Exploring the association between mental health climate and depression: the protective role of positive mental health and sense of belonging among Black college students.

Objective: To explore relationships between mental health climate, positive mental health, sense of belonging, and depression among a U.S. national sample of Black college students. Participants: 1303 Black undergraduate and graduate students from 15 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Methods: Data were from the 2018-2019 Healthy Minds Study. Analysis included hierarchical regression models. Results: A more positive perception of mental health climate and higher levels of both positive mental health and sense of belonging were significantly associated with lower levels of depression. Significant interactions existed between positive mental health and climate and sense of belonging and climate with buffering effects being most pronounced for students reporting high levels of positive mental health. Conclusion: Black college students' perceptions of an institution's mental health climate are associated with psychological outcomes. College health stakeholders should consider the buffering effects of protective factors on mental health when designing initiatives for Black college students.

Allergenicity, antioxidant activity and ACE-inhibitory activity of protease hydrolyzed peanut flour.

Regularly consuming peanuts has been reported to have many health benefits. Peanut flour, a by-product of peanut oil processing, has higher protein and dietary fiber contents than peanut kernels, but its application as protein source in foods and dietary supplement is limited due to the fear of peanut allergy. This study indicates that hydrolysis of peanut flour (12% lipid) up to 4 h with Alcalase lowered the immunoreactivity of both soluble and insoluble portions of peanut flour, generated peanut flour hydrolysate (PFH) with good in vitro antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory activities. Importantly, the fraction smaller than 5 kDa did not bind IgE of peanut allergic patients, but exhibited higher ACE-inhibitory activity than the crude PFH. Thus, peanut flour could be an inexpensive protein source of antioxidant and anti-hypertensive ingredient. These findings are important for the value added application of peanut flour. However, studies with food and animal/human models are needed to confirm the benefits.

Reducing Ochratoxin A Content in Grape Pomace by Different Methods.

Grape pomace (GP) is the residue of grapes after wine making and is a valuable source of dietary polyphenol and fiber for health promotion. However, studies found the presence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in GP at very high concentrations, which raises a safety issue in the value-added utilization of GP. This study evaluated the effects of thermal pressure, baking, acid and enzymatic treatments on OTA content in GP. Thermal pressure treatment was conducted with wet GP at 121 °C for 10-30 min in an autoclave; acid treatments were conducted with hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, citric acid, and lactic acid, respectively, at 50 °C for 24 h. Baking was conducted using a cookie model. For enzymatic treatment, purified OTA solution was treated with carboxypeptidase A, alcalase, flavourzyme, pepsin, and lipase, respectively, and the effective enzymes were selected to treat GP. Results show that autoclaving for 10-30 min reduced 19-80% of OTA, varying with treatment time and GP variety. The effectiveness of acid treatment was similar to that of autoclaving and varied with acid type and GP variety. Baking increased the detectable OTA. Among all tested enzymes, carboxypeptidase A was the most effective in reducing OTA, followed by lipase and flavourzyme, but their effects were significantly lower in GP samples.

Oxidative Stability of Protease Treated Peanut with Reduced Allergenicity.

Oxidative stability and allergenicity are two major concerns of peanuts. This study evaluated the impact of protease treatment of peanuts on its oxidative stability during storage. The raw and dry-roasted peanut kernels were hydrolyzed with Alcalase solution at pH 7.5 for 3 h. The contents of Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 6 in peanuts were determined before and after enzyme treatment by a sandwich ELISA. After drying, the samples were packed in eight amber glass jars and stored at 37 °C for 1-8 weeks. Controls are untreated raw and dry-roasted peanuts packed and stored in the same way as their treated counterparts. Samples were taken biweekly to determine peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as indicators of oxidation (n = 3), and to determine antioxidant activity. Alcalase treatment reduced intact major allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 6 by 100%, 99.8%, and 85%, respectively. The PVs of Alcalase-treated raw and roasted peanuts was lower than those of untreated (p < 0.05) over the 8-week storage. The TBARS of Alcalase-treated raw peanuts were slightly higher than that of untreated (p < 0.05), but the TBARS of Alcalase-treated dry-roasted peanuts were slightly but significantly lower than that of untreated (p < 0.05). The protease treatment increased the antioxidant activities including reducing power, DPPH free radical scavenging capacity, and metal chelating capacity of peanuts.

Direct drug delivery in the treatment of steno-occlusive disease of the infra-inguinal arteries.

Peripheral Artery disease (PAD) is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality, affecting over 200 million people world-wide. Many exciting technologies have emerged to address the unique challenges endovascular specialists face when treating lesions in this vascular bed. One of the enduring challenges has been restenosis after initial intervention. Here we highlight a new technology, Direct drug delivery, to address this challenge and exciting prospects. Direct drug delivery constitutes delivering drug directly to the vessel wall through a needle with a micro-infusion catheter. This device has the potential to expand the types of therapies that can be delivered in a targeted fashion and allow endovascular specialists to individualize treatment for patients.

Impact of grape pomace consumption on the blood lipid profile and liver genes associated with lipid metabolism of young rats.

Herein, we investigated the effects of grape pomace (GP) in diet on body weight, blood lipid profile, and expression of liver genes associated with lipid metabolism using a young rat model. In this study, twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats at 7 weeks of age were randomly divided into 4 groups, which were fed modified AIN-93G diets containing 0% (control), 6.9%, 13.8%, and 20.7% of GP for 10 weeks. Feed consumption and body weight were weekly determined. Blood samples were obtained at the beginning and end of the feeding period for cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and glucose analysis. At the end of the feeding period, all rats were fasted overnight and euthanized. Heart, kidney, and liver samples were obtained and weighed. Liver tissues were used for gene expression analysis. GP-containing diet did not influence the body weight of the rats. As GP content increased, blood triglyceride and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) decreased (P < 0.05), high density lipoprotein (HDL) slightly increased but was not statistically significant, total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) significantly increased (P < 0.05), blood glucose decreased, and ALT level slightly increased. The expressions of liver genes associated with fatty acid synthesis and lipid hydrolysis/metabolism were moderately downregulated by the GP diet. The study suggests that regular consumption of a diet containing appropriate amount of GP may help in the reduction of body fat accumulation and prevention of obesity. This is the first study revealing the change in gene expression caused by long-term consumption of GP-containing diet.

Impact of Diet Containing Grape Pomace on Growth Performance and Blood Lipid Profile of Young Rats.

Grape pomace (GP), the residue of grapes after wine making, is rich in dietary polyphenols and fiber, and it has potential to serve as a functional food ingredient to improve health. However, high polyphenol diets have also been reported to inhibit the growth of young animals and cause liver necrosis. This study investigated the effect of diets containing different amounts of GP on the growth performance and blood lipid profile by using a young rat model. Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats of age 7 weeks were randomly divided into four groups that were fed AIN-93G diets that were modified by substituting 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% of carbohydrate with GP for 10 weeks (the diets, thus, obtained contained 0%, 6.9%, 13.8%, and 20.7% of GP). The group fed original AIN-93G (0% GP) was used as control. Feed consumption, body weight, length, and height were recorded weekly. Blood samples were taken biweekly to analyze plasma lipid profile. At the end of the feeding period, the rats were fasted overnight and euthanized by exsanguination under anesthesia. Livers, hearts, and kidneys were collected, and their weights were recorded. Results show that the diet containing a maximum of 20.7% of GP did not influence the body weights, lengths, and heights of rats. As the GP content increased, the blood triglyceride and very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) decreased, the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) increased slightly but were statistically significant, and total cholesterol remained constant. In conclusion, GP in the AIN-93G diet did not influence the growth performance of young rats, but it exhibited both positive and negative effects on the blood lipid profile.