The technical efficiency of food industry in Malaysia : an application of stochastic frontier model.

This study attempts to measure the status of technical efficiency of food industry in Malaysia using the stochastic frontier model. In an economic where recourses are scarce and opportunities for a new technology are lacking, efficiency studies will be able to show the possibility of raising productivity by improving the industry’s efficiency. The estimated extent of inefficiency can help firms to decide whether to improve efficiency or to develop or adopt new technologies in order to raise the productivity. The computed technical efficiency indices show that the sampled of food industry under study were highly technical inefficient, with an average efficiency ratio of 0.688. Therefore, the results indicated that there is a great potential exists for food industry to further increase the value added using the available input and technology

Upscaling of Apple By-Product by Utilising Apple Seed Protein as a Novel Wall Material for Encapsulation of Chlorogenic Acid as Model Bioactive Compound

Encapsulation is a versatile technique used to protect sensitive bioactive compounds under gastrointestinal conditions. In this study, nanoencapsulation of chlorogenic acid into the apple seed protein matrix was performed using the green technique ultrasonication to protect it from harsh gastric conditions and increase its biological activity and bioavailability upon digestion. Both nano (Nano-Chl) and native capsules (NT-Chl) were characterised by particle size, charge, structure, and morphology. The encapsulation efficiency, release behaviour, antioxidant and antidiabetic properties were also evaluated. The experimental results show that the particle size of the NT-Chl and Nano- Chl was found in the range of 1.4m to 708 nm. The encapsulation efficiency was found to be 69% and 80% for NT-Chl and Nano-Chl, respectively. Furthermore, an in vitro digestion study revealed that Nano-Chl showed controlled-release behaviour under simulated intestinal conditions in comparison to NT-Chl. Moreover, Nano-Chl showed enhanced antioxidant and antidiabetic activity in comparison to NT-Chl after simulated digestion. It was concluded that the protein from apple seeds could be utilised as a functional ingredient itself or as a wall material for the encapsulation of sensitive bioactive compounds. Furthermore, these encapsulated particles can be fortified into different food formulations for the development of functional food

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Insilico investigation of TNFSF10 signaling cascade in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma

The ovarian serous Cystadenocarcinoma shared large number of deaths in gynecologic carcinoma. It has various numbers of molecular events from initiation to progression and at advance stage, surgery is the end product of such molecular signaling. We assess in this study the whole mechanistic view of TNFSF10 network which has the ideal apoptotic causing identity. We used fresh insilico strategy to uncover the secrets and inter-links from its protein-protein interaction complex. We retrieved the TNFSF10 signaling network from STRING database (www.string-db.org). The network contains 25 nodes and 152 edges with clustering presentation. After retrieval, we performed gene enrichment and characterization analysis of network from WebGestalt toolkit (www.webgestalt.com). Finally, we examined the participation of whole network in ovarian cancer progression from cBioPortal, a cancer genomic data portal (www.cbioportal.org). Our results showed that majority of cases have loss of function of death receptors (DR4 and DR5) that are the main unit of initiation of apoptotic signaling. Most of downstream signaling members showed amplification that regulates cell proliferative pathways including NFkB pathway. TNFSF10 cluster has loss of function and in future it gain attention for further research studies to discover its interactome level view for valuable therapy. FAS cluster has large number of members and majority showed amplification rendering them as co-targets for combinational drug designing

Encapsulation of Catechin into β-Glucan Matrix Using Wet Milling and Ultrasonication as a Coupled Approach: Characterization and Bioactivity Retention

In this study, the nanoencapsulation of catechin into the β-glucan matrix from oats [O-Glu (C)] and barley [B-Glu (C)] was performed using the coupled approach of ultrasonication and wet milling. The nanoencapsulated catechin was characterised by particle size distribution, surface charge, SEM, and FTIR. The particle size was found to be 200 nm and 500 nm while zeta potential was found −27.13 and −24 mV for O-Glu (C) and B-Glu (C), respectively. The encapsulation efficiency of O-Glu (C) and B-Glu (C) was found to be 86.5% and 88.2%. FTIR and SEM revealed successful entrapment of catechin in β-glucan. The encapsulated capsules showed sustainable release during simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Moreover, both O-Glu (C) and B-Glu (C) showed that biological activity such as lipase inhibition activity and antioxidant assay were retained after in vitro digestion. It was concluded that O-Glu (C) and B-Glu (C) can be used as functional ingredients effectively in food as well as in the pharmaceutical field

A review of the recent advances in starch as active and nanocomposite packaging films

Technological advances have led to increased constraints regarding food packaging due to environmental issues, consumer health concerns, and economic restrictions associated therewith. Hence, food scientists and technologists are now more focused on developing biopolymer packages. Starch satisfies all the principle aspects, making it a promising raw material for edible coatings/films. Starch as a package material has grabbed much attention both at academic as well as industrial levels. Besides this, the role of various plasticizers, polys, sugars, and wetting agents are discussed and their importance in packaging industries. Herein, the role of starch as packaging material and nanofillers/composites is discussed in detail. The review summons a comprehensive and current overview of the widely available information and recent advances in starch film packaging

Evaluation of adjunctive tests for cervical cancer screening in low resource settings

Background: Visual inspection of cervix after application of acetic acid (VIA) is an effective screening tool for cervical cancer in low resource settings, but its low specificity leads to high referral rates. Adjunctive testing may overcome this drawback. Aims: This pilot study was aimed to assess test performances of VIA, human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and Pap smear, individually and in simulated combinations, to determine the probable best screening option. Setting and Design: Gynecology outpatient department (OPD); cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: One hundred women with complaints of irregular vaginal bleeding or discharge, post coital bleeding or unhealthy cervix on examination underwent Pap smear, HPV testing, VIA, colposcopy and biopsy, if indicated, in this screening order. Statistical Analysis: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for each of the tests with a biopsy result of 65HSIL taken as the gold standard. Simulated parallel and sequential combinations for VIA/Pap, VIA/HPV and HPV/Pap were calculated and compared with individual test performance. Results: Prevalence of abnormal Pap smears was 5%, VIA positive 51% and HPV positive 16%. Sensitivity and specificity of VIA were 100% and 53.3% respectively. For HPV and Pap tests corresponding figures were 85.7%, 89.7% and 50%, 98.9% respectively. The best simulated combination with a balance of sensitivity and specificity was of VIA followed by HPV testing (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 95.4%). Conclusion: Addition of HPV testing to VIA can increase the specificity of VIA, thereby reducing the referral rates without compromising the sensitivity of the test

Evaluation of adjunctive tests for cervical cancer screening in low resource settings

Background: Visual inspection of cervix after application of acetic acid (VIA) is an effective screening tool for cervical cancer in low resource settings, but its low specificity leads to high referral rates. Adjunctive testing may overcome this drawback. Aims: This pilot study was aimed to assess test performances of VIA, human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and Pap smear, individually and in simulated combinations, to determine the probable best screening option. Setting and Design: Gynecology outpatient department (OPD); cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: One hundred women with complaints of irregular vaginal bleeding or discharge, post coital bleeding or unhealthy cervix on examination underwent Pap smear, HPV testing, VIA, colposcopy and biopsy, if indicated, in this screening order. Statistical Analysis: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for each of the tests with a biopsy result of ≥HSIL taken as the gold standard. Simulated parallel and sequential combinations for VIA/Pap, VIA/HPV and HPV/Pap were calculated and compared with individual test performance. Results: Prevalence of abnormal Pap smears was 5%, VIA positive 51% and HPV positive 16%. Sensitivity and specificity of VIA were 100% and 53.3% respectively. For HPV and Pap tests corresponding figures were 85.7%, 89.7% and 50%, 98.9% respectively. The best simulated combination with a balance of sensitivity and specificity was of VIA followed by HPV testing (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 95.4%). Conclusion: Addition of HPV testing to VIA can increase the specificity of VIA, thereby reducing the referral rates without compromising the sensitivity of the test

Hierarchical Polyaniline Core-Shell Nanocomposites Coated on Modified Graphite for Improved Electrical Conductivity Performance

Graphite has recently gained scientific and industrial attention due to its high electrical conductivity. In the current endeavor, a new way to fabricate novel and multifunctional nanocomposites using functional graphite (FG) as filler is presented. The fabrication of multilayered conducting composites of PANi/PMMA/PPG-b-PEG-b-PPG was carried out via in situ polymerization, using polyaniline (PANi), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and block copolymer as matrices in the presence of FGfiller. The growth of PANi chains is manifested by PMMA due to the formation of H-bonding between imine and carbonyl groups of PANi and MMA units, respectively, and are responsible for ion exchange sites. FTIR spectroscopy was used for structural elucidation of composites while elemental analysis was accomplished by XPS and EDX spectroscopy. The morphology of the prepared PANi/PMMA/PPG-b-PEG-b-PPG@FG composites was inspected by the SEM. The structure and crystallinity of the composites was investigated via XRD. The improved thermal stability and properties of the nanocomposites were observed using TGA and DSC. The conductivity measurements were used to characterize the electrical conductivity performance of the resulting composites. The presence of functional filler as well as polyaniline shows a significant contribution towards the enhancement of electrical conductivity of PANi/PMMA/PPG-b-PEG-b-PPG@FG nanocomposites