CD36 SNP A-allele, being present both in young lean and in obese children, is associated with high threshold for fatty acid taste sensitivity only in obese children.

The changes in physico-chemical properties of yoghurt containing cress seed mucilage (CM) compared with yoghurt containing guar gum (GG) or plain yoghurt during storage at 5 ± 2°C for 15 days were evaluated. CM was prepared and added to standardized buffalo's milk ($3.2% fat and $15.0% TS) at rate of 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.10% but GG was added at the rate of 0.025% and 0.05% to create 5 treatments. The latter batch had no CM or GG, serve as a control (C). No significant changes in pH values and proteolysis (SN/TN ratio) of all yoghurt samples throughout the storage period were observed. CM containing yoghurts showed adverse effect on the concentration of acetaldehyde and diacetyl until day 10 and day 15, respectively compared with C and that containing 0.025% GG. Yoghurt samples containing different levels from CM or 0.025% GG exhibited lower in wheying-off and whey syneresis compared with C. No significant changes in the firmness of the yoghurt containing 0.025% and 0.05% CM or 0.025% GG were found throughout the storage period, while yoghurt containing 0.05% GG exhibited lower firmness compared with other yoghurt samples. Apparent viscosity of yoghurt containing GG or CM was higher than that of C until day 10. However, yoghurt containing 0.025% and 0.05% CM or 0.05% GG showed continued increase in apparent viscosity until day 10 while for yoghurt containing 0.10% CM, the increase was observed until day 5 and decline thereafter. ª 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University.

Growing number of evidences have suggested that oral fat sensing, mediated by a glycoprotein CD36 (cluster of differentiation 36), plays a significant role in the development of obesity. Indeed, a decreased expression of CD36 in some obese subjects is associated with high dietary fat intake. In the present study, we examined whether an increase in body mass index (BMI) is associated with altered oleic acid lingual detection thresholds and blood lipid profile in young Algerian teenagers (n = 165). The obese teenagers (n = 83; 14.01 ± 0.19 years; BMI z-score 2.67 ± 0.29) exhibited higher lingual detection threshold for oleic acid than lean participants (n = 82, 13.92 ± 0.23 years; BMI z-score 0.03 ± 0.0001). We also studied the association between rs1761667 polymorphism of CD36 gene and obesity. The AA and AG genotypes were more frequent in obese teenagers, whereas GG genotype was more common in lean participants. The A-allele frequency was higher in obese teenagers than that in lean children. We report that rs1761667 polymorphism of CD36 gene and oro-gustatory thresholds for fat might play a significant role in the development of obesity in young teenagers.

In this study, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were produced from pea peels by acid hydrolysis to be used with pectin and acrylic acid (AAc) to form Pectin-PAAc/CNC nanocomposite by γ-irradiation. The structure, morphology, and properties of the nanocomposite were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The nanocomposite hydrogel was used for the removal of methylene blue dye (MB) from wastewater. The results revealed that the presence of CNCs in the polymeric matrix enhances the swelling and adsorption properties of Pectin-PAAc/CNC. The optimum adsorbate concentration is 70 mg/L. The kinetic experimental data were fit by pseudo-first-order (PFO), pseudo-second-order (PSO), and Avrami (Avr) kinetic models. It was found that the kinetic models fit the adsorption of MB well where the correlation coefficients of all kinetic models are higher than 0.97. The Avr kinetic model has the lowest ∆qe (normalized standard deviation) value, making it the most suitable one for describing the adsorption kinetics. The adsorption isotherm of MB by Pectin-PAAc follows the Brouers–Sotolongo model while that by Pectin-PAAc/CNC follows the Langmuir isotherm model. The negative values of ∆G confirmed the spontaneous nature of adsorption, and the positive value of ∆H indicated the endothermic nature of the adsorption.

Green nanocomposite hydrogels (ST-PHEMA/GO) comprised of starch and 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) reinforced with different ratios of graphene oxide (GO) were prepared via gamma radiation induced crosslinking polymerization. The chemical structure and morphology and the crystallinity were studied by FTIR FE-SEM, AFM, TEM and XRD, respectively. The swelling behavior of the claimed hydrogels was verified versus time and the pH-dependent swelling at three different irradiation dose:10, 20 and 30 kGy was also investigated. The results of the swelling study showed that the swelling capacity of the hydrogel networks varied with the changes of the pH of the solution, the GO content and the irradiation doses. Moreover, the swelling isotherm of all the prepared hydrogels followed a Fickian diffusion mechanism n < 0.5. Graphical abstract