Effect of new generation enzymes addition on the physical, viscoelastic and textural properties of traditional Mexican sweet bread

Se estudio el efecto de la adición de enzimas en las propiedades viscosas y texturales de un pan tradicional mexicano.The effect of adding new generation enzymes (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0% w/w) on traditional Mexican sweet bread physical, viscoelastic (elastic and plastic work) and textural properties was studied. Physical properties as weight lost, pore uniformity, color, etc., improved with enzyme addition. Viscoelasticity properties were analyzed by uniaxial compression test under small strain, showing that the use of small enzyme fractions (~0.25-0.5% w/w) are enough to enhance mechanical behavior (higher elastic work) and cohesiveness and resilience parameters after four storage days. This trend suggests a mechanism related to pore distribution and an equilibrium crust-crumb that lead to improved bread freshness over storage period. Overall, results indicated that relatively low enzyme concentrations can led to important improvements in the fabrication process of traditional Mexican sweet bread. The proposed enzyme concentrations are as small as 0.25-0.3% w/w, corresponding to approximately half the percentage of the amount frequently used in industrial bread production

Expansion of a Financial Education and Family Asset Protection Program for Latinos in Rural Minnesota

The University of Minnesota Extension, in partnership with the Consulate of Mexico in Saint Paul, Minnesota, expanded the Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera -Financial Education and Family Asset Protection Program to serve families in rural areas. The financial education services were expanded to 25 rural counties in Minnesota during 2017 and 2018. Participants were primarily low-income Latino families of Mexican ancestry. The program consisted of financial literacy education workshops and one-to-one meetings to build and protect participant assets. Participants reported an increase in their confidence in five financial core topics. Conditions for the success of this program were (a) the existing trusted and respectful relationships between the educators and participants and supportive community partners; (b) a family-based educational approach; (c) a team of bilingual, bicultural educators; and (d) culturally adapted and relevant Spanish language educational resource

Acid hydrolysis of composites based on corn starch and trimethylene glycol as plasticizer

Corn starch-based films with trimethyilene glycol (1,3-propanediol) as plasticizer were prepared with the castingtechnique and subject to acid hydrolysis (HCl 1.0 M) at 20 oC. The film degradation was monitored by changes in surfacemorphology, crystallinity, thermal properties and surface wettability. In the first two days, the hydrolysis showed lowadvance to subsequently exhibit a huge increase of the reaction rate. It suggested that surface erosion is the main mechanisminvolved in the film degradation. XRD showed the presence of poly-1,3-propanediol, attributed to condensation reactionof plasticizer in acidic conditions. Thermal analysis showed two endothermic peaks at 110-120 oC attributed to meltingof crystallized amylopectin and to a lesser extent co-crystallized amylose and amylopectin. The temperature of thesepeaks was not affected by hydrolysis time, supporting the idea that hydrolysis reactions are constrained to the film surface.Contact angle measurements indicated a significant decrease of hydrophobicity caused by fractionation of starch chains

Krüppel-Like Factor 10 participates in cervical cancer immunoediting through transcriptional regulation of Pregnancy-Specific Beta-1 Glycoproteins

Cervical cancer (CC) is associated with alterations in immune system balance, which is primarily due to a shift from Th1 to Th2 and the unbalance of Th17/Treg cells. Using in silico DNA copy number analysis, we have demonstrated that ~20% of CC samples exhibit gain of 8q22.3 and 19q13.31; the regions of the genome that encodes the KLF10 and PSG genes, respectively. Gene expression studies demonstrated that there were no alterations in KLF10 mRNA expression, whilst the PSG2 and -5 genes were up-regulated by 1.76 and 3.97-fold respectively in CC compared to normal tissue controls. siRNA and ChIP experiments in SiHa cells have demonstrated that KLF10 participates in immune response through regulation of IL6, IL25 and PSG2 and PSG5 genes. Using cervical tissues from KLF10 mice, we have identified down-regulation of PSG17, -21 and -23 and IL11. These results suggest that KLF10 may regulate immune system response genes in cervical cancer among other functions. KLF10 and PSG copy number variations and alterations in mRNA expression levels could represent novel molecular markers in CC