Mannans as stabilizers of oil-in-water beverage emulsions

The stabilizing effect of spruce galactoglucomannan (GGM) on a model beverage emulsion system was studied and compared to that of guar gum and locust bean gum galactomannans, konjac glucomannan, and corn arabinoxylan. In addition, guar gum was enzymatically modified in order to examine the effect of the degree of polymerization and the degree of substitution of galactomannans on emulsion stability. Use of GGM increased the turbidity of emulsions both immediately after preparation and after storage of up to 14 days at room temperature. GGM emulsions had higher turbidity than the emulsions containing other mannans. The initial turbidity increased with increasing GGM content, but after 14 days storage at room temperature, the turbidity was the highest for GGM/oil ratio of 0.10:1 when ethanol-precipitated GGM was used. Increasing the storage temperature to +45 °C led to rapid emulsion breakdown, but a decrease in storage temperature increased emulsion stability after 14 days. Confocal microscopy showed that the average particle size in the bottom part of GGM emulsions stored for 14 days was smaller than 1 μm. A low degree of polymerization and a high degree of substitution of the modified galactomannans were associated with a decrease in emulsion turbidity.     

Development and application of an automated subcatchment generator for SWMM using open data

An open source subcatchment generator program was developed for the Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) to automate tedious stages in the model construction process. The generator divides the investigated area into subcatchments using a uniform computation grid and connects the grid cells together and to the underlying stormwater network. The system was tested by applying it to two small urban catchments with different fractions of impervious surfaces in Helsinki, Finland, using mostly openly available data. The simulated discharge results were compared to measured data and to results obtained from manually built models. The proposed system significantly accelerated the setup of a SWMM modelling project, as the routing between the subcatchments as well as the subcatchment slopes and flow widths were directly derived from the computation grid. Automatically generated and manually constructed SWMM models produced discharge results that differed only slightly from each other.     

Safety assessment of Lactobacillus strains: presence of putative risk factors in faecal, blood and probiotic isolates

The widespread use of immunosuppressive therapy and antimicrobial agents as well as novel probiotics without a long history of safe use has increased requirements for safety assessment of probiotic lactobacilli. In this study 44 faecal, 52 blood and 15 probiotic isolates (including 3 dairy strains) of Lactobacillus were assayed for their adhesion properties to extracellular matrix proteins and mucus, hemolysis, ability to avoid the induction of respiratory burst in peripheral blood mononucleocytes (PMN) and resistance to human serum. Among tested strains adhesion to collagen, fibrinogen and mucus was isolate-specific and no statistically significant differences were obtained between faecal, blood and probiotic isolates. However, blood isolates showed a trend for higher adhesion to mucus than probiotic strains (P=0.07). Probiotic strains induced lower respiratory burst in PMN when compared to the blood isolates (P<0.05). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between adhesion to collagen and induction of respiratory burst for faecal isolates (P<0.05). In the determination of serum resistance, probiotic strains showed a trend for lower sensitivity to human serum-mediated killing when compared to the faecal isolates (P=0.07). None of the measurable virulence factors were found to be present at statistically higher level in clinical blood isolates when compared to faecal and/or probiotic isolates indicating that these factors do not cause risk when safety of probiotics is considered. However, the significance of adhesion to mucus, low induction of respiratory burst in PMN and resistance to human serum-mediated killing may need further evaluation in experimental animal models and in epidemiological data.     

In vitro fermentation of cereal dietary fibre carbohydrates by probiotic and intestinal bacteria

A range of probiotic and other intestinal bacteria were examined for their ability to ferment the dietary fibre carbohydrates β‐glucan, xylan, xylo‐oligosaccharides (XOS) and arabinoxylan. β‐Glucan was fermented by Bacteroides spp and Clostridium beijerinckii but was not fermented by lactobacilli, bifidobacteria, enterococci or Escherichia coli. Unsubstituted xylan was not fermented by any of the probiotic bacteria examined. However, many Bifidobacterium species and Lactobacillus brevis were able to grow to high yields using XOS. XOS were also efficiently fermented by some Bacteroides isolates but not by E coli, enterococci, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens or by the majority of intestinal Lactobacillus species examined. Bifidobacterium longum strains were able to grow well using arabinoxylan as the sole carbon source. These organisms hydrolysed and fermented the arabinosyl residues from arabinoxylan but did not substantially utilise the xylan backbone of the polysaccharide. Arabinoxylan was not fermented by lactobacilli, enterococci, E coli, C perfringens or C difficile and has potential to be an applicable carbohydrate to complement probiotic Bif longum strains in synbiotic combinations. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

BET Inhibition Upregulates SIRT1 and Alleviates Inflammatory Responses

Control of histone acetylation is a part of the epigenetic mechanism that regulates gene expression and chromatin architecture. The members of the bromodomain and extra terminal domain (BET) protein family are a group of epigenetic readers that recognize histone acetylation, whereas histone deacetyl‐ ases such as sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) function as epigenetic erasers. We observed that BET inhibition by the specific inhibitor JQ1 upregulated SIRT1 expression and activated SIRT1. Moreover, we observed that BET inhibition functionally reversed the pro‐inflammatory effect of SIRT1 inhibition in a cellular lung disease model. SIRT1 activation is desirable in many age‐related, metabolic and inflammatory diseases; our results suggest that BET protein inhibition would be beneficial in treatment of those conditions. Most importantly, our findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of SIRT1 activation by inhibition of the BET proteins.     

Ante- and perinatal factors and child characteristics predicting parenting experience among formerly infertile couples during the child's first year: A controlled study.

In this prospective controlled study, the authors examined (a) parenting experiences among couples with successful assisted reproduction treatment (ART; n = 367) and fertile spontaneously conceiving controls (n = 371) and (b) the impact of ante- and perinatal factors and child characteristics on parenting experiences. The results show that positive mothering experiences increased more during the 1st year of parenting and were generally higher among ART mothers than control mothers. No differences were found between ART fathers and controls in their fathering experience. Unpleasant birth experiences, low birth weight, and difficulty soothing the child were associated with high levels of parental stress in the control group, but this was not so among the ART parents. Psychosocial interventions in maternal care should take into account the various meanings that couples give to the history of infertility and conception and ante- and perinatal experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metallocene‐based functionalized polyolefins as compatibilizers in polyolefin nanocomposites

This article reports a study of some functionalized polyolefins evaluated as compatibilizers in polyethylene nanocomposites. The functionalized polymers were prepared by direct metallocene‐mediated copolymerizations of ethylene and a functional comonomer. The prepared nanocomposites were evaluated for mechanical and barrier property enhancement. A good combination of mechanical and barrier properties was obtained with the metallocene‐based functionalized polyethylene. The toughness–stiffness balance was better than or comparable to that achieved with conventional functionalized polymers such as maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene. The results also indicated that these metallocene‐based functionalized polyolefins, when used as compatibilizers, could have relatively higher molar masses and lower functionality than those of conventional post‐reactor‐modified compatibilizers, and so the drawbacks associated with the latter could be avoided. Their inherent properties could also further improve the final nanocomposite properties. This was attributed to the more homogeneous nature of metallocene‐catalyzed polymers in comparison with post‐reactor‐modified products. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 1094–1100, 2004     

Electropolymerization of N-methylanthranilic acid and spectroelectrochemical characterization of the formed film

The electropolymerization of N-methylanthranilic acid (NMAA) is reported in this paper. The monomer is substituted both at ortho- and N-position and, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been previously electropolymerized. Electropolymerization of NMAA was done on glassy carbon and optically transparent (indium) tin oxide electrodes. The obtained films, which are probably of an oligomeric nature (oligoNMMA), were characterized with cyclic voltammetry (CV), in situ UV–vis and Raman spectroscopy, ex situ FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Our results show that NMAA can be electropolymerized as thin films in 1.0 M HClO₄, but the oxidation and reduction peak currents in the CVs indicate that the formed oligoNMAA films are thinner than poly(N-methylaniline) or poly(N-butylaniline) films prepared under similar conditions. The CV and UV–vis measurements confirm that oligoNMAA have three oxidation states like suggested in the redox scheme of substituted polyanilines. The Raman spectra of oligoNMAA also verify that more quinoid units are formed at higher potentials in accordance with the redox scheme. The ex situ FTIR measurement proves that covalently attached carboxylic acid groups are present in the film structure and attached to the oligoNMAA backbone.     

A Distinct Cytokine Profile and Stromal Vascular Fraction Metabolic Status without Significant Changes in the Lipid Composition Characterizes Lipedema

Lipedema is an adipose tissue disorder characterized by the disproportionate increase of subcutaneous fat tissue in the lower and/or upper extremities. The underlying pathomechanism remains unclear and no molecular biomarkers to distinguish the disease exist, leading to a large number of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed patients. To unravel the distinct molecular characteristic of lipedema we performed lipidomic analysis of the adipose tissue and serum of lipedema versus anatomically- and body mass index (BMI)-matched control patients. Both tissue groups showed no significant changes regarding lipid composition. As hyperplastic adipose tissue represents low-grade inflammation, the potential systemic effects on circulating cytokines were evaluated in lipedema and control patients using the Multiplex immunoassay system. Interestingly, increased systemic levels of interleukin 11 (p = 0.03), interleukin 28A (p = 0.04) and interleukin 29 (p = 0.04) were observed. As cytokines can influence metabolic activity, the metabolic phenotype of the stromal vascular fraction was examined, revealing significantly increased mitochondrial respiration in lipedema. In conclusion, despite sharing a comparable lipid profile with healthy adipose tissue, lipedema is characterized by a distinct systemic cytokine profile and metabolic activity of the stromal vascular fraction.     

Oxidative capacity and hemolytic activity of settled dust from moisture‐damaged schools

Exposure to moisture‐damaged indoor environments is associated with adverse respiratory health effects, but responsible factors remain unidentified. In order to explore possible mechanisms behind these effects, the oxidative capacity and hemolytic activity of settled dust samples (n = 25) collected from moisture‐damaged and non‐damaged schools in Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland were evaluated and matched against the microbial content of the sample. Oxidative capacity was determined with plasmid scission assay and hemolytic activity by assessing the damage to isolated human red blood cells. The microbial content of the samples was measured with quantitative PCR assays for selected microbial groups and by analyzing the cell wall markers ergosterol, muramic acid, endotoxins, and glucans. The moisture observations in the schools were associated with some of the microbial components in the dust, and microbial determinants grouped together increased the oxidative capacity. Oxidative capacity was also affected by particle concentration and country of origin. Two out of 14 studied dust samples from moisture‐damaged schools demonstrated some hemolytic activity. The results indicate that the microbial component connected with moisture damage is associated with increased oxidative stress and that hemolysis should be studied further as one possible mechanism contributing to the adverse health effects of moisture‐damaged buildings.