The aim of this work concerns the manufacturing process of gluten-free functional spaghetti based on maize flour and oat bran, enriched with b-glucans (22%). More specifically, the goal of the study was to obtain oat bran-loaded maize spaghetti with sensory properties close to unloaded pasta. To this aim, the study has been organized in two subsequent trials. In the first one, the oat bran amou...

Flavor production among 12 strains of Debaryomyces hansenii when grown on a simple cheese model mimicking a cheese surface was investigated by dynamic headspace sampling followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The present study confirmed that D. hansenii possess the ability to produce important cheese flavor compounds, primarily branched-chain aldehydes and alcohols, and thus importan...

Paired-pulse stimulation, the application of two stimuli in close succession, is a useful tool to investigate cortical excitability. Suppression of the second response after short interstimulus intervals characterizes paired-pulse behavior. Although paired-pulse suppression is often studied as a marker of cortical excitability in humans, little is known about the influence of stimulation intens...

Alexithymics are known to report more somatic complaints than individuals scoring low on alexithymia. It was examined whether alexithymia would also be associated with enhanced sensitivity to an externally administered unpleasant physical stimulus. Forty-one healthy male and female subjects with a mean age of 33.9 years completed the 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and particip...

Visceral hypersensitivity is important in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome and thus a target for modulation in drug development. Neurokinin (NK) receptors, including NK(3) receptors, are expressed in the motor and sensory systems of the digestive tract. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two different doses (25 and 100 mg) of the NK(3) receptor antagonist, talnet...

to reduce stimulation to a minimum or to achieve "optimal" states of stimulation. The author's contention is that there is a drive for optimal levels of stimulation that leads organisms to avoid states where sensory variation is either too high or too low. This "sensoristatic drive" is a state of cortical arousal that is monitored by the reticular formation which serves as a regulator adjusting...

We investigated the effects of a vibratory stimulus on the plantar surface of the hind limb for motor, sensory, and locomotive function using a mouse cast model. The right knee joint of C57BL/6 male mice (7 weeks, 20 g, n = 31) was flexed with aluminum splint and tape for 6 weeks. These mice were randomly divided into 2 groups (control group, n = 11 and vibration group, n = 12). The mice in the...

Odor detection sensitivity can be rapidly altered by fear conditioning; whether this effect is augmented over time is not known. The present study aimed to test whether repeated conditioning sessions induce changes in odor detection threshold as well as in conditioned responses and whether olfactory stimuli evoke stronger conditioned responses than visual stimuli. The repeated conditioning grou...

We aimed to determine whether rectal distension and/or infusion of bile acids stimulates propagating or nonpropagating activity in the unprepared proximal colon in 10 healthy volunteers using a nasocolonic manometric catheter (16 recording sites at 7.5-cm spacing). Sensory thresholds and proximal colonic motor responses were assessed following rectal distension by balloon inflation and rectal i...

Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) stimulates the vestibular system electrically with low-amplitude direct current through surface electrodes applied to the left and right mastoids. The effects of GVS on unilateral spatial neglect (USN) in poststroke patients were recently reported, but the influence of the current intensity and application duration of GVS on USN has not been sufficiently in...