Starch's large particle size and compact semi-crystalline structure limit its effectiveness as an emulsifier and shear-reversible thickener. To address this, we used gas-assisted electrospinning to convert large starch granules into thin fibers and then into rod-shaped particles for use as starch-based thickeners and emulsifiers. Manipulating the starch concentration in formic acid, and the electrospinning parameters, caused the jetted polymers to form different shapes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater-permeable hollow starch particles alter the rheological behavior of their granular suspensions. However, their thin shells can rupture limiting applications. In this study, we used amaranth starch as building blocks (1 μm) to craft a crosslinked superstructure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe PRECEDE-PROCEED model is a comprehensive planning and theoretical framework that incorporates epidemiological, environmental, behavioral, and social factors systematically to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs. As such, PRECEDE-PROCEED is a highly effective tool for addressing complex and significant public health concerns like postpartum depression (PPD). PPD negatively impacts mothers and their infants, with studies showing that approximately one in eight mothers experience PPD, leading to adverse effects on maternal functioning and infant development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDirected hydrogen atom transfer to alkenes is described. The process is catalyzed by iron complexes and allows for the site-selective hydrofunctionalization of polyenols. Experimental data suggest that coordination of the hydroxy group to the iron hydride intermediate plays an important role in preferential engagement of the allylic alcohol motif and provides a new basis for selectivity in radical hydrofunctionalization events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedical coding impacts patient care quality, payor reimbursement, and system reliability through the precision of patient information documentation. Inadequate coding specificity can have significant consequences at administrative and patient levels. Models to identify and/or enhance coding specificity practices are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombustion of mixed materials during open air burning of refuse or structural fires in the wildland urban interface produces emissions that worsen air quality, contaminate rivers and streams, and cause poor health outcomes including developmental effects. The zebrafish, a freshwater fish, is a useful model for quickly screening the toxicological and developmental effects of agents in such species and elicits biological responses that are often analogous and predictive of responses in mammals. The purpose of this study was to compare the developmental toxicity of smoke derived from the burning of 5 different burn pit-related material types (plywood, cardboard, plastic, a mixture of the three, and the mixture plus diesel fuel as an accelerant) in zebrafish larvae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe idea of building large structures from small building blocks has had a long history in the human imagination, from the beautifully intricate shells assembled from silica by unicellular algae to the Egyptian pyramids built from stone. Carrying this idea into the food industry has important implications. Here, we introduce a Pickering emulsion platform for building superstructures like hollow cages and sheets using starch granules as building blocks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: As a lifestyle factor, poor sleep status is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and may be influenced by environmental stressors, including air pollution.
Methods: To determine whether exposure to air pollution modified cardiovascular effects of sleep disruption, we evaluated the effects of single or repeated (twice/wk for 4 wks) inhalation exposure to eucalyptus wood smoke (ES; 964 μg/m for 1 h), a key wildland fire air pollution source, on mild sleep loss in the form of gentle handling in rats. Blood pressure (BP) radiotelemetry and echocardiography were evaluated along with assessments of lung and systemic inflammation, cardiac and hypothalamic gene expression, and heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic tone.
Simultaneous exposure to multiple per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is common in humans across the globe. Individual PFAS are associated with adverse health effects, yet the nature of mixture effects after exposure to two or more PFAS remains unclear. Previously we reported that oral administration of hexafluoropropylene oxide-dimer acid (HFPO-DA, or GenX), Nafion byproduct 2 (NBP2), or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) individually during pregnancy produced maternal and F1 effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Unhelpful thoughts and feelings of worry or despair about symptoms account for a notable amount of the variation in musculoskeletal symptom intensity. Specialists may be best positioned to diagnose these treatable aspects of musculoskeletal illness. Musculoskeletal specialists might be concerned that addressing mental health could offend the patient, and avoidance might delay mental health diagnosis and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
December 2022
Although incredible progress in the field of Janus particles over the last three decades has delivered many promising smart-material prototypes, from cancer-targeting drug delivery vehicles to self-motile nanobots, their real-world applications have been somewhat tempered by concerns over scalability and sustainability. In this study, we adapt a simple, scalable 3D mask method to synthesize Janus particles in bulk using starch as the base material: a natural biopolymer that is safe, biocompatible, biodegradable, cheap, widely available, and versatile. Using this method, starch granules are first embedded on a wax droplet such that half of the starch is covered; then, the uncovered half is treated with octenyl succinic anhydride, after which the wax coating is removed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent epidemiological findings link asthma to adverse cardiovascular responses. Yet, the precise cardiovascular impacts of asthma have been challenging to disentangle from the potential cardiovascular effects caused by asthma medication. The purpose of this study was to determine the impacts of allergic airways disease alone on cardiovascular function in an experimental model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStarch as a food-grade thickener has been commonly used in food products to modulate textural properties. Improving viscosity-enhancing ability, so as to be able to use less starch for the same texture, has been considered as an approach to reduce the dietary consumption of carbohydrates. We have positively charged amaranth starch (∼1 μm) and negatively charged corn starch (>10 μm) and physically fused the particles together to create a starch with a heterogeneous pattern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2022
The call for articles for the Special Issue "Using mobile technology to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH)" was proposed to identify efforts to provide adolescent SRH services during the COVID-19 pandemic [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile nature behaves like an irreversible network with respect to entropy and time, certain systems in nature exist that are, to some extent, reversible. The property of reversibility imparts unique benefits to systems that possess them, making them suitable for designing self-healing, stimuli-responsive, and smart materials that can be used in widely divergent fields. Reversible networks are currently being exploited for applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and soft robotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution increases risk of adverse human health effects. As more attention is brought to bear on the problem of PM, traditional mammalian models struggle to keep up with the risk assessment challenges posed by the countless number of unique PM samples across air sheds with limited or no toxicity information. This review examines the utility of three higher throughput, alternative, animal models in PM toxicity research: (zebrafish), (nematode), and (fruit fly).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStarch, as a staple carbohydrate, is frequently used as a thickener to enhance food texture. As such, there is an increasing interest in studying starch modification to improve its thickening ability. Instead of the conventional mechanism of swelling-based thickening, the present work presents an alternative using starch-based patchy particles as a texturizer prepared through a bottom-up method by physically grafting small amaranth starch granules (∼1 μm) onto corn starch granules (>10 μm).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: African Americans have a higher incidence rate of heart failure (HF) and an earlier age of HF onset compared to those of other racial and ethnic groups. Scientific literature suggests that by 2030, African Americans will have a 30% increased prevalence rate of HF coupled with depression. In addition to depression, anxiety is a predictor of worsening functional capacity, decreased quality of life, and increased hospital readmission rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis report examines various vaccine platforms including inactivated vaccines, protein-based vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and nucleic acid (DNA or mRNA) vaccines, and their ways of producing immunogens in cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Pollut Res Int
September 2016
Renewable and bio-based transportation fuel sources can lower the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. We present an initial assessment of ethyl 3-ethoxybutyrate (EEB) as a biofuel in terms of its performance as a fuel oxygenate and its persistence in the environment. EEB can be produced from ethanol and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, a bacterial storage polymer that can be produced from non-food biomass and other organic feedstocks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak has created interest in personal protective equipment (PPE) content and usage. PPE testing has historically been done by individual component, rather than as a bundle for contact isolation. Fluorescent agents are commonly used in training for infection control techniques.
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