Mutual Influence of Some Flavonoids and Classical Nonionic Surfactants on Their Adsorption and Volumetric Properties at Different Temperatures

Due to the increasing practical use of mixtures of flavonoids with nonionic surfactants the presented studies were based on the measurements of surface tension and conductivity of aqueous solution of the quercetin (Q) and rutin (Ru) in the mixtures with Triton X-114 (TX114) and Tween 80 (T80) as well as the contact angle of model liquids on the PTFE surface covered by the quercetin and rutin layers. Based on the obtained results components and parameters of the quercetin and rutin surface tension were determined and the mutual influence of Q and Ru in the mixtures with TX114 and T80 on their adsorption and volumetric properties were considered. It was found, among others, that based on the surface tension isotherms of the aqueous solution of the single flavonoid and nonionic surfactant, the surface tension isotherms of the aqueous solution of their mixture, the composition of the mixed monolayer at the water-air interface as well as the CMC of flavonoid + nonionic surfactant mixture can be predicted. The standard Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy of the adsorption and aggregation of the studied mixtures were also found, showing the mechanism of the adsorption and aggregation processes of the flavonoid + nonionic surfactant mixture.     

Effect of Collagen Types,Bacterial Strains and Storage Duration on the Quality of Probiotic Fermented Sheep’s Milk

Collagen has become popular in dietary supplements, beverages and sports nutrition products. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using various doses of collagen and collagen hydrolysate to produce probiotic sheep’s milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lacticaseibacillus casei, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus. The effects of storage time, type and dose of collagen, and different probiotic bacteria on the physicochemical, organoleptic and microbiological properties of fermented sheep’s milk at 1 and 21 days of refrigerated storage were investigated. The addition of collagen to sheep’s milk increased the pH value after fermentation and reduced the lactic acid contents of fermented milk compared to control samples. After fermentation, the number of probiotic bacteria cells was higher than 8 log cfu g⁻¹. In sheep’s milk fermented by L. acidophilus and L. casei, good survival of bacteria during storage was observed, and there was no effect of collagen dose on the growth and survival of both strains. The addition of collagen, both in the form of hydrolysate and bovine collagen, resulted in darkening of the color of the milk and increased the sweet taste intensity of the fermented sheep’s milk. However, the addition of hydrolysate was effective in reducing syneresis in each milk sample compared to its control counterpart.     

Can Extracts from the Leaves and Fruits of the Cotoneaster Species Be Considered Promising Anti-Acne Agents?

This study aimed to evaluate the phenolic profile and biological activity of the extracts from the leaves and fruits of Cotoneaster nebrodensis and Cotoneaster roseus. Considering that miscellaneous species of Cotoneaster are thought to be healing in traditional Asian medicine, we assumed that this uninvestigated species may reveal significant therapeutic properties. Here, we report the simultaneous assessment of chemical composition as well as biological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and cytotoxic properties) of tested species. Complementary LC-MS analysis revealed that polyphenols (especially flavonoids and proanthocyanidins) are the overriding phytochemicals with the greatest significance in tested biological activities. In vitro chemical tests considering biological activities revealed that obtained results showed different values depending on concentration, extraction solvent as well as phenolic content. Biological assays demonstrated that the investigated extracts possessed antibacterial properties and were not cytotoxic toward normal skin fibroblasts. Given the obtained results, we concluded that knowledge of the chemical composition and biological activities of investigated species are important to achieve a better understanding of the utilization of these plants in traditional medicine and be useful for further research in their application to treat various diseases, such as skin disorders.     

Study on the Incorporation of Oat and Yeast β-Glucan into Shortbread Biscuits as a Basis for Designing Healthier and High Quality Food Products

According to international health and food organizations and authorities, people should limit fat intake since fat is the most caloric component of food and it is often a source of unsafe saturated fatty acids (FA) and trans isomers. The greatest health benefits come from replacing shorts with dietary fiber molecules. The aim of the study was to determine the possibility of reducing shortening content, which has an undesirable profile of FA, by addition of β-glucan molecules in shortbread biscuits. The effect of oat and yeast β-glucan supplementation on physical and sensory quality of products with reduced fat content (max 15%) were studied. It was shown that the substitution of shortening by β-glucan in shortbread biscuits is possible to a limited extent. Reduction in product energy value (up to 36 kcal/100 g) and content of undesirable FA (maximum 2.1 g/100 g) and increased of β-glucan content, regardless of the type, caused deterioration of biscuits quality and affected changes during storage. The substitution of shortening by β-glucan in food is a good way to improve nutritional value by increasing the amount of dietary fiber molecules, reducing calories, and amount of SFA in diets.     

Composition of Fatty Acids in Bone Marrow of Red Deer from Various Ecosystems and Different Categories

In this study, the influence of the living conditions of red deer (Cervus elaphus) fawns (wild vs. farmed) and effect of the category of free-living animals (fawns vs. does) on the fatty acid (FA) profile of the leg bone marrow was assessed. The composition of FAs in the deer bone marrow was determined by the gas chromatography method. In all groups, oleic acid (18:1 c9) was the most abundant in deer bone marrow and comprised of approximately 37% of total FAs. The bone marrow of young wild deer was characterized by a significantly (p < 0.001) higher fat content and saturated FAs proportion, while farmed fawns contained more moisture (p < 0.005) and fat-free dry matter (p < 0.001), as well as more monounsaturated FAs cis branched-chain FAs and monounsaturated FAs trans (p < 0.001). Although no significant (p > 0.05) differences were found between fawns, in terms of partial sums of PUFA, a significantly (p < 0.001) higher level of the sum of n-3 and n-6 FAs and more favorable n-6/n-3 ratio in the bone marrow of wild fawns were determined. In general, the legs of wild fawns were better prepared for wintering than farmed ones. In turn, comparing the category-related FAs composition in the bone marrow of free-living animals, a more favorable profile was observed in the adult (does) than in the young (fawns) animals, as the bone marrow of the wild does was characterized by significantly (p < 0.001) lower percentages of saturated FAs and a higher percentage of monounsaturated FAs cis.     

Extensional rheology of concentrated emulsions as probed by capillary breakup elongational rheometry (CaBER)

Elongational flow behavior of w/o emulsions has been investigated using a capillary breakup elongational rheometer (CaBER) equipped with an advanced image processing system allowing for precise assessment of the full filament shape. The transient neck diameter D(t), time evolution of the neck curvature κ(t), the region of deformation l _def and the filament lifetime t _c are extracted in order to characterize non-uniform filament thinning. Effects of disperse volume fraction ?, droplet size d _sv , and continuous phase viscosity η _c on the flow properties have been investigated. At a critical volume fraction ? _c , strong shear thinning, and an apparent shear yield stress τ _y,s occur and shear flow curves are well described by a Herschel–Bulkley model. In CaBER filaments exhibit sharp necking and t _c as well as κ _max ?=?κ (t?=?t _c ) increase, whereas l _def decreases drastically with increasing ?. For ? <?? _c , D(t) data can be described by a power-law model based on a cylindrical filament approximation using the exponent n and consistency index k from shear experiments. For ??≥?? _c , D(t) data are fitted using a one-dimensional Herschel–Bulkley approach, but k and τ _y,s progressively deviate from shear results as ? increases. We attribute this to the failure of the cylindrical filament assumption. Filament lifetime is proportional to η _c at all ?. Above ? _c, κ _max as well as t _c /η _c scale linearly with τ _y,s . The Laplace pressure at the critical stretch ratio ε _c which is needed to induce capillary thinning can be identified as the elongational yield stress τ _y,e , if the experimental parameters are chosen such that the axial curvature of the filament profile can be neglected. This is a unique and robust method to determine this quantity for soft matter with τ _y ?< 1,000 Pa. For the emulsion series investigated here a ratio τ _y,e /τ _y,s = 2.8 ± 0.4 is found independent of ?. This result is captured by a generalized Herschel–Bulkley model including the third invariant of the strain-rate tensor proposed here for the first time, which implies that τ _y,e and τ _y,s are independent material parameters.     

Modelling of texture evolution in metals accounting for lattice reorientation due to twinning

Twinning has been incorporated into a crystal plasticity model with the regularized Schmid law. In order to account for the appearance of twin-related orientations, a new probabilistic twin reorientation scheme that maintains the number of reoriented grains consistent with the accumulated deformation by twinning within the polycrystalline element, has been developed. A hardening rule describing slip–twin interactions has been also proposed. Model predictions concerning material response and texture evolution have been analyzed for fcc materials of low stacking fault energy.     

Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of the New Cultivars of Lavandula angustifolia Mill. Bred in Ukraine

Lavender, otherwise known as Lavandula angustifolia Mill., is widely used in landscaping, and its oil is a valuable raw material used in many industries. Therefore, new varieties of this plant are bred. The essential oil composition obtained from fresh flowers of thirteen new Ukrainian cultivars of L. angustifolia were analysed by GC-MS, and eighty-two components were identified. Linalool and linalyl acetate were principal constituents of all of the samples, and ranged from 11.4% to 46.7% and 7.4% to 44.2%, respectively. None of the studied samples fulfilled the requirements of Ph. Eur. and ISO 3515:2002. The main reason was a high content of α-terpineol (0.5–4.5%) and/or terpinene-4-ol (1.2–18.7%). Our results are in line with multiple researchers showing that the studied lavender oils do not comply with the industry standards despite their authenticity. We also investigated the effect of the growth year on the chemical composition of five tested cultivars grown on the same plots and noticed a considerable variability between years. The obtained experimental data did not show a significant inter-year trend for the content changes of the major components. Our results allow us to deeply characterize the new cultivars and evaluate their oil for a possible use in the industry, or to designate them for future selective breeding.     

Distigmasterol-Modified Acylglycerols as New Structured Lipids—Synthesis,Identification and Cytotoxicity

Plant sterols, also referred as phytosterols, have been known as bioactive compounds which have cholesterol-lowering properties in human blood. It has been established that a diet rich in plant sterols or their esters alleviates cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and also may inhibit breast, colon and lung carcinogenesis. Phytosterols, in their free and esterified forms, are prone to thermo-oxidative degradation, where time and temperature affect the level of degradation. Looking for new derivatives of phytosterols with high thermo-oxidative stability for application in foods, our idea was to obtain novel structured acylglycerols in which two fatty acid parts are replaced by stigmasterol residues. In this work, asymmetric (1,2- and 2,3-) distigmasterol-modified acylglycerols (dStigMAs) were synthesized by the covalent attachment of stigmasterol residues to sn-1 and sn-2 or sn-2 and sn-3 positions of 3-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol or 1-oleoyl-sn-glycerol, respectively, using a succinate or carbonate linker. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were identified by NMR, HR-MS, and IR data. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of the obtained compounds was determined. The dStigMAs possessing a carbonate linker showed potent cytotoxicity to cells isolated from the small intestine and colon epithelium and liver, whereas the opposite results were obtained for compounds containing a succinate linker.     

Engineering Classical Capacity of Generalized Pauli Channels with Admissible Memory Kernels

In this paper, we analyze the classical capacity of the generalized Pauli channels generated via memory kernel master equations. For suitable engineering of the kernel parameters, evolution with non-local noise effects can produce dynamical maps with a higher capacity than a purely Markovian evolution. We provide instructive examples for qubit and qutrit evolution. Interestingly, similar behavior is not observed when analyzing time-local master equations.