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Recent awareness related to health concerns and environmental sustainability issues have led to changes in consumer preference toward plant-based proteins and the related market has been booming with growing investments and new plant-based alternatives. However, this relatively new market needs to make improvements in the quality of products (e.g., texture, flavor, and color) to match those of meat and cheese products. Specifically, forming an anisotropic structure to have similar textural properties has become one of the biggest challenges. To enable this, advanced and novel technologies (e.g., extrusion, shear-structuring, 3D printing, electrospinning, and freeze-structuring), as well as functional ingredients (e.g., binding/viscoelastic agents, crosslinkers), have been introduced to provide meat-like textures to analogue products. Even though the texture-related problems of meat alternatives have been resolved to some extent with use of methylcellulose or wheat gluten, there is still a search for natural and chemically-free ingredients to align with a desire for “clean label” products. Here, we postulate that corn zein, and perhaps other similar viscoelastic plant proteins, can be used to provide the necessary textural properties to plant-based meat analogues instead of currently used ingredients. In this review, a comprehensive assessment of state-of-the-field processing techniques as well as functional ingredients (both already available and potential ones) necessary to provide the desired characteristics to plant-based protein products is given.

Abstract Background Mammalian cell lines are frequently used as protein expression hosts because of their ability to correctly fold and assemble complex proteins, produce them at high titers, and confer post-translational modifications (PTMs) critical to proper function. Increasing demand for proteins with human-like PTMs, particularly viral proteins and vectors, have made human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells an increasingly popular host. The need to engineer more productive HEK293 platforms and the ongoing nature of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic presented an opportunity to study strategies to improve viral protein expression in transient and stable HEK293 platforms. Results Initial process development was done at 24 deep well plate (DWP) -scale to screen transient processes and stable clonal cell lines for recombinant SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (rRBD) titer. Nine DNA vectors that drove rRBD production under different promoters and optionally contained Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) elements to promote episomal expression were screened for transient rRBD production at 37 °C or 32 °C. Use of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter to drive expression at 32 °C led to the highest transient protein titers, but inclusion of episomal expression elements did not augment titer. In parallel, four clonal cell lines with titers higher than that of the selected stable pool were identified in a batch screen. Flask-scale transient transfection and stable fed-batch processes were then established that produced rRBD up to 100 mg/L and 140 mg/L, respectively. While a bio-layer interferometry (BLI) assay was crucial for efficiently screening DWP batch titers, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to compare titers from the flask-scale batches due to varying matrix effects from different cell culture media compositions. Conclusion Comparing yields from the flask-scale batches revealed that stable fed-batch cultures produced up to 2.1x more rRBD than transient processes. The stable cell lines developed in this work are the first reported clonal, HEK293-derived rRBD producers and have titers up to 140 mg/L. As stable production platforms are more economically favorable for long-term protein production at large scales, investigation of strategies to increase the efficiency of high-titer stable cell line generation in Expi293F or other HEK293 hosts is warranted.

This study found that a prebiotic intervention was well-tolerated and safe, beneficially changed the microbiome, decreased inflammation and a marker of neurodegeneration, with possible clinical effects in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. This study offers the rationale for further investigations using prebiotic fibers in PD.

Abstract Insoluble plant cell walls are a main source of dietary fiber. Both chemical and physical fiber structures create distinct niches for gut bacterial utilization. Here, we have taken key fermentable solubilized polysaccharides of plant cell walls and fabricated them back into cell wall-like film forms to understand how fiber physical structure directs gut bacterial fermentation outcomes. Solubilized corn bran arabinoxylan (Cax), extracted to retain some ferulate residues, was covalently linked using laccase to form an insoluble cell wall-like film (Cax-F) that was further embedded with pectin (CaxP-F). In vitro fecal fermentation using gut microbiota from three donors was performed on the films and soluble fibers. Depending on the donor, CaxP-F led to higher relative abundance of recognized beneficial bacteria and/or butyrate producers—Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium halii, unassigned Lachnospiraceae, Blautia, and Anaerostipes—than free pectin and Cax, and Cax-F. Thus, physical form and location of fibers within cell walls form niches for some health-related gut bacteria. This work brings a new understanding of the importance of insoluble cell wall-associated fibers and shows that targeted fiber materials can be fabricated to support important gut microbiota taxa and metabolites of health significance.

Background: Available surveys that evaluate shoulder strength and pain often combine rotator cuff muscles making the test unable to differentiate subscapularis tears from other pathology including concomitant supraspinatus, infraspinatus tears. The purpose of this study was to validate a subscapularis-specific shoulder survey (Baltimore Orthopedic Subscapularis Score) as a viable clinical outcome assessment through analysis of psychometric properties. Methods: A 5-question survey was given to a study population of 390 patients, 136 of whom had full thickness rotator cuff tears with a minimum score of 5 (better) and a maximum score of 25 (worse). Surveys were given during the initial consultation, preoperative visit, and postoperative visit. Content validity, construct validity, test-retest reliability, responsiveness to change, internal consistency, and minimal clinically important difference using distribution and anchor-based methods were determined for our subscapularis function survey. Results: A high correlation was reported on test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.89). An acceptable internal consistency was reported for all patients surveyed (Cronbach alpha = 0.91). Floor and ceiling effects for patients with rotator cuff pathology were minimized (1% for both). Patients with an isolated subscapularis tear scored worse than supraspinatus/infraspinatus tears and exhibited similar dysfunction as patients with a supraspinatus/infraspinatus/subscapularis tear. An acceptable construct validity was reported with subscapularis-involved tears demonstrating higher scores with significance (P 0.8). The minimal clinically important difference using a distribution and anchor-based method was 4.1 and 4.6, respectively. Among patients with rotator cuff tears in this population, a score of 22 or higher predicts a subscapularis tear 75% of the time, in spite of its low overall prevalence. Conclusion: The subscapularis shoulder score demonstrated acceptable psychometric performance for outcomes assessment in patients with rotator cuff disease. This survey can be used as an effective clinical tool to assess subscapularis function.

Certain indigenous African plant materials, including Adansonia digitata (baobab), Moringa oleifera (moringa), and Hibiscus sabdariffa (hibiscus) could be leveraged in food-to-food fortification strategies due to their high content of nutrients, dietary fiber, and phenolic compounds. However, more studies are needed to understand the nutritional composition of commercially available food ingredients. The objective of this study was to examine the phytochemical and polysaccharide compositions of commercially available baobab, moringa, and hibiscus ingredients from Senegal. Characterization of carotenoids, tocopherols, phenolic compounds, monosaccharide composition, and glycosyl linkage was carried out. We observed that moringa contained the greatest content of carotenoids and tocopherols. Moringa also contained significant amounts of the flavonols quercetin 3-O-glucoside and quercetin 3-O-rutinoside, while baobab had greater concentrations of flavan-3-ols. Substantial content of anthocyanins was observed for hibiscus, but not moringa or baobab. The predominant monosaccharide in baobab was xylose, while hibiscus was a combination of xylose, galactose, and glucose. The primary monosaccharides in moringa were galactose and glucose. Based on our glycosyl linkage analysis, (1 → 2)- and (1 → 2,4)-linked rhamnose were attributed to rhamnogalacturonan-I, while (1 → 4)-linked glucose and (Terminal →)-linked xylose were attributed to xyloglucans. The phytochemical and polysaccharide characterization of baobab, moringa, and hibiscus suggested that delivery of micronutrients, such as iron and carotenoids, could be impacted when applied as functional food ingredients.

A series of syringaldehyde imines with para-substituted anilines have been synthesized in a good yield, and their crystal structures have been analyzed. The orientation of the syringaldehyde hydroxyl group plays in important role in the intermolecular hydrogen-bonding pattern of the molecules. The O–H…N hydrogen bonding interactions primarily determine the three-dimensional packing of the molecules, even though they make up a relatively small percentage of intermolecular interactions in the molecules. The three structures with the p-hydroxy group cis to the imine group give hydrogen-bonded zigzag chains in the monoclinic crystals, while the structure with a trans hydroxy group crystallize in a hexagonal space group (R3¯) and form hydrogen-bonded hexamers. The hexagonal structure also displays Br…Br interactions, forming additional hexameric clusters. The analysis of published p-hydroxyphenyl imine crystal structures from the Cambridge Crystallographic Database revealed patterns in the length of the hydrogen bonding interactions based on steric congestion around the hydroxyl group.