Structural and functional properties of modified cellulose ingredients and their application in reduced-fat meat batters.

The first goal for this experiment was to determine the structural and technological characteristics for methylcellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), while the subsequent goal for this experiment was to determine the application of the modified cellulose ingredients in reduced-fat meat batters. Each ingredient was characterized and then evaluated as a fat replacer using meat batters with targeted fat levels of 20%, 10%, and 5%. It was determined that each modified cellulose ingredient was unique in its structural and technological properties which caused significant effects on the physiochemical properties of the meat batters. Specifically, MC created inconsistences during heating and cooling of meat batters resulting in elevated cooking loss but did not change textural hardness of cooked samples, CMC appeared to interfere with the meat batter matrix resulting in lower textural hardness but maintained levels of cooking loss, and MCC had similar levels of cooking loss and textural hardness when compared with the control samples.

Mechanistic modeling of drug elimination by the liver using local volume averaging method.

Local volume averaging method and local mass (drug) equilibrium were used for developing a mathematical model for transient drug transport and elimination in the liver. Taking into account the liver porosity and tortuosity, physio-chemical properties of the drug, the drug effective diffusivity, dispersion, convection, local plasma-hepatocyte equilibrium and hepatocellular drug metabolism, the governing partial differential equation was developed and numerically solved to describe a transient drug transfer and elimination across the liver following intravenous (IV) administration. The predicted values of hepatic clearance and bioavailability had very good agreement with the reported observations for different drugs. Unlike the well-stirred, parallel tube and dispersion models of hepatic clearance, the proposed mechanistic model is able to predict the drug concentration gradient across the liver with time and position in very dynamic conditions associated with drug absorption process in the intestine.