Sensory characteristics of wholegrain and bran-rich cereal foods – A review

BACKGROUND : Wholegrain foods are known to be health-beneficial but their sensory characteristics may be a limiting factor for consumption. The scientific literature of factors influencing sensory quality of wholegrain foods is rather scarce. SCOPE AND APPROACH : Many cereals like rye, oats, barley and sorghum are actually used mainly as wholegrain, whereas for wheat the situation is the opposite. This review deals with factors that differentiate the sensory properties of wholegrain and bran-rich foods from those of refined cereal foods. KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS : Wholegrain and bran contain flavour-active compounds, flavour precursors and resistant cell wall structures causing changes in flavour and texture during processing. In wholegrain foods, different chemical constituents contribute to bitterness. Increased knowledge on flavour formation has led to the possibility to not only measure but actually also design the flavour. Structure and texture are also important determinants underlying eating quality and stability of cereal foods. Hitherto established means of modulating sensory quality and thus improving acceptability of wholegrain foods are presented.Academy of Finland.http://www.journals.elsevier.com/trends-in-food-science-and-technology2017-01-31hb2016Food Scienc

Uveal vs. cutaneous melanoma. Origins and causes of the differences.

International audienceMelanoma is a malignant tumour derived from melanocytes (dendritic cells originated from the neural crest and capable to produce melanin synthesis) that could be established on the skin or less frequently on the uvea. The cellular origin from both kind of melanoma seems to be the same but the melanocytes migrates to the epithelia for cutaneous melanoma, while for uveal melanoma, they migrate to mesodermic tissues. Despite the common origin, both melanomas show extreme differences in their metastatic potential, clinical response to treatments, immune response and genetic alterations. We will describe some of those differences in this review

Great ape genetic diversity and population history

Most great ape genetic variation remains uncharacterized; however, its study is critical for understanding population history, recombination, selection and susceptibility to disease. Here we sequence to high coverage a total of 79 wild- and captive-born individuals representing all six great ape species and seven subspecies and report 88.8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. Our analysis provides support for genetically distinct populations within each species, signals of gene flow, and the split of common chimpanzees into two distinct groups: Nigeria-Cameroon/western and central/eastern populations. We find extensive inbreeding in almost all wild populations, with eastern gorillas being the most extreme. Inferred effective population sizes have varied radically over time in different lineages and this appears to have a profound effect on the genetic diversity at, or close to, genes in almost all species. We discover and assign 1,982 loss-of-function variants throughout the human and great ape lineages, determining that the rate of gene loss has not been different in the human branch compared to other internal branches in the great ape phylogeny. This comprehensive catalogue of great ape genome diversity provides a framework for understanding evolution and a resource for more effective management of wild and captive great ape populations