Chronic pneumonia with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and impaired alveolar fluid clearance

BACKGROUND: While the functional consequences of acute pulmonary infections are widely documented, few studies focused on chronic pneumonia. We evaluated the consequences of chronic Pseudomonas lung infection on alveolar function. METHODS: P. aeruginosa, included in agar beads, was instilled intratracheally in Sprague Dawley rats. Analysis was performed from day 2 to 21, a control group received only sterile agar beads. Alveolar-capillary barrier permeability, lung liquid clearance (LLC) and distal alveolar fluid clearance (DAFC) were measured using a vascular ((131)I-Albumin) and an alveolar tracer ((125)I-Albumin). RESULTS: The increase in permeability and LLC peaked on the second day, to return to baseline on the fifth. DAFC increased independently of TNF-α or endogenous catecholamine production. Despite the persistence of the pathogen within the alveoli, DAFC returned to baseline on the 5(th )day. Stimulation with terbutaline failed to increase DAFC. Eradication of the pathogen with ceftazidime did not restore DAFC response. CONCLUSIONS: From these results, we observe an adequate initial alveolar response to increased permeability with an increase of DAFC. However, DAFC increase does not persist after the 5(th )day and remains unresponsive to stimulation. This impairment of DAFC may partly explain the higher susceptibility of chronically infected patients to subsequent lung injury

Optimization of the Hydrolysis of Safflower Oil for the Production of Linoleic Acid, Used as Flavor Precursor

Commercial lipases, from porcine pancreas (PPL), Candida rugosa (CRL), and Thermomyces lanuginosus (Lipozyme TL IM), were investigated in terms of their efficiency for the hydrolysis of safflower oil (SO) for the liberation of free linoleic acid (LA), used as a flavor precursor. Although PPL, under the optimized conditions, showed a high degree of hydrolysis (91.6%), its low tolerance towards higher substrate concentrations could limit its use for SO hydrolysis. In comparison to the other investigated lipases, Lipozyme TL IM required higher amount of enzyme and an additional 3 h of reaction time to achieve its maximum degree of SO hydrolysis (90.2%). On the basis of the experimental findings, CRL was selected as the most appropriate biocatalyst, with 84.1% degree of hydrolysis. The chromatographic analyses showed that the CRL-hydrolyzed SO is composed mainly of free LA

Gelation behaviors of denaturated pea albumin and globulin fractions during transglutaminase treatment

International audienceThe behavior of pea albumins (Alb) and globulins (Glob) in a denatured state toward microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) treatment was studied by SDS-PAGE analysis, free amine group determination, dynamic rheology and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The denaturation of pea proteins by chemical reduction with dithiothreitol (DTT) or by thermal treatment at 80 °C enhanced the enzymatic crosslinking degree of both protein isolates with greater crosslinking for the Glob fraction. The chemical denaturation affected preferentially the participation in crosslinking reaction of legumin acid subunits (40 kDa) for Glob sample and albumin polypeptides PA2 (26 kDa) for Alb sample, whereas the heat treatment led to complete polymerization of 55, 35 and 30 kDa vicilin polypeptides for pea globulins as shown by SDS-PAGE analysis. Up to 10 wt% concentration, the Alb fraction was not able to form MTGase crosslinked gels whatever the initial native or denaturated state. Compared to the native state, chemical and thermal denaturation of Glob fraction before enzymatic treatment led to the formation of weaker and stronger viscoelastic gels respectively. These contradictory results indicated that the enzymatic crosslinking reaction is highly related to polypeptides composition and conformation of proteins and the use of denaturation as a strategy to enhance gel forming properties by transglutaminase treatment has to be used with caution in the case of plant proteins

Etude de la sensibilité aux antibiotiques des pneumocoques et Haemophilus influenza isolés chez l'enfant à l'hôpital Jeanne de Flandre (1998-2003) et en ville (observatoire des otites moyennes aiguës - 2003)

LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Size measuring techniques as tool to monitor pea proteins intramolecular crosslinking by transglutaminase treatment

International audienceIn this work, techniques for monitoring the intramolecular transglutaminase cross-links of pea proteins, based on protein size determination, were developed. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles of transglutaminase-treated low concentration (0.01% w/w) pea albumin samples, compared to the untreated one (control), showed a higher electrophoretic migration of the major albumin fraction band (26 kDa), reflecting a decrease in protein size. This protein size decrease was confirmed, after DEAE column purification, by dynamic light scattering (DLS) where the hydrodynamic radius of treated samples appears to be reduced compared to the control one

Native-state pea albumin and globulin behavior upon transglutaminase treatment

International audienceThe behavior of pea albumin (Alb) and globulin (Glob) in their native state upon microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) treatment was studied. Only Glob was able to form a gel, at up to a 10% (w/w) concentration, with a minimum gelling concentration of 6% (w/w), and with a cross-linking degree of 25%. The most affected Glob subunits were convicilin (71 kDa), vicilins (55, 50, and 35 kDa), and legumin acidic subunit (40 kDa). In contrast, the legumin basic subunit (20 kDa) and vicilins of molecular weight less than 20 kDa remained mostly intact in all studied conditions. The cross-linking degree of Alb was 12%, which was not sufficient to form MTGase-induced gel. Major albumin polypeptide (PA2 26 kDa) was not affected by the MTGase concentration or by pH variation. Pea Alb and Glob in their native state were ranked as poor and moderately good substrates for MTGase, respectively, and unfolding them by thermal or chemical denaturation could be an interesting way to improve the efficiency of cross-linking

Cultural differences in food description and preference: Contrasting Vietname and French panellists on soy yogurts

www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual ; http://www.sciencedirect.com/International audienceThis study investigated the cultural differences in description and preference of soy yogurts formulated for French market between French and Vietnamese panellists, two cultures with important differences in soy and dairy product consumption habits. Two trained panels assessed the in-mouth perceptions of eight soy yogurts and four milk yogurts, using a conventional descriptive analysis method. Three soy and two cow milk yogurts, representing the sensory space of the product set were then assessed by two consumer panels in a hedonic test. A multiple factor analysis (MFA) showed that the two sensory profiles are highly similar. The two panels agreed on texture and taste attributes but cultural specificities were revealed for aroma attributes: French panellists used two times more attributes than Vietnamese panellists (10 vs. 5). While the Vietnamese attributes are related to soy-based products ("raw soybean", "soy milk" and "tofu") the French attributes were more diverse and even included references to non-food products ("wood", "earthy" and "chalk"). The result of the hedonic test showed that soy yogurts were worst appreciated by both panels. In general, the soy and dairy product consumption data of the panellists helped to explain their preferences towards soy or milk yogurts. However this is not the case of a Vietnamese consumer subgroup who consumes soy products frequently. Their hedonic ratings on soy yogurts suggest that they expected the authentic soy-related sensory properties in tasting soy yogurts and these properties might not be found in this new product

From sensory evaluation to food product development: how to fit a new vegetal fermented product to the consumer taste

International audienceWe present a series of studies showing the role of sensory evaluation in the optimization of new vegetal fermented products.The first series of studies showed that French consumers did not accept fermented products with vegetal protein ratio over 10%.Moreover, positive information on vegetal protein benefits did not lead to an increase in liking scores. So, a second series ofstudies was carried out in order to optimize the raw material and processes used to prepare the products and improve theirorganoleptic properties. In a first step, the vegetal proteins were purified permitting to obtain firmer products with less offflavors. In a second step, the effect of four factors (T °C, pea concentration, heat process, heat fermentation) with two variationlevels each was evaluated following a design of experiment methodology. The volatile and peptide profiles, acidity and firmnessof the products were evaluated in order to select the optimal process and starter culture. A combination of Check-All-ThatApplied (CATA) and consumer tests was then used to evaluate consumer appreciation