Food irradiation: Applications, public acceptance and global trade

Food irradiation is the treatment of food products by a definite kind of energy. The process involves exposing the packed or bulked food to the rays of the sun. Food irradiation processing that entails combating post-harvest losses, curtailing food-borne disease and overcoming quarantine barriers has been pursued since the mid-50s. The scientific basis and technological adaptation of the process have been well established more than any other post-harvest food processing techniques. In 1981, the FAO/IAEA/WHO Joint Expert Committees on the wholesomeness of irradiated food (JECFI) concluded, “the irradiation of any food commodity up to an overall average dose of 10 KGy presents notoxicological hazard”. The benefits of irradiation technology in addressing post-harvest food problems are, in some cases, unique and can improve the quality of a number of food products by eliminating the risk of pathogenic contaminants. The potential of this technology has been well perceived in recent years in the wake of food-borne disease caused by pathogenic organisms. In fact, many parts of the world are considering food irradiation as a technological saviour in finding a suitable solution for the problems caused by pathogens in food. Irradiation can be regarded as a useful tool to attain food security in the 21st century. Many consumers have misconceptions about the technology and suppose that it makes food radioactive. But, when the method is explained to them they become normally more in favor of it. Over 50 countries have regulatory approvals in place for irradiation of one or more food products. 30 countries are practically applying this technology for a number of food items

Effects of Current on Arc Fabrication of Cu Nanoparticles

Arc-fabricated copper nanoparticles (Cu Nps) size, morphology and the crystalline structure, as well as the yields of Nps appear sensitive to the applied currents (50–160 A) in distilled water. The results indicate that the sizes of Cu Nps are directly proportional to the currents employed. At 50 A, TEM, XRD, and SEM analyses show fabrication of relatively purest, the most dispersed, face-centered cubic (fcc) brown Cu Nps with rather smallest average size of 20 nm. At the same current, the TGA-DTA analysis reveals neither weight loss nor gain, indicating thermal stability of the fabricated Cu Nps

Floating aortic thrombus with celiac artery embolus presenting with chronic epigastric and right upper quadrant pain: A case report

Arterial occlusion may be the cause of chronic pain, and vascular diagnostic procedures should be a part of the workup in patients with unexplained chronic visceral pain. © 2021 The Authors. Clinical Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Optic nerve head three-dimensional shape analysis

We present a method for optic nerve head (ONH) 3-D shape analysis from retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT). The possibility to noninvasively acquire in vivo high-resolution 3-D volumes of the ONH using spectral domain OCT drives the need to develop tools that quantify the shape of this structure and extract information for clinical applications. The presented method automatically generates a 3-D ONH model and then allows the computation of several 3-D parameters describing the ONH. The method starts with a high-resolution OCT volume scan as input. From this scan, the model-defining inner limiting membrane (ILM) as inner surface and the retinal pigment epithelium as outer surface are segmented, and the Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) as the model origin is detected. Based on the generated ONH model by triangulated 3-D surface reconstruction, different parameters (areas, volumes, annular surface ring, minimum distances) of different ONH regions can then be computed. Additionally, the bending energy (roughness) in the BMO region on the ILM surface and 3-D BMO-MRW surface area are computed. We show that our method is reliable and robust across a large variety of ONH topologies (specific to this structure) and present a first clinical application

Titration of the Iranian white spot virus isolate, on crayfish Astacus leptodactylus and Penaeus semisulcatus

White Spot Virus (WSV) is currently the most serious viral pathogen of shrimp worldwide; it causes mortality up to 100% within 7-10 days in commercial shrimp farms. Infected Indian white shrimp Fenneropenaeus indicus samples were collected from Guatr shrimp site in Sistan and Baluchestan province in south of Iran and WSV infection was confirmed by Nested PCR. WSV was isolated from infected shrimp samples by centrifugation and filtration and multiplied in crayfish by intramuscular inoculation, the isolated virus was called WSV/IRN/1/2010. In order to determine the dilution resulting in 90-100% mortality in Penaeus semiculcatus, diluted virus stock in steps from 10^0 till 10^5 times in sterile PBS was injected intramuscularly to 14 shrimps in each group. Also the virus stock was diluted in steps from 1/2 till 1/32 times in sterile PBS and injected intramuscularly in Astacus leptodactylus crayfish. Therefore the LD50 of live virus stock in Astacus leptodactylus and Penaeus semiculcatus crayfish were calculated by the Karber method 10^3.29 /ml and 10^5.35 /ml, respectively

CuBe: parametric modeling of 3D foveal shape using cubic Bézier

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the retina, and is commonly used for assessing pathological changes of fovea and macula in many diseases. Many neuroinflammatory conditions are known to cause modifications to the fovea shape. In this paper, we propose a method for parametric modeling of the foveal shape. Our method exploits invariant features of the macula from OCT data and applies a cubic Bézier polynomial along with a least square optimization to produce a best fit parametric model of the fovea. Additionally, we provide several parameters of the foveal shape based on the proposed 3D parametric modeling. Our quantitative and visual results show that the proposed model is not only able to reconstruct important features from the foveal shape, but also produces less error compared to the state-of-the-art methods. Finally, we apply the model in a comparison of healthy control eyes and eyes from patients with neuroinflammatory central nervous system disorders and optic neuritis, and show that several derived model parameters show significant differences between the two groups

Protection of hippocampal CA1 neurons against ischemia/Reperfusion injury by exercise preconditioning via modulation of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and prevention of Caspase-3 Activation

Introduction: Ischemia leads to loss of neurons by apoptosis in specific brain regions, especially in the hippocampus. The purpose of this study was investigating the effects of exercise preconditioning on expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 proteins in hippocampal CA1 neurons after induction of cerebral ischemia. Methods: Male rats weighing 260-300 g were randomly allocated into three groups (sham, exercise, and ischemia). The rats in exercise group were trained to run on atreadmill 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Ischemia was induced by the occlusion of both common carotid arteries (CCAs) for 20 min. Levels of expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 proteins in CA1 area of hippocampus were determined by immunohistochemical staining . Results: The number of active caspase-3-positive neurons in CA1 area were significantly increased in ischemia group, compared to sham-operated group (P<0.001), and exercise preconditioning significantly reduced the ischemia/reperfusion-induced caspase-3 activation, compared to the ischemia group (P<0.05). Also, results indicated a significant increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in ischemia group, compared to sham-operated group (P<0.001). Discussion: This study indicated that exercise has a neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemia when used as preconditioning stimuli

Comparison of antibacterial activity of essential oils of Foeniculum vulgare Mill, Mentha arvensis and Mentha piperita against Streptococcus mutans

Background and aims: Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases around the world and this problem is the result of variety of different bacteria. Streptococcus mutants is one of the most important bacteria which is related to this disease. Finding new effective antibacterial agents is an important area in bioscience for fighting and controlling bacterial infections. Essential oils are most important natural sources of antibacterial agents, particularly against drug-resistant bacteria. Methods: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the antibacterial activity of three essential oils Mentha arvensis, Mentha piperita and Foeniculum vulgare Mill against Streptococcus mutants. Disk diffusion method was carried out and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were measured. Results: The results showed that all three essential oils have antibacterial activity against S. mutants. With a constant concentration of 100 µg/µl, the efficiency of Mentha piperita and then Foeniculum vulgare Mill was higher than the efficiency of Mentha arvensis at all 3 given time points (24, 48 and 72 hours). The most effective MIC and MBC were related to Streptococcus mutants using Foeniculum vulgare essential oil which were equal to 8.4 and 14.9 µg/ml, respectively. MIC and MBC for Mentha piperita essential oil were measured 10.5 and 16.3 µg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: The Essential oils used in present study with different components showed antibacterial activity and therefore they can be used as new antibacterial substances

Temporal visual resolution and disease severity in MS

OBJECTIVE: To examine temporal visual resolution assessed as critical flicker frequency (CFF) in patients with MS and to investigate associations with visual system damage and general disability and cognitive function. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients with MS and 31 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study and underwent CFF testing, high- and low-contrast visual acuity, alertness and information processing speed using the paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT), and retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT). In patients with MS, visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores were assessed. RESULTS: CFF in patients with MS (mean ± SD: 40.9 ± 4.4 Hz) was lower than in HCs (44.8 ± 4.4 Hz, p < 0.001). There was no significant CFF difference between eyes with and without previous optic neuritis (ON). CFF was not associated with visual acuity, VEP latency, the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, and the combined ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer volume. Instead, reduced CFF was associated with worse EDSS scores (r(2) = 0.26, p < 0.001) and alertness (r(2) = 0.42, p = 0.00042) but not with PASAT (p = 0.33). CONCLUSION: CFF reduction in MS occurs independently of ON and structural visual system damage. Its association with the EDSS score and alertness suggests that CFF reflects global disease processes and higher cortical processing rather than focal optic nerve or retinal damage

Primary aneurysmal bone cyst of coronoid process

BACKGROUND: Aneurysmal bone cysts are relatively uncommon in the facial skeleton. These usually affect the mandible but origin from the coronoid process is even rarer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a coronoid process aneurysmal bone cyst presenting as temporal fossa swelling. CASE PRESENTATION: A 17 year old boy presented with a progressively increasing swelling in the left temporal region developed over the previous 8 months. An expansile lytic cystic lesion originating from the coronoid process of the left mandible and extending into the infratemporal and temporal fossa regions was found on CT scan. It was removed by a superior approach to the infratemporal fossa. CONCLUSION: Aneurysmal bone cyst of the coronoid process can attain enormous dimensions until the temporal region is also involved. A superior approach to the infratemporal fossa is a reasonable approach for such cases, providing wide exposure and access to all parts of the lesion and ensuring better control and complete excision