Preservative Efficacy of Illicium verum Hook in Fruit Juices

Fruit juices contain all essential nutrients that help in maintaining the health of human beings. However, fruit juices are easily spoiled by the growth of microorganism. Hence, the current investigation has been focused to examine the preservative potential of Illicium verum against microorganisms isolated from juices. Organic and aqueous extracts of I. verum fruits were accessed for their antimicrobial efficacy and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against selected microbes. Among the different solvents, acetonic extract was observed to be the most excellent solvent extract and the least MIC was 0.39 mg/ml. Hence, acetonic extract of I. verum has a biopreservative efficacy

Efficacy of Plant Antimicrobials as Preservative in Food

Safe and hygienic food is a requirement for a healthy society. The problem of food-borne outbreaks has built a challenge against the food and health regulatory authorities to control the pathogenic microorganisms. Chemical preservative has created some health problems in foods, so the recent trend is towards the use of natural antimicrobials in foods. Plants are valuable source of bioactive molecules exhibiting antimicrobial activities. The plant antimicrobial compounds have diverse chemical nature such as alkaloids, phenolics, terpenes, terpenoids, flavonoids, essential oil, etc. Many plant antimicrobials possess antimicrobial activity against pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. But variation in effectiveness of these compounds against microorganisms in laboratory system and in real food systems is major determinant in their food use. Several plant extract or purified compounds are part of human diet since thousands of years. Although some plant compounds enjoy the status of generally recognised as safe (GRAS), typical toxicological information of their use in food is not available. So the improvement in cost-effective isolation and toxicological information of these compounds is helpful in their use as biopreservative in foods

Antigenotoxic Effect of Curcumin and Carvacrol against Parathion Induced DNA Damage in Cultured Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes and Its Relation to GSTM1 and GSTT1 Polymorphism

In recent years, the use of organophosphorus pesticides has been extensively increased and these compounds signify a major class of agricultural pesticides today. We studied antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol against the parathion induced DNA damage in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes using sister chromatid exchanges as a biomarker of genotoxicity. Heparinised fresh blood from healthy individuals was treated with 2.5 μg/mL concentration of parathion in presence of curcumin and carvacrol in order to observe the antigenotoxic potential of both curcumin and carvacrol. Significant reduction (P0.05) of GSTT1 and GSTM1 polymorphism on genotoxicity of parathion and antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol

Association of Polymorphisms of Phase I Metabolizing Genes with Sister Chromatid Exchanges in Occupational Workers Exposed to Toluene Used in Paint Thinners

This study investigated genetic damage in paint workers mainly exposed to toluene as it is a major solvent used in paint thinners. Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay was used as biomarker of genotoxicity. Blood samples were collected from 30 paint workers and 30 control subjects matched with respect to age and other confounding factors except for exposure to toluene. SCE frequency was found to be significantly higher in paint workers (4.81 ± 0.92) as compared to control individuals (1.73 ± 0.54) ( < 0.05). We also investigated influence of polymorphisms of CYP2E1 and CYP1A1m2 genes on SCE frequency. Our results showed that there was significant increase in frequencies of SCE among the mutant genotypes of CYP2E1 and CYP1A1m2 as compared to wild genotypes. Our study indicated that long term exposure of toluene can increase genotoxic risk in paint workers

Emerging Preservation Techniques for Controlling Spoilage and Pathogenic Microorganisms in Fruit Juices

Fruit juices are important commodities in the global market providing vast possibilities for new value added products to meet consumer demand for convenience, nutrition, and health. Fruit juices are spoiled primarily due to proliferation of acid tolerant and osmophilic microflora. There is also risk of food borne microbial infections which is associated with the consumption of fruit juices. In order to reduce the incidence of outbreaks, fruit juices are preserved by various techniques. Thermal pasteurization is used commercially by fruit juice industries for the preservation of fruit juices but results in losses of essential nutrients and changes in physicochemical and organoleptic properties. Nonthermal pasteurization methods such as high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric field, and ultrasound and irradiations have also been employed in fruit juices to overcome the negative effects of thermal pasteurization. Some of these techniques have already been commercialized. Some are still in research or pilot scale. Apart from these emerging techniques, preservatives from natural sources have also shown considerable promise for use in some food products. In this review article, spoilage, pathogenic microflora, and food borne outbreaks associated with fruit juices of last two decades are given in one section. In other sections various prevention methods to control the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microflora to increase the shelf life of fruit juices are discussed

Isolation and Screening of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Producing Bacteria from Pulp, Paper, and Cardboard Industry Wastes

Background. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are storage materials that accumulate by various bacteria as energy and carbon reserve materials. They are biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and also biocompatible bioplastics. Unlike petrochemical-based plastics that take several decades to fully degrade, PHAs can be completely degraded within a year by variety of microorganisms into CO2 and water. In the present study, we aim to utilize pulp, paper, and cardboard industry sludge and waste water for the isolation and screening of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) accumulating bacteria and production of cost-effective PHB using cardboard industry waste water. Results. A total of 42 isolates showed black-blue coloration when stained with Sudan black B, a preliminary screening agent for lipophilic compounds, and a total of 15 isolates showed positive result with Nile blue A staining, a more specific dye for PHA granules. The isolates NAP11 and NAC1 showed maximum PHA production 79.27% and 77.63% with polymer concentration of 5.236 g/L and 4.042 g/L with cardboard industry waste water. Both of the selected isolates, NAP11 and NAC1, were classified up to genus level by studying their morphological and biochemical characteristics and were found to be Enterococcus sp., Brevundimonas sp. and, respectively. Conclusion. The isolates Enterococcus sp. NAP11 and Brevundimonas sp. NAC1 can be considered as good candidates for industrial production of PHB from cardboard industry waste water. We are reporting for the first time the use of cardboard industry waste water as a cultivation medium for the PHB production

External quality assessment for laboratories in pan-India ILI/SARI surveillance for simultaneous detection of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2

IntroductionThe Indian Council of Medical Research has set up a nationwide network of 28 laboratories for simultaneous surveillance of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 in ILI/SARI patients, using an in-house developed and validated multiplex real-time RTPCR assay. The aim of this study was to ensure the quality of testing by these laboratories by implementing an external quality assessment program (EQAP).MethodsFor this EQAP, a proficiency test (PT) panel comprising tissue-culture or egg-grown influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 was developed. The PT panel was distributed to all the participant laboratories, which tested the panel and submitted the qualitative results online to the EQAP provider. The performance of the laboratories was evaluated on qualitative criteria but cycle threshold (Ct) values were also gathered for each sample.ResultsOn a qualitative basis, all the laboratories achieved the criteria of 90% concordance with the results of the PT panel provider. Ct values of different samples across the laboratories were within ≤ ±3 cycles of the corresponding mean values of the respective sample. The results of this EQAP affirmed the quality and reliability of testing being done for simultaneous surveillance of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 in India

Non-malignant Oral Ulcer: A Diagnostic Challenge to Otorhinolaryngologists

Introduction Apart from the malignant ulcers a wide variety of dermatological and other systemic conditions can affect oral cavity and often be a diagnostic challenge due to their similar presenting features and appearance. Despite being benign, some of them may be fatal if not diagnosed and treated timely. This study aims to assess the incidence of different non malignant ulcers in oral cavity and to estimate the need for histopathological examination for confirmation of the condition for proper management. Materials and Methods  An institution based observational study was conducted over a time period of 16 months at a tertiary care institute. Total 172 cases were included in the present study irrespective of age, sex and duration. Malignant lesions were excluded from the study. Results The present study shows a slight male preponderance (M:F = 1.48:1) with majority of cases were in age group 20-40 years of age (43.02%). Most commonly encountered were recurrent aphthous stomatitis (27.9%) followed by erosive lichen planus (16.28%), oral candidiasis, angular stomatitis, traumatic ulcers and others. 78.5% were treated successfully on the basis of clinical diagnosis while 21.5% cases needed further histopathological or other investigation for confirmation of diagnosis. Conclusion Though the otolaryngologists are more concerned about malignant ulcer, there are many non malignant ulcers which can cause significant morbidity and can even be fatal and should be given similar importance like malignant lesions. Majority of them can be treated successfully on the basis of clinical diagnosis but histopathological examination may be required in some cases for proper diagnosis and appropriate management

Two-tiered Online Optimization of Region-wide Datacenter Resource Allocation via Deep Reinforcement Learning

This paper addresses the important need for advanced techniques in continuously allocating workloads on shared infrastructures in data centers, a problem arising due to the growing popularity and scale of cloud computing. It particularly emphasizes the scarcity of research ensuring guaranteed capacity in capacity reservations during large-scale failures. To tackle these issues, the paper presents scalable solutions for resource management. It builds on the prior establishment of capacity reservation in cluster management systems and the two-level resource allocation problem addressed by the Resource Allowance System (RAS). Recognizing the limitations of Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for server assignment in a dynamic environment, this paper proposes the use of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), which has been successful in achieving long-term optimal results for time-varying systems. A novel two-level design that utilizes a DRL-based algorithm is introduced to solve optimal server-to-reservation assignment, taking into account of fault tolerance, server movement minimization, and network affinity requirements due to the impracticality of directly applying DRL algorithms to large-scale instances with millions of decision variables. The paper explores the interconnection of these levels and the benefits of such an approach for achieving long-term optimal results in the context of large-scale cloud systems. We further show in the experiment section that our two-level DRL approach outperforms the MIP solver and heuristic approaches and exhibits significantly reduced computation time compared to the MIP solver. Specifically, our two-level DRL approach performs 15% better than the MIP solver on minimizing the overall cost. Also, it uses only 26 seconds to execute 30 rounds of decision making, while the MIP solver needs nearly an hour