Electrosprayed Ethyl Cellulose Core-Shell Microcapsules for the Encapsulation of Probiotics

Electrosprayed ethyl cellulose core–shell microcapsules were produced for the encapsulation of probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis (Bifido). Ethyl cellulose (ETC) was used as a shell material with different core compounds (concentrated Bifido, Bifido–maltodextrin and Bifido–glycerol). The core–shell microcapsules have an average diameter between 3 µm and 15 µm depending on the core compounds, with a distinct interface that separates the core and the shell structure. The ETC microcapsules displayed relatively low water activity (aw below 0.20) and relatively high values of viable cells (109–1011 CFU/g), as counted post-encapsulation. The effect of different core compounds on the stability of probiotics cells over time was also investigated. After four weeks at 30 °C and 40% RH the electrospray encapsulated samples containing Bifido–glycerol in the core showed a loss in viable cells of no more than 3 log loss CFU/g, while the non-encapsulated Bifido lost about 7.57 log CFU/g. Overall, these results suggest that the viability of the Bifido probiotics encapsulated within the core–shell ETC electrosprayed capsules can be extended, despite the fact that the shell matrix was prepared using solvents that typically substantially reduce their viability.

Hydrophilic Shell Matrix Proteins of Nautilus pompilius and the Identification of a Core Set of Conchiferan Domains

Despite being a member of the shelled mollusks (Conchiferans), most members of extant cephalopods have lost their external biomineralized shells, except for the basally diverging Nautilids. Here, we report the result of our study to identify major Shell Matrix Proteins and their domains in the Nautilid Nautilus pompilius, in order to gain a general insight into the evolution of Conchiferan Shell Matrix Proteins. In order to do so, we performed a multiomics study on the shell of N. pompilius, by conducting transcriptomics of its mantle tissue and proteomics of its shell matrix. Analyses of obtained data identified 61 distinct shell-specific sequences. Of the successfully annotated 27 sequences, protein domains were predicted in 19. Comparative analysis of Nautilus sequences with four Conchiferans for which Shell Matrix Protein data were available (the pacific oyster, the pearl oyster, the limpet and the Euhadra snail) revealed that three proteins and six protein domains were conserved in all Conchiferans. Interestingly, when the terrestrial Euhadra snail was excluded, another five proteins and six protein domains were found to be shared among the four marine Conchiferans. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that most of these proteins and domains were probably present in the ancestral Conchiferan, but employed in shell formation later and independently in most clades. Even though further studies utilizing deeper sequencing techniques to obtain genome and full-length sequences, and functional analyses, must be carried out in the future, our results here provide important pieces of information for the elucidation of the evolution of Conchiferan shells at the molecular level.

Avian eggshell coloration predicts shell-matrix protoporphyrin content

Avian eggshell pigmentation may provide information about a female’s physiological condition, in particular her state of oxidative balance. Previously we found that female house wrens (Troglodytes aedon Vieillot, 1809) with lighter, less-maculated, and redder ground-colored shells were older and produced heavier offspring than females laying darker, browner eggs. The strong pro-oxidant protoporphyrin is responsible for this species’ eggshell pigmentation, so differences in pigmentary coloration may be related to eggshell protoporphyrin content and reflect female oxidative balance and condition during egg-formation. Therefore, we tested the assumption that egg-surface coloration is related to the amount of protoporphyrin in the shell matrix. We analyzed digital photographs of eggs to determine maculation coverage as a measure of the overall ground coloration of the egg and its red-, green-, and blue-channel pixel values. Pigments were then extracted from these same eggs and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography. There was a strong, positive relationship between eggshell redness and protoporphyrin content of eggshells, but no relationship between percent maculation and protoporphyrin content. Thus, when older, larger females deposit more protoporphyrin in their eggshells, this may reflect a tolerance for high levels of circulating protoporphyrin or an effective mechanism for off-loading protoporphyrin into the eggshell matrix. Keywords: Eggs, Female quality, HPLC, Eggshell pigmentation, Eggshell speckles

A New Family of Interactions between Clothed Particles in QED

The method of unitary clothing transformations (UCTs) has been applied to the quantum electrodynamics (QED) by using the clothed particle representation (CPR). Within CPR, the Hamiltonian for interacting electromagnetic and electron-positron fields takes the form in which the interaction operators responsible for such two-particle processes as e−e− → e−e−, e+e+ → e+e+, e−e+ → e−e+, e−e+ → yy, yy → e−e+, ye− → ye−, and ye+ → ye+ are obtained on the same physical footing. These novel interactions include the off-energy-shell and recoil effects (the latter without any expansion in (v/c)2-series) and their on-energy shell matrix elements reproduce the well-known results derived within the perturbation theory based on the Dyson expansion for the S-matrix (in particular, the Møller formula for the e−e−-scattering, the Bhabha formula for e−e+-scattering, and the Klein–Nishina one for the Compton scattering).

Radiative decays of heavy-light mesons and the $$ {f}_{H,{H}^{\ast },{H}_1}^{(T)} $$ decay constants

The on-shell matrix elements, or couplings $$ {g}_{H{H}^{\ast}\left({H}_1\right)\upgamma} $$ g H H ∗ H 1 γ , describing the $$ B{(D)}_q^{\ast } $$ B D q ∗ → B(D)qγ and B1q → Bqγ (q = u, d, s) radiative decays, are determined from light-cone sum rules at next-to-leading order for the first time. Two different interpolating operators are used for the vector meson, providing additional robustness to our results. For the D*-meson, where some rates are experimentally known, agreement is found. The couplings are of additional interest as they govern the lowest pole residue in the B(D) → γ form factors which in turn are connected to QED-corrections in leptonic decays B(D) → ℓ$$ \overline{\nu} $$ ν ¯ . Since the couplings and residues are related by the decay constants $$ {f}_{H^{\ast}\left({H}_1\right)} $$ f H ∗ H 1 and $$ {f}_{H^{\ast}\left({H}_1\right)}^T $$ f H ∗ H 1 T , we determine them at next-leading order as a by-product. The quantities $$ \left\{{f}_{H^{\ast}}^T,{f}_{H_1}^T\right\} $$ f H ∗ T f H 1 T have not previously been subjected to a QCD sum rule determination. All results are compared with the existing experimental and theoretical literature.