Université Nantes Angers Le Mans

About: Université Nantes Angers Le Mans is a education organization based out in Nantes, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Geology & Finite element method. The organization has 434 authors who have published 249 publications receiving 7208 citations. The organization is also known as: PRES Universite Nantes Angers Le Mans.

The role of ingredients on thermal and rheological properties of cake batters and the impact on microcake texture

Abstract: Starch is the major ingredient in cakes which are composed from flour, eggs, fat and sugar. Starch gelatinization plays an important role – together with the protein network – in defining the structure and quality of the final product. Rheology, texture and batter thermal and pasting properties were used to determine the effect of ingredients on batter and microcake (cake without bubbles) properties. The rheology of the batter was controlled by the water content which governed the phase transitions of the batter constituents. Differential scanning calorimetry clearly attested that ingredients addition shifted the gelatinization endotherm to higher temperatures. This was in agreement with the MicroViscoAmyloGraph (MVAG) measurements, where the batter ingredients addition to flour increased the pasting temperature and the peak viscosity. When 20% of the flour was replaced by the pregelatinized wheat or maize starch, a decrease in the peak viscosity and setback was observed which could explain the texture improvement. The association of these different techniques helped to better understand the effects of the different ingredients of the batter on starch properties that are important for improving the quality of these high sugar and fat content cakes.

A high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a potential marker of mortality in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma: A retrospective study.

Abstract: Background The prognostic relevance of a high blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported in many cancers, although, to our knowledge, not investigated in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) to date. Objective We assessed whether the NLR at baseline was associated with specific survival and recurrence-free survival in MCC. Methods We retrospectively included MCC cases between 1999 and 2015 and collected clinical data, blood cell count at baseline, and outcome. A Cox model was used to identify factors associated with recurrence and death from MCC. Results Among the 75 patients included in the study, a high NLR at baseline (NLR ≥4) was associated with death from MCC in univariate (hazard ratio 2.76, 95% confidence interval 1.15-6.62, P = .023) and multivariate (hazard ratio 3.30, 95% confidence interval 1.21-9.01, P = .020) analysis, but not with recurrence. Limitations Because of the retrospective design, we excluded patients with missing data and not all confounding factors that may influence the NLR were available. Conclusion A high NLR at baseline was independently associated with specific mortality in patients with MCC. The NLR seems to constitute an easily available and inexpensive prognostic biomarker at baseline.

3D Porous Architecture of Stacks of β-TCP Granules Compared with That of Trabecular Bone: A microCT, Vector Analysis, and Compression Study.

Abstract: The 3D arrangement of porous granular biomaterials usable to fill bone defects has received little study. Granular biomaterials occupy 3D space when packed together in a manner that creates a porosity suitable for the invasion of vascular and bone cells. Granules of β-TCP were prepared with either 12.5 or 25g of β-TCP powder in the same volume of slurry. When the granules were placed in a test tube, this produced 3D stacks with a high (HP) or low porosity (LP), respectively. Stacks of granules mimic the filling of a bone defect by a surgeon. The aim of this study was to compare the porosity of stacks of β-TCP granules with that of cores of trabecular bone. Biomechanical compression tests were done on the granules stacks. Bone cylinders were prepared from calf tibia plateau, constituted high density (HD) blocks. Low density (LD) blocks were harvested from aged cadaver tibias. Microcomputed tomography was used on the β-TCP granule stacks and the trabecular bone cores to determine porosity and specific surface. A vector projection algorithm was used to image porosity employing a frontal plane image which was constructed line by line from all images of a microCT stack. Stacks of HP granules had porosity (75.3 ± 0.4%) and fractal lacunarity (0.043 ± 0.007) intermediate between that of HD (resp. 69.1 ± 6.4%, p<0.05 and 0.087 ± 0.045, p<0.05) and LD bones (resp. 88.8 ± 1.57% and 0.037 ± 0.014) but exhibited a higher surface density (5.56 ± 0.11 mm2/mm3 vs. 2.06 ± 0.26 for LD, p<0.05). LP granular arrangements created large pores coexisting with dense areas of material. Frontal plane analysis evidenced a more regular arrangement of β-TCP granules than bone trabeculae. Stacks of HP granules represent a scaffold that resembles trabecular bone in its porous microarchitecture.

Impact of the Baking Duration on Bread Staling Kinetics

Abstract: This paper presents a study on the impact of the duration of the baking plateau on staling kinetics in the case of bread crumb made of sourdough; it follows Le-Bail et al. Journal of Cereal Science 50:235–240, (2009)a previous study proposed by Le-Bail et al. Journal of Cereal Science 50:235–240, (2009) on the impact of heating rate during baking on staling parameters. Degassed bread dough was baked in a miniaturized baking system with baking plateau of 0, 4, and 8 min at 98 °C corresponding to a total baking time of 10, 14 and 18 min respectively (simulating from underbaked to fully baked bread). Results showed that longer baking time resulted in the higher Young’s modulus of the baked dough at the end of staling was. It was observed as in Le-Bail et al. Journal of Cereal Science 50:235–240, (2009) that the crystallization of amylopectin occurred a few days before the hardening of the baked crumb during staling. The amount of freezable water decreased during staling (over 10 days period), which was in agreement with the increase in amylopectin crystallites during staling which trap water. The amount of soluble amylose increased with increasing duration of the baking plateau at 98 °C, indicating that for prolonged baking, an increasing amount of amylose is leached outside of the starch granules. This was proposed as an explanation for the higher Young’s modulus of the crumb at the end of staling.