Effects of Thymus vulgaris and Mentha pulegium on colour, nutrients and peroxidation of meat in heat-stressed broilers

This study was designed to investigate the effects of Thymus vulgaris (thyme) and Mentha pulegium (mentha) powders on meat colour, nutrient composition and malondialdehyde (MDA) where broiler chickens were under heat stress. Two hundred one-day-old male chicks were used in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replicates each (10 birds per replication). Treatments were the control diet, 0.5% mentha, 0.5% thyme and 0.5% mixture of the two plants. The results showed no effect of dietary supplements on thigh meat redness and yellowness. Both plant products diminished the thigh lightness significantly compared with the control. No significant differences between treatments were observed for the ash, ether extract and crude protein content of the thigh muscle. Supplementation of thyme and mentha separately or together increased the moisture of the thigh muscle significantly, compared with the control. The combination of the plant products resulted in a higher thigh pH and significantly lower malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in the thigh muscle compared with the control. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of thyme and mentha separately or in combination improved the meat quality of broiler chickens under heat stress through decreasing the MDA concentration and increasing the pH and moisture content of the thigh muscl

Effects of Rhus coriaria on nutrient composition, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and colour of thigh meat in heat-stressed broilers

Heat stress negatively affects the meat quality in broiler chickens, as indicated by lipid peroxidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 0.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10 g sumac fruit powder/kg of the diet, along with 100 mg α-tocopherol acetate (AT)/kg as antioxidants, on meat characteristics of broilers under heat stress conditions. Consumption of 5.0 g sumac/kg decreased the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) concentration in thigh meat. The thigh meat pH increased only as a result of AT consumption. Dietary inclusion of both AT and 10 g sumac/kg decreased the fat content of the meat. None of the meat colour indices, lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*), was affected by dietary treatments. It was concluded that dietary sumac consumption improved the TBARS and pH, and decreased thigh meat fat in broilers under heat stress.Keywords: Alpha tocopherol acetate, chicken meat quality, intramuscular fat, pH, sumac, lipid oxidatio

Incidence of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy

Incidence of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy among Iranian women was examined. Midstream urine was collected from 380 pregnant women and streaked on blood agar and incubated for 24 to 48 h. Growth was considered significant if 105 mL-1 bacteria were present. Among the pregnant women, 10.1 had asymptomatic bacteriuria. Age, past history of abortion, proteinuria, level of education, number of fertility had no significant association with asymptomatic bacteriuria occurrence. But lower socioeconomic status, leucocytosis and a history of UTI were associated with an increased incidence of asymptomatic bacteriuria (p<0.05). The most frequently isolated pathogen was Escherichia coli (68.4), followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis (10.5)) and Klebsiella pneumonia (8.3). According to the results, co-trimoxazole was the best antibiotic; followed by nitrofurantoin which 60.5 and 44.7 of strains were sensitive to these two antibiotics, respectively. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Pulsatile flow measurement in hydraulic systems using a laser velocimeter

Servo valves find their major application in high performance hydraulic control systems where the accurate control of position, velocity and load is essential. Because of this, it is important to determine the dynamic characteristics of the servo valve (i.e. flow rate as a function of input command signal) more precisely. Previous techniques for this evaluation depended on monitoring spool position using linear transducers, since flow measurement techniques capable of following fast transients and oscillating (or pulsating) flows were not easily applied. The introduction of the laser Doppler anemometer changes this. Steady state flow measurement, using the dual beam scatter system, is now common but since it needs a spectrum analyser to measure the Doppler frequency it is not suitable for unsteady flow. Since hydraulic systems are relatively particle free, the Doppler signals are received intermittently. Because of this, a signal processing system has been developed which measures the period of one or more oscillations in the frequency burst caused by a scattering particle passing through the control volume. Using this technique steady and unsteady laminar flow profiles have been measured in order to assess its effectiveness in the performance testing of hydraulic servo systems