Probiotic-fortified fruit juices: Health benefits, challenges, and future perspective.

Consumers' growing interest in using foods that improve health has motivated researchers and the food industry to develop new functional products, such as foods containing probiotics or live microbes. Probiotics have functional attributes that could satisfy most basic nutritional and therapeutic supplementation requirements. These microbes positively respond to clinical therapies against diseases and illnesses such as rotavirus-associated diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and food allergies. Moreover, the role of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and diseases related to pathogenic microbes is an exciting and rapidly advancing research arena. Probiotic supplementation usually involves dairy products. However, because of the growing number of individuals affected by lactose intolerance and/or vegans, other food matrices like fruits, vegetables, cereals, and so on, have been studied as potential carriers for these microorganisms, presenting an alternative and better source in the process of assessing novel probiotic strains. The present review discusses the various factors affecting the survival of probiotics during storage in fruit juices, the possible effect of probiotics on sensory attributes and the overall acceptance of the products, and future technologies to improve the viability of probiotics.

Development of chitosan-based biodegradable films enriched with thyme essential oil and additives for potential applications in packaging of fresh collard greens.

In the present study, chitosan (CH) based biodegradable films were developed enriched with thyme essential oil (TEO) incorporated with different additives including zinc oxide (ZnO), polyethylene glycol (PEG), nano clay (NC), and calcium chloride (CaCl2) and characterize the postharvest quality of 'collard greens' during refrigerated storage. The results indicated that the incorporation of ZnO/PEG/NC/CaCl2 in CH-based films significantly decreased water vapor transmission rate, increased tensile strength, and were water soluble and biodegradable in nature. Moreover, CH-TEO based films incorporated with ZnO/PEG/NC/CaCl2 were significantly effective in reducing physiological weight loss, retained total soluble solids, titratable acidity, and preserved chlorophyll contents as well as showed lesser a* values, suppressed microbial growth, and preserving appearance/sensory quality of collard greens for 24 days than LDPE and other biodegradable films. Our results suggest that CH-based films enriched with TEO and additives such as ZnO/CaCl2/NC/PEG are an ecological, environmental friendly, and effective alternative approach to retain shelf life of collard greens during refrigerated storage.

Preparation of a biodegradable chitosan packaging film based on zinc oxide, calcium chloride, nano clay and poly ethylene glycol incorporated with thyme oil for shelf-life prolongation of sweet cherry.

This study includes development of chitosan-based films with incorporated essential thyme oil and different combinations of cross-linkers viz., ZnO, CaCl2, NC, and PEG for the safe storage of sweet cherries. The resulting films stored with sweet cherries were analyzed for different physicochemical and antimicrobial properties. Incorporation of ZnO, CaCl2, NC, and PEG in chitosan-based films maintained fruit quality by conserving higher total soluble solids, titratable acidity, and reduced weight loss. The combined ZnO + CaCl2 + NC + PEG in chitosan-based films also suppressed microbial activity. The sensorial quality of fruits stored with CH + ZnO + CaCl2 + NC + PEG treatment was also stable during storage. In conclusion, the combined CH + ZnO + CaCl2 + NC + PEG with added thyme oil application is an effective approach to maintain the postharvest quality and could be an alternative to increase the shelf life of sweet cherries, besides decreasing environmental impacts of non-biodegradable packages.

Biophysical Insight into Protein Folding, Aggregate Formation and its Inhibition Strategies.

The failure of protein to correctly fold into its functional and unique three dimensional form leads to misfolded or partially folded protein. When these rogue proteins and polypeptides escape the quality control mechanism within the body, they result in aberrant aggregation of proteins into characteristic amyloid fibrils. This is the main cause for the number of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. This review aims to summarise the underlying mechanisms of protein folding, misfolding and aggregation. It also highlights the recent technologies for the structural characterisation and detection of amyloid fibrils in addition to the various factors responsible for the aggregate formation and the strategies to combat the aggregation process. Besides, the journey from origin to the current scenario of protein aggregation is also concisely discussed.