FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TEA TREE OIL LOADED ETHOSOMES

To prepare ethosomes containing tea tree oil by hot homogenization method and to evaluate its physical characters and in-vitro release pattern.  the preformulation studies were carried out by standard procedure. The morphology of globule was studied by optical microscopy. The globule size and zeta potential was determined by Zetasizer, respectively and in-vitro study was done by diffusion method and the drug content was analyzed by HPTLC method. The release kinetics was also studied by fitting into few mathematical models.  All the formulations were showed spherical and unilamellar shape with globule size of 931 to 975 nm, the zeta potential in the range of – 40 to -52 mV and entrapment efficiency was 57 to 65 %. Finally the invitro release studies showed the drug release from the ethosomal vesicles was burst release at initial time followed by sustained release over throughout the study. From the above consideration of evaluation studies, the tea tree oil loaded ethosomal formulation F5 shows best globule size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency. The sustained action was confirmed by invitro release studies. All the formulations are followed zero order drug release and diffusion type of mechanism of drug releases with Fickian model. Ethosome loaded tea tree oil could be the best choice for topical application

Reduction of saltiness and acrylamide levels in palm sugar-like flavouring through buffer modification and the addition of calcium chloride.

Palm sugar-like flavouring (PSLF) is a type of flavour product that is formed by heating amino acids and sugar under specific heating conditions. Unfortunately, PSLF has a salty taste and contains high amounts of acrylamide. Hence, the objective of this research was to reduce saltiness and acrylamide without negatively affecting the aroma properties of PSLF. A decrease in the sodium phosphate (NaHPO4) buffer concentration from 0.20 to 0.02 M was found to reduce sodium to approximately 15% of the level found in original PSLF. A further decrease (~25%) in the sodium content was achieved by removing monobasic sodium phosphate (NaH2PO4) from the buffer system. Meanwhile, the addition of CaCl2 at 20–40 mg/L reduced the acrylamide content in PSLF by as much as 58%. A CaCl2 concentration of 20 mg/mL was most favourable as it most efficiently suppressed acrylamide formation while providing an acceptably high flavour yield in PSLF. In view of the high acrylamide content in PSLF, additional work is necessary to further reduce the amount of acrylamide by controlling the asparagine concentration in the precursor mixture

Bacterial diversity and community structure of banana rhizosphere in Orang Asli fields and commercial plantations

Bacteria play an important roles in the soil ecosystem and in the rhizosphere, they are intricately linked to nutrient content and its accessibility to plants, plant protection and sometimes pathogenicity. Banana grows well in the tropics and it is popularly grown in Orang Asli (OA) (indigenous people) settlements. Banana is also grown in commercial plantations. In traditional planting practices, the OA do not add pesticide nor fertilizer to their crops which are planted for selfsustenance mainly. On the other hand, fertilizer and pesticide are added to commercial banana plantations to maximise yield. Rhizosphere bacteria from the banana plant, Pisang Nipah, grown in OA fields and commercial plantations were identified by clone library construction of the 16S rRNA gene. This was to determine whether farming practices influenced the bacterial community in the banana plant rhizosphere. Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were found in all the soil. Other common phyla found in some soil (but not all) were Nitrospirae, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Verrumicrobia, Gemmatimonadetes and Cyanobacteria. The bacterial diversity was a little more diverse in the OA fields than the commercial plantations. The latter had higher contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These could have exerted selective pressure to reduce the bacterial diversity in the commercial plantations

Influence of the inlet air temperature on the microencapsulation of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different inlet air temperatures on the physicochemical properties and oxidative stability of microencapsulated kenaf seed oil (MKSO). Kenaf seed oil was homogenised with the wall materials at a total solid content of 30% and was spray-dried at 160, 180 or 200°C inlet air temperature. The microstructure and morphology of the microencapsulated kenaf seed oil were observed using a scanning electron microscope. The physicochemical properties, such as moisture content, water activity and particle size, of MKSO produced at different inlet air temperatures showed a significant difference (p<0.05). MKSO produced with an inlet air temperature of 160°C exhibited the highest microencapsulation efficiency (MEE, 96.46%) compared to 180°C (78.42%) and the efficiency was lowest at 200°C (58.96%). Increasing the inlet air temperature also resulted in significantly increased (p<0.05) lipid oxidation of MKSO and decreased total intrinsic phenolic content upon accelerated storage. However, all MKSO had lower lipid oxidation and higher total phenolic content than bulk (unencapsulated) oil. This study indicates that increased inlet air temperature results in larger particle size, higher lipid oxidation and lower MEE. The process of microencapsulation could protect oil from the external environment that causes lipid oxidation. Practical applications: Kenaf seed oil contains PUFA and phytosterols, which are beneficial to human health. However, the PUFA in kenaf seed oil is susceptible to lipid oxidation, which degrades its nutritional value. Microencapsulation is used to protect the kenaf seed oil from being oxidised. By knowing the influence of the inlet air temperature on the physical properties and oxidative stability of the microencapsulated kenaf seed oil, the ideal inlet air temperature can be used to produce microencapsulated kenaf seed oil, which may be incorporated into food products to supplement the bioactive compounds that are beneficial to human health

Towards Utilizing Flow Label IPv6 in Implicit Source Routing for Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) in Wireless Ad Hoc Network

As Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses deplete, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is introduced to alleviate the depletion with introduction of much needed functionality in security and so much more. Quality of Service (QoS) has been one of the aspects taken into consideration for improving network performance such as Packet Delivery Fraction (PDF), average End-to-end Delay and throughput. However in IPv4 network transmission, QoS is not given much attention as all transmission is treated equally with their “best-of-effort” services. Hence, in wireless ad hoc networks where unpredictable changes in topologies often disrupt on-going transmission. It will affect network performances with only the “best-of-effort” basis especially on real-time applications that require good network metrics. Therefore, in this paper we show how IPv6 can play its part in improving wireless ad hoc networks with QoS in Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) routing protocol

Physical properties and stability evaluation of fish oil-in-water emulsions stabilized using thiol-modified β-lactoglobulin fibrils-chitosan complex

Fish oil-in-water emulsions containing fish oil, thiol-modified β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) fibrils, chitosan and maltodextrin were fabricated using a high-energy method. The results showed that chitosan coating induced charge reversal; denoting successful biopolymers complexation. A significantly (p < 0.05) larger droplet size and lower polydispersity index value, attributed to the thicker chitosan coating at the oil-water interface, were observed. At high chitosan concentrations, the cationic nature of chitosan strengthened the electrostatic repulsion between the droplets, thus conferring high oxidative stability and low turbidity loss rate to the emulsions. The apparent viscosity of emulsions stabilized using thiol-modified β-LG fibrils-chitosan complex was higher than those stabilized using β-LG fibrils alone, resulting in the former's higher creaming stability. Under thermal treatments (63 °C and 100 °C), emulsions stabilized using thiol-modified β-LG fibrils-chitosan complex possessed higher heat stability as indicated by the consistent droplet sizes observed. Chitosan provided a thicker protective layer that protected the oil droplets against high temperature. Bridging flocculation occurred at low chitosan concentration (0.1%, w/w), as revealed through microscopic observations which indicated the presence of large flocs. All in all, this work provided us with a better understanding of the application of protein fibrils-polysaccharide complex to produce stable emulsion

Review on the current state of diacylglycerol production using enzymatic approach

Enzymatic production of diacylglycerol (DAG)-enriched oil has been investigated extensively due to its health benefits with total annual sales of approximately USD 200 million in Japan since its introduction in the late 1990s till 2009. Enzymatic catalysis had been proven to exhibit improved results with respect to yield, purity, reaction time, and stability in comparison with chemical catalysis. The cost of the enzymes, however, is the main hurdle to the widespread use of enzyme for commercial DAG production. This paper attempts to review and summarize various lipase-mediated technological methods for DAG production. Critical aspects such as process considerations on DAG synthesis, mass transfer limitations as well as kinetic mechanism models developed for each enzymatic approach in DAG synthesis are also presented and discussed. In addition, possible reactor configurations were evaluated, if lipase-assisted DAG production is to be technically and economically feasible at an industrial scale

Nozzleless fabrication of oil-core biopolymeric microcapsules by the interfacial gelation of pickering emulsion templates

Ionotropic gelation has been an attractive method for the fabrication of biopolymeric oil-core microcapsules due to its safe and mild processing conditions. However, the mandatory use of a nozzle system to form the microcapsules restricts the process scalability and the production of small microcapsules (<100 μm). We report, for the first time, a nozzleless and surfactant-free approach to fabricate oil-core biopolymeric microcapsules through ionotropic gelation at the interface of an O/W Pickering emulsion. This approach involves the self-assembly of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles at the interface of O/W emulsion droplets followed by the addition of a polyanionic biopolymer into the aqueous phase. Subsequently, CaCO3 nanoparticles are dissolved by pH reduction, thus liberating Ca(2+) ions to cross-link the surrounding polyanionic biopolymer to form a shell that encapsulates the oil droplet. We demonstrate the versatility of this method by fabricating microcapsules from different types of polyanionic biopolymers (i.e., alginate, pectin, and gellan gum) and water-immiscible liquid cores (i.e., palm olein, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, and toluene). In addition, small microcapsules with a mean size smaller than 100 μm can be produced by selecting the appropriate conventional emulsification methods available to prepare the Pickering emulsion. The simplicity and versatility of this method allows biopolymeric microcapsules to be fabricated with ease by ionotropic gelation for numerous applications

Effects of calcination temperatures of CaO/Nb2O5 mixed oxides catalysts on biodiesel production

Calcination temperature greatly influences the total basicity and surface area of catalysts. Investigations were conducted on calcium and niobium (CaO-Nb2O5) mixed oxides catalysts prepared via conventional solid state method (oxides were mixed and ground in agate mortar) and calcined at different temperatures ranging from 300-800oC for 5 h. The catalysts were then characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (TPD-CO2), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyzer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The formation of Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3 at lower calcination temperatures ( 600oC), due to sintering of the fine crystals, which promotes cluster agglomeration. Thus, the optimum calcination temperature for CaO/Nb2O5 mixed oxides was 600oC, which produced the largest surface area (7 m2/g) and total basicity (1301 μmol/g). The biodiesel was produced via transesterification of palm oil, methanol and the catalysts calcined at various temperatures. CaO/Nb2O5 mixed oxide calcined at 600oC showed the highest biodiesel conversion (98%) with methanol/oil molar ratio of 12, 3 wt.% of catalyst, a reaction temperature of 65oC and reaction time of 2 h