BACKGROUND The botanical relation between grass and cereal grains may be relevant when diagnosing food allergy to cereals. The aim was to investigate the diagnostic specificity of skin prick test (SPT) and specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) tests to cereals and peanut in grass pollen allergic subjects without history of, and clinically reactions to foods botanically related to grass. METHODS 70...

BACKGROUND Foods containing flaxseed proteins rich inpolyunsaturatedfatty acids are new on the market. OBJECTIVES In a population of patients attending the allergology department, we evaluated the frequency of sensitization to flaxseed, characterized allergens and looked for modifications related to industrial processing. METHODS Natural, heated and extruded flaxseeds were tested using pric...

Semliki Forest virus (SFV) envelope proteins function as proton pores under mildly acidic conditions and translocate protons across the viral membrane [Schlegel, A., Omar, A., Jentsch, P., Morell, A. and Kemp, F. C. (1991) Biosci. Rep. 11, 243-255]. As a consequence, during uptake of SFV by cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis the nucleocapsid is supposed to be exposed to protons. In this pa...

Several species of the family Bromeliaceae are characterized by the production of proteases in unusual amounts, especially in fruits. Bromelain, an extract rich in cysteine endopeptidases obtained from Ananas comosus L., and a few other proteases have been used as anti-inflammatory agents for some years, but bromelain is still mainly being used as alternative and/or complementary therapy to the...

BACKGROUND Specific IgE antibodies against the low-molecular-weight carbohydrate antigen that does not bridge IgE molecules on mast cells are not associated with clinical symptoms. Cross reactivity can be determined in allergen-specific IgE detection assays when the carbohydrate structures between pollen allergens and plant derived food allergens are similar; in such cases, false positive resul...

The stone fish (Actinopyga lecanora) ethanolic and methanolic tissue extracts were investigated for total phenolic contents (TPCs) as well as antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH(•)) radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Both extracts showed low amount of phenolics (20.33 to 17.03 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g dried samp...

Bromelain is a complex mixture of proteinases typically derived from pineapple stem. Similar proteinases are also present in pineapple fruit. Beneficial therapeutic effects of bromelain have been suggested or proven in several human inflammatory diseases and animal models of inflammation, including arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. However, it is not clear how each of the proteinases wi...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme, particularly effective in the treatment of soft tissue inflammations and traumas, in localized inflammations, especially in presence of hydropsy and also in postoperative tissue reactions. The aim of the present study is to assess the efficacy of bromelain in controlling the edema and its related pain in the inflamed area after upper t...

Bromelain is one of the vegetal proteases found in pineapple plant. It has numerous applications in food and pharmaceuticals. This review discussed different bromelain purification techniques which will assist in determining the effect of processing conditions on the purification efficacy. There are four purification techniques to be discussed, namely; reverse micellar system, aqueous two phase...

The X-31 strain of influenza virus was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), CD and SDS/PAGE analysis as a function of both temperature and pH. A bromelain-treated virus was also studied by these methods. The major transition observed in the intact virus was a result of the denaturation of the haemagglutinin (HA) protein. At pH 7.4, this transition was similar in the intact virus ...