Investigation of extruded cereals enriched with plant by-products and their use in fermented beverage production

ArticleThe aim of the study was to analyse the quality of extruded cereals enriched with plant by-products and to obtain fermented drinks from production rejects. Extrusion was performed with co-rotating twin-screw extruder (compression ratio 8:1) at MILZU Ltd. from rye and oat flour (80:20, control samples) with addition of apple (ABF), carrot (CBF) and pumpkin (PBF) by-product flour in various amounts (10%, 15% and 20%). Naturally fermented kvass production process was used for non-alcoholic fermented beverage production. Total dietary fibre (TDF), textural properties and sensory features of extruded products after addition of by-products (BP) were determined. Dry matter, active acidity and sensory properties were analysed in fermented beverages. The obtained results showed a 12-55% increase in TDF of extruded cereals (11.8 g 100 g -1 ) after addition of plant by-products. All extruded samples with BP showed lower hardness levels than control (35.55 ± 2.95 N); samples with PBF were the least hard (P < 0.05). Samples with the lowest bulk density were obtained by the addition of 10% and 15% PBF, and 15% CBF, whereas addition of apple by-product flour in all tested concentrations gave the samples a higher bulk density compared to control. Highest taste and aftertaste scores using 5-point hedonic scale were given to samples with addition of 15% and 20% ABF, which also showed high consumer acceptance. With regards to fermented drinks, the highest dry matter content was found in PBF and ABF drink, 8.1 ± 0.1 and 7.0 ± 0.1, respectively. Sensory evaluation of fermented beverages showed that the intensity of flavour, acidity and aroma was most pronounced in sample with ABF, whereas colour was most pronounced in sample with PBF. In order to reduce production costs, it is possible to use production rejects of extruded cereals enriched with plant by-products to obtain new products

Metformin strongly affects transcriptome of peripheral blood cells in healthy individuals

Funding Information: The study was supported by the European Regional Development Fund under the project ?Investigation of interplay between multiple determinants influencing response to metformin: search for reliable predictors for efficacy of type 2 diabetes therapy? (Project No.: 1.1.1.1/16/A/091, https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/ erdf/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank all the volunteers for their participation and acknowledge the Genome Database of the Latvian Population for providing biological material and data. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Ustinova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Metformin is a commonly used antihyperglycaemic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of action, underlying the various therapeutic effects of metformin, remain elusive. The goal of this study was to evaluate the alterations in longitudinal whole-blood transcriptome profiles of healthy individuals after a one-week metformin intervention in order to identify the novel molecular targets and further prompt the discovery of predictive biomarkers of metformin response. Next generation sequencing-based transcriptome analysis revealed metformin-induced differential expression of genes involved in intestinal immune network for IgA production and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathways. Significantly elevated faecal sIgA levels during administration of metformin, and its correlation with the expression of genes associated with immune response (CXCR4, HLA-DQA1, MAP3K14, TNFRSF21, CCL4, ACVR1B, PF4, EPOR, CXCL8) supports a novel hypothesis of strong association between metformin and intestinal immune system, and for the first time provide evidence for altered RNA expression as a contributing mechanism of metformin’s action. In addition to universal effects, 4 clusters of functionally related genes with a subject-specific differential expression were distinguished, including genes relevant to insulin production (HNF1B, HNF1A, HNF4A, GCK, INS, NEUROD1, PAX4, PDX1, ABCC8, KCNJ11) and cholesterol homeostasis (APOB, LDLR, PCSK9). This inter-individual variation of the metformin effect on the transcriptional regulation goes in line with well-known variability of the therapeutic response to the drug.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

Circadian Heart Rate Variability in Permanent Atrial Fibrillation Patients

Abstract. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common Keywords: circadian heart rate variability; average day night heart rate ratio; average day night heart rate difference

Methylglyoxal modification of Nav1.8 facilitates nociceptive neuron firing and causes hyperalgesia in diabetic neuropathy

This study establishes a mechanism for metabolic hyperalgesia based on the glycolytic metabolite methylglyoxal. We found that concentrations of plasma methylglyoxal above 600 nM discriminate between diabetes-affected individuals with pain and those without pain. Methylglyoxal depolarizes sensory neurons and induces post-translational modifications of the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.8, which are associated with increased electrical excitability and facilitated firing of nociceptive neurons, whereas it promotes the slow inactivation of Nav1.7. In mice, treatment with methylglyoxal reduces nerve conduction velocity, facilitates neurosecretion of calcitonin gene-related peptide, increases cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and evokes thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia. This hyperalgesia is reflected by increased blood flow in brain regions that are involved in pain processing. We also found similar changes in streptozotocin-induced and genetic mouse models of diabetes but not in Nav1.8 knockout (Scn10−/−) mice. Several strategies that include a methylglyoxal scavenger are effective in reducing methylglyoxal- and diabetes-induced hyperalgesia. This previously undescribed concept of metabolically driven hyperalgesia provides a new basis for the design of therapeutic interventions for painful diabetic neuropathy

Erratum : Methylglyoxal modification of Na v 1.8 facilitates nociceptive neuron firing and causes hyperalgesia in diabetic neuropathy (Nature Medicine (2012) 18 (926-933))

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