Platelet-activating factor (PAF), a phospholipid with a wide range of proinflammatory actions, is immediately degraded and inactivated in vivo by PAF acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH). Surprisingly, 4% of the Japanese population lacks the extracellular isoform of this enzyme, plasma PAF-AH, due to a genetic missense (V279F) mutation. We studied the association of this mutation with asthma prevalence and phenotypes in the Japanese adult population. The allele frequency of V279F mutation was 18.6% in 279 patients with asthma (28.7% heterozygotes and 4.3% homozygotes) and 21.7% in 217 healthy subjects (32.3% heterozygotes and 5.5% homozygotes). V279F mutant allele prevalence was consistent regardless of asthma type (16.3% in atopic [n = 156] and 21.6% in nonatopic [n = 123]), or the severity of disease (21.7% in patients with mild [n = 97], 17.5% in those with moderate [n = 131], and 15.8% in those with severe [n = 51] asthma). Plasma PAF-AH activity was inversely proportional to the number of mutant alleles, and did not correlate with asthma prevalence, type, or severity. We concluded that plasma PAF-AH deficiency due to V279F mutation is not essential to the pathophysiology of asthma in the Japanese adult population.
The primary process parameters of the homogenization pressure and freezing process (drawing temperature and overrun) for ice cream manufacture were examined to determine their impact on the sensory attributes and odor sensor response of ice cream. Fifteen process conditions were selected using a Box-Behnken design, while 12 sensory attributes were obtained as assessment items based on sensory evaluations using quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). Eleven of these sensory attributes changed significantly according to process conditions, suggesting that such conditions can have a major impact on ice cream's sensory attributes, even for a fixed make-up of ingredients. Furthermore, observed correlations between the sensory attributes and microstructural attributes of the ice cream led to the conjecture that the sensory attributes were influenced by changes to the ice cream's structural conditions resulting from the process conditions. A correlation was also observed between the odor sensor response and the overrun condition, but no clear correlations were found to exist within the ice cream structure or the sensory attributes. * Glyceryl mono-distearate ** 45.0% locust bean gum, 45.0% guar gum, and 10.0% carrageenan
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