Antioxidant activity of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) polyphenols and their stability in probiotic yoghurt

Pomegranate is a shrub or small tree grown in different parts of the world that contains higher levels of antioxidants than most fruits. Pomegranate juice (PJ) is well known for its health beneficial compounds, which can be attributed to its total polyphenol compounds and high level of antioxidant activity. This study was undertaken to characterise the antioxidant properties of the fresh juice extracted from the Australian-grown pomegranate ‘Wonderful’ variety in comparison to those reported in the literature and the imported pomegranate juices (IPJs). Total phenolic compounds (TPC) were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu Colorimetric method and expressed as gallic acid equivalent (GAE), while the antioxidant activity (AA) was measured by ABTS method and expressed as Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). The TPC in the fresh juice was found to be 2,400 ± 200 mg/L GAE with antioxidant activity of 11 ± 1 mM/L TEAC, while the TPC of the four imported juices was in the range of 1,000 - 2,800 mg/L GAE with AA ranging from 5.5 to 14.5 mM/L TEAC. In an attempt to further improve the TPC levels in fresh juice different parts of the fruit (arils, chopped peeled or whole fruits) were used for juice extraction using six different extraction methods. The extracted juices showed different yield, colour, soluble solids, titratable acidity, TPC and antioxidant levels. Up to five fold increase in TPC and AA level could be achieved by employing intensive extraction on chopped whole fruits. Pasteurisation did not adversely affect the AA of the resulting samples. Pasteurised juice extracted from arils was concentrated (PJC) to 52 ºB and added into milk used for the production of a probiotic yoghurt containing selected probiotic bacteria. Reconstituted skim milk (16% TS) was supplemented with 6% PJC and inoculated with mixed culture (ABT-5) containing Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA-5), Bifidobacterium bifidum (BB-12) and Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus (TS-B01). The survival of lactic and probiotic cultures in yoghurts were investigated on weekly intervals during the shelf life of 28 days at 4 ºC. Results obtained indicated more than 90% viability of lactic and probiotic cultures after 28 days storage. To evaluate the effects of PJC on individual culture each strain was inoculated in sterilised RSM (16% TS) and incubated overnight at 37 ºC followed by microbiological analyses. The results revealed that the PJC supplementation adversely affected the population of BB-12, but no significant adverse effect was observed on the number of ST-B01 and LA-5. The effects of PJC supplementation on TPC, colour parameters, texture and sensory attributes of probiotic yoghurts were also analysed. The TPC of the probiotic yoghurt containing 6% PJC was found to be 1590 ± 34 mg/L GAE against a background TPC in plain yoghurt of 1153 ± 32 mg/L GAE. Developed probiotic yoghurt was subjected to freeze-drying to evaluate the effects of this procedure on the TPC and probitic bacteria viability. This process raised the TPC of the freeze-dried samples 5.2 folds, and increased the counts of ST-B01, LA-5 and BB-12 by 0.81, 0.64 and 0.74 log cycle

Fat Quantitation in Liver Biopsies Using a Pretrained Classification Based System

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a common syndrome that mainly leads to fat accumulation in liver and steatohepatitis. It is targeted as a severe medical condition ranging from 20% to 40% in adult populations of the Western World. Its effect is identified through insulin resistance, which places patients at high mortality rates. An increased fat aggregation rate, can dramatically increase the development of liver steatosis, which in later stages may advance into fibrosis and cirrhosis. During recent years, new studies have focused on building new methodologies capable of detecting fat cells, based on the histology method with digital image processing techniques. The current study, expands previous work on the detection of fatty liver, by identifying once more a number of diverse histological findings. It is a combined study of both image analysis and supervised learning of fat droplet features, with a specific goal to exclude other findings from fat ratio calculation. The method is evaluated in a total set of 40 liver biopsy images with different magnification capabilities, performing satisfyingly (1.95% absolute error)

A study on the antitumoral and differentiation effects of peganum harmala derivatives in combination with ATRA on leukaemic cells

Plant derived agents may exert a new approach to the treatment of leukaemia. The present study was an evaluation of proliferation, cytotoxicity and differentiation of harmine and harmaline on HL60 cells, alone or in combination with ATRA and G-CSF. Counting of cells, viability, MTT assay, morphology, NBT reduction and flow cytometry analysis were performed using CD11b and CD 14 monoclonal antibodies. The data showed that harmine and harmaline reduced proliferation in dose and time dependent manner. Optimal antiproliferative concentration of these agents was chosen. However, both agents in higher doses were cytotoxic. Combination of ATRA, G-CSF and each agent alone, particularly harmaline in optimal dose, resulted in partially additive decrease in cell proliferation. Cells treated with both harmaline and ATRA demonstrated some morphological changes and NBT positivity, but the extent of changes observed following treatment with harmaline was less than ATRA. Flow cytometric analysis showed that ATRA induced a neutrophilic differentiation, while harmaline led to a predominantly monocytic differentiation. Combination of harmine and harmaline with ATRA and G-CSF did not change the extent of differentiation, and the cells differentiated into the neutrophilic lineage. This shows that the direction of differentiation is dominantly determined by ATRA. These preliminary data implies a new approach in treatment of leukemia

Effects of sex, age, body height and body weight on spinal loads: sensitivity analyses in a subject-specific trunk musculoskeletal model.

Subject-specific parameters influence spinal loads and the risk of back disorders but their relative effects are not well understood. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of changes in age (35-60 years), sex (male, female), body height (BH: 150-190 cm) and body weight (BW: 50-120 kg) on spinal loads in a full factorial simulation using a personalized (spine kinematics, geometry, musculature and passive properties) kinematics driven musculoskeletal trunk finite element model. Segmental weight distribution (magnitude and location along the trunk) was estimated by a novel technique to accurately represent obesity. Five symmetric sagittal loading conditions were considered, and main effect plots and analyses of variance were employed to identify influential parameters. In all 5 tasks simulated, BW (98.9% in compression and 96.1% in shear) had the greatest effect on spinal loads at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels followed by sex (0.7% in compression and 2.1% in shear), BH (0.4% in compression and 1.5% in shear) and finally age (<5.4%). At identical BH and BW, spinal loads in females were slightly greater than those in males by ~4.7% in compression and ~8.7% in shear. In tasks with no loads in hands, BW-normalized spinal loads further increased with BW highlighting the exponential increase in spinal loads with BW that indicates the greater risk of back disorders especially in obese individuals. Uneven distribution of weight in obese subjects, with more BW placed at the lower trunk, further (though slightly <7.5%) increased spinal loads.This work was supported by the institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail 294 (IRSST-2014-0009) and the fonds de recherche du Québec en nature et technologies (FRQNT)

Stem cell-based approach for the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative brain disorder which is around 1.5 times more common in men than in women. Currently, drug medications, surgery, and lifestyle changes are common approaches to PD, while all of them focused on reducing the symptoms. Therefore, regenerative medicine based on stem cell (SC) therapies has raised a promising hope. Various types of SCs have been used in basic and experimental studies relevant to PD, including embryonic pluripotential stem cells, mesenchymal (MSCs) and induced pluripotent SCs (iPSCs). MSCs have several advantages over other counterparts. They are easily accessible which can be obtained from various tissues such as bone marrow, adipose tissue, peripheral blood, etc. with avoiding ethical problems. Therefore, MSCs is attractive clinically because there are no related ethical and immunological concerns . Further studies are needed to answer some crucial questions about the different issues in SC therapy. Accordingly, SC-based therapy for PD also needed more complementary evaluation in both basic and clinical study areas

Leanness assessment in an auto parts manufacturer

This study applies main Lean Manufacturing (LM) techniques to investigate the accordance of an auto parts manufacturer from Iranian automotive industry. Although the concept of LM has been successfully applied in previous studies, concurrent investigation of its requirements is less examined, especially in developing countries. In addition, the majority of previous studies have applied qualitative leanness assessment tools to investigate LM implementation while it is necessary to focus on both qualitative and quantitate techniques. In this regard, this study has applied seven wastes of LM, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to investigate the accordance of an auto parts manufacture with LM requirements. According to the obtained results, this manufacturer is moderately in accordance with LM philosophy

Lysyl Oxidase Mechanisms to Mediate Gastrointestinal Cancer Progression

Background: Malignancy is a complex process resulting from different changes such as extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and stiffness. One of the important enzymes that contribute to ECM remodeling is lysyl oxidase (Lox) that is overexpressed in different types of human cancers. Because of the high prevalence and poor survival of gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies in this review, we discuss the association between Lox activity and the progression of GI cancers. Lox proteins are a group of extracellular enzymes that catalyzed the cross-linking of collagen and elastin, so they have important roles in the control of structure and homeostasis of ECM. Abnormal activation and expression of the Lox family of proteins lead to changes in the ECM toward increased rigidity and fibrosis. Stiffness of ECM can contribute to the pathogenesis of cancers. Summary: Dysregulation of Lox expression is a factor in both fibrotic diseases and cancer. ECM stiffness by Lox overactivity creates a physical barrier against intratumoral concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs and facilitates cancer inflammation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Key Message: Because of the roles of Lox in GI cancers, development targeting Lox protein isotypes may be an appropriate strategy for treatment of GI cancers and improvement in survival of patients

Clinical grade human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell banking

In this study, our aim was to produce a generation of GMP-grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells for clinical applications. According to our results, we fulfill to establish consistent and also reproducible current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliant adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells from five female donors. The isolated cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10 fetal bovine serum and characterized by standard methods. Moreover, karyotyping was performed to evaluate chromosomal stability. Mean of donors� age was 47.6 ± 8.29 year, mean of cell viability was 95.6 ± 1.51, and cell count was between 9�106 and 14�106 per microliter with the mean of 12.2�106 ± 2863564.21 per microliter. The main aim of this project was demonstrating the feasibility of cGMP-compliant and clinical grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells preparation and banking for clinical cell transplantation trials. © 2015 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Clinical Grade Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Banking

In this study, our aim was to produce a generation of GMP-grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells for clinical applications. According to our results, we fulfill to establish consistent and also reproducible current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliant adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells from five female donors. The isolated cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10 fetal bovine serum and characterized by standard methods. Moreover, karyotyping was performed to evaluate chromosomal stability. Mean of donors' age was 47.6 ± 8.29 year, mean of cell viability was 95.6 ± 1.51, and cell count was between 9�106 and 14�106 per microliter with the mean of 12.2�106 ± 2863564.21 per microliter. The main aim of this project was demonstrating the feasibility of cGMP-compliant and clinical grade adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells preparation and banking for clinical cell transplantation trials