Molar mass dependence of structure of xanthan thermally denatured and renatured in dilute solution

Kinetics of denaturation and renaturation processes of double-stranded helical polysaccharide, xanthan in aqueous sodium chloride

Circular dichroism (CD) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were made for three xanthan samples, a double helical polysaccharide, in 5 or 10 mM aqueous NaCl after rapid temperature change to investigate the kinetics of the conformational change between the ordered and disordered states. After the rapid heating, the CD signal mainly reflecting the carbonyl groups on the side chains quickly changed (<150 s) while the scattering intensity from SAXS around q (magnitude of the scattering vector) = 1 nm^-1 changed more gradually, reflecting the main-chain conformation. The difference between CD and SAXS implies us the intermediate conformation which can be regarded as a loose double helix. The SAXS profile in the rapid cooling process showed that the loose double helical structure was constructed within 150 s, but the CD signal slowly changed with around 2 days to recover the native tight double helix.

Role of fluid cohesiveness in safe swallowing

In patients with dysphagia, it has been a practice to thicken fluid food to prevent aspiration-the transport of a bolus into the trachea instead of the oesophagus. In these patients, aspiration is a risk behaviour and is closely related to pneumonia (caused by the aspiration of oral bacteria into the lungs). Since excessive thickening of fluids can cause adverse effects, such as lowering the palatability of food, subsequent reduction of liquid intake, dehydration and malnutrition, identifying the optimum thickening level is vital. Thickening might not only increase fluid viscosity, but could also modify its cohesiveness, which is another key factor affecting aspiration. Even though cohesiveness is more of a concept than a well-defined measurable parameter, this property describes the degree of coherency provided by the internal structure of a material against its fractional breakup. In fluids, this concept is less explored than in solids, powders and granules, and during the last decade few scientists have tackled this topic. Although the role of cohesiveness in the swallowing of heterogeneous solid foods is briefly overviewed, the aim of the present paper is to introduce the concept of cohesiveness for a relatively homogeneous fluid bolus and its effect on swallowing. Cohesiveness is highly correlated with the extensibility and yield stress of the fluid, suggesting that a high cohesiveness could have an important role in preventing aspiration.