Encapsulation of Bifidobacterium longum in alginate-dairy matrices and survival in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, refrigeration, cow milk and goat milk

The aim of this study was to microencapsulate Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CCUG 52486 using the extrusion method in a variety of matrices, namely sodium alginate (SA), sodium alginate-cow milk (SACM), sodium alginate-goat milk (SAGM) and sodium alginate-casein hydrolysate (SACH), and to evaluate the survival of free and encapsulated bacterial cells under different conditions. The encapsulation yield, size and surface morphology of the microcapsules were evaluated. The survival of microencapsulated bacterial cells and free bacterial cells were evaluated under simulated gastrointestinal conditions as well as in refrigeration, cow milk and goat milk during storage at 4 oC for 28 days. The average size of SACM capsules and SAGM capsules was 2.8±0.3 mm and 3.1±0.2 mm respectively. Goat milk and cow milk based matrices resulted in dense microcapsules which led to better performances in simulated gastrointestinal conditions than SA and SACH microcapsules. The bacterial cells encapsulated in SAGM showed the highest survival rate in cow milk (7.61 log cfu g-1) and goat milk (8.10 log cfu g-1) after the storage of 28 d. The cells encapsulated in SA and SACH and the free cells performed poorly under the simulated gastrointestinal conditions and in all different storage conditions. This study showed that SACM and SAGM are suitable to encapsulate B. longum subsp. infantis CCUG 52486 using the extrusion technique and more specifically, SAGM has a potential to be used as a new encapsulation material for encapsulating probiotic bacteria, resulting milk and goat milk-based products with higher probiotic cell concentrations during refrigerated storage

Self lensing effects for compact stars and their mass-radius relation

During the last couple of years astronomers and astrophysicists have been debating on the fact whether the so called `strange stars' - stars made up of strange quark matter, have been discovered with the candidates like SAX J1808.4-3658, 4U 1728-34, RX J1856.5-3754, etc. The main contention has been the estimation of radius of the star for an assumed mass of ~ 1.4 M_sun and to see whether the point overlaps with the graphs for the neutron star equation of state or whether it goes to the region of stars made of strange matter equation of state. Using the well established formulae from general relativity for the gravitational redshift and the `lensing effect' due to bending of photon trajectories, we, in this letter, relate the parameters M and R with the observable parameters, the redshift z and the radiation radius R_\infty, thus constraining both M and R for specific ranges, without any other arbitrariness. With the required inputs from observations, one ought to incorporate the effects of self lensing of the compact stars which has been otherwise ignored in all of the estimations done so far. Nonetheless, these effect of self lensing makes a marked difference and constraints on the M-R relation.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Correlation between First Trimester Serum Uric Acid Concentration and Its association with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes is one of the common medical disorders in India and is not so uncommon to encounter in the pregnant women. It is associated with high perinatal mortality and morbidity if it is not well controlled. Early diagnosis and treatment is very important to prevent fetal and maternal complications. AIM OF THE STUDY: To detect correlation between first trimester serum uric acid and its association with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study conducted in institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Chennai, in which 200 antenatal women were recruited for prospective study and maternal serum uric acid was measured before 13 weeks of pregnancy. All patients will undergo Oral Glucose Challenge Test (OGCT) between 22-24 weeks of gestation, if the value is > 200, then the patients are considered as having GDM. If OGCT > 140 mg/ dl patient at increased risk of GDM, then they undergo 100gm GTT to confirm GDM. RESULT: Out of 200 patients, 111 patients had elevated serum uric acid > 3.6 mg/dl, among them 91 patients developed GDM. The Receiver Operator Curve showed serum uric acid as a predictor of GDM with Area under Curve of 0.819[95% CI: (0.759-0.870)] with a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 79.2% at an Optimum criterion > 3.6 mg/dl. First trimester uric acid concentrations > 3.6 mg/dl were associated with a trend towards increased risk of developing gestational diabetes (adjusted ODDS RATIO =5. 95%CI: 0.759-.870) compared to women with concentrations below this level. It was statistically significant, p value was 0.0001. CONCLUSION: We concluded from this study, there is risk of development of GDM with elevated levels of serum uric acid in the first trimester. This relationship is independent of age, parity, BMI and family history of diabetes mellitus though there is association of these variables (advanced maternal age, high parity, increased BMI and positive family history) with GDM. Uric acid levels at < 13 weeks of gestation is more significantly associated with risk of development of GDM

Development and Validation of Multi-Modality Instructional Model

Development of models of teaching is the recent innovation in teaching. An important purpose of discussing models of teaching is to assist the teacher to have a wide range of approaches for creating a proper interactive environment for learning. An intelligent use of these approaches enables the teacher to adopt him to the learning needs of the students. A number of educationist and psychologists have proposed model approach to teaching. A model of teaching consists of guidelines for designing educational activities and environments. Model of teaching is a plan that can also be utilized to shape courses of studies, to design instructional material and to guide instruction. Joyce and Weil, (1972) [19] explained Teaching of model is a pattern or plan, which can be a curriculum or courses to select instructional materials and to guide a teachers actions. Educators and psychologist have design several types of teaching models which provides suitable guidelines to the teachers for modifying the behaviour of the learners. As a matter of facts some sorts of models of teaching have been existence since times immemorial. In simple language a models of teaching may be defined as a blueprint designed in advance for providing necessary structure and direction to the teacher for realizing the stipulated objectives. After the investigator completed the determination of the steps the model was presented to the panel of experts. The panel of experts scrutinized and validated the steps of the model and gave their opinion about the fitness of the model for application. They further commented to conduct a pilot study with the application of the model From the pilot try out of the model it was found to be effective for application in classroom teaching. &nbsp