Structures of sialylated oligosaccharides of human erythropoietin expressed in recombinant BHK-21 cells

The native structures of the Asn-linked oligosaccharides and the O-glycans at Ser126 of human erythropoietin expressed from recombinant BHK cells have been elucidated. Enzymatically released N-glycans were studied by methylation analyses, fast-atom-bombardment mass spectrometry as well as one- and two-dimensional 1H-NMR spectrometry at 600 MHz. Many (82.7%) were found to be tetraantennary N-acetyllactosamine-type (22.8% with one, 3.6% with two and 0.4% with three N-acetyllactosamine repeats) being tetrasialylated (41%), trisialylated (29.6%) and disialylated (12.2%). A few (9.7%; 4.1% 2,4-branched, 5.6%, 2,6-branched) of the chains were triantennary (5.4% trisialyl, 4.3% disialyl) and 4.6% were of the disialyl diantennary type. Almost all of the innermost GlcNAc residues were alpha 1-6 fucosylated and NeuAc was exclusively alpha 2-3 linked to Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc-R; 60% of the protein was found to be O-glycosylated at Ser126; structures were monosialylated (70%) or disialylated (30%) forms of the Gal beta 1-3GalNAc core type. Glycosylation patterns at individual Asn-Xaa-Thr/Ser sites were determined by analytical high-pH anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. Only tetraantennary chains with 0-3 N-acetyllactosamine repeats were detected at Asn38 and Asn83, while almost all of the di- and triantennary oligosaccharides were attached to Asn24. Batch analysis of different preparations of recombinant erythropoietin revealed the high reproducibility of the production procedure. Structures containing terminal GalNAc-GlcNAc were detected in small amounts in a few batches.     

Stability of tapioca chips fried in RBD palm olein treated with antioxidants

The effectiveness of tertiarybutylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in stabilizing tapioca chips was assessed by determining the peroxide andp-anisidine values, absorbances at 232 nm and 268 nm and the 18:2/16:0 ratios of oil extracted from tapioca chips. The order of effectiveness of the antioxidants in stabilizing the chips was found to be TBHQ > BHT > BHA. The order of effectiveness of antioxidants, TBHQ > BHT > BHA, was maintained for chips from corresponding 1st, 4th and 7th fryings. The loss of antioxidants during storage could not be directly related to oxidation parameters.     

A performance evaluation of scalable live video streaming with nano data centers

To improve the efficiency and the quality of a service, a network operator may consider deploying a peer-to-peer architecture among controlled peers, also called here nano data centers, which contrast with the churn and resource heterogeneity of peers in uncontrolled environments. In this paper, we consider a prevalent peer-to-peer application: live video streaming. We demonstrate how nano data centers can take advantage of the self-scaling property of a peer-to-peer architecture, while significantly improving the quality of a live video streaming service, allowing smaller delays and fast channel switching. We introduce the branching architecture for nano datacenters (BAND), where a user can “pull” content from a channel of interest, or content could be “pushed” to it for relaying to other interested users. We prove that there exists an optimal trade-off point between minimizing the number of push, or the number of relaying nodes, and maintaining a robust topology as the number of channels and users get large, which allows scalability. We analyze the performance of content dissemination as users switch between channels, creating migration of nodes in the tree, while flow control insures continuity of data transmission. We prove that this p2p architecture guarantees a throughput independently of the size of the group. Analysis and evaluation of the model demonstrate that pushing content to a small number of relay nodes can have significant performance gains in throughput, start-up time, playback lags and channel switching delays.     

Fouling Detection in an Optically Accessible Microstructured Heat Exchanger

The application of highly effective microstructured devices in continuous production and industrial environments is frequently prone to fouling. A new method is presented to characterize fouling in these microstructures. Thermal fouling of aqueous solutions containing whey protein were used as a test system. Different fouling effects could be observed and distinguished. Integral fouling indicators, such as thermal fouling resistance and pressure drop, as conventional criteria for the occurrence of fouling were compared with direct local optical observation. Low thermal fouling resistances could be detected.     

Sorption/release of diclofenac sodium in/from free‐standing poly(acrylic acid)/poly(ethyleneimine) multilayer films

Polyelectrolyte multilayer films deposited onto various substrates have been used extensively as drug delivery systems. However, little attention has been paid to the release of drugs from free‐standing polymeric films. Herein, we report the construction of thermal crosslinked free‐standing poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)/branched poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) multilayer films composed of 25 double layers [(PAA/PEI)₂₅] and their use in sorption/release of diclofenac sodium (DS). The (PAA/PEI)₂₅ multilayer films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, potentiometric titrations and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, while the sorption/release of DS was monitored by UV – Vis spectroscopy. The DS sorption equilibrium data were fitted with five isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, Dubinin–Radushkevich, and Temkin). The maximum equilibrium sorption capacity, q_m, given by the Langmuir model was 32.42 mg DS/g. The Korsmeyer–Peppas semiempirical equation showed that the release of DS from the free‐standing (PAA/PEI)₂₅ films proceeded by pseudo‐Fickian diffusion, irrespective of the releasing media. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43752.     

Individual cell lag time distributions of Cronobacter (Enterobacter sakazakii) and impact of pooling samples on its detection in powdered infant formula

Cells of six strains of Cronobacter were subjected to dry stress and stored for 2.5 months at ambient temperature. The individual cell lag time distributions of recovered cells were characterized at 25 °C and 37 °C in non-selective broth. The individual cell lag times were deduced from the times taken by cultures from individual cells to reach an optical density threshold. In parallel, growth curves for each strain at high contamination levels were determined in the same growth conditions. In general, the extreme value type II distribution with a shape parameter fixed to 5 (EVIIb) was the most effective at describing the 12 observed distributions of individual cell lag times. Recently, a model for characterizing individual cell lag time distribution from population growth parameters was developed for other food-borne pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes. We confirmed this model’s applicability to Cronobacter by comparing the mean and the standard deviation of individual cell lag times to populational lag times observed with high initial concentration experiments. We also validated the model in realistic conditions by studying growth in powdered infant formula decimally diluted in Buffered Peptone Water, which represents the first enrichment step of the standard detection method for Cronobacter. Individual lag times and the pooling of samples significantly affect detection performances.     

A comparison of biological activities of a new soya biopeptide studied in an in vitro skin equivalent model and human volunteers

During aging, the epidermis and dermis become thin and an efficient anti-aging product should be able to stimulate the metabolism of senescent fibroblast and keratinocytes, in order to increase the quantity of extra-cellular matrix components such as collagen and glycosaminoglycans. A study performed in parallel on an in vitro skin equivalent model, and in vivo, with human volunteers, demonstrated the efficacy of one specific soya biopeptide for anti-aging properties. Such a biopeptide induces a significant increase of glycosaminoglycans synthesis in vitro and in vivo after a one-month treatment. We also showed that this new cosmetic ingredient is able to stimulate favourably the collagen synthesis in vitro and in vivo. This study provided the proof for anti-aging properties of a new soya biopeptide and also validated the skin equivalent model developed for this experimentation as an alternative method to animal or human testing for some cosmetic efficacy evaluations.