Effect of high frequency ultrasounds on lycopene and total phenolic concentration, antioxidant properties and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of tomato juice

Tomato juice was subjected to high frequency ultrasounds(378 and 583 kHz)at increasing energy densities (up to 250 MJ/m3). Results relevant to the treatments at high frequency providing an energy density of 250 MJ/m3 were compared with those obtained at 24 kHz delivering the same energy density. Lycopene and total phenolic concentration, as well as the α-glucosidase inhibitory activityof tomato juice, were not affected by ultrasound regardless the frequency and energy density. However, the antioxidant properties were negatively affected by high frequency ultrasounds

JTM's Tumor immunology goes broad: announcing the Immunobiology and Immunotherapy section.

For the last four years the Journal of Translational Medicine (JTM) has hosted the Section of Tumor Immunology and Biological Cancer Therapy. Under the editorial leadership of Dr. Pedro Romero and with the direct support of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), this section enriched the communication between basic immunological sciences and the clinical investigation arena in oncology. We are re-launching this Section of JTM, now entitled Immunobiology and Immunotherapy, succeeding Tumor Immunology and Biological Cancer Therapy. While aiming to build on the editorial success and focus of its predecessor, this novel Section will have a broader scope, hosting translational immunology topics pertaining to immunotherapy beyond oncology, including disciplines such as inflammation, autoimmunity, transplantation, metabolic disorders and others. As the vision of this re-launched Section of JTM broadens up to serve a communication need for translational immunologists involved with immunotherapy irrespectively of the therapeutic area, a novel and focused journal entitled Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer (JITC) has just been initiated, sponsored by the SITC

Inter-relationships between composition, physicochemical properties and functionality of lecithin ingredients

Background: Lecithin is widely used as an ingredient in the food industry due to its diverse functionality, mainly attributed to phospholipids (PL), the principal constituents. However, a systematic understanding of the functional properties of lecithin ingredients is missing in the literature. Scope and approach: This review outlines recent developments in lecithin from botanical origin and reviews the complex inter-relationships between physicochemical properties of PL in lecithin and selected techno-functional properties in micelles, liposomes and oil-in-water emulsions. Key findings and conclusions: Attributed to their polar phosphatide group and non-polar fatty acids, PL have specific molecular geometries, dissociation constants and charge, which strongly influence their functional properties in micelles, liposomes and oil-in-water emulsions. The PL profile and extrinsic factors (e.g., water, oil, hexane) influence the formation of micelles during separation of lecithin from oil using membrane filtration. In liposomes, PL profile and the presence of surface modifiers (i.e., sterols) affect the particle size and encapsulation efficiency. In emulsion systems, PL and their interaction with minerals and other functional ingredients (e.g., proteins), influence the particle size and physical stability of the oil droplets. This work provides an integrated review of the links between the composition and physicochemical properties of PL, and in turn, scientifically underpins the links between physicochemical and functional properties of lecithin

Hierarchical progressive surveys. Multi-resolution HEALPix data structures for astronomical images, catalogues, and 3-dimensional data cubes

Scientific exploitation of the ever increasing volumes of astronomical data requires efficient and practical methods for data access, visualisation, and analysis. Hierarchical sky tessellation techniques enable a multi-resolution approach to organising data on angular scales from the full sky down to the individual image pixels. Aims. We aim to show that the Hierarchical progressive survey (HiPS) scheme for describing astronomical images, source catalogues, and three-dimensional data cubes is a practical solution to managing large volumes of heterogeneous data and that it enables a new level of scientific interoperability across large collections of data of these different data types. Methods. HiPS uses the HEALPix tessellation of the sphere to define a hierarchical tile and pixel structure to describe and organise astronomical data. HiPS is designed to conserve the scientific properties of the data alongside both visualisation considerations and emphasis on the ease of implementation. We describe the development of HiPS to manage a large number of diverse image surveys, as well as the extension of hierarchical image systems to cube and catalogue data. We demonstrate the interoperability of HiPS and Multi-Order Coverage (MOC) maps and highlight the HiPS mechanism to provide links to the original data. Results. Hierarchical progressive surveys have been generated by various data centres and groups for ~200 data collections including many wide area sky surveys, and archives of pointed observations. These can be accessed and visualised in Aladin, Aladin Lite, and other applications. HiPS provides a basis for further innovations in the use of hierarchical data structures to facilitate the description and statistical analysis of large astronomical data sets.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Influence of glycomacropeptide on rehydration characteristics of micellar casein concentrate powder

Glycomacropeptide (GMP) shows potential for enhancing the rehydration properties of high-protein dairy powders due to its hydrophilic nature. This study involved formulating micellar casein concentrate (MCC) solutions (8.6% final protein content) with 0, 10, and 20% GMP as a percentage of total protein, and investigated the physicochemical and rehydration properties of the resultant freeze-dried powders (P-MCC-0G, P-MCC-10G, and P-MCC-20G, respectively). The surface charges of caseins in the control MCC and 10 or 20% GMP blended solutions were −25.8, −29.6, and −31.5 mV, respectively. Tablets prepared from P-MCC-10G or P-MCC-20G powders displayed enhanced wettability with contact angle values of 80.6◦ and 79.5◦, respectively, compared with 85.5◦ for P-MCC-0G. Moreover, blending of GMP with MCC resulted in faster disintegration of powder particles during rehydration (i.e., dispersibility) compared to P-MCC-0G. Faster and more extensive release of caseins from powder particles into solution was evident with the increasing proportion of GMP, with the majority of GMP released within the first 15 min of rehydration. The results of this study will contribute to further development of formulation science for achieving enhanced solubility characteristics of high-protein dairy powder ingredients, such as MCC

The Structure of a Low-Metallicity Giant Molecular Cloud Complex

To understand the impact of low metallicities on giant molecular cloud (GMC) structure, we compare far infrared dust emission, CO emission, and dynamics in the star-forming complex N83 in the Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Dust emission (measured by Spitzer as part of the S3MC and SAGE-SMC surveys) probes the total gas column independent of molecular line emission and traces shielding from photodissociating radiation. We calibrate a method to estimate the dust column using only the high-resolution Spitzer data and verify that dust traces the ISM in the HI-dominated region around N83. This allows us to resolve the relative structures of H2, dust, and CO within a giant molecular cloud complex, one of the first times such a measurement has been made in a low-metallicity galaxy. Our results support the hypothesis that CO is photodissociated while H2 self-shields in the outer parts of low-metallicity GMCs, so that dust/self shielding is the primary factor determining the distribution of CO emission. Four pieces of evidence support this view. First, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor averaged over the whole cloud is very high 4-11 \times 10^21 cm^-2/(K km/s), or 20-55 times the Galactic value. Second, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor varies across the complex, with its lowest (most nearly Galactic) values near the CO peaks. Third, bright CO emission is largely confined to regions of relatively high line-of-sight extinction, A_V >~ 2 mag, in agreement with PDR models and Galactic observations. Fourth, a simple model in which CO emerges from a smaller sphere nested inside a larger cloud can roughly relate the H2 masses measured from CO kinematics and dust.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures (including appendix), accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Influence of transglutaminase crosslinking on casein protein fractionation during low temperature microfiltration

Low temperature microfiltration (MF) is applied in dairy processing to achieve higher protein and microbiological quality ingredients and to support ingredient innovation; however, low temperature reduces hydrophobic interactions between casein proteins and increases the solubil-ity of colloidal calcium phosphate, promoting reversible dissociation of micellar β-casein into the serum phase, and thus into permeate, during MF. Crosslinking of casein proteins using transglutam-inase was studied as an approach to reduce the permeation of casein monomers, which typically results in reduced yield of protein in the retentate fraction. Two treatments (a) 5◦ C/24 h (TA) and (b) 40◦ C/90 min (TB), were applied to the feed before filtration at 5◦ C, with a 0.1 µm membrane. Flux was high for TA treatment possibly due to the stabilising effect of transglutaminase on casein micelles. It is likely that formation of isopeptide bonds within and on the surface of micelles results in the micelles being less readily available for protein-protein and protein–membrane interactions, resulting in less resistance to membrane pores and flow passage, thereby conferring higher permeate flux. The results also showed that permeation of casein monomers into the permeate was significantly reduced after both enzymatic treatments as compared to control feed due to the reduced molecular mobility of soluble casein, mainly β-casein, caused by transglutaminase crosslinking

Submillimeter to centimeter excess emission from the Magellanic Clouds. II. On the nature of the excess

Dust emission at submm to cm wavelengths is often simply the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of dust particles at thermal equilibrium and is used as a cold mass tracer in various environments including nearby galaxies. However, well-sampled spectral energy distributions of the nearby, star-forming Magellanic Clouds have a pronounced (sub-)millimeter excess (Israel et al., 2010). This study attempts to confirm the existence of such a millimeter excess above expected dust, free-free and synchrotron emission and to explore different possibilities for its origin. We model NIR to radio spectral energy distributions of the Magellanic Clouds with dust, free-free and synchrotron emission. A millimeter excess emission is confirmed above these components and its spectral shape and intensity are analysed in light of different scenarios: very cold dust, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fluctuations, a change of the dust spectral index and spinning dust emission. We show that very cold dust or CMB fluctuations are very unlikely explanations for the observed excess in these two galaxies. The excess in the LMC can be satisfactorily explained either by a change of the spectral index due to intrinsic properties of amorphous grains, or by spinning dust emission. In the SMC however, due to the importance of the excess, the dust grain model including TLS/DCD effects cannot reproduce the observed emission in a simple way. A possible solution was achieved with spinning dust emission, but many assumptions on the physical state of the interstellar medium had to be made. Further studies, using higher resolution data from Planck and Herschel, are needed to probe the origin of this observed submm-cm excess more definitely. Our study shows that the different possible origins will be best distinguished where the excess is the highest, as is the case in the SMC.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures; accepted in A&

Mortality rates and division of labor in the leaf-cutting ant, Atta colombica

Division of labor in social groups is affected by the relative costs and benefits of conducting different tasks. However, most studies have examined the dynamics of division of labor, rather than the costs and benefits that presumably underlie the evolution of such systems. In social insects, division of labor may be simplistically described as a source-sink system, with external tasks, such as foraging, acting as sinks for the work force. The implications of two distinct sinks – foraging and waste-heap working – for division of labor were examined in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica. Intrinsic mortality rates were similar across external task groups. Exposure to waste (a task-related environment) led to a 60% increase in the mortality rate of waste-heap workers compared to workers not exposed to waste. Given the small number of workers present in the waste-heap task group, such increases in mortality are unlikely to affect division of labor and task allocation dramatically, except perhaps under conditions of stress

Colloidal, tribological and sensory properties of oral nutritional supplements

This study aims to evaluate the physicochemical and sensory properties of oral nutritional supplements (ONSs). High physical stability was measured in ONSs with mean particle sizes <0.33 !m and viscosity >19.3 mPa·s. ONSs formulated with dairy-soy protein mixtures displayed low friction coefficients, whereas ONSs containing dairy proteins alone had high friction coefficient values in the boundary regime. Sensory analysis revealed low to medium liking across the products and the highest preference was found in samples with the highest perceived 'sweetness', 'vanilla aroma' and 'thickness'. The results will underpin the formulation of novel ONSs with good physical stability and sensory acceptability