Explore the vast range of titles available.

The aim of this study was to assess the possibility of shaping properties of beers at the stage of brewing wort production with the use of various types of special malts (chocolate pale, chocolate dark, wheat chocolate, brown barley) and roasted barley grains. The carbohydrate profile, polyphenols content, antioxidant capacity, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural content, and the browning index level were analyzed. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in the values of the examined features between the samples. The sugars whose content was most affected by the addition of special malts were maltose and dextrins. The polyphenol content in worts with 10% of additive was 176.02–397.03 mg GAE/L, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) 1.32–2.07 mmol TE/L, and capacity to reduction radical generated from 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS•+) 1.46–2.70 mmol TE/L. Wort with 40% dark malt showed the highest content of polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant activity (FRAP and ABTS•+). The HMF content and the browning index value were higher for wort with the addition of darker-colored malts (EBC) and increased with increasing dark malt dose.

An odorant screening by gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC–O) and a crude aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) applied to the volatiles isolated from a light and a dark liquid malt extract (LME) by solvent extraction and solvent-assisted flavour evaporation (SAFE) identified 28 odorants. Fifteen major odorants were subsequently quantitated and odour activity values (OAVs) were calculated as ratio of the concentration to the respective odour threshold value (OTV). Important odorants in the light LME included 3-(methylsulfanyl)propanal (OAV 1500), (E)-β-damascenone (OAV 430), and 4-ethenyl-2-methoxyphenol (OAV 91). In the dark LME, sotolon (OAV 780), 3-(methylsulfanyl)propanal (OAV 550), (E)-β-damascenone (OAV 410), acetic acid (OAV 160), and maltol (OAV 120) were of particular importance. To get an insight into the changes during malt extract production, the quantitations were extended to the malt used as the starting material for both LMEs. Addition of a minor amount of water to malt before volatile extraction was shown to be effective to cover the free as well as the bound malt odorants. Results showed that some LME odorants originated from the starting material whereas others were formed during processing. Important process-induced LME odorants included (E)-β-damascenone and 4-ethenyl-2-methoxyphenol in the light LME as well as maltol, sotolon, (E)-β-damascenone, and 2-methoxyphenol in the dark LME. In summary, the odorant formation during LME production was shown to be more important than the transfer of odorants from the malt.

Background Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is a diploid cereal crop and one of the major crops grown in Ethiopia, with a long history of domestication. It serves two primary purposes: as a staple food and as a raw material to produce alcohol. Barley germplasm resources can serve as sources of new alleles in breeding programs. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of diverse germplasm for primary malt quality indicators, agro-morphological and nutritional traits across diverse environments and to identify marker-trait associations with these traits using genome-wide studies (GWAS) among 260 barley germplasm. The experiment was conducted at four experimental sites, Holeta, Debre Markos, Bekoji, and Welkite Agricultural Research Centers using an Alpha Lattice Design. Nine agronomic and nutritional data were collected on Heading Date (HD), Flowering Date (FD), Maturity Date (MD), Plant Height (PH), Pedicle Length (PL), Grain Size (GS), Free Amino Nitrogen (FAN), Soluble Nitrogen (SN) and Moisture Content (MC). Results Among the 260 genotypes, 43% had straw-colored glumes, 33.4% had black, 15.7% had purple, and 7.6% had light-colored glumes. Additionally, 72.2% had two rows, 19.6% had six rows, and 6.1% had irregular rows. The narrow-sense heritability estimates are based on quantitative data, ranging from 0.52 to 0.97. Correlation analysis revealed that FAN have a strong positive correlation with SN ( r  = 0.91), HD has a negative correlation with MD (r² = -0.03), MC has a weak positive correlation with all traits (r² = 0.06–0.14), and FD has a moderate correlation with PL ( r² = 0.43 ). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified three major components: PCA1 (39.13%), PCA2 (22.01%), and PCA3 (19.28%). The population were clustered into three k-means Cluster 1 (31 accessions s), Cluster 2 (107 accessions), and Cluster 3 (122 accessions). A total of > 50 Mb SNP density was generated across seven barley chromosomes. Linkage disequilibrium decay is 177.76 kb, with an r² value of 0.2. In total, 65 SNP markers were significantly associated with HD, FD, MD, PH, PL, GC, FAN, and SN. These include 2 SNPs for HD (5 H), 7 SNPs for FD (2 H, 5 H, 6 H, 7 H), 13 SNPs for MD (2 H, 3 H, 7 H), 3 SNPs for PH (2 H, 5 H), 3 SNPs for PL (5 H, 6 H),23 SNPs for GC(1 H, 2 H, 4 H, 5 H, 6 H and 7 H), 5 SNPs for FAN(1 H) and 7 SNPs for SN(1 H, 2 H, 4 H, 5 H and 7 H), with a P-value range of 3.0–5.8. The minor allele frequencies range from 0.24 to 0.52. Conclusion The identification of malt quality pre-indicative agronomic traits under natural conditions lays a foundation for malt barley improvement. To ensure industrial relevance, these traits and associated SNP markers must be validated under real-world processing conditions for their application in molecular breeding. This will drive precision breeding strategies, enhancing malt quality, market competitiveness, and industrial sustainability in Ethiopia.

Increased environmental pollution has necessitated the need for eco-friendly clean-up strategies. Filamentous fungal species from gold and gemstone mine site soils were isolated, identified and assessed for their tolerance to varied heavy metal concentrations of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), arsenic (As) and iron (Fe). The identities of the fungal strains were determined based on the internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 (ITS 1 and ITS 2) regions. Mycelia growth of the fungal strains were subjected to a range of (0-100 Cd), (0-1000 Cu), (0-400 Pb), (0-500 As) and (0-800 Fe) concentrations (mgkg-1) incorporated into malt extract agar (MEA) in triplicates. Fungal radial growths were recorded every three days over a 13-days' incubation period. Fungal strains were identified as Fomitopsis meliae, Trichoderma ghanense and Rhizopus microsporus. All test fungal exhibited tolerance to Cu, Pb, and Fe at all test concentrations (400-1000 mgkg-1), not differing significantly (p > 0.05) from the controls and with tolerance index >1. T. ghanense and R. microsporus demonstrated exceptional capacity for Cd and As concentrations, while showing no significant (p > 0.05) difference compared to the controls and with a tolerance index >1 at 25 mgkg-1 Cd and 125 mgkg-1 As. Remarkably, these fungal strains showed tolerance to metal concentrations exceeding globally permissible limits for contaminated soils. It is envisaged that this metal tolerance trait exhibited by these fungal strains may indicate their potentials as effective agents for bioremediative clean-up of heavy metal polluted environments.

Maximizing microbial functions for improving crop performance requires better understanding of the important drivers of plant-associated microbiomes. However, it remains unclear the forces that shapes microbial structure and assembly, and how plant seed-microbiome interactions impact grain quality. In this work, we characterized the seed endophytic microbial communities of malting barley from different geographical locations and investigated associations between microbial (bacterial and fungal) species diversity and malt quality traits. Host genotype, location, and interactions (genotype x location) significantly impacted the seed endophytic microbial communities. Taxonomic composition analysis identified the most abundant genera for bacterial and fungal communities to be Bacillus (belonging to phylum Firmicutes) and Blumeria (belonging to phylum Ascomycota), respectively. We observed that a greater proportion of bacterial amplicon sequence variants (bacterial ASVs) were shared across genotypes and across locations while the greater proportion of the fungal ASVs were unique to each genotype and location. Association analysis showed a significant negative correlation between bacterial alpha diversity indices (Faith PD and Shannon indices) and malt quality traits for barley protein (BP), free amino nitrogen (FAN), diastatic power (DP) and alpha amylase (AA), while fungal alpha diversity (Shannon and Simpson) showed significant negative relationship with β-D-glucan content. In addition, some bacterial and fungal genera were significantly associated with malt extract (ME) -a key trait for maltsters and brewers. We conclude that barley genotype, location, and their interactions shape the seed endophytic microbiome and is key to microbiome manipulation and management during barley production and/or malting.

Non-stomach gastrointestinal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is rare, and there are only a few reports regarding radiation therapy (RT) for non-stomach gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma. There has been no established cure and no reports on RT use with long-term follow-up. Herein, we report a retrospective long-term investigation of early-stage non-stomach gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma. Our aim was to evaluate whether RT is a valid treatment option for this disease. We retrospectively analyzed 6 patients who were diagnosed with early-stage non-stomach gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma and received RT. The median age was 66 years (range=38-89 years). The primary tumor originated from the duodenum in 2 patients and from the rectum in 4 patients. The RT dose was 30-34 Gy in 15-20 fractions to the involved site or field, depending on the case. The median follow-up time was 89.5 months (range=6-170). All patients had complete remission within 3 months after RT. The 5-year overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 83.3% and 100%, respectively. During the observation period, no patient had a confirmed recurrence. One patient died of causes unrelated to cancer or treatment. There were no late toxicities by RT. Our results show good long-term local control and no late toxicities requiring treatment. Moderate-dose RT was appropriate and well tolerated for early-stage non-stomach gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma.

In this study, malt was produced in pilot-scale facilities and conditioned using three barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars in South Korea (Heugho, Hopum, and Kwangmaeg). Quality and starch characteristics were compared. The starch content was considerably reduced in all malts. Coleoptile elongation was higher in Heugho (HHM; 85.7% ± 12.6%) and Hopum (HPM; 83.9% ± 10.7%) than in Kwangmaeg (KMM; 78.1% ± 9.9%) malt. Malt yield ranged from 81.8 to 84.9%, with no significant difference. All samples presented type A crystallinity, and granules showed discoid shapes. After malting, the mono- and di-saccharide contents (not including sucrose) were increased. The fermentable sugar level was the highest in HHM, whereas non-fermentable sugar was the highest in KMM. These results suggest that HPM enables efficient scarification based on the rapid degradation of starch, while Heugho barley and HHM have a high potential for beer and malt production, respectively.

Cereals for beer brewing have long been dominated by barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Tritordeum, a novel amphiploid hybrid of South American barley (Hordeum chilense) and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum), is considered an interesting alternative. The aim of the study was to investigate how different malting regimes influence the malt quality of tritordeum from a beer brewing perspective. Tritordeum malt produced by a double wet steep regime with 6 days of germination exceeded commercial barley malt in amylase activity and free amino nitrogen content (FAN) while achieving equal levels of extract. A triple wet steep regime was not as successful, only yielding an increase in β-glucanase activity. FAN, extract, acidity and amylase activity in tritordeum sweet worts generally increased with germination, with all quality parameters except β-amylase activity plateauing after 5 days. Worts made from tritordeum malts generally had higher iron levels than worts made from the barley malt. A laboratory-scale brew of the best experimental tritordeum malt had the same alcohol content as the barley malt reference, confirming its potential as an alternative raw material. Elevated FAN and iron contents were retained throughout the brewing process.

Mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is a low‐grade lymphoma, but cases in which it has transformed into a high‐grade lymphoma have been reported, necessitating an accurate diagnosis. The patient was a 79‐year‐old nonsmoking Japanese female with history of ocular sarcoidosis. A computed tomography scan of her chest revealed a 35‐mm nodule in the left S1 + 2, contiguous with the lymph nodes. Additional nodules were observed around the left B5 and B10a. Bronchoscopy revealed stenosis caused by a white, glossy, elevated lesion with angiogenesis at the orifice of the left upper lobe bronchus. The biopsy specimen demonstrated the dominance of lymphoid cells and tested positive for CD20, CD79a, Bcl‐2, and IRTA‐1, which is consistent with the findings in MALT lymphoma. Therefore, in the presence of multiple infiltrative shadows along the bronchi with glossy elevated lesions without necrosis on bronchoscopy, it is important to consider MALT lymphoma as a differential diagnosis. This article is a case of pulmonary primary MALT lymphoma with characteristic bronchoscopy findings. Immunochemical staining of IRTA‐1 was especially useful for diagnosis.

Malt barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important cash crop with stringent grain quality standards. Timing of the switch from vegetative to reproductive growth and timing of whole-plant senescence and nutrient remobilization are critical for cereal grain yield and quality. Understanding the genetic variation in genes associated with these developmental traits can streamline genotypic selection of superior malt barley germplasm. Here, we determined the effects of allelic variation in three genes encoding a glycine-rich RNA-binding protein ( Hv GR-RBP1) and two NAC transcription factors ( Hv NAM1 and Hv NAM2) on malt barley agronomics and quality using previously developed markers for HvGR-RBP1 and HvNAM1 and a novel marker for HvNAM2 . Based on a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the first intron, the utilized marker differentiates NAM2 alleles of low-grain protein variety ‘Karl’ and of higher protein variety ‘Lewis’. We demonstrate that the selection of favorable alleles for each gene impacts heading date, senescence timing, grain size, grain protein concentration, and malt quality. Specifically, combining ‘Karl’ alleles for the two NAC genes with the ‘Lewis’ HvGR-RBP1 allele extends grain fill duration, increases the percentage of plump kernels, decreases grain protein, and provides malt quality stability. Molecular markers for these genes are therefore highly useful tools in malt barley breeding.