Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Peptides Derived from Food Proteins

Artículo científicoRecently, the demand for food proteins in the market has increased due to a rise in degen‐ erative illnesses that are associated with the excessive production of free radicals and the unwanted side effects of various drugs, for which researchers have suggested diets rich in bioactive com‐ pounds. Some of the functional compounds present in foods are antioxidant and antimicrobial pep‐ tides, which are used to produce foods that promote health and to reduce the consumption of anti‐ biotics. These peptides have been obtained from various sources of proteins, such as foods and agri‐ food by‐products, via enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Peptides with antioxidant properties exert effective metal ion (Fe2+/Cu2+) chelating activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition, which may lead to notably beneficial effects in promoting human health and food processing. An‐ timicrobial peptides are small oligo‐peptides generally containing from 10 to 100 amino acids, with a net positive charge and an amphipathic structure; they are the most important components of the antibacterial defense of organisms at almost all levels of life—bacteria, fungi, plants, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals—and have been suggested as natural compounds that neutralize the toxicity of reactive oxygen species generated by antibiotics and the stress generated by various ex‐ ogenous sources. This review discusses what antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides are, their source, production, some bioinformatics tools used for their obtainment, emerging technologies, and health benefits.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologí

Reinforcing capability of cellulose nanocrystals obtained from pine cones in a biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(e-caprolactone) (PHB/PCL) thermoplastic blend

[EN] In this work, different loads (3, 5 and 7 wt%) of pine cone cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were added to films of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PHB/PCL) blends with a composition of 75 wt% PHB and 25 wt % PCL (PHB75/PCL25). The films were obtained after solvent casting followed by melt compounding in an extruder and finally subjected to a thermocompression process. The influence of different CNCs loadings on the mechanical, thermal, optical, wettability and disintegration in controlled compost properties of the PHB75/PCL25 blend was discussed. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed the best dispersion of CNCs on the polymeric matrix was at a load of 3 wt%. Over this loading, CNCs aggregates were formed enhancing the films fragilization due to stress concentration phenomena. However, the addition of CNCs improved the optical properties of the PHB75/PCL25 films by increasing their transparency and accelerated the film disintegration in controlled soil conditions. In general, the blend with 3 wt% CNCs offers the best balanced properties in terms of mechanical, thermal, optical and wettability.This research was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through the gran number MAT2014-59242-C2-1-R. D. Garcia-Garcia wants to thank the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports for the financial support through a FPU grant number FPU13/06011.Garcia-Garcia, D.; Balart, R.; Strömberg, E.; Moriana, R. (2018). Reinforcing capability of cellulose nanocrystals obtained from pine cones in a biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(e-caprolactone) (PHB/PCL) thermoplastic blend. European Polymer Journal. 104:10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2018.04.036S101810

Oasis: Uso de escáneres láser en infraestructuras ITS para modelización del tráfico

Detectar, predecir y gestionar el tráfico a lo largo de una autopista con herramientas inteligentes lo más automatizadas posibles y con el fin de obtener un tráfico uniforme, es uno de los principales objetivos del proyecto CENIT OASIS (Operación de autopistas seguras inteligentes y sostenibles). Dentro del ámbito de la movilidad, es fundamental establecer un modelo de sensorización óptimo que extraiga la máxima información y de la mayor calidad posible. Para ello, la visión artificial se propone como solución en numerosas aplicaciones de tráfico mediante la utilización de cámaras de vídeo y algoritmos específicos, sin embargo a pesar de su extendida implantación presenta ciertas limitaciones. La combinación de las tecnologías de visión artificial con sensores basados en tecnología LIDAR puede paliar parte de dichas limitaciones y permitir el desarrollo de un sistema mixto robusto y preciso. Desde OASIS se plantea una solución híbrida, complementaria, basada en la fusión de técnicas de visión artificial y tecnologías LIDAR para la detección y monitorización de tráfico a nivel microscópico de tráfic

Experimental Measurements of Solute Transport and Flow Velocity in a Laboratory Channel

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

More on GG-flux and General Hodge Cycles on the Fermat Sextic

We study M-Theory solutions with $G$-flux on the Fermat sextic Calabi-Yau fourfold, focussing on the relationship between the number of stabilized complex structure moduli and the tadpole contribution of the flux. We use two alternative approaches to define the fluxes: algebraic cycles and (appropriately quantized) Griffiths residues. In both cases, we collect evidence for the non-existence of solutions which stabilize all moduli and stay within the tadpole boundComment: v2: typos corrected and references adde

Direct wide-angle measurement of photonic band-structure in a three-dimensional photonic crystal using infrared fourier imaging spectroscopy

We propose a method to directly visualize the photonic band-structure of micrometer-sized photonic crystals using wide-angle spectroscopy. By extending Fourier imaging spectroscopy sensitivity into the infrared range, we have obtained accurate measurements of the band structures along the high-symmetry directions (X-W-K-L-U) of polymeric three-dimensional, rod-connected diamond photonic crystals. Our implementation also allows us to record single wavelength reflectance far-field patterns showing very good agreement with simulations of the same designs. This technique is suitable for the characterization of photonic structures working in the infrared and, in particular, to obtain band-structure information of complete photonic band gap materials

Radical scavenging activity of an inulin-gallic acid graft and its prebiotic effect on Lactobacillus acidophilus in vitro growth

Dietary fibre contained in some vegetable food products can be associated with phenolic compounds and therefore exhibits a significant antioxidant activity (Saura-Calixto, Pérez-Jiménez, & Goñi, 2009). This kind of fibre is known as antioxidant dietary fibre (ADF) and because of its polymer structure it could show a considerable prebiotic capacity as well. Some studies have suggested that polyphenols associated with this dietary fibre could be released in the gastrointestinal tract during digestion (Mercado-Mercado et al., 2015). Hence, besides its prebiotic activity ADF could increase the radical scavenging activity of the human gut environment.In order to generate a new antioxidant and prebiotic dietary fibre, gallic acid (GA) was grafted onto native inulin. Inulin-gallic acid (IGA) graft was confirmed by UV and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The antioxidant activity was evaluated by spectroscopic methods and the prebiotic activity of IGA was determined by In-Vitro growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus. UV spectra show absorbance peaks at 214 and 266–268 nm showing aromatic ring presence in the IGA graft and FT-IR spectra showed a band at 1743 cm 1, confirming the covalent bond between the polymer and GA. GA provides a significant antioxidant capacity to IGA graft. Inulin shows a significant capacity to stimulate the growth of L. acidophilus and GA grafted onto inulin (16.3 mg/g polymer) does not interfere with its prebiotic capacity. It is possible to provide radicalscavenging capacity to inulin-type fructo-oligosaccharides avoiding the decrease of its prebiotic properties, which could extend their potential use as functional foods.CONACYT 37057

Calibration of Numerical Modelling of Hydrological and Hydraulic Processes in Arnas Experimental Basin

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv