Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG-supplemented formula expands butyrate-producing bacterial strains in food allergic infants.

Dietary intervention with extensively hydrolyzed casein formula supplemented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (EHCF+LGG) accelerates tolerance acquisition in infants with cow's milk allergy (CMA). We examined whether this effect is attributable, at least in part, to an influence on the gut microbiota. Fecal samples from healthy controls (n=20) and from CMA infants (n=19) before and after treatment with EHCF with (n=12) and without (n=7) supplementation with LGG were compared by 16S rRNA-based operational taxonomic unit clustering and oligotyping. Differential feature selection and generalized linear model fitting revealed that the CMA infants have a diverse gut microbial community structure dominated by Lachnospiraceae (20.5±9.7%) and Ruminococcaceae (16.2±9.1%). Blautia, Roseburia and Coprococcus were significantly enriched following treatment with EHCF and LGG, but only one genus, Oscillospira, was significantly different between infants that became tolerant and those that remained allergic. However, most tolerant infants showed a significant increase in fecal butyrate levels, and those taxa that were significantly enriched in these samples, Blautia and Roseburia, exhibited specific strain-level demarcations between tolerant and allergic infants. Our data suggest that EHCF+LGG promotes tolerance in infants with CMA, in part, by influencing the strain-level bacterial community structure of the infant gut

Constraints on a vacuum energy from both SNIa and CMB temperature observations

We investigate the cosmic thermal evolution with a vacuum energy which decays into photon at the low-redshift. We assume that the vacuum energy is a function of the scale factor that increases toward the early universe. We put on the constraints using recent observations of both type Ia supernovae (SNIa) by Union-2 compilation and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature at the range of the redshift 0.01 < z < 3. From SNIa, we find that the effects of a decaying vacuum energy on the cosmic expansion rate should be very small but could be possible for z < 1.5. On the other hand, we obtain the severe constraints for parameters from the CMB temperature observations. Although the temperature can be still lower than the case of the standard cosmological model, it should only affect the thermal evolution at the early epoch.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 tables, submitted to Advances in Astronom

Image Feature Extraction Acceleration

Image feature extraction is instrumental for most of the best-performing algorithms in computer vision. However, it is also expensive in terms of computational and memory resources for embedded systems due to the need of dealing with individual pixels at the earliest processing levels. In this regard, conventional system architectures do not take advantage of potential exploitation of parallelism and distributed memory from the very beginning of the processing chain. Raw pixel values provided by the front-end image sensor are squeezed into a high-speed interface with the rest of system components. Only then, after deserializing this massive dataflow, parallelism, if any, is exploited. This chapter introduces a rather different approach from an architectural point of view. We present two Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) where the 2-D array of photo-sensitive devices featured by regular imagers is combined with distributed memory supporting concurrent processing. Custom circuitry is added per pixel in order to accelerate image feature extraction right at the focal plane. Specifically, the proposed sensing-processing chips aim at the acceleration of two flagships algorithms within the computer vision community: the Viola-Jones face detection algorithm and the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). Experimental results prove the feasibility and benefits of this architectural solution.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-38921-C02, IPT-2011- 1625-430000, IPC-20111009Junta de Andalucía TIC 2338-2013Xunta de Galicia EM2013/038Office of NavalResearch (USA) N00014141035

Influência do peso de rizomas-semente na produção de açafrão.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito sobre a produção, do uso da classificação por peso dos rizomas-semente, de três acessos de açafrão, nas condições de Manaus, AM

Structural approach to design high carotene emulsions from exotic fruits Pitanga (Eugenia uniflora) and Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa)

The 19th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference: Hydrocolloid MultifunctionalityThis research seeks to better understand the food matrix microstructure that impacts on carotenoid bioaccessibility of two Brazilian native fruits Pitanga and Buriti while developing emulsioned oral delivery systems of its compounds. Buriti is a fruit produced by an Amazonia palm tree. Its pulp is very rich in β-carotene which is approximately 400 µg/g fresh weight1 . Pitanga originates from Atlantic forest and has high amounts of lycopene (approx. 71 µg/g in ripened fruit)1 . These hydrophobic plant pigments have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity. However, these desired health benefits are limited by bioaccessibility aspects, mainly their physical location and structure in fresh fruits and its products2 . Emulsions have been largely studied as oral delivery systems for hydrophobic bioactives compounds such as β-carotene. Also, the concept of excipient foods is an innovation in food science and technology research2 . Buriti and Pitanga freeze dried pulps were submitted to the following experiments: 1) experimental design testing ultraturrax and ultrasound for carotene release; 2) emulsion formation by Tween 80 or Whey Protein Isolate at 1 % and 2 % surfactant concentration; 3) microstructure study of fresh pulps and emulsions. For carotene determination, it was applied a microscale extraction and HPLC-PDA analysis based on Porcu and Rodriguez-Amaya (2008)3 . Processed pulp and fruit emulsions microstructure was assessed by microscopy (brightfield, fluorescence and confocal), rheology and turbidity. Main results showed that ultrasound processing have more impact on tissue fragmentation, cell disruption and carotene release than ultraturrax (p<0.05) and is indispensable for fruit emulsion formation. Microscopy study clearly elucidate that most carotenes are entrapped inside cell walls and must be released for incorporation into lipid micelles. Ultraturrax (15000 rpm) and ultrasound (20 kHz, 40 % amplitude) treatment released up to 50 % of initial carotenoid. After emulsion formation, surfactant do not link only to the internal oil and external water, it also interacts with the carbohydrate from cell walls mainly cellulose that are in suspension – forming a gel-like structure – that was demonstrated by confocal microscopy. The obtained Buriti and Pitanga emulsions have high potential for the development new products with more bioaccessible β-carotene and lycopene.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prognostic factors facilitating multiple food allergies and atopiv march occurrence in children with Non-IgE mediated gastrointestinal Food Allergy: results of two years follow up of the NIGEFA project

Objectives and Study: Non-IgE mediated gastrointestinal food allergies (non-IgE-GIFA) are an increasing problem in pediatric gastroenterology clinical practice. These conditions include food protein-induced: enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), enteropathy (FPE), allergic proctocolitis (FPIAP), and motility disorders (FPIMD). The NIGEFA project is focused on the investigation of main clinical features, prognostic factors (presence atopic dermatitis (AD), multiple food allergies, diagnostic delay, and familial history of allergy), and natural history (atopic march (AM) prevalence and timing of immune tolerance acquisition). Methods: Prospective observational study evaluating children with non-IgE-GIFA diagnosed according to standard criteria observed at a tertiary center for pediatric gastroenterology and allergy (both sexes, aged <36 m, follow up 12 m after diagnosis). Main anamnestic, demographic, and clinical data were collected from all enrolled patients. Immune tolerance acquisition was evaluated by the result of oral food challenge. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled: 58% male, mean age at diagnosis (SD) 8.5(8.8) m. Non-IgE-GIFA conditions were: FPE (44%), FPIES (11%), FPIAP (18%), FPIMD (27%). Mean diagnostic delay was 5.3 (7.4) m. Multiple non-IgE-GIFA were observed in 47% at baseline. Familial history of allergy was observed in 64% of subjects. Presence of AD before the onset of non-IgE-GIFA was observed in 40% of subjects. The overall rate of immune tolerance acquisition at 12 m was 27%, with a higher rate in FPIAP (44%) compared with FPIMD (29.6%), FPE (22.7%) and FPIES (9.1%) subjects (p<0.05). The rate of immune tolerance acquisition at 12 m was significantly lower in children with familial history of allergy (-48%, estimated risk ratio (RR)0.52 (95% CI 0.28 to 0.99, p<0.05)) and in those with multiple non-IgE-GIFA (-61%, RR at 12 m 0.39 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.85, p<0.05)). At 12 m follow up, the rate of subjects presenting AM was 24% with no difference among the 4 disease groups. The occurrence of AM was significantly higher in subjects with multiple (38%) vs. mono non-IgE-GIFA (11%) (p<.001) at baseline, with an estimated RR of 3.38 (95% CI 1.47 to 7.81, p<0.01) at 12 m. Moreover, for every 1-month of diagnostic delay there was an increase of 1.04 RR(95% CI 1.01 to 1.07) of AM occurrence at 12 m. No associations with other potential predictors (sex, familial allergy risk, AD before the onset of GIFA, type of non-IgE-GIFA) were found. Conclusions: These data shed lights on prognostic factors and natural history of non-IgE-GIFA suggesting the importance of early diagnosis in preventing the occurrence of AM occurrence in these patients. Contac