Comparative Evaluation of the Antioxidant Capacities, Organic Acids, and Volatiles of Papaya Juices Fermented by Lactobacillus acidophilus

Fermentation of foods by lactic acid bacteria is a useful way to improve the nutritional value of foods. In this study, the health-promoting effects of fermented papaya juices by two species, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum, were determined. Changes in pH, reducing sugar, organic acids, and volatile compounds were determined, and the vitamin C, total phenolic content, and flavonoid and antioxidant capacities during the fermentation process were investigated. Juices fermented by Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum had similar changes in pH and reducing sugar content during the 48 h fermentation period. Large amounts of aroma-associated compounds and organic acids were produced, especially lactic acid, which increased significantly (p<0.05) (543.18 mg/100 mL and 571.29 mg/100 mL, resp.), improving the quality of the beverage. In contrast, the production of four antioxidant capacities in the fermented papaya juices showed different trends after 48 hours’ fermentation by two bacteria. Lactobacillus plantarum generated better antioxidant activities compared to Lactobacillus acidophilus after 48 h of fermentation. These results indicate that fermentation of papaya juice can improve its utilization and nutritional effect

Simplified calculation method for transverse seismic response of aqueducts considering fluid-structure interaction

Aqueduct is the key structure in water conveyance engineering, which may be damaged during earthquake. Although numerous water conveyance designs have been built, the current state of researches on aqueduct aseismic design is inadequate. In this paper, based on the fluid-structure interaction dynamics and response spectra analysis, a simplified analysis method was proposed to evaluate the transverse seismic response of aqueducts, and the simplified calculating results were compared with the results of the nonlinear finite element calculation of fluid-structure interaction and experimental results. The results showed that the simplified analysis method put forward in this paper could be used to evaluate the transverse seismic response of aqueducts. In the condition that the pier height is less than 40 m, the first-order lateral vibration mode of the aqueduct has a higher model contribution rate; the simplified calculation method can achieve extremely high accuracy. The simplified calculation precision decreases as the height increases when the pier height exceeds 40 m

Inhibition of Corn Oil Peroxidation by Extracts from Defatted Seeds of Camellia oleifera

The defatted seed of Camellia oleifera Abel is an underexploited byproduct. In the present study, 3 solvents (isopropanol, hexane, and diethyl ether) were used to extract active compounds from defatted seeds of Camellia oleifera Abel. The qualitative and quantitative characterization of the main phenolic compounds were performed using the HPLC-DAD. In addition, the antioxidant efficacy of defatted seed extracts in the stabilization of the corn oil was estimated by monitoring its primary and secondary oxidation products. The results showed that isopropanolic extract (IE) exhibited the highest yield of total phenolic compounds (9.23±0.33 mg/g) compared with other solvents. The predominant phenolic compounds identified by HPLC-DAD in defatted seed extracts were epicatechin, naringenin, and catechin. In addition, IE exhibited the best inhibition effect on both primary and secondary oxidation products. The results reveal that IE of defatted seed of Camellia oleifera Abel is a useful antioxidant for the stabilization of corn oil

Anti-hepatotoxic and anti-oxidant effects of extracts from Piper nigrum L. root

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Piper nigrum L. root extracts on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced rat liver injury. Among the three different extracts (water, ethanol and chloroform extract), ethanol extract exhibits the highest hepatoprotective activity (p &lt; 0.05). When using the ethanol extract at a dose of 120 mg/ kg to treat the CCl4-intoxicated rat, the activities of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transanimase (AST) in rat serum decreased to 65.7 and 84.5%, respectively. At the same time, the lipid peroxidation (MDA) decreased to 52.3% and glutathione (GSH) increased to 55.8% in the rats liver homogenate, as compared with those of the CCl4 positive control rats. The hepatoprotective effect of ethanol extract was also supported by the histopathological observations. Moreover, the ethanol extract was studied for its in vitro antioxidant activity using the methods of ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA). The findings indicate that the ethanol extract of P. nigrum L. root is an efficient hepatoprotective and antioxidant agent against CCl4-induced liver injury.Keywords: Piper nigrum L. root, ethanol extract, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), hepatoprotective, antioxidan

The effect of HIIT on body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being, and executive function of overweight/obese female young adults

PurposeTo evaluate the effect of a short-term HIIT program on the selected health-related parameters for overweight/obese young adult women in a university context.MethodsA total of 48 participants were randomly divided into two groups. The exercise group (HIIT) received a HIIT intervention of aerobics for 4 weeks, while the control group (CON) received no training. Body composition including waist circumference (WC), body fat percentage (BF %), Cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), the score of Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Stroop word-color test (SCWT) results were assessed before and after the intervention along with within- and between-group comparisons.ResultsAll the indices were significantly improved in HIIT group (p &lt; 0.01) after 4 weeks of intervention. No significant changes were found in CON. There were significant differences between HIIT and CON in cardiovascular fitness (p &lt; 0.01), SDS (p &lt; 0.01) and SCWT (p &lt; 0.05) before and after 4 weeks. In addition, weekly measurements of HIIT effects showed significant changes (p &lt; 0.01) from the second week in the variables of body composition, VO2max, SDS and SCWT when compared with the baseline and maintained the tendency till the end of program.ConclusionThe short-term HIIT aerobics of the campus program conducted in a non-lab setting induced significant improvements in body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being and executive function in overweight young female adults

A GC–MS-based untargeted metabolomics approach for comprehensive metabolic profiling of mycophenolate mofetil-induced toxicity in mice

Background: Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), the morpholinoethyl ester of mycophenolic acid, is widely used for maintenance immunosuppression in transplantation. The gastrointestinal toxicity of MMF has been widely uncovered. However, the comprehensive metabolic analysis of MMF-induced toxicity is lacking. This study is aimed to ascertain the metabolic changes after MMF administration in mice.Methods: A total of 700 mg MMF was dissolved in 7 mL dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and then 0.5 mL of mixture was diluted with 4.5 mL of saline (100 mg/kg). Mice in the treatment group (n = 9) were given MMF (0.1 mL/10 g) each day via intraperitoneal injection lasting for 2 weeks, while those in the control group (n = 9) received the same amount of blank solvent (DMSO: saline = 1:9). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was utilized to identify the metabolic profiling in serum samples and multiple organ tissues of mice. The potential metabolites were identified using orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis. Meanwhile, we used the MetaboAnalyst 5.0 (http://www.metaboanalyst.ca) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database (http://www.kegg.jp) to depict the metabolic pathways. The percentages of lymphocytes in spleens were assessed by multiparameter flow cytometry analysis.Results: Compared to the control group, we observed that MMF treatment induced differential expression of metabolites in the intestine, hippocampus, lung, liver, kidney, heart, serum, and cortex tissues. Subsequently, we demonstrated that multiple amino acids metabolism and fatty acids biosynthesis were disrupted following MMF treatment. Additionally, MMF challenge dramatically increased CD4+ T cell percentages but had no significant influences on other types of lymphocytes.Conclusion: MMF can affect the metabolism in various organs and serum in mice. These data may provide preliminary judgement for MMF-induced toxicity and understand the metabolic mechanism of MMF more comprehensively

PLGA nanoparticle-mediated delivery of tumor antigenic peptides elicits effective immune responses

The peptide vaccine clinical trials encountered limited success because of difficulties associated with stability and delivery, resulting in inefficient antigen presentation and low response rates in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel delivery approach for tumor antigenic peptides in order to elicit enhanced immune responses using poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles (PLGA-NPs) encapsulating tumor antigenic peptides. PLGA-NPs were made using the double emulsion-solvent evaporation method. Artificial antigen-presenting cells were generated by human dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with PLGA-NPs encapsulating tumor antigenic peptide(s). The efficiency of the antigen presentation was measured by interferon-γ ELISpot assay (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA). Antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) were generated and evaluated by CytoTox 96® Non-Radioactive Cytotoxicity Assay (Promega, Fitchburg, WI). The efficiency of the peptide delivery was compared between the methods of emulsification in incomplete Freund’s adjuvant and encapsulation in PLGA-NPs. Our results showed that most of the PLGA-NPs were from 150 nm to 500 nm in diameter, and were negatively charged at pH 7.4 with a mean zeta potential of −15.53 ± 0.71 mV; the PLGA-NPs could be colocalized in human DCs in 30 minutes of incubation. Human DCs loaded with PLGA-NPs encapsulating peptide induced significantly stronger CTL cytotoxicity than those pulsed with free peptide, while human DCs loaded with PLGA-NPs encapsulating a three-peptide cocktail induced a significantly greater CTL response than those encapsulating a two-peptide cocktail. Most importantly, the peptide dose encapsulated in PLGA-NPs was 63 times less than that emulsified in incomplete Freund’s adjuvant, but it induced a more powerful CTL response in vivo. These results demonstrate that the delivery of peptides encapsulated in PLGA-NPs is a promising approach to induce effective antitumor CTL responses in vivo

Exponential Stability of Coupled Systems on Networks with Mixed Delays and Reaction-Diffusion Terms

This paper is concerned with the stability analysis issue for coupled systems on networks with mixed delays and reaction-diffusion terms (CSNMRs). By employing Lyapunov method and Kirchhoff's Theorem in graph theory, a systematic method is proposed to guarantee exponential stability of CSNMRs. Two different kinds of sufficient criteria are derived in the form of Lyapunov function and coefficients of the system, respectively. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed criteria