Popcorn quality parameters and nutritional properties of oily maize (Zea mays var. 'Everta') hybrids subjected to different thermal treatments.

This research assessed the popcorn quality parameters and nutritional properties of 5 oily maize (Zea mays var. 'Everta') hybrids under several thermal treatments (hot air, microwave, and wet cooking). Grains contained 2.16-4.51 % crude fat and 11.08-12.94 % protein, displayed a similar amount of individual p-coumaric and ferulic acid derivatives (p > 0.05) (free: 3.61-40.53 µg/g; bound: 1621.75-1970.94 µg/g), and total phytosterols ranging from 8.76 to 13.17 µg/g. Hot air- and wet cooking-treated grains showed the highest expansion volume (121.5-133.1 mL), and there were no differences in yield and residual percentage (p < 0.05). PCA analysis clustered samples 1 and 3 as the most influential on bound phenolics, expansion time, yield, and popped grains weight, mostly under hot air and wet cooking treatments. Spearman's correlations outlined the potential of the grains' total and bound phenolics on popping quality (weight and expansion time: 0.50-0.90). Results suggested the oily hybrids' nutritional potential and suitability to produce high-quality popcorn.

Evaluation of antinutrients, nutritional, and functional properties in sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L) cake treated with hydrothermal processes.

Applying heat treatments using an autoclave and hot air sterilization can alter the proximal composition, technofunctional properties, and antinutrient content of Sacha inchi (P. volubilis) oil press cake. The autoclave and hot air treatments significantly reduced antinutrients compared to the control. The samples treated with autoclave and hot air sterilization exhibited a significant decrease in alkaloids, nitrates, tannins, saponins, and trypsin inhibitors compared to the control sample. However, the 20-min autoclave treatment did not significantly reduce the saponin antinutrients. Phytic acid significantly decreased in the 30-min hot air sample and autoclave 20-min/hot air treatments, respectively. On the other hand, the levels of antinutrients oxalate and thiocyanates did not significant difference between the control and hot air treatments. However, the autoclave treatment resulted in a significant reduction in oxalates. The study found that hydrotreatments at temperatures of 121 °C with humid heat - autoclave showed significant differences in protein content compared to the control sample, with content of 37.75 + 0.2 g/100g. Samples treated with an autoclave for 10, 20, and 30 min showed values of protein 53.19 + 0.28, 66.08 + 2.6, and 70.12 + 0.48 g/100g, respectively. Meanwhile, samples treated with dry heat showed significant differences with the sample treated for 10 min having a protein content of 60.21 + 6.80 g/100g. The techno-functional properties analyzed in the study demonstrated a significant decrease in hydrating properties such as water holding capacity (WHC), water retention capacity (WRC), and swelling capacity (SC) due to changes in the solubility of proteins for the two treatments and the oil holding capacity (OHC) property showed a significant increase. Finally, water's presence during hydrothermal treatments significantly reduces antinutrients, providing guidance for analyzing other study variables.

Drying, Physical, Nutritional and Bioactive Characteristics of Apple Peel Flour Subjected to Blanching and Ultrasound Pretreatments.

The aim of this work was to study the effect of blanching and ultrasound pretreatments on drying and quality characteristics of apple peel. Blanching was conducted in boiling water, ultrasound in a water bath, and drying in a batch tray dryer. The product obtained was ground into a flour, and assessed for color, water activity, proximate composition, sugars, and bioactive compounds. Results showed that effective moisture diffusivity increases with a decrease in product moisture content, being such dependence well described by a second order polynomial model. Average drying rate was higher and product moisture content was lower for blanched and sonicated flour, especially for the former. Such result suggests that blanching and ultrasound enhance water removal during drying of apple peel. Physical properties were significantly affected by pretreatments, being more intense red color and lower water activity obtained for sonicated flour. Nutritional and bioactive properties were also significantly affected by pretreatments, being lower sugar, higher protein, fiber, catechin and epicatechin content observed for blanched flour. Summarizing, blanching and ultrasound pretreatments improve drying of apple peel, both regarding process efficiency and product quality.

Mathematical modeling and quality parameters of Salicornia fruticosa dried by convective drying.

The effect of convective drying at 50, 60 and 70 °C on the drying kinetics and quality parameters of Salicornia fruticosa was investigated. To estimate the equilibrium moisture content a desorption isotherm was performed using five empirical models: Halsey, Caurie, Henderson, Smith and Oswin. The experimental data was also fitted to different drying kinetic models (Logarithmic, Two-Terms, Midilli-Kucuk and Exponential Two-Terms). A numerical simulation using the Finite Volume Method allowed us to describe the evolution of temperature and moisture content distributions during drying. The Henderson model was found to be the most suitable for predicting the equilibrium moisture content of S. fruticosa, with values of X we in the drying process of 1.51; 1.54 and 1.36 g water/g d.m for 50, 60 and 70 °C, respectively. A good agreement was found between the numerical and experimental results of temperature and moisture during Salicornia drying. The Midilli-Kucuk model presented the best fitting to the drying curves. The effects of drying on S. fruticosa were significant in two quality parameters. Antioxidant capacity decreased in ca. 45% and lightness (> L*) significantly increased at a drying temperature of 70 °C, compared to the fresh samples. The optimum drying temperature where drying time and nutrients loss was minimum was 70 °C. These results can be used to estimate the best drying conditions for producing dehydrated Salicornia. The use of halophytes as sustainable crops is promising, and the vision of their commercial production must be evaluated and considered, given water scarcity in many areas of the planet.

Behavioral, affective, and cognitive alterations induced by individual and combined environmental stressors in rats

Objective: To evaluate whether exposing rats to individual or combined environmental stressors triggers endophenotypes related to mood and anxiety disorders, and whether this effect depends on the nature of the behavior (i.e., innate or learned). Methods: We conducted a three-phase experimental protocol. In phase I (baseline), animals subjected to mixed schedule of reinforcement were trained to press a lever with a fixed interval of 1 minute and a limited hold of 3 seconds. On the last day of phase I, an open-field test was performed and the animals were divided into four experimental groups (n=8/group). In phase II (repeated stress), each group was exposed to either hot air blast (HAB), paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) or both (HAB+PSD group) on alternate days over a 10-day period. Control group animals were not exposed to stressors. In phase III (post-stress evaluation), behavior was analyzed on the first (short-term effects), third (mid-term effects), and fifth (long-term effects) days after repeated stress. Results: The PSD group presented operant hyperactivity, the HAB group presented spontaneous hypoactivity and anxiety, and the HAB+PSD group presented spontaneous hyperactivity, operant hypoactivity, impulsivity, loss of interest, and cognitive impairment. Conclusion: A combination of environmental stressors (HAB and PSD) may induce endophenotypes related to bipolar disorder.

Antioxidant properties of different portions of organic Anoectochilus formosanus hayata with different drying treatments / Propriedades antioxidantes de diferentes porções de Anoectochilus formosanus hayata orgânicas com tratamentos de secagem diferentes

Anoectochilus formosanus HAYATA (Orchidaceae) is a valuable herb used as herbal medicine in Taiwan and other Asian countries. In order to enhance the economic efficiency of organic cultivation and understand how the processing affects plant properties, organic A. formosanus extracts were used as the investigative material in this study. The entire plant, the roots, stems and leaves from organic A. formosanus were freeze-dried or hot air-dried; all samples used methanol to extract. The antioxidant properties and active components were analyzed. The results indicated that antioxidant properties of both the freeze-dried and hot air-dried leaves of organic A. formosanus have better performance, including reducing power and ,-diphenyl--picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. The contents of phenols and flavonoids showed positive relationships with reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging activity and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity. The contents of carotenoids positively correlated with trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity and the contents of all active components were negatively correlated with the ferrous ion chelating ability. To summarize the results, freeze-dried leaves of organic A. formosanus have better antioxidant properties at a suitable concentration. This study may raise the economic values of A. formosanus by the organic cultural technique.

Anoectochilus formosanus HAYATA (Orchidaceae) é uma erva valiosa usada como medicina herbal em Taiwan e outros países asiáticos. A fim de aumentar a eficiência econômica do cultivo orgânico e entender como o processamento afeta as propriedades das plantas, os extratos orgânicos de A. formosanus foram utilizados como material investigativo neste estudo. A planta inteira, as raízes, hastes e folhas de A. formosanus orgânica foram liofilizadas ou secas por ar quente; todas as amostras usaram metanol para a extração. As propriedades antioxidantes e os componentes ativos foram analisados. Os resultados indicaram que as propriedades antioxidantes de ambas as folhas liofilizadas e secas por ar quente da A. formosanus orgânica apresentam melhor desempenho, incluindo o poder redutor e a atividade de eliminação do radical , -difenil-p-picrilidrazilo (DPPH). Os conteúdos de fenóis e flavonóides mostraram relações positivas com a potência redutora, atividade de eliminação de radicais DPPH e capacidade antioxidante equivalente de trolox. O conteúdo de carotenóides correlacionou-se positivamente com a capacidade antioxidante equivalente de trolox e os conteúdos de todos os componentes ativos foram correlacionados negativamente com a capacidade de quelação de íons ferrosos. Para resumir os resultados, as folhas liofilizadas de A. formosanus orgânica possuem melhores propriedades antioxidantes a uma concentração adequada. Este estudo pode elevar os valores econômicos de A. formosanus pela técnica cultural orgânica.

Development of a quantitative approach using Raman spectroscopy for carotenoids determination in processed sweet potato.

The orange-fleshed sweet potato is a vegetable-rich in carotenoids. The thermic treatment for sweet potato processing can decrease the content of these constituents in the foods, lowering their bioactive properties. Raman spectroscopy has been growing as a fast tool to food analysis, especially for detection of low concentrations of carotenoids and to the monitoring of its degradation profile over time. Therefore, in this work were evaluated two methods of drying, hot air and microwaving with rotary drum, combined with quantitative Raman spectroscopy. The results showed carotenoids degradation around 50% for both types of drying processes studied. PCA plot proved the potential of reproducibility of analyses for microwave drying samples. For samples heated with hot air, the best linear correlation achieved was R2 = 0.90 and by microwave was R2 = 0.88. Also, partial least squares (PLS) regression models were constructed obtaining a satisfactory coefficient of determination.

Influence of different drying techniques on drying parameters of mango

Abstract This research inspected the effects of freeze, microwave (120 and 350 W) and hot air (60, 70 and 80 °C) drying techniques on the color, drying characteristics, antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content of mango slices. Midilli et al., Two-term and Page models which exemplify drying characteristics are superior than alternative models. All of the color values (a, b, L, C, α and ΔE) were altered notably based on the used drying technique and colors nearest to the fresh sample were attained with freeze drying. In comparison to the fresh sample, the dried samples showed a decrease of 18.4-54.6% in antioxidant capacity. The total phenolic content value was notably highest one for the microwave dried sample at 350 W and the lowest one for a hot air dried sample at 80 °C (P<0.05). This research showed that microwave drying at 350 W is able to yield high-quality mango slices with the extra advantage of shortened drying time in relation to hot air and freeze drying.

Subchronic effects of fluoxetine on conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast

Conditioned suppression is an animal model of anxiety disorders that has been broadly used to investigate the behavioral effects of different drugs. However, various methodological variables (e.g., the type of aversive stimulus) that supposedly interfere with the acquisition of conditioned suppression may also contribute to conflicting results among the studied drugs. Additionally, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The present study investigated the effect of subchronic 5-day administration of 5 mg/kg fluoxetine in the retention of conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast (HAB). The subjects were 12 albino Wistar rats distributed into an Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG). After sessions were conducted to pair two stimuli, a sound and HAB, fluoxetine (EG) or saline (CG) was administered. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, a test session was conducted. The results showed no difference between groups. Fluoxetine (5 mg/kg) did not exert anxiolytic effects in this model of conditioned suppression produced by a HAB.(AU)

Subchronic effects of fluoxetine on conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast

Conditioned suppression is an animal model of anxiety disorders that has been broadly used to investigate the behavioral effects of different drugs. However, various methodological variables (e.g., the type of aversive stimulus) that supposedly interfere with the acquisition of conditioned suppression may also contribute to conflicting results among the studied drugs. Additionally, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The present study investigated the effect of subchronic 5-day administration of 5 mg/kg fluoxetine in the retention of conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast (HAB). The subjects were 12 albino Wistar rats distributed into an Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG). After sessions were conducted to pair two stimuli, a sound and HAB, fluoxetine (EG) or saline (CG) was administered. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, a test session was conducted. The results showed no difference between groups. Fluoxetine (5 mg/kg) did not exert anxiolytic effects in this model of conditioned suppression produced by a HAB.