Use of high-power ultrasound during soy protein production and study of its effect on functional properties of soy protein isolate

A comprehensive review focusing on advantages of high-power ultrasound in extraction, emulsification, crystallization, defoaming and modification of functional properties of food proteins was conducted to understand the ultrasonic mechanisms, important process parameters and components to consider for scale-up. The effect of high-power ultrasound on the overall extractability of soy proteins, total sugar, and soy protein isolate yield and functional properties were evaluated. It was hypothesized that the pretreatment of defatted soy flakes with high-power ultrasound prior to soy protein extraction would enhance the extractability of the protein and sugar molecule. Because of the cavitation phenomenon occurring during ultrasound treatment, change in protein native state was expected to occur, which would affect the functional properties of the soy protein isolate. Defatted soy flakes dispersed in water were sonicated for 15, 30, 60 and 120 seconds using a bench-scale ultrasound unit. The ultrasonic amplitude was varied from 0, 21, 42, 63 and 84 μmpp (peak to peak amplitude in ym). The power densities were 0.30, 0.87, 1.53 and 2.56 W/mL representing, very low, low, medium and high-power, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy of sonicated samples showed the structural disruption of soy flakes cell wall. The defatted soy flakes particle size was reduced nearly 10-fold following ultrasonic treatment at high-power settings. Treatment at high-power for 120 seconds gave the highest increase in total sugar release and protein yield, which was of 50 and 46%, respectively, when compared to non-sonicated sample (control). These conditions also gave the highest soy protein isolate yield increase, which was of 34%. To determine effect of temperature increase occurring during sonication, the ultrasonic pretreatment of the defatted soy flakes was carried out with and without temperature moderation. The heat generated during sonication had no significant effect on protein and sugar release from defatted soy flakes. Functionality of soy protein isolate obtained from defatted soy flakes treated for 30, 60 and 120 seconds at 0.30 and 2.56 W/mL was assessed. The sonication power and the sonication time both impacted significantly the soy protein isolate functional properties. The sonication of defatted soy flakes for 120 seconds at the high-power level improved the soy protein isolate solubility by 34% at pH 7.0, while decreasing emulsification and foaming capacities by 12 and 26%, respectively, when compared to soy protein isolate obtained from untreated defatted soy flakes. Rheological behavior of the soy protein isolate was also modified with significant loss in consistency coefficient due to sonication. Some of these results could be explained by the loss of the protein native state with increased sonication time and power

Intrinsic superconducting diode effects in tilted Weyl and Dirac semimetals

We explore Weyl and Dirac semimetals with tilted nodes as platforms for realizing an intrinsic superconducting diode effect. Although tilting breaks sufficient spatial and time-reversal symmetries, we prove that -- at least for conventional $s$-wave singlet pairing -- the effect is forbidden by an emergent particle-hole symmetry at low energies if the Fermi level is tuned to the nodes. Then, as a stepping stone to the three-dimensional semimetals, we analyze a minimal one-dimensional model with a tilted helical node using Ginzburg-Landau theory. While one might naively expect a drastic enhancement of the effect when the node turns from type-I to type-II, we find that the presence of multiple Fermi pockets is more important as it enables multiple pairing amplitudes with indepedent contributions to supercurrents in opposite directions. Equipped with this insight, we construct minimal lattice models of Weyl and Dirac semimetals and study the superconducting diode effect in them. Once again, we see a substantial enhancement when the normal state has multiple Fermi pockets per node that can accommodate more than one pairing channel. In summary, this study sheds light on the key factors governing the intrinsic superconducting diode effect in systems with asymmetric band structures and paves the way for realizing it in topological semimetals

Aneurysmal Bone Cyst of Talus

Aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) of talus is rare benign, expansile and osteolytic bone growth. Cyst contains bloody fluid lined with variable amount of osteolytic giant cells. This is common in epiphyseal ends of long bone and rare in small bones like talus. Here a 20 years’ male with aneurysmal bone cyst of talus managed with wide intralesional curettage with autologous bone graft mixed with synthetic bone graft been presented

Large anomalous Hall effect in single crystals of the kagome Weyl ferromagnet Fe3_3Sn

The material class of kagome metals has rapidly grown and has been established as a field to explore the interplay between electronic topology and magnetism. In this work, we report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the anomalous Hall effect of the ferromagnetic kagome metal Fe$_3$Sn. The compound orders magnetically at 725 K and presents an easy-plane anisotropy. Hall measurements in single crystals below room temperature yield an anomalous Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}\sim500\,(\Omega\textrm{cm})^{-1}$, which is found to depend weakly on temperature. This value is in good agreement with the band-intrinsic contribution obtained by density-functional calculations. Our calculations also yield the correct magnetic anisotropy energy and predict the existence of Weyl nodes near the Fermi energy.Comment: 9 pages and 9 figures including supplemen

Do cortisol affects the brain electrical activity (EEG powers)?

Background: Glucocorticoids at very low/high levels are detrimental for memory performance. But how electroencephalogram (EEG) activity correlates with the cortisol in high and low efficient brains are still controversial. Objective: To find the association of cortisol with EEG powers in high and low cognitive brains at the time of examination preparation. Method: The EEG was recorded in an eye-closed state for 5-minutes in high (n-59) and low (n-24) cognitive individuals. Their salivary cortisol was estimated and correlated with the EEG activity by Spearman correlation test (p<0.05). The cortisol level between two groups was compared by Mann-Whitney U test. Result: Cortisol (ng/ml) was high in low cognitive group (1.36) than to the other group (1.32).There was a negative association of cortisol with EEG powers (r= -0.41 to -0.5) in central (beta, alpha2), frontal (alpha2) and left-temporal (alpha2) regions of the low cognitive brains. In high cognitive brains, cortisol was negatively associated with beta activity in right-temporal (r=-0.27) but positively associated with theta activity in mid-frontal (r=0.33) brain area. Conclusion: The less efficient brain has high cortisol level during preparation for their examination. This might have decreased the alpha2 activity in them that will impair the processing of long term memory. However, these individuals seem to manage the examination stress by decreasing the firing of the beta activity. Conversely, in the high cognitive brain, the rise in cortisol level seemed to increase the mid-frontal theta activity that might improve the attention and encoding of the information in these individuals

Ultrasonication in Soy Processing for Enhanced Protein and Sugar Yields and Subsequent Bacterial Nisin Production

Soy protein recovery from hexane-defatted soybean flakes using conventional methods is generally low. Importantly, some tightly-bound sugar in the soy flakes ends up in soy protein, thereby deteriorating the usefulness and quality of soy protein as a food ingredient. This research investigated the use of high-power ultrasound prior to soy protein extraction to simultaneously enhance protein yield and facilitate more sugar release in soy whey. The nutrient-rich soy whey was then used as a cheap growth medium to produce high-value nisin using Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. A nisin sensitive organism Micrococcus luteus was used as an indicator organism for international unit determination of nisin production as compared to standard. Soy flakes and water was mixed at the ratio of 1:10 (w/w). The slurry was then sonicated for 15, 30, 60 and 120 sec at a frequency of 20 kHz. The ultrasonic amplitude was maintained at 84 µmpp (peak to peak amplitude in µm) for all sonication durations. The results showed that with ultrasound pretreatment, the protein yield improved as much as by 46% in soy extract and sugar release by 50% with respect to nonsonicated samples (control). To maximize nisin production from soy whey, different parameters, such as aeration/agitation and incubation period were optimized. Nisin production from standard medium, DeMan, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) and soy whey was tested and compared. Maximum nisin production was achieved in stationary conditions and showed a continuous increase in yield till 48h of incubation (incubation period beyond that was not tested). Maximum nisin yield of 1.78 g/L of soy whey was obtained at 30°C and pH of 4.5 as opposed to 2.96 g/L of nisin with MRS medium

Comparison of Point Cloud and Image-based Models for Calorimeter Fast Simulation

Score based generative models are a new class of generative models that have been shown to accurately generate high dimensional calorimeter datasets. Recent advances in generative models have used images with 3D voxels to represent and model complex calorimeter showers. Point clouds, however, are likely a more natural representation of calorimeter showers, particularly in calorimeters with high granularity. Point clouds preserve all of the information of the original simulation, more naturally deal with sparse datasets, and can be implemented with more compact models and data files. In this work, two state-of-the-art score based models are trained on the same set of calorimeter simulation and directly compared.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Influenza B virus: Need for heightened surveillance and epidemiologic case studies

Recent report of increased influenza B virus infection, particularly theclinical profiles and treatment challenges imposed like that of influenza A,underscores the importance of continuing influenza B virus surveillance.This is, especially in resource limited country, early detection of influenzavirus, its clinical presentation and complications would be vital in minimizingthe public heath burden imposed by this virus.Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, influenza B, severe acutepulmonary infection

Feeding, caregiving practices, and developmental delay among children under five in lowland Nepal: a community-based cross-sectional survey

Background: Nurturing care, including adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving and early learning, is critical to early childhood development. In Nepal, national surveys highlight inequity in feeding and caregiving practices for young children. Our objective was to describe infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving practices among caregivers of children under five in Dhanusha district, Nepal, and to explore socio-demographic and economic factors associated with these practices. Methods: We did a cross-sectional analysis of a subset of data from the MIRA Dhanusha cluster randomised controlled trial, including mother-child dyads (N = 1360), sampled when children were median age 46 days and a follow-up survey of the same mother-child dyads (N = 1352) when children were median age 38 months. We used World Health Organization IYCF indicators and questions from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey-4 tool to obtain information on IYCF and cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving practices. Using multivariable logistic regression models, potential explanatory household, parental and child-level variables were tested to determine their independent associations with IYCF and caregiving indicators. Results: The prevalence of feeding indicators varied. IYCF indicators, including ever breastfed (99%), exclusive breastfeeding (24-hour recall) (89%), and vegetable/fruit consumption (69%) were common. Problem areas were early initiation of breastfeeding (16%), colostrum feeding (67%), no pre-lacteal feeding (53%), timely introduction of complementary feeding (56%), minimum dietary diversity (49%) and animal-source food consumption (23%). Amongst caregiving indicators, access to 3+ children’s books (7%), early stimulation and responsive caregiving (11%), and participation in early childhood education (27%) were of particular concern, while 64% had access to 2+ toys and 71% received adequate care. According to the Early Child Development Index score, only 38% of children were developmentally on track. Younger children from poor households, whose mothers were young, had not received antenatal visits and delivered at home were at higher risk of poor IYCF and caregiving practices. Conclusions: Suboptimal caregiving practices, inappropriate early breastfeeding practices, delayed introduction of complementary foods, inadequate dietary diversity and low animal-source food consumption are challenges in lowland Nepal. We call for urgent integrated nutrition and caregiving interventions, especially as interventions for child development are lacking in Nepal