Production and Storage Stability of High Concentrated Micellar Casein and its Effect on the Functional Properties of Process Cheese Products

Micellar casein is a high-protein ingredient that can be used in process cheese products (PCP) formulations. PCP is a dairy food prepared by blending dairy ingredients (such as natural cheese, protein concentrates, butter, non-fat dry milk NFDM, whey powder, and permeate) with nondairy ingredients (such as sodium chloride, water, emulsifying salts, color, and flavors) and then heating the mixture with a continuous agitation to produce a homogeneous product with an extended shelf-life. The first objective of this study was to produce a highly concentrated micellar casein (HC-MC) and evaluate its storage stability. Skim milk was pasteurized at 76°C for 16 sec and kept at ≤4°C until the following day. The skim milk was heated to 50°C using a plate heat exchanger and microfiltered (MF) with graded permeability (GP) ceramic MF membrane system (0.1μm) in a continuous feed-and-bleed mode (flux of 71.43 L/m2 per hour) using a 3× concentration factor (CF). Subsequently, the retentate of the first stage was diluted 2× with soft-water (2 kg of water: 1kg of retentate) and again MF at 50°C using a 3× CF. The retentate of the second stage was then cooled to 4°C and stored overnight. The following day, the retentate was heated to 63°C and MF in recirculationmode (retentate recirculated to system balance tank) until total solid (TS) was approximately 22% (wt/wt). Consequently, the MF system temperature was increased to 74°C and MF continued until permeate flux reached less than 3 L/m2 per hour. The HCMC was then divided into three aliquots of approximately 10 kg each. The first portion was a control, while 1% sodium chloride added to the second portion (T1) and 1% sodium chloride + 1% sodium citrate was added to the third portion (T2). Treated HCMC retentates were transferred at 74°C to sterilized vials and stored at 4°C to study the storage stability every 30 d. This trial was repeated three times using separate lots of skim milk. The HC-MC at d = 0 (immediately after manufacturing) contained average 25.41% TS, 21.65% true protein (TP), 0.09% nonprotein nitrogen (NPN), and 0.55% noncasein nitrogen (NCN). No difference (P \u3e 0.05) was detected in the composition of control, T1, and T2 HC-MC during the 60 d of storage at 4°C. However, the NCN content increased significantly (P \u3c 0.05) from 0.55 to 0.76%, 0.55 to 0.82% and 0.55 to 0.94% in control, T1, and T2, respectively, during the 60 d of storage at 4°C. Mean aerobic bacterial count in control, T1, and T2 at 0 d was 2.6, 2.5 and 2.8 log cfu/mL, respectively, and increased significantly (P \u3c 0.05) to 4.3, 4.06 and 5.3 log cfu/mL, respectively, after 60 d storage at 4°C. Coliform, yeast, and mold were not detected during the 60 d of storage. This study determined that HC-MC with \u3e 25%TS and \u3e 95% casein as % of TP can be manufactured using ceramic MF membranes and could be stored up to 60 d at 4°C with no significant changes in the composition. The second objective of this study was to utilize the high concentrated micellar casein (HC-MC) as an ingredient in making PCP and examine the effect of its storage on the functionality of PCP. The functionality of PCP was measured by determining the cooked apparent viscosity by using the rapid visco analyzer (RVA), hardness by using texture profile analysis (TPA), and melting temperature by using dynamic stress rheometer (DSR). Three treatments of HC-MC (Control= HC-MC; T1= HC-MC + 1% sodium chloride; T2= HC-MC+ 1% sodium chloride and 1% sodium citrate) were examined for the shelf-life at 0, 30, and 60 d. A 300 gm batch of each formula was prepared by mixing all ingredients (aged Cheddar cheese, HC-MC, water, unsalted Butter, deproteinized whey, sodium phosphate dibasic, salt, and sodium citrate) in a kitechenaid at room temperature for 30 min to get a homogenous paste. A 25gm sample of the paste was then weighed in a canister and tempered at 38°C for 15min. The PCP canisters were cooked in the RVA for 4 min at 90°C. The stirring speed was 1000 rpm for the first 2 min and 160 rpm for the last 2 min. Once the PCP was cooked, it was filled in molds and kept to the next day for further analysis. This trial was repeated three times using three separate batches of HC-MC at 0, 30, and 60 d of storage. Significant differences (P\u3c 0.05) were detected between treatments in the pH and moisture content of PCP. Also, the functionality of PCP was affected (P0.05) was found in the functionality of PCP during the shelf-life of HC-MC at 0, 30, and 60 d. Overall, the addition of sodium chloride and sodium citrate to HC-MC during the shelf-life improved the melt characteristics of PCP

Manufacture of Ingredients for Use in Clean Label Process Cheese Products

Micellar casein concentrate (MCC) is a high protein ingredient that can be used in several applications, such as manufacture of acid curd and process cheese products (PCP). Acid curd is one of the casein (CN) products, which can be obtained by precipitating the CN at a pH of 4.6 (isoelectric point) using starter cultures or direct acids. Acid curd has low mineral and calcium content due to the solubility of colloidal calcium phosphate at the isoelectric point in the whey. Acid curd and MCC can be utilized in manufacture of clean label PCP formulations. PCP is a dairy food prepared by blending dairy ingredients (such as natural cheese, protein concentrates, butter, non-fat dry milk: NFDM, whey powder, and permeate) with nondairy ingredients (such as sodium chloride, water, emulsifying salts: ES, color, and flavors) and then heating the mixture with continuous agitation to produce a homogeneous product with an extended shelf-life. If acid curd is mixed with MCC, it may be possible to create a partially deaggregated casein network without the use of ES. The ratio of acid curd to MCC will have an impact on the level of deaggregation and the pH of the final PCP. We hypothesize that a ratio of 2 parts of protein from acid curd and 1 part of protein from MCC will create a partially deaggregated casein network similar to a typical process cheese that utilizes ES. The objectives of the first study were to determine the optimum protein content (3, 6, and 9% protein) in MCC to produce acid curd and to manufacture PCP using a combination of acid curd cheese and MCC that would provide the desired improvement in the emulsification capacity of caseins without the use of ES. To produce acid curd, MCC was acidified using lactic acid to get a pH of 4.6. In the experimental formulation, the acid curd was blended with MCC to have a 2:1 ratio of protein from acid curd relative to MCC. The PCP was manufactured by blending all ingredients in a kitchenaid to produce a homogeneous paste. A 25 g sample of the paste was cooked in a rapid visco analyzer (RVA) for 3 min at 95°C at 1000 rpm stirring speed during the first 2 min and 160 rpm for the last min. The cooked PCP was then transferred into molds and refrigerated until further analysis. This trial was repeated three times using different batches of acid curd. MCC with 9% protein resulted in acid curd with more adjusted yield. The end apparent viscosity (402.0-483.0 cP), hardness (354.0-384.0 g), melting temperature (48.0-51.0°C), and melting diameter (30.0-31.4 mm) of PCP made from different batches of acid curd showed were slightly different from the characteristics to typical process cheese produced with conventional ingredients and ES (576.6 cP end apparent viscosity, 119.0 g hardness, 59.8°C melting temperature, and 41.2 mm melting diameter) due to the differences in pH of final PCP (5.8 in ES PCP compared to 5.4 in no ES PCP). We concluded that acid curd can be produced from MCC with different protein content. Also, we found that PCP can be made with no ES when the formulation utilizes a 2:1 ratio of acid curd relative to MCC (on a protein basis). The objectives of the second study were to develop a process to produce acid curd from MCC using starter cultures and to manufacture imitation Mozzarella cheese (IMC) using a combination of acid curd and MCC that would provide the required emulsification ability to the caseins without the use of ES. The formulations were targeted to produce IMC with 18.0% protein, 49.0% moisture, 20.0% fat, and 1.5% salt. In the IMC formulation (FR-2:1), the acid curd was blended with MCC so that the formula contained a 2:1 ratio of protein from acid curd relative to MCC. Additional dairy and nondairy ingredients (milk permeate, vegetable oil, and salt) were also utilized in the formulations. Another IMC formulation was made using conventional ingredients and ES as a control. The IMC was prepared by mixing all ingredients in a kitchen aid to produce a homogeneous paste. A 20 g of the mixture was cooked in the RVA for 3 min at 95°C with a 1000 rpm stirring speed during the first 2 min and 160 rpm during the last min. The cooked IMC was then transferred into molds and refrigerated until further analysis. This trial was repeated 3 times using 3 different batches of acid curd. The end apparent viscosity of IMC was approximately 5711.0 cP for control and 7500.0 cP for FR-2:1, while the hardness was 301.0 g for control and 95.0 g for FR-2:1. The melt temperature was 55.5 and 50.0°C, melt diameter was 29.4 and 31.6 mm), melt area was 679.6 and 783.1 mm2, and stretchability was 12.5 and 12.3 cm of control and FR-2:1 IMC, respectively. The melt and stretch characteristics of IMC made from FR-2:1 were similar compared to control IMC. We conclude that IMC can be made with no ES when the formulation utilizes a 2:1 ratio of protein from acid curd relative to MCC. The objectives of the third study were to produce MCC using MF membranes and develop a process to produce a novel culture-based acid curd powder ingredient. Skim milk was pasteurized at 76°C for 16 sec and then microfiltered (MF) in 3 MF stages using graded permeability (GP) ceramic membranes. The skim milk was MF in a 3 stages process at 50°C with a 3× concentration factor (CF) and diafiltration (DF) to get MCC with \u3e9% true protein (TP) and \u3e13% total solids (TS). Part of the MCC was dried to produce MCC powder. The rest of the MCC was used to produce acid curd. The MCC was fortified with milk permeate as a source of lactose and inoculated with 0.5% starter cultures at 43°C to get the pH of 4.6 in 10-14 h. The curd was subsequently cut, drained, washed, and pressed. The curd was then milled and dried at 70-75°C outlet temperature for 3-4 h. The dried curd was then milled to produce acid curd powder. The skim milk, MF permeate, liquid MCC, modified MCC, acid curd, acid whey, MCC powder, and acid curd powder were compositionally analyzed. This trial was repeated 3 times using 3 different batches of skim milk. The skim milk had approximately 0.7, 3.4, 0.3, 0.9, 0.6, 9.0, and 4.4% ash, total protein (TPr), nonprotein nitrogen (NPN), noncasein nitrogen (NCN), serum protein (SP), TS, and lactose, respectively. The fortified MCC had 1.4% ash, 10.9% TPr, 0.2% NPN, 1.4% NCN, 1.2% SP, 17.4% TS, and 4.2% lactose. The curd prior drying showed approximately 1.0, 36.4, 0.7, 1.3, 0.6, 40.4, and 0.80% for ash, TPr, NPN, NCN, SP, TS, and lactose, respectively. The acid curd powder had approximately 2.0% ash, 86.9% TPr, 2.2% NPN, 2.3% NCN, 0.08% SP, 96.4% TS, and 1.4% lactose. The acid curd prior drying and acid curd powder were successfully produced from MCC. Future studies will be performed to utilize the acid curd and MCC powders at different ratios in process cheese products formulations and examine the functional properties of the cheese. The objective of the fourth study was to produce PCP without ES using different ratios of protein from novel cultured micellar casein concentrate ingredient (cMCC) and MCC powders. Three PCP treatments were formulated with 3 different ratios of cMCC: MCC including 2.0:1.0, 1.9:1.1, and 1.8:1.2 on a protein basis. The composition of PCP was targeted to 19.0% protein, 45.0% moisture, 30.0% fat, and 2.4% salt. This trial was repeated 3 times using different batches of cMCC and MCC powders. All PCP were evaluated for their final functional properties. No significant differences (P\u3e0.05) were detected in the composition of PCP made with different ratios of cMCC and MCC except for the pH. It was expected to increase slightly with elevating the MCC amount in the PCP formulations. The end apparent viscosity was significantly higher (P0.05) within the formulations. However, the melting temperature showed significant differences (

フィトクロム発色団の立体化学と機能の解明を目指した立体化学固定型ビリベルジン誘導体の全合成

取得学位：博士(学術)，学位授与番号：博甲第789号，学位授与年月日：平成18年3月22日,学位授与年：200

Improving Predictive Performance and Calibration by Weight Fusion in Semantic Segmentation

Averaging predictions of a deep ensemble of networks is apopular and effective method to improve predictive performance andcalibration in various benchmarks and Kaggle competitions. However, theruntime and training cost of deep ensembles grow linearly with the size ofthe ensemble, making them unsuitable for many applications. Averagingensemble weights instead of predictions circumvents this disadvantageduring inference and is typically applied to intermediate checkpoints ofa model to reduce training cost. Albeit effective, only few works haveimproved the understanding and the performance of weight averaging.Here, we revisit this approach and show that a simple weight fusion (WF)strategy can lead to a significantly improved predictive performance andcalibration. We describe what prerequisites the weights must meet interms of weight space, functional space and loss. Furthermore, we presenta new test method (called oracle test) to measure the functional spacebetween weights. We demonstrate the versatility of our WF strategy acrossstate of the art segmentation CNNs and Transformers as well as real worlddatasets such as BDD100K and Cityscapes. We compare WF with similarapproaches and show our superiority for in- and out-of-distribution datain terms of predictive performance and calibration

Synthesis, reactions and biological evaluation of benzyltriazolophthalazine derivatives

A series of triazolophthalazine derivatives (4-22) were synthesized and characterized. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectral data. The newly synthesized compounds were also screened for their antimicrobial activity

Vitiligo: Is It Grace or Curse?

Vitiligo is a common depigmented skin disorder that is caused by selective destruction of melanocytes. Since melanin is a unique light absorbing and ultraviolet filtering pigment, it is generally accepted that its main function resides in the protection of skin cells against the deleterious effect of ultraviolet rays (UVR). Occurrence of skin cancer in long lasting vitiligo is rare despite multiple evidences of DNA damage. The aim of the study was to detect the expression of P53 and Mdm2 proteins in both depigmented as well as normally pigmented skin of vitiligo patients and to compare it to control subjects suffering from non melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Thirty-four patients with vitiligo and 30 age and sex matched patients with nodulo-ulcerative basal cell carcinoma (BCC) as a control group were selected. Both patients and control subjects have outdoor occupations. Skin biopsies were taken from each case (from depigmented and normaly pigmented UVR-exposed skin). Skin biopsies were taken from control subjects as well (from perilesional healthy skin). Histopathological examination of hematoxylin and eosin stained sections was done. Expression of P53 and Mdm2 proteins were examined immunohistochemically. Both P53 and Mdm2 were strongly expressed in depigmented as well as normally pigmented skin of vitiligo patients. This expression involves the epidermis, skin adnexa and blood vessels with significant differences between cases and controls. These results suggest that the over-expression of P53 and Mdm2 proteins in both depigmented and normally pigmented skin of patients with vitiligo could contribute to the decreased occurrence of actinic damage and NMSC in these patients.</p

Assessment of Variation in Clinical Presentation of Visceral Leishmaniasis Among Patients Attending the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital in Sudan

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (also known as Kala-azar) is a systemic parasitic infection with many clinical presentations. The present study assesses the variation in presentations among patients who attended the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital (TDTH) in Khartoum, Sudan. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted at the TDTH between November 2019 and September 2020. Medical records of patients who presented at the TDTH were reviewed using a structured data extraction checklist. The Chi-square test was used to determine the associations between sociodemographic and clinical presentations of patients. P-value &lt; 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Out of 195 patients, 79.5% were male and 48.2% were &lt;31 years old. Fever was the main clinical presentation (90.2%) while 53.3% presented with weight loss and 72.3% and 39% presented, respectively, with splenomegaly and hepatomegaly. HIV was detected in 4.6% of the patients. RK39 was the main diagnostic test. We found a significant association between the abdominal distention and the age of the patients (P &lt; 0.05) – age groups 11–20 and 41–50 years were more likely to present with abdominal distention than other age groups. Conclusion: There is no exact clinical presentation or routine laboratory findings that are pathognomonic for visceral leishmaniasis; therefore, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient with fever, weight loss, and abdominal distention, and among patients with HIV