Intranasal midazolam for the treatment of seizures in children in rural India

Background: About 5% of healthy children experience at least one convulsive episode in their lifetime with onset during childhood in more than half the cases. The current evidence suggests that prolonged seizures are best stopped with early treatment. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the role of intranasal administration of midazolam for seizure cessation at home by caregiver in semi-urban and rural settings. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 children in the age group of 6 months–14 years were included in the study, who previously had a history of convulsions and were on regular follow-up. The study was conducted over a period of 6 months. The parents were instructed to give intranasal midazolam (INM) if seizure activity lasted for more than 3 minutes and the need of giving it 2nd time if the seizure was not aborted and to bring the child to nearest pediatrics emergency set up for the further management. Results: The subjects were divided into three groups according to age: Group A consisted of children between 6 months and 4 years, Group B of 4 and 9 years, and Group C had 9 and 14 years old children. Average duration of aborting seizures before INM use was 16.22 min and after its use was 4.66 min. Seizures were aborted in 45 children within 10 min. Conclusion: INM is safe and efficacious in aborting seizures at home in semi-urban and rural settings

Utilisation of Honey in Processed Food Products

Honey is a unique food owing to its rich composition. Honey consumption in the diets dates back to older times where it was used as a remedy for stomach aches, dehydration, allergies, intercellular damage, skin and hair problems, as well as for its astringent. Honey is used in several food formulations these days. The majority of population is demanding partial or complete replacement of sugar with some healthy sweeteners. Honey is one of the replacers offering so many benefits from being sweet to therapeutic. The unique healing properties of honey such as antiseptic, antibacterial and antiviral are well recognised. By harnessing the unique benefits of honey for formulating healthier products is very beneficial for overall nutrition and well-being. Many honey-containing products such as honey candy, honey spreads, honey bread, honey yoghurt and honey flakes have been prepared which showed increased therapeutic potential. Also, honey-containing beverages are becoming popular owing to its natural sweetness. Honey offers great scope for the development of value-added products or as an ingredient in several formulations

DEVELOPMENT OF INTEGRATED BIOPROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PECTIC OLIGOSACCHARIDES (POS) FROM AGRO-PROCESSING RESIDUES

This research deals with the production of pectic oligosaccharides (POS) from agro-industrial residues, with specific focus on development of continuous cross flow enzyme membrane reactor. Pectic oligosaccharides have recently gained attention due to their prebiotic activity. Lack of information on the continuous production of POS from agro-industrial residues formed the basis for the present study. Four residues i.e sugar beet pulp, onion hulls, pressed pumpkin cake and berry pomace were taken to study their pectin content. Based on the presence of higher galacturonic acid and arabinose (both homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan) in sugar beet pulp and galacturonic acid (only homogalacturonan) in onion hulls, further optimization of different extraction methods of pectin (causing minimum damage to pectic chain) from these residues were done. The most suitable extractant for sugar beet pulp and onion hulls were nitric acid and sodium hexametaphosphate respectively. Further the experiments on the continuous production of POS from sugar beet pulp in an enzyme membrane reactor was initiated. Several optimization experiments indicated the optimum enzyme (Viscozyme) as well as feed concentration (25 g/L) to be used for producing POS from sugar beet pulp in an enzyme membrane reactor. The results highlighted that steady state POS production with volumetric and specific productivity of 22g/L/h and 11 g/gE/h respectively could be achieved by continuous cross flow filtration of sugar beet pulp pectic extract over 10 kDa membrane at residence time of 20 min. The POS yield of about 80% could be achieved using above conditions. Also, in this thesis preliminary experiments on the production and characterization of POS from onion hulls were conducted. The results revelaed that the most suitable enzyme for POS production from onion hulls is endo-polygalacturonase M2. The POS produced from onion hulls were present in the form of DP1 -DP10 in substituted as well as unsubstituted forms. This study clearly demonstrates that continuous production of POS from pectin rich sources can be achieved by using cross flow continuous enzyme membrane reactor.Questa ricerca riguarda la produzione di oligosaccaridi pectici (POS) a partire da residui agro-industriali, con particolare attenzione allo sviluppo di un processo a flusso continuo mediante un bioreattore a membrane. Gli Oligosaccaridi pectinici hanno recentemente guadagnato l'attenzione del mercato dei mangimi della grazie alla loro attività prebiotica. La Mancanza di informazioni sulla produzione in continuo di POS da residui agroindustriali ha costituito la base per il presente studio. In particolare, quattro tipi di residui, cioè polpa di barbabietola da zucchero, bucce di cipolla, scarto pressato di zucca e bacche vinacce sono state prese in esame per lo studio del loro contenuto di pectina. Lo studio della composizione in zuccheri degli scarti utilizzati ha permesso di osservare un elevato contenuto sia di acido galatturonico sia di ramnosio (omogalatturonano e ramnogalatturonano) nella polpa della barbabietola da zucchero; è stato inoltre osservato un elevato contenuto di acido galatturonico (solo omogalatturonano) negli scafi di cipolla. Sulla base di questi risultati, il metodo di estrazione delle pectine è stato ottimizzato per I diversi scarti (causando danni minimi alle catene pectiche).I solventi più adatti all’estrazione di pectine dalla polpa della barbabietola e dagli scafi di cipolla sono stati rispettivamente l’acido nitrico ed il sodio esametafosfato.Ulteriori esperimenti sulla produzione continua di POS dalla polpa di barbabietola da zucchero in un reattore a membrana enzimatica sono stati condotti. I diversi esperimenti di ottimizzazione hanno indicato che la produzione dei POS da tale scarto può essere effettuata in modo ottimale utilizzando l’enzima Visozyme ed una concentrazione del substrato di 25 g/l. I risultati hanno evidenziato che la produzione di POS nello stato stazionario, con produttività volumetrica e specifica di 22 g / L / h e 11 g / GE / h rispettivamente, potrebbe essere raggiunto mediante continua filtrazione dalla polpa della barbabietola da zucchero usando una membrane con cut-off di peso molecolare di 10 kDa ed un tempo di residenza di 20 minuti. La resa in POS di circa l'80% potrebbe essere ottenuta utilizzando le condizioni di cui sopra. Inoltre, in questa tesi sono stati condotti esperimenti preliminari per la produzione e caratterizzazione di POS da scafi di cipolla. I risultati hanno mostrato che l’enzima più adatto in questo caso è l’endo-poligalatturonasi M2. I POS prodotti a partire da scafi di cipolla erano presenti in forma di DP1 -DP10 sia nella foma sostituita cosi come nella forma libera. Questo studio dimostra chiaramente come la produzione continua di POS da fonti ricche in pectina può essere ottenuto utilizzando un flusso incrociato e continuo in un reattore a membrana enzimatica

Pectic oligosaccharides from agricultural by-products: production, characterization and health benefits

Pectin containing agricultural by-products are potential sources of a new class of prebiotics known as pectic oligosaccharides (POS). In general, pectin is made up of homogalacturonan (HG, α-1,4-linked galacturonic acid monomers) and rhamnogalacturonan (RG, alternate galacturonic acid and rhamnose backbone with neutral side chains). Controlled hydrolysis of pectin containing agricultural by-products like sugar beet, apple, olive and citrus by chemical, enzymatic and hydrothermal can be used to produce oligo-galacturonides (GalpOS), galacto-oligosaccharides (GalOS), rhamnogalacturonan-oligosaccharides (RGOS), etc. However, extensive research is needed to establish the role of POS, both as a prebiotic as well as therapeutic agent. This review comprehensively covers different facets of POS, including the nature and chemistry of pectin and POS, potential agricultural residual sources of pectin, pre-treatment methods for facilitating selective extraction of pectin, identification and characterization of POS, health benefits and important applications of POS in food and feed. This review has been compiled to establish a platform for future research in the purification and characterization of POS and for in vivo and in vitro studies of important POS, so that they could be commercially exploited

Enzymatic production of pectic oligosaccharides from onion skins

Onion skins are evaluated as a new raw material for the enzymatic production of pectic oligosaccharides (POS) with a targeted degree of polymerization (DP). The process is based on a two-stage process consisting of a chelator-based crude pectin extraction followed by a controlled enzymatic hydrolysis. Treatment of the extracted crude onion skin's pectin with various enzymes (EPG-M2, Viscozyme and Pectinase) shows that EPG-M2 is the most appropriate enzyme for tailored POS production. The experiments reveal that the highest amount of DP2 and DP3 is obtained at a time scale of 75-90 min with an EPG-M2 concentration of 26 IU/mL. At these conditions the production amounts 2.5-3.0% (w/w) d.m for DP2 and 5.5-5.6% (w/w) d.m for DP3 respectively. In contrast, maximum DP4 production of 5.2-5.5% (w/w) d.m. is obtained with 5.2 IU/mL at a time scale of 15-30 min. Detailed LC-MS analysis reveals the presence of more methylated oligomers compared to acetylated forms in the digests

Continuous production of pectic oligosaccharides from sugar beet pulp in a cross flow continuous enzyme membrane reactor

Sugar beet pulp pectin is an attractive source for the production of pectic oligosaccharides, an emerging class of potential prebiotics. The main aim of the present work was to investigate a new process allowing to produce pectic oligosaccharides in a continuous way by means of a cross flow enzyme membrane reactor while using a low-cost crude enzyme mixture (viscozyme). Preliminary experiments in batch and semi-continuous setups allowed to identify suitable enzyme concentrations and assessing filtration suitability. Then, in continuous experiments in the enzyme membrane reactor, residence time and substrate loading were further optimized. The composition of the obtained oligosaccharide mixtures was assessed at the molecular level for the most promising conditions and was shown to be dominated by condition-specific arabinans, rhamnogalacturonans, and galacturonans. A continuous and stable production was performed for 28.5 h at the optimized conditions, obtaining an average pectic oligosaccharide yield of 82.9 ± 9.9% (w/w), a volumetric productivity of 17.5 ± 2.1 g/L/h, and a specific productivity of 8.0 ± 1.0 g/g E/h. This work demonstrated for the first time the continuous and stable production of oligosaccharide mixtures from sugar beet pulp using enzyme membrane reactor technology in a setup suitable for upscaling

Continuous production of pectic oligosaccharides from onion skins with an enzyme membrane reactor

The aim of this research was to valorize onion skins, an under-utilized agricultural by-product, into pectic oligosaccharides (POS), compounds with potential health benefits. To achieve high hydrolysis performance with the multi-activity enzyme Viscozyme L, an innovative approach was investigated based on a cross-flow continuous membrane enzyme bioreactor (EMR). The influence of the various process conditions (residence time, enzyme concentration, substrate concentration) was investigated on productivity and yield. The composition of the POS mixtures in terms of mono- and oligosaccharides was assessed at the molecular level. At optimized conditions, a stable POS production with 22.0 g/L/h volumetric productivity and 4.5 g/g POS/monosaccharides was achieved. Compared to previous results obtained in batch for the enzyme Viscozyme L, EMR provided a 3–5× higher volumetric productivity for the smallest POS. Moreover, it gave competitive results even when compared to batch production with a pure endo-galacturonase enzyme, demonstrating its feasibility for efficient POS production

Pectin oligosaccharides from sugar beet pulp: Molecular characterization and potential prebiotic activity

Pectin oligosaccharides (POS) have been indicated as a new class of potential prebiotic compounds, which can be produced from pectin-rich food byproducts. In the present study, different technological means of POS production were explored to produce tailor-made POS mixtures starting from sugar beet pulp. The overall POS production process consisted of two steps: the extraction of pectin and the hydrolysis of pectin to tailored POS by combined hydrolysis/fractionation approaches. Different extraction as well as hydrolysis and fractionation methodologies were applied. The obtained POS were characterized for their total galacturonic acid content and, at a deeper level, using a HILIC-ESI/MS methodology, for the POS structure and composition. The composition of POS fractions was studied as a function of the technology used to obtain them. Finally, the potential prebiotic properties of the POS mixtures obtained were thoroughly explored by several in vitro experiments aimed at detecting lactic acid bacteria (LAB) stimulation by POS fractions. Several fractions were very efficient in stimulation, in a species-dependent manner. The overall best fractions were in general those rich in arabinans having a low degree of polymerization, obtained from the enzymatic extraction of biomass and subsequent fractionation with low-medium molecular weight cut-off. Quite interestingly, no POS fraction was able to stimulate pathogenic E. coli strains. The data reported here clearly indicate the possibility to obtain diverse fractions with different prebiotic properties starting from the same biomass, and outline clear potential for POS obtained from sugar beet pulp with the appropriate technology to act as prebiotic compounds

Effect of Extraction Conditions on the Saccharide (Neutral and Acidic) Composition of the Crude Pectic Extract from Various Agro-Industrial Residues

The influence of different extraction methodologies was assessed on the composition of both neutral (arabinose, rhamnose, galactose) and acidic (galacturonic acid) pectic polysaccharides obtained from four agro-industrial residues, namely, berry pomace (BP), onion hulls (OH), pressed pumpkin (PP), and sugar beet pulp (SBP). For acidic pectic polysaccharides, the extraction efficiency was obtained as BP (nitric acid-assisted extraction, 2 h, 62.9%), PP (enzymatic-assisted extraction, 12 h, 75.0%), SBP (enzymatic-assisted extraction, 48 h, 89.8%; and nitric acid-assisted extraction, 4 h, 76.5%), and OH (sodium hexametaphosphate-assisted extraction, 0.5 h, 100%; and ammonium oxalate-assisted extraction, 0.5 h, 100%). For neutral pectic polysaccharides, the following results were achieved: BP (enzymatic-assisted extraction, 24 h, 85.9%), PP (nitric acid-assisted extraction, 6 h, 82.2%), and SBP (enzymatic assisted extraction, 48 h, 97.5%; and nitric acid-assisted extraction, 4 h, 83.2%). On the basis of the high recovery of pectic sugars, SBP and OH are interesting candidates for the further purification of pectin and production of pectin-derived products