Lifestyle interventions for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multi-factorial disease and the most common of chronicliver diseases worldwide. The four clinical-pathological entities which are usually followed by NAFLDcourse include non-alcoholic steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis, andhepatocellular carcinoma. The cornerstones of NAFLD management and treatment, however, are healthylifestyles such as dietary modifications, regular physical activity, and gradual weight loss. At present, nodrugs or pharmacological agents have been approved for long-term treatment of NAFLD. Therefore, life-style modification is considered the main clinical recommendation and an initial step for the manage-ment of NAFL

In-vitro anti-microbial and brine-shrimp lethality potential of the leaves extract of nahar (Mesua ferrea) plant

The growing interest in human health and increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics among other reasons have resulted into an increasing need for the exploration of both the essential oils and other plant extracts in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This work, as part of on-going work on the leaves of Nahar (Mesua ferrea) plant, was aimed at evaluating the antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration as well as the cytotoxicity of the leaves extract. The dry leaves were grinded and extracted in an oven shaker set at 37°C and 200rpm for 24 hours using ethanol and methanol as solvents. The agar disc diffusion method was used for the evaluation of antibacterial property of the leaves extract, micro broth dilution was employed for the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), while Brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality bioassay was made use of for the cytotoxicity assay. Ethanol gave higher extract’s yield (6.20%) than methanol. The extract showed a remarkable antibacterial property against all the selected microbes (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) with the inhibition zones ranging from 16.0±0.5mm to 18.0±0.5mm for all the tested bacteria. The MIC range of 2.5- 0.625 mg/ml with MBC value of 5mg/ml was obtained for the gram-negative bacteria while MIC rangeof 1.3- 0.313mg/ml with MBC value of 2.5mg/ml was obtained for the gram-positive bacteria. The leaves extract was found to be toxic to the Brine shrimps with LC50 of 500ppm (μg/ml) suggesting that the extracts may contain bioactive compounds of potential the therapeutic and prophylactic significance

Date seed extract as preservatives

The increasing demand for minimally-processed. extended shelflife foods and rcpons of ehemical preservatives as having potential toxicity demands food manufacturers to find altcrnative snurccs of anTimicrobial compounds. Food infection and into.~ication are considered as the most common causes of foodborne dir.eases worldwide. Foodbome pathogens cau.ing these diseases find their way in foods through cros, COnTamination. improper handling and temp<;'rature abuse. Food ,poilage microorganisms. On the other hand. cause products to lose thcir quality which renders them unacceptable to consumcrs, Shon shclflife of food products because of spoilage is one of thc major problems of the food induslTy. Examples of food spoilage microorganisms include P-<f:llJO",UlW;' ''':nlgillU.m. 8acilh,,· :Wblilis. I.acrolwdlllls 51' .. StJccho,-o"'yc-es cere,'i,i"e and AS/H'I"gilltr;, lIig"I"

Physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of Baccaurea angulata fruit juice extract

The purpose of this study was to explore the physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of Baccaurea angulata fruit juice extract. Freeze-dried whole fruit (FDWF), freeze-dried berry (FDB), and freeze-dried skin (FDS) of B. angulata were analyzed for total phenolic, total flavonoid, total anthocyanin, and antioxidant activities. FDS recorded the highest moisture and ash content, protein, total fat, and water activity, compared to FDWF and FDB. FDS also contained the highest total phenolic, total flavonoid, and total anthocyanin, while FDWF recorded the highest in scavenging xanthine oxidase (35.9%) and ferric reducing activity (44.9 μM TE/g). FDS, however, showed the highest DPPH (102.66 mg AA/100 g) and TEAC (847.46 mg TE/100 g) values. DPPH, TEAC and FRAP were strongly correlated with total phenol (r = 0.979; 0.948; 0.997) and total flavonoid (r = 0.987; 0.960; 0.992). Total anthocyanin had no correlation with DPPH and TEAC, but moderately with FRAP (r = 0.734). Physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of B. angulata may indicate that this fruit may impart health benefits when consumed and can be suggested as a good source for nutraceutical beverages.Keywords: Antioxidant properties, Baccaurea angulata, freeze-dried fruit, nutritional composition, physicochemical.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(34), pp. 5333-533

Antimicrobial property of date seed extract

Twelve extracts from four solvents (ethanol, methanol, acetone and distilled water) and three varieties of date palm seeds (Deglet Nour, Biruni and Mixture) were tested in vitro for their antimicrobial activity against two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) and two Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria species to establish whether or not they have antimicrobial activity. The central composite design was used to investigate the effects of three independent variables (extraction temperature, extraction time and agitation speed) on the dependent variable (inhibition zone). All the twelve extracts of date palm seeds inhibited all the test microorganisms with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 10 to 42mg/ml and with minimum bactericidal concentration ranging from 21 to 167mg/ml. Extraction temperature, agitation, and extraction time significantly affected total antimicrobial contents extracted from date seeds

Seeds' oil as biolubricant

The increasing demands for oils both for human consumption and for other industrial applications has culminated into an increasing need to search for oils from nonconventional sources to augment the available ones and also to meet specific applications. Environmental concerns about synthetic non-biodegradable polymers have also encouraged efforts towards their substitution with fully or partially biodegradable polymers of semi-synthetic or bio-origin. The physic-chemical properties of vegetable oils and their structures were discussed in terms of their potentially future use as base oils biolubricants and additives