Olive Mill Waste Enhances α-Glucan Content in the Edible Mushroom Pleurotus eryngii.

Mushroom polysaccharides are edible polymers that have numerous reported biological functions; the most common effects are attributed to ß-glucans. In recent years, it became apparent that the less abundant α-glucans also possess potent effects in various health conditions. Here we explore several Pleurotus species for their total, ß and α-glucan content. Pleurotus eryngii was found to have the highest total glucan concentrations and the highest α-glucans proportion. We also found that the stalks (stipe) of the fruit body contained higher glucan content then the caps (pileus). Since mushrooms respond markedly to changes in environmental and growth conditions, we developed cultivation methods aiming to increase the levels of α and ß-glucans. Using olive mill solid waste (OMSW) from three-phase olive mills in the cultivation substrate. We were able to enrich the levels mainly of α-glucans. Maximal total glucan concentrations were enhanced up to twice when the growth substrate contained 80% of OMSW compared to no OMSW. Taking together this study demonstrate that Pleurotus eryngii can serve as a potential rich source of glucans for nutritional and medicinal applications and that glucan content in mushroom fruiting bodies can be further enriched by applying OMSW into the cultivation substrate.

Competing processes of micellization and fibrillization in native and reduced casein proteins.

Kappa-casein (κCN) and beta-casein (ßCN) are disordered proteins present in mammalian milk. In vitro, ßCN self-assembles into core-shell micelles. κCN self assembles into similar micelles, as well as into amyloid-like fibrils. Recent studies indicate that fibrillization can be suppressed by mixing ßCN and κCN, but the mechanism of fibril inhibition has not been identified. Examining the interactions of native and reduced kappa-caseins (N-κCN and R-κCN) with ßCN, we expose a competition between two different self-assembly processes: micellization and fibrillization. Quite surprisingly, however, we find significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the self-assembly between the native and reduced κCN forms. Specifically, thermodynamic analysis reveals exothermic demicellization for ßCN and its mixtures with R-κCN, as opposed to endothermic demicellization of N-κCN and its mixtures with ßCN at the same temperature. Furthermore, with time, R-κCN/ßCN mixtures undergo phase separation into pure ßCN micelles and R-κCN fibrils, while in the N-κCN/ßCN mixtures fibril formation is considerably delayed and mixed micelles persist for longer periods of time. Fibrils formed in N-κCN/ßCN mixtures are shorter and more flexible than those formed in R-κCN/ßCN systems. Interestingly, in the N-κCN/ßCN mixtures, the sugar moieties of N-κCN oligomers seem to organize on the mixed micelles surface in a manner similar to the organization of κCN in milk casein micelles.

"Saturday Night Seder" and the Affordances of Cultural Arts during COVID-19.

Saturday Night Seder (SNS) was broadcast online on 11 April 2020 as a public celebration of Passover and as a benefit for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation. Part seder, part telethon, and part Broadway theatrical performance, SNS was the first online event to create a national Jewish communal gathering space in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has since been viewed over 1.5 million times. This article examines SNS as a uniquely situated manifestation of COVID-19, and draws attention to the various affordances engendered by SNS for Jewish gathering, learning, and exchange. It draws upon interviews with members of the production team, featured participants, and expert informants, as well as viewer responses from Twitter and YouTube: a dataset that includes 2000 tweets and over 1800 YouTube comments. Collectively, these data suggest that cultural arts productions such as SNS have afforded an expansive network of online Jewish conversations during COVID-19, and have invited a broad audience of Jews and non-Jews into dialogue over Jewish themes and content.