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Partnering with Rotary International and residents of Xicotepec, Mexico, the University of Iowa Colleges of Engineering, Pharmacy, and Liberal Arts & Sciences have created a cross‐disciplinary, international service‐learning course whose impact through the years will respond to student‐learning and community‐identified needs.

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Fair trade movements aim to respond to economic and social inequality and to support poor farmers and artisans in

Pectin in Diospyros kaki (persimmon) is a complex polysaccharide and is classified as a dietary fiber. Pectin is characterized by the presence of side chains of neutral sugars, such as galactose residues; however, the structure and properties of these sugars vary greatly depending on the plant species from which it is derived. Here, we report the structural features of pectin extracted from persimmon. The polysaccharide was low-methoxy pectin with a degree of methyl esterification < 50% and ratio of side chain galactan to arabinan in the rhamnogalacturonan-I region of pectin of 3–20. To investigate the physiological function of pectin from persimmon, we performed a co-culture assay using Caco-2 cells. As a result, it was shown that the proliferation of undifferentiated Caco-2 cells was promoted, and further, the importance of arabinogalactan among the pectin structures was shown.