Food Nanotechnologies: Purchasing a Double Edge Sword

Rapid development of nanotechnology has revolutionsed various areas of conventional food science and food industry. The novel properties of nanoparticles (NPs) have led to increasing application of nanotechnology in food industry. Nanofood market have a variety of products like the creamy ice-cream, drinks with no fat, enhanced flavour with nutrients and better textured, coloured and fresh looking food. Continuous monitoring for food spoilage or contamination is possible too. Nanotechnology has transformed the food industries which claim health benefits along with better taste. With the increasing use of NPs especially in food products, where humans are in close contact of the engineered nanomaterials (NMs), it is important to ensure safety before use. Bio-nano interactions often result in novel reaction and formation of products leading to toxicity. NPs mediated toxicity mainly includes inflammation, oxidative damage and genotoxicity. Prolong use of these particles can cause detrimental effects on health. Presently, due to lack of appropriate guidelines and regulations for food nanotechnology there are uncertainties regarding risk identification. Hence, it is essential to evaluate the consequences of this technology in terms of general public and occupational health risks associated with the manufacture, use and disposal of NMs, before instigating the same in day to day use

SpO2/FiO2 ratio: a prognostic marker for influenza patients

Background: The objective of the study was to study the utility of SpO2 /FiO2 ratio for monitoring and predicting the outcome of   H1N1 positive patients of category C.Methods: This study is a hospital based observational study done at Government Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India from 14th January to 15th April 2015.  In this study, 156 H1N1 positive patients of category C were included.Results: 156 Patients were included. 96 were female and 60 were male patients. SpO2/FiO2 ratio was calculated on day one and values were used to divide patients into 5 groups. Highest mortality (70%) is seen in a group with SpO2/FiO2 ratio < 150. SpO2/FiO2 ratio progressively dropped in patients who died. SpO2/FiO2 ratio gradually improved in patients who survived.Conclusions: SpO2/FiO2 ratio on day 1 can be used as a prognostic marker in H1N1 positive patients. SpO2/FiO2 ratio was found to be a reliable marker to monitor the patients

Ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate Prevents Progression of Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats

Therapies to prevent onset and progression of pulmonary arterial pressure are not very effective yet. This study was designed to investigate the effects of a novel dihydropyrimidinone, ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate (H-DHPM) on pathogenesis of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). For the same purpose, rats were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) a single dose (60 mg/kg) of MCT which led to development of PAH in 21 days. MCT insult caused high mortality, pulmonary vascular and parenchymal remodelling. Since the course of PAH pathogenesis is characterised by an early onset and progression phases, H-DHPM was administered i.p. at 30 mg/kg dosage in MCT pre-injected animals either from day 0 through day 21 or day 14 though day 21 of MCT injection in two separate treatment groups. H-DHPM significantly improved survival, prevented remodelling of pulmonary vasculature and parenchyma and subsequently ameliorated PAH pathogenesis. Moreover, we observed significant decrease in right ventricle hypertrophy, measured by wet weight of right ventricle (RV) divided by wet weight of left ventricle plus septum (LV+S), in H-DHPM treated groups as compared to MCT injected animals. These findings suggest H-DHPM not only prevented development of PAH but also treated the PAH pathogenesis in progressive phase. In conclusion, our data determines H-DHPM, might be a future drug for the prevention of PAH

Protein Profile of Human Lung Epithelial Cells (A549) Revealing Deviation in Cytoskeleton Proteins in Response to Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Exposure

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are widely used in biomedicine and scientific research because of their high dissolution property and bioavailability. On the contrary, this property also increases the intracellular reactivity, accessibility and cytotoxicity. These nano-bio interactions could induce undesirable changes in the proteome of the interacting cells, especially in the lung cells as these are the primary contact site. However, the potential effects of ZnO NPs exposure on proteome remain unclear. Proteomics data will substantiate the detailed mechanism of cellular interactions and modulatory effects of ZnO NPs on cells. Quantitative proteomic profiling was done using MALDI-TOF/TOF and MS/MS to identify differential protein expression on exposure to NPs among non exposed and exposed cells. Twenty-two proteins, with approximately 1.5 fold differential expression in cells exposed to ZnO NPs as compared to control cells were identified. Differentially expressed proteins were further classified using PANTHER software on the basis of functional gene ontology term: molecular function, biological process and cellular component. ToppGene suite was used to study protein-protein interaction and network was enriched with STRING. This study is a systematic analysis of protein modulation of the A549 cells exposed to ZnO NPs indicating alterations in the cytoskeleton

The role of the TAM family of receptor PTKs in retinal homeostasis

Tyro 3, Axl, and Mer (TAM), a unique family of receptor protein-tyrosine kinases (PTK) originally identified in this laboratory, are critical regulators of the immune, reproductive, and nervous systems. Many additional functions in other systems are yet to be fully revealed. It was the goal of this dissertation to elucidate the role of the TAM family in the retina. That a member of this family, Mer, plays an essential role in retinal function is indicated by the fact that inactivation of the gene leads to a dramatic degenerative phenotype in the retina. This phenotype provides an excellent mouse model for a debilitating disease called retinitis pigmentosa which causes blindness in humans. Understanding the biology of the TAM family in the retinal system will provide insight into the consequences of Mer mutations in humans. We undertook a series of histological, biochemical, functional, and genetic studies to reveal why the loss of Mer results in the death of photoreceptors, and how Mer might be acting in the retina. Our results define the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell as the primary site of Mer action, and demonstrate that the ability of these cells to perform a critical phagocytic function in the retina is severely affected in the absence of Mer. They also reveal that Gas6, thought to be the sole ligand for Mer in the retina, is not essential for this specialized RPE phagocytosis. The action of Protein S, the likely functional ligand for Mer activation in the RPE, is described. Furthermore, expression of a second member of the TAM family, Tyro 3, at the same site as that of Mer in the RPE, highlights the fact that the TAM family signaling system underlying phagocytosis is more complex than initially suspected.These studies extend our knowledge of the role of TAM family function in retinal homeostasis. Not only do they describe specific expression patterns and interactions in the RPE, but they provide principles which may be applied more generally to other systems in which receptors of the TAM family subserve phagocytic functio

Numerical Investigation of Jet Impingement Heat Transfer on a Flat plate

The numerical investigation emphasizes on studying the heat transfer characteristics when a high velocity air jet impinges upon a flat plate having constant heat flux. Numerical analysis has been conducted by solving conservation equations of momentum, mass and energy with two equations based k- ε turbulence model to determine the wall temperature and Nu of the plate considering the flow to be incompressible. It was found from the investigation that the heat transfer rate increases with the increase of Reynolds number of the jet (Rej). It was also found that there is an optimum value for jet distance to nozzle diameter ratio (H/d) for maximum heat transfer when all the other parameters were kept fixed. Similar results as above were found when two jets of air were used instead of one jet keeping the mass flow rate constant. For a two jets case it was also found that heat transfer rate over the surface increases when the jets are inclined outward compared to vertical and inward jets and also there exists an optimum angle of jet for maximum heat transfer. Further investigation was carried out for different jetto-jet separation distance for a twin jet impingement model where it was noted that heat transfer is more distributed in case of larger values of L and the rate of heat transfer increases as the separation between the jet increases till a certain point after which the rate of heat transfer decreases

Computation of air entrainment into a mixing pipe: An experimental and numerical analysis / Dipti Prasad Mishra and Subhash Chandra Paramanik

Computations of entrainment of air into a pipe were performed by placing an air jet at the bottom of the pipe. An experiment was performed with cylindrical mixing pipe having different diameter, length and jet location. A flow meter was used to measure the flow through the nozzle and velocity at the mixing pipe exit was measured by anemometer. CFD analyses were performed using Ansys-Fluent 16 to match the experimental results for exit velocity and amount of air sucked into the pipe. Further numerical investigations were performed for a mixing pipe with hot jet to estimate the amount of air entrained as a function pipe diameter, pipe length, nozzle protrusion and pipe shape. It was found from the numerical simulations there exists an optimum pipe length and nozzle protrusion for highest entrainment of air. Also a particular frustum shaped pipe could suck highest air compared to cylindrical shaped pipe

Numerical Analysis of Winglet Type Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

Three dimensional conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved numerically to determine the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a rectangular winglet type fin-and-tube heat exchanger. The flow is assumed to be laminar and the surface of the tube is maintained at a constant temperature. The winglets are placed in “common flow up” configuration. This configuration results considerable separation delay and improves heat transfer in the near wake of the tubes. A moderate attack angle (10°) of the winglet has been used so far in this study and it is expected that higher angle of attack will result in higher heat transfer performance. In comparison to the baseline case (without winglets) it is found that the heat transfer performance increases significantly by using winglets with rise in pressure drop. It is also found that by increasing the number of winglets and changing the position of winglets has a significant effect on heat transfer performance