Lactation Responses toward Milk Indigenous Enzymes

Milk being a highly nutritious food in its natural form provides energy. There are various factors influencing the composition of milk: breed, stage of lactation, nutritional status, health, and milking intervals. A number of indigenous enzymes present in milk are being affected by stages of lactation period. Their concentration varies during early, mid and late lactation periods. This varied behavior ultimately affects the quality of dairy products. In this chapter, the level of milk enzymes: lipases and esterases, plasmin (PL), plasminogen (PLG) phosphatases (alkaline phosphatase ALP; acid phosphatase (ACP), lysozyme (LZ), lactoperoxidase (LP), xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR), and catalase (CAT) will be reviewed with respect to the stages of lactation periods

Magnetite (Fe3O4) - Synthesis, Functionalization and its Application

Nanoparticles are smaller than 100nm. Size of particle depends upon the method that is used for synthesis of nanoparticles. Magnetic nanoparticles consist of iron, cobalt and nickel and their chemical compounds. Their safety or toxicity is major concern for use in food. Magnetite, hematite and meghemite are types of magnetic nanoparticles. Magnetite (Fe3O4) common among the magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle that is used in food industry. Magnetite is getting popular due to its super paramagnetic properties and lack of toxicity to humans. Different methods are used to synthesize magnetic nanoparticles. Upon contact with air these particles loses magnetism and mono-dispersibility. To overcome this problem these nanoparticles are coated with natural or synthetic polymers, metals, organic and inorganic substances to create stable and hydrophilic nanostructures. Due to easy separation with magnet these magnetic nanoparticles are used as an affinity probe to remove bacteria from different food samples and have food related applications e.g, protein purification, enzyme immobilization and food analysis. These magnetic nanoparticles also used for removal of heavy metals and used in medical field

Potential of Functionalized Magnetite (Fe3O4) in Decontamination of Pathogenic Bacteria from Milk

Magnetite (Fe3O4) is getting popular due to its super-paramagnetic properties, high biocompatibility and lack of toxicity to humans. Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have high surface energy thus these nanoparticles aggregate quickly. This aggregation strongly affects the efficiency of these nanoparticles. So these magnetite nanoparticles are coated with organic or inorganic substance to prevent aggregation. These coatings not only stabilize magnetic nanoparticles but can also be used for further functionalization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of functionalized magnetite to remove pathogenic bacteria (E.coli and B.cereus) from milk considering binding capability of magnetite with bacterial cell wall. Magnetite (Fe3O4) was prepared by co-precipitation method and subsequently functionalized with oleic acid (OA) and ethylene diamine (EDA). In present study role of magnetite (Fe3O4) and functionalized magnetite (EDA-Fe3O4, OA-Fe3O4) in removal of pathogenic bacteria (E.coli and B.cereus) from milk was investigated. The morphology of functionalized magnetite was determined by Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM). Their removal efficiency was studied based on time (10, 20 and 30 minutes). Concentration of uncoated magnetite (Fe3O4) and coated magnetite (EDA-Fe3O4, OA-Fe3O4) was fixed at 4mg/50mL. Magnetite was successfully synthesized in range of +/- 3nm. Highest capturing efficiency (74.45%) of oleic acid magnetite (OA-Fe3O4) was observed for Bacillus cereus at 30 minutes. However for Escherichia coli, both ethylene-diamine magnetite (EDA-Fe3O4) and oleic acid magnetite (OA-Fe3O4) showed maximum capturing efficiency (61.65% and 63.91% respectively). It was concluded from the study that magnetite coated with oleic acid and ethylenediamine removed pathogenic bacteria from milk efficiently. However, more research is required to study the effect of these magnetic nanoparticles on nutritional composition of milk.Peer reviewe

Morphological diversity of Morus spp. (Mulberry accessions) grown in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan

Genetic diversity of thirty mulberry accessions was determined by using the eleven different phenotypic characters. The study was conducted in field areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The main objective of this study was to find out the diversity in morphological characters of Mulberry accessions found in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. The results showed that there is a significant difference in quantitative parameters among the thirty accessions (p≤0.001). The cluster analysis showed that the data is divided into two main groups at near 80 dissimilarity level. This study suggests that the Morus germplasm is quite diverse

Deregulation of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene by chromosomal translocations in B-cell malignancies

Sequence variants at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus in chromosome 5p have been recently associated with disposition for various cancers. Here we show that this locus including the gene encoding the telomerase reverse-transcriptase TERT at 5p13.33 is rarely but recurrently targeted by somatic chromosomal translocations to IGH and non-IG loci in B-cell neoplasms, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma and splenic marginal zone lymphoma. In addition, cases with genomic amplification of TERT locus were identified. Tumors bearing chromosomal aberrations involving TERT showed higher TERT transcriptional expression and increased telomerase activity. These data suggest that deregulation of TERT gene by chromosomal abnormalities leading to increased telomerase activity might contribute to B-cell lymphomagenesis

MDM2 promotor polymorphism and disease characteristics in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: results of an individual patient data-based meta-analysis

A number of single nucleotide polymorphisms have been associated with disease predisposition in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the MDM2 promotor region, MDM2SNP309, was shown to soothe the p53 pathway. In the current study, we aimed to clarify the effect of the MDM2SNP309 on chronic lymphocytic leukemia characteristics and outcome. We performed a meta-analysis of data from 2598 individual patients from 10 different cohorts. Patients' data and genetic analysis for MDM2SNP309 genotype, immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region mutation status and fluorescence in situ hybridization results were collected. There were no differences in overall survival based on the polymorphism (log rank test, stratified by study cohort; P=0.76; GG genotype: cohort-adjusted median overall survival of 151 months; TG: 153 months; TT: 149 months). In a multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, advanced age, male sex and unmutated immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region genes were associated with inferior survival, but not the MDM2 genotype. The MDM2SNP309 is unlikely to influence disease characteristics and prognosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Studies investigating the impact of individual single nucleotide polymorphisms on prognosis are often controversial. This may be due to selection bias and small sample size. A meta-analysis based on individual patient data provides a reasonable strategy for prognostic factor analyses in the case of small individual studies. Individual patient data-based meta-analysis can, therefore, be a powerful tool to assess genetic risk factors in the absence of large studies

Genome-wide association analysis implicates dysregulation of immunity genes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Several chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) susceptibility loci have been reported; however, much of the heritable risk remains unidentified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of six genome-wide association studies, imputed using a merged reference panel of 1,000 Genomes and UK10K data, totalling 6,200 cases and 17,598 controls after replication. We identify nine risk loci at 1p36.11 (rs34676223, P=5.04 × 10−13), 1q42.13 (rs41271473, P=1.06 × 10−10), 4q24 (rs71597109, P=1.37 × 10−10), 4q35.1 (rs57214277, P=3.69 × 10−8), 6p21.31 (rs3800461, P=1.97 × 10−8), 11q23.2 (rs61904987, P=2.64 × 10−11), 18q21.1 (rs1036935, P=3.27 × 10−8), 19p13.3 (rs7254272, P=4.67 × 10−8) and 22q13.33 (rs140522, P=2.70 × 10−9). These new and established risk loci map to areas of active chromatin and show an over-representation of transcription factor binding for the key determinants of B-cell development and immune response

Genome-wide association analysis implicates dysregulation of immunity genes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Several chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) susceptibility loci have been reported; however, much of the heritable risk remains unidentified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of six genome-wide association studies, imputed using a merged reference panel of 1,000 Genomes and UK10K data, totalling 6,200 cases and 17,598 controls after replication. We identify nine risk loci at 1p36.11 (rs34676223, P=5.04 × 10−13), 1q42.13 (rs41271473, P=1.06 × 10−10), 4q24 (rs71597109, P=1.37 × 10−10), 4q35.1 (rs57214277, P=3.69 × 10−8), 6p21.31 (rs3800461, P=1.97 × 10−8), 11q23.2 (rs61904987, P=2.64 × 10−11), 18q21.1 (rs1036935, P=3.27 × 10−8), 19p13.3 (rs7254272, P=4.67 × 10−8) and 22q13.33 (rs140522, P=2.70 × 10−9). These new and established risk loci map to areas of active chromatin and show an over-representation of transcription factor binding for the key determinants of B-cell development and immune response

Expression of volume-activated anion channels in exocrine acinar cells

Volume-sensitive anion channels (Iclswell)are expressed in most mammalian cells (1). The molecular identity of Iclswell is not known, however, several candidate proteins have been proposed including: p-glycoprotein, pIcln, CIC-2 and CIC-3(2). The properties of CIC-3 make it one of the most likely candidate proteins, e.g. it has a structure which is very similar to that of know Cl- channels (CIC-0 and CIC-1), and it produces an outward-rectifying Cl- conductance when expressed in Xenopus oocytes or mammalian cell lines (3)