The effect of hopping technology on lager beer flavor and flavor stability and the impact of polyphenols on lager beer flavor and physical stability

Beer is one of the most extensively consumed beverages world-wide and it is almost always brewed with hops (Humulus lupulus, L.). Hops provide beer with bitterness, aroma, flavor and texture and also enhance specific beer properties such as foam stability, clarity (colloidal stability), color, flavor stability and microbial stability. Hops are a dioecious species, with female plants producing the hop strobilus (cone). The cone is an inflorescence, which is the entire part of the plant that holds the flowers. Hop cones contain lupulin glands (the source of the hop bittering resins), essential oils, and polyphenols (prenylflavonoids). Beer prenylflavonoids such as the flavan-3-ols and their condensed products, the proanthocyanidins, represent a class of readily oxidizable compounds capable of hindering or preventing the oxidation of other molecules present in beer. Flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins have recently gained significant consideration as potential beer flavor modifiers and/or stabilizers. However their roles in beer flavor stability have not yet been fully realized. In this study polyphenols were extracted from spent hop (Humulus lupulus L. cv Galena) solid materials and dosed into commercial lager beers. Chemical analysis of the fresh and aged beers confirmed an anti-staling effect of the dosed polyphenol extract as measured by antioxidant capacity assays: FRAP, DPPH• and ESR. The polyphenol rich extract was subjected to phloroglucinolysis and analyzed via reverse-phased chromatography/mass spectroscopy-electrospray ionization (RP-HPLC/MS-ESI) to determine flavonoid content. C-18 RP-HPLC analysis of the extract revealed that it was 99% phenolic in nature, with a procyanidin mean degree of polymerization (mDP) of 2.72. Based on these findings beers were subsequently brewed with and without hop products (Humulus lupulus L. cv Galena) to target the effect of the complete hop (pellets), hop bittering acids only (CO₂ extract), hop polyphenols only (spent hop solids) and no hop components (Control) on beer flavor and flavor stability. Spent Hop and Pellet Hop beers scored highest in antioxidant potential as measured by the FRAP assay, howeer ESR results were contradictory. Even after force-aging, Pellet hopped beers were lowest in total aldehydes and Control beers were highest in total aldehydes, indicating a protective effect for whole hop products on staling aldehyde formation. Sensorially, the Spent Hop and Pellet Hop beers were characterized by high Piney and Tropical fruit notes, with significant increases occurring after force-aging. The Control beers were rated as being higher in Overall Aroma Intensity, and were judged as being high in Cardboard aroma after force-aging. Preliminary findings from the brewing trials indicated that significant changes in polyphenol levels occur during accelerated aging. The brewing trial was therefore repeated and beers were profiled for phenolic content and investigated for changes in phenolic content during aging. Beer polyphenols were extracted with Sephadex LH20 resin and subjected to phloroglucinolysis to reveal subunit composition and proanthocyanidin mDP. Although the sephadex extracts were phenolic in nature, proanthocyanidins only accounted for up to 2% of the total phenolic material. Total flavanoid and proanthocyanidin content of the beers increased initially during storage, with eventual decreases occurring after 6 weeks of storage at 30°C. Beers high in hop polyphenols did not suppress the loss of iso-alpha acids during aging and were once again assessed as least flavor stable of the beers by ESR T150.Keywords: flavor stability, lager, aldehydes, beer flavor, polyphenol

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in cigarette smoke cause endothelial cell apoptosis by a phospholipase A2dependent mechanism

Smoking is a major risk factor for endothelial cell injury and subsequent coronary artery disease. Epidemiological studies implicate the phospholipase A2/arachidonic acid cascade in the mechanism by which smoking causes heart disease. However, specific components of cigarette smoke that activate this pathway have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contained in cigarette smoke on phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity and apoptosis of human coronary artery endothelial cells. 1methylanthracene (1â MA), phenanthrene (PA), and benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) caused significant release of 3Hâ arachidonate from endothelial cells. 1â MA and PA, but not B(a)P, also caused significant release of 3Hâ linoleic acid. Release of fatty acids from membrane phospholipids preceded the onset of apoptosis. 3Hâ arachidonate release and apoptosis induced by 1â MA, B(a)P, and PA were inhibited by methylarachidonoylâ fluorophosphonate, an inhibitor of Groups IV and VI PLA2s. Bromoenol lactone, an inhibitor of Group VI enzymes, inhibited both 3Hâ arachidonate release and apoptosis induced by 1â MA and PA, but not B(a)P. MJ33, an inhibitor of the acidic calciumâ independent PLA2, attenuated 3Hâ arachidonate release and apoptosis by PA, but not 1MA or B(a)P. The presence of Groups IV and VI and the acidic iPLA2 in endothelial cells was demonstrated by reverse transcriptaseâ polymerase chain reaction and Western analysis. These data suggest that 1â MA, B(a)P and PA induce apoptosis of endothelial cells by a mechanism that involves activation of these three distinct isoforms of PLA2.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154505/1/fsb2fasebj16110092-sup-0001.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154505/2/fsb2fasebj16110092.pd

Harm avoidance is associated with progression of parkinsonism in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: We tested the hypothesis that harm avoidance, a trait associated with behavioral inhibition, is associated with the rate of change in parkinsonism in older adults. METHODS: At baseline harm avoidance was assessed with a standard self-report instrument in 969 older people without dementia participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal community-based cohort study. Parkinsonism was assessed annually with a modified version of the motor section of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (mUPDRS). RESULTS: Average follow-up was 5 years. A linear mixed-effects model controlling for age, sex and education showed that for an average participant (female, 80 years old at baseline, with 14 years of education and a harm avoidance score of 10), the overall severity of parkinsonism increased by about 0.05 unit/ year (Estimate, 0.054, S.E., 0.007, p <0.001) and that the level of harm avoidance was associated with the progression of parkinsonism (Estimate, 0.004, S.E., 0.001, p <0.001). Thus, for an average participant, every 6 point (~1 SD) increase in harm avoidance score at baseline, the rate of progression of parkinsonism increased about 50% compared to an individual with an average harm avoidance score. This amount of change in parkinsonism over the course of the study was associated with about a 5% increased risk of death. The association between harm avoidance and progression of parkinsonism persisted when controlling for cognitive function, depressive symptoms, loneliness, neuroticism, late-life cognitive, social and physical activities and chronic health conditions. CONCLUSION: A higher level of the harm avoidance trait is associated with a more rapid progression of parkinsonism in older adults

Association of cognition with temporal discounting in community based older persons

Background: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that cognitive function is negatively associated with temporal discounting in old age. Methods Participants were 388 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging in the Chicago metropolitan area. Temporal discounting was measured using standard questions in which participants were asked to choose between an immediate, smaller payment and a delayed, larger one. Cognition was measured using a detailed battery including 19 tests. The association between cognition and temporal discounting was examined via mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and the number of chronic medical conditions. Results: Descriptive data revealed a consistent pattern whereby older persons with lower cognitive function were more likely to discount greater but delayed rewards compared to those with higher cognitive function. Further, in a mixed effect model adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and chronic medical conditions, global cognitive function was negatively associated with temporal discounting (estimate = −0.45, SE = 0.18, p = 0.015), such that a person with lower cognition exhibited greater discounting. Finally, in subsequent models examining domain specific associations, perceptual speed and visuospatial abilities were associated with temporal discounting, but episodic memory, semantic memory and working memory were not. Conclusion: Among older persons without dementia, a lower level of cognitive function is associated with greater temporal discounting. These findings have implications regarding the ability of older persons to make decisions that involve delayed rewards but maximize well-being.Economic

Co-Administration of Proton Pump Inhibitors May Negatively Affect the Outcome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treated with Vedolizumab

Concomitant medications may alter the effect of biological therapy in inflammatory bowel disease. The aim was to investigate the effect of proton pump inhibitors on remission rates in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with the gut-selective vedolizumab. Patients from the Hungarian nationwide, multicenter vedolizumab cohort were selected for post hoc analysis. Primary outcomes were the assessment of clinical response and endoscopic and clinical remission at weeks 14 and 54. Secondary outcomes were the evaluation of the combined effect of concomitant steroid therapy and other factors, such as smoking, on remission. A total of 108 patients were identified with proton pump inhibitor data from 240 patients in the original cohort. Patients on steroids without proton pump inhibitors were more likely to have a clinical response at week 14 than patients on concomitant PPI (95% vs. 67%, p = 0.005). Non-smokers with IBD treated with VDZ were more likely to develop a clinical response at week 14 than smokers, particularly those not receiving PPI compared with patients on co-administered PPI therapy (81% vs. 53%, p = 0.041, and 92% vs. 74%, p = 0.029, respectively). We found that the use of PPIs in patients treated with VDZ may impair the achievement of response in certain subgroups. Unnecessary PPI prescriptions should be avoided

The emergence of classical BSE from atypical/Nor98 scrapie

Atypical/Nor98 scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of small ruminants. Currently there are no efficient measures to control this form of prion disease, and, importantly, the zoonotic potential and the risk that AS might represent for other farmed animal species remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the capacity of AS to propagate in bovine PrP transgenic mice. Unexpectedly, the transmission of AS isolates originating from 5 different European countries to bovine PrP mice resulted in the propagation of the classical BSE (c-BSE) agent. Detection of prion seeding activity in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) demonstrated that low levels of the c-BSE agent were present in the original AS isolates. C-BSE prion seeding activity was also detected in brain tissue of ovine PrP mice inoculated with limiting dilutions (endpoint titration) of ovine AS isolates. These results are consistent with the emergence and replication of c-BSE prions during the in vivo propagation of AS isolates in the natural host. These data also indicate that c-BSE prions, a known zonotic agent in humans, can emerge as a dominant prion strain during passage of AS between different species. These findings provide an unprecedented insight into the evolution of mammalian prion strain properties triggered by intra- and interspecies passage. From a public health perspective, the presence of c-BSE in AS isolates suggest that cattle exposure to small ruminant tissues and products could lead to new occurrences of c-BSE.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The emergence of classical BSE from atypical/Nor98 scrapie.

Atypical/Nor98 scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of small ruminants. Currently there are no efficient measures to control this form of prion disease, and, importantly, the zoonotic potential and the risk that AS might represent for other farmed animal species remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the capacity of AS to propagate in bovine PrP transgenic mice. Unexpectedly, the transmission of AS isolates originating from 5 different European countries to bovine PrP mice resulted in the propagation of the classical BSE (c-BSE) agent. Detection of prion seeding activity in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) demonstrated that low levels of the c-BSE agent were present in the original AS isolates. C-BSE prion seeding activity was also detected in brain tissue of ovine PrP mice inoculated with limiting dilutions (endpoint titration) of ovine AS isolates. These results are consistent with the emergence and replication of c-BSE prions during the in vivo propagation of AS isolates in the natural host. These data also indicate that c-BSE prions, a known zonotic agent in humans, can emerge as a dominant prion strain during passage of AS between different species. These findings provide an unprecedented insight into the evolution of mammalian prion strain properties triggered by intra- and interspecies passage. From a public health perspective, the presence of c-BSE in AS isolates suggest that cattle exposure to small ruminant tissues and products could lead to new occurrences of c-BSE.This work was funded by FEDER POCTEFA TRANSPRION (EFA282/13) and REDPRION (EFA148/16), by the UK Food Standards Agency Exploring permeability of the species barrier (M03043 and FS231051), by the European Union through FP7 222887 “Priority”, the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [AGL2016-78054-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). A.M.-M. was supported by a fellowship from the INIA (FPI-SGIT-2015-02), and P.A.-C. was supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2010-040922)

Human security and the rise of the social

As the concept of human security has become part of the mainstream discourse of international politics it should be no surprise that both realist and critical approaches to international theory have found the agenda wanting. This article seeks to go beyond both the realist and biopolitical critiques by situating all three – political realism, biopolitics and human security – within the history and theory of the modern rise of the social realm from late eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Human security is the further expansion of social forms of governance under capitalism, more specifically a form of socialpolitik than realpolitik or biopolitics. Drawing on the work of historical sociologist Robert Castel and political theorist Hannah Arendt, the article develops an alternative framework with which to question the extent to which ‘life’ has become the subject of global intervention through the human security agenda

Deciphering ocean carbon in a changing world

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113 (2016): 3143-3151, doi:10.1073/pnas.1514645113.Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans is one of the largest pools of reduced carbon on Earth, comparable in size to the atmospheric CO2 reservoir. A vast number of compounds are present in DOM and they play important roles in all major element cycles, contribute to the storage of atmospheric CO2 in the ocean, support marine ecosystems, and facilitate interactions between organisms. At the heart of the DOM cycle lie molecular-level relationships between the individual compounds in DOM and the members of the ocean microbiome that produce and consume them. In the past, these connections have eluded clear definition because of the sheer numerical complexity of both DOM molecules and microorganisms. Emerging tools in analytical chemistry, microbiology and informatics are breaking down the barriers to a fuller appreciation of these connections. Here we highlight questions being addressed using recent methodological and technological developments in those fields and consider how these advances are transforming our understanding of some of the most important reactions of the marine carbon cycle.Support was provided by National Science Foundation grants OCE1356010, OCE1154320, and OCE1356890, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Grant #3304