The present study attempted to partially characterize and elucidate the viability-enhancing effect of a yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae EC-1118 on a probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 under acidic conditions using a model system (non-growing cells). The yeast was found to significantly enhance (P < 0.05) the viability of the probiotic strain under acidic conditions (pH 2.5 to 4.0) by 2 to 4 log cycles, and the viability-enhancing effects were observed to be influenced by pH, and probiotic and yeast concentrations. Microscopic observation and co-aggregation assay revealed that the viability-enhancing effect of the yeast could be attributed to direct cell-cell contact co-aggregation mediated by yeast cell surface and/or cell wall components or metabolites. Furthermore, non-viable yeast cells killed by thermal means were observed to enhance the viability of the probiotic strain as well, suggesting that the surface and/or cell wall component(s) of the yeast contributing to co-aggregation was heat-stable. Cell-free yeast supernatant was also found to enhance the viability of the probiotic strain, indicating the presence of protective yeast metabolite(s) in the supernatant. These findings laid the foundation for further understanding of the mechanism(s) involved and for developing novel microbial starter cultures possibly without the use of live yeast for ambient-stable high-moisture probiotic foods.
A new method called Step Current Electrodeposition (SCE) is proposed for the nanocrystalline deposition of high uniformity large coating thickness of Ni 80 Fe 20 /Cu composite wires. The hysteresis loops of the composite wires, developed by SCE and conventional plating, were measured using an inductance method and a magneto-impedance (MI) experimental setup, and the magnetic properties of the composite wires in terms of the hysteresis loops and the magneto-impedance effect were measured. The results showed that the experimental results obtained, which was in the trend of increasing GMI with increasing coating thickness till an optimum, agree well with the simulated results as found in the literature. 1
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