Ten years of CAZypedia: a living encyclopedia of carbohydrate-active enzymes.

CAZypedia was initiated in 2007 to create a comprehensive, living encyclopedia of the carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and associated carbohydrate-binding modules involved in the synthesis, modification and degradation of complex carbohydrates. CAZypedia is closely connected with the actively curated CAZy database, which provides a sequence-based foundation for the biochemical, mechanistic and structural characterization of these diverse proteins. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary online, CAZypedia is a successful example of dynamic, community-driven and expert-based biocuration. CAZypedia is an open-access resource available at URL http://www.cazypedia.org.

Seven decades of "advances".

The field of carbohydrate science, as documented in the 70 volumes of Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry (and Biochemistry) during the years 1944 through 2014, is surveyed. Subject areas detailed in individual volumes cover a broad range to include fundamental structural studies, synthesis, reactivity, mechanisms, analytical methodology, enzymology, biological and medicinal applications, food technology, and industrial and commercial aspects. The contributions of many prominent research leaders in the carbohydrate field are recorded in biographical memoirs. Stages in the development of internationally accepted systems for naming carbohydrate structures and for their graphical depiction are noted, and indexing questions for retrieval of data are addressed.

Alchemy in eden: entrepreneurialism, branding, and food marketing in the United States, 1880­1920.

Through an investigation into the origins of American food marketing, this dissertation reveals how branding­specifically, the centennial brands Quaker Oats, Coca-Cola, and Crisco­came to underpin much of today's market-driven economy. In a manner akin to alchemy, the entrepreneurs behind these three firms recognized the inherent value of an agricultural Eden, then found ways to convert common, low-cost agricultural goods­oats, sugar, and cottonseed oil­into appealing, high-revenue branded food products. In the process, these ventures devised new demand-driven business models that exploited technology and communications advances, enabling them to tap a nascent consumer culture. Their pioneering efforts generated unprecedented profits, laid the foundation for iconic billion-dollar brands, and fundamentally changed how Americans make daily food choices.

[Trehala, a meeting point between zoology, botany, chemistry, and biochemistry]. / Le Tréhala, une drogue a la croisée des chemins.

Trehala is a crude drug consisting of the pupal chambers formed by insects belonging to the genus Larinus that live on several Echinops species of the Middle-East. This sweet cocoon is locally used as human food and also for the treatment of cough and various pulmonary diseases. It first appeared in Western Europe in the collection of drugs from the Ottoman Empire displayed by François Della Sudda during the International Exhibition held in Paris in 1855. On the basis of this sample Nicolas Guibourt (1790-1867) gave, in 1858, the first full scientific description of the drug, its origin, and Larinus nidificans as the main insect species responsible for its formation. Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907) isolated in the same year the sugar trehalose from the drug and gave a full account of its physical and chemical properties. In 1876, Müntz established that trehalose was identical with mycose isolated from Claviceps purpurea by Mitscherlich.

[Sugar and the birth of dentistry]. / Suiker aan de wieg van de tandheelkunde.

It took mankind some ten thousand years to get sugarcane from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Once it reached Europe and the Europeans knew how to handle it, it took them only a hundred years to turn the production of sugar into the biggest industry of the world. Exactly in those hundred years the birth of modern medicine--and dentistry--is placed. This coincidence is too particular to be left unnoticed.