Despite numerous retrospective studies, however, the use of these biomarkers remains controversial because of the sample size limitations due to the rare prevalence of BRONJ, as well as problems in study design in establishing controls and other study criteria (Table 3) [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11] and [12]. Certain studies [6], [7] and [12] have set the reference ranges of the manufacturer as a benchmark comparison; however, reference ranges have not yet been established except in premenopausal women, and even this varied among studies [19].

Other studies [9] and [11] used healthy patients or patients taking BPs as the control group; however, this method is flawed because the true control group would be patients who have undergone dentoalveolar surgery without developing BRONJ. Despite having a carefully matched control group, this study could not find a relation between biomarkers and BRONJ development, with the exception of PTH. Epacadostat Tacrolimus price CTX, NTX, and DPD are the representative markers that can quantify the amount of bone absorbed by osteoclastic activity, and they have received large interest as risk predictors. However, such collagen degradation

markers have a high degree of analytical and biological variability [20]. More important, even though these markers quantify the amount of degradation molecules which are produced by osteoclastic activity at the time of sampling, they do not necessarily reflect the overall decrease in bone remodeling activity caused by BPs [5] and [12]. Thus,

it is likely that these markers will not be highly meaningful for predicting the degree of dentoalveolar trauma and restorative capacities of bone that shows suppression of osteoclastic activity and subsequent abnormal remodeling, the major pharmacologic Teicoplanin effect of BPs. In the present study, the only biomarker that showed a statistical significance for BRONJ development was serum PTH. Ardine et al. [21] suggested the involvement of hypocalcemia and secondary hyperparathyroidism in the period preceding BRONJ development. Although conflicting study results do exist, [10] and [22] this inspiration may serve as an important lead for the investigation of the mechanism behind BRONJ, and additional research is needed. Although novel biomarker candidates related to bone remodeling such as serum VEGF [23] and TRACP 5b [5] have been proposed as risk predictors, these have not yielded continuous research. Several reports in the dental literature still recommend that the serum CTX level should be > 150 pg/mL before dental surgery [6], [9], [10] and [24]. However, it is not unusual for patients taking BPs to have serum CTX levels of < 150 pg/mL according to the large-scale FLEX (Fracture Intervention Trial Long-term Extension) [25] and HORIZON (Health Outcomes and Reduced Incidence with Zoledronic Acid Once Yearly) [26] studies. Moreover, even among persons with levels of < 150 pg/mL, patients that developed BRONJ are very rare [25] and [26].

Control 1 showed an optimal pattern of responding: she successfully acquired knowledge about the typical features MS-275 nmr in all

three dimensions (this can be seen clearly by comparing her pattern of responses with the set of category members in Fig. 1A; for example, she correctly classified most of the circle exemplars as B’s and the squares as A’s). This control participant performed at over 90% accuracy during the final phase of learning. Control 2 achieved much poorer learning overall (60% accuracy) but showed a similar qualitative pattern. She also learned about all three dimensions equally, albeit to a much lesser extent. The pattern in the patients was rather different and I BET 762 indicates that they were unable to form coherent representations that combined all three dimensions.

Four patients (M.T., M.B., P.L. and P.W.) learned about only one of the three critical dimensions, as indicated by strong differentiation and one dimension and a lack of discrimination on the other two dimensions. For example, P.W. classified all stimuli based on their shape, ignoring their number and background colour. 1 The remaining three patients showed a more ambiguous pattern of performance, with weak learning on two stimulus dimensions. To investigate these profiles in more detail, we calculated d′ scores for each participant. D′ is a signal detection measure that reflects a participant’s tendency to give a particular response when presented with a particular type of stimulus weighed against their propensity to make the same response to other stimuli. We computed d′ scores that expressed a participant’s sensitivity to the feature–category associations in each of the three dimensions. According to our predictions, SD patients should show strong learning (i.e., high d′ values) in one dimension but much weaker learning across the remaining dimensions. Controls were expected Reverse transcriptase to display a more even pattern of learning across the three dimensions. Once d′ scores had been computed,

an additional step was necessary to compare the results in the two groups. Since different participants learned about different aspects of the stimuli (e.g., compare patient M.T. with P.W.), a simple averaging of the d′ scores in each dimension would mask the true effects. Instead, we labelled the dimensions for each participant according to their d′ scores, with the dimension in which the greatest learning had occurred labelled as their strongest dimension (so M.T.’s strongest dimension was number, her second dimension was shape and her weakest dimension was background colour). We were then able to average d′ scores within each group based on the strongest, second and weakest dimensions of each individual. D′ scores are shown for each patient in Fig. 4A.

The 3D geological model (Fig. 7) shows that the other lower units of the Eromanga Basin (from the Birkhead to the Cadna-owie formations) are also thicker on the eastern side of the fault than to the west. In these units, the differences in thicknesses vary from learn more 10 to 50 m. This could also be caused by reactivation of this fault during the deposition of these units, indicating that the Tara Structure was probably active during the Jurassic. The Hulton-Rand Structure shows

the largest vertical displacement of the basement (1350 m; Fig. 4a) in the model domain. The Jochmus Formation is the only Galilee Basin unit present on both side of this fault (Fig. 4a), although at a much smaller thickness in the southern part. The large difference in thickness may be due to erosion of the elevated block, leading to removal

of parts of the Jochmus Formation, R428 chemical structure and possibly also eroding the Aramac Coal Measures. This erosion may be related to an episode of uplift and non-deposition described by Evans (1980), and it likely predates the deposition of the Betts Creek Beds. The Hulton-Rand Structure (Fig. 4a) displaces the Hutton Sandstone by 340 m, and both the Hooray Sandstone and Cadna-owie Formation by approximately 330 m. The thicknesses of these aquifers on both sides of this fault are relatively similar and they all abut against the basement in the direction of groundwater flow. The Aramac Coal Measures and Betts Creek Beds are both truncated against the Hulton-Rand Structure. The features of the model in the upper part of the Hulton-Rand Structure

are not confirmed as the fault Depsipeptide purchase is not clearly seen in the seismic surfaces (Cadna-owie and Toolebuc; Fig. 5), although vertical displacement of the units in well log data are observed. The Cork Fault has not been assessed in detail. Even though it is observed in Cross Section 19 (Fig. 4b), it was not included within the 3D geological model domain because the activity and the displacement associated with this fault (420 m; Ransley and Smerdon, 2012) could not be constrained using seismic surfaces, as the fault is outside the extent of these surfaces (Fig. 5). It was only constrained using well log data which are very limited in the Lovelle Depression and the confidence is therefore limited. The Dariven Fault and Maranthona Structure can also potentially play an important role in groundwater movement as they are both regional faults. These faults are also orientated parallel to each other (approximately 15–16 km apart), forming a local horst that was active until the Early Cretaceous.

In an attempt to improve the therapeutic ratio of radiotherapy for inoperable Stage III locally advanced NSCLC, we have investigated the use of the anti-angiogenic drug axitinib to target the tumor vasculature given in conjunction see more with high dose irradiation of tumor-bearing lungs in the

A549 xenograft NSCLC murine pre-clinical model. In previous studies, we observed using DCE-MRI that pre-treatment of tumors for 3-4 days with the anti-angiogenic drug sunitinib regularizes the blood flow by trimming inefficient tumor vessels and potentiates radiotherapy of kidney tumors [28] and [29]. Therefore, mice bearing established lung tumors were pre-treated with axitinib for 4 days prior to lung irradiation, and then, axitinib treatment was continued after radiation. The endpoints for evaluation of the safety and therapeutic efficacy included Selleck LBH589 assessing the duration of axitinib treatment, its effect on mouse weight and health in addition to the anti-tumor effect. Due to the anti-angiogenic

property of axitinib, emphasis was put on analyzing the systemic effect of the drug on normal vasculature of the lungs and other organs to assess its specificity at targeting tumors. We found that daily administration of axitinib at 25 mg/kg for up to 3 months was well tolerated by the mice with a non-significant slight decrease in mouse weight which was reversed by discontinuation of axitinib.

No other obvious signs of toxicity were observed during monitoring of the mice following axitinib given alone or in conjunction with lung irradiation. Histological analysis of tissues from kidney, heart and liver showed that systemic treatment with axitinib did not cause disruption of vasculature in these tissues in contrast to our previous observations with sunitinib which did damage the vessels of kidneys [28]. These data suggest that long-term treatment Histamine H2 receptor with axitinib is safe and are in agreement with other pre-clinical studies in different tumor models [18], [20] and [21]. In clinical trials, axitinib has demonstrated a predictable and manageable adverse event profile including diarrhea, hypertension, fatigue and nausea but no hematological or cardiovascular toxicity were reported [37] and [38]. Current trends in RT of NSCLC are exploring hypofractionation using higher doses per fraction with the total treatment given in a reduced number of fractions and less overall time, which is potentially more effective and more convenient to patients [39] and [40]. A high dose of lung irradiation combined with prolonged axitinib treatment was well tolerated and resulted in complete eradication of lung tumors in a stark contrast to the extensive invasion of lung tissue by large tumor nodules observed in control untreated mice.

Using the patient’s own T cells and redirecting them with an HBV-specific receptor seems a more feasible approach to treat chronic hepatitis B or HBsAg-positive HCC. CAR-grafted T cells, which function independently of the patient’s HLA haplotype and recognize different HBsAg subtypes, seem to be particularly suited because they will in principle be applicable to almost all HBV-infected patients.38

Our preclinical model has similar levels of circulating HBsAg (approximately 1000–1200 IU/mL) as detected in the low-replicative phase of chronic hepatitis Torin 1 order B.39 In this model, we observed elevation of cytokines but no severe side effects during T-cell therapy. However, in a patient with high replication, preexisting liver inflammation, and tissue damage, the situation may be different. Pronounced elevation of ALT levels was observed in transplant recipients with cleared HBV infection,37 indicating that hepatocyte killing was needed for elimination. S-CAR T cells and T cells induced by immunization of donor mice showed comparable antiviral efficacy in our model, but elevation of ALT levels and clearance of hepatitis B core–positive hepatocytes indicating elimination of

HBV-positive hepatocytes was only observed after S-CAR T-cell transfer. To avoid or reduce potential hepatotoxicity in a clinical setting, patients will be pretreated with antiviral agents before T-cell transfer to reduce the amount of HBsAg-positive hepatocytes and the grade of inflammation and increase selection pressure on the virus to minimize the risk for emergence of viral variants, which could selleck products escape CAR recognition.40 In addition, redirected

T cells can be specifically eliminated by a safeguard mechanism. For clinical use, we have added a truncated version of the epidermal growth factor receptor to the CAR construct, which allows for depletion of CAR transduced cells with the clinically approved antibody cetuximab.41 We have previously reported that human T cells that are engrafted with the S-CAR can eliminate the nuclear persistence form of HBV, the cccDNA, from HBV-infected hepatocytes.12 In an alternative approach, Gehring et al42 generated 2 HBV-specific, HLA-A2–restricted T-cell receptors for grafting and showed that HBV-specific T cells generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with chronic HBV and HBV-related HCC became multifunctional Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase and capable of recognizing HBV-replicating hepatoma cells and HCC tumor cells expressing viral antigens from naturally integrated HBV DNA. We also have established a series of such recombinant T-cell receptors of diverse receptor avidity (unpublished data; October 2011) and are currently comparing these with respect to optimal functionality. The in vivo study presented here showed that S-CAR–grafted T cells (although vast amounts of subviral particles are present in the blood of HBVtg mice) infiltrate the liver, remain functional, and lead to a profound reduction of viral load.

3), it can be stated that weekly flow series of the Canadian rivers under question obey the

two-parameter Gamma pdf. The underlying dependence structure of weekly flow series was investigated through week-by-week standardization resulting into weekly SHI sequences. The weekly SHI sequences were subjected to autocorrelation analysis to uncover the presence of Markovian or other higher order dependence. The values of ρ1 ( Table 2) in all rivers are large thus suggesting a strong dependence in successive occurrences of flows. To discern the underlying dependence structure, the values of autocorrelations Dasatinib datasheet at lag-1 (ρ1) and lag-2 (ρ2) in weekly SHI sequences ( Table 2) were used to estimate the parameters by fitting ARMA class of models ( Box and Jenkins, selleck chemicals llc 1976). The ARMA models tended to fit AR-1 (autoregressive order-1), AR-2, and ARMA (1,1) dependence structures suggesting dependence terms extending up to the second, and even higher orders in some cases ( Table 2). After fitting the potential models as stated above to the weekly SHI sequences, the autocorrelation function of the residuals was also computed. The Portmanteau statistic based on first 25 autocorrelations

of the residuals formed the basis for suggesting the suitable structure of the model ( Table 2, last column). In particular, rivers in northern Ontario showed dependence structure beyond AR-2, which is comprehensible in view of the significant storage effects caused by the presence of a large number of lakes in watersheds of this region. In a nutshell and as a first approximation of dependence in successive weekly flows, it would be prudent to regard such a dependence to influence flows up to 2 weeks and hence the prediction model for drought length on weekly time scale should be capable to embed the second order dependence. The Markov Chain-2 offers such a capability and thus it should be considered suitable for modeling drought lengths on weekly time scale. The extreme number theorem was used for the prediction of E(LT) using SHI sequences of appropriate time scale. Succinctly, the extreme number theorem culminates in acetylcholine the following equations

for the prediction of E(LT) ( Sen, 1980a) equation(1) P(LT=j)=exp[−T q (1−r) rj−1][exp T q 2(1−r) rj−1−1]P(LT=j)=exp[−T q (1−r) rj−1][exp T q (1−r)2 rj−1−1] equation(2) E(LT)=∑j=1∞j P(LT=j) where j stands for length of the drought duration and takes on values 1, 2, 3,… up to infinity, q stands for the probability of drought at the given truncation level, say z0 and T is the time equivalent to the sample size of the data involved in the drought analysis. The value of r (first order conditional probability) representing dependence characteristics of a drought is related to ρ1 as shown by Sen (1977) through the following relationship equation(3) r=q+12πq∫0ρ1[exp−z02/(1+ν)](1−ν2)−0.5dνwhere v is a dummy variable for integration. The integral in Eq.

36 Ustawy o zapobieganiu oraz zwalczaniu zakażeń i chorób zakaźnych u ludzi [13]. Przymus bezpośredni może być zastosowany tylko i wyłącznie Selleck Sotrastaurin wobec osoby, która nie poddaje się obowiązkowi szczepienia, badaniom sanitarno-epidemiologicznym, zabiegom sanitarnym, kwarantannie lub izolacji. Ponadto zastosowanie środka przymusu bezpośredniego możliwe jest w odniesieniu do chorych lub podejrzanych o zachorowanie na chorobę szczególnie niebezpieczną i wysoce zakaźną. Ponadto choroba ta stanowić ma bezpośrednie zagrożenie

dla zdrowia lub życia innych osób. Chorobą „szczególnie niebezpieczną i wysoce zakaźną”, zgodnie z definicją sformułowaną w art. 2 pkt 4 Ustawy o zapobieganiu oraz zwalczaniu zakażeń i chorób zakaźnych u ludzi, jest choroba zakaźna łatwo rozprzestrzeniająca się, o wysokiej śmiertelności, powodująca szczególne zagrożenia dla zdrowia publicznego i wymagająca specjalnych metod zwalczania, w tym cholera, dżuma, ospa prawdziwa, learn more wirusowe gorączki krwotoczne. Jednocześnie ustawa określa katalog środków przymusu bezpośredniego, tj. przytrzymywanie, unieruchomienie lub przymusowe podanie leku. Także Kodeks postępowania karnego (k.p.k.) [14] wprowadza przymus poddania się określonym czynnościom medycznym. Na podstawie art. 74 § 2 k.p.k. oskarżony, a także podejrzany, ma obowiązek poddania się

określonym w tym przepisie czynnościom medycznym, w tym m.in. oględzinom zewnętrznym oraz innym badaniom niepołączonym z naruszeniem integralności cielesnej oraz badaniom połączonym

z wykonywaniem zabiegów na jego ciele, np. pobranie krwi. Ściśle określonych badań można także dokonywać wobec osoby podejrzanej. W sytuacjach przewidzianych w art. 74 k.p.k. można wobec oskarżonego, podejrzanego, a nawet osoby podejrzanej, stosować przymus bezpośredni. Aby regulacje te nie pozostawały fikcją, organy ścigania muszą mieć możliwość wyegzekwowania tych obowiązków, przy czym uprawnionym do stosowania środków przymusu Methocarbamol bezpośredniego będzie organ ścigania, nie zaś lekarz. Będzie to zatem czynność medyczna wykonywana przez lekarza po zastosowaniu przymusu bezpośredniego przez organy ścigania [9]. Warto także wspomnieć o rozwiązaniach przyjętych w Kodeksie karnym wykonawczym (k.k.w.) [15]. Zgodnie z art. 118 § 2 tegoż kodeksu, w przypadku gdy życiu skazanego grozi poważne niebezpieczeństwo stwierdzone co najmniej przez dwóch lekarzy, można dokonać koniecznego zabiegu lekarskiego, nie wyłączając chirurgicznego, nawet w razie sprzeciwu skazanego. W wypadku sprzeciwu skazanego o dokonaniu zabiegu decyduje sąd penitencjarny. Jeżeli zachodzi ryzyko nagłej śmierci skazanego, o konieczności zabiegu decyduje lekarz. Kodeks karny wykonawczy wprost nie zezwala na zastosowanie środka przymusu bezpośredniego. Niemniej jednak dokonanie zabiegu, np. chirurgicznego, wbrew woli skazanego jest równoznaczne z zastosowaniem przymusu bezpośredniego.

(2013) purified a new basic PLA2 Asp-49 from B. bilineata that induced an increase in vascular permeability and in serum cytokine levels (IL-6, IL-1 and TNF-α) in mice. Among the inflammatory mediators that participate in inflammatory disorders are lipid mediators. Prostaglandins are small-molecule derivatives of arachidonic acid, produced by cyclooxygenases (constitutively active COX-1 and inducible COX-2) and prostaglandin synthase. Local levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) regulate multiple steps of inflammation and multiple functions of different immune cells (Kalinski, 2012). Since the literature shows that IL-8 induces or enhances the expression of COX-2 (Maloney et al., 1998 and Smith

et al., 1996) and BbV induces IL-8, we suggest that the chemokine found in this study Talazoparib mw may contribute to signaling the induction of COX-2 expression RO4929097 and the release of PGE2. Therefore we conducted experiments in order to verify the effect of BbV on PGE2 production by human neutrophils. After 4 h of incubation the venom significantly stimulated the human

neutrophils to produce PGE2 compared to both controls. BbV induced a significant release of PGE2 indicating that BbV is able to stimulate neutrophils to induce COX-2 expression. In addition to our data, the literature shows that B. asper venom induced the release of PGE2 by mice neutrophils ( Moreira et al., 2009). In this report, Moreira et al. (2009) showed that in neutrophils there is a tight correlation between the profiles of COX-2 expression and PGE2 release, suggesting that COX-2 is a key isoform for the production of PGE2 in these cells. In conclusion, the data reached showed the ability of BbV to induce the activation of neutrophil function. BbV stimulates cells to produce ROS such as hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, BbV induces the release of inflammatory mediators IL-8 and IL-6, PGE2 and induce NETs formation. It is noteworthy that this is the first description of the stimulatory effect of BbV on neutrophil function. J.P.Z. and S.S.S. designed the study; S.S.S., A.S.P., N.M.N. and J.S.F.B. performed the experiments; K.D.Z. provided venom; W.L.P.

and O.B.C. supervised the flow cytometer studies; J.P.Z., S.S.S and A.S.P. collected and analyzed the data; L.A.C, R.G.S, J.P.Z and A.M.S. provided reagents; J.P.Z., S.S.S. and A.M.S. wrote the manuscript. All of the authors discussed Dapagliflozin the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages. The authors are grateful to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Toxinas (INCT-Tox), Instituto Nacional para Pesquisa Translacional em Saúde e Ambiente na Região Amazônica (INCT-INPeTAm/CNPq/MCT) and Secretaria de Estado do Planejamento e Coordenação Geral de Rondônia (CNPq-SEPLAN-RO) for financial support. Juliana Pavan Zuliani was a recipient of productivity grant (CNPq No.

2008). In addition, Hewson and Taylor (1975) have reported that in Scotland European hares reproduce in “winter”, too. Again, these finding shows that reproductive pattern is not affected by K or latitude but by actual winter temperatures irrespective of latitude. Despite identical annual reproductive outputs, females from Belgium and Lower Austria differed clearly in individual characteristics, namely age, body size and body condition. Adult females from Belgium were significantly smaller and had significantly lower body condition in late autumn compared to the Lower Austrian sample, although Belgian individuals were actually older

than Lower Austrians (based on relDLW). In general thermoregulatory costs are higher in individuals with lower body HIF inhibitor size (Tomasi and Horton 1992) which therefore have a reduced capacity to build up large fat depots for colder periods. This implies that the low K-value in Belgium does not result in a high selective pressure for larger body size in hares. In Belgium the climate is more equable with milder winters and moister summers. As a consequence energy demands in Belgian winters are lower resulting in comparatively little need for storing energy reserves like fat depots. Hence, we assume that hares in Belgium use the available food more for reproduction rather than for growth

and/or accumulation of energy reserves. These findings suggest that females in Belgium are more under an r-selection regime whereas Lower Austrian females might be more under K-selection within the r–K-continuum. We thank the hunting organisations selleck chemical in the study areas for support of sample collections. Theodora Steineck, Ivana Nabih, and Hichem Ben Slimen, among others, helped with processing the hares during and after the hunts. Eye lens preparations were carried out by Anita Haiden. The primary funding of

this study was provided by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project P18534 B03 granted to FS), and by the Government of Lower Austria. “
“Since 2007, scorpionism is the major cause of human envenomation by animals in Brazil, surpassing accidents with snakes and spiders Farnesyltransferase [4]. Most of the critical clinical cases are attributed to Tityus serrulatus scorpions, result of its wide proliferation in the urban centers and in the potential of its venom to induce severe clinical manifestations, being even fatal among children and elders. T. serrulatus venom (TsV) contains neurotoxins capable of interacting with the nervous system via ion channels and, because of that, research studies focus on neurotoxins descriptions and their mechanisms of action. Moreover, the presence of other compounds such as hyaluronidases, peptidases and biologically active peptides in TsV are poorly explored [6]. Animal venoms are a rich source of bioactive peptides due the large number and diversity of venomous species, and it is estimated that more than 40 million toxins may exist but only 0.01% were identified [15].

The block was repeated thirteen times, thus totalling 52 analyses for each sample and 78 consumers (Meilgaard et al., 1999). The 78 untrained consumers were recruited from among the students, staff and professors of the IBILCE. The sensory analysis was performed in individual booths, under white light and temperature of 22 °C. The cakes were presented on plastic plates coded with three digits. Within each block, the sample presentation was balanced, randomized and monadic. The means of the sensory attributes were compared using variance analysis followed by the Tukey test (significant difference when p ≤ 0.05), using the PASW Statistics 18 software (SPSS Inc.). The cakes were considered acceptable when at least

50% of the consumers gave them a score greater than or equal to 6 (liked slightly) ( Conti-Silva, HTS assay Silva, & Arêas, 2011). The preference mapping was evaluated in relation to overall acceptability. First, cluster analysis was applied to the samples, using mean substitution as the data deletion

method because of the Bafetinib incomplete blocks. After this, the resultant matrix was subjected to multidimensional scaling analysis. The Statistica 7.0 software (StatSoft, Inc.) was used. The ethical issues of the sensory analysis were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the IBILCE. Most of the fourteen panellists were female (93%), aged between 19 and 27 years (100%), who like cakes very much (100%) and consume cakes weekly (29%) and fortnightly (36%). The cakes were described using five attributes for appearance, one for aroma, two for flavour and four for texture (Table 2). The addition of prebiotics enhanced crust brownness and dough beigeness of the cakes in comparison to the standard cake (Table 3). Fructans are polymers of fructose linked by linear or branched connections, through β(2 → 1) or β(2 → 6) (Carabin & Flamm, 1999), and since fructose is a reducing sugar (Amrein, Schönbächler, Escher, & Amado, 2004; Damodaran, Parkin, & Fennema, 2008), this may favour the Maillard reaction, thereby contributing towards browning the crust and dough of the cakes. The cakes with fructans presented greater hardness and lower crumbliness

in relation to the standard Fossariinae cake (Table 3), what was expected since fructans are soluble fibres, compounds that can impair the texture of baked goods (Pomeranz, Shogren, Finney, & Bechtel, 1977; Wang, Rosell, & Barber, 2002). Higher concentrations of inulin resulted in higher hardness values of bread crumbs in relation to breads containing fat (O’Brien et al., 2003) and oligofructose enhanced firmness of sponge cake in relation to cake with sucrose (Ronda et al., 2005). Moreover, the higher hardness and lower crumbliness of prebiotic cakes may be related to lower size of the bubbles in the dough, because lower bubbles can indicate less air incorporated to the dough during baking, which may contribute towards making the cake harder and less fragile.