Food Science Commons^™

Clinical Use Of Probiotics In Pediatric Allergy (Cuppa): A World Allergy Organization Position Paper, Alessandro Fiocchi, Wesley Burks, Sami L. Bahna, Leonard Bielory, Robert J. Boyle, Renata Cocco, Sten Dreborg, Richard E. Goodman, Mikael Kuitunen, Tari Haahtela, Ralf G. Heine, Gideon Lack, David A. Osborn, Hugh Sampson, Gerald W. Tannock, Bee Wah Lee

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background: Probiotic administration has been proposed for the prevention and treatment of specific allergic manifestations such as eczema, rhinitis, gastrointestinal allergy, food allergy, and asthma. However, published statements and scientific opinions disagree about the clinical usefulness.

Objective: A World Allergy Organization Special Committee on Food Allergy and Nutrition review of the evidence regarding the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of allergy.

Methods: A qualitative and narrative review of the literature on probiotic treatment of allergic disease was carried out to address the diversity and variable quality of relevant studies. This variability precluded systematization, and an expert …

Coupled Electromagnetic And Heat Transfer Model For Microwave Heating In Domestic Ovens, Krishnamoorthy Pitchai, Sohan Birla, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, D. D. Jones, Harshanardhan Thippareddi

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Microwave ovens are used extensively for heating a variety of not-ready-to-eat food products. Non-uniform heating of foods in microwave ovens is a major concern in assuring microbiological safety of such products. The non-uniform heating of foods is attributed by complex interaction of microwaves with foods. To understand this complex interaction, a comprehensive model was developed to solve coupled electromagnetic and heat transfer equations using finite-difference time-domain based commercial software. The simulation parameters, cell size, heating time step, and number of iterations for steady state electromagnetic field were optimized. The model was validated by 30 s heating profile of a cylindrical …

Green Tea As An Agricultural Based Health Promoting Food: The Past Five To Ten Years, Qin-Yin Shi, Vicki Schlegel

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The consumption of tea originated in ancient China over 4000 years ago and is currently the second most popular beverage in the world after water. Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. The link between tea intake, most notably green tea, and health has resulted in intense research on the components responsible for preventing the onset of several chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis, cancer, obesity and diabetes. In particular, the high levels of chemically diverse phenols (e.g., phenolic acids, flavonoids) present in tea exhibit potent protective properties against many of …

Efficient And Robust Rna-Seq Process For Cultured Bacteria And Complex Community Transcriptomes, Georgia Giannoukos, Dawn M. Ciulla, Katherine Huang, Brian J. Haas, Jacques Izard, Joshua Z. Levin, Jonathan Livny, Ashlee M. Earl, Dirk Gevers, Doyle V. Ward, Chad Nusbaum, Bruce W. Birren, Andreas Gnirke

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

We have developed a process for transcriptome analysis of bacterial communities that accommodates both intact and fragmented starting RNA and combines efficient rRNA removal with strand-specific RNA-seq. We applied this approach to an RNA mixture derived from three diverse cultured bacterial species and to RNA isolated from clinical stool samples. The resulting expression profiles were highly reproducible, enriched up to 40-fold for non-rRNA transcripts, and correlated well with profiles representing undepleted total RNA.

Agriculture And Food In Crisis: Conflict, Resistance, And Renewal [Book Review], Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Edited by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar. 2010. Monthly Review Press, New York, New York, United States. 348 p. Paperback, cloth US$ 75.00, paper US$ 18.95, ISBN-13 978-1-58367-226-6.

That doubling of food production over the next four decades will be needed to adequately nourish our human population is not news, but the incredible steps essential to achieve that goal and their political and social implications are less well reported. In this series of 16 essays edited by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar, several thoughtful specialists in global food issues explore the historical, biological, economic, energy, political and social dimensions of …

Development And Application Of Methods Used To Source Prehistoric Southwestern Maize: A Review, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several …

A New Mouse Model For The Study Of Human Breast Cancer Metastasis, Elizabeth Iorns, Katherine Drews-Elger, Toby M. Ward, Sonja Dean, Jennifer Clarke, Deborah Berry, Dorraya El Ashry, Marc Lippman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and this prevalence has a major impact on health worldwide. Localized breast cancer has an excellent prognosis, with a 5-year relative survival rate of 85%. However, the survival rate drops to only 23% for women with distant metastases. To date, the study of breast cancer metastasis has been hampered by a lack of reliable metastatic models. Here we describe a novel in vivo model using human breast cancer xenografts in NOD scid gamma (NSG) mice; in this model human breast cancer cells reliably metastasize to distant organs from primary tumors grown …

Rational Design Of Pathogen-Mimicking Amphiphilic Materials As Nanoadjuvants, Bret D. Ulery, Latrisha K. Petersen, Yashdeep Phanse, Chang Sun Kong, Scott R. Broderick, Devender Kumar, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Brenda Carrillo-Conde, Krishna Rajan, Michael J. Wannemeuhler, Bryan H. Bellaire, Dennis W. Metzger, Balaji Narasimhan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

An opportunity exists today for cross-cutting research utilizing advances in materials science, immunology, microbial pathogenesis, and computational analysis to effectively design the next generation of adjuvants and vaccines. This study integrates these advances into a bottom-up approach for the molecular design of nanoadjuvants capable of mimicking the immune response induced by a natural infection but without the toxic side effects. Biodegradable amphiphilic polyanhydrides possess the unique ability to mimic pathogens and pathogen associated molecular patterns with respect to persisting within and activating immune cells, respectively. The molecular properties responsible for the pathogen-mimicking abilities of these materials have been identified. The …

Distinct Peripheral Blood Rna Responses To Salmonella In Pigs Differing In Salmonella Shedding Levels: Intersection Of Ifng, Tlr And Mirna Pathways, Ting-Hua Huang, Jolita J. Uthe, Shawn M. D. Bearson, Cumhur Yusuf Demirkale, Dan Nettleton, Susan Knetter, Curtis Christian, Amanda Ramer-Tait, Michael J. Wannemuehler, Christopher K. Tuggle

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Transcriptomic analysis of the response to bacterial pathogens has been reported for several species, yet few studies have investigated the transcriptional differences in whole blood in subjects that differ in their disease response phenotypes. Salmonella species infect many vertebrate species, and pigs colonized with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) are usually asymptomatic, making detection of these Salmonella-carrier pigs difficult. The variable fecal shedding of Salmonella is an important cause of foodborne illness and zoonotic disease. To investigate gene pathways and biomarkers associated with the variance in Salmonella shedding following experimental inoculation, we initiated the first analysis of the whole …

Identification And Characterization Of Putative Allergens In Pecan Species, Jelena Spiric

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The identification and characterization of soluble pecan proteins was found to be qualitatively dependent on the chemical characteristics of the extraction buffer that also had a significant influence on the total protein content of an extract. The ionic strength of the extraction buffer had a greater impact on protein extractability than pH. A high salt phosphate buffer (0.01 M PBS, 1M NaCl, pH 7.2) was used as an optimal extraction solution that allowed remarkable detection of clinically relevant allergens.

The 2S albumin family of seed storage proteins has been shown to be one of the most stable allergens, thus potentially …

Biological Analysis Of Prebiotics In Various Processed Food Matrices, Kristina Elise Moore

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The addition of prebiotic to a variety of food products has become a more common occurrence in recent years. Although research on the stability of prebiotics has been conducted, knowledge of the stability of prebiotics in processed foods is limited. The purpose of this research was to determine the biological stability of five prebiotics in a variety of food matrices when processed under various conditions. A biological test, the prebiotic activity assay, was used to test for stability of six food products (muffin, cookie, granola bar, breakfast cereal, sports drink, and bread) containing five different prebiotics (fructooligosaccharides (FOS), inulin, galactooligosaccharides …

Adaptation And Validation Of Food Product Specific Analytical Methods For Monitoring Prebiotics Present In Different Types Of Processed Food Matrices, Rebbeca M. Duar

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prebiotic carbohydrates are now added to a variety of processed foods to beneficially affect the gut microbial composition and activities. However, published data remain limited on the stability of prebiotics during food processes, such as baking, extrusion, pasteurization, high temperature heating, low pH condition, etc. As the complexity of the food matrix may also affect the ability to test for prebiotics, product specific analytical methods, including UV-vis spectroscopy, GC and HPLC, were developed and validated to monitor the stability of FOS, inulin and GOS in different types of processed food (breakfast cereal, cookie, muffin, sports drink and a nutritional bar). …

Studies On The Adherence Properties Of Plant Lectins And Bacterial Adhesins And Their Inhibition By Prebiotic Oligosaccharides And Bovine Colostrum Fractions, Maria X. Maldonado-Gomez

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

To initiate colonization and infection, most microbial pathogens must first recognize and adhere to cells in the host tissues. Adherence inhibition, therefore, can be used as a strategy for preventing infectious disease. In this research, we developed a simplified model using plant lectins and HEp-2 tissue culture cells to simulate bacterial adhesins-receptors interactions. The effect of lectin ligands and two prebiotic carbohydrates, galactooligosaccharide (GOS) and polydextrose (PDX) was measured with this approach. Lectins that were able to bind to the target cells were inhibited in the presence of the cognate ligands and at least one of the prebiotic carbohydrates. The …

Improvement Of Farmers' Incomes Through Improved Processing Of Sorghum And Millets In West Africa, Ababacar Sadikh N'Doye, Bruce Hamaker, Roy L. Whistler

INTSORMIL Presentations

Purdue University and ITA are very active in the USAID INTSORMIL CRSP Program for promoting the production and the consumption of millet and sorghum in West Africa. Countries involved in this program are : Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Sénégal.

Market-oriented objectives of the INTSORMIL Program on millet and sorghum in West Africa:

Objective 1: Increase the supply of high quality grain through the introduction of new production technologies at the farmer level in West Africa.

Objective 2: Contribute to the development of the processing sector through technologies improvement , more effective technology transfer to processors, and better links …

Effect Of Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Erythorbate And Organic Acid Salts On Germination And Outgrowth Of Clostridium Perfringens Spores In Ham During Abusive Cooling, Mauricio A. Redondo

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The effect of sodium nitrite (NaNO₂), sodium erythorbate, sodium chloride (NaCl) and organic acid salts (potassium lactate and sodium diacetate) on C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth in ham was evaluated. The research was divided in two parts. The first experiment consisted of potential C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth in ham containing combinations of NaNO₂ (0, 50, 100, 150 or 200 ppm) and sodium erythorbate (0 or 557 ppm) during cooling. This experiment included the evaluation of residual nitrite levels as affected by temperature (heat shock at 75°C for 20 min and subsequent cooling from 54.4°C …

Deoxynivalenol Biosynthesis-Related Gene Expression During Wheat Kernel Colonization By Fusarium Graminearum, Heather E. Hallen-Adams, Nancy Wenner, Gretchen A. Kuldau, Frances Trail

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a potent mycotoxin and virulence factor produced by Fusarium graminearum. We examined the expression of the core DON biosynthetic gene Tri5 during wheat head infection of susceptible and resistant cultivars and susceptible cultivars treated with strobilurin fungicides (e.g. azoxystrobin). DON was quantified to correlate expression with toxin accumulation. The highest Tri5 expression relative to housekeeping genes occurred at the infection front. As infection progresses, earliest-infected kernels showed diminished relative Tri5 expression but Tri5 expression never ceased during the 21 days observed. Azoxystrobin treatment showed no significant effect on either relative Tri5 expression or DON quantity. The …

Pulsed Electric Field (P.E.F.) And Pectinase For The Extraction Of Polyphenols From Grape Pomace And Peel, Julien Khalil

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grapes are an important source of bioactive compounds such as gallic acid, resveratrol, and catechin. The consumption of grapes is associated with a lower risk of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer. Grape pomace and skins are good sources of many phytochemicals known for their antioxidant potential.

In this research, the peel of the Chilean “Flame” grape cultivar and the pomace of St. Croix, Frontenac and St. Pepin grape cultivars were subjected to a pulsed electric field (5 KV, 1 μFarad, 20 Pulses) and to an enzymatic treatment (Pectinase, 5KU). The total phenolic content, determined in …

A Study On Facility Planning Using Discrete Event Simulation: Case Study Of A Grain Delivery Terminal, Sarah M. Asio

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The application of traditional approaches to the design of efficient facilities can be tedious and time consuming when uncertainty and a number of constraints exist. Queuing models and mathematical programming techniques are not able to capture the complex interaction between resources, the environment and space constraints for dynamic stochastic processes. In the following study discrete event simulation is applied to the facility planning process for a grain delivery terminal. The discrete event simulation approach has been applied to studies such as capacity planning and facility layout for a gasoline station and evaluating the resource requirements for a manufacturing facility. To …

Polyanhydride Microparticles Enhance Dendritic Cell Antigen Presentation And Activation, Maria P. Torres, Jennifer H. Wilson-Welder, Senja K. Lopac, Yashdeep Phanse, Brenda Carillo-Conde, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Bryan H. Bellaire, Michael J. Wannemeuhler, Balaji Narasimhan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The present studies were designed to evaluate the adjuvant activity of polyanhydride microparticles prepared in the absence of additional stabilizers, excipients, or immune modulators. Microparticles composed of varying ratios of either 1,6-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)hexane (CPH) and sebacic acid (SA) or 1,8-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)-3,6-dioxaoctane (CPTEG) and CPH were added to in vitro cultures of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs). Microparticles were efficiently and rapidly phagocytosed by DCs in the absence of opsonization and without centrifugation or agitation. Within 2 h, internalized particles were rapidly localized to an acidic, phagolysosomal compartment. By 48 h, only a minor reduction in microparticle size was …

Metagenomic Biomarker Discovery And Explanation, Nicola Segata, Jacques Izard, Levi Waldron, Dirk Gevers, Larisa Miropolsky, Wendy S. Garrett, Curtis Huttenhower

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

This study describes and validates a new method for metagenomic biomarker discovery by way of class comparison, tests of biological consistency and effect size estimation. This addresses the challenge of finding organisms, genes, or pathways that consistently explain the differences between two or more microbial communities, which is a central problem to the study of metagenomics. We extensively validate our method on several microbiomes and a convenient online interface for the method is provided at http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/lefse/.

Includes supplemental materials.

Understanding Of Functions Of Selenoproteins And Dietary Selenium By Using Animal Models, Marina V. Kasaikina

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Selenium (Se) is a trace element that is incorporated into proteins in the form of the 21^st amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec). Se supplementation was reported to have beneficial roles in prevention of cardiovascular and muscle disorders, cancer prevention and enhancement of the immune function. However, recent studies also showed that excessive dietary Se increases the risk of development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, better understanding of Se and selenoprotein functions is required. We used three approaches to address this problem.

First, we used high-throughput sequencing to examine composition of the gut microflora in mice maintained on selenium-deficient, selenium-sufficient, …

The Human Gut Microbiome: Ecology And Recent Evolutionary Changes, Jens Walter, Ruth Ley

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The human gastrointestinal tract is divided into sections, allowing digestion and nutrient absorption in the proximal region to be separate from the vast microbial populations in the large intestine, thereby reducing conflict between host and microbes. In the distinct habitats of the gut, environmental filtering and competitive exclusion between microbes are the driving factors shaping microbial diversity, and stochastic factors during colonization history and in situ evolution are likely to introduce intersubject variability. Adaptive strategies of microbes with different niches are genomically encoded: Specialists have smaller genomes than generalists, and microbes with environmental reservoirs have large accessory genomes. A shift …

Anaphylaxis From Passive Transfer Of Peanut Allergen In A Blood Product, Joannes F.M. Jacobs, Joseph L. Baumert, Paul P. Brons, Irma Joosten, Stef J. Koppelman, Elisabeth C.M. Van Pampus

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Anaphylactic reactions to blood transfusions are rare and their causes often remain elusive.¹ The inducement of clinically relevant allergic reactions by means of the passive transfer of IgE in blood products has been well documented^.2 In an editorial comment written in 2003, Erick speculated on the possibility that allergic transfusion reactions could be induced by the passive transfer of food allergens.³ We present such a case.

A 6-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia had an anaphylactic reaction while receiving a leukoreduced pooled buffy-coat product with ABO-identical platelets. During transfusion, rash, angioedema, hypotension, and difficult breathing occurred. The …

Recetario De Productos Elaborados A Base De Sorgo (Sorghum Bicolor, L. Moench), Kimberly Christiansen

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

El Centro Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA), “Enrique Álvarez Córdova”, a través del Laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos, ha venido desarrollando por más de una década, investigaciones relacionadas al uso de sorgo en la alimentación humana, con la colaboración del instituto para la investigación en Sorgo y Mijo de los Estados Unidos de América (INTSORMIL). A partir del año 2000, las investigaciones en el cultivo del sorgo han tomado más auge, por lo que el Programa de Granos Básicos, como apoyo al trabajo que realiza el Laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos, ha desarrollado una serie de variedades mejoradas, …

Adaptation And Validation Of Existing Analytical Methods For Monitoring Prebiotics Present In Different Types Of Processed Food Matrices, Pei Tze Ang

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Interest in resistant starch (RS) as a prebiotic is increasing due to its putative impacts on the gastrointestinal microbiome and thus colon health. Application of RS as a food ingredient is also increasing because of its unique functionality. However, a major obstacle when correlating RS containing food systems to the potential health benefits is the discrepancy in the analytical tests applied and  the limitations of those methods used throughout the literature. Therefore, the Megazyme resistant starch assay was adapted and developed to monitor RS present in different types of products commonly consumed in the United States, including an extruded ready-to-eat …

Effects Of Malting And Fermentation On The Composition And Functionality Of Sorghum Flour, Onesmo N.O. Mella

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sorghum is an ancient crop grown almost everywhere in the world and used for different purposes. In the U.S, and other developed countries, sorghum is used largely for animal feeding.  In developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, it is used primarily as human food.

Sorghum is a dependable food crop in Tanzania and its production and use ranks second after maize. Different traditional methods including malting and fermentation have been used in addition to decorticating and milling to process sorghum for the purpose of providing diverse materials. However, sorghum has major drawbacks of poor starch and protein digestibilities that …

Extraction Of Bioactive Compounds From Whole Red Cabbage And Beetroot Using Pulsed Electric Fields And Evaluation Of Their Functionality, Valli Kannan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Application of high voltage pulsed electric fields (PEF) to plant tissues increases porosity of the plant cells, enhancing juice extraction from fruits and vegetables. Red cabbage and beetroot are rich sources of bioactive compounds anthocyanins and betalains, respectively. Pulsed electric field (red cabbage: 1 kV/cm electric field strength, 0.66 µF and 20 pulses; red beets: 1.5 kV/cm electric field strength, 0.66 µF and 20 pulses) was applied to whole red cabbage and beetroot to enhance juice extraction. Total polyphenols, anthocyanins (red cabbage), betalains (beetroot) and total antioxidant activity (ABTS and DPPH) of the extracted juice was determined. The bioactivity of …

Adherence Inhibition Of Cronobacter Sakazakii And Other Pathogens By Prebiotic Oligosaccharides, Plant Extracts, And Other Naturally Derived Molecules, Maria I. Quintero

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

For most bacterial pathogens, adherence of the bacterium to the surface of the host cell tissue is a necessary first step for colonization and infection.  Agents that inhibit adherence, therefore, could be useful for preventing infections.  The goal of this research was to assess the anti-adherent activity of several food-grade prebiotic carbohydrates, plant extracts, and other naturally-derived molecules against enteric pathogens. First, the antiadherent effect of galactooligosaccharides (GOS), polydextrose (PDX), and a GOS-PDX blend was tested against two strains of Cronobacter “Enterobacter” sakazakii. When measured microscopically or by cultural methods, significant reductions in adherence (56% and 71%, respectively) of C. …

Manejo Agronómico En La Producción De Sorgo, Máximo Antonio Hernández Valle, Carlos Borja

INTSORMIL Presentations

Gives an overview of some issues involved in cultivating sorghum in Central America.

The Role Of Sorghum In Food Security In Central America, Lloyd W. Rooney

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the qualities of sorghum that make it suitable for human consumption, with a focus on its use in Central America.