Spray drying (SD) is extensively used to encapsulate lactic acid bacteria in large-scale industrial applications; however, bacteria combat several harms that reduce their viability. In this study, a ...novel technique called electrostatic spray drying (ESD) was used to explore the benefits and disadvantages of using electrostatic charge and lower temperatures in the system. Freeze drying (FD) was used as a reference. The effect of different encapsulation agents, like maltodextrin, arabic gum, and skim milk, on the viability of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) was investigated. The initial cell concentration, particle size distribution, aspect ratio, sphericity, scanning-electron-microscopy images, moisture content, water activity, glass transition, rehydration abilities, and survival during storage were compared. Skim milk was proven to be the best protectant for LGG, regardless of the drying process or storage time. A huge reduction in cell numbers (4.49 ± 0.06 log CFU/g) was observed with maltodextrin using SD; meanwhile, it was protected with minimum loss (8.64 ± 0.62 log CFU/g) with ESD. In general, ESD preserved more LGG cells during processing compared to SD, and provided better stability than FD and SD during storage, regardless of the applied voltage. The ESD product analysis demonstrated an efficient LGG preservation, close to FD; therefore, ESD presented to be a promising and scalable substitute for SD and FD.
This review is primarily focused on the comparison of three emerging techniques: electrospraying, nano spray drying, and electrostatic spray drying techniques. There are persistent advances to ...develop efficient drying technique for sensitive bioactives and to overcome their hurdles. These processes involve electrostatic forces as a promising factor for better encapsulation and stability of dried particles. Their potential differences in experimental setup, influencing factors and recent applications are listed. Introduction of electrostatic interaction between the components during atomization allows electrospraying and electrostatic spray drying as an advanced drying technique for heat-sensitive and labile products. Electrospraying and nano-spray drying demonstrated an effective drying with different solvent systems (organic or non-organic solvents) and also, achieved to encapsulate complex food ingredients (vitamins, minerals, phenolic compounds, probiotics etc.). These electric-assisted technologies showed higher encapsulation efficiency, uniform particle morphology and longer stability of dried powders than classical technologies. Nano-spray dryer with spray mesh technology and electrostatic collector brings out difference in dried powders in terms of particle size and product yield when compared to conventional spray drying. Electrospraying and nano-spray drying have been beneficial for highly valued research products (such as cells, enzymes, genes, etc.) but the scaling up of these processes is still currently in process.
•Three emerging spray drying technologies using electric fields have been reviewed.•Electrospraying, nano-spray & electrostatic spray drying works at lower temperature.•These processes involve electrostatic forces allowing droplets & particle repulsion.•Overall technical considerations, advantages and limitations are discussed.•Industrial set up of electrostatic spray drying is commercially available.
Advances in existing drying techniques are essential for upgrading large scale industries. Enzymes are often degraded by drying processes. Spray drying (SD) has detrimental effects on bioactive ...molecules at high temperatures. Freeze-drying (FD) is a reference technique capable of drying sensible molecules at low temperature. In this paper, electrostatic spray drying (ESD) was utilized for the first time to encapsulate β-gal (β-galactosidase) and compared with conventional SD and FD techniques. Matrices such as maltodextrin, trehalose, shellac, skim milk and arabic gum were used to encapsulate β-gal. The residual enzyme activity was analyzed based on lactose hydrolysis and quantified using HPLC. Morphologies, particle sizes, shapes and reconstitution times were also compared. SD at inlet air temperature of 170 °C, degraded enzyme functionality and reconstitution ability. ESD at intermediate temperatures (inlet/outlet – 90 °C/44 °C) produced microparticles with better characteristics than SD. In addition, ESD microparticles showed maximum preservation of β-gal in maltodextrin, trehalose, and shellac with a 1–3 kV voltage supply, and the residual enzyme activity was similar to that of FD. Thus, ESD is an alternative technique to FD, which is often considered efficient, but time consuming and expensive.
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•β-galactosidase was efficiently microencapsulated in different stabilizing matrices.•Enzyme activity was highly recovered after ESD & FD microparticles rehydration.•SD with 170 °C inlet air temperature degraded the enzyme functionality.•ESD was capable to encapsulate β-gal with better microparticle characteristics.
Spray drying (SD) and freeze drying (FD) represent common methods utilized across various industries to achieve powdered final products. Electrostatic spray drying (ESD) is an emerging alternative as ...a continuous process to dry sensitive products without degradation, challenging the established drying techniques. This study aims to explore the efficacy of this process (ESD) in preserving the integrity of active components like oils, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and enzymes. Additionally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) of these three drying technologies was conducted for a comprehensive evaluation. In oil encapsulation, the study showed that oxidation was significantly influenced by the formulation and the drying processes employed, where higher encapsulation efficiency resulted in lower degradation. This was observed, for instance, in the saponin composition dried with ESD. For LAB encapsulation, the results demonstrated higher preservation using FD and ESD. However, the impact of climate change using FD is twice superior to the ESD process. Finally, for enzyme application, β-gal activity was retained maximally while encapsulating using skim milk or maltodextrin. Specifically, regardless of drying technique, maltodextrin exhibited a maximum retention of β-gal activity, exceeding 30%. In all the case studies, ESD proved to excel in encapsulating thermosensitive actives, highlighting superior retention of native viability and properties compared to SD. Additionally, ESD generated results comparable to those achieved with FD. Therefore, ESD appears to be a promising method for high powder quality and a more sustainable process than FD and SD.
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•Introduction of ESD compared to SD & FD was performed.•Effects of formulation and scales were studied.•LCA was conducted to evaluate powder production scenarios.•ESD was the most efficient to encapsulate thermosensitive active.
Spray drying (SD) is extensively used to encapsulate lactic acid bacteria in large-scale industrial applications; however, bacteria combat several harms that reduce their viability. In this study, a ...novel technique called electrostatic spray drying (ESD) was used to explore the benefits and disadvantages of using electrostatic charge and lower temperatures in the system. Freeze drying (FD) was used as a reference. The effect of different encapsulation agents, like maltodextrin, arabic gum, and skim milk, on the viability of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) was investigated. The initial cell concentration, particle size distribution, aspect ratio, sphericity, scanning-electron-microscopy images, moisture content, water activity, glass transition, rehydration abilities, and survival during storage were compared. Skim milk was proven to be the best protectant for LGG, regardless of the drying process or storage time. A huge reduction in cell numbers (4.49 ± 0.06 log CFU/g) was observed with maltodextrin using SD; meanwhile, it was protected with minimum loss (8.64 ± 0.62 log CFU/g) with ESD. In general, ESD preserved more LGG cells during processing compared to SD, and provided better stability than FD and SD during storage, regardless of the applied voltage. The ESD product analysis demonstrated an efficient LGG preservation, close to FD; therefore, ESD presented to be a promising and scalable substitute for SD and FD.
MicroRNAs control gene expression at the posttranscriptional level by base-pairing to the 3′-UTR of their target mRNAs, thus leading to mRNA degradation of protein fabrication. We hypothesize, SNPs ...within miRNAs and their targets could be of significance to an individual's risk of developing cancer. We analyzed
in silico SNP information on cervical cancer associated aberrant alleles and further investigated this in a case-control study by examining eleven SNPs from different genes. It was observed that a C to T polymorphism in putative miRNA target site of BCL2 was significantly conspicuous for the aberrant SNP allele in cancer tissues as compared to controls. This study provides evidence that SNPs in miRNA-binding sites may play an important role in increasing risk of cancer. The results also paves way for future studies to validate these results in other well-characterized populations as well as to explore the biological significance of these particular SNPs.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the doses delivered to the brachytherapy (BT) target volume and organs at risk from two-dimensional X-ray-based plans on magnetic resonance imaging ...(MRI) and to compare these doses with the corresponding doses from the image-based optimized plans.
Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with cervical cancer treated with chemoradiation and BT were included in this study. All patients had two sets of treatment plans generated for the first fraction of BT. Volume doses resulting from MRI-based optimized plans were compared with the corresponding doses from standard "Point A" prescription plans.
Results: There was statistically significant difference between the two planning modalities for the mean high-risk clinical target volume (HRCTV) D90 doses (P = 0.0014) although mean D2cc of bladder (P = 0.1667) and rectum (P = 0.051) was not different. Standard plans with a prescription dose of 7 Gy to Point A delivered a mean HRCTV D90 of 10.07 Gy in patients with no gross residual disease at the time of BT, which was very similar to the mean dose from MR-based plans (MRI 10.02 Gy and standard 10.07 Gy). The only factor seen affecting dose distribution in this group was the applicator geometry. Standard plans failed to deliver HRCTV D90 doses of >8.5 Gy in all patients with gross residual disease. The doses were <7.00 Gy to the HRCTV in three patients who had maximum residual diseases at the time of BT.
Conclusion: Conventional X-ray-based plans with moderate Point A doses deliver HRCTV D90 comparable to MRI-based plans in patients with no residual disease, and centrally placed residual disease, provided proper applicator placement and ideal geometry can be ensured. Soft-tissue image-based BT dose optimization ought to be considered in all patients with gross residual disease at the time of brachytherapy.
The present study was designed to identify the role of folate, B12, homocysteine, and polymorphisms of methylene tetrahydrofolatereductase (MTHFR) gene in cervical carcinogenesis among 322 women from ...Kerala, South India. Serum folate, vitamin B12 (chemiluminescence assay), and homocysteine (EIA) along with genetic polymorphisms of MTHFR gene (polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism) were analyzed for 136 control subjects, 92 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) subjects, and 94 invasive cervical cancer cases (ICC). Statistically significant associations between MTHFR polymorphisms, serum homocysteine, and folate levels with cervical carcinogenesis were not evident, but we found that these parameters acted as effect modifiers of serum vitamin B12. The risk estimates observed for B12 became prominent only when there was a deficiency in serum folate levels LSIL-odds ratio (OR): 14.9 (95% CI: 2.65 to 84.4); ICC-OR = 8.72 (95% CI = 1.55 to 48.8) or when MTHFR A1298C polymorphic variant was present LSIL-OR = 9.8 (95% CI = 2.61 to 36.7); ICC-OR = 10.0 (95%CI = 2.5 to 39.3). The statistical significance of this effect modification was further studied using an interaction model, where only folate was observed to have an influence on B12 levels as suggested by the odds ratio of 7.11 (95% CI = 0.45 to 111.9) obtained for ICC group, implicating a synergistic role of these 2 vitamins in invasive cervical cancer.
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