Kemijski sastav i reološka svojstva čvrstog jogurta dobivenog od obranog mlijeka tretiranog peroksidazom iz hrena

The aim of this work is to determine the impact of an enzymatic treatment on the fermentation and rheological properties of set yoghurt prepared from skimmed milk. Skimmed bovine milk was treated with horseradish peroxidase added at the level of 645 U per g of proteins in the presence (addition level of 7.8 mmol per L of milk) or absence of ferulic acid as a cross-linking agent, and used to prepare set yoghurt with commercial direct vat set starter culture. The evaluation showed that the treatment of skimmed milk with horseradish peroxidase enhanced its apparent viscosity, and storage and loss moduli. The prepared yoghurt contained protein, fat and total solids at 3.49–3.59, 0.46–0.52 and 15.23–15.43 %, respectively, had titratable acidity of 0.83–0.88 %, and no significant difference in the composition was found among the yoghurt samples (p>0.05). Compared to the control yoghurt, the yoghurt prepared from the milk treated with horseradish peroxidase had a higher apparent viscosity, storage and loss moduli and flow behavior indices, especially when ferulic acid was added. Yoghurt samples from the skimmed milk treated either with horseradish peroxidase only or with the additional ferulic acid treatment had better structural reversibility, because their hysteresis loop area during rheological analysis was larger (p0,05). U usporedbi s kontrolnim jogurtom, jogurt dobiven od mlijeka tretiranog peroksidazom iz hrena imao je veću prividnu viskoznost, modul pohrane i modul gubitka, te indeks tečenja, naročito nakon dodatka ferulične kiseline. Uzorci jogurta dobiveni od mlijeka tretiranog samo peroksidazom iz hrena ili kombinacijom peroksidaze i ferulične kiseline imali su bolja strukturna svojstva, tj. veću petlju histereze utvrđenu reološkom analizom

Effects of Maillard-type caseinate glycation on the preventive action of caseinate digests in acrylamide-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction in IEC-6 cells

Dietary acrylamide has attracted widespread concern due to its toxic effects; however, its adverse impact on the intestines is less assessed. Protein glycation of the Maillard-type is widely used for property modification, but its potential effect on preventive efficacy of protein digest against the acrylamide-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction is quite unknown. Caseinate was thus glycated with lactose. Two tryptic digests from the glycated caseinate and untreated caseinate (namely GCN digest and CN digest) were then assessed for their protective effects against acrylamide-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction in the IEC-6 cell model. The results showed that acrylamide at 1.25–10 mmol L(−1) dose-dependently had cytotoxic effects on IEC-6 cells, leading to decreased cell viability and increased lactate dehydrogenase release. Acrylamide also brought about barrier dysfunction, including decreased trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) value and increased epithelial permeability. However, the two digests at 12.5–100 μg mL(−1) could alleviate this dysfunction via enhancing cell viability by 70.2–83.9%, partly restoring TEER values, and decreasing epithelial permeability from 100% to 76.6–94.1%. The two digests at 25 μg mL(−1) strengthened the tight junctions via increasing tight junction proteins ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1 expression by 11.5–68.6%. However, the results also suggested that the GCN digest always showed lower protective efficacy than the CN digest in the cells. It is concluded that Maillard-type caseinate glycation with lactose endows the resultant tryptic digest with impaired preventive effect against acrylamide-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction, highlighting another adverse effect of the Maillard reaction on food proteins

The Impact of Extrinsic Amino Acids and Solvent Fractionation on the in vitro Antioxidant Activity of Plastein Reaction-Stressed Casein Hydrolysates

Za pripremu hidrolizata kazeina stupnja hidrolize od 9,4 % upotrijebljen je enzim papain. Dobiveni je hidrolizat imao in vitro antioksidativnu aktivnost tj. sposobnost uklanjanja DPPH radikala od 38,7 % i EC50 vrijednost od 1,63 mg/mL. Dodatkom fenilalanina ili tirozina potaknuta je plastein reakcija katalizirana pomoću papaina. Metodom odzivnih površina optimirani su sljedeći parametri pri vremenu reakcije od 5 h: temperatura od 30 °C, koncentracija supstrata od 50 % (m/V), udjel enzima od 3 kU/g peptida i udjel aminokiselina od 0,74 mol/mol slobodnih aminokiselinskih grupa hidrolizata. Pripremljeno je nekoliko modificiranih hidrolizata, te je ispitana njihova antioksidativna aktivnost, i to sposobnost uklanjanja DPPH radikala i reducirajuća snaga. Dobiveni su rezultati pokazali da su svi modificirani hidrolizati imali znatno veću sposobnost uklanjanja radikala (p<0,05) i reducirajuću snagu od izvornih hidrolizata, a među njima je bio i jedan s najnižom EC50 vrijednosti od 1,09 mg/mL. Frakcioniranjem modificiranog hidrolizata najveće antioksidativne aktivnosti pomoću etanola i vode u omjerima od 3:7, 4:6, 5:5 i 6:4 dobiveni su supernatanti ili precipitati veće ili manje antioksidativne aktivnosti i reducirajuće snage, naročito pomoću otapala male polarnosti (npr. omjera etanola i vode od 6:4). Supernatanti s najvećom aktivnošću imali su EC50 vrijednost od 0,69 mg/mL. Rezultati pokazuju da se dodatkom fenilalanina ili tirozina u plastein reakciji hidrolizata kazeina te daljnjim frakcioniranjem otapalom mogu dobiti modificirani hidrolizati veće antioksidativne aktivnosti.Papain was used to prepare a casein hydrolysate with a degree of hydrolysis of 9.4 %. The hydrolysate had the in vitro antioxidant activity with a DPPH radical scavenging activity of 38.7 % and an EC50 of 1.63 mg/mL. Extrinsic phenylalanine or tyrosine was added to the hydrolysate for a papain-catalyzed plastein reaction. The temperature, substrate mass per volume fraction, and the levels of enzyme and amino acid addition during the reaction were optimized using response surface methodology with a fixed reaction time of 5 h, and were found to be 30 °C, 50 %, 3 kU per g of peptides and 0.74 mol per mol of the free amino groups of the hydrolysate, respectively. Some modified hydrolysates were prepared and their antioxidant activity was evaluated in terms of DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power. The results revealed that all prepared modified hydrolysates had significantly higher (p<0.05) scavenging activity and reducing power than the original hydrolysate, and among them one showed the lowest EC50 of 1.09 mg/mL against DPPH radical. When the modified hydrolysate with the highest activity was fractionated using ethanol/water solvents in volume ratios of 3:7, 4:6, 5:5 and 6:4, the supernatant or precipitate fraction exhibited an enhanced or decreased activity or reducing power, especially with the solvent of lower polarity (e.g. 6:4 by volume). The obtained supernatant with the highest activity thus exhibited an EC50 of 0.69 mg/mL. The results show that extrinsic phenylalanine or tyrosine addition in the plastein reaction of casein hydrolysate and further solvent fractionation of the modified hydrolysate is applicable to improve the antioxidant properties of products

Restricted phase space thermodynamics of Einstein-power-Yang-Mills AdS black hole

We consider the thermodynamics of the Einstein-Power-Yang-Mills AdS black holes in the context of the gauge-gravity duality. Under this framework, the Newton's gravitational constant and the cosmological constant are varied in the system. We rewrite the thermodynamical first law in a more extended form containing both the pressure and the central charge of the dual conformal field theory, i.e., the restricted phase transition formula. A novel phenomena arises: the dual quantity of pressure is the effective volume, not the geometric one. That is leading to a new behavior of the Van de Waals-like phase transition for this system with the fixed central charge: the supercritical phase transition. From the Ehrenfest's scheme perspective, we check out the second-order phase transition of the EPYM AdS black hole. Furthermore the effect of non-linear Yang-Mills parameter on these thermodynamical properties is also investigated

Effective Lifetime of Non-Equilibrium Carriers in Semiconductors from Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The lifetime of non-equilibrium electrons and holes in semiconductors is crucial for solar cell and optoelectronic applications. Non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations based on time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) are widely used to study excited-state carrier dynamics. However, the calculated carrier lifetimes are often different from experimental results by orders of magnitude. In this work, by revisiting the definition of carrier lifetime and considering different recombination mechanisms, we report a systematic procedure for calculating the effective carrier lifetime in realistic semiconductor crystals that can be compared directly to experimental measurements. The procedure shows that considering all recombination mechanisms and using reasonable densities of carriers and defects are crucial in calculating the effective lifetime. When NAMD simulations consider only Shockey-Read-Hall (SRH) defect-assisted and band-to-band non-radiative recombination while neglect band-to-band radiative recombination, and the densities of non-equilibrium carriers and defects in supercell simulations are much higher than those in realistic semiconductors under solar illumination, the calculated lifetimes are ineffective and thus differ from experiments. Using our procedure, the calculated effective lifetime of the halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 agrees with experiments. It is mainly determined by band-to-band radiative and defect-assisted non-radiative recombination, while band-to-band non-radiative recombination is negligible. These results indicate that it is possible to calculate carrier lifetimes accurately based on NAMD simulations, but the directly calculated values should be converted to effective lifetimes for comparison to experiments. The revised procedure can be widely applied in future carrier lifetime simulations.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figure

Effects of two different anesthesia-analgesia methods on incidence of postoperative delirium in elderly patients undergoing major thoracic and abdominal surgery: study rationale and protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Background: Delirium is a common complication in elderly patients after surgery and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Studies suggest that deep anesthesia and intense pain are important precipitating factors of postoperative delirium. Neuraxial block is frequently used in combination with general anesthesia for patients undergoing major thoracic and abdominal surgery. Compared with general anesthesia alone and postoperative intravenous analgesia, combined epidural-general anesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia decreases the requirement of general anesthetics during surgery and provided better pain relief after surgery. However, whether combined epidural-general anesthesia plus epidural analgesia is superior to general anesthesia plus intravenous analgesia in decreasing the incidence of postoperative delirium remains unknown. Methods/design: This is a multicenter, open-label, randomized, parallel-controlled clinical trial. One thousand eight hundred elderly patients (age range 60-90 years) who are scheduled to undergo major thoracic or abdominal surgery are randomized to receive either general anesthesia plus postoperative intravenous analgesia or combined epidural-general anesthesia plus postoperative epidural analgesia. The primary outcome is the 7-day incidence of postoperative delirium. Secondary outcomes include the duration of postoperative delirium, the intensity of pain during the first three days after surgery, the 30-day incidences of postoperative non-delirium complications, the length of stay in hospital after surgery and 30-day all-cause mortality. Discussion: Results of the present study will provide information to guide clinical practice in choosing appropriate anesthesia-analgesia method for elderly patients undergoing major thoracic and abdominal surgery.Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities-Peking University Clinical Research Program in Peking University Health Science Center [PUCRP201101]; Peking University First HospitalSCI(E)[email protected]

Comparative efficacy and safety of the fixed versus unfixed combination of latanoprost and timolol in Chinese patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A noninferiority trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a single evening dose of fixed-combination latanoprost 50 μg/mL and timolol 0.5 mg/mL (Xalacom^®; LTFC), in Chinese patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) or ocular hypertension (OH) who were insufficiently controlled on β-blocker monotherapy or β-blocker-based dual therapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This 8-week, randomized, open-label, parallel-group, noninferiority study compared once-daily evening dosing of LTFC with the unfixed combination of latanoprost, one drop in the evening, and timolol, one drop in the morning (LTuFC). The primary efficacy endpoint was the mean change from baseline to week 8 in diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP; mean of 8 AM, 10 AM, 2 PM, 4 PM IOPs). LTFC was considered noninferior to LTuFC if the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the difference was < 1.5 mmHg (analysis of covariance).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Baseline characteristics were similar for LTFC (N = 125; POAG, 70%; mean IOP, 25.8 mmHg) and LTuFC (N = 125; POAG, 69%; mean IOP, 26.0 mmHg). Mean diurnal IOP changes from baseline to week 8 were -8.6 mmHg with LTFC and -8.9 mmHg with LTuFC (between-treatment difference: 0.3 mmHg; 95%-CI, -0.3 to 1.0). Both treatments were well tolerated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A single evening dose of LTFC was at least as effective as the unfixed combination of latanoprost in the PM and timolol in the AM in reducing IOP in Chinese subjects with POAG or OH whose IOP was insufficiently reduced with β-blocker monotherapy or β-blocker-based dual therapy. LTFC is an effective and well tolerated once-daily treatment for POAG and OH.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Clinicaltrials.gov registration: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00219596">NCT00219596</a></p