate the operating parameters on starch separation from synthetic starchy wastewater using a hydrophilic polyethersulfone membrane with 0.65 μm pore size in a plate and frame handmade membrane module. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) combined with F-test was also used to recognize non-significant terms. The performance of the filtration process was evaluated by calculating the COD removal percentage (rejection factor) and permeate flux. In this experiment, five input parameters were surveyed, including trans membrane pressure (TMP), flow and temperature of feed, pH and concentration of wastewater. In this experiment, real wastewater was not used but synthetic starchy wastewater was prepared using starch. Two models were obtained from experimental data, capable of predicting COD removal percentage and permeate flux in different conditions. The predicted values obtained from the regression models were close to the actual ones. For the reduction of fouling, cleaning in place (CIP) method was used.