The Beacon, June 26, 2013

Vol. 24, Issue 88, 12 pageshttps://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/1721/thumbnail.jp

Emulsifier and antioxidant properties of by-products obtained by enzymatic degumming of soybean oil

The enzymes used in degumming, called phospholipases, specifically act on phospholipids without degrading the oil itself. Degumming using a phospholipase C enzyme allows to meet all market specifications while it increases the oil yield. The aim of this study was to evaluate antioxidant and emulsifier properties of the recovered gum (RG) obtained by enzymatic oil degumming process of crude soybean oil subjected to modifications as deoiling (RG deoiled) or ethanol fractionation (RG soluble and insoluble). RG soluble allowed obtaining more stable O/W emulsions (30:70 w/w) in comparison with those by-products assayed at different concentrations (0.1?1.0%). Also, deoiled soybean lecithin (DSL) andRG deoiled had a similar behavior in relation to the kinetic destabilization (%BS profiles), despite the different degumming processes used to obtain these samples. The study on induction times (Metrohm Rancimat) showed a significant antioxidant effect (p<0.05) against a refined sunflower oil associated with all the by-products analyzed. However, RG soluble and DSL showed a strong effect on the oil stability at high concentrations (1000?2000 ppm). These results showed that the deoiled recovered gum and its derivates obtained by ethanol fractionation are a potential alternative for industrial application as additive.Fil: Cabezas, Dario Marcelino. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Diehl, B. W. K.. Spectral Service GmbH Laboratorium fur Auftragsanalytik. Cologne; AlemaniaFil: Tomas, Mabel Cristina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Design and fabrication of a micro Coulter counter with thin film electrodes

We report a new approach for micro Coulter counter with thin film electrodes. Traditional Coulter counter measures DC resistance change to sense particles passing through an aperture between two flow chambers. One of the, biggest challenges to miniaturize the device is to overcome the large resistance encountered. We propose a new approach to use thin film metal electrodes in micron size range for sensing. Resolution can be improved and it's easy for system integration. A device based on this approach was built and tested

Streaming and Massively Parallel Algorithms for Edge Coloring

A valid edge-coloring of a graph is an assignment of "colors" to its edges such that no two incident edges receive the same color. The goal is to find a proper coloring that uses few colors. (Note that the maximum degree, Delta, is a trivial lower bound.) In this paper, we revisit this fundamental problem in two models of computation specific to massive graphs, the Massively Parallel Computations (MPC) model and the Graph Streaming model: - Massively Parallel Computation: We give a randomized MPC algorithm that with high probability returns a Delta+O~(Delta^(3/4)) edge coloring in O(1) rounds using O(n) space per machine and O(m) total space. The space per machine can also be further improved to n^(1-Omega(1)) if Delta = n^Omega(1). Our algorithm improves upon a previous result of Harvey et al. [SPAA 2018]. - Graph Streaming: Since the output of edge-coloring is as large as its input, we consider a standard variant of the streaming model where the output is also reported in a streaming fashion. The main challenge is that the algorithm cannot "remember" all the reported edge colors, yet has to output a proper edge coloring using few colors. We give a one-pass O~(n)-space streaming algorithm that always returns a valid coloring and uses 5.44 Delta colors with high probability if the edges arrive in a random order. For adversarial order streams, we give another one-pass O~(n)-space algorithm that requires O(Delta^2) colors

Superoxide dismutase C and Ras affects Dictyostelium Contractile vacuole morphogenesis and function

Dictyostelium cells lacking SodC displayed severely compromised CV morphogenesis and function. The sodC- cells were vulnerable to hypotonic stress and showed poorly developed CV tubules, significant increase in the number of CV bladders, and a prolonged charging phase. Alleviation of the intracellular superoxide level in sodC- cells with the cytoplasmic Superoxide dismutase A (SodA) or superoxide scavenger XTT significantly reduced the number of CV bladders to the level of the wild type, but the discharging step was still hampered. Introduction of redox insensitive RasG(C118A) mutant in sodC- cells or inhibition of RasG target PI3K with LY204002 also significantly reduced the number of the CV bladders. In contrast to the superoxide scavenging, obstruction of the RasG downstream PI3K signaling aggravated the discharging step. It is plausible that other superoxide sensitive small GTPase’s such as Rab8 is likely persistently activated in LY204002 treated or RasG(C118A) expressing sodC- cells. In addition, we report that sodC- cells not only suffer from high level of RasG activity, but also from low level of RacC. Furthermore, sodC- cells treated with amiloride EIPA, which inhibits sodium proton exchange, rescued aberrant regulation of Ras, but not RacC. The EIPA treated sodC- cells displayed a significant increase in directional cell migration, reduction of the bladder number to the wild type, and significantly improved bladder charging and discharging. We also found that heavy chain of Myosin II is essential for normal architecture of CV system as mhcA- cells displayed defects in both, morphogenesis and function of contractile vacuole. Thus, rectifying the dysregulation of RasG and PI3K signaling, global suppression of superoxide level with XTT or SodA expression in sodC- cells rescued CV morphogenesis. In contrast, inhibition of NHE proteins with EIPA in sodC- cells induced near complete rescue of both CV formation and function. EIPA may not only affect the RasG/PI3K signaling, but may also modulate other unidentified signaling components of the functional CV cycle

Prevalence and Determinants of Overweight and Obesity in Preschoolers in Miami-Dade County

Background: The prevalence of childhood overweight in the United States continues to be a national public health problem. The child care and household environments play an important role in the nutrition, physical activity, and screen-time behaviors of preschoolers. Aims: This dissertation aimed to (1) estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 3-5 year old children enrolled in child care centers in Miami-Dade County; (2) identify early life, dietary, and screen-time risk factors of overweight, and (3) assess child care centers\u27 level of adherence to nutrition, physical activity, and screen-time regulations by center socioeconomic location (SEP). Methods: A total of 366 children ages 3-5 years old from 34 child care centers participated in the study. Caregivers completed a questionnaire on socioeconomic, early life, dietary, and screen-time factors. We measured children\u27s heights and weights. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between child overweight and determinants. Results: the prevalence of overweight was 29.8% in this sample. The middle-SEP group had the highest prevalence of overweight (35.3%) when compared to low and high-SEP groups. Being Hispanic was associated with a three-fold risk of overweight/ obesity (AOR: 2.91, 95% CI 1.36, 6.21). Lack of daily fruit consumption increased the risk of overweight in Hispanic children. Middle-SEP children reported lowest consumption of fruits and vegetables. There were significant differences in breastfeeding practices by ethnicity and SEP. Assessment of child care practices resulted in all child care centers adhering to two-hour screen-time regulation for children older than 2-years old. Low and middle SEP centers fared better in serving of fruits , vegetables, and low fat/ fat free milk. The centers had incorporated quite and active play in their routines. Conclusions: This is the first study to examine prevalence by SEP in Miami-Dade County. Findings highlight opportunities for improvement in early life nutrition, as well as dietary and screen-time practices in the household and child care environments

Human Blood Cell Sensing with Platinum Black Electroplated Impedance Sensor

AC impedance sensing is an important method for biological cell analysis in flow cytometry. For micro impedance cell sensors, downsizing electrodes increases the double layer impedance of the metal-electrolyte interface, thus leaves no sensing zone in frequency domain and reduces the sensitivity significantly. We proposed using platinum black electroplated electrodes to solve the problem. In this paper, using this technique we demonstrated human blood cell sensing with high signal to noise ratio

STAT3 Activation in Skeletal Muscle Links Muscle Wasting and the Acute Phase Response in Cancer Cachexia

Cachexia, or weight loss despite adequate nutrition, significantly impairs quality of life and response to therapy in cancer patients. In cancer patients, skeletal muscle wasting, weight loss and mortality are all positively associated with increased serum cytokines, particularly Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and the presence of the acute phase response. Acute phase proteins, including fibrinogen and serum amyloid A (SAA) are synthesized by hepatocytes in response to IL-6 as part of the innate immune response. To gain insight into the relationships among these observations, we studied mice with moderate and severe Colon-26 (C26)-carcinoma cachexia.Moderate and severe C26 cachexia was associated with high serum IL-6 and IL-6 family cytokines and highly similar patterns of skeletal muscle gene expression. The top canonical pathways up-regulated in both were the complement/coagulation cascade, proteasome, MAPK signaling, and the IL-6 and STAT3 pathways. Cachexia was associated with increased muscle pY705-STAT3 and increased STAT3 localization in myonuclei. STAT3 target genes, including SOCS3 mRNA and acute phase response proteins, were highly induced in cachectic muscle. IL-6 treatment and STAT3 activation both also induced fibrinogen in cultured C2C12 myotubes. Quantitation of muscle versus liver fibrinogen and SAA protein levels indicates that muscle contributes a large fraction of serum acute phase proteins in cancer.These results suggest that the STAT3 transcriptome is a major mechanism for wasting in cancer. Through IL-6/STAT3 activation, skeletal muscle is induced to synthesize acute phase proteins, thus establishing a molecular link between the observations of high IL-6, increased acute phase response proteins and muscle wasting in cancer. These results suggest a mechanism by which STAT3 might causally influence muscle wasting by altering the profile of genes expressed and translated in muscle such that amino acids liberated by increased proteolysis in cachexia are synthesized into acute phase proteins and exported into the blood