Drying procedure is a powerful method to modulate the bottom-up assembly of basic building component. The initially weak attraction between the components screened in a solution strengthens as the solvent evaporates, organizing the components into structures. Drying is process-dependent, irreversible, and nonequilibrated, thus the mechanism and the dynamics are influenced by many factors. There...

Leaf shrinkage with dehydration has attracted attention for over 100 years, especially as it becomes visibly extreme during drought. However, little has been known of its correlation with physiology. Computer simulations of the leaf hydraulic system showed that a reduction of hydraulic conductance of the mesophyll pathways outside the xylem would cause a strong decline of leaf hydraulic conduct...

In this work maltodextrins were added to commercial galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) in a 1:1 ratio and their thermophysical characteristics were analyzed. GOS:MD solutions were then used as matrices during spray-drying of Lactobacillus plantarum CIDCA 83114. The obtained powders were equilibrated at different relative humidities (RH) and stored at 5 and 20°C for 12 weeks, or at 30°C for 6 weeks....

The effect of high-pressure processing on texture and drying behavior of pineapple slices was investigated. Pineapple slices were high pressure processed at 50, 100, 300, 500 and 700 MPa at 25C for 10 min. The control, hot water-blanched and high-pressure processed samples were then dehydrated at 70C. Application of high pressure reduced the sample hardness, springiness and chewiness while it h...

The dehydration tests were conducted at three drying methods to evaluate the drying curves and the energy uptake. Apple (Malus domestica L.) cubes were dried under different processing conditions applying freeze drying (FD), freeze drying assisted by hot air and freeze drying assisted by infrared radiation. Control samples were produced using regular freeze drying without the pre-drying. Hot ai...

The level of hydration in the human body is carefully adjusted to control the electrolyte balance that governs the biochemical processes that sustain life. An electrolyte deficiency caused by deor overhydration will not only limit human performance, but can also lead to serious health problems and death if left untreated. Because humans can withstand a change in hydration of only ±20%, frequent...

LEA (late embryogenesis abundant) proteins were originally described almost 30 years ago as accumulating late in plant seed development. They were later found to be induced in vegetative plant tissues under environmental stress conditions and also in desiccation-tolerant micro-organisms and invertebrates. Although they are widely assumed to play crucial roles in cellular dehydration tolerance, ...

Preparation of biological samples for scanning electron microscopy considers fixation, dehydration and drying, such procedures strongly stress the delicate filamentous structure of glycoprotein matrices, due to their extremely hydration state. Therefore, in order to allow the observation of the real microarchitecture of these matrices, a specific technique was developed by us. Mucus covering th...

Ruminants in tropical and desert areas routinely experience cycles of severe dehydration and rapid rehydration. These animals can withstand severe dehydration (18-40% of initial body weight), which exceeds considerably the capacity of most monogastric mammals. This capacity is related to their ability to use, during the course of dehydration, their large water reservoir in the rumen, which cont...

This review is a survey on the latest and more recent applications of microscopy to study the morphological changes that food components or microorganisms undergo during processing. Apart from a brief discussion on the fundamentals of microscopic techniques, examples have been set out on the physical effects of different processes such as drying (hot air drying, spray drying, microwave, osmotic...