Effects of Mentha pulegium water extract dipping on quality and shelf life of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) during superchilled storage

The effects of Mentha pulegium water extract dipping on quality and shelf life of silver carp during superchilled storage were investigated. Fish samples were treated with water extract of 1 and 3% M. pulegium, and then stored at -3 οC for 30 days. The control and the treated fish samples were analyzed periodically for chemical (pH, PV, TBA, TVB-N), and sensory characteristics. The results indicated that the effect of M. pulegium extract dipping on fish samples was to retain their good quality characteristics and extend the shelf life during superchilled storage, which was supported by the results of chemical and sensory evaluation analyses. In this respect, the sample supplemented with 3% water extract was more potent compared with the 1% one in extending the shelf life of fish fillets

Stochastic signatures of involuntary head micro-movements can be used to classify females of ABIDE into different subtypes of neurodevelopmental disorders.

© 2017 Torres, Mistry, Caballero and Whyatt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).Background: The approximate 5:1 male to female ratio in clinical detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) prevents research from characterizing the female phenotype. Current open access repositories [such as those in the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE I-II)] contain large numbers of females to help begin providing a new characterization of females on the autistic spectrum. Here we introduce new methods to integrate data in a scale-free manner from continuous biophysical rhythms of the nervous systems and discrete (ordinal) observational scores. Methods: New data-types derived from image-based involuntary head motions and personalized statistical platform were combined with a data-driven approach to unveil sub-groups within the female cohort. Further, to help refine the clinical DSM-based ASD vs. Asperger's Syndrome (AS) criteria, distributional analyses of ordinal score data from Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)-based criteria were used on both the female and male phenotypes. Results: Separate clusters were automatically uncovered in the female cohort corresponding to differential levels of severity. Specifically, the AS-subgroup emerged as the most severely affected with an excess level of noise and randomness in the involuntary head micro-movements. Extending the methods to characterize males of ABIDE revealed ASD-males to be more affected than AS-males. A thorough study of ADOS-2 and ADOS-G scores provided confounding results regarding the ASD vs. AS male comparison, whereby the ADOS-2 rendered the AS-phenotype worse off than the ASD-phenotype, while ADOS-G flipped the results. Females with AS scored higher on severity than ASD-females in all ADOS test versions and their scores provided evidence for significantly higher severity than males. However, the statistical landscapes underlying female and male scores appeared disparate. As such, further interpretation of the ADOS data seems problematic, rather suggesting the critical need to develop an entirely new metric to measure social behavior in females. Conclusions: According to the outcome of objective, data-driven analyses and subjective clinical observation, these results support the proposition that the female phenotype is different. Consequently the “social behavioral male ruler” will continue to mask the female autistic phenotype. It is our proposition that new observational behavioral tests ought to contain normative scales, be statistically sound and combined with objective data-driven approaches to better characterize the females across the human lifespan.Peer reviewe

Heart rate mean and variability as a biomarker for phenotypic variation in preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interest in autonomic arousal in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasing; however, reliability of these measures in ASD is unknown, and previously reported associations with social and cognitive abilities are inconsistent. This study assesses heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) in preschoolers with ASD or typical development (TD) while they passively watched naturalistic videos. Measurement reliability, group differences, and the relationship with social and cognitive abilities were evaluated. Seventy one ASD and 66 TD children (2–4 years) provided cardiac data from two sessions. Test–retest intraclass correlations of HR and HRV over a 3‐week period were moderate to good in both groups. Groups did not differ in mean level of HR or HRV. Intra‐individual variability of HR between video segments within a session was higher in the ASD group, but intraclass correlations of this metric were low. Higher HR related to better language skills in TD children, but not after accounting for age and nonverbal ability. Higher HRV related to better expressive and receptive language in ASD children after controlling for age and nonverbal ability. HR/HRV were not related to social or executive functioning skills and did not explain any additional variance in abilities at a 12‐month follow‐up visit. In summary, variation in language abilities is associated with HR in the TD group and HRV in the ASD group. While preliminary, these results are promising for consideration of autonomic control as a biomarker for individual differences in ASD and may help us understand the mechanisms that contribute to communication skills

Multifractal Dynamic Functional Connectivity in the Resting-State Brain

Assessing the functional connectivity (FC) of the brain has proven valuable in enhancing our understanding of brain function. Recent developments in the field demonstrated that FC fluctuates even in the resting state, which has not been taken into account by the widely applied static approaches introduced earlier. In a recent study using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) global dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) has also been found to fluctuate according to scale-free i.e., fractal dynamics evidencing the true multifractal (MF) nature of DFC in the human prefrontal cortex. Expanding on these findings, we performed electroencephalography (EEG) measurements in 14 regions over the whole cortex of 24 healthy, young adult subjects in eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) states. We applied dynamic graph theoretical analysis to capture DFC by computing the pairwise time-dependent synchronization between brain regions and subsequently calculating the following dynamic graph topological measures: Density, Clustering Coefficient, and Efficiency. We characterized the dynamic nature of these global network metrics as well as local individual connections in the networks using focus-based multifractal time series analysis in all traditional EEG frequency bands. Global network topological measures were found fluctuating-albeit at different extent-according to true multifractal nature in all frequency bands. Moreover, the monofractal Hurst exponent was found higher during EC than EO in the alpha and beta bands. Individual connections showed a characteristic topology in their fractal properties, with higher autocorrelation owing to short-distance connections-especially those in the frontal and pre-frontal cortex-while long-distance connections linking the occipital to the frontal and pre-frontal areas expressed lower values. The same topology was found with connection-wise multifractality in all but delta band connections, where the very opposite pattern appeared. This resulted in a positive correlation between global autocorrelation and connection-wise multifractality in the higher frequency bands, while a strong anticorrelation in the delta band. The proposed analytical tools allow for capturing the fine details of functional connectivity dynamics that are evidently present in DFC, with the presented results implying that multifractality is indeed an inherent property of both global and local DFC

The physicochemical properties and antioxidative potential of raw thigh meat from broilers fed a dietary medicinal herb extract mixture

A 6-wk feeding study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidative potential, indices such as quality of the thigh meat and liver of broiler chickens fed with a dietary medicinal herb extract mixture (HEM, consisting: Iranian green tea, cinnamon, garlic and chicory at a ratio of 25:15:45:15). A total of 320, one-d-old Ross (male) broiler chickens were used to investigate the effects of 0.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 g/kg HEM in the diet, on aforementioned factors. The HEM supplementation did not influence the composition of raw thigh meat except for the total phenols and crude ash (P<0.05). Furthermore, pH, water-holding capacity (WHC) and acceptability of thigh meat were affecting by administration of HEM in diets (P<0.05). Meat flavor increased in the supplemented groups (P<0.05). According to our data, HEM supplementation decreased the amount of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) in various times of storage and improved the liver lipid peroxides and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities at week 6 (P<0.05), but did not influence the catalase activity. Our results reveal that the addition of 7.5 g/kg or higher HEM in diet could be sufficient to increase the antioxidative activity and 2.5 g/kg for meat taste of broilers in maximum levels.Keywords: Antioxidative component, Broilers, Extract mixture, Mea