Shelf life extension of minimally processed vegetables using combinations of bacterial bioprotection and modified atmosphere packaging

The objective of the work: to study the effect of combination of bacterial bioprotective cultures and modified atmosphere packaging for prolonging the refrigerated storage period of minimally processed vegetables. Sweet pepper, zucchini, eggplant, celery stalks were used for preparation of minimally processed vegetables. SafePro® bio-products from Chr. Hansen (Denmark) containing strains of Lactobacillus sakei, Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactobacillus сurvatus, Leuconostoc carnosum were used as bioconservatives. For packaging minimally processed vegetables, the bags made of flat multilayer PA/adhesive/PE films and composite PET/A1/PE film material were used. The bags were filled with gas mixtures including nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Storage of packaged minimally processed vegetables was carried out in a refrigerator at a temperature of (4 ± 2) °C for 16 days. The viability of cultures Lactobacillus sakei, Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactobacillus curvatus, Leuconostoc carnosum in modified atmosphere packaging was studied. It was revealed that the gas mixture of 60% nitrogen and 40% carbon dioxide and the culture of Lactobacillus sakei contribute to the preservation of the quality of fresh-cutsweet pepper, eggplant and zucchini, and Leuconostoc carnosum is the more effective for celery storing. In the process of refrigerated storage for 14 days, the solids content in the experimental samples increased 1.3–2.1 times, the loss of organic substances was 26–50%, depending on the type of vegetables. The developed technology for the refrigeration preservation of minimally processed vegetables using bio-products treatment and in modified atmosphere packaging made it possible to increase the shelf life of fresh-cut vegetables by 2 times

Statistics of Neutron Stars at the Stage of Supersonic Propeller

We analyze the statistical distribution of neutron stars at the stage of a supersonic propeller. An important point of our analysis is allowance for the evolution of the angle of inclination of the magnetic axis to the spin axis of the neutron star for the boundary of the transition to the supersonic propeller stage for two models: the model with hindered particle escape from the stellar surface and the model with free particle escape. As a result, we have shown that a consistent allowance for the evolution of the inclination angle in the region of extinct radio pulsars for the two models leads to an increase in the total number of neutron stars at the supersonic propeller stage. This increase stems from he fact that when allowing for the evolution of the inclination angle $\chi$ for neutron stars in the region of extinct radio pulsars and, hence, for the boundary of the transition to the propeller stage, this transition is possible at shorter spin periods (P~5-10 s) than assumed in the standard model.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; scale corrected for figures 3-

Possibilities of Detecting Pre-clinical Forms of Atherosclerosis During Periodic Preventive Inspections in Organized Collectives at Workers of Machine Building Enterprises

Aim. To study the structural and functional features of the carotid and femoral arteries using ultrasound duplex scanning of them in patients with hypertension undergoing periodic preventive medical examination.Material and methods. Periodic preventive examination was carried out for 2431 employees (1311 men and 1120 women) aged 20-65 years using a specially developed questionnaire, blood pressure measurement, anthropometry, total cholesterol test. Hypertensive men were assessed for preclinical manifestations of atherosclerosis by ultrasound duplex scanning of the carotid and femoral arteries.Results. Hypertensive men (BP ≥140/90 mmHg and/or taking antihypertensive drugs; n=176, mean age 43.5 years) were included in the study. An increase in the thickness of the intima-media complex in the carotid arteries was found in 22.2% (n=38) people, in the femoral arteries – in 34.1% (n=60) people, in both basins – in 16.5% (n= 29) man. Atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries were found in 40.3% of people (n=71), and in the femoral arteries – in 34.7% (n=61) of people, in both pools – in 23.9% (n=42) of men.Conclusion. Ultrasound diagnostic using modern ultrasound scanners is a highly informative method for non-invasive diagnosis of atherosclerosis in the arteries of the carotid and femoral basins in employees of a large industrial enterprise with arterial hypertension in the conditions of the medical and sanitary department. Carrying out these diagnostic approaches is advisable when organizing periodic medical examinations in order to improve primary prevention, as well as to prevent the aggravation of the identified pathological process, reduce complications, improve quality and increase life expectancy

ВЛИЯНИЕ ОСНОВНОЙ ОБРАБОТКИ ПОЧВЫ И СРЕДСТВ ХИМИЗАЦИИ НА УРОЖАЙНОСТЬ ГОРОХА ПОСЕВНОГО В ПОДТАЕЖНОЙ ЗОНЕ ЗАПАДНОЙ СИБИРИ

The publication studies influence of the primary tillage and complex chemicals on crop yield and quality of garden pea in respect to the climate conditions of sub-taiga zone in Western Siberia. It outlines interactions between elements of crop yield and plants productivity; it estimates economic and bioenergetics efficiency of applying of different agricultural technologies on garden pea cultivating. The most favourable agrophysical condition of the layer equal to 0–30 sm and density 1,15 g/sm3 was observed when surface tilling. Sub-surface tillage and surface tillage resulted in soil density up to 1,18 g/sm3. Deeper fall tillage (on average 193–194 mm) favours to great moisture content in the soil layer. Surface tillage favours to moisture concentration less (on 16mm or 8.5 %) and is equal to the lowest level of moisture. Subsurface tillage and surface tillage with no herbicides prevent weeds less than ploughing. The paper points out that content of impurity in soil-protective covers was increased on 21–34 un/m2, or 88–107 g/m2, and dangerous, hazardous and harmful species are increased. The authors recommend applying of resource saving technologies of soil protection tillage in cases of applying mineral fertilizers and herbicides for good pea yield. They reckon it is efficient to  apply technologies of high energy in order to get high pea yields and conserve the soil fertility.Применительно к агроклиматическим условиям подтаежной зоны Западной Сибири проведено комплексное изучение влияния основной обработки почвы и средств комплексной химизации на урожайность и качество зерна гороха посевного. Установлены зависимости между элементами структуры урожая и продуктивностью растений. Проведена оценка экономической и биоэнергетической эффективности применения различных агротехнологий возделывания гороха посевного. Более благоприятное для культуры агрофизическое состояние слоя 0–30 см по показателю плотности (1,15 г/см 3 ) наблюдалось по отвальной обработке. Безотвальная и поверхностная обработки приводили к уплотнению почвы до 1,18 г/см 3 . Формированию более высоких влагозапасов в метровом слое почвы к посеву благоприятствовали варианты с более глубокой зяблевой обработкой (в среднем 193–194 мм). При поверхностной обработке влаги накапливалось существенно меньше (на 16 мм, или 8,5%), при этом ее содержание было на уровне наименьшей влагоёмкости. Без применения гербицидов безотвальная и поверхностная обработки почвы под горох значительно хуже справляются с подавлением сорной растительности в отличие от вспашки. Засоренность по почвозащитным вариантам повышалась на 21–34 шт./м 2 , или 88–107 г/м 2 , при этом происходит увеличение доли более злостных и трудноискоренимых видов. В вариантах с использованием минеральных удобрений и гербицидов для получения стабильных урожаев гороха с сохранением плодородия почвы рекомендуется применение ресурсосберегающих почвозащитных обработок почвы. Для получения более высоких урожаев гороха хорошего качества в хозяйствах с достаточным материальным обеспечением следует использовать технологии с высокими энергетическими затратами

Body Height of Children with Bronchial Asthma of Various Severities

© 2017 Tatiana I. Eliseeva et al. Influence of bronchial asthma (BA) severity on physical development in children patients was evaluated in comparison with healthy population. Materials and Methods. 1042 children and adolescents (768 boys) with atopic BA were evaluated. All children underwent standard examination in a clinical setting, including anthropometry. The control group included 875 healthy children of a comparable age (423 boys). Results. The fraction of patients with the normal, lower, and increased height among the whole group of patients with BA is close to the corresponding values in the healthy population (χ 2 =3.32, p=0.65). The fraction of BA patients with the reduced physical development is increased monotonically and significantly when the BA severity increases: healthy group, 8.2% (72/875), BA intermittent, 4.2% (6/144), BA mild persistent 9% (47/520), BA moderate persistent, 11.7% (36/308), and BA severe persistent, 24.3% (17/70) (χ 2 =45.6, p=0,0009). Conclusion. The fraction of the children with the reduced height is increased monotonically and significantly in the groups of increasing BA severities. At the same time, the fraction of such children in groups of intermittent and mild persistent BA practically does not differ from the conditionally healthy peers

Relative body mass index as a new tool for nutritional status assessment in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma

© 2017, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy. All rights reserved.The aim of the investigation was to estimate the possibilities of using relative body mass index (RBMI) for determining age- and gender-specific aspects of nutritional status in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma (BA) of different severity degrees. Materials and Methods. The study involved 887 children and adolescents with BA of different severities, aged 5–17 years (61– 215 months), of them 655 were boys. Their body mass index (BMI) was evaluated based on the Z-score criterion and nutritional status was determined as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). To unify nutritional status assessment in patients of different age and gender groups, there was introduced RBMI representing the ratio of the patient’s BMI to gender- and age-specific median BMI value presented in the WHO reference data. Results. Nutritional status and its relation to BA were studied in children and adolescents using two parameters: the standard nutritional status indicator based on BMI Z-scores as recommended by WHO, and a new parameter, RBMI, representing the ratio of the patient’s BMI to gender- and age-specific median BMI value recommended by WHO. No significant nutritional status differences were found in the studied sample of patients with various degrees of BA severity. There was revealed a tendency to a decrease in the proportion of children with normal body weight and an increase in the proportion of overweight children as BA severity increased, χ2=26.82; р=0.08. Conclusion. Using RBMI for assessment of BA patients makes it possible to significantly facilitate clinical data analysis and obtain new data unavailable when standard parameters are applied

The significance of soluble molecules of cellular adhesion, nitric oxide metabolites, and endothelin-1 and their associations as markers of progression of inflammation in COPD

© 2017, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy. All rights reserved. The aim of the investigation was to assess the significance of the content of metabolites of the nitric oxide, sICAM-1 and sICAM-3 in blood serum and in exhaled breath condensate, the serum level of endothelin-1 as systemic and topical markers of inflammation in patients with COPD, and their correlations with the parameters of lung ventilation function. Materials and methods. 91 patients with COPD, aged from 46 to 67, and 21 healthy, non-smoking volunteers took part in the study. The material for investigation was blood serum and exhaled breath condensate. Results. The severity of progression of COPD was linked with an increase in the serum content of sCD50, sCD54, ET-1, as well as in the concentrations of metabolites of nitric oxide in blood and in exhaled breath condensate. For the patients with COPD we determined the associations between the function of pulmonary ventilation and the levels of ET-1, sICAM-1, sICAM-3 and the value of ΣNO – 2 /NO – 3 . The resulting correlations between the concentration of soluble adhesion molecules, the values of nitrosative stress, and ET-1 level indicate that they are involved in the genesis of chronic inflammation in COPD patients

Vanadium oxide - poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) cathodes for zinc-ion batteries: effect of synthesis temperature

Vanadium oxide composites with conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) were obtained by one-step microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis at two different temperatures: 120 and 170 °C (denoted as V-120 and V-170, respectively). The structure and composition of the obtained samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectro­scopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The detailed study of the electro­chemical properties of the composites as cathodes of aqueous zinc-ion battery was per­formed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) at different current densities and by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was shown that V-120 demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance in the 0.3 to 1.4 V vs. Zn/Zn2+ potential range reaching specific capacities of up to 390 mA∙h∙g−1 at 0.3 A∙g−1 with excel­lent capacity stability after 1000 charge-discharge cycles. Its functional parameters were found to be much better than those of the electrodes based on the V-170 composite obtained at a higher temperature. The effect of the synthesis temperature on the electro­chemical properties is discussed in terms of the crystallographic, compositional, and thermogravimetric properties of the samples

Комплексная оценка уровня контроля над бронхиальной астмой у детей на основе определения содержания метаболитов оксида азота в конденсате выдыхаемого воздуха и спирографических параметров

Summary. The aim of this study was to estimate a prognostic value of nitric oxide metabolites (NOM) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as a marker of asthma control level. We examined 243 patients (of them, 162 males) aged 5 to 17 yrs with atopic asthma. Some of the patients were treated with corticosteroids (CS), others had not been never treated with CS (steroid-naive patients). Asthma control was assessed using the ACQ-5 questionnaire, the EBC NOM total concentration was measured with the Griess-Ilosvay's method modified by S.Soodaeva. In patients with good asthma control, EBC NOM concentration was 6.41 Ѓ} 2.33 μmol / L compared to 8.40 Ѓ} 2.59 μmol / L in patients with partial control and 8.47 Ѓ} 2.77 μmol / L in patients with poor control (р < 0.00001 for both). The EBC NOM concentration from the steroid-naive patients was significantly higher than that from the patients treated with CS. A correlation was found between ACQ-5 score and the total EBC NOM concentration in the whole cohort of patients (r = 0.30, p < 0.00001), in steroid-naive patients (r = 0.42, p < 0.00001), and in patients treated with CS (r = 0.43; p < 0.00001). Discriminant analysis was performed in patients with well controlled asthma and in a combined group of patients with partial and poor asthma control to estimate a prognostic value of EBC NOM and FEV1 as markers of asthma control level. The EBC NOM total concentration predicted asthma control in 63 % of the whole cohort, 75 % of the steroid-naive patients and in 70 % of the patients treated with CS. FEV1 predicted asthma control in 77.3 %, 75% and 74.75% of patients, respectively. Combination of EBC NOM total concentration and FEV1 predicted asthma control in 78.92 %, 79.44 % and 82.83 % of patients, respectively. Therefore, combination of EBC NOM total concentration and FEV1 is predictive for asthma control in 80 % of children with atopic asthma

Relationship of the Content of Systemic and Endobronchial Soluble Molecules of CD25, CD38, CD8, and HLA-I-CD8 and Lung Function Parameters in COPD Patients

© 2017 Nailya Kubysheva et al. The definition of new markers of local and systemic inflammation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the priority directions in the study of pathogenesis and diagnostic methods improvement for this disease. We investigated 91 patients with COPD and 21 healthy nonsmokers. The levels of soluble CD25, CD38, CD8, and HLA-I-CD8 molecules in the blood serum and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in moderate-to-severe COPD patients during exacerbation and stable phase were studied. An unidirectional change in the content of sCD25, sCD38, and sCD8 molecules with increasing severity of COPD was detected. The correlations between the parameters of lung function and sCD8, sCD25, and sHLA-I-CD8 levels in the blood serum and EBC were discovered in patients with severe COPD. The findings suggest a pathogenetic role of the investigated soluble molecules of the COPD development and allow considering the content of sCD8, sCD25, and sHLA-I-CD8 molecules as additional novel systemic and endobronchial markers of the progression of chronic inflammation of this disease