Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus): A Whole Food Rich in Prebiotic Carbohydrates to Combat Global Obesity

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a cool season food legume that is high in protein (20–30%) and in a range of micronutrients (e.g., minerals, carotenoids, folates) but very low in phytic acid. Recent research indicates that lentil contains a wide array of low-molecular weight carbohydrates (LMWC) or prebiotic carbohydrates, such as mono- and disaccharides, raffinose-family oligosaccharides (RFO), fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and sugar alcohols, and high-molecular weight resistant starches. Lentil provides more than 13 g of prebiotic carbohydrates per 100 g serving, and this level increases almost two-fold upon cooking, cooling, and reheating. In addition, prebiotic carbohydrate levels vary with lentil genotype and growing location/country. Intestinal microbiome and prebiotic studies suggest a prebiotic-rich, low-calorie diet can reduce the prevalence of obesity and related non-communicable diseases. Lentil thus represents a whole food source of prebiotics that can play a role in efforts to reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases. This chapter provides an overview of the current obesity-related health issues, holistic approaches to reduce obesity, worldwide lentil production, and the promise of pulses, mainly lentil, to be a whole food solution to combat global obesity. In addition, lentil’s superior LMWC profile and the genetic potential for further enrichment of prebiotic carbohydrates are briefly discussed

Nitrogen fixation of pea and chickpea in response to drought in Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedPulse crops are economically important in cropping systems because of their ability to assimilate atmospheric nitrogen (N2). Cost of fertilizer N and an interest in developing ecologically sustainable agricultural systems has lead to an increased interest in the process of N2 fixation. In stress-free environments, legumes fix nitrogen for crop growth and high-protein seed production. However, N2 fixation in legumes is sensitive to water deficit, which restricts N supply, grain yield, and grain quality. The objective of this study was to quantify differences in N2 fixation for chickpea and pea cultivars subject to drought in the field in 2002. Measurements included biomass accumulation and leaf ureide concentration, a potential nitrogen fixation product, throughout the season. At the end of the season, natural abundance of N by fixation and yield were taken. Results will be discussed relating differences in cultivar biomass accumulation and total N fixation to N fixation products

Early supplies of available nitrogen to the seed-row as affected by fertilizer placement

Non-Peer ReviewedA field experiment was conducted at Star City, (legal location SW6-45-16-W2); Saskatchewan, Canada from May to June 2000, to measure N and P supply rates from fertilizer band to canola seed row. Ion exchange resin membrane probes (PRS™-probes) were used to measure nutrient supply rates in four treatments (80 kg/ha of urea side-band, 80 kg/ha of urea mid-row band, check/no N (side-row)/P side-banded, check/no N (mid-row)/P seed placed. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Two anion and cation exchange resin probes (PRS™-probes) were placed in each plot in the seed-row immediately after seeding and fertilizing. The probes were allowed to remain in the field for 2 days and replaced with another set of probes every 4 days for a total of 14 days until canola emerged. Ammonium-N, nitrate-N and P supply rates were calculated based on the ion accumulated on the probes. Grain and straw yield were measured in each plot. Urea side-row band treatments had significantly higher cumulative available N supply rates than mid-row banded placement. No significant differences were observed in P supply rates. The higher N rates (120 kg N/ha) showed lower grain yield in side banding than mid-row banding treatment possibly due to seedling damage, however the earlier fluxes of N into the seed-row observed with side-banding may be an advantage at lower N rates in N deficient soils

3D Printed Tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (0) Impregnated Stirrer Devices for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions

3D printed materials can be readily modified to create bespoke structures that incorporate a range of catalysts at the point of printing. In this present study we report on the design and 3D printing of tetrakis (triphenylphosphine) palladium (0) im-pregnated 3D printed stirrer devices that were used to catalyze a Suzuki-Miyaura reaction between biaryl compounds in a batch-based approach. It was shown that the devices themselves are reusable, easy to use, air-stable, give access to an array of biaryl compounds in excellent yields and lead to low levels of palladium loss into the reaction. Simple modification of the device’s design by size reduction, meant that they could also be used to reduce the time of the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction by microwave enhanced heating. At the end of the reaction, devices can simply be removed from the flask, washed and reused, analogous to stirrer bead workflows. This makes the overall process of setting up multiple reactions simpler by obviating the need to weigh out catalysts for reactions and the device, once used, can be simply removed from the reaction media at the end of the reaction

Glycoform analysis of intact erythropoietin by MALDI FT-ICR mass spectrometry

Recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) is a complex therapeutic glycoprotein with three N- and one O-glycosylation sites. Glycosylation of EPO influences its safety and efficacy and is defined as a critical quality attribute. Thus, analytical methods for profiling EPO glycosylation are highly demanded. Owing to the complexity of the intact protein, information about EPO glycosylation is commonly derived from released glycan and glycopeptide analysis using mass spectrometry (MS). Alternatively, comprehensive insights into the glycoform heterogeneity of intact EPO are obtained using ESI MS-based methods with or without upfront separation of EPO glycoforms. MALDI MS, typically performed with TOF mass analyzers, has been also used for the analysis of intact EPO but, due to the poor glycoform resolution, has only provided limited glycoform information. Here, we present a MALDI FT-ICR MS method for the glycosylation profiling of intact EPO with improved glycoform resolution and without loss of sialic acid residues commonly observed in MALDI analysis. Three EPO variants were characterized in-depth and up to 199 glycoform compositions were assigned from the evaluation of doubly-charged ions, without any deconvolution of the mass spectra. Key glycosylation features such as sialylation, acetylation, and N- acetyllactosamine repeats were determined and found to agree with previously reported data obtained from orthogonal analyses. The developed method allowed for a fast and straightforward data acquisition and evaluation and can be potentially used for the high-throughput comparison of EPO samples throughout its manufacturing process. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Proteomic

Iron bioavailability in two commercial cultivars of wheat: a comparison between wholegrain and white flour and the effects of nicotianamine and 2'-deoxymugineic acid on iron uptake into Caco-2 cells

Iron bioavailability in unleavened white and wholegrain bread made from two commercial wheat varieties was assessed by measuring ferritin production in Caco-2 cells. The breads were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal digestion and the digests applied to the Caco-2 cells. Although Riband grain contained a lower iron concentration than Rialto, iron bioavailability was higher. No iron was taken up by the cells from white bread made from Rialto flour or from wholegrain bread from either variety, but Riband white bread produced a small ferritin response. The results probably relate to differences in phytate content of the breads, although iron in soluble monoferric phytate was demonstrated to be bioavailable in the cell model. Nicotianamine, an iron chelator in plants involved in iron transport, was a more potent enhancer of iron uptake into Caco-2 cells than ascorbic acid or 2'-deoxymugineic acid, another metal chelator present in plants

Immediate, but Not Delayed, Microsurgical Skull Reconstruction Exacerbates Brain Damage in Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury Model

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often results in malformations to the skull. Aesthetic surgical maneuvers may offer normalized skull structure, but inconsistent surgical closure of the skull area accompanies TBI. We examined whether wound closure by replacement of skull flap and bone wax would allow aesthetic reconstruction of the TBI-induced skull damage without causing any detrimental effects to the cortical tissue. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to TBI using the controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury model. Immediately after the TBI surgery, animals were randomly assigned to skull flap replacement with or without bone wax or no bone reconstruction, then were euthanized at five days post-TBI for pathological analyses. The skull reconstruction provided normalized gross bone architecture, but 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride and hematoxylin and eosin staining results revealed larger cortical damage in these animals compared to those that underwent no surgical maneuver at all. Brain swelling accompanied TBI, especially the severe model, that could have relieved the intracranial pressure in those animals with no skull reconstruction. In contrast, the immediate skull reconstruction produced an upregulation of the edema marker aquaporin-4 staining, which likely prevented the therapeutic benefits of brain swelling and resulted in larger cortical infarcts. Interestingly, TBI animals introduced to a delay in skull reconstruction (i.e., 2 days post-TBI) showed significantly reduced edema and infarcts compared to those exposed to immediate skull reconstruction. That immediate, but not delayed, skull reconstruction may exacerbate TBI-induced cortical tissue damage warrants a careful consideration of aesthetic repair of the skull in TBI

The influence of speed and size on avian terrestrial locomotor biomechanics: predicting locomotion in extinct theropod dinosaurs

How extinct, non-avian theropod dinosaurs moved is a subject of considerable interest and controversy. A better understanding of non-avian theropod locomotion can be achieved by better understanding terrestrial locomotor biomechanics in their modern descendants, birds. Despite much research on the subject, avian terrestrial locomotion remains little explored in regards to how kinematic and kinetic factors vary together with speed and body size. Here, terrestrial locomotion was investigated in twelve species of ground-dwelling bird, spanning a 1,780-fold range in body mass, across almost their entire speed range. Particular attention was devoted to the ground reaction force (GRF), the force that the feet exert upon the ground. Comparable data for the only other extant obligate, striding biped, humans, were also collected and studied. In birds, all kinematic and kinetic parameters examined changed continuously with increasing speed, while in humans all but one of those same parameters changed abruptly at the walk-run transition. This result supports previous studies that show birds to have a highly continuous locomotor repertoire compared to humans, where discrete ‘walking’ and ‘running’ gaits are not easily distinguished based on kinematic patterns alone. The influences of speed and body size on kinematic and kinetic factors in birds are developed into a set of predictive relationships that may be applied to extinct, non-avian theropods. The resulting predictive model is able to explain 79–93% of the observed variation in kinematics and 69–83% of the observed variation in GRFs, and also performs well in extrapolation tests. However, this study also found that the location of the whole-body centre of mass may exert an important influence on the nature of the GRF, and hence some caution is warranted, in lieu of further investigation