Pectin-based aerogel particles for drug delivery: Effect of pectin composition on aerogel structure and release properties.

In this work, nanostructured pectin aerogels were prepared via a sol-gel process and subsequent drying under supercritical conditions. To this end, three commercially available citrus pectins and an in-house produced and enzymatically modified watermelon rind pectin (WRP) were compared. Then, the effect of pectin's structure and composition on the aerogel properties were analysed and its potential application as a delivery system was explored by impregnating them with vanillin. Results showed that the molecular weight, degree of esterification and branching degree of the pectin samples played a main role in the production of hydrogels and subsequent aerogels. The developed aerogel particles showed high specific surface areas (468-584 m2/g) and low bulk density (0.025-0.10 g/cm3). The shrinkage effect during aerogel formation was significantly affected by the pectin concentration and structure, while vanillin loading in aerogels and its release profile was also seen to be influenced by the affinity between pectin and vanillin. Furthermore, the results highlight the interest of WRP as a carrier of active compounds which might have potential application in food and biomedical areas, among others.

Efficacy of Cinnamaldehyde Against Enteric Viruses and Its Activity After Incorporation Into Biodegradable Multilayer Systems of Interest in Food Packaging.

Cinnamaldehyde (CNMA), an organic compound that gives cinnamon its flavor and odor, was investigated for its virucidal activity on norovirus surrogates, murine norovirus (MNV) and feline calicivirus (FCV), and hepatitis A virus (HAV). Initially, different concentrations of CNMA (0.1, 0.5 and 1 %) were individually mixed with each virus at titers of ca. 6-7 log10 TCID50/ml and incubated 2 h at 4 and 37 °C. CNMA was effective in reducing the titers of norovirus surrogates in a dose-dependent manner after 2 h at 37 °C, while HAV titers were reduced by 1 log10 after treatment with 1 % of CNMA. When incubation time was extended, HAV titers were reduced by 3.4 and 2.7 log10 after overnight incubation at 37 °C with 1 and 0.5 % of CNMA, respectively. Moreover, this paper analyzed, for the first time, the antiviral activity of adding an active electrospun interlayer based on zein and CNMA to a polyhydroxybutyrate packaging material (PHB) in a multilayer form. Biodegradable multilayer systems prepared with 2.60 mg/cm(2) (~9.7 %) of CNMA completely inactivated FCV according to ISO 22196:2011, while MNV titers were reduced by 2.75 log10. When the developed multilayer films were evaluated after one month of preparation or at 25 °C, the antiviral activity was reduced as compared to freshly prepared multilayer films evaluated at 37 °C. The results show the excellent potential of this system for food contact applications as well as for active packaging technologies in order to maintain or extend food quality and safety.

Stabilization of antimicrobial silver nanoparticles by a polyhydroxyalkanoate obtained from mixed bacterial culture.

The incorporation of antimicrobials into polymer matrices is a promising technology in the food packaging and biomedical areas. Among the most widely used antimicrobials, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have emerged as one of the most researched technologies to prevent microbial outbreaks. However, it is known that AgNPs are rather unstable and present patterns of agglomeration that might limit their application. In this work, AgNPs were produced by chemical reduction in suspensions of an unpurified poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) which was previously obtained from a mixed culture fermentation using a synthetic medium mimicking fermented cheese whey. The synthesis of AgNPs was carried out within the unpurified PHBV suspension (in situ) and by physical mixing (mix). The stability of crystalline and spherical nanoparticles (7±3nm) obtained in situ was found to be stable during at least 40 days. The results suggest that the unpurified PHBV appears to be a very efficient capping agent, preventing agglomeration and, thereby, stabilizing successfully the silver nanoparticles. The in situ obtained AgNP-PHBV materials were also found to exhibit a strong antibacterial activity against Salmonella enterica at low concentration (0.1-1ppm).

[Magnetic resonance imaging postprocessing techniques in the study of brain connectivity]. / Técnicas de análisis de posproceso en resonancia magnetica para el estudio de la conectividad cerebral.

Brain connectivity is a key concept for understanding brain function. Current methods to detect and quantify different types of connectivity with neuroimaging techniques are fundamental for understanding the pathophysiology of many neurologic and psychiatric disorders. This article aims to present a critical review of the magnetic resonance imaging techniques used to measure brain connectivity within the context of the Human Connectome Project. We review techniques used to measure: a) structural connectivity b) functional connectivity (main component analysis, independent component analysis, seed voxel, meta-analysis), and c) effective connectivity (psychophysiological interactions, causal dynamic models, multivariate autoregressive models, and structural equation models). These three approaches make it possible to combine and use different statistical techniques to elaborate mathematical models in the attempt to understand the functioning of the brain. The findings obtained with these techniques must be validated by other techniques for analyzing structural and functional connectivity. This information is integrated in the Human Connectome Project where all these approaches converge to provide a representation of all the different models of connectivity.

Effect of Fatty acids and beeswax addition on properties of sodium caseinate dispersions and films.

Edible films based on sodium caseinate and different saturated fatty acids, oleic acid, or beeswax were formulated. Film-forming emulsions were characterized in terms of particle size distribution, rheological behavior and surface tension. In order to evaluate the influence of lipids on sodium caseinate matrices, mechanical, optical, and water vapor barrier properties were studied, taking into account the effect of water content and film structure on such properties. Saturated fatty acids affected the film properties in a particular way due to the formation of bilayer structures which limited water vapor permeability, giving rise to nonflexible and more opaque films. Oleic acid and beeswax were less effective as water vapor barriers, although the former imparted more flexibility to the caseinate films and did not reduce the film transparency notably.