Nutritional habits in children: Research on health-related habits in schoolchildren in the Republic of Serbia in 2017

Introduction. Childhood nutritional habits may have a tremendous influence on long-term health. Nutritional habits developed during childhood may turn into a lifetime habit. Missed meals, skipping breakfast, and increased intake of sweets are related to overweight and obesity. We aimed to research nutritional habits in schoolchildren in Serbia. Method. We used the data from the research "Health-related habits in schoolchildren in Serbia in 2017". We used the standardized international protocol of the World Health Organization for data gathering. We polled 3.933 participants, aged 11, 13, and 15. Results. The habit of having breakfast, on schooldays days, shows statistically significant difference around re-gions, for ages 11 (p = 0,001) and 13 (p = 0,000). At the age of 11 (p = 0,046), the majority of children have breakfast on weekends in Belgrade (92,7%). When fruit consumption is concerned, the regions statistically significantly differ for the age 11 (p = 0,006). The greatest consumption of fruit is found in the region of Vojvodina (37,4%). In Belgrade, 5% of children never eat vegetables. At the age of 15, there is a statistically significant difference (p = 0,046) in vegetable consumption. Most vegetables are consumed in South and East Serbia (25,5%), and Sumadija and West Serbia (27,4%). There is a statistically significant difference (p=0,016), at the age of eleven, in sweets consumption, among regions. There are the least children who never consumed sweets (1,8%) in Vojvodina. Conclusion. Based on analyzed data, we concluded that children aged eleven, thirteen, and fifteen, in the Republic of Serbia, don't eat quite healthy. The results may be useful for the promotion of health-educational programs, which, in turn, may lead to behavioral changes

Electrostatic extrusion as a dispersion technique for encapsulation of cells and bioactive compounds

Significant development of cells and bioactive compound encapsulation technologies is taking place due to an exceptional possibility of their application in various scientific disciplines, including biomedicine, pharmacy, cosmetology, food and agricultural sciences, beverage production, industrial waste treatment. Despite the broad application of microencapsulation, the literature reviews on dispersion techniques for microcapsule/microbead production, their advantages, restrictions and drawbacks are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to assess the possibilities of electrostatic extrusion for encapsulation of biological material, including living cells in hydrogel microbeads. The paper presents an overview of the mechanisms of droplet formation and controlling experimental parameters for producing microbeads by means of electrostatic extrusion. Electrostatic droplet formation utilizes a special type of physical process taking advantage of electrostatic effects occurring in flowing conductive liquids after introduction of an electric field. When an electrostatic field is applied to the metal needle and an electric charge is induced in the liquid flowing out of the needle, the size of droplet detaching from the needle tip decreases as a function of applied electrostatic field. It has been shown that few parameters affect microbead size: applied voltage, electrode geometry, needle size, polarity arrangement and polymer concentration. The electrostatic droplet formation is one of the most precise methods, which enables one to produce spherical and uniform particles ranging from 100 up to 1000 mu m. Most of the authors report that the encapsulated compounds (drugs, enzymes and living cells) remain unaltered after electrostatic extrusion. This technique seems to be particularly promising in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, where a low-temperature process, preserving heat-sensitive material is a prerequisite. Future efforts in developing of electrostatic extrusion should be directed towards adequately scaling-up for commercial purpose

Optimizacija procesa izolovanja hemoglobina iz goveđih eritrocita kontrolisanom hemolizom

In this work, we describe an optimized procedure based on gradual hemolysis for the isolation of hemoglobin derived from bovine slaughterhouse erythrocytes in a membrane bioreactor. The membrane bioreactor system provided high yields of hemoglobin (mainly oxyhemoglobin derivate) and its separation from the empty erythrocyte membranes (ghosts). Ten different concentrations of hypotonic media were assessed from the aspect of the extent of hemolysis, hematocrit values of the erythrocyte suspensions, cell swelling and membrane deformations induced by decreased salt concentration. Effective gradual osmotic hemolysis with an extent of hemolysis of 83% was performed using 35 mM Na-phosphate/NaCl buffer of pH 7.2-7.4. Under these conditions most of the cell membranes presented the appearance of the normal ghosts under phase contrast microscope. The results show that isolation process yielded predominantly to oxyhemoglobin. Kinetic studies showed that maximal concentration of hemoglobin was reached after 40 min, but the process cycle at which recovery of 83% was achieved lasted for 90 min.Dugi niz godina, i kod nas i u svetu, razvijaju se tehnološki postupci za izolovanje strukturno očuvanog i biološki aktivnog hemoglobina koji bi mogao da se koristi kao zamenik za krv, kao izvor biološki visokoaktivnog hemskog gvožđa u prevenciji anemije kod ljudi i životinja, ili kao reagens u dijagnostici. U ovom radu optimizovan je postupak za izolovanje hemoglobina iz eritrocita poreklom iz otpadne klanične goveđe krvi sa ciljem dobijanja preparata hemskog gvožđa za prevenciju anemije kod životinja. Testirana je osetljivost goveđih eritrocita na osmotsku lizu sa ciljem definisanja optimalnog puferskog sistema za efikasno izvođenje kontrolisane hemolize. Dobijeni rezultati su pokazali da goveđi eritrociti imaju povećanu osmotsku osetljivost u odnosu na humane eritrocite, a da je optimalan puferski sistem za izvođenje njihove kontrolisane hemolize 35 mM natrijum-fosfatni/NaCl pufer pH 7,2-7,4. Kontrolisana hemoliza sa optimizovanim puferskim sistemom je izvedena u membranskom reaktorskom sistemu i ostvaren je prinos hemoglobina od 83±12%. Tokom ovog procesa nije došlo do oštećenja membrane eritrocita, a intaktne membrane praznih eritrocita bi se mogle koristiti za inkapsulaciju biološki aktivnih supstanci

Freeze versus Spray Drying for Dry Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) Extract Formulations: The Impact of Gelatin as a Coating Material

Freeze drying was compared with spray drying regarding feasibility to process wild thyme drug in order to obtain dry formulations at laboratory scale starting from liquid extracts produced by different extraction methods: maceration, heat-, ultrasound-, and microwave-assisted extractions. Higher powder yield (based on the dry weight prior to extraction) was achieved by freeze than spray drying and lower loss of total polyphenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) due to the drying process. Gelatin as a coating agent (5% w/w) provided better TPC recovery by 70% in case of lyophilization and higher powder yield in case of spray drying by diminishing material deposition on the wall of the drying chamber. The resulting gelatin-free and gelatin-containing powders carried polyphenols in amount ~190 and 53-75 mg gallic acid equivalents GAE/g of powder, respectively. Microwave-assisted extract formulation distinguished from others by higher content of polyphenols, proteins and sugars, higher bulk density and lower solubility. The type of the drying process affected mainly position of the gelatin-derived -OH and amide bands in FTIR spectra. Spray dried formulations compared to freeze dried expressed higher thermal stability as confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry analysis and higher diffusion coefficient; the last feature can be associated with the lower specific surface area of irregularly shaped freeze-dried particles (151-223 µm) compared to small microspheres (~8 µm) in spray-dried powder.Preprint: [10.20944/preprints202105.0358.v1

Freeze vs. Spray Drying for Dry Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) Extract Formulations: The Impact of Gelatin as a Coating Material

Freeze drying was compared with spray drying regarding feasibility to process wild thyme drugs in order to obtain dry formulations at laboratory scale starting from liquid extracts produced by different extraction methods: maceration and heat-, ultrasound-, and microwave-assisted extractions. Higher total powder yield (based on the dry weight prior to extraction) was achieved by freeze than spray drying and lower loss of total polyphenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) due to the drying process. Gelatin as a coating agent (5% w/w) provided better TPC recovery by 70% in case of lyophilization and higher total powder yield in case of spray drying by diminishing material deposition on the wall of the drying chamber. The resulting gelatin-free and gelatin-containing powders carried polyphenols in amount ~190 and 53-75 mg gallic acid equivalents GAE/g of powder, respectively. Microwave-assisted extract formulation was distinguished from the others by a higher content of polyphenols, proteins and sugars, higher bulk density and lower solubility. The type of the drying process mainly affected the position of the gelatin-derived -OH and amide bands in FTIR spectra. Spray-dried formulations compared to freeze-dried expressed higher thermal stability as confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry analysis and a higher diffusion coefficient; the last feature can be associated with the lower specific surface area of irregularly shaped freeze-dried particles (151-223 µm) compared to small microspheres (~8 µm) in spray-dried powder

Development of a heme iron feed supplement for prevention and therapy of anemia in domestic animals

Animal blood produced in slaughterhouses as a by-product of the meat industry represents serious biohazard. Transformation of wasted slaughterhouse blood to the highly valuable product(s) may partially solve the problem of disposing slaughterhouse blood wastes and at the same time, isolated heme concentrates can be used to fortify feed. The aim of this study was to optimize the isolation process of bovine hemoglobin from slaughterhouse blood by gradual hemolysis in a membrane bioreactor. 35 mM Na-phosphate/NaCl buffer solution of pH 7.2-7.4 was identified as the optimal external medium providing effective gradual osmotic hemolysis with an extent of hemolysis of 88%. The hemoglobin purity of >80% was confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Kinetic studies showed that maximal concentration of hemoglobin was reached after 40 min, but the process cycle at which recovery of 83% was achieved, lasted for 90 min. Methemoglobin levels remained below 2% with hemoglobin concentration of 4.8 ±0.5 gL-1 at the end of process. In order to produce ready-to-use feed additive for prevention of iron deficiency anemia in domestic animals, future studies should be oriented toward development of down-stream processes, such as tangential flow filtration and lyophilization

Encapsulation of natural antioxidant resveratrol in liposomes

Liposomes have been shown to be suitable systems for encapsulation and preserving the health-beneficial properties of a wide range of biological active ingredients such as resveratrol (RSV). The aim of this study was to encapsulate RSV in liposomes, with a goal to achieve the extended release and improved stability of RSV. Multilameral liposomes were prepared by means of two different methods: thin film method (TF) and proliposome method (PRO). In both methods, the ratio between added RSV and phospolipon 90G (P90G) was 1:20 w/w. Extrusion and sonication were applied in order to obtain unilameral liposomes. Both methods were efficient in capturing RSV within the microparticles, thus encapsulation efficiency had high values (92,9% in case of TF and 97,4% in case of PRO). The size reduction of liposomes resulted with particles of the average diameter ranged between 120 and 270 nm. Antioxidative activity was retained at a high level (approximately 95%). Franz diffusion cell was used for release studies and diffusion of RSV was monitored for 6h. According to the results, liposomes appeared to be suitable vehicles for encapsulation of resveratrol where PRO is particularly useful for encapsulation of antioxidants

ANTIOXIDANT and ANTIMICROBIAL CAPACITY of ENCAPSULATED THYME ESSENTIAL OIL in ALGINATE and SOY PROTEIN-BASED CARRIERS

The aim of this study was to develop a stable hydrogel carrier system for thyme essential oil (TEO) that could protect its sensitive polyphenol compounds. The impact of wall material (soy protein and alginate) on encapsulation efficiency and thymol release in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, was investigated. The release of thymol was ~ 80 % and 20 % in simulated gastric and pancreatic solutions, respectively. Thyme essential oil plays an important role as an antimicrobial and antioxidant agent. Results indicated that encapsulated TEO inside the hydrogel matrix exhibited antioxidant activity demonstrated by CUPRAC and ABTS analysis, even after thermal treatment of the beads, indicating the metal chelate effect as dominant. In vitro antimicrobial activity of encapsulated TEO has been studied against several pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Candida albicans. Beads coded as Ca-A1.5/SP1.5 showed anti-Candida albicans activity, while modified bead formulations Ca-A1.5/SP1.5* and Ca-A1.5/SP0.25** showed bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

β‐sitosterol and gentisic acid loaded1,2‐dipalmitoyl‐sn‐glycero‐3‐phosphocholine liposomal particles

The aim of the present study was the examination of the impact of β-sitosterol and gentisic acid on the characteristics of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine(DPPC) liposomal particles: (a) bilayer permeability (fluorescence spectroscopy),(b) particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential (photon correlation spectroscopy) and (c) thermal properties (differential scanning calorimetry).β-sitosterol induced the increase of liposomal bilayer rigidity, due to rearranging of the phospholipid chains, while gentisic acid enhanced the membrane fluidity, due to the reduced orderliness and the increase of phospholipid dynamics. The inclusion of β-sitosterol in liposomes caused a significant increase in particle diameter and PDI, while the encapsulation of gentisic acid did not have influence on particle size distribution. Apart from that, the presence ofβ-sitosterol resulted in the significant zeta potential increase, and thus a better stability of liposomal spheres(in the absence and in the presence of gentisic acid). β-sitosterol decreased main transition temperature (Tm) and phase transition enthalpy (∆H), and caused the disappearance of the pre-transition peak as well, whereas the presence of gentisic acid produced a slight decrease in Tm and increase of ∆H. Therefore, gentisic acid had more favourable, stabilizing interactions with phospholipids thanβ-sitosterol. Thus, it can be concluded that β-sitosterol is located in the bilayer interior between phospholipids acyl chains, and gentisic acid is incorporated near the outer leaflet of the phospholipid membrane, next to the polar head groups.β-sitosterol and gentisic acid loaded DPPC liposomal particles have a potential to be used in food and pharmaceutical products, due to the important individual and possible synergistic beneficial health properties ofβ-sitosterol and gentisic acid

Development of Lipid-β-Sitosterol Small Unilamelar Liposomes as Vehicles for Gentisic Acid

Liposomes, as biodegradable, non-toxic and non-immunogenic drug delivery systems, can provide controlled release of active molecules and their protection from degradation. Therefore, the aim of the present study was encapsulation of gentisic acid (antioxidant polyphenols acid) into liposomes containing phospholipids (Lipoid) and various amounts of β-sitosterol. Liposomal bilayer containing β-sitosterol was more fluid and flexible, in comparison to pure Lipoid liposomes. Gentisic acid has caused the rearranging of the acid chains of phospholipids bilayer in the 1-(4-Trimethylammoniumphenyl)-6-Phenyl-1,3,5-Hexatriene p-Toluenesulfonate (TMADPH) environment. Liposomal vesicles containing Lipoid and β-sitosterol have smaller diameter compared to pure Lipoid, whereas there is no statistically significant difference in polydispersity index (PDI). Additionally, higher concentration of β-sitosterol has induced the increase of absolute zeta potential values and consequently higher stability of liposomal suspension. The addition of various amounts of gentisic acid did not influence the changes of particle size and PDI values, while in Lipoid liposomes gentisic acid has induced significant and gradual increase of zeta potential. Lipid peroxidation was higher in Lipoid-β-sitosterol system, particularly in Lipoid 50%-β-sitosterol 50% sample, whereas gentisic acid has reduced rate of membrane lipid peroxidation. In comparison to pure Lipoid, Lipoid-β-sitosterol system has shown better membrane permeability, smaller particle size, higher zeta potential and stability, which made Lipoid-β-sitosterol liposomes suitable delivery system for gentisic acid