Augmenting corn starch gel printability for architectural 3D modeling for customized food

The advent of direct-ink-writing 3D printing in food processing highlights potential for innovation but underscores challenges with food-grade inks, notably their inadequate self-supporting properties post-extrusion that impede maintaining structural integrity and crating complex 3D forms. This challenge is particularly pronounced with starch—a key food ingredient. This study aims to bolster the printability of normal corn starch (NCS) through integration with pregelatinized (PG) high-amylose starch (G50 and G70, with 55% and 68% amylose contents, respectively) and proteins (soy, wheat, pea protein isolates, and whey protein). The PG starch was prepared by disorganizing the high-amylose starches in 33% CaCl2 solution and then precipitating them with ethanol. The formulation featuring an NCS/PG-G70/soy protein isolate ratio of 5:5:3 emerged superior, yielding enhanced formability, precise line printing, and robust self-support. This adapted starch-based gel facilitated the 3D printing of sophisticated structures, such as hollow and overhanging architectural forms, without necessitating chemical modification or a support bath. In vitro enzymatic hydrolysis tests on the printed constructs manifested approximately 50% resistant starch and 15% slowly digestible starch. These results suggest that the composite biopolymer ink developed in this study showcases not only superior printability but also boasts improved digestion-resistance. Thus, the findings from this research provide a foundation for developing food-grade inks capable of crafting customizable, intricately structured food products while conferring health advantages.<br/

Augmenting corn starch gel printability for architectural 3D modeling for customized food

The advent of direct-ink-writing 3D printing in food processing highlights potential for innovation but underscores challenges with food-grade inks, notably their inadequate self-supporting properties post-extrusion that impede maintaining structural integrity and crating complex 3D forms. This challenge is particularly pronounced with starch—a key food ingredient. This study aims to bolster the printability of normal corn starch (NCS) through integration with pregelatinized (PG) high-amylose starch (G50 and G70, with 55% and 68% amylose contents, respectively) and proteins (soy, wheat, pea protein isolates, and whey protein). The PG starch was prepared by disorganizing the high-amylose starches in 33% CaCl2 solution and then precipitating them with ethanol. The formulation featuring an NCS/PG-G70/soy protein isolate ratio of 5:5:3 emerged superior, yielding enhanced formability, precise line printing, and robust self-support. This adapted starch-based gel facilitated the 3D printing of sophisticated structures, such as hollow and overhanging architectural forms, without necessitating chemical modification or a support bath. In vitro enzymatic hydrolysis tests on the printed constructs manifested approximately 50% resistant starch and 15% slowly digestible starch. These results suggest that the composite biopolymer ink developed in this study showcases not only superior printability but also boasts improved digestion-resistance. Thus, the findings from this research provide a foundation for developing food-grade inks capable of crafting customizable, intricately structured food products while conferring health advantages.<br/

Virus-induced gene complementation reveals a transcription factor network in modulation of tomato fruit ripening

Plant virus technology, in particular virus-induced gene silencing, is a widely used reverse- and forward-genetics tool in plant functional genomics. However the potential of virus technology to express genes to induce phenotypes or to complement mutants in order to understand the function of plant genes is not well documented. Here we exploit Potato virus X as a tool for virus-induced gene complementation (VIGC). Using VIGC in tomato, we demonstrated that ectopic viral expression of LeMADS-RIN, which encodes a MADS-box transcription factor (TF), resulted in functional complementation of the non-ripening rin mutant phenotype and caused fruits to ripen. Comparative gene expression analysis indicated that LeMADS-RIN up-regulated expression of the SBP-box (SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein-like) gene LeSPL-CNR, but down-regulated the expression of LeHB-1, an HD-Zip homeobox TF gene. Our data support the hypothesis that a transcriptional network may exist among key TFs in the modulation of fruit ripening in tomato

Magnetic Screening at Finite Temperature

It is shown that at finite temperature and in the presence of magnetic sources magnetic fields are screened. This is proven within the framework of classical transport theory both for the Abelian and non-Abelian plasmas. Magnetic screening arises in this formalism as a consequence of polarization effects occurring in the plasmas, and it is proportional to the inverse of the gauge coupling constant. It is then discussed whether this mechanism could be relevant in realistic quantum gauge field theories, such as QCD.Comment: 21 pages, RevTex; rewritten discussion, misleading sentences have been eliminated, results unchange

Identification of cuproptosis-related biomarkers and analysis of immune infiltration in allograft lung ischemia-reperfusion injury

Background: Allograft lung ischemia-reperfusion injury (ALIRI) is a major cause of early primary graft dysfunction and poor long-term survival after lung transplantation (LTx); however, its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. Cell death is a mechanism underlying ALIRI. Cuproptosis is a recently discovered form of programmed cell death. To date, no studies have been conducted on the mechanisms by which cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) regulate ALIRI. Therefore, we explored the potential biomarkers related to cuproptosis to provide new insights into the treatment of ALIRI.Materials and methods: Datasets containing pre- and post-LTx lung biopsy samples and CRGs were obtained from the GEO database and previous studies. We identified differentially expressed CRGs (DE-CRGs) and performed functional analyses. Biomarker genes were selected using three machine learning algorithms. The ROC curve and logistic regression model (LRM) of these biomarkers were constructed. CIBERSORT was used to calculate the number of infiltrating immune cells pre- and post-LTx, and the correlation between these biomarkers and immune cells was analyzed. A competing endogenous RNA network was constructed using these biomarkers. Finally, the biomarkers were verified in a validation set and a rat LTx model using qRT-PCR and Western blotting.Results: Fifteen DE-CRGs were identified. GO analysis revealed that DE-CRGs were significantly enriched in the mitochondrial acetyl-CoA biosynthetic process from pyruvate, protein lipoylation, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and copper-transporting ATPase activity. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DE-CRGs were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways, carbon metabolism, and the TCA cycle. NFE2L2, NLRP3, LIPT1, and MTF1 were identified as potential biomarker genes. The AUC of the ROC curve for each biomarker was greater than 0.8, and the LRM provided an excellent classifier with an AUC of 0.96. These biomarkers were validated in another dataset and a rat LTx model, which exhibited good performance. In the CIBERSORT analysis, differentially expressed immune cells were identified, and the biomarkers were associated with the immune cells.Conclusion:NFE2L2, NLRP3, LIPT1, and MTF1 may serve as predictors of cuproptosis and play an important role in the pathogenesis of cuproptosis in ALIRI

On low temperature kinetic theory; spin diffusion, Bose Einstein condensates, anyons

The paper considers some typical problems for kinetic models evolving through pair-collisions at temperatures not far from absolute zero, which illustrate specific quantum behaviours. Based on these examples, a number of differences between quantum and classical Boltzmann theory is then discussed in more general terms.Comment: 25 pages, minor updates of previous versio

Water and Methane in Shale Rocks: Flow Pattern Effects on Fluid Transport and Pore Structure

Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the two-phase flow of water and methane through slit-shaped nano-pores carved from muscovite. The simulations are designed to investigate the effect of flow patterns on the fluids transport and on the pore structure. The results indicate that the Darcy’s law, which describes a linear relation between flow rate and pressure drop, can be violated when the flow pattern is altered. This can happen when the driving force, i.e., the pressure drop, increases above a pore-size dependent threshold. Because the system considered here contains two phases, when the fluid structure changes, the movement of methane with respect to that of water changes, leading to the violation of the Darcy’s law. Our results illustrate the importance of the capillary force, due to the formation of water bridges across the model pores, not only on the fluid flow, but also on the pore structure, in particular its width. When the water bridges are broken, perhaps because of fast fluid flow, the capillary force vanishes leading to significant pore expansion. Because muscovite is a model for illite, a clay often found in shale rocks, these results advance our understanding regarding the mechanism of water and gas transport in tight shale gas formations

A transverse current rectification in graphene superlattice

A model for energy spectrum of superlattice on the base of graphene placed on the striped dielectric substrate is proposed. A direct current component which appears in that structure perpendicularly to pulling electric field under the influence of elliptically polarized electromagnetic wave was derived. A transverse current density dependence on pulling field magnitude and on magnitude of component of elliptically polarized wave directed along the axis of a superlattice is analyzed.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Electromagnetic waves and electron anisotropies downstream of supercritical interplanetary shocks

We present waveform observations of electromagnetic lower hybrid and whistler waves with f_ci << f < f_ce downstream of four supercritical interplanetary (IP) shocks using the Wind search coil magnetometer. The whistler waves were observed to have a weak positive correlation between \partialB and normalized heat flux magnitude and an inverse correlation with T_eh/T_ec. All were observed simultaneous with electron distributions satisfying the whistler heat flux instability threshold and most with T_{perp,h}/T_{para,h} > 1.01. Thus, the whistler mode waves appear to be driven by a heat flux instability and cause perpendicular heating of the halo electrons. The lower hybrid waves show a much weaker correlation between \partialB and normalized heat flux magnitude and are often observed near magnetic field gradients. A third type of event shows fluctuations consistent with a mixture of both lower hybrid and whistler mode waves. These results suggest that whistler waves may indeed be regulating the electron heat flux and the halo temperature anisotropy, which is important for theories and simulations of electron distribution evolution from the sun to the earth.Comment: 20 pages, 3 PDF figures, submitted to Journal of Geophysical Researc

Synthesis and biological evaluation of pentacyclic triterpenoid derivatives as potential novel antibacterial agents

A series of ursolic acid (UA), oleanolic acid (OA) and 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) derivatives were synthesized by introducing a range of substituted aromatic side-chains at the C-2 position after the hydroxyl group at C-3 position was oxidized. Their antibacterial activities were evaluated in vitro against a panel of four Staphylococcus strains. The results revealed that the introduction of aromatic side-chains at the C-2 position of GA led to the discovery of potent triterpenoid derivatives for inhibition of both drug sensitive and resistant S. aureus, while the other two series derivatives of UA and OA showed no significant antibacterial activity even at high concentrations. In particular, GA derivative showed good potency against all four strains of Staphylococcus (MIC = 1.25 - 5 μmol/L) with acceptable pharmacokinetics properties and low cytotoxicity in vitro. Molecular docking was also performed using S. aureus DNA gyrase structure to rationalize the observed antibacterial activity. Therefore, this series of GA derivatives have strong potential for the development of a new type of triterpenoid antibacterial agent