Effects of substituting skimmed milk powder with modified starch in yoghurt production

Rheological properties of yoghurt are known to be influenced by several factors during processing including the milk composition, additives, the type of culture (ropy or non ropy), heat treatment and mechanical processes it undergoes after fermentation. The objective of this study was to determine the most appropriate levels of modified starch that could be added in the yoghurt without noticeably altering the keeping quality and consumer acceptability of the yoghurt. A stirred type of yoghurt was developed using modified corn starch as a stabiliser to variably replace skimmed milk powder (partially or in totally) while maintaining the samequality and consumer acceptability on the yoghurt product. Different formulations were made and their quality characteristics studied using the 3% skimmed milk powder sample as the control. The results showed that the modified corn starch addition did not affect the gelation process, texture, fermentation time and the desired pH end point. Two sample formulations were identified as the most comparable to the control in terms of viscosity, taste, mouth]feel and general acceptability. These were the 0.5% modified corn starch alone and 0.5% modified corn starch with 1% skimmed milk powder. These reduced the cost of production per litre by 22% and 13% respectively. The samples were stable for three consecutive weeks in all the desirable yoghurt quality parameters tested includingconsumer acceptability. In conclusion, the application of modified starch at the level of 0.4% was found to have the most significant reduction in cost of production while having the least effect on the keeping quality and consumer acceptability of the yoghurt. Key words: Yoghurt, starch, quality, acceptability, cos

Entomological aspects and the role of human behaviour in malaria transmission in a highland region of the Republic of Yemen

© 2016 Al-Eryani et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The attached file is the published version of the article

Prospective study on severe malaria among in-patients at Bombo regional hospital, Tanga, north-eastern Tanzania

In Tanzania, malaria is the major cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for about 30% of all hospital admissions and around 15% of all hospital deaths. Severe anaemia and cerebral malaria are the two main causes of death due to malaria in Tanga, Tanzania. This was a prospective observational hospital-based study conducted from October 2004 to September 2005. Consent was sought from study participants or guardians in the wards. Finger prick blood was collected from each individual for thick and thin smears, blood sugar levels and haemoglobin estimations by Haemocue machine after admission. A total of 494 patients were clinically diagnosed and admitted as cases of severe malaria. Majority of them (55.3%) were children below the age of 5 years. Only 285 out of the total 494 (57.7%) patients had positive blood smears for malaria parasites. Adults aged 20 years and above had the highest rate of cases with fever and blood smear negative for malaria parasites. Commonest clinical manifestations of severe malaria were cerebral malaria (47.3%) and severe anaemia (14.6%), particularly in the under-fives. Case fatality was 3.2% and majority of the deaths occurred in the under-fives and adults aged 20 years and above with negative blood smears. Proper laboratory diagnosis is crucial for case management and reliable data collection. The non-specific nature of malaria symptomatologies limits the use of clinical diagnosis and the IMCI strategy. Strengthening of laboratory investigations to guide case management is recommended