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Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Recent interest in the use of waxy starches in food production is due to the possibility of replacing chemically modified starches as texture-forming agents with native...
Recent interest in the use of waxy starches in food production is due to the possibility of replacing chemically modified starches as texture-forming agents with native starch analogues. However, there is a lack of a coherent research comparing different varieties of commercially available waxy starches with respect to their molecular and functional properties. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare native waxy starches from potatoes, corn, and rice, with particular attention to rheological characteristics in relation to molecular structure. The investigated potato, corn, and rice starch preparations were characterized by significantly different molecular properties due to both botanical origin of starch and variety. The molecular weights of waxy starches were significantly higher than those of their normal counterparts. This phenomenon was accompanied by a more loose conformation of the waxy starch macromolecule in solution. The presence of amylose confers the ability to coagulate starch sol into gel, resulting in substantial changes in the rheological properties of starch paste, and waxy starch pastes being characterized by more viscous flow and smoother texture. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that differences between functional properties are more notable for normal than for waxy preparations, in which potato starch, regardless of its variety, was characterized by the most unique characteristics.
PubMed: 38893543
DOI: 10.3390/molecules29112669 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Nitrite is one of the most common nitrogenous compounds, which is not only an important indicator of aquaculture water but also widely used as a food additive. Its...
Nitrite is one of the most common nitrogenous compounds, which is not only an important indicator of aquaculture water but also widely used as a food additive. Its potential toxicity poses a huge threat to aquatic products and human health. Therefore, it is important to develop a convenient and rapid sensor for the high-efficient onsite detection of nitrite. In this work, a novel electrochemical sensor was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of nitrite. The developed nitrite electrochemical detection system is easily applied in onsite detection. The electrochemical working electrode was constructed based on the combination of Ag-CeO and conductive carbon paste (CPE) with excellent electrocatalysis activity and rapid electron transfer ability. By the application of the developed system and under the optimal conditions, the linear range was from 40.0 μM to 500.0 μM, and the detection limit was reduced to 4.3 μM. The recovery was between 92.1% and 108.1%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 0.49%~9.31%. The sensor exhibited superior reproducibility, high stability sensitivity, and anti-interference ability, confirming its effectiveness for nitrite analysis. Finally, the developed electrochemical sensor was successfully applied to detect nitrite in beverages and aquaculture water samples, indicating that this approach has great potential in onsite food testing and environmental monitoring.
Topics: Nitrites; Electrochemical Techniques; Cerium; Aquaculture; Beverages; Silver; Limit of Detection; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Electrodes; Reproducibility of Results; Water
PubMed: 38893519
DOI: 10.3390/molecules29112644 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Due to the high content of impurities such as proteins in tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP), they must be separated and purified before it can be used. TSP can disperse...
Due to the high content of impurities such as proteins in tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP), they must be separated and purified before it can be used. TSP can disperse in cold water, but a solution can only be obtained by heating the mixture. Therefore, it is important to understand the dispersion and dissolution process of TSP at different temperatures to expand the application of TSP. In this study, pasting behavior and rheological properties as a function of temperature were characterized in comparison with potato starch (PS), and their relationship with TSP molecular features and microstructure was revealed. Pasting behavior showed that TSP had higher peak viscosity and stronger thermal stability than PS. Rheological properties exhibited that ' and '' of TSP gradually increased with the increase in temperature, without exhibiting typical starch gelatinization behavior. The crystalline or amorphous structure of TSP and starch was disrupted under different temperature treatment conditions. The SEM results show that TSP particles directly transformed into fragments with the temperature increase, while PS granules first expanded and then broken down into fragments. Therefore, TSP and PS underwent different dispersion mechanisms during the dissolution process: As the temperature gradually increased, TSP possibly underwent a straightforward dispersion and was then dissolved in aqueous solution, while PS granules initially expanded, followed by disintegration and dispersion.
Topics: Tamarindus; Polysaccharides; Seeds; Temperature; Rheology; Viscosity; Starch; Chemical Phenomena
PubMed: 38893498
DOI: 10.3390/molecules29112622 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Canary seed flour is a new food ingredient that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada recently granted Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS)...
Canary seed flour is a new food ingredient that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada recently granted Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) status. Stability in nutritional composition and functional properties is an essential characteristic of food ingredients for consistency in nutritional quality and performance in processing. This work assessed the effect of genotypic and environmental variation on the nutritional (protein, starch, amylose, oil, dietary fiber, minerals and fat-soluble vitamins) and pasting (as measured in viscosity (peak, trough, breakdown, final, and setback), peak time, and pasting temperatures) properties of Canary seed. The samples included four Canary seed varieties grown in randomized complete block design experiments at one location for two growing seasons. In general, the nutritional composition of Canary seed flour was not affected by genotype, growing year, and their interaction except for starch content, which was significantly affected by the growing year ( < 0.0001), and iron content, which was affected by genotypic variation ( < 0.0001). The pasting properties of Canary seed flour were significantly ( < 0.001) affected by both genotypic and growing year variation but not their interaction. Our results suggest that the food industry should measure starch and iron content prior to processing to ensure consistency in nutritional labeling. Also, for those applications where starch pasting properties are essential, the manufacturer should consider measuring the RVA pasting viscosities for every batch of raw material. The results have provided the baseline knowledge of which nutritional or functional properties of Canary seed flour can be improved through breeding and agronomy programs to ensure the reliability of Canary seed as an ingredient.
PubMed: 38891013
DOI: 10.3390/foods13111786 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024This work investigated the physicochemical properties, structural characteristics, and digestive properties of two non-conventional starches extracted from Galanga:...
This work investigated the physicochemical properties, structural characteristics, and digestive properties of two non-conventional starches extracted from Galanga: Hance starch (AOS) and Willd starch (AGS). The extraction rates of the two starches were 22.10 wt% and 15.73 wt%, which is lower than widely studied ginger (, ZOS). But they contained similar amounts of basic constituents. AOS and AGS showed a smooth, elongated shape, while ZOS was an oval sheet shape. AOS and ZOS were C-type starches, and AGS was an A-type starch. AOS showed the highest crystallinity (35.26 ± 1.02%) among the three starches, possessed a higher content of amylose (24.14 ± 0.73%) and a longer amylose average chain length (1419.38 ± 31.28) than AGS. AGS starch exhibits the highest viscosity at all stages, while AOS starch shows the lowest pasting temperature, and ZOS starch, due to its high amylose content, displays lower peak and trough viscosities. Significant differences were also found in the physicochemical properties of the three starches, including the swelling power, solubility, thermal properties, and rheological properties of the three starches. The total content of resistant starch (RS) and slowly digestible starch (SDS) in AOS (81.05%), AGS (81.46%), and ZOS (82.58%) are considered desirable. These findings proved to be valuable references for further research and utilization of ginger family starch.
PubMed: 38891012
DOI: 10.3390/foods13111784 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024The aim of this research is to investigate the quality of different triticale cultivars (Ingen 35, Ingen 33, Ingen 93, Ingen 54, Ingen 40, Fanica and Costel) cultivated...
The aim of this research is to investigate the quality of different triticale cultivars (Ingen 35, Ingen 33, Ingen 93, Ingen 54, Ingen 40, Fanica and Costel) cultivated in the Republic of Moldova from the point of view of the flour, dough, and bread quality characteristics. This research may be of great importance for producers and consumers due to the high production capacity, wide adaptability, economic significance in human foods and nutritional value of triticale cultivars. The triticale flours were analyzed for moisture, ash, protein, wet gluten, fat, carbohydrates, acidity and color parameters (L*, a* and b* values). According to the chemical values, the triticale flours were suitable for breadmaking. The moisture content was less than 14% for all triticale varieties, indicating a long shelf life during its storage and the lowest protein content of 13.1%. The mixing, pasting and fermentation characteristics of triticale dough were analyzed using Mixolab, falling number, dynamic rheometer, alveograph and rheofermentometer devices. All triticale flours presented high levels of α-amylase, with falling number values being less than 70 s. The bread quality characteristics analyzed were the loaf volume, porosity, acidity, and sensory characteristics, and the textural parameters examined were the hardness, gumminess, chewiness, cohesiveness, and resilience. Our data showed large differences in breadmaking quality parameters. However, according to the sensory data, all the bread samples except those obtained from the Costel variety were of a very good quality, being within a total sensory range of 25.26-29.85 points. According to the relationships between flour, dough and bread characteristics obtained through principal component analysis, it may be concluded that the triticale varieties Costel, Ingen 33, Ingen 93 and Fanica, and Ingen 35 were more closely associated with each other. Significant differences were found between the triticale variety samples Ingen 40, Fanica, and Ingen 35 and between Ingen 54, Ingen 33, Costel, and Ingen 93.
PubMed: 38890900
DOI: 10.3390/foods13111671 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Amylose content (AC) stands as a pivotal determinant of rice grain quality, primarily governed by the gene (). The allelic variation within this gene, particularly the...
Amylose content (AC) stands as a pivotal determinant of rice grain quality, primarily governed by the gene (). The allelic variation within this gene, particularly the presence of the allele derived from the ancestral allele, significantly influences AC and is prevalent among soft rice varieties in southern China. Although both alleles are associated with lower AC, there remains a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the interplay between specific functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within these alleles and the overarching rice grain quality. To investigate this, we engineered three distinct transgenic rice lines, each harboring the , , or alleles in the background of the glutinous rice cultivar Nip(). This suite of transgenic rice lines showcased varying degrees of grain transparency inversely correlated to AC, which in turn influenced other physicochemical properties of the rice grains, such as taste value of cooked rice, gel consistency, and starch pasting properties. Additionally, analyses of gene expression and enzyme activity revealed that the functional SNPs, Ex4-53G to A and Ex5-53T to C, lead to a decline in the activity of granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) without altering expression levels.
PubMed: 38890853
DOI: 10.3390/foods13111624 -
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing :... Jun 2024Due to the advancement of deep learning, the performance of salient object detection (SOD) has been significantly improved. However, deep learning-based techniques...
Due to the advancement of deep learning, the performance of salient object detection (SOD) has been significantly improved. However, deep learning-based techniques require a sizable amount of pixel-wise annotations. To relieve the burden of data annotation, a variety of deep weakly-supervised and unsupervised SOD methods have been proposed, yet the performance gap between them and fully supervised methods remains significant. In this paper, we propose a novel, cost-efficient salient object detection framework, which can adapt models from synthetic data to real-world data with the help of a limited number of actively selected annotations. Specifically, we first construct a synthetic SOD dataset by copying and pasting foreground objects into pure background images. With the masks of foreground objects taken as the ground-truth saliency maps, this dataset can be used for training the SOD model initially. However, due to the large domain gap between synthetic images and real-world images, the performance of the initially trained model on the real-world images is deficient. To transfer the model from the synthetic dataset to the real-world datasets, we further design an uncertainty-aware active domain adaptive algorithm to generate labels for the real-world target images. The prediction variances against data augmentations are utilized to calculate the superpixel-level uncertainty values. For those superpixels with relatively low uncertainty, we directly generate pseudo labels according to the network predictions. Meanwhile, we select a few superpixels with high uncertainty scores and assign labels to them manually. This labeling strategy is capable of generating high-quality labels without incurring too much annotation cost. Experimental results on six benchmark SOD datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms the existing state-of-the-art weakly-supervised and unsupervised SOD methods and is even comparable to the fully supervised ones. Code will be released at: https://github.com/czh-3/UADA.
PubMed: 38889015
DOI: 10.1109/TIP.2024.3413598 -
Therapeutic Delivery Jun 2024Ophthalmic diseases can result in permanent vision loss and blindness. Convenient topical and systemic treatments are preferred to address these sight-threatening... (Review)
Review
Ophthalmic diseases can result in permanent vision loss and blindness. Convenient topical and systemic treatments are preferred to address these sight-threatening conditions. However, the unique anatomy of the eye presents challenges for drug delivery. Various ophthalmic ointment formulations have been developed to enhance bioavailability in the eye to prolong residence time and improve corneal permeability. This article explores a wide range of ocular diseases affecting individuals globally and how ointments are used to manage them. From eye to ocular barriers, this review focuses on published scientific research and formulation strategies for severe ocular complications using conventional topical ointments. Additionally, it delves through patented technologies and marketed formulations supporting the use of ointments in ocular drug delivery.
PubMed: 38888757
DOI: 10.1080/20415990.2024.2346047 -
Retrovirology Jun 2024An essential regulatory hub for retroviral replication events, the 5' untranslated region (UTR) encodes an ensemble of cis-acting replication elements that overlap in a... (Review)
Review
An essential regulatory hub for retroviral replication events, the 5' untranslated region (UTR) encodes an ensemble of cis-acting replication elements that overlap in a logical manner to carry out divergent RNA activities in cells and in virions. The primer binding site (PBS) and primer activation sequence initiate the reverse transcription process in virions, yet overlap with structural elements that regulate expression of the complex viral proteome. PBS-segment also encompasses the attachment site for Integrase to cut and paste the 3' long terminal repeat into the host chromosome to form the provirus and purine residues necessary to execute the precise stoichiometry of genome-length transcripts and spliced viral RNAs. Recent genetic mapping, cofactor affinity experiments, NMR and SAXS have elucidated that the HIV-1 PBS-segment folds into a three-way junction structure. The three-way junction structure is recognized by the host's nuclear RNA helicase A/DHX9 (RHA). RHA tethers host trimethyl guanosine synthase 1 to the Rev/Rev responsive element (RRE)-containing RNAs for m7-guanosine Cap hyper methylation that bolsters virion infectivity significantly. The HIV-1 trimethylated (TMG) Cap licenses specialized translation of virion proteins under conditions that repress translation of the regulatory proteins. Clearly host-adaption and RNA shapeshifting comprise the fundamental basis for PBS-segment orchestrating both reverse transcription of virion RNA and the nuclear modification of m7G-Cap for biphasic translation of the complex viral proteome. These recent observations, which have exposed even greater complexity of retroviral RNA biology than previously established, are the impetus for this article. Basic research to fully comprehend the marriage of PBS-segment structures and host RNA binding proteins that carry out retroviral early and late replication events is likely to expose an immutable virus-specific therapeutic target to attenuate retrovirus proliferation.
Topics: Virus Replication; RNA, Viral; Humans; HIV-1; 5' Untranslated Regions; Binding Sites; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; Reverse Transcription; Retroviridae
PubMed: 38886829
DOI: 10.1186/s12977-024-00646-x