Effects of ultrasonic on microorganisms and enzymes

Removing on pathogens is the key concern of non-thermal technology in food products. Recently, inclusion of ultrasound into the food industry has been a subject of research and development. The application of ultrasound in food industry is undoubtedly the notion of consideration and development and, the same as other cases in other areas, the sound ranges can would fall into the following categories of high frequency, low energy, diagnostic ultrasound in the MHz range and low frequency, high energy, power ultrasound in kHz range. The advantageous application of power ultrasound is reflected in its chemical, mechanical, or physical effects on the process or product. Microorganisms Inactivation mechanism, based on physical and chemical factors that ultrasonic was caused on liquid food. When it comes to physical and chemical effects, one would distinguish between them as thinning cell membrane, localized heat and pressure changes (5500°C, 50Mpa); hydroxyl radical and sonochemical reactions, respectively. Ultrasound-assisted inactivation of microorganisms and enzymes brings about the extension of shelf life of raw materials or prepared foods. The study focuses on the related literature having to do with the effect of ultrasonic on microorganism and enzymes

Holographic RG-flows and Boundary CFTs

Solutions of $(d+1)$-dimensional gravity coupled to a scalar field are obtained, which holographically realize interface and boundary CFTs. The solution utilizes a Janus-like $\mathrm{AdS}_d$ slicing ansatz and corresponds to a deformation of the CFT by a spatially-dependent coupling of a relevant operator. The BCFT solutions are singular in the bulk, but physical quantities such as the holographic entanglement entropy can be calculated.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure

Evaluation of the Effect of different microwave dryer power on the Qualitative and Quantitative properties of Essential oil of Bakhtiari Savory

Drying is one of the most important post-harvest stages of medical plants which has a significant effect on the quality and quantity of the effective compounds. In order to promote the objectives of the study, microwave power was selected as an independent variable so that power variable microwave was designed and constructed. After collection and drying the savory samples in the shade, the essential oil at different treatments was extracted in three levels of 400, 600 and 800 W. The volatile oil was analyzed using GC/MS method. Results of experiments showed that increase in the power from 400 W to 600 and 800 W caused a reduction in drying time. The most yield of essential oil was obtained in the shade drying method with the essence value of 2.41%. It was also revealed that with increasing the microwave power, the amount of essence decreased, so that the microwave power of 800 W had the lowest essence value. The highest values of thymol and carvacrol and sum of them that show the quality of essential oil was obtained in drying methods with microwave power of 800 W (56.83%). Overall, when the quality of essence is important, the common method of shade drying is suggested, while considering the speed and quality, the microwave drying is recommended

Biotechnology issues in four Malaysian mainstream newspapers

Biotechnology has been identified as the new engine of growth for the transformation of Malaysia into a developed nation by 2020. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of National Policy on biotechnology on media reporting in four Malaysian newspapers. Towards this end, a content analysis of four Malaysian mainstream newspapers (that is, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, New Straits Times and The Star) over ten years period was conducted. The findings showed that the coverage pattern among the four different mainstream newspapers were different. These findings indicated that the mass media can be a tool for educating the public but it can only be done through the publishing of in-depth articles discussing issues relating to biotechnology. In conclusion, we found that the media has been unsuccessful in its role to teach the public on biotechnology. In this regard, the government will have to take some other measures to educate the public on that issue. Such immediate steps are necessary because it has been more than five years since the announcement of the National Policy on Biotechnology but the interest among Malaysians on biotechnology is still lacking.Key words: Biotechnology, Malaysian mainstream newspapers, National  Policy on Biotechnology, genetically modified food (GMF)

Remote sensing techology

Presented at Irrigation district sustainability - strategies to meet the challenges: USCID irrigation district specialty conference held on June 3-6, 2009 in Reno, Nevada.Includes bibliographical references.Irrigated agriculture is the largest water user in New Mexico; in southern New Mexico's Lower Rio Grande region, agriculture uses about one million acre-feet of water each year. Previous research has estimated that the average irrigation efficiency in the area is 44%. This relatively low aggregate efficiency indicates a large potential for water savings from agriculture. In order to determine the potential water savings, the amount of water depleted by crop evapotranspiration (ET) in the Mesilla Valley section of the EBID was estimated using satellite information and ground-level measurements to calculate plant consumptive water use on scales ranging from individual farms to the larger watershed. Two areas of potential water savings were evaluated using the satellite-generated consumptive use information: 1) potential water saving at the farm level and 2) potential water saving at the district level. This study found that the majority of farms in the study region were growing crops under deficit irrigation conditions. Therefore, irrigation improvements at the farm-level are likely to increase both yields and water depletion. Potential water savings at the district level were evaluated by comparing the total volume of water diverted for irrigation versus aggregate ET. From the satellite-generated ET data, district-level efficiency was determined to be 55% in 2002 (a full allocation year). Thus, there appears to be a potential for improving district-level efficiency. This can be accomplished by using regional ET depletion values to plan water releases from the reservoir and improve the diversion and distribution within the canal networks

New Mexico pecan production

Presented at Urbanization of irrigated land and water transfers: a USCID water management conference on May 28-31, 2008 in Scottsdale, Arizona.Includes bibliographical references.Pecans are a major agricultural crop in New Mexico. Currently there are approximately 11,000 hectares of pecans in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, consuming more than one third of the annual diversion. The research presented here provides previously unavailable broad-scale estimates of pecan ET and pecan yield response to water. The data at the foundation of this paper were generated using the Regional ET Estimation Model (REEM) developed at New Mexico State University for agricultural and riparian vegetation (Samani et al. 2005, 2006, 2007). REEM uses remotely sensed satellite data to calculate ET as a residual of the energy balance. This research extends the results of REEM to an analysis of yield response to water in irrigated pecan production in the EBID. The study region is rapidly urbanizing and experiencing growing competition for scarce surface and groundwater supplies. The results of this research provide new insight into pecan water use and yields. This research illustrates the linkages that can be made between remote sensing technology, farm-level water management, and yield outcomes. This research sheds new light on the long-standing practice of deficit irrigation in pecans, the yield and conservation impacts of this practice, as well as water conservation policy implications

Perception about family physicians: results of a survey of patients visiting specialist clinics for treatment

Objective: To study the perceptions about Family Medicine among patients visiting Specialist Physicians for treatment. Methods: A questionnaire based survey was conducted at the Specialist Clinic, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, in June 2004. Trained volunteers administered the questionnaire among patients visiting Specialist Physicians for treatment. Confidentiality was ensured to all patients and written informed consent was taken as part of the ethical requirements for the conduct of the study. SPSS computer software and Microsoft Excel were used for data management. Results: A total of 100 patients visiting the Specialist Clinic were interviewed, of which fifty four (54%) were women and forty six (46%) were men. The mean age was 36.3 years. Twenty four (24%) respondents had graduate education. Being well-mannered, being familiar with a family\u27s medical history and possessing the abilities to conduct proper checkups were quoted as main characteristics of Family Physicians by thirty eight (38%), seventeen (17%) and twenty five (25%) respondents respectively. If they had a chest pain, fifty six (56%), forty three (43%) and one (1%) respondents would consult a Family Physician, Cardiologist and Chest Specialist, respectively. Conclusion: We have documented perceptions regarding family medicine among patient\u27s visiting Specialist Physicians for treatment. It is recommended that programs highlighting role and functions of family medicine should be started for the publi

A sparsity-based method for fault-tolerant manipulation of a redundant robot

As an important part of the manufacturing industry, redundant robots can undertake heavy and tough tasks, which human operators are difficult to sustain. Such onerous and repetitive industrial manipulations, that is, positioning and carrying, impose heavy burdens on the load bearing for redundancy robots' joints. Under the circumstances of long-term and intense industrial operations, joints of redundant robots are conceivably to fall into functional failure, which may possibly cause abrupt joint lock or freeze at unknown time instants. Therefore, task accuracy by end-effectors tends to diminish considerably and gradually because of broken-down joints. In this paper, a sparsity-based method for fault-tolerant motion planning of redundant robots is provided for the first time. The developed fault-tolerant redundancy resolution approach is defined as L1-norm based optimization with immediate variables involved to avoid discontinuity in the dynamic solution process. Meanwhile, those potential faulty joint(s) can be located by the designed fault observer with the proposed fault-diagnosis algorithm. The proposed fault-tolerant motion planning method with fault diagnosis is dynamically optimized by resultant primal dual neural networks with provable convergence. Moreover, the sparsity of joint actuation by the proposed method can be enhanced by around 43.87% and 36.51%, respectively, for tracking circle and square paths. Simulation and experimental findings on a redundant robot (KUKA iiwa) prove the efficacy of the developed defect tolerant approach based on sparsity

Study of I405V polymorphism of cholesterol ester transfer protein gene in efficacy of statins on plasma level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol

زمینه و هدف: پروتئین انتقال دهنده کلسترول استر (CETP) در متابولیسم لیپوپروتئین با دانستیه بالا (HDL) و مسیر انتقال معکوس کلسترول نقش اساسی دارد. چند شکلی های ژن CETP مانند I405V (ایزولوسین به والین) که مستقیماً بر HDL کلسترول تاثیر می‌گذارد رونویسی از این ژن را تحت تاثیر قرار می‌دهد. هدف این مطالعه تعیین تاثیر پلی مورفیسم I405V ژن CETP بر سطح HDL کلسترول در پاسخ به درمان با استاتین‌ها می‌باشد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی - تحلیلی از بین بیمارانی که سطح لیپوپروتئین با دانسیته پایین کلسترول (LDL-C) بالاتر از 120 میلی گرم در دسی لیتر تحت درمان، 196 بیمار دریافت کننده لواستاتین و آتوراستاتین انتخاب شدند. در همه بیماران قبل و بعد از درمان پروفایل لیپیدی اندازه‌گیری شد. پلی مورفیسم I405V ژن CETP توسط تکنیک چند شکلی طول قطعه محدود (PCR- RFLP) تعیین گردید. سپس نتایج آزمایشات بیوشیمیایی در پلی مورفیسم‌های مختلف با استفاده از آزمون‌های t زوجی، ANOVA و توکی مورد مطالعه قرار گرفت. یافته‌ها: پس از درمان با لواستاتین در ژنوتیپ VV سطح کلسترول کاهش بیشتر و سطح HDL افزایش بیشتری نسبت به دو ژنوتیپ دیگر نشان داد (05/0

The effect of Euphorbia szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey extract on the viability and the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cell line

The aim of this study was to determine the anticancer effects of Euphorbia szovitsii Fisch. & C.A.Mey. on the breast cancer cells to reveal the underlying mechanism of its anti-breast cancer properties. In this experimental study, triple negative breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) was cultivated in RPMI 1640 medium. Hydroalcoholic extract (70:30) of aerial parts of the plant was prepared. The cultured cells were treated with different concentrations (0-1000 μg/ml) of E. szovitsii extract for 24 and 48 hours. Toxicity of the extract on MDA-MB-231 cells was examined using MTT (3-[4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl]-2, 5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) test. The Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit was used to evaluate apoptosis and necrosis. Flow cytometry technique was employed to differentiate different phases of the cell cycle in the cells. Data were analyzed by GraphPad Prism and SPSS software. After 24 and 48h, the IC50 values were respectively 76.78 (95% CI=60.75 to 97.05; R=0.8588) and 59.71 (95% CI=46.25 to 77.09; R=0.8543) μg/ml for E. szovitsii, The extract exhibited antiproliferative effects against MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Annexin V-FITC/PI assay confirmed that the extract was able to induce apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, treatment with the extract resulted in cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. Therefore, E. szovitsii could induce apoptosis and arrest cycle arrest in the MDA-MB-231 cell line. It might be a good resource of natural products for producing anti-breast cancer drug