The relationship between the carcass characteristics and meat composition of young Simmental beef cattle

The objective was to study the relationships between the carcass characteristics and meat composition of young Simmental beef, classified with regard to conformation and degree of fatness scores, and total lipid content, depending on gender. For this purpose, 90 animals (60 male and 30 female Simmental beef cattle) were analysed. The results of the study showed that gender affected carcass measurement scores and chemical composition of meat through its important effect on overall animal fatness. Referring to correlations, male carcass conformation score was negatively related to slaughter weight, total lipid content and fatness score. On the other hand, slaughter weight, hot and cold carcass weight, dressing percentage and carcass conformation was positively related to fatness score, all of them being significant. However, female carcass conformation score was positively related to slaughter weight, total lipid content and fatness score. Hot and cold carcass weights of female Simmental beef cattle were positively correlated to slaughter weight, total lipid content and carcass conformation score. Carcass conformation score and fatness score were affected by gender of young Simmental beef cattle

Chemical composition and screening of the antimicrobial and antioxidative activity of extracts of Stachys species

GC and GC/MS analyses of the diethyl ether and ethyl acetate extracts obtained from the aerial parts of Stachys germanica subsp. heldreichii (Boiss) Hayek, Stachys iva Griseb., Stachys plumosa Griseb. and Stachys scardica Griseb., Balkan peninsula endemics, were performed. One hundred and seventy-nine constituents, accounting for 88.8–98.1% of the total composition of the extracts, were identified. The common feature of the diethyl ether extracts was the high content of terpenoids and fatty acid-derived compounds, while the common feature of the ethyl acetate extracts was the prevalence of fatty acid-derived compounds. A disk diffusion method was used for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of the extracts against a panel of microorganisms (bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella enteritidis; fungi: Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). The total antioxidant capacity of the extracts was evaluated by the phosphomolybdenum method. The preliminary bioassay results indicated that the diethyl ether extract of S. plumosa could be a possible source of antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds

The application of autochthonous potential of probiotic lactobacillus plantarum 564 in fish oil fortified yoghurt production

The objective of this work was to investigate the survival of autochthonous, potentially probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum 564, and the influence of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 (omega-3 PUFA) fish oil fortification on the sensory quality of yoghurt. Three variants of yoghurt were produced using starter cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus (Chr. Hansen, Denmark), and the potentially probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 564 (Culture Collection of the Department for Industrial Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade) as follows: (1) without omega-3 PUPA; (2) with 100 mg/l omega-3 PUFA; and (3) with 200mg/l omega-3 PUFA. The survival of potential probiotic Lb. plantarum 564, the changes of starter bacteria counts, changes of pH values, as well as sensory evaluation, were examined during 3 weeks of yoghurt storage. Cells of Lb. plantarum 564 were maintained at > 10(8) cfug(-1). Starter bacteria counts were > 10(7)cfug(-1) for streptococci and > 10(6) cfug(-1) for lactobacilli. The changes of pH were within normal pH of fermented milks. Sensory evaluation showed that all variants of yoghurt produced with Lb. plantarum 564 and 2 concentrations of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids had a high sensory quality (above 90% of maximal quality), and which did not change significantly throughout the examined storage period. Although the sensory quality of the control sample was evaluated as better, the experimental samples fortified with fish oil were also characterized with very acceptable sensory properties. Results of high viability of potential probiotic Lb. plantarum 564, as well as very acceptable yoghurt sensory properties, indicate that this strain can be successfully used in the production of yoghurt fortified with PUFA omega-3 fish oil as a new functional dairy product

Ambient air particles: The use of ion chromatography and multivariate techniques in the analysis of water-soluble substances

Seventeen water-soluble substances (of sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, formate, methanesulfonate, glyoxylate, chloride, nitrite, nitrate, glutarate, succinate, malate, malonate, sulfate and oxalate) in 94 samples of particle matter in the ambient air, collected over ten months, in a suburb of Belgrade (Serbia), were determined by ion chromatography. To apportion the sources of the air pollution, the log-transformed data were processed by applying multivariate techniques. Principal component and factor analysis identified three main factors controlling the data variability: stationary combustion processes with the highest loadings of oxalate, malonate and malate; landfill emission and secondary inorganic aerosol characterized by high levels of ammonium, nitrate and sulfate; a contribution of mineral dust composed of magnesium, calcium and chloride. The hierarchical cluster analysis pointed out a differentiation of the samples into five groups belonging to different variables inputs. For the classification of ambient air samples using nine selected ions, the recognition ability of linear discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbors, and soft independent modeling of class analogy were 87.0, 94.6, and 97.8 %, respectively. Time-series analysis showed that the traffic emission is more pronounced in winter in contrast to the mineral dust influence, while the effect of waste combustion exhibits no trend

A consideration of the use of ICTM SP-12 pressure sensor for ultrasound sensing

A consideration study for the application of the pressure sensor SP-12 developed and produced by ICTM CMT as an ultrasound sensor is given. The interaction of ultrasound with the sensor’s membrane was analytically described, but for the initial examination of its performance, Finite Elements Method simulation was applied. The sensor SP-12 has eigenfrequencies in the range from 200 kHz to the frequencies higher than 2 MHz. The amplitude of the output signal, which is proportional to Von Mises stress, is highest for the lowest frequency, and it exponentially decreases as the eigenfrequencies increase. This makes the sensor suitable for the ultrasound measurements in the range of hundreds of kH

Toxicity of carvacrol and its potential in preventing L-arginine-induced pancreatic damage

Carvacrol (5-isopropyl-2-methylphenol) is a monoterpene present in the essential oils of many aromatic plants of the Lamiaceae family, including the genera Origanum, Thymus, Thymbra, and Satureja. Carvacrol is reported to have a variety of biological properties and its activity might partially be responsible for the activity of ethnomedicinal plants rich in this monoterpene. Our present work aims to estimate the damaging effect of carvacrol on Wistar rat pancreatic tissue, as well as to evaluate its protective action in preventing pancreas damage induced by L-arginine. The toxic and beneficial (in a low dose of 10 mg/kg) properties of carvacrol were assessed by measuring serum α-amylase and lipase activities and tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Also, the pathohistological appearance of pancreatic tissue was assessed, where the presence of edema, inflammation, necrosis, and hemorrhage was scored. The application of higher doses of carvacrol (100 and 500 mg/kg) produced a significant increase in serum α-amylase activity, followed by inflammatory cell infiltration and patchy interlobular edema. In the L-arginine-induced pancreatitis model, a dose of 10 mg/kg of carvacrol was able to prevent the increase in serum α-amylase and lipase activities, as well as to prevent MDA formation compared to the animals that received L-arginine only. Pathological changes also followed the biochemical picture, where mild edema and inflammatory infiltration, with few necrotic areas, could be seen in the tissues of animals treated with carvacrol prior to L-arginine treatment. On the contrary, the tissues of the animals that received L-arginine only displayed massive leukocyte infiltration with edema and significant necrotic areas. One can speculate that the activity of carvacrol is probably arising from its ability to affect the function of multiple cellular mediators, as well as to prevent oxidative tissue damage by mitigating cell oxidative mechanisms

Comprehensive ablation study of near-IR femtosecond laser action on the titanium-based alloy Ti6Al4V: morphological effects and surface structures at low and high fluences

The surface of a titanium-based alloy Ti6Al4V was subjected to modifications by a near-IR femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser, emitting at 775 nm pulses of 200 fs duration, in single-pulse and multi-pulse regimes, with up to 400 accumulated pulses, and pulse energies ranging from 2.5 to 250 \upmu J. The whole range of induced effects is presented, from gentle ablation and pattern occurrence to substantial crater formation. Very observable laser-induced parallel periodic surface structures are reported, appearing both within the damage spot area, with low fluences, and at the peripheries of the craters, with higher fluences—but also on crater walls, and inside the crater structures. Damage threshold fluences $$({F}_{\mathrm{th}})$$and the incubation factor $$(\zeta )$$were also determined

Effects of a combined thymol and carvacrol application on rat kidney damage parameters after L-arginine application

Thymol and carvacrol are two frequently abundant volatile monoterpene phenols found as constituents of different, widely used medicinal plants mainly belonging to the Lamiaceae family. The two compounds were previously proven to possess a large number of pharmacological/toxicological activities, including the nephroprotective activity. The present study aims to evaluate the nephroprotective potential of the two mentioned monoterpenes in L-arginine-induced rat kidney damage model. The potentials of thymol and carvacrol to alleviate kidney impairment were investigated using a different serum (urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium) and homogenate (neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin-NGAL) parameters that reflect kidney tissue damage. Significant rat kidney damage, increased serum urea, creatinine, sodium and potassium levels, as well as NGAL tissue activity, followed the application of L-arginine (3.5 g/kg). Thymol (10 mg/kg), carvacrol (10 mg/kg) or their combination (1:1, w/w, 10 mg/kg) application prior to L-arginine reduced the kidney tissue damage based on the determined values of the previously mentioned parameters. The activity of the combination of the two monoterpenes was found to be more pronounced than the activity of the individual ones at the same total dose. These differences were clearly visible in the urea and potassium serum levels and in the NGAL tissue activity obtained from the corresponding experimental groups. Such greater nephroprotective potential of the combination of the two compounds could be attributed to a possible synergistic effect of the two volatile phenols, since they were proven alone to both possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-apoptotic, etc. activities

Artificial Neural Network for Composite Hardness Modeling of Cu/Si Systems Fabricated Using Various Electrodeposition Parameters

Copper coatings are produced on silicon wafer by electrodeposition (ED) for various cathode current densities. The resulting composite systems consist of 10 μm monolayered copper films electrodeposited from sulphate bath on Si wafers with sputtered layers of Cr/Au. Hardness measurements were performed to evaluate properties of the composites. The composite hardness (H c ) was characterized using Vickers microindentation test. Then, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was used to study the relationship between the parameters of metallic composite and their hardness. Two experimental values: applied load during indentation test and current density during the ED process were used as the inputs to the neural network. Finally, the results of the composite hardness (experimental and predicted) were used to estimate the film hardness (H f ) of copper for each variations of the current density. This article shows that ANN is an useful tool in modeling composite hardness change with variation of experimental parameters predicting hardness change of composite Si/Cu with average error of 6 %. Using created ANN model it is possible to predict microhardness of Cu film for current density or indentation load for which we do not have experimental data

Structure–property correlations for composite hydrogels based on poly(methacrylic acid) and high concentrations of LTA zeolite

High concentrations of LTA zeolite (27-52mass%) were embedded in poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) matrix to obtain composite hydrogels with porosity and active sites originating from both components. Substandard mechanics of PMAA and aggregation of zeolite particles, were thereby overcome. The composites had remarkably higher density than PMAA xerogel (1700 to1400 kg m−3), higher crosslinking density (54.8 to1.29 mol m−3) and lower swelling degree (41 to 420 kg kg−1). Zeolite particles were uniformly dispersed in PMAA matrix and there was no agglomeration or leaching of zeolite despite very high concentrations. XRD patterns revealed that the inclusion of zeolite particles affected the short-range order in the PMAA matrix. Being an active filler LTA zeolite notably improved thermal stability and mechanics of PMAA hydrogel, multiplying the storage modulus 5.2 times in dry and 21.8 times in swollen state. Structure–property correlations were provided making the base for further development of tailor-made zeolite-PMAA composite hydrogels