Deterioration Of Structural Properties Research Articles

Influence of thermosonication (TS) process on the quality parameters of high pressure homogenized hazelnut milk from hazelnut oil by-products.

Hazelnut, an important source of nutrition, is reasonably expensive for hazelnut milk production. Hazelnut cake, a by-product from hazelnut oil production by cold press extraction technique, does not contain any chemical residue and can be used for hazelnut beverage production. This study investigates the effects of thermosonication process on the quality parameters of hazelnut milks and also compares the observed results with the conventional thermal process. Different thermosonication conditions at different amplitude levels (40 and 60% amplitudes for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25min and 80% amplitude for 3, 5, 10 and 15min) were studied for physicochemical and rheological properties, as well as microbial inactivation and bioactive compounds of hazelnut milk produced from the cold pressed hazelnut cake as byproduct of oil production. In general, sonication process significantly improved the total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, appearance and structural properties like syneresis, sedimentation, viscosity and consistency of samples. The application of thermosonication at 60% amplitude for 25min and 80% amplitude for 15min achieved complete inactivation of microorganisms (total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and yeast-mould). Complete inactivation of microorganisms was also achieved by conventional pasteurization at 85°C, but this treatment caused some undesirable changes such as loses of bioactive compounds and deterioration of structural properties. The findings of the present study indicate that thermosonication can be successfully utilized for commercial processing of hazelnut milk with improved quality. This technique allows the production of hazelnut milks in safety and quality standards with highly nutritious then the conventional product.

Updates on Lifestyle-Related Diseases and Bone Metabolism. Increase in bone fragility from the viewpoint of bone structural properties

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic renal disease (CKD) show the dissociation between their bone mineral density (BMD) and their fracture risk. High-resolution peripheral computed tomography (HR-pQCT) contributes to investigate the deterioration of structural properties in these diseases. In type2 DM, the increase in cortical porosity account for its high fracture risk. In CKD, parathyroid hormone (PTH) is anabolic in trabecular bone and catabolic in cortical bone, which produces complicated bone feature. If hyperparathyroidism is severe, cortical thinning and increased cortical porosity appear in the compact bone, and irregular thickened trabeculae and dissecting intra-trabecular resorption appear in the cancellous bone. Even in the early stage of CKD, the bone microstructural changes are observed. For further investigation of the structural changes in relation to biomechanical properties in type2 DM and CKD, the longitudinal studies are required using in vivo HR-pQCT.

Thermal Barrier Coating on Metallic Substrates by Preceramic Route

A low cost, easily processable, multi layered functionally graded ceramic coating of thickness ~1000 µm was developed to protect metallic substrates from the risk of thermal oxidation. It consists of a four layered functionally graded coating consisting of aluminide layer followed by an intermediate zirconia as thermal insulative layer, an alumina layer serving as buffer layer with the outer most high emissivity layer to provide the required emissivity. All the layers were brush coated and the specimens were cured at 150°C. The solar absorptivity and emissivity of the coating was found to be 0.82 and 0.88 respectively. 15CDV6 plate of 150 x 150 x 5 mm was coated with multilayer thermal barrier coating of thickness ~ 1 mm. The coated sample was subjected to a heat flux of 8.5 W/cm2for 1035 secs to evaluate the thermo-responsive behaviour of the coating. Maximum back wall temperature measured was 299°C. The coating methodology is simple compared to complicated plasma techniques which can be applied on complex shaped substrates and all operations are carried out at low temperatures, below 150°C ensuring no deterioration of structural properties of the substrate.

CT determination of bone mineral density and structural investigations on the axial skeleton for estimating the osteoporosis-related fracture risk by means of a risk score.

In addition to the pure measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) in osteodensitometry, the investigation of bone structure is becoming increasingly important for estimating fracture risk. In a clinical study, a risk score was proposed which separately assesses BMD and structural parameters for spongious and cortical bone and aggregates them into a single diagnostic parameter. In 120 lumbar vertebrae from 40 patients, BMD was determined separately for spongious and cortical bone by means of quantitative CT using a single energy procedure (SE-QCT/85 kV). In addition, structural parameters based on high resolution CT were calculated for the spongiosa and cortical bone. For all patients the number of osteoporosis-related fractures was determined on the entire skeletal system. According to WHO criteria, the patients were subdivided into four groups: 1, normal; 2, osteopenic; 3, osteoporotic without fractures; 4, severely osteoporotic. Weighting factors were determined by means of multivariate least-squares analysis and used to calculate a risk score of all parameters. The ability of the individual parameters and of the sum of discriminate between the individual groups was tested. If one considers the individual parameters (BMD and the fractal structural values for spongious and cortical bone), they allow a statistically significant separation of the four groups, although there is overlapping in the value ranges. In patients with fractures, there was a significant reduction in the cortical mineral density, accompanied by a deterioration in structural properties. The following individual values were obtained (minimum-mean-maximum): spongiosa BMD (mg ml-1), unfractured: 62-112-163, fractured: 9-48-77; cortical BMD (mg ml-1), unfractured: 190-287-405, fractured: 133-191-269; spongiosa structural parameter, unfractured: 0.35-0.73-1.01, fractured: 0.95-1.24-1.58; cortical structural parameter, unfractured: 18-31-65, fractured: 21-44-66. Above 77 mg ml-1 CaHA in the spongiosa and 270 mg ml-1 CaHA in cortical bone, no fractures were observed. By appropriately selecting the weighting factors, the score is free of overlapping between the groups with and without fractures (values: unfractured 1-9-15, fractured 16-21-29). With higher score values, the fracture risk is increasing.