Quality characteristics of fortified silver carp surimi with soluble dietary fiber: Effect of apple pectin and konjac glucomannan

The study focused on assessing quality parameters of the surimi incorporated with soluble dietary fibers apple pectin and konjac glucomannan at different levels. The results showed that apple pectin at 0.025% and konjac glucomannan at a 2% level exhibited improved gel-forming ability significantly (p < 0.05). SDS- PAGE revealed high molecular weight protein crosslinks in apple pectin treated surimi gels and disappearance of myosin bands in konjac glucomannan treated surimi gels. The water holding capacity of surimi was the highest when 0.075 g/100 g of apple pectin was added. Konjac glucomannan treated gels exhibited superior whiteness values. The analysis of soluble protein revealed that hydrophobic bonds increased in both the treatments. The hardness values of pectin gels enhanced as the level increased. Other TPA parameters are shown an inconsistent trend. It can be demonstrated that the incorporation of apple pectin and konjac glucomannan at a level of 0.025 and 2.0% may be a novel strategy to improve the gel strength of the surimi.

MicroRNA signature at the time of clinical HCV recurrence associates with aggressive fibrosis progression post-liver transplantation

Diagnosis and prediction of the severity of hepatitis C virus recurrence (HCVrec) after liver transplantation (LT) remain a challenge. MicroRNAs have been recently recognized as potential disease biomarkers. Archival liver biopsy samples from 43 HCV+ LT recipients were collected at clinical HCVrec time and at 3 years post-LT. Patients were classified as progressors (P = F0/F1) or nonprogressors (NP = F3/F4) according to the severity of fibrosis on the 3-year biopsy. Training (n = 27) and validation (n = 16) sets were defined. RNA was isolated from all biopsies at clinical HCVrec time, labeled and hybridized to miRNA-arrays. Progressors versus nonprogressors were compared using the two-sample t-test. A p-value ≤0.01 was considered significant. The ingenuity pathway analysis tool was used for microRNA and miRNA:mRNA ontology data integration. Nine microRNAs were differentially expressed between groups. A supervised cluster analysis separated samples in two well-defined groups (progressors vs. nonprogressors). Pathway analysis associated those microRNAs with hepatitis, steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and T cell-related immune response. Data integration identified 17 genes from a previous genomic study as 9-microRNAs signature targets. Seven microRNAs were successfully validated in the validation set using QPCR. We have identified a 9-microRNA signature able to identify early post-LT patients at high risk of severe HCVrec during long-term follow-up.

Heat shock protein 70 expression in native and heterotopically transplanted rat hearts

Heat shock proteins (hsp) are intracellular proteins that are rapidly synthesized in response to a variety of stress factors. Recent studies in rats have shown that these proteins can elicit a lymphocyte response during cardiac allograft rejection. We studied the expression of the inducible (i) and constitutive (c) forms of hsp70 in rat cardiac allograft and isograft recipients to evaluate their utility as indicators of transplant rejection. Heterotopic transplantation of rat hearts was performed, using Lewis to Lewis isografts and ACI to Lewis allografts. Sham-operated rats were used as controls. Transplanted isograft, allograft, and native hearts of the transplant recipients and their livers and spleens were harvested at 5 days posttransplant and analyzed for hsp70 (i) and (c) expression by Western blots. Seven animals were studied in each group. Isografts at 3 and 60 days and allografts at 8 days were also studied. Quantification of band densities was carried out by laser densitometry. Physiological function of the native hearts of the transplant recipients was studied using Langendorff preparations. High levels of hsp70 (i) were noted in the transplanted and native hearts of the transplant recipients but not in their livers or spleens or in the hearts of the sham-operated control animals. Myocardial function of the native hearts of the transplant recipients was not significantly different from that of the controls. Significantly higher levels of hsp70 (c) were present in mild and severely rejecting allografts compared with controls and nonrejecting isografts. In the rat model of heterotopic cardiac transplantation, high levels of hsp70 (i) in the native hearts of the allograft and isograft recipients suggest a transplant-related, cardiac-specific stress process, not previously described. Heat shock protein 70 (c) expression is significantly increased during early and late allograft rejection and may serve as an indicator of transplant rejection.

Effects of organic compounds on the degradation of p-nitrophenol in lake and industrial wastewater by inoculated bacteria

Many microorganisms fail to degrade pollutants when introduced in different natural environments. This is a problem in selecting inocula for bioremediation of polluted sites. Thus, a study was conducted to determine the success of four inoculants to degrade p-nitrophenol (PNP) in lake and industrial wastewater and the effects of organic compounds on the degradation of high and low concentrations of PNP in these environments. Corynebacterium strain Z4 when inoculated into the lake and wastewater samples containing 20 micrograms/ml of PNP degraded 90% of PNP in one day. Addition of 100 micrograms/ml of glucose as a second substrate did not enhance the degradation of PNP and the bacterium utilized the two substrates simultaneously. Glucose used at the same concentration (100 micrograms/ml), inhibited degradation of 20 micrograms of PNP in wastewater by Pseudomonas strain MS. However, glucose increased the extent of degradation of PNP by Pseudomonas strain GR. Phenol also enhanced the degradation of PNP in wastewater by Pseudomonas strain GR, but had no effect on the degradation of PNP by Corynebacterium strain Z4. Addition of 100 micrograms/ml of glucose as a second substrate into the lake water samples containing low concentration of PNP (26 ng/ml) enhanced the degradation of PNP and the growth of Corynebacterium strain Z4. In the presence of glucose, it grew from 2 x 10(4) to 4 x 10(4) cells/ml in 3 days and degraded 70% of PNP as compared to samples without glucose in which the bacterium declined in cell number from 2 x 10(4) to 8 x 10(3) cells/ml and degraded only 30% PNP. The results suggest that in inoculation to enhance biodegradation, depending on the inoculant, second organic substrate many play an important role in controlling the rate and extent of biodegradation of organic compounds.

Effect of dispersing agents on the angular dependence of light scattered from polystyrene sphere/water sols

The particles in nearly monodisperse sols of polystyrene in water need small amounts of adsorbed emulsifier to combat aggregation tendencies. These sols are used in the calibration of many different types of instrument including instruments capable of measuring angular light scattering functions. Using an IBM 360-40 computer with extended precision on all variables and on machine functions, a calculation has been made of the range of observable effects attributable to an adsorbed layer of emulsifier on the sol particles in water suspension. The calculation of the polarization ratio as a function of angle was based on the formal solution of Maxwell's equations by Aden and Kerker [A. L. Aden and M. Kerker, J. Appl. Phys. 22, 1242 (1951)]. Two model sols were treated for three different commonly used wavelengths of incident light 436 nm, 546 nm, and 632.8 nm. The calculation made use of constituent functions up to the eleventh order. The effect of an adsorbed layer on the light-scattering angular functions was negligible unless the adsorbed layer differed from the medium by about 5% with respect to refractive index. If the layer was not at least 1% of the radius of the particle in thickness there was no observable change in the angular position of the maxima and/or minima of the polarization ratio angular function. For layers thicker than 1% of the particle radius and having a refractive index different from both medium or particle, interesting new maxima and minima are predicted.