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Background Microfluidization can produce highly stable and homogenous aqueous media, even when the sample consists of hydrophobic and nonpolar components, due to its combined forces like ultra-high-pressure, high-velocity impact, cavitation, and intense shear rate. The forces during microfluidization lead to transformation in material structure and conformation which result in modifications in the material characteristics and can be a base for new application areas. Scope and approach Although microfluidization is commonly known with its effects on particle size reduction, this innovative technique is also highly successful for formation of emulsion-based systems. Recently, a few new application areas have emerged, such as nanoparticle formation and treatment of beverages. Despite increasing interest of using microfluidization in new areas, there is not a comprehensive review of these studies in the literature. Therefore, in this paper, these studies have been reviewed and discussed in three main categories: 1) emulsion-based systems, including dairy products and lab-created emulsions, 2) nanoparticles, and 3) beverages. Also, the processing factors that need to be taken into consideration are outlined in this review. Key Findings and Conclusions Homogenizing milk with microfluidization significantly improved the physical properties of milk-derived products, especially textural properties. Microfluidization also provided better stability compared to conventional techniques and enabled production of new functional emulsions. Its liposome applications showed great potential to extend specific activities of substances. Microfluidization also improved bioavailability of food grade nanoparticles and helped eliminating cloudiness in beverages by significantly reducing particle size.

Hydroxyapatite (Hap) doped or embedded with silver has shown improved bactericidal properties, and its mechanical properties were greatly improved by doping or impregnating Hap with metals such as Magnesium or Zinc, or by impregnating Hap with metal oxides such as MgO, or ZnO. This work describes the preparation of Ag-ZnO-Hap nanocomposites with 4 different Ag-ZnO–Ca mole ratios. XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM analysis of all prepared materials identified Hap as the only crystalline phase present in all samples exhibiting a uniform rod-like morphology with particles in the 20–40 nm size range. Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy confirmed the presence of zinc and silver in all embedded Hap samples. The antibacterial activity was tested against two different strains; Escherichia coli (E. coli (MV10Nal), and Gram-negative Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A.a). The mechanical testing consisted of evaluating breaking force, work of fracture, and brittleness/ductility of Hap and Ag/ZnO/Hap composites. Our study clearly shows that reinforcing Hap with silver and zinc oxide yields superior bactericidal and mechanical properties.

Hydrogen production through hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) by using metal catalysts is promising for fuel cell applications. Nickel (Ni) and its alloys are favorable due to their high catalytic activity, relatively low cost and availability. In present study, the effects of temperature, pH, reduction rate and reducing agent concentration, which significantly affect the catalyst performance, were investigated using the response surface methodology (RSM). A mathematical model was derived according to results which were obtained from four-level orthogonal Taguchi L16 (44) experimental design used for the optimization of multiple parameters in the process. From the RSM analyses, that compatible with the predicted experimental results, maximum hydrogen generation rate (HGR) 49.81 L min(-1) gcat(-1) was obtained temperature of 278.12 K, pH of 5.52, reducing agent concentration of 85.96 NaBH4.water(-1) and reduction rate of 6.82 mL min(-1). Analysis of variance reveals that both pH and rate of reduction have significant effect than the temperature on the HGR. (c) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficient hydrogen generation is a significant prerequisite of future hydrogen economy. Therefore, the development of efficient non-noble metal catalysts for hydrolysis reaction of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) under mild conditions has received extensive interest. Since the transition metal boride based materials are inexpensive and easy to prepare, it is feasible to use these catalysts in the construction of practical hydrogen generators. In this work, temperature, pH, reducing agent concentration, and reduction rate were selected as independent process parameters and their effects on dependent parameter, such as hydrogen generation rate, were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). According to the obtained results of the RSM prediction, maximum hydrogen generation rate (53.69 L. min−1gcat-1) was obtained at temperature of 281.18 K, pH of 5.97, reducing agent concentration of 31.47 NaBH4/water and reduction rate of 7.16 ml min−1. Consequently, after validation studies it was observed that the RSM together with Taguchi methods are efficient experimental designs for parameter optimization.

Cotton straws are one of the most produced agricultural wastes in Turkey and getting attention by not being consumed as animal feed or an industrial stock and having a huge potential in clean energy production. In this study, different pretreatment methods for the conversion of cotton straw to sugar then biohydrogen and biomethane production from cotton straw were examined. The energy potential of cotton straw in case of an evaluation of these biomass residues was also determined using fuel cell technology. Acid pretreatment provided the highest yield in biogas formation as well as sugar extraction from the raw sample. The highest biohydrogen and biomethane production were obtained as 33 mL H2/g VS and 83 mL CH4/g VS, respectively. Concomitantly, the maximum power peaks in PEM fuel cell studies were observed as 0.45 W/cm2 and 0.23 W/cm2 with current densities of 1.086 A/cm2 and 0.522 A/cm2 when the fuel cell was fed with pure H2 and biogas, respectively. This suggested that acid pretreatment is more suitable for cotton straw management in sustainable and renewable ways and the results demonstrated that PEM fuel cell is a promising clean technology for energy generation from cotton straw.

Amide I and Amide III vibrational modes are frequently used to study protein secondary structure with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. However, for protein mixtures, neither the sole Amide I nor Amide III region provides sufficient information for structural quantitation because of overlapping peaks, especially in the Amide I region. Here, an improved quantitative approach is proposed to estimate secondary structure of protein systems using resolution enhancement and curve-fitting data processing techniques on a gluten model system to investigate structure-function relationships. Twelve different scenarios were prepared to assign bands in the Amide I region. Frequency ranges of 1660–1640 cm−1 and 1665–1660 cm−1 were found to highly contribute to variability in secondary structure contents of samples. Utilization of the Amide III region as a conducive tool to assign bands in the Amide I region led to a better differentiation of some secondary structural motifs and a more accurate quantitation of protein secondary structure. The study presents an understanding of FT-IR data analysis for a quick technique to assess secondary structures of protein mixtures.

Viscoelasticity of corn zein is associated with the formation of β-sheet secondary structures; however, studies of the fundamentals of this conformational change are limited due to zein insolubility and poor analytical resolution. Here, changes in soluble zein conformation were evaluated as the protein self-assembles in increasingly hydrophilic solvents to the concentration just before aggregation and precipitation. Circular dichroism spectra of zein showed that α-helix structures decrease in favor of random coil and β-sheets with increases in water content in an ethanol-water system, similar to observations of zein when it becomes viscoelastic in dough systems. This was further supported by changes in Thioflavin T fluorescence emission spectra and intrinsic viscosity measurements. Two widely recognized molecular models for α-zein (hairpin and superhelical conformations) were tested at 75 and 45% ethanol concentration using molecular dynamics simulation for agreement with experimental results. Increase in solvent hydrophilicity increased β-sheets and reduced distance between backbone anomeric carbons only for hairpin model, suggesting it to be the more valid of the two. These findings emphasize the importance of transformation to β-sheets during zein self-assembly and provide further insight into the mechanisms by which the protein is functionalized into viscoelastic systems.

In this study, a novel nanomaterial, graphene oxide (GO), which has never been used as an adsorbent in the separation of hydroxytyrosol (HT), has been utilized. GO nanosheets were synthesized by graphite oxidation naturally, which is known as modified Hummer's method. Then, the material obtained was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. Adsorption of HT from aqueous media onto synthesized GO was found to be >85% under optimum conditions (with 0.01 mg GO in 10 mL of solution at 150 rpm for 1440 min, where pH is 9). On the other hand, equilibrium (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Redlich-Peterson) and kinetic (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Elovich and intra-particle diffusion) models have been applied for analysis and representation of data. Thermodynamic findings point out that the related adsorption system is exothermic, applicable and spontaneous. © 2019 117M848 The authors thank The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) for financial support for this research project (Grant number: 117M848 ).

Biohydrogen production from dairy wastewater with subsequent biogas purification by hollow fiber membrane module was investigated in this study. The purified and not purified (raw) biohydrogen were used as fuel in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Furthermore, the effect of CO2 on the performance of PEM fuel cell was evaluated considering cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and polarization curves. The maximum H2 production rate was 0.015 mmol H2/mol glucose and the biohydrogen concentration in biogas was ranged 33%–60% (v/v). CO2/H2 selectivity decreased with increasing pressure and maximum selectivity was obtained as 4.4 at feed pressure of 1.5 bar. The electrochemical active surface (EASA) areas were decreased with increasing CO2 ratio. The maximum power densities were 0.2, 0.08 and 0.045 W cm−2 for 100%, 80% and 60% (v/v) H2, respectively. The results indicated that integrated PEM fuel cell/biogas purification system can be used as a potential clean energy sources during acidogenic biohydrogen production from dairy wastewater.

This study presents a potential application for adding value to corn gluten meal, which is often used as animal feed and underutilized in food industry. This study is aimed to improve water holding ability of zein-rich by product corn gluten and investigate possibility of using it as an emulsifier. The potential use of microfluidization (500–1250 bar and 25 °C) and pH shifting (to pH6, 8, and 10) as a modification process for corn gluten meal and their effects on emulsifying properties were investigated. The formulations used for CGM(g):corn oil (mL) mixtures were 5:15, 5:30, 5:50, 10:15, 10:30, 10:50, 15:15, 15:30, and 15:50. Microfluidization and pH modification decreased the particle size of emulsions, resulting in the formation of tissues and micropores, and a consequent increase in surface area and water-holding capacity. pH shifting in dispersions around neutrality (pH6 and pH8) provided improvements in emulsion properties; however, excessive shifting (pH10) caused protein denaturation. Herschel-Bulkley model was well-fitted to explain flow behaviors. Flow and viscoelastic measurements showed that all formulations exhibited shear thinning and elastic gel-like behavior. The sedimentation rate, measured using LUMiSizer, was decreased by microfluidization and pH modifications. This study showed that these treatments can be used to convert an underutilized material into a valuable one in food industry.

To understand the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and take measures to contain it, we look into a similar case from the last century, the 1918 influenza pandemic. Our methodology is the derive conclusions from the 1918 influenza pandemic, using the data from the work of James G. Cumming. We test the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the number of infections dependent on the dishwashing method. The findings indicate that, at the 0.01 significance level, there exists a substantial difference in the rate of infection between machine-washed dishes and hand-washed dishes. Machine-washed dishes have shown to decrease the rate of infection. Hence, we may expect to reduce the coronavirus’s infection rate by using automated steam-machines instead of hands when it comes to cleaning dishes.

Corn gluten meal is an underutilized byproduct due to its hydrophobic nature although it contains high amount of protein. The primary objectives of this study were to enhance the water holding capacity of this protein-rich byproduct with microfluidization technique and use it in bread-making formulations instead of gluten with the addition of different supplements. The increase in stability, surface area, and consequently water holding capacity with microfluidization resulted in the formation of compatible and homogeneous dough structure for gluten-free bread formulations. The dough exhibited linear viscoelastic behavior at strains lower than 0.5%. Elastic moduli were higher than viscous moduli for all formulations, meaning solid-like behavior. The addition of xanthan and citrus fiber resulted in higher moduli values. The decrease in particle size and the emergence of new tissues resulted in revealing of carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin, responsible for the yellow color of corn gluten meal. The breads produced from microfluidized samples had 1.19–1.27 times higher specific volumes than untreated samples of the same formulation. Similar improvements (1.03–1.22) were obtained with the addition of xanthan and citrus fiber. Both microfluidization treatment and the addition of supplements led to lower hardness, and higher cohesiveness and springiness values.

Background The availability and movement of water inside the food materials play essential roles for food stability by affecting their physical and chemical properties, and microbiological activity. Understanding the moisture sorption behavior is a necessary step to control food properties. Food processing unit operations like drying and cooking influence the behavior of starch since such systems trigger swelling or shrinkage as a result of moisture sorption or desorption mechanisms. Also, these processes alter many aspects of starch-containing foods such as acceptability, nutritional value, quality, and shelf-life. Scope and approach Therefore, understanding the water transport in starchy foods and the changes occurring in functional properties of starch has a great importance to describe and model their sorption and drying behavior. First, the primary mechanisms occurring during water transport such as moisture sorption, swelling, gelatinization, and glass transition are discussed using experimental results presented in the literature. Additionally, the hybrid mixture theory (HMT) and its potential for predicting transport mechanisms in starchy foods is discussed. Key findings and conclusions In addition to experimental considerations, the mathematical modeling provides complementary information to predict the heat and fluid transfer. The hybrid mixture theory based multiscale models are able to describe the physico-chemical changes and general transport mechanisms occurring within a porous food matrix. This theory can also be used to predict the quality changes in food products during processing.

This study presents the potential of microfluidization as a value adding process to corn gluten meal (CGM), which is often used as animal feed and is underutilized in food industry. In this study, we aimed to improve water holding ability of corn gluten and to investigate possibility of using this zein-rich byproduct as the main ingredient in gluten-free bread formulations. For this reason, microfluidization as a milling process for CGM, and its effects on rheological and textural properties of gluten-free bread formulations were investigated. In addition, the effects of pH modification and hydrocolloids were analyzed. Microfluidization led to a higher surface area by disintegrating the large CGM molecules, and the structure became compatible to be used in gluten-free bread formulations by overcoming hydrophobic nature. However, structural deformations were detected with pH modifications. The linear viscoelastic region of dough was observed at strains lower than 0.5%. For all formulations, elastic moduli (G') were higher than viscous moduli (G") indicating solid-like behavior. The addition of HPMC and guar resulted in higher moduli values. Microfluidization and pH modifications provided brighter color by revealing lutein and zeaxanthin due to decreased particle size. Texture profile showed that microfluidization and hydrocolloids decreased hardness, increased springiness and cohesiveness, which are desired characteristics for bread. Lastly, the addition of hydrocolloids led to an increase in specific volume by providing gas retention within the structure. HPMC provided 1.23-1.62 times bigger samples than control samples while it was only 1.02-1.12 times bigger for samples with guar according to specific volume analysis.

While increasing cases related to gluten intolerance have encouraged scientists to develop healthier and better-quality gluten-free products, a more ideal viscoelastic behavior is still needed. In this study, we systematically investigated a dough system composed of corn zein, starch, and additional protein (5% of total protein, termed "co-protein") to achieve similar rheological properties of wheat dough. Three types of starches (corn, wheat, and rice) and four types of co-proteins (casein, sodium caseinate, gliadin, and glutenin) were combined with zein at room temperature and at 35 °C, above zein's glass transition temperature. In small and large deformation tests, only rice starch was found to improve significantly the functionality of zein dough, resulting in formulations with similar rheological properties to wheat dough, i.e., low phase angle value, high complex modulus, and high extensional viscosity implying an elastic dough with high strength and resistance to deformation. Rice starch also significantly lowered glass transition temperature of zein dough, associated with improved performance even at room temperature. Combining zein with a proper starch type, and in cases co-proteins, substantially improved rheological properties of zein dough similar to that of wheat dough, with potential implications to the gluten-free and the plant-based protein market.

We study multimedia traffic classification into popular applications to assist the quality of service (QoS) support of networking technologies, including but not limited to, WiFi. For this purpose, we propose to model the multimedia traffic flow as a stochastic discrete-time Markov chain in order to take into account the strong sequentiality (i.e. the dependencies across the data instances) in the traffic flow observations. This addresses the shortcoming of the prior techniques that are based on feature extraction which is prone to losing the information of sequentiality. Also, for investigating the best application of our Markov approach to traffic classification, we introduce and test three data driven classification schemes which are all derived from the proposed model and tightly related to each other. Our first classifier has a global perspective of the traffic data via the likelihood function as a mixture of Markov components (MMC). Our second and third classifiers have local perspective based on k-nearest Markov components (kNMC) with the negative loglikelihood as a distance as well as k-nearest Markov parameters (kNMP) with the Euclidean distance. We additionally introduce to the use of researchers a rich multimedia traffic dataset consisting of four application categories, e.g., video on demand, with seven applications, e.g., YouTube. In the presented comprehensive experiments with the introduced dataset, our local Markovian approach kNMC outperforms MMC and kNMP and provides excellent classification performance, 89% accuracy at the category level and 85% accuracy at the application level and particularly over 95% accuracy for live video streaming. Thus, in test time, the nearest Markov components with the largest likelihoods yield the most discrimination power. We also observe that kNMC significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods (such as SVM, random forest and autoencoder) on both the introduced dataset and benchmark dataset both at the category and application levels.

Complete starch extraction has been a problem in the corn wet-milling, and here enzymes affecting different structures were used to provide a thorough understanding of the contribution of those structures to starch and protein retention for a way to achieve higher extraction rates. The combination of Frontia Fiberwash® (mix of cellulases and xylanases) and Olexa® (protease) led to an increase in starch (4.5 %) and protein (3.0 %) extraction. Enzymes changed secondary structure composition of proteins due to change in concentration of protein sub-fractions. The protein matrix around starch granules, the key factor for starch retention, was weakened with reducing agents/acids or ultrasound, which better separated starch and protein bodies. Chemicals led to 3.3–5.4 % and 0.7–1.7 % increase in starch and protein extraction, respectively, whereas an ultrasound treatment resulted in 2.2 % and 0.6 % increase. Overall, the study showed starch granules and protein bodies can be freed from wet-milled fiber fraction leading to higher extraction rate when the protein matrix is loosened.

Complete starch extraction has long been an issue in the wet-milling industry, and here structures in the fine and coarse fiber fractions that retain starch were identified and quantified for potential treatments to increase starch and protein extraction rates. Six main structures were identified in the fiber fraction and three of them were directly related to the retention of starch granules. Elemental composition analysis to quantify the contribution of structures responsible for starch retention showed that the protein matrix contributed to 54 % of total starch retention. Confocal microscopy showed that starch granules in the peripheral region of vitreous endosperm were embedded in the protein matrix, whereas the ones in the central region were either stuck in the cell wall polysaccharides or almost free to be liberated. Secondary structural composition of proteins showed differences in fine and coarse fiber fractions. Protein disruption would lead to the largest increase in starch extraction.

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were evaluated for the recovery of biophenols from an agricultural biomass, olive leaf. Modified Hummer's method was used to synthesize GO by natural oxidation of graphite. The adsorbent was characterized by several novel analysis methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). On the other hand, optimization of the adsorption process was applied utilizing multivariate statistic technique such as Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to consider any possible interaction between variables with less number of experiments as well as to model a response affected by several variables. The outcome of the present study indicates that the optimum conditions for the adsorption of were 4.57/10 of pH together with 24.62/30 °C of temperature and 3 mg of GO to achieve the maximum yields of each dependent variable such as total biophenol content (TBC) and the most prevalent compound, oleuropein (OC). The verification of the calculated models was held by several error function analysis. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

It is important to understand the viscoelastic properties of cereals as they affect product texture. Therefore, the stress relaxation behavior of oat flakes was studied using static testing. The oat flakes exhibited linear viscoelastic behavior at strain levels under 2%. The relaxation modulus was directly influenced by the moisture content of the samples; it was low at higher moisture levels. A two-element generalized Maxwell model fitted well to describe the viscoelastic behavior of oat flakes with its high R2 and low RMSE. The first and second stress coefficients ( G 1 a n d G 2 ) and the second relaxation time component ( τ 2 ) of the model generally decreased as the moisture content of the samples increased, which implied that samples showed lower resistance against applied force and relaxed faster with the increase in moisture content. The viscoelastic behavior of oat flakes was a function of both moisture content and temperature. The viscoelastic properties obtained in this study can be used to improve the textural attributes of oat-based products and further utilized in mathematical models describing drying or sorption processes.

We investigate the welfare implications of endogenizing bank regulation and supervision quality in a dynamic general equilibrium framework. Bank regulation and supervision quality (alpha) affects households through deposit decision, firms through credit pay-back decision, and banks via a fee paid for non-performing loans. Two alternative institutional mechanisms are considered for endogenizing alpha: (i) a regulatory and supervisory agent (BRS) that maximizes lifetime banking sector profitability; (ii) a macroprudential agent (MP) that minimizes lifetime non-performing loans. Under conventional functional form and competitive banking structure assumptions, the BRS scenario welfare-dominates the MP scenario -- although the comparable range of equilibrium solutions corresponds only to a very limited range of high non-performing loan (NPL) ratios where the BRS scenario produces a feasible solution set. In the case of monopolistic banking sector, there is no common range of NPL ratios for which both scenarios are feasible. Under both competitive and monopolistic banking sector assumptions, equilibrium under the MP scenario is obtained for a large range and empirically observable low rates of NPL, associated with much higher welfare levels than the BRS scenario.

In the present work, new and efficient Cobalt–Titanium–Boride (Co–Ti–B) catalysts were developed for catalytic hydrolysis reaction of alkaline NaBH4 solution. Hydrogen generation rate was measured using the ternary Co–Ti–B catalyst as a function of different Ti concentration, solution temperature, NaBH4 concentration, and NaOH (a base-stabilizer) concentration. The performance of the system was analyzed from thermodynamic points of view and compared with the pristine Co–B catalyst. In addition to high catalytic efficiency, the catalyst must also comprise important features like high stability in severe conditions and should have high tolerance against deactivation. The highest hydrogen generation rate was obtained with 5% Ti/(Ti + Co) molar ratio, and for this catalyst the optimum fuel concentration was identified as 5 wt.% NaBH4 with 5 wt.% NaOH.

Nanocomposites stand out as promising materials in many fields due to their properties such as strength, hardness, thermal stability, and lightness. Introducing self-healing ability to polymer nanocomposites provides new guidelines for strong, sustainable, and durable materials. Microcapsule-based self-healing materials work independently of an external stimulus such as pH, heat, light and solvent. In this paper, we developed autonomously self-healing UV-cured polyurethane graphene oxide nanocomposite coatings by means of efficient and useful copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne (CuAAC) click chemistry. Low molecular weight tetra-arm azide was successfully capsulated within poly(vinyl formal) capsules. Alkyne functional graphene-oxide reinforced nanocomposites containing azide microcapsules were prepared through photo-polymerization. The self-healing ability and anti-corrosion properties of the nanocomposites were studied after the damage occurred. The self-healing experiments show that the microcapsules provided a self-healing efficiency of around 70% after 24 h. Chemical, morphologic, mechanical, and thermal properties of the films were investigated. Furthermore, the electrochemical analysis of films showed that the microcapsule containing films has a higher polarization resistance and a lower corrosion current.

Electrochemical properties of porous nickel (Ni) foam, electrodeposited zinc (Zn) on Ni foam (Ni–Zn) and electrodeposited reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on Ni–Zn foam electrodes (Ni–Zn-rGO) in 6 M KOH electrolyte were investigated. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge cycling (GCD) techniques were used to carry out the redox interactions, and cycling capacitive properties of the electrodes in KOH solution. Platinum (Pt) and gold (Au) foil were used as a counter electrode and the current collector in the electrochemical measurements, respectively. The specific capacitances of the electrodes were found from the GCD measurements as 155, 722 and 1820 F/g for Ni, Ni–Zn and Ni–Zn/rGO electrodes at the current density of 1 A/g, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the three electrodes were also taken into account to associate all the electrochemical measurements. These results clearly show that specific capacitance values highly increased after the deposition of Zn and rGO to Ni electrode.

Performance of cathode materials in microbial fuel cell (MFC) from dairy wastewater has been investigated in laboratory tests. Both cyclic voltammogram experiments and MFC tests showed that Pt-Ni cathode much better than pure Pt cathode. MFC with platinum cathode had the maximum power density of 0.180 Wm(-2) while MFC with Pt: Ni (1:1) cathode produced the maximum power density of 0.637 Wm(-2), even if the mass mixing ratio of Pt is lower in the alloy were used. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was around 82-86% in both systems. The cyclic voltammogram (CV) analyses show that Pt: Ni (1:1) offers higher specific surface area than Pt alone does. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) results showed that entire Pt: Ni (1:1) alloys can reduce the oxygen easily than pure platinum, even though less precious metal amount. The main outcome of this study is that Pt-Ni, may serve as a alternative catalyst in MFC applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To compare once- versus twice-daily insulin detemir added on OADS therapy in insulin-naive type 2 diabetes patients in terms of efficacy and safety.An open-label study performed at a single center, comprised a randomized, crossover 24 week with insulin-naive type 2 diabetes patients. Insulin detemir was initiated with mean 0.12 U/kg in all patients (Group I once-daily, Group II twice-daily) and titrated for 24 week.A total of 50 patients completed the study (Group I n:25, Group II n:25). With use of once- and twice-daily insulin, HbA1c values were decreased by 1.8% (±2.0) and 1.5% (±1.4) within the first 12 weeks (p0.01), whereas increased by 0.21% (±0.7) and 0.14% (±0.8) in the second 12 weeks (p0.05). The increases in the insulin doses were found as 0.22 U/kg and 0.35 U/kg with once- and twice-daily insulin use, respectively (p:0.04). Although minor hypoglycemic events were similar in both groups in the first 12 weeks, 2-fold increase was found in the patients shifting from once- to twice-daily dose. Within the first and second periods, the body weight of the patients was observed an increase of 0.4 and 1.6 kg with once-daily dose, whereas a decrease of 0.1 and 2.1 kg in the twice-daily dose, in the same period.Once-daily use of insulin detemir up to 0.4 U/kg was found to have similar efficacy and safety as twice-daily use. Twice dose use of insulin did not provide a prominent glycemic control advantage on 1.5-fold higher use of insulin.