Red Beetroot Juice and Stamina: An Experimental Study

Introduction: Red beet juice is increasingly used in sports to enhance the endurance of athletes. To increase the specific efficiency of red beet juice, the method of its fractionation by ultrafiltration was used for the first time. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of fractionated beetroot juice on the strength and endurance of laboratory rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats (6 groups; n = 10) were used in the study. In addition to the standard chow, some groups of rats 2 h before the exercises received 0.5 ml of native (RBJ) or fractionated (FRBJ) per os. Three groups of animals were trained using a motorized wheel with a gradual speed increase over four weeks: 20 min/day for five days a week. Muscle strength of animals in all groups was measured by electronic dynamometry and the endurance of rats was evaluated once a week using electrical stimulation on a racetrack which moved at a speed of 15 m/min. The test was performed an hour after the ingestion of RBJ or FRBJ. At the end of the experiment, biochemical blood indices were determined. FRBJ was prepared by the original method. Results: Most significant differences in the chemical composition of RBJ and FRBJ were found for glutamic acid, of which the content was 67.2% higher than in native juice. The greatest changes during the experiment were in the mass of the rats’ calf muscles. Regular running exercise caused a 29% increase in muscle mass. The additional increase in m. gastrocnemius was also provided y FRBJ – 12%. The combination of physical activity and the introduction of red beet derivate led to the increase of the calf muscle mass by 121% within a month. Assessing the endurance of animals by frequency of falling from the treadmill, we can conclude that compared with untrained animals, trained rats receiving FRBJ had three times higher levels of endurance. Conclusion: Consumption of FRBJ led to increased muscle strength in rats and the ergogenic effect of the product was significantly higher in combination with physical activity.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Influence of different lactic acid bacteria strains and milling process on the solid-state fermented green and red lentils (Lens culinaris L.) properties including gamma-aminobutyric acid formation

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum No.122 and Lacticaseibacillus casei No.210) and milling process on the solid-state fermented (for 24 h, at 30°C) green and red lentils (Lens culinaris L.) properties, chiefly pH, LAB viable counts, color coordinates, free amino acid (FAA) profile, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and biogenic amine (BA) concentrations, fatty acid (FA) and volatile compound (VC) profiles. Results showed that both of the tested LAB strains are suitable for the fermentation of lentils: pH of fermented lentils was <4.5 and LAB viable counts >8.0 log10 colony-forming units (CFU)/g. A very strong negative correlation was found (r = −0.973, p ≤ 0.0001) between LAB counts and pH of the samples. Also, fermentation and milling process were significant factors toward color coordinates of the lentils. In most of the cases, solid-state fermentation (SSF) increased essential FAA content in lentils; however, some of the non-essential FAA content was reduced. SSF significantly increased GABA concentration in lentils and milling process was a significant factor on GABA content of the samples (p ≤ 0.05). The main BA in lentils was spermidine, and SSF decreased their total BA content (34.8% on average in red lentils and 39.9% on average in green lentils). The main FA in lentils were linoleic and oleic. The main VC in lentils were hexanal, 1-hexanol, hexanoic acid, D-limonene and (E)-2-nonen-1-ol. Furthermore, most of the VC showed significant correlations with pH of lentil samples, LAB counts and FA content. Finally, the LAB strain used for fermentation and the milling process of lentils are significant factors for most of the analyzed parameters in lentil. Moreover, despite the higher GABA concentration found in green non-milled SSF lentils, application of combined milling and SSF is recommended because they showed the lowest BA content in addition to higher essential FAA and GABA concentrations

Application of Baltic Pine (Pinus sylvestris) Needle Extract as a Gut Microbiota-Modulating Feed Supplement for Domestic Chickens (Gallus gallus)

Funding Information: This research was funded within the framework of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) program, grant number 18-00-A01620-000042. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The valorization of wood industry residues is very desirable from a circular economy perspective. Pine needle extracts are known for their health-promoting properties and therefore can be used as herbal remedies and nutritional supplements. Since the withdrawal of antibiotics as growth promoters in the European Union, natural feed additives that improve poultry health and production are needed. It was proposed that pine needle extract could be a good alternative to antibiotic usage at sub-therapeutic concentrations. The results relevant to our assumption could be obtained by using domestic chickens as an in vivo model for the evaluation of gut microbiota-altering properties of pine needle extract as an herbal supplement. We tested the antimicrobial effects of Baltic pine (Pinus sylvestris) needle extract. Then, we used chicken (Gallus gallus) that received feed supplemented with two different concentrations of the extract for 40 days to evaluate the changes in gut microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. This preliminary study demonstrated trends toward dose-dependent desirable changes in broiler microbiome, such as a reduction in the relative abundance of Campylobacter.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Setting a baseline for global urban virome surveillance in sewage

The rapid development of megacities, and their growing connectedness across the world is becoming a distinct driver for emerging disease outbreaks. Early detection of unusual disease emergence and spread should therefore include such cities as part of risk-based surveillance. A catch-all metagenomic sequencing approach of urban sewage could potentially provide an unbiased insight into the dynamics of viral pathogens circulating in a community irrespective of access to care, a potential which already has been proven for the surveillance of poliovirus. Here, we present a detailed characterization of sewage viromes from a snapshot of 81 high density urban areas across the globe, including in-depth assessment of potential biases, as a proof of concept for catch-all viral pathogen surveillance. We show the ability to detect a wide range of viruses and geographical and seasonal differences for specific viral groups. Our findings offer a cross-sectional baseline for further research in viral surveillance from urban sewage samples and place previous studies in a global perspective

Veterinaro preparatu atlieku noteiksana ar masspektrometrijas metodem

This dissertation is dealing with determination of veterinary drug residues using masspectrometric methods. Survey of publications dealing with analysis of levamisole, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid compounds and sulphonamides was performed. Masspectrometric methods for determination of residues of 33 different compounds are elaborated. Mass spectra of veterinary drugs in different ionisation modes (EI, PCI, NCI, electrospray) are given and possible fragmentation patterns are described. Optimisation of analytical methods for detection of veterinary drug residues is performed. Account was made on achieving highest sensitivity level of analysis and possibilities to apply elaborated methods for determination of wide range of compounds. Main characteristics of GC-MS and LC-MS-MS methods (linearity, reproducibility and recovery) have been checked. Elaborated methods have been applied for residue testing of Latvian animal origin products. Results show low level of occurrence of veterinary drug residues.Abstract in English, Russian. Separate summaries in Latvian, EnglishAvailable from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLELVLatvi

The safety, technological, nutritional, and sensory challenges associated with lacto-fermentation of meat and meat products by using pure lactic acid bacteria strains and plant-lactic acid bacteria bioproducts

Introduction. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most popular microbial cultures used in the preparation of fermented foods (Bintsis, 2018). Due to their wide range of antimicrobial activity, LAB have been shown to improve safety, nutritional and sensory characteristics, control fermentation by microflora and speed maturation, as well as increase the shelf life of products (Des et al., 2018). Recently, as a new approach for the application of technological starters, great interest has been concentrated on their biodegradation and/or absorption properties of non-desirable chemical compounds, and it was reported that LAB can reduce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic aromatic amines (Bartkiene et al., 2017; Chiocchetti et al., 2018). However, fermented meat and meat products can be a source of biogenic amines (BAs), and relatively high concentrations of these compounds were reported in fermented sausages (EFSA, 2011; Özogul and Hamed, 2018), as well as in other foods (Capozzi et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2016; Li et al., 2018). Low concentrations of BAs are not toxic; however, putrescine and cadaverine can form carcinogenic nitrosamines, especially in meat products, where nitrite is used as a technological compound, also polyamines and diamines can form stable N-nitroso compounds (Eliassen et al., 2002). Therefore, the search for solutions to reduce undesirable microorganisms, as well as to decrease BAs and PAHs and control their levels in foods is very important. Also, attention has been paid to the meat products, with functional, as well as health promoting compounds, technologies development. For this reason, health enhancing ingredients such as plant based antioxidants, dietary fibers, and savory plants are rapidly increasing worldwide similar to natural bio-preservatives and value enriching compounds. Finally, it is very important to evaluate the risk of technological processes and to analyse the safety parameters of the final products, because separate ingredients can be general recognized as safe; however, during the technological processes various changes, desirable and non-desirable, can be initiated

Occurrence of Brominated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PBDD/DFs, PXDD/DFs, and PBDEs) in Baltic Wild Salmon (Salmo salar) and Correlation with PCDD/DFs and PCBs

The contamination profiles of polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PBDDs), dibenzofurans (PBDFs), diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and mixed monobromo/chloro dibenzo-p-dioxins (PXDDs) and dibenzofurans (PXDFs) were determined in the tissue of Baltic wild salmon and compared with those of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and biphenyls (PCBs). Out of the analyzed PXDD/DFs, only the 3-B-2,7,8-triCDF was detected (in the concentration range of 0.039–0.075 pg g^–1 fresh weight (f.w.)). The toxic equivalents (TEQs) for analyzed PBDD/DFs (0.074–0.142 pg TEQ g^–1 f.w.) were found to contribute on average 2.1% to the total PCDD/DF-PBDD/DF-TEQ. The total concentrations of 27 PBDE congeners were in the range of 1.3–5.6 ng g^–1 f.w., with an average of 3.3 ng g^–1 f.w. The levels of PCDD/DFs and PCBs were found to be in the range of 4.53–14.6 pg WHO(2005)-PCDD/DF-PCB-TEQ g^–1 f.w., and concentrations of these compounds in most of the analyzed samples were above the maximum levels specified in Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2011. Good correlation was observed between WHO(2005)-PCDD/DF-TEQ and WHO(2005)-PCB-TEQ (<i>r</i>² = 0.98), and these parameters were well correlated with the total sum of PBDE concentrations (<i>r</i>² = 0.91 and <i>r</i>² = 0.94, respectively). The results suggest that the consumption of Baltic wild salmon has no crucial impact on the average POP intake for typical Latvians

Eiropas Savienibas prasibam atbilstosu zvejas produktu analizu metozu aprobesana un ieviesana

Available from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLEMinistry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia, Riga (Latvia)LVLatvi