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Five lactic acid bacteria and two bifidobacteria strains were heat or irradiation inactivated. Inactivated cultures were evaluated for their effects on cytokines interleukin (IL) 6 and IL-8 production in human intestinal-like Caco-2 cells. For both heat- and irradiation-inactivated cultures, production of IL-6 and IL-8 was dependent on the specific microorganism. However, with all of the cultures, both IL-6 and IL-8 production was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in Caco-2 cells that were treated with heat-inactivated probiotic bacteria compare to the irradiation-inactivated bacteria. In the majority of the cases, heat-inactivated bacteria induced IL-6 and IL-8 production, whereas irradiation-inactivated bacteria attenuated both cytokine production. Our results indicate that the same probiotic bacteria used in the same cell culture could provide opposite cytokine production and immune modulation results based on its mode of inactivation; therefore, it is important to describe inactivation methods and conditions in detail when characterizing probiotic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley straw was pretreated with alkali (NaOH) at increasing NaOH/DM ratios (6-10%) and neutralized in a twin-screw extruder, obtaining a substrate ready for the incubation with enzymes. Two process configurations were evaluated: with and without filtration inside the extruder. The enzymatic digestibility of the pretreated substrates was evaluated and filtration was proved to be beneficial for the enzymatic hydrolysis. A maximum enzymatic hydrolysis yield of 71% was attained for the barley straw pretreated with 8 g NaOH/100 g dry barley straw and filtration inside the extruder. The ethanol production was evaluated on this substrate for increasing solid loadings, 2.5, 15 and 20% (w/v). A global process yield based on ethanol production, including hydrolysis and fermentation, was calculated over the pretreated material in experiments at 20% (w/v) solids, reaching 53% of the maximum theoretical. The concentration of ethanol reached up to 29 g/l in these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Following the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemics across Europe in the early 1990s, the removal of designated BSE specified risk material (SRM) became mandatory to minimize the risk of consumer''s exposure to the infectious agent. Despite this preventive measure, cross-contamination of edible meat with SRM can occur during conventional slaughter, primarily by carcass splitting, captive bolt stunning, and head removal. BSE-affected subjects accumulate the pathological feature in the central nervous system (CNS). Currently, there are no markers that can identify the presence of SRM in meat as a whole. Nevertheless, some assays are able to detect traces of CNS, hence this parameter is officially taken as indicative of SRM contamination. In this two-stage study, we carried out a survey to estimate the prevalence of carcass contamination at two slaughterhouses, one large and the other medium-sized; we then compared three different methods (conventional vs. suction vs. water-jet) for spinal cord removal employed at the large slaughterhouse to assess their performance in preventing the spread of central nervous tissue (CNT) over the carcass. The prevalence of carcass contamination was 68.4%. Compared to the other two spinal cord removal techniques (conventional and suction), the water-jet system was associated with less CNS contamination (62 vs. 60 vs. 36%, respectively; P = 0.0047). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]