Search

Spirulina protein concentrate (SPC) was extracted from Spirulina biomass and its structure and technofunctional properties were modified through Maillard reaction with maltodextrin (MD). Wet-heating route was adapted and Maillard reaction was controlled within initial to intermediate stage by avoiding or minimising the formation of melanoidins. A glycation degree of up to 29.1 % was achieved after reaction between SPC and MD, and molecular weight of the SPC increased accordingly. The solubility of SPC was improved only in the pH range around its isoelectric point after conjugation. The antioxidative property of the SPC-MD conjugate was also improved as the DPPH radical scavenging activity increased 19.7 to 30.2 %. Oil-in-water emulsion stabilised by SPC-MD conjugate produced at 6 h had significantly reduced droplet size, increased surface charge, and higher physical stability in temperature range 25-60 °C. The outcome of this research will help broaden the application of SPC in food as emulsifier and encapsulating shell material.

According to research conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute in 2011, big data “will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of growth, innovation, and consumer surplus” in th...

The effects of different growth regimes on gluconasturtiin concentration in watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) were investigated. Watercress plantlets at the 5th mature leaf stage (ca. 2 weeks old) were exposed to different day and night temperatures, to long (16 h) or short (8 h) days, to red (R) or far-red (FR) light given during the main long day photoperiod, and finally to R or FR light given at the end of the main photoperiod. Watercress plants grown under long days contained a 30-40% higher gluconasturtiin concentration and had a higher fresh weight than watercress plants grown under short days. Watercress plants grown under long days and temperatures of 15 or 10 degrees C had at least a 50% higher gluconasturtiin concentration, but a lower fresh weight, than that of plants grown at 20 or 25 degrees C. Watercress plants grown under metal halide light enriched with R light had approximately a 25-40% higher concentration of gluconasturtiin as compared to the FR-enriched plants. Likewise, a brief R light exposure at the end of the main photoperiod resulted in approximately a 25% or higher concentration of gluconasturtiin as compared to a FR end-of-day exposure. These data indicate that the concentration of gluconasturtiin in watercress can be significantly increased by growing plants at lower temperatures, under long days, and by exposure to R light.

Irradiation of the small intestine can result in depletion of the epithelial stem cell compartment and is often the dose-limiting factor for radiotherapeutic treatment of tumors in the abdominal and pelvic region. Since mitotic cells are most sensitive to radiation, significant radioprotection can be achieved by reducing the number of cells in mitosis at the time of irradiation. We have previously shown that administration of macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP) -1α induces a transient 50% reduction in the number of mitotic cells in small intestinal crypts, including the stem cell region, and therefore, MIP-1α pretreatment before radiation exposure could result in a substantial reduction of the side effects associated with radiotherapy. Groups of adult mice were exposed to different doses of radiation (6, 8, 10, or 12 Gy), with or without prior administration of 200 μg BB-10010/kg 3 hr before irradiation and radiation damage was assessed by means of the microcolony survival assay. MIP-1α pretreatment resulted in significantly increased numbers of surviving crypts (10%) when compared to untreated irradiated animals. The observed radioprotective effects of MIP-1α in the small intestine should translate into reduced side effects in a clinically relevant radiotherapy context and could allow larger doses of radiation to be delivered to patients with tumors in the abdominal or pelvic region.

Consider the many stories and legends of the Wild West. The good guys such as Wyatt Earp get our admiration. But it’s the bad guys, the Jesse Jameses and Billy the Kids, who really attract a morbid fascination and who are admired by many. Even in more recent films and books, we love the people who break the rules and use technology to accomplish things that “mere mortals” such as us cannot do—think about Mission: Impossible, Spy Kids, and the Terminator series of movies.

Let’s face it: The Internet is an increasingly serious place. We depend on it for news, for work, for homework assignments, and for finance. It wasn’t always that way, though. Just a few years ago, office workers were laughing in glee and calling their compatriots to look at monitors covered with dancing hamsters or dancing babies. Anyone could make a Web site to follow up on a drunken whim, with names such as “Am I Hot or Not?”

A newspaper may restrict itself to “all the news that”s fit to print” about political figures, but the Internet knows no such boundaries. On the Net you can find out what’s really going on when it’s not yet ready for prime time.

Everyone loves a mystery. When the mystery either occurs or is explored online, it assumes new proportions. For one thing, there is almost no limit to the amount of time you can spend trying to unravel a mystery. The information you can research online is there all of the time, day or night, for years. For another, trying to solve a mystery on the Internet is more private than going to a library. You are in control of what you want to look for and how many bits information—or “clues”—you want to absorb at any one time. You can do it without your spouse looking over your shoulder, which means you can choose the venues where you want to hunt.

The Bill Clinton-M onica Lewinsky scandal that erupted during Clinton’s second term as president was one of the first big scandals to be fueled by the Internet. Every day, it seemed, there was a new revelation about what someone said or did. It’s the speed with which rumors fly; it’s also the way someone’s character can be tainted quickly and so severely. With JFK, everyone around the president apparently knew what he was doing in his private life, but it didn’t get out of that inner circle. Now, we all are in the inner circle, thanks to the Internet.

Opinions vary as to whether art created or shown on the Web should be considered “legitimate” art. More and more art online is sold on sites such as eBay, which makes it a commodity that exchanges hands just like the schlock folks drag out of their basements.

Human beings have been seeking a way to communicate their spiritual beliefs to other human beings for just about as long as human beings have been around. For the Northwest Native Americans, totem poles were a sort of Web site carved in wood, with layers of symbols stacked atop one another. The ancient Egyptians built pyramids and other monuments that had visual “hyperlinks” that provided details about their gods, members of their royal families, or events in their past.

What is it about e-mail, the Web, and Usenet that makes people speak so harshly to one another? To paraphrase Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along online?”

The process of buying or selling something online—in other words, the process known as e-commerce—is a totally different proposition than in the “real” world. In the real world, you can squeeze that rubber ducky to see if it squeaks or issues the sound of a “raspberry.” You can see if your merchant is sporting “warning signs” of untrustworthiness such as a pound of gold chains, a Nazi helmet, or a used prison uniform. You can then act on such indicators. If you are a seller, you can see someone sign his or her charge card, and you can match the blemishes on the buyer’s face with the mug on the ID card in front of you to make sure they are the same, more or less.

Have you ever clicked a hyperlink and immediately thought, “I can’t believe I’m visiting this site?” or “I can’t believe this person is doing this?” That happens to me all the time, either on the Web or when I take the plunge and visit the bizarre land of the homemade newsgroups whose names begin with the “alt” prefix.

Lots of people, from impressionable youths to the morbidly curious, go online in the hope of seeing things they could never find anywhere else. They want to see faces of death and experience murder and mayhem secondhand. As long as they do so from the comfort of their computer chair, perhaps there’s no harm in it.

The phrase “word of mouth” takes on new meaning in cyberspace. It used to be that gossip was spread by people who were in the same room—in the barbershop or at the hair stylist, in the lunchroom, or walking down the street together. Nowadays, the speed of communication on the Internet works to the eternal advantage of rumormongers and dirt-diggers and to the disadvantage of those caught in their spotlights. In a matter of hours, a juicy story that someone digs up can spread all over the world thanks to e-mail and the Web.

You’ve always been told there’s an afterlife. But who knew you could find life after death on the Internet?

Ever have the desire to open your eyes first thing in the morning and immediately have some folks you’ve never met tempt you with hot sex, allergy cures, a smaller waistline, and (whether you are male or female) a 12-inch penis, guaranteed? That’s the glory of spam, a stream of unwanted e-mail that moves as swiftly, floods us as frequently, and is as constant (and, many fear, as unstoppable) as the mighty Mississippi.

When many people hear the term “Internet legend,” they usually think of a fictitious story that took root and spread like a weed online, fooling many otherwise smart people into thinking it was true. But the Internet has been around long enough now to develop its own legendary characters, stars, heroes, and antiheroes. This chapter explores Internet legends of many sorts.

The better horses are put out to pasture—or, for the lucky few, out to stud. The also-rans end up at the glue factory, or so the story goes. Where do actors go when their time in the limelight is over? They don’t go to rehab. Instead, they get a Web site.

You can still order groceries online from a few markets, despite the demise of the grocery service Webvan. It only stands to reason, then, that you should be able to look over a few of the so-called supermarket tabloids when you surf the Web. Sure enough, the Web is full of gossip, photos, rumors, and sensational stories about many of the figures you know from the entertainment industry—along with some you don’t know but whose deeds are just as notorious.

Like watching sausage being made, watching government in action can be somewhat disgusting. That’s why we like to find out about it from the safety of our living rooms, offices, or other places where we connect to the Internet. What the government wanted to keep secret at one point often becomes public knowledge online.