(Our full paper will be available here shortly...)

The maternal immune system may play a role in offspring neurodevelopment. We examined whether maternal autoimmune disease, asthma, and allergy were associated with child autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delay without autism (DD) using 560 ASD cases, 391 typically developing controls, and 168 DD cases from the CHildhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study. Results from conditional logistic regression demonstrated few significant associations overall. Maternal autoimmune disease was significantly associated with a modest increase in odds of developmental disorders (combined ASD + DD; OR = 1.46, 95 % CI 1.01, 2.09) but not of ASD alone. Associations with certain allergens and onset periods were also suggested. These findings suggest maternal autoimmune disease may modestly influence childhood developmental disorders (ASD + DD).

Protective antigen (PA) is a central virulence factor of Bacillus anthracis and a key component in anthrax vaccines. PA binds to target cell receptors, is cleaved by the furin protease, self-aggregates to heptamers, and finally internalizes as a complex with either lethal or edema factors. Under mild room temp. storage conditions, PA cytotoxicity decreased (t1/2 ≈ 7 days) concomitant with the generation of new acidic isoforms, probably through deamidation of Asn residues. Ranking all 68 Asn residues in PA based on their predicted deamidation rates revealed five residues with half-lives of \textless60 days, and these residues were further analyzed: Asn10 in the 20-kDa region, Asn162 at P6 vicinal to the furin cleavage site, Asn306 in the pro-pore translocation loop, and both Asn713 and Asn719 in the receptor-binding domain. We found that PA underwent spontaneous deamidation at Asn162 upon storage concomitant with decreased susceptibility to furin. A panel of model synthetic furin substrates was used to demonstrate that Asn162 deamidation led to a 20-fold decrease in the bimol. rate const. (kcat/Km) of proteolysis due to the new neg. charged residue at P6 in the furin recognition sequence. Furthermore, reduced PA cytotoxicity correlated with a decrease in PA cell binding and also with deamidation of Asn713 and Asn719. On the other hand, neither deamidation of Asn10 or Asn306 nor impairment of heptamerization could be obsd. upon prolonged PA storage. We suggest that PA inactivation during storage is assocd. with susceptible deamidation sites, which are intimately involved in both mechanisms of PA cleavage by furin and PA-receptor binding. [on SciFinder(R)]

Disclosed is a process for the manuf. of tomato products, comprises the steps of: (a) pretreating the tomatoes by conventional operations, including crushing; (b) subjecting them to heat treatment; (c) sepg. the crushed tomatoes into serum and pulp contg. at least 500 ppm of lycopene; (d) subjecting the pulp to solvent extn., in order to ext. therefrom an oleoresin contg. lycopene; (e) sepg. the spent pulp; and (f) sepg. the lycopene ext. from the solvents, whereby to obtain oleoresin contg. the lycopene and to recover the solvents. [on SciFinder(R)]

Different oxidizing agents for performing the cleavage oxidn. of the double bond of the unsatd. fatty acids are presented, and their economic performance is analyzed. Ozone and sodium hypochlorite are the most com. efficient oxidants. Lab. work for the oxidn. of oleic acid to azelaic and pelargonic acids using hypochlorite as oxidant is described. The advantages of working in an emulsion system and using RuCl3 as a catalyst are discussed, and a possible mechanism of the reaction is presented. A flow sheet for an industrial process based on this concept is proposed. A simulation of a plant using this technol. is made by a computerized model, and the economic parameters obtained suggest that sodium hypochlorite can be an interesting reagent for industrial oxidns. of double bonds in fatty acids. [on SciFinder(R)]

In this paper the authors examd. feasible correlations between the structure of different lyotropic mesophases and transdermal administration of three diclofenac derivs. with varying degrees of kosmotropic or chaotropic properties, solubilized within the mesophases. It was found that the most chaotropic deriv. of diclofenac di-Et amine (DEA-DFC) interacted with the polar heads of glycerol monooleate (GMO), thus expanding the water-lipid interface of the lamellar and cubic mesophases. This effect was detected by an increase in the lattice parameter of both mesophases, enhanced elastic properties, and increased solid-like response of the systems in the presence of DEA. Potassium diclofenac (K-DFC), a less chaotropic salt, had less pronounced effect on the structural features of the mesophases. Kosmotropic Na+ salt (Na-DFC) had only minor influence on both lamellar and cubic structures. The locus of solubilization of the mols. with the host mesophases was correlated with their delivery. It was suggested that transdermal delivery of kosmotropic Na-DFC was accelerated by the aq. phase and less constrained by the interaction with monoglyceride. The chaotropic cations (K+ and DEA+), presumably entrapped in the water-lipid interface, interacted with monoglyceride headgroups, which is likely to be the key cause for their sustained administration. [on SciFinder(R)]

{The crystn. of glycine and L-phenylalanine from water-isooctane microemulsions stabilized by AOT (sodium di-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate) has been investigated. Crystn. phenomena were strongly affected by the localization of the solubilized mols. within the microemulsion droplets. In the case of glycine, which is solubilized within the water pools, a significant redn. in crystal size was obsd. in the temp. range investigated (Ti = 35 °C

As a basis for crystn. studies, the solubilization of amino acids (glycine, l-histidine, and l-phenylalanine) in H2O-in-isooctane microemulsions stabilized by AOT (Na di-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate) was studied. The max. amt. of amino acid that could be solubilized was detd. by the solid-liq. extn. method, and the effect of the guest mols. (amino acids) on the size and shape of the microemulsion droplets and their thermal properties were detd. using SAXS and DSC measurements, resp. The solubilization of glycine mols., which primarily dissolve in the H2O pool, was slightly lower than their soly. in pure H2O, decreasing with increasing concn. of AOT and increasing with increasing H2O content in the microemulsion. But the solubilization of phenylalanine, which is primarily located at the H2O/oil interface, exceeded several times the soly. in H2O, the solubilized amt. increasing with increasing AOT and/or H2O concns. Histidine had characteristics intermediate between these 2 extremes. Solubilization of those mols. effected an increase in droplet size. The thermal anal. showed that loading of the microemulsion droplets with glycine has a much stronger effect on the thermal behavior of the emulsified H2O than has loading with phenylalanine. The low solubilization of glycine as compared to its soly. in pure H2O can be explained by the state of H2O within the microemulsion droplets, i.e., part of it is present as free H2O and part as H2O bound to the AOT headgroups. The loading of phenylalanine changed the shape of the microemulsion droplets from spherical to ellipsoidal, and with increasing droplet sizes, the [phenylalanine]/[AOT] molar ratio at the interface increased. [on SciFinder(R)]

A review. Soft self-assembled lipidic systems with well-defined nanostructures have become increasingly important in the development of pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic delivery systems. They have key roles in overcoming the insufficiency of bioavailability and other obstacles in drug delivery systems, such as severe side effects and the toxicity of poorly water-sol. bioactive mols. In particular, self-assembled nanostructures of naturally occurring surfactant-like lipids represent an interesting family of nanocarriers. This family of biodegradable and biocompatible materials displays structures closely related to those obsd. in biol. membranes and enables the formation of efficient delivery systems. The optimal utilization of these nanostructured objects requires a full understanding of their physicochem. properties and detailed characterization of their structures. Their stability after administration is a key issue in the development of excipients with a good performance and a significant redn. of unwanted side effects. This chapter summarizes recent studies of the possibility of utilizing soft lipidic self-assembled systems as drug and food nanocarriers. The scope covers recent investigations that have attempted to shed light on the formation of delivery systems based on microemulsions, and different nanostructured aq. dispersions. It highlights also some recent advances in the characterization of these complex soft nanoobjects. The main focus is placed on the recent developments in the field of small-angle scattering methods, dynamic light scattering (DLS), electron microscopy (tilt-angle cryo-TEM, and cryo-FESEM), and NMR (NMR) techniques. [on SciFinder(R)]

A review. The present contribution summarizes our previous investigations on the formation of emulsions, whose particles consist of a self-assembled inverted-type liq. cryst. phase or an inverted-type microemulsion. In this context, the main focus was on replacing either the dispersed oil droplets in normal O/W emulsions, or the kinetically stabilized internal W/O emulsion in double W/O/W emulsions, by an inverted-type liq. cryst. phase or an inverted-type microemulsion system. Owing to the physico-chem. properties of their internal nanostructures, these unique aq. dispersions are superior to conventional emulsions and double emulsions. They are attractive as nanonreactors and as host systems for solubilizing active mols. (drugs, flavors, and vitamins) in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food industries. This chapter describes the effect of varying temp. and solubilizing oil on the reversible structural transitions of the internal nanostructures of these lipidic dispersions. [on SciFinder(R)]

An interfacial Maillard reaction between furfural and cysteine in two different food-grade nano-sized self-assembled solns. with two oppositely curved interfaces (W/O and O/W microemulsions) have been studied and compared. These microemulsions are selective microreactors strongly enhancing the generation of sulfur-contg. flavors. The Maillard reactions occur at lower temps. than in water and are much faster. The interfaces of both W/O and O/W microemulsions are capable of enhancing the Maillard reactions in which the selectivity and reactivity are controlled by the compn. of the interface and its curvature. In the W/O microemulsions the Maillard reaction was controlled and enhanced by the interfacial concn. of a co-emulsifier such as butanol and are restricted by the concn. of the core water reservoir. On the other hand, in the O/W microemulsions, where water is the continuous phase, the reaction rates are enhanced by increase in the water content and the microemulsion curvature. The Maillard product internal compn. (regioselectivity and type of products) is dictated by temp., time, pH and mainly by the nature of the interface, and by the surfactant nature and its interfacial compn. [on SciFinder(R)]

The improved water and oil solubilization in the presence of polyols (propylene glycol, PG, and glycerol, Gly) and short-chain alc. (ethanol) in U-type nonionic W/O and O/W food microemulsions was investigated. The phase behavior of systems based on Tweens (ethoxylated sorbitan esters) was compared with non-food-grade systems based on C18:1E10 (Brij 96v). Short-chain alc. (ethanol in food-grade systems) together with polyols (glycerol and propylene glycol) when added to a three component system (oil-surfactant-water) induce the formation of both water-in-oil (W/O) and oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions. Alcs. and polyols destabilize the liq. cryst. phase and extend the isotropic region to higher surfactant concns. The total monophasic area, AT, at R(+)-limonene/ethanol of 1/1 (wt./wt.) and aq. phase of water/PG of 1/1 (wt./wt.), was 73 and 64% of the total area of the phase diagram for Brij 96v and Tween 60, resp. The transition from a W/O microemulsion into an O/W microemulsion happens gradually, and continuously without any phase sepn. The total monophasic area depends also on the type of the oil, on the compn. of the polar and apolar phases, and on the nature of the polyol. Solubilization properties are explained n terms of spontaneous curvature, film flexibility, etc. Deviations from the BSO equation are explained in terms of the nature of the oil and surfactants. The difference in temp. sensitivity of PG-based microemulsions vs. temp. sensitivity of Gly-based is demonstrated and explained. [on SciFinder(R)]

Protective antigen (PA) is a central virulence factor of Bacillus anthracis and a key component in anthrax vaccines. PA binds to target cell receptors, is cleaved by the furin protease, self-aggregates to heptamers, and finally internalizes as a complex with either lethal or edema factors. Under mild room temp. storage conditions, PA cytotoxicity decreased (t1/2 ≈ 7 days) concomitant with the generation of new acidic isoforms, probably through deamidation of Asn residues. Ranking all 68 Asn residues in PA based on their predicted deamidation rates revealed five residues with half-lives of \textless60 days, and these residues were further analyzed: Asn10 in the 20-kDa region, Asn162 at P6 vicinal to the furin cleavage site, Asn306 in the pro-pore translocation loop, and both Asn713 and Asn719 in the receptor-binding domain. We found that PA underwent spontaneous deamidation at Asn162 upon storage concomitant with decreased susceptibility to furin. A panel of model synthetic furin substrates was used to demonstrate that Asn162 deamidation led to a 20-fold decrease in the bimol. rate const. (kcat/Km) of proteolysis due to the new neg. charged residue at P6 in the furin recognition sequence. Furthermore, reduced PA cytotoxicity correlated with a decrease in PA cell binding and also with deamidation of Asn713 and Asn719. On the other hand, neither deamidation of Asn10 or Asn306 nor impairment of heptamerization could be obsd. upon prolonged PA storage. We suggest that PA inactivation during storage is assocd. with susceptible deamidation sites, which are intimately involved in both mechanisms of PA cleavage by furin and PA-receptor binding. [on SciFinder(R)]