Odor Value Research Articles

Mindfulness, Interoception, and Olfaction: A Network Approach.

The fine-tuned interplay between the brain and the body underlies the adaptive ability to respond appropriately in the changing environment. Mindfulness Disposition (MD) has been associated with efficient emotional functioning because of a better ability to feel engaged by information from the body and to notice subtle changes. This interoceptive ability is considered to shape the ability to respond to external stimuli, especially olfaction. However, few studies have evaluated the relationships between interoception and exteroception according to MD. We conducted an exploratory study among 76 healthy subjects for first investigating whether MD is associated with better exteroception and second for describing the causal interactions network between mindfulness, interoception, emotion, and subjective and objective olfaction assessments. Results found that a high level of MD defined by clustering exhibited best scores in positive emotions, interoception, and extra sensors’ acuity. The causal network approach showed that the interactions between the interoception subscales differed according to the MD profiles. Moreover, interoception awareness is strongly connected with both the MD and the hedonic value of odors. Then, differences according to MD might provide arguments for a more mindful attention style toward interoceptive cues in relation to available exteroceptive information. This interaction might underlie positive health.

Substantiation of the permissible value of odor from sewerage system facilities

With the growth of urbanization in large cities, the number of complaints from the population on unpleasant odors emitted by sewerage system facilities increases. In most cases, instrumental measurements on the content of individual malodorous substances in the zone of influence of sewerage facilities do not confirm the exceeding of the atmospheric air quality standards, even in terms of unpleasant odor. The lack of a clear system for standardizing odor in the atmospheric air and of established odor standards in Russia determined the relevance of this study. The aim of the study is to substantiate the permissible value of the odor emitted by sewerage system facilities. The article describes the research methodology. The results of field studies on the content of pollutants in the atmospheric air and the concentration of odor at the border of the sanitary protection zone of sewerage facilities are presented. The criteria for odor evaluation are proposed. The permissible value of odor for sewerage facilities is substantiated.

Olfactory marker protein contributes to the evaluation of odour values by olfactory glomerular processing

Olfaction starts from olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) that express olfactory marker protein (OMP). OMP deficit results in various behavioural phenotypes indicating olfactory dysfunction due to the impaired responses of ORNs. Recently, OMP was demonstrated to maintain strong olfaction by buffering olfactory cAMP signalling. However, the impact of OMP on olfaction behaviours, the assessment of which requires time to evaluate odour values, remains largely unexplained.Here, we examined the behaviour of heterozygous OMP+/GFP (HET) mice vs. homologous GFP-knock-in OMP-deficient OMP GFP/ GFP (KI) mice during the olfactory investigation of odours with different values. When a swab containing an organic odour was presented, both HET and KI mice swiftly approached and investigated the swab with gradual habituation over test sessions. However, when another similar odour was presented, KI mice investigated the new swab much less intensively than HET mice. Next, mice were placed in a chamber with an aversive odour source in one corner of a test chamber. KI mice more frequently approached the compartment containing the aversive odour source than HET mice. Finally, we trained mice to associate two odours with solutions by utilizing reward-penalty values. HET mice stayed close to the reward-associated odour, while KI mice initially approached the reward-associated odour, occasionally turned towards the penalty-associated odour source and eventually stayed in the reward-odour compartment. Histologically, c-Fos-expressing juxtaglomerular cells were fewer and more broadly distributed around glomeruli in KI mice than HET mice.In conclusion, OMP contributes to the evaluation of odour values by glomerular processing during an olfactory investigation task.

Correction: Nitric oxide acts as a cotransmitter in a subset of dopaminergic neurons to diversify memory dynamics

Animals employ diverse learning rules and synaptic plasticity dynamics to record temporal and statistical information about the world. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this diversity are poorly understood. The anatomically defined compartments of the insect mushroom body function as parallel units of associative learning, with different learning rates, memory decay dynamics and flexibility (Aso and Rubin, 2016). Here, we show that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a neurotransmitter in a subset of dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila. NO's effects develop more slowly than those of dopamine and depend on soluble guanylate cyclase in postsynaptic Kenyon cells. NO acts antagonistically to dopamine; it shortens memory retention and facilitates the rapid updating of memories. The interplay of NO and dopamine enables memories stored in local domains along Kenyon cell axons to be specialized for predicting the value of odors based only on recent events. Our results provide key mechanistic insights into how diverse memory dynamics are established in parallel memory systems.

Improved Separation of Odor Responses in Granule Cells of the Olfactory Bulb During Odor Discrimination Learning.

In the olfactory bulb, olfactory information is translated into ensemble representations by mitral/tufted cells, and these representations change dynamically in a context-dependent manner. In particular, odor representations in mitral/tufted cells display pattern separation during odor discrimination learning. Although granule cells provide major inhibitory input to mitral/tufted cells and play an important role in pattern separation and olfactory learning, the dynamics of odor responses in granule cells during odor discrimination learning remain largely unknown. Here, we studied odor responses in granule cells of the olfactory bulb using fiber photometry recordings in awake behaving mice. We found that odors evoked reliable, excitatory responses in the granule cell population. Intriguingly, during odor discrimination learning, odor responses in granule cells exhibited improved separation and contained information about odor value. In conclusion, we show that granule cells in the olfactory bulb display learning-related plasticity, suggesting that they may mediate pattern separation in mitral/tufted cells.

Determination of rainbow trout quality parameters with Arduino microcontroller

AbstractIn this study, the rainbow trout was stored under refrigeration conditions (3 ± 1°C) for 18 days. Changes in the resistance levels in head, meat and eyes, changes of color in the head and meat, changes of liquid levels in the skin and meat, and odor values in the head and the meat were measured with Arduino microcontroller card and recorded during the storing period. In order to perform a significant comparison with the data obtained via Ardunio, the total viable count, psychrotrophic count and Enterobacteriaceae count in the fish meat were identified on a daily basis during storage. The results of the study indicated that the resistance value on the meat decreased significantly as the storage period increased; and that the Arduino‐based color, odor and liquid level measurement sensors could be used effectively in identifying the food quality.

Geleneksel Fermantasyon Yöntemiyle Üretilen Sarı Alıç Meyve (Crataegus tanacetifolia) Sirkesinin Fizikokimyasal ve Duyusal Kalite Özellikleri

In this study, some physical, chemical and sensory properties of vinegar produced from hawthorn (Crataegus tanacetifolia) by conventional method were investigated. According to the results of the analyses performed, dry matter, pH, total acidity, ash and conductivity values were determined to be 2.08±0.09%, 2.69±0.08, 20.49±0.13 g/L, 2.2±0.10 g/L and 1.36±0.08 μS/cm, respectively. As a result of the alcohol analysis performed after 9 months of storage, no alcohol was detected in the samples. Furthermore, total antioxidant activity and total phenolic content in vinegar samples were determined to be 86.23±8.12 μg trolox equivalent (TE)/mL and 751.11±15.71 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/L, respectively. In hawthorn vinegar samples, it was determined that the brix value was 2.24±0.07, density was 1.018±0.02 g/cm3, mean color values; L* values were 27.80±0.51; a* values were 1.33±0.04 and b* values were -0.30±0.13. 47.30±0.76 ppm Na, 3.38±0.04 ppm Mg, 197.14±3.50 ppm K, 2.59±0.47 ppm Ca, 83.20±0.43 ppm P, 0.42±0.01 ppm Fe, 0.02±0.01 ppm Cu, 0.33±0.00 ppm B, 0.18±0.00 ppm Zn, 0.75±0.01 ppm Al, 0.02±0.00 ppb Cr, 4.42±0.01 ppb Sn were found in hawthorn vinegar, which is rich in mineral content. According to the sensory analysis results, it was determined that the color scores of vinegar samples were 7.20±0.28, the aroma value was 6.25±0.32, the odor value was 6.75±0.37, the appearance value was 6.25±0.22, and the general appreciation value was 7.25±0.53.

Predictive Value of Odor Identification for Incident Dementia: The Shanghai Aging Study.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the value of odors in the olfactory identification (OI) test and other known risk factors for predicting incident dementia in the prospective Shanghai Aging Study.MethodsAt baseline, OI was assessed using the Sniffin’ Sticks Screening Test 12, which contains 12 different odors. Cognition assessment and consensus diagnosis were conducted at both baseline and follow-up to identify incident dementia. Four different multivariable logistic regression (MLR) models were used for predicting incident dementia. In the no-odor model, only demographics, lifestyle, and medical history variables were included. In the single-odor model, we further added one single odor to the first model. In the full model, all 12 odors were included. In the stepwise model, the variables were selected using a bidirectional stepwise selection method. The predictive abilities of these models were evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The permutation importance method was used to evaluate the relative importance of different odors and other known risk factors.ResultsSeventy-five (8%) incident dementia cases were diagnosed during 4.9 years of follow-up among 947 participants. The full and the stepwise MLR model (AUC = 0.916 and 0.914, respectively) have better predictive abilities compared with those of the no- or single-odor models. The five most important variables are Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, age, peppermint detection, coronary artery disease, and height in the full model, and MMSE, age, peppermint detection, stroke, and education in the stepwise model. The combination of only the top five variables in the stepwise model (AUC = 0.901 and sensitivity = 0.880) has as a good a predictive ability as other models.ConclusionThe ability to smell peppermint might be one of the useful indicators for predicting dementia. Combining peppermint detection with MMSE, age, education, and history of stroke may have sensitive and robust predictive value for dementia in older adults.

The use of beetroot extract and extract powder in sausages as natural food colorant

Abstract Four colorants (control, carmine, beetroot extract and beetroot extract powder) and two methods (fermentation and heat treatment) were used in the production of sausages. The betalain content, total phenolic substance content and ORAC and TEAC values of concentrated beetroot extract were 562.08 mg/L, 27.72 mg GAE/mL, 33.96 µmol TE/mL and 35.70 mmol TE/L, respectively. The moisture content, pH value, lightness (L*), yellowness (b*) and odor values of heat-processed sausages were higher than those of fermented sausages. 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values were lower in sausages with beetroot extract (20.51 μmol·MDA/kg) and powder (19.03 μmol MDA/kg) than for control and carmine treatments. The use of beetroot extract and powder positively affected the sensory appearance, color, flavor and overall acceptance of sausages. Thus, beetroot extract and powder could be used as alternatives to carmine in sausage production.

Transient and Persistent Representations of Odor Value in Prefrontal Cortex

The representation of odor in olfactory cortex (piriform) is distributive and unstructured and can only be afforded behavioral significance upon learning. We performed 2-photon imaging to examine the representation of odors in piriform and in two downstream areas, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), as mice learned olfactory associations. In piriform, we observed that odor responses were largely unchanged during learning. In OFC, 30% of the neurons acquired robust responses to conditioned stimuli (CS+) after learning, and these responses were gated by internal state and task context. Moreover, direct projections from piriform to OFC can be entrained to elicit learned olfactory behavior. CS+ responses in OFC diminished with continued training, whereas persistent representations of both CS+ and CS- odors emerged in mPFC. Optogenetic silencing indicates that these two brain structures function sequentially to consolidate the learning of appetitive associations.

Rapid Learning of Odor-Value Association in the Olfactory Striatum.

Rodents can successfully learn multiple novel stimulus-response associations after only a few repetitions when the contingencies predict reward. The circuits modified during such reinforcement learning to support decision-making are not known, but the olfactory tubercle (OT) and posterior piriform cortex (pPC) are candidates for decoding reward category from olfactory sensory input and relaying this information to cognitive and motor areas. Through single-cell recordings in behaving male and female C57BL/6 mice, we show here that an explicit representation for reward category emerges in the OT within minutes of learning a novel odor-reward association, whereas the pPC lacks an explicit representation even after weeks of overtraining. The explicit reward category representation in OT is visible in the first sniff (50-100 ms) of an odor on each trial, and precedes the motor action. Together, these results suggest that the coding of stimulus information required for reward prediction does not occur within olfactory cortex, but rather in circuits involving the olfactory striatum.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Rodents are olfactory specialists and can use odors to learn contingencies quickly and well. We have found that mice can readily learn to place multiple odors into rewarded and unrewarded categories. Once they have learned the rule, they can do such categorization in a matter of minutes (<10 trials). We found that neural activity in olfactory cortex largely reflects sensory coding, with very little explicit information about categories. By contrast, neural activity in a brain region in the ventral striatum is rapidly modified in a matter of minutes to reflect reward category. Our experiments set up a paradigm for studying rapid sensorimotor reinforcement in a circuit that is right at the interface of sensory input and reward areas.

Study on the Quality of Natural Flavor Powder made from Shrimp Waste

The aims of this study are to determine the quality of natural flavor powder from shrimp waste and obtain new application technology for application of processing shrimp waste for natural flavor powder. This study using Completely Randomized Design non factorial. The treatment is adding wheat flour in three steps, they are without adding wheat flour (R0), adding wheat flour 1:1 (R1), and adding wheat flour 1:2 (R2) with three replications. This study results yield about 369.185%. Different quantity of wheat flour give effect to organoleptic value (flavor and aroma), the best treatment is R0 with flavor value is 4.17 and aroma value is 4.28%. Threshold value for taste is 8% at ratio 1:8 and threshold odor value for aroma is 12% at ratio of 1: 9. When dilution ratio is increase, the taste and aroma of shrimp in flavor powder is decreases until it is not detected. Shrimp flavor powder contains 17 types of amino acids, consisting of 9 essential amino acids and 8 non-essential amino acids. The highest essential amino acid is leucine which is equal to 0.362% and the highest non-essential amino acid is glutamate acid which is equal to 0.913%.

Nitric oxide acts as a cotransmitter in a subset of dopaminergic neurons to diversify memory dynamics.

Animals employ diverse learning rules and synaptic plasticity dynamics to record temporal and statistical information about the world. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this diversity are poorly understood. The anatomically defined compartments of the insect mushroom body function as parallel units of associative learning, with different learning rates, memory decay dynamics and flexibility (Aso and Rubin, 2016). Here, we show that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a neurotransmitter in a subset of dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila. NO's effects develop more slowly than those of dopamine and depend on soluble guanylate cyclase in postsynaptic Kenyon cells. NO acts antagonistically to dopamine; it shortens memory retention and facilitates the rapid updating of memories. The interplay of NO and dopamine enables memories stored in local domains along Kenyon cell axons to be specialized for predicting the value of odors based only on recent events. Our results provide key mechanistic insights into how diverse memory dynamics are established in parallel memory systems.

Effect of different pre‐drying treatments on the quality of dried apple slices

The effect of pre-treatment such as osmotic dehydration (OD), honey immersion (HI), citric acid dipping (CD), steam blanched (SB), and sulfiting in sodium-metabisulfite (SU) of apple slices on physicochemical, sensory and antioxidant properties were studied. Chemical composition, total phenols, Vit (C), antioxidant activities and sensory evaluation were tested for all treatments. Results Showed that SB pre-treatment had the lowest percentage of moisture content and the highest percentage of total soluble solids (TSS). Sulfiting pretreatment had the maximum value of ascorbic acid, total phenolics content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AOA). Sensory evaluation of dried apple slices showed that SU and HI treatments had the best value of taste and texture. Furthermore, HI had the best value of odor, while SU treatment had the best value of color. Future work could look at the possibility of enrobing the apple wedges with coatings (e.g. sodium alginate) to reduce the disadvantages of some treatment.

Fortification of Yellow Potatoes Sweet Flour and Jamblang Fruit Paste (Syzygiumcumini) in the Making of Biscuits on it’s Sensoric Characteristics and Mineral Content

Biscuits are consumed by all age groups, both babies and adults with different types. However, commercial biscuits on the market have a less balanced nutritional content (Setyowati and Nisa, 2014). Most biscuits have high carbohydrate and fat content, while mineral content is relatively low and does not contain antioxidants. For this reason, researchers make mineral-rich biscuits and finding out the level of acceptance of panelists through a hedonic test of the biscuits produced. This research will use factorial completely randomized design (CRD) consisting of 2 (two) factors. The first factor is the concentration of yellow sweet potatoes flour consisting of 3 (three) levels : K1 (20%), K2 (40%), K3 (60%). The second factor was the concentration of jamblang fruit paste that consists of 3 (three) levels: J1 (15%), J2 (30%) and J3 (45%) of 200 grams in total flour. The treatment combination in this study was 3x3 (nine) treatments. Furthermore, this study used 3 (three) replications, resulting in 27 (twenty seven) unit of experiments. The analysis carried out in the study were ash content and organoleptic test consisting of color, taste, odor and texture. The addition of yellow sweet potatoes flour has a very significant effect (P≥0.01) on ash content, and organoleptic value of taste, color, odor and texture. The addition of jamblang fruit paste had a very significant effect (P≥0.01) on the organoleptic value of taste, odor and texture, and had a significant effect (P≥0.05) on the organoleptic value of the biscuit color and had no significant effect (P 5 0.05) on biscuit ash content. The interaction of the addition of yellow sweet potatoes flour with the addition of jamblang fruit paste had a very significant effect (P≥0.01) on the organoleptic value of smell and texture, and had a significant effect (P≥0.05) on the organoleptic value of the biscuit color and had an unreal effect (P ≤ 0.05) to the ash content of the organoleptic value of the biscuit flavor.

Effect of modified tapioca starch on the physicochemical and sensory properties of liquid kashk.

Three forms of modified tapioca starch, i.e. phosphorylated cross-linked tapioca starch (CLTS), octenyl succinic anhydride substituted tapioca starch (OSTS) and hydroxypropylated tapioca starch (HPTS) were studied and used as stabilizers (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) in industrial liquid kashk, and their effects on the physicochemical and sensory properties of products were examined during 60days of refrigerated storage. When combined with the highest concentration of each stabilizer, the kashk reached its highest acidity, hardness, adhesiveness, viscosity and overall acceptability, while the lowest value of syneresis was obtained. Moreover, the highest values of viscosity was observed after incorporating CLTS into the samples, and other samples with HPTS showed the highest syneresis, hardness, adhesiveness and overall acceptability. During storage, there were significant trends of increase in the values of acidity, syneresis and hardness, whereas the viscosity, pH and adhesiveness decreased significantly. Several sensory attributes such as texture, odour value and overall acceptability were influenced by the type of stabilizer. In general, among the three kinds of modified tapioca starch, the HPTS was the most suitable form at the concentration of 1.5%, and this was most appropriate for the production of industrial liquid kashk with respect to high-quality physicochemical and sensory properties.

Odor removal by and microbial community in the enhanced landfill cover materials containing biochar-added sludge compost under different operating parameters

Odor problem has become a growing concern for municipal solid waste (MSW) operators and communities located close to landfill sites. In this study, nine laboratory-scale landfill reactors were used to simulate in-situ odor control by a novel landfill cover material consisting of biochar-added sludge compost under various operating parameters. Characterization of odor removal and microbial community in the cover layer under various operating parameters was conducted using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry and 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing, respectively. Results showed that H2S (76.9–86.0%) and volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs) (12.3–21.7%) were dominant according to their theoretical generated odor concentrations. The total odor REs calculated using the theoretical odor concentrations in the landfill reactors were different than using the measured odor values, which were ranked from high to low as: R6 > R5 > R7 > R4 > R8 > R9 > R3 > R2 > R1, showing the largest discrepancy of 25.3%. The optimum combination of operating parameters based on the theoretical odor concentration was different with that based on the measured odor concentrations. Moreover, although Firmicutes (12.21–91.48%), Proteobacteria (3.55–51.03%), and Actinobacteria (4.01–47.39%) were in general the three major bacterial phyla found in the landfill covers, the detailed bacterial communities in the cover materials of the simulated reactors varied with various operating parameters. Alicyclobacillus and Tuberibacillus showed positive correlations with the removal efficiencies (REs) of chlorinated compounds, H2S, aromatic compounds, volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs), and organic acids. The correlations of Rhodanobacter, Gemmatimonas, Flavisolibacter and Sphingomonas were strongly positive with ammonia RE and relatively positive with REs of organic acids, VOSCs, and aromatic compounds. These findings are instrumental in understanding the relationship between the structure of microbial communities and odor removal performances, and in developing techniques for in-situ odor control at landfills.

The Odor Value Concept in the Formal Analysis of Olfactory Art

AbstractIn the past 15 years, there has been a tremendous increase in the emergence of olfactory artworks despite the traditional skepticism with respect to scents as subjects of art. This essay submits that this skepticism lacks aesthetic justification; art is what is accepted as such, and olfactory art is in fact already well accepted as an art form by the general public. However, there exists no methodological tool for the formal analysis of olfactory artworks. The essay suggests such a method, based on odor values; this is elaborated using the fragrance ‘Dune’ (Dior, 1991), and is compared with a purely visual approach to the same subject. This new concept allows for the derivation of simple compositional sketches and is then exemplified by the formal analysis of three more recent olfactory artworks: Elodie Pong/Roman Kaiser, ‘White‘ (2016), Martynka Wawrzyniak/Yann Vasnier, ‘Tears (T6)’ (2012), and Christophe Laudamiel, ‘heat’ (2003).

A new approach to automation of black tea fermentation process with electronic nose

ABSTRACTManufacturing of black tea is a complex process consisting of plucking, withering, curling, fermenting, drying, determining of quality, and packaging stages. Nowadays, tea quality is determined by two methods. Either chemical analysis method is used or tea tasters give quality scores by tasting, smelling, and visual inspection. By means of recent studies, tea quality can also be determined by electronic nose technology. The quality of tea is generally related with the fermentation stage. In this work, an electronic nose, which determines the quality of tea during the fermentation process in real time from only its odour, was made, and the fermentation band was controlled by this electronic nose. Fermentation bands of a tea factory in the Çayeli District of Rize, Turkey have been simulated and controlled via LabVIEW simulation software by using real odour values measured in the factory with the electronic nose. In the study, a new fermentation band system has been designed to function with the electronic nose. This section of the study has been performed in the simulation environment due to the high cost of physical system setup. With the method proposed in this study, tea factories will be able to increase their production capacity with higher quality.

Olfactory Awareness and the Self-Reported Importance of Olfactory Information in Romantic Interest

Many people seem to be looking for similar attributes when searching for a potential romantic partner. Olfactory social cues can be important parts of the process, though there are individual differences as to their value. Gay men, for example, value scent less in selecting a romantic partner than do heterosexual men (White and Cunningham, Chemosens Percept 10:31–41, 2017). Is it possible that the relative importance of olfaction in mate selection is simply a natural consequence of being generally aware of odorants? The present study examined the relationship between odor awareness and odor importance in mating in two studies. Participants in each of the studies completed both the Romantic Interests Survey (Herz and Inzlich, Evol Hum Behav 23:359–364, 2002) and the Odor Awareness Survey (Smeets et al., Chem Senses 33:725–734, 2008). In the first study, 455 college-aged heterosexual individuals were surveyed, while in the second study, 453 individuals varying in sexual preference (142 heterosexual women, 161 heterosexual men, and 150 gay men) completed the questionnaires. Principle components analyses from both studies revealed two different components underlying scores on the RIS; one component best accounted for OAS scores. Regression analysis for both studies indicated that OAS scores predicted the first RIS principle component, but not the second one. The value of odorants in selecting a romantic partner seems to reflect two different underlying attitudes. The first attitude values all aspects of the smell of a lover, while the second only finds it important that the lover does not smell badly. Odor awareness is related only to the first of these attitudes. These findings suggest that odor awareness accounts for some of the attitudes concerning the value of odors in mate selection, but not all of them. Other factors, such as the need to avoid aversive stimuli, may also contribute to the relative importance of olfaction in selecting a partner.