Use of Natural Antimicrobial Agents: A Safe Preservation Approach

Microorganism contamination at various stages of food chain is one of the major causes for food spoilage that ultimately leads to food waste, increasing food insecurity issues and substantial economic losses. Various synthetic chemical preservatives are being used to control microbial food spoilage and to extend product shelf life. Researchers and consumers are discouraging the use of synthetic preservatives due to their negative health impacts. Naturally occurring antimicrobials have gained attention among researchers and food manufacturer due to their safety and nontoxic status. Natural preservatives are easy to obtain from plants, animals and microbes. These naturally occurring antimicrobial agents can be isolated from indigenous sources using various advanced techniques. Natural preservatives such as nisin, essential oils, and natamycin have effective potential against spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. The regulations regarding the use of these naturally occurring preservatives are not well defined in some developing countries. This chapter focuses on source and their potential role, antimicrobial mechanism in food preservation, and current knowledge on the subject

Microbial biotransformation of beclomethasone dipropionate by Aspergillus niger

Na pesquisa presente o fármaco esteróide antiasmático dipropionato de beclometasona foi submetido à biotransformação microbiana pelo Aspergillus niger. O dipropionato de beclometasona foi transformado, pela primeira vez, em metabólitos variados por biotransformação microbiana. Novos metabólitos do fármaco produzidos podem agir como novas moléculas potenciais e podem substituir os fármacos antigos em questão de segurança, eficácia e mínima resistência. Eles foram purificados por cromatografia em camada delgada preparativa e as suas estruturas foram elucidadas usando técnicas espectroscópicas modernas, como 13C NMR, 1H NMR; HMQC; HMQC; COSY, NOESY e espectrometria de massas, por exemplo, EI-MS. Purificaram-se quatro metabólitos, denominados (i) 17-monopropionato de beclometasona; (ii) 21-monopropionato de beclometasona: (iii) beclometasona e (iv) 21-propionato de 9beta,11beta-epoxi-17,21-diidroxi-16beta-metilpregna-1,4-dieno-3,20-diona.In the present research, the steroidal anti-asthmatic drug beclomethasone dipropionate was subjected to microbial biotransformation by Aspergillus niger. Beclomethasone dipropionate was transformed into various metabolites first time from microbial transformation. New drug metabolites produced can act as new potential drug molecules and can replace the old drugs in terms of safety, efficacy, and least resistance. They were purified by preparative thin layer chromatography technique, and their structures were elucidated using modern spectroscopic techniques, such as 13C NMR, 1H NMR, HMQC, HMQC, COSY, and NOESY, and mass spectrometry, such as EI-MS. Four metabolites were purified: (i) beclomethasone 17-monopropionate, (ii) beclomethasone 21-monopropionate, (iii) beclomethasone, and (iv) 9beta,11beta-epoxy-17,21-dihydroxy-16beta-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione 21-propionate

Self-organizing hierarchical particle swarm optimization of correlation filters for object recognition

Advanced correlation filters are an effective tool for target detection within a particular class. Most correlation filters are derived from a complex filter equation leading to a closed form filter solution. The response of the correlation filter depends upon the selected values of the optimal trade-off (OT) parameters. In this paper, the OT parameters are optimized using particle swarm optimization with respect to two different cost functions. The optimization has been made generic and is applied to each target separately in order to achieve the best possible result for each scenario. The filters obtained using standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) and hierarchal particle swarm optimization (HPSO) algorithms have been compared for various test images with the filter solutions available in the literature. It has been shown that optimization improves the performance of the filters significantly

Morphophysiological Responses of Oat (Avena sativa L.) Genotypes from Pakistan’s Semiarid Regions to Salt Stress

Soil salinity is a major constraint to modern agriculture, with around 20% of the previously irrigated area becoming salt affected. Identifying suitable salt stress-tolerant genotypes based on their agronomic and physiological traits remains a herculean challenge in forage-type Oat (Avena sativa L.) breeding. The present study was designed to investigate the response of oat crop plants against the salt (NaCl) stress in Mardan, Pakistan. The experiment was carried out in complete randomized design (CRD) with two factors trail comprising of the performance of four different genotypes of oat (NARC oat, PARC oat, Green Gold and Islamabad oat) in response to four levels of saline stress (0, 25, 50 and 75 mmol L-1 NaCl). Plant growth and physiological parameters including germination (G, %); fresh shoot weight (FSW, g); fresh root weight (FRW, g); chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll, and total carotenoids were analyzed for identifying salt tolerance. Germination (%) of oat genotypes was negatively affected by higher salt stress. Mean values showed that maximum germination (57.5%) was recorded for control while minimum germination (48.75%) was recorded for 25 mmol L-1 NaCl and that maximum germination (58%) was recorded for PARC oat. The root and shoot fresh weight of all genotypes declined with increasing salt stress, while NARC and Green Gold oat showed considerably higher values than the other genotypes. Although chlorophyll and carotenoids were found to be negatively affected by increasing salt concentrations, NARC and Green Gold oat genotypes performed considerably better at 75 mmol L-1 NaCl when compared to the other genotypes. Based on the mean shoot dry weight ratio ± one standard error, the four Oat genotypes were categorized as salt-tolerant (Green Gold), moderately tolerant (PARC and NARC), and salt-sensitive (Islamabad). The more salt-tolerant genotype (Green Gold) demonstrated relatively high salinity tolerance and may be useful for developing high-yielding oat hybrids in future breeding programs under salt stress conditions

Wheat Antioxidants, Their Role in Bakery Industry, and Health Perspective

Wheat grains and its fractions contain significant level of antioxidant activity and many phytochemicals, such as phenolic acids (ferulic and vanillic acids), carotenoids, and tocopherol are beneficial in curing many disorders. The beneficial phytochemicals are mostly present in aleurone fraction of wheat bran. The phytochemicals and antioxidants present in wheat have several health benefits, such as their ability to act as antioxidants, immunoenhancers, and inhibitors of certain lesions, which have been demonstrated for phenolic. Many wheat antioxidants are similar to the antioxidants present in wheat, but their characteristics are also unique in nature. The regular consumption of these antioxidant compounds in whole grains is associated with a reduced risk of many heart diseases and several forms of cancers and improves the regulation of blood glucose. Wheat antioxidants play a vital role in bakery industry mostly in bread industry. People are getting aware to use the bakery products that are prepared from the white flour due to proper nutrition, healthy lifestyle, improved nutritional composition, and functional properties. In nutshell, wheat antioxidants including phytochemicals synergistically improve the health status of consumers by consuming the products having complete nutrition

Effect of thermally treated barley dietary fiber against hypercholesterolemia

n/

Hamstring Shortness among Undergraduate Students, Using Knee Extension Angle Test

Objective: To examine the causes and incidence of hamstring tightness/shortness among undergraduate physical therapy students. Cross-sectional study. Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, DUHS during the period of Jan 2019 to Jun, 2019. Material and Methods: The subjects sample size (n=248) was estimated by open EPI software. Male and female both are included. Hamstring muscle shortness was assessed by a gold standard assessment tool i.e. passive knee extension angle test. Descriptive statistical analysis was done by using SPSS version 24. Results: The hamstring muscle tightness was measured by using knee extension angle test. It results conclude that among (248) students (62.90%) had hamstring muscle tightness / shortness and (37.10%) did not show any muscle shortness. Out of (216) females participants (136) have hamstring shortness. On the other hand out of (32) male participants (20) had hamstring shortness/tightness out of total (248) students. It was also evident from the study that 27% of physiotherapy students having low back pain was because of clinical exposure and tight hamstrings muscles. Conclusion: Hamstring tightness/shortness is very much prevalent among the undergraduate physiotherapy students. The reason might be the prolong study durations and lack of physical activities. The result showed statistically significant difference between hamstring muscle extensibility in both male and female Key words:   Extension Angle, Flexion, Contracture, Fasciti

Planar SIW leaky wave antenna with electronically reconfigurable E-and H-plane scanning

This paper reports on a novel technique of switching radiation characteristics electronically between E-and H-planes of planar Substrate Integrated Waveguide Leaky Wave Antennas (SIW-LWAs). The leaky wave mode is achieved through increasing the pitch of bounding metallic via posts on one side of SIW transmission section. The radiation switching is achieved by extending the top and bottom metallic planes to a distance of 1 mm along the leakage side. The extended section acts as a parallel plate section which is conveniently connected or disconnected from the leaking side of SIW through PIN diodes. The ‘ON’ state of PIN diodes extends the metal guides and results in the H-plane leakage whereas ‘OFF’ state of PIN diodes truncates the extended metal earlier and alter the leakage line boundary condition towards E-plane. The whole concept is validated by series of simulations followed by the realization and testing of the SIW-LWA. The measured radiation pattern scans about 54° in the E-plane between 10.0 GHz to 11.7 GHz, and 58° in the H-plane from 9 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The proposed topology is a suitable candidate for remote sensing and airborne applications