Efecto de la cúrcuma (Curcuma longa) en la extensión de la vida útil y el control de aminas biógenas en sepia (Sepia brevimana) durante su almacenamiento refrigerado

Turmeric extract (0.5%) was applied to Sepia brevimana muscle to investigate its effects on muscle sensory evaluation, biochemical parameters, microbiological proliferation, and biogenic amine (BA) formation during storage at 4°C for 18 days. Sensory evaluation determined the shelf life of S. brevimana muscle to be 12 days for the controls and 15 days for the turmeric-treated samples. The biochemical quality index differences were significant in all instances, and the values were improved in the turmeric-treated samples compared to the control samples. Most microbiological counts were higher in the control samples than in the turmeric-treated samples after day 3. Additionally, the turmeric extract showed an inhibitory effect against some potential BA-forming bacteria. In conclusion, this study revealed the ability of turmeric extract to improve the shelf life and quality of S. brevimana muscle during chilled storage.Extracto de cúrcuma (0,5%) fue aplicado a músculo de Sepia brevimana con el fin de investigar sus efectos sobre la calidad sensorial, parámetros bioquímicos, calidad microbiológica, y la formación de aminas biogénicas durante 18 días de almacenamiento a 4°C. La evaluación sensorial determinó que la vida útil del músculo de S. brevimana alcanzó 12 días en el caso de los controles y 15 días para las muestras tratadas. Los parámetros relativos a la calidad bioquímica, fueron significativamente mejores en todos los casos en las muestras tratadas. La mayor parte de los parámetros microbiológicos mostraron mayores recuentos en las muestras controles en comparación con las muestras tratadas después del día 3. Además, el extracto de cúrcuma mostró un efecto inhibidor frente al desarrollo de bacterias potencialmente productoras de aminas biógenas. En conclusión, este estudio demostró que el extracto de cúrcuma mejora la vida útil y la calidad del músculo de S. brevimana durante el almacenamiento refrigerado.The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) (Government of India, New Delhi) for their financial support [grant no. SR/FT/LS-22/2010; 2 May 2012] and to European Regional Development Funds (FEDER), grant GRC 2014/004 for covering the costs to publish in open accessS

A malaria outbreak in Naxalbari, Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India, 2005: weaknesses in disease control, important risk factors

An outbreak of malaria in Naxalbari, West Bengal, India, in 2005 was investigated to understand determinants and propose control measures. Malaria cases were slide-confirmed. Methods included calculation of annual blood examination rates (ABER, number of slides examined/population), collection of water specimens from potential vector-breeding sites, sorting of villages in categories depending on the number of abandoned wells within two kilometers radius and review of the DDT spray coverage. Cases were compared with matched neighbourhood controls in terms of personal protection using matched odds ratios (MOR). 7,303 cases and 17 deaths were reported between April 2005 and March 2006 with a peak during October rains (Attack rate: 50 per 1,000, case fatality: 0.2%). The attack rate increased according to the number of abandoned wells within 2 kilometres radius (P < 0.0001, Chi-square for trend). Abandoned wells were Anopheles breeding sites. Compared with controls, cases were more likely to sleep outdoors (MOR: 3.8) and less likely to use of mosquito nets and repellents (MOR: 0.3 and 0.1, respectively). DDT spray coverage and ABER were 39% and 3.5%, below the recommended 85% and 10%, respectively. Overall, this outbreak resulted from weaknesses in malaria control measures and a combination of factors, including vector breeding, low implementation of personal protection and weak case detection

Towards the theory of ferrimagnetism

Two-sublattice ferrimagnet, with spin-$s_1$ operators $\bf{S_{1i}}$ at the sublattice $A$ site and spin-$s_2$ operators $\bf{S_{2i}}$ at the sublattice $B$ site, is considered. The magnon of the system, the transversal fluctuation of the total magnetization, is a complicate mixture of the transversal fluctuations of the sublattice $A$ and $B$ spins. As a result, the magnons' fluctuations suppress in a different way the magnetic orders of the $A$ and $B$ sublattices and one obtains two phases. At low temperature $(0,T^*)$ the magnetic orders of the $A$ and $B$ spins contribute to the magnetization of the system, while at the high temperature $(T^*,T_N)$, the magnetic order of the spins with a weaker intra-sublattice exchange is suppressed by magnon fluctuations, and only the spins with stronger intra-sublattice exchange has non-zero spontaneous magnetization. The $T^*$ transition is a transition between two spin-ordered phases in contrast to the transition from spin-ordered state to disordered state ($T_N$-transition). There is no additional symmetry breaking, and the Goldstone boson has a ferromagnetic dispersion in both phases. A modified spin-wave theory is developed to describe the two phases. All known Neel's anomalous $M(T)$ curves are reproduced, in particular that with "compensation point". The theoretical curves are compared with experimental ones for sulpho-spinel $MnCr2S_{4-x}Se_{x}$ and rare earth iron garnets.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

AC susceptibility and 51^{51}V NMR study of MnV2_2O4_4

We report $^{51}$V zero-field NMR of manganese vanadate spinel of MnV$_2$O$_4$, together with both ac and dc magnetization measurements. The field and temperature dependence of ac susceptibilities show a reentrant-spin-glass-like behavior below the ferrimagnetic(FEM) ordering temperature. The zero-field NMR spectrum consists of multiple lines ranging from 240 MHz to 320 MHz. Its temperature dependence reveals that the ground state is given by the simultaneous formation of a long-range FEM order and a short-range order component. We attribute the spin-glass-like anomalies to freezing and fluctuations of the short-range ordered state caused by the competition between spin and orbital ordering of the V site