Particle Deposition in Microfluidic Devices at Elevated Temperatures

In microchannels, interaction and transport of micro-/nanoparticles and biomolecules are crucial phenomena for many microfluidic applications, such as nanomedicine, portable food processing devices, microchannel heat exchangers, etc. The phenomenon that particles suspended in liquid are captured by a solid surface (e.g., microchannel wall) is referred to as particle deposition. Particle deposition is of importance in numerous practical applications and is also of fundamental interest to the field of colloid science. This chapter presents researches on fouling and particle deposition in microchannels, especially the effects of temperature and temperature gradient, which have been frequently ‘ignored’ but are important factors for thermal-driven particle deposition and fouling processes at elevated temperatures

Poboljšanje emulgatorskih svojstava konjugata hidrolizata pšeničnoga glutena i λ-karagenana

Gluten hydrolysate was prepared through limited enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat gluten resulting from the byproducts of wheat starch. The enzyme applied in the present study was Protamex. Response surface methodology was used to investigate the effects of pH, gluten hydrolysate (GHP)λ-carrageenan (C) ratio and reaction time on emulsifying properties of the GHP-C conjugate. The regression model for emulsion activity index (EAI) was significant at p=0.001, while reaction time had a significant effect on EAI of the conjugate with regression coefficient of 4.25. The interactions of pH and GHP/ C ratio, and GHP/C ratio and reaction time significantly affected the EAI of the conjugate. Both the emulsifying property and nitrogen solubility index (NSI) of GHP-C conjugate prepared under the optimal conditions increased more remarkably, compared to the control. The denaturation temperature of GHP-C conjugate obviously increased compared to wheat gluten. The addition of GHP-C conjugate had different effects on dough characteristics. Moreover, this conjugate can delay the increase in the bread crumb firmness during storage. It demonstrated that this conjugate couldimprove the dough characteristics and had anti-staling properties of bread.Hidrolizat glutena pripravljen je ograničenom enzimskom hidrolizom pšeničnoga glutena dobivenog kao nusproizvod pšeničnoga škroba. U radu je upotrijebljen enzim Protamex. Metodom odzivne površine (response surface methodology) ispitivan je utjecaj pH, odnos gluten hidrolizat (GHP)λ-karagenan (C) i trajanje reakcije na emulgatorska svojstva GHP-C konjugata. Regresijski model za indeks aktivnosti emulzije (EAI) bio je značajan pri p=0,001, a vrijeme reakcije bitno je utjecalo na EAI konjugata s koeficijentom regresije od 4,25. Međusobni odnos pH i GHP/C, te vremena reakcije značajno utječe na EAI konjugata. GHP-C konjugati, pripravljeni pod optimalnim uvjetima, imali su bitno poboljšana emulgatorska svojstva i indeks topljivosti dušika (NSI) u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom. Temperatura je denaturacije GHP-C konjugata vi{a u usporedbi s glutenom. Dodatak GHP-C konjugata različito je utjecao na osobine tijesta. Konjugat omogučava da se duže očuva svježina krušnih mrvica tijekom skladištenja, poboljšaju svojstva tijesta i uspori starenje kruha

Survivability of Lactobacillus rhamnosus during the Preparation of Soy Cheese

Svrha je ovog istraživanja razvoj novog probiotičkog sira od soje na bazi kineskog sira sufu. Sir je dobiven fermentacijom sojinog mlijeka s pomoću bakterijskih starter kultura (DH1 i GH4) i L. rhamnosus 6013. Nakon zrenja uspoređene su ocjene senzorskih svojstava probiotičkog sira od soje (standard SB/T 10170-93) s kontrolnim uzorkom. Ispitani su promjena pH-vrijednosti, rast bakterija i preživljavanje potencijalne probiotičke kulture L. rhamnosus 6013 tijekom fermentacije i skladištenja na 10 °C. Nakon 6 sati fermentacije, L. rhamnosus 6013 bio je sposoban rasti u sojinom mlijeku sve do 108-109 CFU/mL. Nakon skladištenja tijekom 30 dana pri 10 °C primijećeno je slabo opadanje pH-vrijednosti i broja živih stanica bakterija. Broj živih stanica nakon 30 dana iznosio je 107 CFU/g L. rhamnosus 6013, 106 CFU/g DH1 i 106 CFU/g GH4. Udio stahioze, rafinoze i saharoze u siru od soje određen je visokodjelotvornom tekućinskom kromatografijom. Rezultati pokazuju da L. rhamnosus 6013 može koristiti oligosaharide soje kao izvor ugljika. Dodatak od 2 do 4 % soli nije značajnije utjecao na preživljavanje kulture L. rhamnosus 6013, što znači da ta bakterija može podnijeti tehnološku preradu bez negativnog utjecaja na fermentaciju i senzorska svojstva sira od soje.The aim of this study was to develop a new probiotic soy cheese on the basis of chinese sufu. The soy cheese was made from soymilk fermented with soy cheese bacterial starter cultures (DH1 and GH4) and L. rhamnosus 6013. After ripening, probiotic soy cheese sensory scores (standard SB/T 10170-93) were compared to the control. The changes in pH, bacterial growth and the survivability of the potential probiotic L. rhamnosus 6013 during fermentation and storage at 10 °C were examined. After 6 h of fermentation, L. rhamnosus 6013 was capable of growing in soymilk as high as 108–109 CFU/mL. After being stored for 30 days at 10 °C, slight decrease in pH and the viable counts of the strain was noticed. The viable counts of L. rhamnosus 6013, DH1 and GH4 were 107, 106 and 106 CFU/g, respectively, after storage for 30 days. The levels of stachyose, raffinose and sucrose in soy cheese were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The results indicated that L. rhamnosus 6013 could utilize the soybean oligosaccharides as carbon sources. In addition, 2–4 % of NaCl had little effect on the survivability of L. rhamnosus 6013. It indicated that L. rhamnosus 6013 could withstand the technological processing of soy cheese and had no negative effect on the fermentation and the sensory properties of the soy cheese

Integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machines to transfection optimization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transfection in mammalian cells based on liposome presents great challenge for biological professionals. To protect themselves from exogenous insults, mammalian cells tend to manifest poor transfection efficiency. In order to gain high efficiency, we have to optimize several conditions of transfection, such as amount of liposome, amount of plasmid, and cell density at transfection. However, this process may be time-consuming and energy-consuming. Fortunately, several mathematical methods, developed in the past decades, may facilitate the resolution of this issue. This study investigates the possibility of optimizing transfection efficiency by using a method referred to as least-squares support vector machine, which requires only a few experiments and maintains fairly high accuracy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A protocol consists of 15 experiments was performed according to the principle of uniform design. In this protocol, amount of liposome, amount of plasmid, and the number of seeded cells 24 h before transfection were set as independent variables and transfection efficiency was set as dependent variable. A model was deduced from independent variables and their respective dependent variable. Another protocol made up by 10 experiments was performed to test the accuracy of the model. The model manifested a high accuracy. Compared to traditional method, the integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machine greatly reduced the number of required experiments. What's more, higher transfection efficiency was achieved.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machine is a simple technique for obtaining high transfection efficiency. Using this novel method, the number of required experiments would be greatly cut down while higher efficiency would be gained. Least-squares support vector machine may be applicable to many other problems that need to be optimized.</p

Clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes in Paget disease: a SEER populationâ based study

The objective of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of Paget disease (PD), Paget disease concomitant infiltrating duct carcinoma (PDâ IDC), and Paget disease concomitant intraductal carcinoma (PDâ DCIS). We identified 501,631 female patients from 2000 to 2013 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. These identified patients included patients with PD (n = 469), patients with PDâ IDC (n = 1832), and patients with PDâ DCIS (n = 1130) and infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) (n = 498,076). Then, we compared the clinical characteristics of these patients with those who were diagnosed with IDC during the same period. The outcomes of these subtypes of breast carcinoma were different. Based on the overall survival, the patients with PDâ IDC had the worst prognosis (5â year survival rate = 84.1%). The PDâ DCIS had the best prognosis (5â year survival rate = 97.5%). Besides, among patients with Paget disease, the one who was married had a better prognosis than who were not. And, according to our research, the marital status was associated with the hormone receptor status in patients with PDâ IDC. Among three subtypes of Paget disease, patients with PDâ IDC had the worst prognosis. Besides, patients who were unmarried had worse outcomes. And the marital status of patients with PDâ IDC is associated with hormone status. The observation underscores the importance of individualized treatment.Patients with PDâ IDC have the worst prognosis. And the marital status of PDâ IDC patients is associated with hormone status and HER2 status. The observation underscores the importance of individualized treatment.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144702/1/cam41475.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144702/2/cam41475_am.pd

Water-Soluble Humic Materials Regulate Quorum Sensing in Sinorhizobium meliloti Through a Novel Repressor of expR

Quorum sensing (QS) plays an important role in the growth, nodulation, and nitrogen fixation of rhizobia. In this study, we show that water-soluble humic materials (WSHM) repress the expression of the QS related genes sinI, sinR, and expR in Sinorhizobium meliloti. This decreased the production of N-acetyl homoserine lactones (AHL) and exopolysaccharides (EPS), and ultimately increased S. meliloti cell density. We also identified a novel regulator, SMc03890 (renamed QsrR), which binds directly to the expR promoter. Deletion of qsrR increased expR expression. WSHM repressed the expression of expR by augmenting the interaction between QsrR and the expR promoter; this was determined by a bacterial-one-hybrid assay. These effects of WSHM on the QS system in S. meliloti may be the underlying mechanism by which WSHM increase the symbiotic nitrogen fixation of Medicago sativa inoculated with S. meliloti. This study provides the first evidence that humic acids regulate the QS of rhizobia and suggests that WSHM could be used as fertilizers to improve the efficiency of symbiotic nitrogen fixation

HBsAg Inhibits the Translocation of JTB into Mitochondria in HepG2 Cells and Potentially Plays a Role in HCC Progression

Background and Aims: The expression of the jumping translocation breakpoint (JTB) gene is upregulated in malignant liver tissues; however, JTB is associated with unbalanced translocations in many other types of cancer that suppress JTB expression. No comprehensive analysis on its function in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been performed to date. We aimed to define the biological consequences for interaction between JTB and HBsAg in HCC cell lines. Methods: We employed the stable transfection to establish small HBsAg expressing HepG2 cell line, and stably silenced the JTB expression using short hairpin RNA in HepG2 cell line. The effects of JTB and small HBsAg in vitro were determined by assessing cell apoptosis and motility. Results: Silencing of JTB expression promoted cancer cell motility and reduced cell apoptosis, which was significantly enhanced by HBs expression. Expression of HBsAg inhibited the translocation of JTB to the mitochondria. Furthermore, silencing of the JTB resulted in an increase in the phosphorylation of p65 in HepG2 cells and HepG2-HBs cells, whereas HBsAg expression decreased the phosphorylation of p65. The silencing of JTB in HepG2-HBs cells conferred increased advantages in cell motility and anti-apoptosis. Conclusion: HBsAg inhibited the translocation of JTB to the mitochondria and decreased the phosphorylation of p65 through the interaction with JTB, After JTB knockdown, HBsAg exhibited a stronger potential to promote tumor progression. Our data suggested that JTB act as a tumor suppressor gene in regards to HBV infection and its activation might be applied as a therapeutic strategy for in control of HBV related HCC development.National Natural Science Foundation of China [30971362, 81072013]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China [2010111082]; Key Projects for Technology Plan of Fujian Province in China [2009D020]; Foundation of Health Bureau of Fujian in China [2007CXB8, 3502z20077046]; Foundation of Health Bureau of Xiamen in China [2007CXB8, 3502z20077046