Effect of transglutaminase on ovalbumin emulsion gels as carriers of encapsulated probiotic bacteria.

BACKGROUND: The use of emulsion gels to protect and deliver probiotics has become an important topic in the food industry. This study used transglutaminase (TGase) to regulate ovalbumin (OVA) to prepare a novel emulsion gel. The effects of OVA concentration and the addition of TGase on the microstructure, rheological properties, water-holding capacity, and stability of the emulsion gels were investigated. RESULTS: With the addition of TGase and the increasing OVA, the particle size of the emulsion gels decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The gels with TGase exhibited greater water holding, hardness, and chewiness to some extent by forming a more uniform and stable system. After simulated digestion, the survival rate of Bifidobacterium lactis embedded in OVA emulsion gels improved significantly in comparison with the oil-water mixture as a result of the protective effect of the emulsion gel encapsulation. CONCLUSION: By increasing the OVA content and adding TGase, the rheological characteristics, stability, and encapsulation capability of the OVA emulsion gel could be enhanced, providing a theoretical basis for the use of emulsion gels to construct probiotic delivery systems. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Association of organophosphate flame retardants with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among adults aged 40 years and older.

The longitudinal associations of urinary concentrations of diphenyl phosphate (DPHP), bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (BCEP), and bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BDCPP) with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in a population of adults aged 40 years and older are still unclear. A total of 3238 participants were included in this cohort study. Urinary BCEP levels were positively associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. Specifically, a logarithmic increase in BCEP concentration was related to a 26 % higher risk of all-cause mortality and a 32 % higher risk of cardiovascular mortality. No significant associations were observed for DPHP and BDCPP in relation to mortality. Doseresponse analysis confirmed the linear associations of BCEP with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and the nonlinear inverted U-shaped association between DPHP exposure and all-cause mortality. Notably, the economic burden associated with BCEP exposure was estimated, and it was shown that concentrations in the third tertile of BCEP exposure incurred approximately 507 billion dollars of financial burden for all-cause mortality and approximately 717 billion dollars for cardiovascular mortality. These results highlight the importance of addressing exposure to BCEP and its potential health impacts on the population. More research is warranted to explore the underlying mechanisms and develop strategies for reducing exposure to this harmful chemical.

Structure of Amorphous Two-Dimensional Materials: Elemental Monolayer Amorphous Carbon versus Binary Monolayer Amorphous Boron Nitride.

The structure of amorphous materials has been debated since the 1930s as a binary question: amorphous materials are either Zachariasen continuous random networks (Z-CRNs) or Z-CRNs containing crystallites. It was recently demonstrated, however, that amorphous diamond can be synthesized in either form. Here we address the question of the structure of single-atom-thick amorphous monolayers. We reanalyze the results of prior simulations for amorphous graphene and report kinetic Monte Carlo simulations based on alternative algorithms. We find that crystallite-containing Z-CRN is the favored structure of elemental amorphous graphene, as recently fabricated, whereas the most likely structure of binary monolayer amorphous BN is altogether different than either of the two long-debated options: it is a compositionally disordered "pseudo-CRN" comprising a mix of B-N and noncanonical B-B and N-N bonds and containing "pseudocrystallites", namely, honeycomb regions made of noncanonical hexagons. Implications for other nonelemental 2D and bulk amorphous materials are discussed.

Evaluation of fronto-orbital reconstruction surgery for the treatment of metopic synostosis in Chinese population.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of fronto-orbit reconstruction surgery on pediatric metopic synostosis via an image-based 3D reconstruction in Chinese population. METHODS: Thirty pediatric metopic synostosis patients who received fronto-orbital reconstruction surgery in the Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, from January 2007 to December 2018 were analyzed in the study. Here we use the Mimics 20.0 software to reconstruct patients' cranial thin-section CT scan images from pre- and post-operation and control groups. Then the data of intracranial volume, frontal volume, orbital hypertelorism, ECA, ZF, and ORA were analyzed using the paired t-test or Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test. RESULTS: The age of these patients was 15.83 ± 16.12 months. After surgery, the mean frontal volume was enlarged from 92.75 ± 26.97 to 138.62 ± 47.97 cm3 (P < 0.0001), and the intracranial volume was enhanced from 976.87 ± 230.83 to 1059.44 ± 217.98 cm3 (P < 0.0001). In the meantime, the ECA was changed from 108.02 ± 8.17 to 134 ± 5.59° (P < 0.0001). In line with the alteration of the parameters mentioned above, the head shapes in all patients were also significantly improved after the surgery with no obvious complications. CONCLUSION: Fronto-orbit reconstruction surgery is a safe and effective treatment for pediatric metopic synostosis. Computer-aided 3D reconstruction could serve as a quantitative strategy to evaluate the efficacy of craniofacial surgery.

Total Cranial Reconstruction for the Treatment of Sagittal Craniosynostosis in Children.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of total cranial reconstruction for sagittal synostosis (scaphocephaly) deformity in Chinese children. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed involving 23 children with isolated non-syndromic sagittal synostosis who were treated by total calvarial vault remodeling after 1 year of age from May 2015 to June 2019 in the Department of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The authors reconstruct patients' pre- and post-operative cranial thin-section CT scan images and those of the control group. The cephalic index (traditional, normative), intracranial volume, horizontal point of maximum width (H-PMW), vertical point of maximum width (V-PMW), frontal to head height ratio and occipital to head height ratio data were analyzed using a paired t test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: Twenty-three patients met the inclusion criteria, including 19 males and 4 females. The ratio of males to females was 4.7:1. All patients underwent total cranial reconstruction. The average age was 26.52 months (13-48 months), the average operation time was 214.13 minutes (150-265 minutes), and the average amount of suspended erythrocytes was 200 ml (100-400 ml). The cranial morphology of all patients improved significantly after the operation. The traditional cephalic index (pre-operative: 0.70 (0.04); post-operative: 0.78 (0.02)) and normative cephalic index (pre-operative: 0.68 (0.03); post-operative: 0.77 (0.02)) were significantly increased (P < 0.0001). The mean horizontal point of maximum width improved from 0.54 to 0.56 (P = 0.0043), the mean vertical point of maximum width decreased from 0.59 to 0.54 (P = 0.0006), the frontal height decreased from 0.89 to 0.77 (P < 0.0001), and the occipital height improved from 0.78 to 0.88 (P < 0.0001). The intracranial volume increased from 1287.35 to 1426.90 cm3 (P < 0.0001). All of the children had a good skull shape and no recurrence of deformity. CONCLUSIONS: Total calvarial reconstruction can effectively correct scaphocephaly in Chinese children, expand cranial volume, reduce cranial height, shorten fronto-occipital diameters and enlarge biparietal diameters.

RUNX2 mutation reduces osteogenic differentiation of dental follicle cells in cleidocranial dysplasia.

Disturbed permanent tooth eruption is common in cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD), a skeletal disorder caused by heterozygous mutation of RUNX2, but the mechanism underlying is still unclear. As it is well known that dental follicle cells (DFCs) play a critical role in tooth eruption, the changed biological characteristics of DFCs might give rise to disturbance of permanent tooth eruption in CCD patients. Thus, primary DFCs from one CCD patient and normal controls were collected to investigate the effect of RUNX2 mutation on the bone remodeling activity of DFCs and explore the mechanism of impaired permanent tooth eruption in this disease. Conservation and secondary structure analysis revealed that the RUNX2 mutation (c.514delT, p.172fs) found in the present CCD patient was located in the highly conserved RUNT domain and converted the structure of RUNX2. After osteogenic induction, we found that the mineralised capacity of DFCs and the expression of osteoblast-related genes, including RUNX2, ALP, OSX, OCN and Col Iα1, in DFCs was severely interfered by the RUNX2 mutation found in CCD patients. To investigate whether the osteogenic deficiency of DFCs from the CCD patient can be rescued by RUNX2 restoration, we performed 'rescue' experiments. Surprisingly, the osteogenic deficiency and the abnormal expression of osteoblast-associated genes in DFCs from the CCD patient were almost rescued by overexpression of wild-type RUNX2 using lentivirus. All these findings indicate that RUNX2 mutation can reduce the osteogenic capacity of DFCs through inhibiting osteoblast-associated genes, thereby disturbing alveolar bone formation, which serves as a motive force for tooth eruption. This effect may provide valuable explanations and implications for the mechanism of delayed permanent tooth eruption in CCD patients.

A novel FAM83H mutation in one Chinese family with autosomal-dominant hypocalcification amelogenesis imperfecta.

Autosomal-dominant hypocalcification amelogenesis imperfecta (ADHCAI) is characterized by soft enamel that easily disintegrates and exposed dark dentin. ADHCAI is caused by mutations in a gene called family with sequence similarity 83 member H (FAM83H). To investigate the molecular genetics of ADHCAI, a Chinese family in which three generations exhibited ADHCAI was recruited. The enamel ultrastructure was analysed by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), which showed altered enamel rod (prism) structures in ADHCAI patients compared to the structures in healthy controls. Mutational analysis of the FAM83H gene identified a novel nonsense mutation (c.1222A>T) in the affected family members that encodes a stop codon at amino acid position 408, causing premature protein truncation (p. K408X). Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and FAM83H fusion protein analyses in vitro showed that normal cytoplasmic accumulation of the FAM83H protein was prevented by the K408X mutation in both rat dental epithelial SF2 cells and human embryonic kidney 293T cells. The mutant fusion protein localized primarily to the nucleus, in contrast to the cytoplasmic subcellular localization of the wild-type FAM83H protein. Our results provide new genetic evidence that mutations in FAM83H contribute to ADHCAI.

Abnormal bone remodelling activity of dental follicle cells from a cleidocranial dysplasia patient.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the role of dental follicle cells (DFCs) with a novel cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) causative gene RUNX2 mutation (DFCsRUNX2+/m ) in delayed permanent tooth eruption. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A CCD patient with typical clinical features was involved in this study. DFCsRUNX2+/m were cultured and DNA was extracted for RUNX2 mutation screening. Measurements of cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, alizarin red staining and osteoblast-specific genes expression were performed to assess osteogenesis of DFCsRUNX2+/m . Co-culture of DFCs and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), followed tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining, real-time PCR and western blot were performed to evaluate osteoclast-inductive capacity of DFCsRUNX2+/m . RESULTS: A missense RUNX2 mutation (c. 557G>C) was found in DFCsRUNX2+/m from the CCD patient. Compared with normal controls, this mutation did not affect the proliferation of DFCsRUNX2+/m , but down-regulated the expression of osteogenesis-related genes, leading to a decrease in ALP activity and mineralisation. Co-culture results showed that DFCsRUNX2+/m reduced the formation of TRAP+ multinucleated cells and the expression of osteoclastogenesis-associated genes. Furthermore, the mutation reduced the ratio of RANKL/OPG in DFCsRUNX2+/m . CONCLUSIONS: DFCsRUNX2+/m disturbs bone remodelling activity during tooth eruption through RANK/RANKL/OPG signalling pathway and may thus be responsible for impaired permanent tooth eruption in CCD patients.

Development and utilization of a new chemically-induced soybean library with a high mutation density .

Mutagenized populations have provided important materials for introducing variation and identifying gene function in plants. In this study, an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-induced soybean (Glycine max) population, consisting of 21,600 independent M2 lines, was developed. Over 1,000 M4 (5) families, with diverse abnormal phenotypes for seed composition, seed shape, plant morphology and maturity that are stably expressed across different environments and generations were identified. Phenotypic analysis of the population led to the identification of a yellow pigmentation mutant, gyl, that displayed significantly decreased chlorophyll (Chl) content and abnormal chloroplast development. Sequence analysis showed that gyl is allelic to MinnGold, where a different single nucleotide polymorphism variation in the Mg-chelatase subunit gene (ChlI1a) results in golden yellow leaves. A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence marker was developed and may be applied to marker-assisted selection for the golden yellow phenotype in soybean breeding. We show that the newly developed soybean EMS mutant population has potential for functional genomics research and genetic improvement in soybean.

Coherent Addressing of Individual Neutral Atoms in a 3D Optical Lattice.

We demonstrate arbitrary coherent addressing of individual neutral atoms in a 5×5×5 array formed by an optical lattice. Addressing is accomplished using rapidly reconfigurable crossed laser beams to selectively ac Stark shift target atoms, so that only target atoms are resonant with state-changing microwaves. The effect of these targeted single qubit gates on the quantum information stored in nontargeted atoms is smaller than 3×10^{-3} in state fidelity. This is an important step along the path of converting the scalability promise of neutral atoms into reality.