Evolution of protein bound Maillard reaction end-products and free Amadori compounds in low lactose milk in presence of fructosamine oxidase I

Thermal treatments and storage influence milk quality, particularly in low lactose milk as the higher concentration of reducing sugars can lead to the increased formation of the Maillard reaction products (MRPs). The control of the Amadori products (APs) formation is the key step to mitigate the Maillard reaction (MR) in milk. The use of fructosamine oxidases, (Faox) provided promising results. In this paper, the effects of Faox I were evaluated by monitoring the concentration of free and bound MRPs in low lactose milk during shelf life. Results showed that the enzyme reduced the formation of protein-bound MRPs down to 79% after six days at 37 °C. Faox I lowered the glycation of almost all the free amino acids resulting effective on basic and polar amino acids. Data here reported corroborate previous findings on the potentiality of Faox enzymes in controlling the early stage of the MR in foods

The extraction efficiency of maceration, UAE and MSPD in the extraction of pyrethrins from Dalmatian pyrethrum

Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium /Trevir./ Sch. Bip.) synthesizes secondary metabolite pyrethrin, known for its potent insecticidal and repellent activity. The present study was aimed at optimizing the maceration extraction parameters that improve the efficiency of pyrethrin extraction from the dried Dalmatian pyrethrum flower heads. Extraction efficiencies under several conditions were investigated: different solvent types, extraction time, the rotational speed of the stirrer, and the solvent volume. The highest recovery values were obtained with 5 mL of acetone, at the rotational speed of 400 rpm, and the extraction time of three hours. In addition, the extraction efficiency of maceration was compared to that of ultrasound-assisted and matrix solid phase dispersion extraction, both previously optimized for pyrethrin extraction. The extractions were carried out on samples of three natural Dalmatian pyrethrum populations (Krk, Mt. Kozjak, and Senj). Both the total pyrethrin content and the HPLC profile varied between different extraction techniques. Across applied methods, the highest efficiency was observed with matrix solid phase dispersion extraction. Evaluation of the differences between data obtained using different extraction techniques was performed by the Bland-Altman analysis, revealing good agreement between the three methods

Perception of Hotel Rebranding from the Position of Tourism Professionals and the General Public

The aim of the paper is to analyse the perception of rebranding and repositio ning of Panorama Zagreb hotel into a new hotel, i.e., a new brand under the name Zonar Zagreb, among tourism professionals and the general public. Based on the research conducted on a sample of the tourism professionals, i.e., on a sample of hoteliers, restaurateurs and employees in tourism, as well as on the basis of an identical questionnaire on a sample of the general public, i.e., respondents of all occupational and educational profiles, by comparing the answers obtained, an attempt is made to determine the level of new brand recognition and the perception of the new brand, i.e., rebranding and repositioning among the professional and general public. The results of the research show that the professional public is very well ver sed in trends in the local hotel market, marketing terms, theory and practice, and more specifically, in the rebranding of the Zonar Zagreb hotel itself. On the other hand, due to the intensive marketing campaign, the general public is familiar with the new Zonar Zagreb brand, but the awareness of the finesse and details of the repositioning and rebranding process from Hotel Panorama Zagreb to the Zonar Zagreb hotel was mainly not present among the general public

Nanoparticle-doped electrospun fiber random lasers with spatially extended light modes

Complex assemblies of light-emitting polymer nanofibers with molecular materials exhibiting optical gain can lead to important advance to amorphous photonics and to random laser science and devices. In disordered mats of nanofibers, multiple scattering and waveguiding might interplay to determine localization or spreading of optical modes as well as correlation effects. Here we study electrospun fibers embedding a lasing fluorene-carbazole-fluorene molecule and doped with titania nanoparticles, which exhibit random lasing with sub-nm spectral width and threshold of about 9 mJ cm^-2 for the absorbed excitation fluence. We focus on the spatial and spectral behavior of optical modes in the disordered and non-woven networks, finding evidence for the presence of modes with very large spatial extent, up to the 100 micrometer-scale. These findings suggest emission coupling into integrated nanofiber transmission channels as effective mechanism for enhancing spectral selectivity in random lasers and correlations of light modes in the complex and disordered material.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Characterization of UEF-4, a DNA-binding Protein Required for Transcriptional Synergism between Two AP-1 Sites in the Human Urokinase Enhancer

Abstract The enhancer of the inducible urokinase gene depends on three essential but not sufficient transactivating elements, an upstream PEA3/AP-1A and a downstream AP-1B site. Enhancer activity also requires the interposed 74-base pair-long cooperation mediator (COM) region that allows transcriptional synergism between the transactivating sites. The 5′-half of COM (uCOM) forms four retarded complexes with HeLa or Hep-G2 nuclear proteins (UEF-1–4). We have identified the binding sequence for UEF-4 and generated uCOM elements uniquely mutated in the UEF-4-binding site or uniquely binding UEF-4. Introduction of these and other mutations in the context of the urokinase enhancer showed that all uCOM sites are important for enhancer activity but that UEF-4 and UEF-1 plus UEF-2/3 can substitute for each other, suggesting functional redundancy of urokinase enhancer factors. UEF-4 was purified from HeLa nuclear extract by affinity chromatography and shown to contain two polypeptides of 105 and 65 kDa, respectively, of which at least the former was endowed with DNA binding activity

Telemedicine for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening in Croatia: A Dream That Could Become a Reality

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in working-age adults associated with devastating personal and socioeconomic consequences. The increasing use of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents over the past decade and telemedicine implementation in systematic DR screening resulted in a decliningtrend of new blindness due to diabetes in several countries. Telemedicine is the remote delivery of healthcare services over the telecommunications infrastructure. It allows healthcare providers to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients without the need for an in-person visit. Teleophthalmology is a telemedicine branch, mostly focused on diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. Screening for DR in Croatia is commonly performed annually, only by ophthalmologists using dilated slit-lamp biomicroscopic fundus examination. Due to the insufficient number of ophthalmologists and the lack of a formal call system, many diabetic patients do not perform annual screening. In an ideal DR screening model in Croatia, each diabetes center in university or general hospitals throughout Croatia (17 centers) would have one small digital fundus camera and an educated nurse who would perform dilated fundus photography. Electronic images from diabetes centers would be transferred for remote grading to the same hospitals’ ophthalmology departments or a central grading center for DR screening in Croatia. Grading for DR would be performed by an ophthalmologist, medical retina specialist. Patients would be annually invited by mail from the National Diabetes Registry to come to the nearest diabetes center for a fundus photographing and DR screening. Each patient with a positive result would be promptly referred to the medical retina specialist at the closest ophthalmology department for further examination and treatment

Chapter Scenari di reverse processing nel rilievo architettonico da nuvola di punti

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

A contribution to understanding metallurgic activities of the Liburnians

Nasuprot bogatstvu autohtonih metalnih oblika, jako malo znamo o procesu proizvodnje metalnih predmeta kod Liburna. Metalurška središta, radionice i pribor uglavnom su nepoznati. Kao indicije proizvodnje postoje tek malobrojni primjerci kalupa, čije postojanje ipak otvara raspravu o tehnologiji izrade, umijeću i dosezima liburnskih izrađivača.Despite abundance of autochthonous metal forms we know very little about the process of production of metal objects in the Liburnians. Metallurgic centres, workshops and tools are unknown for the most part. Only scarce examples of moulds stand as indicators of production. Their existence opens up discussion about the technology of production, skills and achievements of the Liburnian producers

Diverse regimes of mode intensity correlation in nanofiber random lasers through nanoparticle doping

Random lasers are based on disordered materials with optical gain. These devices can exhibit either intensity or resonant feedback, relying on diffusive or interference behaviour of light, respectively, which leads to either coupling or independent operation of lasing modes. We study for the first time these regimes in complex, solid-state nanostructured materials. The number of lasing modes and their intensity correlation features are found to be tailorable in random lasers made of light-emitting, electrospun polymer fibers upon nanoparticle doping. By material engineering, directional waveguiding along the length of fibers is found to be relevant to enhance mode correlation in both intensity feedback and resonant feedback random lasing. The here reported findings can be used to establish new design rules for tuning the emission of nano-lasers and correlation properties by means of the compositional and morphological properties of complex nanostructured materials.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure