Unfavorable apoAI-containing lipoproteins profile in Tunisian obese women group

ApoAI-containing lipoproteins, which have been reported in relation with the development of ischemic diseases, have never been studied in obese subjects that have any other factor affecting the lipoproteins metabolism. Control and obese women groups were constituted on the basis of the body weight: less than 110% and more than 125% of the ideal body weight, respectively. Different lipid and lipoprotein parameters, including the two apoAI-containing lipoproteins species, were quantified. Compared to control group, obese group exhibited a higher levels of plasma triglycerides, high density lipoprotein-triglycerides (HDL-TG) and lipoproteins with both apo AI and apo AII (LpAI:AII) but a lower values of plasma-apoAI percentage associated with LpAI particles (P < 0.05). The other studied parameters, including the distribution of apoAI and LpAI between HDL and non-HDL fractions, were similar in the two subject groups. In our obese subjects, plasma TG appear to be the more determinant for the atherosclerosis risk as suggested by their strong positive and negative correlation with LpAI:AII (P < 0.001) and with LpAI/LpAI:AII, respectively. The profile of apoAI-containing lipoproteins appears to be more sensitive to obesity effect than traditional lipid and lipoprotein parameters. The nature of its alteration could explain, at least in part, the association of obesity with high atherosclerosis risk.Key words: Obesity, atherosclerosis, apoAI-containing lipoproteins

Digestive Alkaline Proteases from Zosterisessor ophiocephalus, Raja clavata, and Scorpaena scrofa: Characteristics and Application in Chitin Extraction

The aim of this work was to study some biochemical characteristics of crude alkaline protease extracts from the viscera of goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus), thornback ray (Raja clavata), and scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa), and to investigate their applications in the deproteinization of shrimp wastes. At least four caseinolytic proteases bands were observed in zymogram of each enzyme preparation. The optimum pH for enzymatic extracts activities of Z. ophiocephalus, R. clavata, and S. scrofa were 8.0-9.0, 8.0, and 10.0, respectively. Interestingly, all the enzyme preparations were highly stable over a wide range of pH from 6.0 to 11.0. The optimum temperatures for enzyme activity were 50°C for Z. ophiocephalus and R. clavata and 55°C for S. scrofa crude alkaline proteases. Proteolytic enzymes showed high stability towards non-ionic surfactants (5% Tween 20, Tween 80, and Triton X-100). In addition, crude proteases of S. scrofa, R. clavata, and Z. ophiocephalus were found to be highly stable towards oxidizing agents, retaining 100%, 70%, and 66%, respectively, of their initial activity after incubation for 1 h in the presence of 1% sodium perborate. They were, however, highly affected by the anionic surfactant SDS. The crude alkaline proteases were tested for the deproteinization of shrimp waste in the preparation of chitin. All proteases were found to be effective in the deproteinization of shrimp waste. The protein removals after 3 h of hydrolysis at 45°C with an enzyme/substrate ratio (E/S) of 10 were about 76%, 76%, and 80%, for Z. ophiocephalus, R. clavata, and S. scrofa crude proteases, respectively. These results suggest that enzymatic deproteinization of shrimp wastes by fish endogenous alkaline proteases could be applicable to the chitin production process

Optimization of Acid Protease Production by Aspergillus niger I1 on Shrimp Peptone Using Statistical Experimental Design

Medium composition and culture conditions for the acid protease production by Aspergillus niger I1 were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). A significant influence of temperature, KH2PO4, and initial pH on the protease production was evaluated by Plackett-Burman design (PBD). These factors were further optimized using Box-Behnken design and RSM. Under the proposed optimized conditions, the experimental protease production (183.13 U mL−1) closely matched the yield predicted by the statistical model (172.57 U mL−1) with R2 = 0.914. Compared with the initial M1 medium on which protease production was 43.13 U mL−1, a successful and significant improvement by 4.25 folds was achieved in the optimized medium containing (g/L): hulled grain of wheat (HGW) 5.0; KH2PO4 1.0; NaCl 0.3; MgSO4(7H2O) 0.5; CaCl2 (7H2O) 0.4; ZnSO4 0.1; Na2HPO4 1.6; shrimp peptone (SP) 1.0. The pH was adjusted at 5 and the temperature at 30°C. More interestingly, the optimization was accomplished using two cheap and local fermentation substrates, HGW and SP, which may result in a significant reduction in the cost of medium constituents

A peptidomic approach for the identification of antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory peptides in sardinelle protein hydrolysates fermented by Bacillus subtilis A26 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens An6

Antioxidant and angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activities of sardinelle (Sardinella aurita) protein hydrolysates (SPHs) obtained by fermentation with Bacillus subtilis A26 (SPH-A26) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens An6 (SPH-An6) were investigated. Both hydrolysates showed dose-dependent antioxidant activities evaluated using various in vitro antioxidant assays. Further, they were found to exhibit ACE-inhibitory activity. Peptides from SPH-A26 and SPH-An6 were analyzed by nESI-LC–MS/MS and approximately 800 peptides were identified. Identified peptides derived mainly from myosin (43% and 31% in SPH-An6 and SPH-A26, respectively). Several peptides identified in both hydrolysates were found to share sequences with previously identified antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory peptides based on Biopep database. Some of these peptides were selected for synthesis and their biological activities were evaluated. Among the synthesized peptides, NVPVYEGY and ITALAPSTM were found to be the most effective ACE-inhibitors with IC50 values of 0.21 and 0.23 mM, respectively. On the other hand, NVPVYEGY, which exhibited the highest ACE-inhibitory activity, showed the highest reducing power and peroxyl radical scavenging activities, followed by SLEAQAEKY and GTEDELDKY. The results of this study suggest that fermented sardinelle protein hydrolysates are a good source of natural antioxidant peptides and could have the potential to act as hypotensive nutraceutical ingredients.This work was funded by grant AGL2014-57367-R from MINECO and FEDER funds as well as the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research-Tunisia and the Emerging Research Group Grant from Generalitat Valenciana in Spain (GV/2015/138). JAEDOC-CSIC postdoctoral contract of L.M. cofunded by the European Social Found is also acknowledged. LC-MS/MS analysis was carried out in the SCSIE University of Valencia Proteomics Unit (Spain), a member of ISCIII ProteoRed Proteomics Platform.Peer reviewe

Route and speed optimization for autonomous trucks

Autonomous vehicles, and in particular autonomous trucks (ATs), are an emerging technology that is becoming a reality in the transportation sector. This paper addresses the problem of optimizing the routes and the speeds of ATs making deliveries under uncertain traffic conditions. The aim is to reduce the cost of emissions, fuel consumption and travel times. The traffic conditions are represented by a discrete set of scenarios, using which the problem is modeled in the form of two-stage stochastic programming formulations using two different recourse strategies. The strategies differ in the amount of information available during the decision making process. Computational results show the added value of stochastic modeling over a deterministic approach and the quantified benefits of optimizing speed

Modelling of Reactive Black 5 decolourization in the presence of heavy metals by the newly isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain Gb30

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia.Peer reviewedPostprin

Antioxidant properties of Enterobacter cloacae C3 lipopeptides in vitro and in model food emulsion

The present work aims to investigate the in vitro antioxidant activities of Enterobacter cloacae C3 lipopeptides, as well as the stability of sunflower oil in water (o/w) emulsion and the conservation of raw beef patties. The C3 lipopeptides were assayed for their antioxidant activity through five different tests. The C3 lipopeptides showed good in vitro antioxidant activities. Lipopeptides C3 exhibited important antioxidant properties in 10% sunflower o/w emulsions during prolonged storage (28 days) at 30°C. The effect of C3 lipopeptides on the oxidative stability of raw beef patties showed effectiveness effect in preventing oxidative degradation of lipids via thiobarbituric acid reactive substance and peroxide methods. Cytotoxicity test using human kidney HEK293 cells showed that studied lipopeptides was nontoxic substances. The results of this study indicate that lipopeptides C3 could be appropriate antioxidant agent in food models as inhibitors of lipid oxidation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Change of Diet, Plasma Lipids, Lipoproteins, and Fatty Acids during Ramadan: A Controversial Association of the Considered Ramadan Model with Atherosclerosis Risk

Different Islamic populations have different alimentary habits, notably during Ramadan. The paper reports the change of diet, lipids, and lipoproteins produced during Ramadan in one Tunisian population. During Ramadan, the study subjects consumed more proteins, cholesterol, vitamin E (p<0.01), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (p<0.05). At the same time, they exhibited an increase in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p<0.01) and apoprotein B (p<0.05) and a decrease in the ratio of apoprotein AI to apoprotein B (p<0.01). All assayed saturated fatty acids were unaffected by Ramadan fasting while three unsaturated fatty acids (C18:1cis9, C18:2n-6, and C30:4n-6) increased significantly. A return to the habitual diet for a four-week period was not sufficient to restore the pre-fasting patterns. For the study subjects, Ramadan was clearly associated with a change of diet and biochemical profile but its effective impact on atherosclerosis risk was unclear, perhaps, because other non-alimentary changes ought to be considered too. Future studies considering the non-alimentary factors, such as sleep and physical activity, would be useful to clarify the contribution of dietary change in the observed modification of biological profile

Etude du potentiel antioxydant de quatre fractions obtenues par ultrafiltration membranaire d’hydrolysats de protéines de fenugrec (Trigonella foenumgraecum) [Antioxidant properties of ultrafiltration membrane fractions obtained from fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) proteins hydrolysates]

Introduction. Vu leur richesse en protéines, les légumineuses peuvent cons-tituer une source potentielle de biopeptides. Ces derniers peuvent être libérés des pro-téines par une hydrolyse enzymatique contrôlée. Les hydrolysats, ainsi obtenus, sont formés d’un mélange de peptides. Objectif. Cette étude vise à évaluer, in vitro, l’activité antioxydante d’hydrolysats protéiques de fenugrec et de leurs fractions. Matériel et méthodes. Les protéines sont purifiées à partir de la farine de fenugrec délipidée, par précipitation au point isoélectrique. Ces protéines sont ensuite hydrolysées par deux enzymes : l’Espérase et la Purafect. Les hydrolysats obtenus (PFHE et PFHP, respective-ment pour protéines de fenugrec hydrolysées avec Espérase et Purafect) sont alors frac-tionnés par ultrafiltration membranaire aux seuils de coupure moléculaire 30, 10 et 5 kDa. Les propriétés antioxydantes de chaque fraction ont été évaluées par la détermi-nation de la capacité de piégeage du diphénylpicrylhydrazyl et du pouvoir de réduction de l’ion ferrique. Résultats. Les PFHE montrent des propriétés antioxydantes supérieures à celles enregistrées avec les PFHP. Les activités antioxydantes des deux hydrolysats varient d’une fraction à une autre, avec de meilleures activités enregistrées avec les fractions 30 kDa. Les fractions ont montré des propriétés antioxy-dantes inférieures ou égales à celles des hydrolysats. Conclusion. Les hydrolysats de protéines de fenugrec possèdent des propriétés antioxydantes. Par ailleurs, ces proprié-tés ne sont pas significativement améliorées après fractionnement