Angiotensin I‐converting enzyme inhibitory activity of protein hydrolysates prepared from three freshwater carps (Catla catla,Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala) using Flavorzyme

Fish protein hydrolysates from three freshwater carps, Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala with different degree of hydrolysis (DH) (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%), were prepared using Flavorzyme enzyme and designated as HCF, HRF and HMF, respectively. The angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of hydrolysates was found to vary from 43 ± 2% to 71 ± 3%. Based on ACE inhibitory activity, HRF with DH‐15% was taken up for further study. The mode of ACE activity inhibition by HRF‐DH 15% was mixed type as revealed by Lineweaver–Burk plot. Sequential digestion of HRF‐DH 15% using pepsin and pancreatin decreased the ACE inhibitory activity from 76% to 63%. Partial purification of HRF‐DH 15% by size exclusion chromatography gave three different fractions designated as F‐1, F‐2 and F‐3 with the molecular mass in the range of 6456–407 Da. Fraction 2 had significantly higher ACE inhibitory activity than the other fractions.     

The AT&T spoken language understanding system

Spoken language understanding (SLU) aims at extracting meaning from natural language speech. Over the past decade, a variety of practical goal-oriented spoken dialog systems have been built for limited domains. SLU in these systems ranges from understanding predetermined phrases through fixed grammars, extracting some predefined named entities, extracting users' intents for call classification, to combinations of users' intents and named entities. In this paper, we present the SLU system of VoiceTone/spl reg/ (a service provided by AT&T where AT&T develops, deploys and hosts spoken dialog applications for enterprise customers). The SLU system includes extracting both intents and the named entities from the users' utterances. For intent determination, we use statistical classifiers trained from labeled data, and for named entity extraction we use rule-based fixed grammars. The focus of our work is to exploit data and to use machine learning techniques to create scalable SLU systems which can be quickly deployed for new domains with minimal human intervention. These objectives are achieved by 1) using the predicate-argument representation of semantic content of an utterance; 2) extending statistical classifiers to seamlessly integrate hand crafted classification rules with the rules learned from data; and 3) developing an active learning framework to minimize the human labeling effort for quickly building the classifier models and adapting them to changes. We present an evaluation of this system using two deployed applications of VoiceTone/spl reg/.     

The use of nisin as a preservative in fish sausage stored at ambient (28 ± 2 °C) and refrigerated (6 ± 2 °C) temperatures

Summary The efficacy of nisin at three different concentrations, 12.5, 25 and 50 ppm, on the keeping quality of fish sausage in synthetic casing at ambient (28 ± 2 °C) and refrigerated (6 ± 2 °C) temperatures was assessed. Gel strength, expressible water content, total volatile base nitrogen, total plate count and aerobic spore counts were affected by the storage temperatures and nisin concentrations used. Fish sausage treated with 50 ppm of nisin was acceptable after storage at ambient temperature for 20–22 days compared with the control, which were acceptable only for 2 days. The keeping quality of the sausages, at refrigerated temperature, varied from 30 days in the control to 150 days in 50‐ppm nisin‐treated samples. The residual nisin decreased slowly in samples stored at refrigerated temperature, whereas, in fish sausages stored at ambient temperature, the decrease was rapid. Nisin at 50‐ppm level showed a significant effect (P ≤ 0.05) on the gel strength and overall acceptability scores both at ambient and refrigerated temperature.     

MICROBUBBLES FOR ENHANCEMENT OF OXYGEN TRANSFER IN XANTHAN GUM FERMENTATION

This study investigates the use of microbubble sparging for enhancing oxygen transfer and product yield during xanthan gum fermentation. Fermentation runs with full air sparging and partially substituted microbubble sparging were compared for the parameters biomass, xanthan, oxygen uptake, and energy levels. Microorganisms were found compatible at numerous Tween-20 levels and further showed considerable resistance to shear conditions in the microbubble generator. Microbubbles with a size of about 145 μm, gas hold up of 65%, and foam stability of about 3 min. resulted at standardized microbubble generator operating conditions (8000 rpm, 2 min., 300 ppm surfactant). A comparison of both methods showed that partially substituted microbubble sparging increased oxygen uptake by 50%, final biomass levels by 17%, and final xanthan gum yield by 30%. Results indicate that X. campestris is amenable to conditions encountered within a microbubble generator and that microbubble sparging improved oxygen transfer and xanthan gum yield without affecting gum quality.     

Effect of Heat Treatment on the Corrosion Characteristics of Al-Li Alloys

Experiments were conducted to study the general room temperature corrosion characteristics of heat-treated and non-heat-treated Al-Li alloys with different Li compositions. Corrosion rate was measured using both the polarisation method and the weight-loss method. It was observed that the samples with higher Li content had lower corrosion resistance than those with lower Li content. Moreover, for all the specimens tested, it was fOund that heat treatment at 180℃ for 2 h (for the purpose of precipitation hardening) severely reduced the corrosion resistance,whereas heat treatment at 180℃ for 6 h significantly increased the corrosion resistance.     

Polyethylenimine‐modified curcumin‐loaded mesoporus silica nanoparticle (MCM‐41) induces cell death in MCF‐7 cell line

Breast cancer accounts for the first highest mortality rate in India and second in world. Though current treatment strategies are effectively killing cancer cells, they also end in causing severe side effects and drug resistance. Curcumin is a nutraceutical with multipotent activity but its insolubility in water limits its therapeutic potential as an anti‐cancer drug. The hydrophilicity of curcumin could be increased by nanoformulation or changing its functional groups. In this study, curcumin is loaded on mesoporous silica nanoparticle and its anti‐cancer activity is elucidated with MCF‐7 cell death. Structural characteristics of Mobil Composition of Matter ‐ 41(MCM‐41) as determined by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR‐TEM) shows that MCM‐41 size ranges from 100 to 200 nm diameters with pore size 2–10 nm for drug adsorption. The authors found 80–90% of curcumin is loaded on MCM‐41 and curcumin is released efficiently at pH 3.0. The 50 µM curcumin‐loaded MCM‐41 induced 50% mortality of MCF‐7 cells. Altogether, their results suggested that increased curcumin loading and sustained release from MCM‐41 effectively decreased cell survival of MCF‐7 cells in vitro.Inspec keywords: cancer, cellular biophysics, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, biomedical materials, polymers, mesoporous materials, transmission electron microscopy, drugs, adsorptionOther keywords: polyethylenimine‐modified curcumin‐loaded mesoporus silica nanoparticle, MCF‐7 cell line, breast cancer, cancer cells, drug resistance, multipotent activity, therapeutic potential, anticancer drug, mesoporous silica nanoparticle, MCF‐7 cell death, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, drug adsorption, curcumin‐loaded MCM‐41, nutraceutical curcumin, size 2 nm to 10 nm, size 100 nm to 200 nm     

Physico‐chemical and functional properties of proteins from green mussel (Perna viridis) during ice storage

The effect of ice storage on the properties of proteins from green mussel (Perna viridis) has been investigated. Ice storage of green mussel for a period of 19 days revealed a marginal increase in moisture and decrease in total nitrogen content. There was significant reduction (P < 0.05) in non‐protein nitrogen content and calcium activated adenosine triphosphatase enzyme activity. The solubility of the total proteins in high ionic strength buffer decreased marginally. The ice storage of green mussel had a significant effect on association‐dissociation/denaturation phenomenon of proteins as revealed by gel filtration profile, reduced viscosity values and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE) pattern. The dynamic viscoelastic behaviour of green mussel meat in the temperature range of 30–90 °C revealed higher storage modulus (G′) values at a later part of ice storage. The emulsion capacity of green mussel did not show significant variation (P < 0.05) during ice storage. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Relevance of ROT control for hot rolled low carbon steels

The need for precision in controlling coiling temperature and cooling profiles on the run out table for hot rolled low carbon steel strips has been investigated. It is claimed in literature that a high degree of automation and control of the run out table is required to control the yield strength variation to within 20 MPa. However, calculations based on models available in literature predict that the variation in strip temperature encountered in a typical run out table does not affect the mechanical property significantly. This has been shown to be true even from experimental data available in literature. Hence even a coarse control over the run out table is adequate to achieve the desired yield strength. A detailed report concentrating on the influence of coiling temperature on the mechanical properties of HSLA steels is under preparation.