Combination of vegetable soup and glucan demonstrates synergistic effects on macrophage-mediated immune responses

Vegetable soup (VS), a plant-based functional food, has been used as a traditional folk medicine and is attracting attention for its ability to enhance the immune response. β-Glucan, a well-established and effective immunomodulator, has synergistic effects when used in combination with some bioactive compounds. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the synergistic immunomodulatory effects of the combination of VS and β-glucan on macrophage-mediated immune responses. β-Glucan was demonstrated to synergistically enhance the VS-stimulated immune response, including the production of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and nitric oxide, mainly through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in macrophages. In addition, this combination has the potential for further development in functional foods with immune-enhancing activity.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-021-00888-x.     

A Note on the Spectral Collocation Approximation of Some Differential Equations with Singular Source Terms

The solution of differential equations with singular source terms contains the local jump discontinuity in general and its spectral approximation is oscillatory due to the Gibbs phenomenon. To minimize the Gibbs oscillations near the local jump discontinuity and improve convergence, the regularization of the approximation is needed. In this note, a simple derivative of the discrete Heaviside function H _c (x) on the collocation points is used for the approximation of singular source terms δ(x−c) or δ ⁽ⁿ⁾(x−c) without any regularization. The direct projection of H _c (x) yields highly oscillatory approximations of δ(x−c) and δ ⁽ⁿ⁾(x−c). In this note, however, it is shown that the direct projection approach can yield a non-oscillatory approximation of the solution and the error can also decay uniformly for certain types of differential equations. For some differential equations, spectral accuracy is also recovered. This method is limited to certain types of equations but can be applied when the given equation has some nice properties. Numerical examples for elliptic and hyperbolic equations are provided. The current address: Department of Mathematics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260-2900, USA.     

Low molecular weight β-glucan stimulates doxorubicin-induced suppression of immune functions in mice

The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of low molecular weight β-glucan (LMG) against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced immune suppression of tumor-bearing mice. The tumor size and spleen cell functions such as spleen cell proliferation, cytokine production (interferon-γ and interleukin-2), and the population of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells were estimated. In the tumorbearing mice, the tumor size was significantly (p<0.05) decreased by DOX treatment. However, there was no significant difference between mice treated with high molecular weight β-glucan (HMG) and mice treated with LMG. Spleen cell proliferation and cytokine production were significantly (p<0.05) decreased in only DOX treated group, but increased in all β-glucan treated groups with DOX. Moreover, the populations of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells were also increased in the LMG-treated group. It appears that LMG effectively reduces the DOX-induced immune toxicity through activation of immune cells such as splenocytes.     

Adaptive Synchronization of Uncertain Chaotic Systems Based on T–S Fuzzy Model

This paper presents an adaptive approach for synchronization of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy chaotic systems. T-S fuzzy model can represent a general class of nonlinear system and we employ it for fuzzy modeling of the chaotic drive system. Since the output of the drive system is only available for synchronization, the response system is designed based on fuzzy adaptive observer for uncertain parameters and parameter mismatch cases. We analyze the stability of the overall fuzzy synchronization system by applying Lyapunov stability theory and derive stability conditions by solving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) problem. The adaptive law is derived to estimate the uncertain parameters or parameter mismatch. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the validity of the proposed fuzzy adaptive synchronization approach.     

Changes in colour and antioxidant activities of Hizikia fusiformis cooking drips by gamma irradiation

To utilize the cooking drips produced during the seaweed drying process, the effect of gamma irradiation on microbial contamination, colour, and antioxidant activities of Hizikia fusiformis cooking drips (HCD) was investigated. A two log cycles reduction of total aerobic bacteria and yeast and moulds counts was obtained irradiating HCD at 1 kGy. The Hunter L^∗ value of the HCD ethanol extract was increased by the gamma irradiation treatment, but the a^∗ and b^∗ values decreased upon irradiation depending on the absorbed dose. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and β-carotene bleaching activities of the HCD extracts increased as a result of gamma irradiation, which was rationalized by the observed increase in polyphenolic compounds content. These results suggest that wasted cooking drips can be used as a functional component by the food and cosmetic industries if the irradiation technology were applied.     

Anti-allergic effect of low molecular weight β-glucan prepared by λ-irradiation

This study evaluated the anti-allergic effect of low molecular weight β-glucan (25 kDa) degraded by λ-irradiation. Allergy was induced in mouse models administrated with λ-irradiated low molecular weight and non-irradiated high molecular weight β-glucan, respectively, for 7 days. However, only the mice treated with low molecular weight β-glucan had a significantly decreased the total serum IgE and ovalbumin specific-IgE levels, and significantly increased Th 1 cytokine expression compared to only allergy induced mice. The allergic responses could be reduced by low molecular weight β-glucan treated λ-irradiation through the increased expression of Th 1 response and decreased expression of total IgE and antigen specific IgE.     

Characteristics of pressure distribution and solution to the problems caused by stack effect in high-rise residential buildings

This paper shows the characteristics of pressure distribution caused by stack effect in high-rise residential buildings and proposes solutions for stack effect problems during the cold season. First, field measurements were conducted in two high-rise residential buildings in Korea to understand the characteristics of pressure difference and problems due to stack effect. Next, several high-rise residential buildings were simulated to confirm these characteristics and problems. From the field measurements and simulation results, the Thermal Draft Coefficients varied from 0.20 to 0.49. These values meant that most of the stack pressure difference in high-rise residential buildings acted on interior partitions rather than on exterior walls, so that serious problems due to large pressure differentials can occur on the inside of the building. The separation method which includes installing ‘air-lock doors’ between the elevator core area and residential area, is proposed to solve the pressure difference problems.     

Fabrication and electrochemical characterization of a vertical array of MnO2 nanowires grown on silicon substrates as a cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries

A complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible process for fabricating on-chip microbatteries based on nanostructures has been developed by growing manganese dioxide nanowires on silicon dioxide (SiO₂)/silicon (Si) substrate as a cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries. High aspect-ratio anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template integrated on SiO₂/Si substrates can be exploited for fabrication of a vertical array of nanowires having high surface area. The electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) nanowires are galvanostatically synthesized by direct current (dc) electrodeposition. The microstructure of these nanowire arrays is investigated by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Their electrochemical tests show that the discharge capacity of about 150 mAh g⁻¹ is maintained during a few cycles at the high discharge/charge rate of 300 mA g⁻¹.     

Finite Fourier Frame Approximation Using the Inverse Polynomial Reconstruction Method

In several applications, data are collected in the frequency (Fourier) domain non-uniformly, either by design or as a consequence of inexact measurements. The two major bottlenecks for image reconstruction from non-uniform Fourier data are (i) there is no obvious way to perform the numerical approximation, as the non-uniform Fourier data is not amenable to fast transform techniques and resampling the data first to uniform spacing is often neither accurate or robust; and (ii) the Gibbs phenomenon is apparent when the underlying function (image) is piecewise smooth, an occurrence in nearly every application. Recent investigations suggest that it may be useful to view the non-uniform Fourier samples as Fourier frame coefficients when designing reconstruction algorithms that attempt to mitigate either of these fundamental problems. The inverse polynomial reconstruction method (IPRM) was developed to resolve the Gibbs phenomenon in the reconstruction of piecewise analytic functions from spectral data, notably Fourier data. This paper demonstrates that the IPRM is also suitable for approximating the finite inverse Fourier frame operator as a projection onto the weighted \(L_2\) space of orthogonal polynomials. Moreover, the IPRM can also be used to remove the Gibbs phenomenon from the Fourier frame approximation when the underlying function is piecewise smooth. The one-dimensional numerical results presented here demonstrate that using the IPRM in this way yields a robust, stable, and accurate approximation from non-uniform Fourier data.