Ultrasonic Technique for Production of Nanoemulsions for Food Packaging Purposes: A Review Study

According to the loss of food due to expired shelf life, there is a global concern on food safety among food science researchers, and food microbiologists. So, any approaches contributing to improved food packaging is most welcome. It has been demonstrated that administration of essential oils, fades away the unsolved obstacles of conventional food packaging, reducing environmental concerns compared with conventional food packaging. Along with substantial progresses in nanoscience, there is a great interest toward usage of nanoemulsions-based delivery systems. They have potentials to simplify targeted delivery of compounds in a high surfaced area, aimed at increasing stability, biodegradability, anti-oxidation, and anti-microbial properties. There are a wide range of methods for fabrication of nanoemulsions. Among them, ultrasonic-based approaches have gained an acceptable efficiency for industrial fabrication of essential oils-based nanoemulsions due to refraining from loss of nutrients through non-thermal approaches. In summary, essential-oils based nanoemulsions are significant due to ability for reduction in microbial load of food-borne pathogens, and prolonged shelf life

Increasing the shelf life of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) fillets affected by low-density polyethylene/Ag/TiO2 nanocomposites experimentally produced by sol-gel and melt-mixing methods

Sol-gel and melt-mixing processes, which are used for the synthesis of low-density polyethylene/silver/titanium dioxide nanocomposites, can inactivate pathogens. In the sol-gel method, the nanocomposites were used to treat four selected microorganisms using the disk-diffusion method. In the melt-mixing method, fish coverage films were used to examine the shelf life of fish. TiO2 along with different concentrations of Ag (0%, 1%, 3%, and 5%) generated the nanocomposites. The maximum inhibition zone diameters (mm) for Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger in 3% Ag were measured. It was concluded that applying the LDPE/Ag/TiO2 nanocomposites produced could be beneficial for inactivation of pathogens

Role of AuNPs in Active Food Packaging Improvement: A Review

There is a worldwide concern about food loss due to reduced shelf life among food science researchers. Hence, it seems that any techniques contributing to improved food packaging are most welcome in the food sector. It has been demonstrated that the administration of nanotechnology-based techniques such as metal-based nanoparticles can fade away the unresolved obstacles in shortened shelf life and environmental concerns. Along with substantial signs of progress in nanoscience, there is a great interest in the usage of green synthesis-based methods for gold nanoparticles as the most advantageous metals, when compared to conventional chemistry-based methods. Interestingly, those aforementioned methods have significant potential to simplify targeted administration of gold nanoparticles due to a large surface-volume ratio, and diminished biohazards, aimed at increasing stability, and induction of anti-microbial or antioxidant properties. However, it is necessary to consider the hazards of gold nanoparticles including migration for food packaging purposes

Designing a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Nanomembrane for the Selective Removal of Staphylococcus aureus from Aqueous Media

Background and Objective: Conventional applied techniques used for detecting pathogenic microorganisms that generally are based on plating, serological and biochemical assays are unreliable and expensive while lacking sensitivity and specificity compared to new analytical methods. Investigation of reliable and rapid analytical diagnosis methods seems a necessity today. In the present study, a high accurate method was developed aiming to pre-concentrate and improve identification of Staphylococcus aureus as a major bacterial human pathogen by using a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) based membrane. Materials and Methods: Cellulose acetate was used as the basic membrane with a pore size of 1.2 μm, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linking monomer, antibody buffer medium as the template molecule, and 2,2'-Azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) as the initiator agent. After selecting the best membrane composition resulting from the optimum ratio of antibody to imprinted monomer, electron microscopy testing was used to evaluate the characterization and stabilization of the molecular imprinting of templates on the membrane. Results and Conclusion: According to the results, the suspension of Staphylococcus aureus with a dilution of 3×105 after being adjacent to MIPs modified membranes had the highest bacterial mass absorption in MIP4 filter and reduced to a level of 1.3×104. The manufactured nano membrane could lead to a significant development in quality control of food industry compared to traditional methods due to a very shorter required time of bacterial mass diagnosis with a very higher accuracy. Keywords: Antibody; Molecular Imprinted Polymer; Nano Membrane; Staphylococcus aureu

An Investigation of Influencing Factors on Attitude toward Online Shopping among Iranian Consumers

ABSTRACT Scope of the attitude toward online shopping is too broad and a coherent model for understanding factors affecting on attitude toward online shopping of consumer in e-commerce field is lacking. Numerous factors affect attitude and many of them are unknown and have not been explored adequately. One of the objectives of this study was to cover shortcoming of previous studies that didn't examine some main factors that influence on attitude toward online shopping. In this study impact of perceived risks, infrastructural variables and return policy on attitude toward online shopping and attitude on online shopping behavior as the hypotheses of study will be examined. This study could be categorized in applied researches from purpose perspective and descriptive-survey from aspect of nature and method (type of correlation). Respondents to the questionnaire were Iranian consumers of online stores which randomly selected. The result of this study show that financial risks and non-delivery risk negatively affected attitude toward online shopping. Furthermore, attitude toward online shopping has positive effect on online shopping behavior of consumers

The Frequency of Laparotomy in Patients with Abdominal Trauma: a Case Study of Fatemi Hospital in Ardabil: 2016

Background & objectives: Trauma is one of the most common causes of death in&nbsp; the age range 1 to 44 and the third cause of death regardless of age. Abdominal trauma is one of the most common types of trauma. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of causes of laparotomy in penetrating and blunt abdominal traumas in 2016. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 120 medical records of patients hospitalized for penetrating and blunt abdominal traumas in Fatemi Hospital, Ardabil, 2016. The inclusion criterion consisted of all patients undergoing laparotomy due to abdominal trauma. In this study, age, gender, education level, type of trauma (blunt or penetrating), results of laparotomy surgery, physical examination and paraclinical findings of patients before operation were collected by a researcher- made checklist. Results: The results showed that 80% of the patients were male and 35% were in the age range 20-29years. Of patients, 38.3% had penetrating trauma and 61.7% blunt trauma. The most common mechanism of blunt abdominal trauma was car accident (83.8%). Penetrating object was the cause of all penetrating abdominal traumas. Peritoneal stimulation symptoms were observed in 56.5% of penetrating abdominal traumas and 62.2% of blunt abdominal traumas. Hypotension was observed in 21.7% of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma compared with 62.2% in patients with blunt abdominal trauma. The most prevalent damaged organ in patients with blunt trauma was spleen (51.4%). The most prevalent damaged intraabdominal organ was small bowel (17.4%). Negative laparotomy was significantly higher in patients with penetrating trauma than those with blunt trauma (p<0.0001). Moreover, 9.2% of all patients had died and mortality rate was higher in patients with blunt trauma than penetrating trauma (p<0.05) . Conclusion: The results of this study showed that: 1. Road traffic accident and penetrating object were the most common causes of laparotomy in patients with blunt and penetrating trauma respectively; 2. Spleen and small bowel were the most prevalent damaged organs in blunt and penetrating abdominal trauma respectively and; 3. Young males were at highest risk of abdominal traumas

Histopathological changes induced by Hemiscorpius lepturus scorpion venom in mice.

International audienceEnvenomation by Hemiscorpius lepturus (H. lepturus) is associated with local necrosis, followed by systemic manifestations. In this work the LD₅₀ of H. lepturus venom were determined by subcutaneous (SC) injection in white Balb/c mice (5 mg/kg). Histopathological alterations in organs such as kidney, heart, liver, lungs, stomach and intestine were determined in 3, 6, 12 and 24 h following experimental (SC) envenoming injection of one LD ₅₀ of the venom in Balb/c mice. Histological studies showed degenerative changes in the kidney with disorganized glomeruli and necrotic tubular in 3 h and reached to its climax in 6 h. Myocardium showed massive myocytolysis with interstitial necrosis in 3 h and reached to its peak after 6 h past envenoming. Bowels showed edema of lamina propria and slight villous necrosis. The enzymatic activities of creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were significantly increased in the serum in 9 h. No necrotic lesion observed in lungs and liver. The results indicate that the venom of H. lepturus is a highly cytotoxic, and induces massive tissue damages in specific organs, starting from the heart and kidney as the first target in 3 h and ends to the bowels in 6 h post envenomation