Muscle profiling to improve the value of retail meat cuts.

Nutrition and meat quality are always important to consumers, but vary by individual muscle or muscle groups in retail meat cuts. Muscle profiling of nutrient content and palatability for all retail beef cuts is necessary to suggest healthy and tasty beef cuts and to inform consumers of the benefits of beef consumption. The current paper reviews numerous studies that provide muscle profiles for nutrients and palatability attributes of muscles or muscle groups in retail beef cuts. The composition of nutrients including protein, fat, moisture, vitamins, and minerals in beef cuts is documented as well as the nutritive role as a part of a healthy diet. In addition, this review presents knowledge in relation to innovative carcass fabrication and value-added cuts to improve the value of beef carcass. Finally, the current work emphasize the palatability assessment of individual beef muscles, and concludes that all retail beef cuts should be merchandised for proper cooking according to the palatability profiles of beef muscles.

Effect of curing time on the physicochemical and sensory properties of beef jerky replaced salt with soy sauce, red pepper paste and soybean paste.

This study was done to investigate the quality properties of beef jerky with soy sauce, red pepper paste, and soybean paste replacing salt. Sliced beef samples were cured in salt (control), soy sauce, red pepper paste, and soybean paste for 24 or 48 h and then dried at 70°C for 8 h. Treatments showed higher final moisture content and lower Na(+) concentration than the control after drying for 8 h. The lightness and shear force values were lower in all treatment samples than in the control during 48 h of curing time. In particular, lower lipid oxidation was found in the jerky cured with red pepper paste than in the control. Sensory evaluation showed that color, flavor, and tenderness of jerky samples were improved by replacing salt with soy sauce, red pepper paste and soybean paste, and higher likeability scores of the beef jerky were obtained among those treatments after 48 h of curing time.

Vitamin C increases the fecal fat excretion by chitosan in guinea-pigs, thereby reducing body weight gain.

The aims of this study were to investigate the antiobesity properties of chitosan on its own, as well as in the presence of vitamin C, in vivo. Hartley guinea-pigs were divided into Control (normal diet), F-control (high fat diet), Chitosan (high fat diet with 5.0% chitosan) and Chito-vit C (high fat diet with 5.0% chitosan containing 0.5% vitamin C) groups, respectively. The effects of chitosan, both alone and in the presence of vitamin C, on body weight, total fecal weight, fecal composition and plasma lipid level were studied for 5 weeks. The results of this study indicated that the fat-binding and water-holding capacity of chitosan might decrease body weight by reducing the absorption of cholesterol and fat, subsequently increasing total fecal weight, fecal fat excretion and fecal water excretion. Vitamin C increased the fecal fat excretion by chitosan in guinea-pigs, thereby reducing body weight gain.

Appetite suppressive effects of yeast hydrolysate on nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) immunoreactivity in hypothalamus.

To investigate the effects of yeast hydrolysate on appetite regulation mechanisms in the central nervous system, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) immunoreactivity in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) of the hypothalamus were examined. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were assigned to five groups: control (normal diet), BY-1 and BY-2 (normal diet with oral administration of 0.1 g and 1.0 g of yeast hydrolysate <10 kDa/kg body weight, respectively), AY-1 and AY-2 (normal diet with oral administration of 0.1 g and 1.0 g of yeast hydrolysate 10-30 kDa/kg body weight, respectively). The body weight gain in the BY groups was less than that in the control. In particular, the weight gain of the BY-2 group (133.0 +/- 5.1 g) was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of the control group (150.1 +/- 3.7 g). Among the test groups, the BY-2 group was shown to have significantly lower triacylglycerol (TG) levels (p < 0.05) than the other groups. The staining intensities and optical densities of NOS neurons in the PVN of the AY group were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in the control and BY groups. The staining intensities and optical densities of VIP immunoreactivity in the PVN and VMH of the BY groups were higher than those of the AY groups and the control. In conclusion, these results indicated that yeast hydrolysate of <10 kDa reduced the body weight gain and body fat in normal diet-fed rats and increased the lipid energy metabolism by altering the expression of NOS and VIP in neurons.

The repressive activity of hepatitis C virus core protein on the transcription of p21(waf1) is regulated by protein kinase A-mediated phosphorylation.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein is known to repress the transcription of p21(waf1) directly in a p53-independent manner. In this study, the region of HCV core protein responsible for the transcriptional repression of p21 promoter was determined. N-terminal half of core protein almost completely lost the ability to repress p21 promoter, indicating that the domain required for the majority of p21 repression is located between amino acid positions 84 and 191. The trans-repression activity of HCV core mutant S99L on p21 gene expression was similar to that of wild type core protein whereas mutation of the 116th amino acid Ser into either Ile or Ala completely abolished the repressive ability of HCV core protein. In addition, the trans-repression activity of HCV core mutant S116D was similar to that of wild type core protein, suggesting that an acidic aspartate residue can mimic the effect of phosphorylation. When treated with a protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, H-89, the inhibitory activity of wild-type HCV core protein was dose-dependently decreased and was completely lost at the concentration of 5 microM. On the contrary, the repression activity of HCV core protein was increased by treatment with a PKA activator, dibutyryl-cAMP, indicating that the p21 repressive activity of HCV core protein is regulated by phosphorylation at S-116 by protein PKA

X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency with gamma delta T cells.

A patient with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID) was found to have a deletion mutation of a four base pair in the transmembrane domain of the IL-2 receptor gamma chain gene, a subunit shared by the receptors for IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 (common gamma chain; gamma c). He had very few alpha beta T cells but had a considerable number of gamma delta T cells in his peripheral blood. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis showed that the gamma delta T cells in his peripheral blood were not of maternal origin. He had received a Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination before recognition of the disease, and the BCG infection remained quiescent with no reaction for 19 months. After successful bone marrow transplantation, the site of the BCG vaccination showed a reaction, and live BCG were detected. It is useful to consider the relationship between the existence of gamma delta T cells and BCG in this case, and it is suggested that gamma delta T cells may be, in a given situation, less dependent on the gamma c chain than are alpha beta T cells.

Brain atrophy in congenital neuromuscular disease with uniform type 1 fibers.

We report a patient with congenital neuromuscular disease with uniform type 1 fibers. The patient had manifested muscle weakness and running difficulty since early childhood. Ptosis and ophthalmoplegia were evident, in addition to facial and distal weakness. Her serum creatine kinase level was normal, and electromyography revealed low-amplitude and short duration of motor unit potentials. A muscle biopsy specimen demonstrated absolute predominance of type 1 fibers (> 98%) with no diagnostic structures. Her intelligence was borderline (IQ 80), and dilatation of the lateral ventricles was demonstrated by cranial CT. This is the first report of an abnormality in the central nervous system in congenital neuromuscular disease with uniform type 1 fibers.

Congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome: first report in a Japanese patient.

A Japanese boy with congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome is described. He had oropharyngoglossal dysfunction and severe dysarthria. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain disclosed bilateral perisylvian malformations suggesting polymicrogyria. The patient also showed mental retardation, epilepsy, and poor motor skills.

Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate inhibits intercellular adhesion molecule-1 biosynthesis induced by cytokines in human fibroblasts.

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), the ligand of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1, plays an important role in the interactions of a variety of hemopoietic and nonhemopoietic cells, including leukocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. ICAM-1 is known to be involved in the onset of several diseases such as inflammation, allograft rejection, and so on. In this report, we investigated the effects of dexamethasone, cyclosporin A, FK506, and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) on the induction of the ICAM-1 gene by cytokines in fibroblasts. PDTC, a potent inhibitor of NF-kappa B, was shown by ELISA and FACS analysis to prevent dramatically the expression of the ICAM-1 gene stimulated by IL-1 alpha, IFN-gamma, and PMA, although the other reagents inhibited it only slightly. Ribonuclease protection assay revealed that PDTC blocked the expression of the ICAM-1 gene at the mRNA level. To elucidate the mechanism of this inhibition, we constructed a series of ICAM-1 promoter deletion mutants linked to the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene and analyzed the effect of PDTC on their activities. Transient transfection analysis indicated that the critical region for inhibition by PDTC is an NF-kappa B binding site-like motif (GGGAGGATTCC, ICAM-1 kappa B) that is located at position-540. Electrophoresis mobility shift assay revealed that PDTC actually inhibits the binding of NF-kappa B (or NF-kappa B-like) protein to the ICAM-1 kappa B site. These findings suggest that PDTC inhibits ICAM-1 gene expression by inhibiting the association of NF-kappa B (or NF-kappa B-like) protein with the ICAM-1 kappa B site.