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This study aimed to determine the effect of ultrasonication (US) and vacuum impregnation (VI) pretreatment techniques applied for the improvement of tenderness on the quality of beef ( Longissimus dorsi) traditionally marinated (TM) in onion juice by immersion. TM conditions were 1:5 meat to marinade ratio, final NaCl concentration of 9% (w/v), 4.3 °C and 24 h. US and VI pretreatments significantly ( P

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of essential oil (EO) addition (1, 2, and 3% v/v) obtained from different plants (Santolina chamaecyparissus (SC), Schinus molle (SM), and Eucalyptus globulus (EG) on the antimicrobial, physical, water vapor permeability, mechanical, optical and microstructural properties of the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) films. The films containing EO at the concentration of 3% showed the highest antimicrobial activity on tested microorganisms. The EO content increase from 1% to 3% in films decreased the moisture content and water solubility of all films. The water vapor permeability also decreased in films with EGEO but it increased in films with SCEO and SMEO. While the tensile strength (TS) of films containing EO (29.43 ± 3.28–77.05 ± 0.02 MPa) was determined higher than the TS of the control (24.60 ± 0.54 MPa), the elongation at break (E%) of films (14.41 ± 0.02–33.01 ± 0.01%) were lower than E% of the control (37.06 ± 0.85%). The microstructures of films were homogeneous in the films containing 1% and 2% EOs. CMC films gained a significant antimicrobial property and improved its characteristic properties with the incorporation of EOs presenting a good potential for applying to foods.

The oil sands industry generates large volumes of oil sands process water (OSPW). There is an urgent need for OSPW treatment to reduce process water inventories and to support current reclamation approaches. This study discusses how efficient ozone (O

The study investigated the use of batch and continuous thermosonication for pasteurization of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) juice emphasizing on its microbial, physicochemical and sensorial quality parameters. Batch thermosonication (40, 50, 60 °C, 37 kHz, 150 W) of pumpkin juice was compared with the ultrasonication (23 °C) and conventional heat treatments (40, 50, 60 °C). For batch thermosonication, maximum inactivation of Escherichia coli K-12 was 6.62 ± 0.00 log cfu/mL, meanwhile, it was 3.64 ± 0.19 log cfu/mL for heat treatment. In addition, only 0.37 ± 0.21 log cfu/mL inactivation in E. coli K-12 was obtained by ultrasonication. The designed continuous thermosonication system (0.029 L/min, 60 °C) reduced E. coli K-12 by 6.23 ± 0.34 cfu/mL log after cycle 3 (34.15 min of processing). Color properties (L*, a*, b*, ∆E), pH, total titratable acidity, total soluble solids content, turbidity and non-enzymatic browning index were determined for batch and continuously thermosonicated, ultrasonicated and heat-treated pumpkin juices. Total color change of continuously thermosonicated samples were higher than the batch thermosonicated (60 °C) ones but, lower than the conventional heat treated (60 °C) samples. Sensory panel showed general acceptance scores of fresh, batch (60 °C) and continuously thermosonicated pumpkin juice samples have no significant (P

Kurutulmuş soğan, gıda sanayiindeözellikle yemekçilik sektörü ile hazır çorba, soslar, salata ve marine edilmişçeşitli gıdalarda kullanım potansiyeli olan bir gıda maddesidir. Bu nedenlekurutma koşullarını optimum hale getirmek (fiziksel ve kimyasal kayıpları enaza indirerek), ürün kalitesinin arttırılabilmesinde önem teşkil etmektedir. Buçalışmada, konveksiyonel, mikrodalga ve vakumlu fırında kurutulan soğandilimlerinin, tüketici açısından en önemli kalite kriterlerinden biri olan renküzerine, bazı bağımsız değişkenlerin etkisi incelenmiştir. Bu amaçla, her birkurutma yöntemi için, yanıt değer olarak kabul edilen toplam renk değişimi (ΔE) değeri üzerine, kurutma sıcaklığı/gücü(°C veya W), tuzluluk (%) ve dilim kalınlığının (mm) etkisi tarama veoptimizasyon basamakları ile araştırılmıştır. Konveksiyonel, mikrodalga vevakum altında kurutma için belirlenen optimum koşullarda soğan dilimlerinintoplam renk değişimi değerleri birbirine yakındır. Yapılan denemeler sonucundatüm kurutma teknikleri için, soğan dilimlerinin toplam renk değişimini (ΔE) ifade eden birer polinomiyelmodel önerilmiştir., Dried onion is a food materialwhich has potential for using in instant soup, sauce, salad formulations,marinated foods as well as catering sector. Hence, it is important to optimizedrying conditions (by reducing physical and chemical losses) for enhancing foodquality. In this study, some independent parameters which affect color - one ofthe significant quality criteria with respect to consumers - of onion slicesdried by conventional, microwave and vacuum techniques were investigated. Forthat purpose, the impacts of drying temperature/power (°C or W), saltness (%)and thickness (mm) on total color change levels (ΔE) of onions as the responsevalues were screened and optimized for each dehydration procedure. The totalcolor change values obtained under the optimum conditions of conventional, microwave and vacuum dryinghave approximated. As a result of experiments, polynomial equations thatdefined the ΔE of slices was suggested for each technique.

The aim of this study was to produce set-type non-dairy yogurt from oat milk pasteurized by thermal (T) and UV-C (coiled-tube type)-assisted thermal (UV–C-T) processes. The yogurts were produced from untreated, T- (63 °C, 30 min) and UV-C-T-treated (10 cycles, 77.67 J/mL, 60 °C) oat milk by lactic acid fermentation and their microbiological, physicochemical, textural and sensorial changes were monitored for 21 days. The reduction in E. coli K-12 was ca. 5 log cfu/mL for both T and UV-C-T treated samples. Yogurts from UV-C-T-treated oat milk had the highest pH (5–6) and the lowest syneresis value during the storage time. L* (60.9 ± 0.1) and b* (4.9 ± 0.1) values of yogurts from UV-C-T-treated oat milk were lower compared to untreated and T-treated oat milk. Yogurts from UV-C-T-treated oat milk had higher hardness (g) and adhesive forces (g) values than the untreated and T-treated yogurts during the storage time. Moreover, there was no significant difference (P

BACKGROUND Polygalacturonases (PGs) are valuable enzymes of the food industry; therefore it is of great importance to discover new and GRAS PG-producing microbial strains. In this study, PG enzyme produced from a high PG activity producer mutant Aspergillus sojae using wheat bran at the flask scale under pre-optimized conditions of solid-state fermentation (SSF) was biochemically characterized. RESULTS The crude PG enzyme showed optimum activity in the pH range 4.0-5.0 and was stable in the pH range 3.0-7.0. The optimum temperature for the PG was 40 °C and it retained 99% of its activity at 50 °C. The mutant A. sojae PG could preserve more than 50% of its stability between 25 and 50 °C, both for 30 and 60 min, and was found to be stable in the presence of most of the tested compounds and metal ions. The inactivation energy (Ed ) was determined as 125.3 kJ mol(-1) . The enthalpy (ΔH*), free energy (ΔG*) and entropy (ΔS*) of inactivation were found to be stable with increasing temperature. CONCLUSION The mutant A. sojae PG could be suitable for the clarification (depectinization) of orange and grape juices and wine. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Wheat bran was tested as the solid substrate for the tray-type solid-state fermentation (SSF) production of polygalacturonase (PG) enzyme by A. sojae mutant strain - a high-PG activity producer. PG production of A. sojae was found to reduce as the thickness of the substrate increase from 8 mm to 14 mm at 90% relative humidity. An interaction between the thickness of the bed and relative humidity of the environment was determined with the help of experimental design and statistical analysis tools. As a result, the PG activity could be enhanced by 31% as the process conditions optimized. Additionally, 11 mm thickness and 70% relative humidity were selected as the PG production favoring conditions with the maximum PG activity of 298 U/g substrate in tray type of SSF without the addition of any nutritive or inducing supplements into wheat bran. The kinetic study conducted in the trays revealed the presence of reduction in the water activity on the 4th day of the SSF process under stated conditions. The productivity of the process conducted under optimized conditions was 3.41 U/g substrate-1 h-1 for the 4th day of the SSF. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

The somatic landscape of pituitary adenomas is largely unknown. Identification of somatic alterations aims at better understanding of tumor pathology.The objective of the study was a genome-wide characterization of somatic single-nucleotide variants, structural variants, and copy-number aberrations in somatotropinomas.Whole-genome sequencing and single-nucleotide polymorphism array analyses were performed on 12 fresh-frozen somatotropinomas and their corresponding blood samples. All the coding somatic variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing.Studied tumors were somatotropinomas. Apart from one AIP mutation-positive patient, all cases were mutation negative for the established germline mutations associated with pituitary adenomas.There were no interventions.Somatic variants were identified with an established computational pipeline and filtered against germline data. Somatic copy number alteration analyses were performed using segmentation-based approaches.A genome-wide analysis revealed on average 129 somatic single-nucleotide variants per tumor. Further analysis of coding regions showed on average 2.3 single-nucleotide variants per tumor. The only recurrent somatic events were the oncogenic GNAS mutation (p.Arg201Cys) and shared chromosome losses (chromosomes 1, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 22). Analysis of somatic structural variants revealed one tumor with a complex chromosomal rearrangement.Somatotropinomas showed a low number of somatic genetic alterations. Whereas no novel recurrently mutated genes could be identified, the somatic landscape has potential to affect the Ca(2+) and ATP pathways known to be involved in the pituitary tumorigenesis. Further studies, eg, methylome and transcriptome analyses, are needed to investigate possible interplay between the recurrent chromosome losses and epigenetic factors.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) juice is a marinating agent for meat and fish marination and readily usable sauce for any meal that has onion in its formulation. This study aims to assess the microbiological and physicochemical changes in the onion juice processed by UV-C irradiation (0.5 mm sample depth, 30 min exposure time, 7.5 mW/cm(2) UV incident intensity) and conventional heat treatment (74.5 degrees C, 12 min) during its storage. Microbiological results showed processing by UV-C irradiation or heat treatment under optimum conditions extended the microbial shelf-life of untreated onion juice by minimum 6-times. Total colour change of heat-treated samples was lower than that of untreated and UV-C treated samples for 12 weeks. Also, pH, total titratable acidity, total soluble solids content, turbidity, NEBI and total phenolic content were monitored for 12 weeks. The results of this study will form scientific infrastructure for onion juice manufacturers to decide on the processing method with respect to its shelf-life.

The effect of pretreatments on drying characteristics of quince slices was investigated in a cabinet dryer. The experiments were conducted on quince slices with a thickness of 5 mm at 50°C, 57°C, 64°C, and 71°C with an air velocity of 2.0 m/s. Prior to drying, quince slices were pretreated with citric acid solution or blanched in hot water. Also, the untreated samples were dried as control. The shortest drying time was obtained with quince pretreated with citric acid solution. It was also observed that the rehydration ratio was higher in blanched slices than others. The drying data for the moisture ratio over time was fitted to three thin-layer models with the best performances coming from the Page model. The values of effective moisture diffusivity were found to range between 6.97 × 10−11 and 2.38 × 10−10 m2/s, with activation energy of 29.08–43.01 kJ/mol for quince slices.

Orange peel is an agroindustrial waste rich in pectin and known to be an inducer for pectinase production. The use of this low-cost substrate for the production of an industrially important enzyme, polygalacturonase (PG), can be an alternative way to turn this waste into a value-added product, contributing to the reduction of environmental waste disposal problems. Enzyme productions by fungal microorganisms are affected by environmental and nutritional factors, demanding the determination of optimum conditions for maximum enzyme production with the desired fungal morphology and broth rheology. Therefore, complex and additional carbon sources were optimized with respect to PG production by Aspergillus sojae using statistical approaches. Effect of pH, another significant parameter affecting the rheology and morphology of the strain, was investigated in the serial bioreactor system using the optimized medium composition. Highest PG enzyme yield and productivity together with the maximum PG enzyme production (93.48 U/mL) were obtained under uncontrolled pH conditions. Under these conditions, morphologically, pellet sizes exhibited a normal distribution ranging between 0.5-1.0 mm and 1.0-1.5 mm, and rheological measurements revealed that fermentation broths showed non-Newtonian flow. The low pH trend observed during the course of the fermentation was another important positive outcome for industrial fermentations, prone to contamination problems., The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey and the Bundes Ministerium für Bildung und Forschung through the Intensified Cooperation Project of IntenC 107O602

Chemical composition of four selected fruit pomaces (agro-industrial wastes) was evaluated. The effect of temperature, time, acid concentration and solid:liquid (S:L) ratio on dilute-acid hydrolysis of selected pomaces were investigated using 24 factorial and central composite design and optimum hydrolysis conditions were determined. A preliminary study was initiated using apple hydrolysate and the fungus Tricoderma harzianum in order to explore and demonstrate their potential uses in bioethanol production. Chemical composition of pomaces was promising as fermentation media. The highest reducing sugar yield from the optimization step was 31%, 49%, 56% and 52% for apple, apricot, orange and peach pomaces, respectively under optimum hydrolysis conditions. Neither furfural nor hydroxmethylfurfural (HMF) were detected in hydrolysates. The highest bioethanol production (1.67 g/L) was obtained in 6 days in a non-static incubator using Tricoderma harzianum pregrown in minimal medium. It was demonstrated that selected pomaces holds potential for bioethanol production and can be eliminated without being potential waste problem to the environment, with economical return. Although, this work is an initial study in showing the potential of these pomaces and T. harzianum in bioethanol production, an extensive study on the optimization of fermentation parameters is recommended for further increase of bioethanol production. Copyright © 2013 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved., KONFRUT Fruit Juice Concentrates and Purees Inc.; Izmir Institute of Technology

Introduction In sporadic acromegaly, downregulation of AIP protein of the adenomas associates with invasive tumor features and reduced responsiveness to somatostatin analogues. AIP is a regulator of Gai signaling, but it is not known how the biological function of the Gai pathway is controlled. Aim To study GNAS and AIP mutation status, AIP and Gai-2 protein expressions, Ki-67 proliferation indices and clinical parameters in patients having primary surgery because of acromegaly at a single center between years 2000 and 2010. Results Sixty patients (F/M, 31/29), mean age 49 (median 50), mean follow-up 7.7 years (range 0.6–14.0) underwent primary surgery. Four adenoma specimens (6.8%) harbored an AIP and 21 (35.6%) an activating GNAS (Gsp+) mutation. Altogether 13/56 (23%) adenomas had low AIP protein levels, and 14/56 (25%) low Gai-2 staining. In regression modeling, AIP expression associated with Gai-2 (P = 2.33 × 10−9) and lower Ki-67 (P = 0.04). In pairwise comparison, low AIP protein predicted high GH at last follow-up (mean 7.7 years after surgery, q = 0.045). Extent of treatments given for acromegaly associated with higher preoperative GH (P = 7.94 × 10−4), KNOSP (P = 0.003) and preoperative hypopituitarism (P = 0.03) and remission at last follow-up with change in 3-month postoperative IGF1 (P = 2.07 × 10−7). Conclusions We demonstrate, for the first time, that AIP protein expression associates with Gai-2 protein intensities in sporadic somatotropinomas, suggesting a joint regulation on somatostatin signaling. Low AIP level associates with higher proliferative activity and predicts high GH concentrations after long-term follow-up. The AIP mutation rate of 6.8% is fairly high, reflecting the genetic composition of the Finnish population.

Polygalacturonases (PGs) are valuable enzymes of the food industry; therefore it is of great importance to discover new and GRAS PG-producing microbial strains. In this study, PG enzyme produced from a high PG activity producer mutant Aspergillus sojae using wheat bran at the flask scale under pre-optimized conditions of solid-state fermentation (SSF) was biochemically characterized.The crude PG enzyme showed optimum activity in the pH range 4.0-5.0 and was stable in the pH range 3.0-7.0. The optimum temperature for the PG was 40 °C and it retained 99% of its activity at 50 °C. The mutant A. sojae PG could preserve more than 50% of its stability between 25 and 50 °C, both for 30 and 60 min, and was found to be stable in the presence of most of the tested compounds and metal ions. The inactivation energy (Ed ) was determined as 125.3 kJ mol(-1) . The enthalpy (ΔH*), free energy (ΔG*) and entropy (ΔS*) of inactivation were found to be stable with increasing temperature.The mutant A. sojae PG could be suitable for the clarification (depectinization) of orange and grape juices and wine. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Wheat bran, among various agro industrial by products, screened for the production of polygalacturonase (PG) in solid-state fermentation of Aspergillus sojae mutant strain, was found to be the most suitable substrate without the addition of any nutritive or inducing supplement. It was further characterized for its physicochemical composition and particle size distribution. The process conditions that favored the PG production using this substrate were determined as; 10 7 spore/g substrate inoculum concentration, 4 days of fermentation, 37 °C of incubation temperature, 62% initial moisture content, water as the moistening agent, 100–250 μm particle size of wheat bran, 3 times/day agitation and spore solution as the inoculum type which resulted into maximum PG activity of 535.4 U/g substrate. Overall, this optimization process resulted in 7.3 and 3.9 fold of significant enhancement in the PG activity and productivity, respectively.

Drying of onions by convective, vacuum and microwave methods in terms of drying kinetics were investigated at various conditions. Kinetics of intact and brined onions at 50, 60, and 70°C for convective and vacuum drying, and 80, 240, and 400 W for microwave drying were obtained. Onion slices of 3 and 7 mm thicknesses either dipped into 8% NaCl solution for 40 min or intact were dehydrated. Fitting of the experimental data to 13 thin layer drying models resulted in Sigmoid model as the most suitable model for all investigated drying techniques. Sigmoid model was followed by Cubic and Midilli models with respect to R2, RMSE, and χ2. Diffusion coefficients varied between 1.962 × 10−9 and 1.372 × 10−8 m2/s for convective, 9.757 × 10−9 and 1.723 × 10−8 m2/s for vacuum and 3.193 × 10−8 and 9.139 × 10−7 m2/s for microwave drying. Activation energy values were in the range of 3.28–34.13 kJ/mol for convective and vacuum drying and 2.25–6.08 W/kg for microwave drying. Practical applications Onion (Allium cepa L.) is famous for authentic sensorial properties and used in a lot of dishes. Fresh or dried form of this vegetable contains numerous healthful compounds such as organosulfur compounds, flavonoids, fructans, vitamins, and minerals. Convective, vacuum and microwave drying of food materials are common methods applied in dehydration of foodstuffs for preservation and new product development. The aim of this study is to reveal the effectiveness and behaviors of indicated drying techniques. The comparison and selection of most appropriate dehydration procedure for onion might be of interest in food and market suppliers.

The effect of orange peel concentration, HCl concentration, incubation time and temperature, and inoculum size on the spore count and activity of polygalacturonase (PG) enzyme produced from Aspergillus sojae M3 by solidstate fermentation was screened using 2k factorial design. Orange peel and HCl concentrations and incubation time were significant factors affecting the responses. Optimum conditions favoring both PG and spore production from Aspergillus sojae M3 were determined as 2% orange peel and 50 mM HCl concentrations at 22 °C and 4.3 days of incubation. An overlay plot was constructed for use as a practical chart for production of high enzyme activity (>35.0 U/g substrate) and spore count (9.0 × 108 to 2.0 × 109 spore/mL) by superimposing the contours of PG activity and spore count responses. The accuracy and reliability of the constructed models on the responses was validated with the maximum calculated error rate between the predicted and actual activities at 14.1% and 22.4%, respectively. © TÜBİTAK., TUBITAK (Turkey); BMBF (Germany) through the Intensified Cooperation Project of IntenC

To undertake a better water management in Oil&Gas sector, it is essential to decrease the wastewater generation by increasing the current reused water rates. Focused on this motivation, this study presents the performances of solar-assisted photo-Fenton and heterogeneous photo-catalysis on refinery wastewater treatment for reuse purposes with the aim of zero discharge. While initial tests were made on synthetic refinery wastewater, real case studies were performed with two types of refinery effluent in order to test the feasibility of using AOPs either as a secondary or tertiary treatment. Even though heterogeneous photo-catalysis and a combined process showed promising results for the treatment of the refinery effluents, photo-Fenton treatment revealed a superior effectiveness for application in both secondary and tertiary treatment, considering the improvements on TOC removal, toxicity and biodegradability. Photo-Fenton as secondary treatment resulted as efficient as the biological treatment, reaching final TOC values ca. 20 mg/L and 88% of COD removal presenting values lower than those achieved after the biological treatment. Moreover, a marked increase in the BOD5/COD ratio from 0.38 to 0.83 was obtained. Furthermore, as a tertiary treatment, photo-Fenton process either with H2O2/COD = 10 and H2O2/Fe2+ = 50 or H2O2/COD = 4 and H2O2/Fe2+ = 10 provided a final TOC value