Characteristics of a label-free piezoelectric immunosensor detecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa

A label-free immunosensor system detecting a psychrophylic bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was developed as follows. Four types of anti-P. aeruginosa antibody were individually chemisorbed onto one-side gold electrodes of piezoelectric quartz crystals according to a thiolated antibody coupling procedure initiated with a thiol-cleavable heterobifunctional cross-linker, sulfosuccinimidyl-6-[3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionamido]hexanoate. A flow-type biosensor system was operated optimally at 0.2 M sodium potassium phosphate, pH 7.2 with a minimal matrix effect and the selected flow rate for it was 0.155 ml/min. A biosensor response was detected by measuring a steady-state resonant frequency shift after the response time around 8 min. The frequency shifts obtained were quite specific according to the antibody types and P. aeruginosa strains. The biosensor responses to varying concentrations of the P. aeruginosa cells ranging from 1.3×10⁷ to 1.3×10⁸ CFU/ml were determined as 17–176 Hz and a linear calibration curve (r=0.942) was obtained by plotting the responses in a double-logarithmic scale. The selectivity of the biosensor between P. aeruginosa and Xanthomonas spp. which both belong to the aerobic pseudomonads was, however, not so good owing to the property of the antibody used. The sensor chip could be reused at least seven times without an appreciable decrease in sensitivity.     

Sulfamethazine detection with direct-binding optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy-based immunosensor

A direct-binding optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy-based immunosensor detecting sulfamethazine (SMZ) was prepared, followed by the measurement of its specificity and sensitivity. System construction was undertaken with a peristaltic pump, an injector and the main unit comprising a sensor holder, two signal-harvesting photodiodes, a beam mirror, shutter and He–Ne laser source emitting a monochrome light (λ = 632.8 nm), plus a PC. Antibody immobilization was performed in situ by covalent binding of an anti-SMZ antibody over the surface of a glutaraldehyde-activated 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-treated sensor chip. The reaction buffer for the system was 4 mM Tris–HCl (pH 7.2) that showed a medium surface coverage and stable baseline. Sensor response was quite specific to antibody–antigen complexation, as judged from no sensor response caused by bovine serum albumin immobilization. The sensor responses according to SMZ concentrations from 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻² M increased linearly in a semi-logarithmic scale, with the limit of detection of 10⁻⁸ M. The immunosensor was favorably reusable for SMZ screening.     

A comparative study on properties of fish meat hydrolysates produced by an enzymatic process at high pressure

Food Science and Biotechnology - Fish meat hydrolysates (FMHs) were produced from nine fishes at a high pressure of 300 MPa using Flavourzyme 500MG and a protease mixture including...     

Experimental Splash Studies of Monodisperse Sprays Impacting Variously Shaped Surfaces

Despite numerous studies of the drop impact phenomena, studies of the fundamental mechanisms of how the splash corona and subsequent necking yield splashed droplets, not to mention characteristics of these splashed droplets, remain a subject of great interest. Here, we consider a simple question: After impact, what are the characteristics of splashed droplets? Spatial variations in the fraction of splashed liquid, Sauter mean diameter, and drop-size distribution for water and diesel impacting onto variously shaped rods are reported. Liquid drops of nearly uniform size are continuously injected onto a 2-mm-diameter aluminum cylindrical rod at velocities of up to 17 m/s. The impact face of the rod is flat with angles from θ = 0 to 60° or it has a concave, convex, or conical shape. The experimental results indicate that diesel breaks up more easily than water due to its low surface tension. However, due to increased energy loss through viscous dissipation during drop collapse and spreading, dispersion of diesel drops upon and after impact is less energetic than that of water since diesel droplets do not travel as fast or as far as water droplets. During corona formation, stretching and necking of diesel drops before their snap-off are particularly evident due to diesel's high viscosity. Size distribution of splashed diesel droplets is more uniform than that of water near the impact region and water is more uniform further away.     

Effects of medium high pressure treatments on protease activity

The ability of Lactobacillus manihotivorans LMG 18010 to produce l(+)-lactic acid from a high concentration of starch by direct fermentation was investigated. To improve the production of lactic acid from a highly concentrated starch, fed-batch cultures were carried out with different feeding strategies to reduce substrate inhibition. The highest lactic acid production was 71.4 g/L, which was obtained by intermittent feeding of concentrated starch media containing nitrogen sources. After 5 days of fermentation, about 87% of the substrate was consumed with a volumetric productivity of 0.6 g/L·h which is 1.8 times higher than that obtained from batch fermentation. This result clearly shows that intermittant feeding of a highly concentrated substrate solution during fermentation is an efficient way of eliminating substrate inhibition.     

Formation Mechanisms of Tetragonal Barium Titanate Nanoparticles in Alkoxide–Hydroxide Sol-Precipitation Synthesis

The early stage of barium titanate (BaTiO₃) nanoparticle formation is investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) using synchrotron radiation. BaTiO₃ nanoparticles are synthesized via dissolution of barium hydroxide octahydrate and hydrolysis of titanium (IV) isopropoxide in isopropanol. In the course of raising the temperature of the alkoxide–hydroxide mixture solution to 80°C, in situ synchrotron XRD reveals that BaTiO₃ nanocrystals smaller than 6 nm begin to nucleate at 50°C without intermediate TiO₂ anatase formation, and Ti K edge absorption spectra also confirm the formation of corner-sharing TiO₆ octahedra at 60°C. The average size of BaTiO₃ precipitates increases to about 7.5 nm at 80°C. The synthesized nanopowders show an anomalously high tetragonality according to the Rietveld refinement of synchrotron XRD data.     

Rapid detection of food pathogens using RNA aptamers-immobilized slide

The purpose of this study was to develop a simple and rapid detection system for foodborne bacteria, which consisted of an optical microscope and its slide chip with artificial antibodies, or RNA aptamers. From an RNA pool, three each RNA aptamers were built by the method of SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) for components of cell wall, LPS (lipopolysaccharide) from E. coli O157:H7, teichoic acid from Staphylococcus aureus and a cell membrane protein of OmpC from Salmonella typhimurium, respectively. These aptamers were hybridized with thiol-conjugated 16 dT-linker molecules in order to be immobilized on silver surface which was, in advance, fabricated on glass slide, using a spin-coating method. To confirm that each aptamers retained its specific binding activities to their antigenic live bacteria, microscopic view of bound cells immobilized on silver film were observed. Furthermore, we observed the fluorescence-emitting bacteria-aptamer complex immobilized on silver film after adding RNA aptamers hybridized with fluorophore, FAM-conjugated 16 dT-linker molecules. As a result, the RNA aptamers-immobilized slide system developed in this study was a useful new tool to rapidly monitor individual food pathogens.     

A comparison between high hydrostatic pressure extraction and heat extraction of ginsenosides from ginseng (Panax ginseng CA Meyer)

BACKGROUND: To determine biomaterial components, the components must first be transferred into solution; thus extraction is the first step in biomaterial analysis. High hydrostatic pressure technology was used for ginsenoside extraction from ginseng roots. In the extraction of fresh and red ginseng, high hydrostatic pressure extraction (HHPE) was found to be more effective than heat extraction (HE). RESULTS: In fresh ginseng extraction under HHPE, total ginsenosides (1602.2 µg mL^?1) and ginsenoside metabolite (132.6 µg mL^?1) levels were slightly higher than those under HE (1259.0 and 78.7 µg mL^?1), respectively. In red ginseng, similar results indicated total ginsenoside and ginsenoside metabolite amounts according to the extraction methods. Most volatile compounds by HHPE were higher than by HE treatment. HHPE of red ginseng was conducted under four pressures: 0.1 MPa (1 atm), 30, 50, and 80 MPa. Total sugar, uronic acid, and polyphenol amounts increased until 30 MPa of pressure and then showed decreasing tendencies. Total ginsenoside and ginsenoside metabolite contents linearly increased with increasing pressure, and a maximum was reached at 80 MPa for the metabolites. CONCLUSION: HHPE used for red ginseng processing contributes to enhanced extraction efficiencies of functional materials such as ginsenosides through cell structure modification. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Associations between fruit and vegetable,and antioxidant nutrient intake and age-related macular degeneration by smoking status in elderly Korean men

Background

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the major causes of irreversible blindness. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is any relationship between dietary intake of fruits and vegetables (F&V) and antioxidant nutrients including carotenoids and AMD according to smoking status in elderly men.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional analysis using nationally representative samples of elderly aged ≥?65 years (n?=?1414) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2010–2012).

Results

The current smokers consumed less food in total, and, in particular, less cereals/potatoes/sugar products, fruits and vegetables than the nonsmokers and former smokers (p?<?0.05). Intake of energy, thiamin, vitamin C, vitamin A, and β-carotene were significantly lower in the current smokers than in the nonsmokers and the former smokers. For current smokers, the ORs of the highest tertile compared with the lowest tertile were 0.36 (95% CI: 0.14–0.96, p for trend?=?0.0576) for F&V, 0.32 (95% CI: 0.12–0.85, p for trend?=?0.0561) for vitamin C, 0.23 (95% CI: 0.08–0.67, p for trend?=?0.0038) for α-carotene, 0.13 (95% CI: 0.04–0.46, p for trend?=?0.0003) for β-carotene after adjusting for confounding factors. In contrast, there was no association between antioxidant nutrient intake and AMD among the nonsmokers and former smokers.

Conclusions

These results suggest that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables containing antioxidant components such as vitamin C, α-carotene, and β-carotene may have a protective effect on AMD. These effects may be more evident among current smokers.