Efficiency of using Arabic Gum and Plantago Seeds Mucilage as Edible Coating for Chicken Boneless Breast

Edible coatings are an environmentally friendly technology that is applied on many food products to provide and protect food quality.  The objective of this work is to use Arabic Gum and Plantago seeds mucilage at concentration (15, 20 and 25% w/v) as edible coating for chicken breast to prolong its shelf life at 4 ?C. Coated samples produced the optimum deceases in pH, TBA, total bacterial count and enhanced the sensory attributes compered to untreated chicken breast. Samples treated with 25% Plantago showed the lowest value of TBA of 0.141mg malondialdehyde.kg-1 compared to 0.38mg malondialdehyde.kg-1 in control after 21 days of storage. Whereas, 25% Arabic gum was the most effective in reducing total bacterial count from 25×106 cfu.g-1 in control to 0.8×102 cfu.g-1. This study suggests that Arabic gum and plantago seeds mucilage showed a potential role in delaying chicken boneless breast spoilage. Keywords: Edible coating, Arabic Gum, Plantago seeds, Boneless chicken breast

Quality Evaluation of Some Commercially Fried Fast Food

Frying process is popular among all classes of people for being a rapid food preparation process and for the unique characteristics of flavor and appearance.  However, the frying oil eventually contains a number of harmful components affect the oil quality and therefore affects the quality of foods. The objective of this work was to determine the quality of 50 fried fast food samples (ten for each), french fries, burgol kuba, under pressured breaded chicken, meat pastry and falafels collected randomly from restaurants. Chemical composition was analyzed for all samples and the oil was extracted. The samples extracted oil were analyzed for level of oxidation by measuring acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), conjugated dienes and triens and color index. Free radical scavenging activity was also determined by measuring the decrease in the visible absorbance of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) at 517nm. Our results indicate wide variations in the composition and degree of oxidation of the extracted oils across all samples. Fat content the most important parameter here ranged from 8.25 in falafel to 22.10 % in burgle cuba.Falafel and French fries samples exceed the criteria of PV< 10 mequiv/kg.  All samples complied with the limits of acid value < 2.5 mg/g. Except for meat pastry all samples were in permissible limits of TBARS. The DPPH test showed that all tested samples have free radical-scavenging activity ranged from 72.2 in French fries to 82.6%in Falafel. Falafels samples showed darkening of oil color significantly higher than all samples followed by French fries. The data highlight the need to evaluate the antioxidant activity of food itself not only the oil used for frying and enforcing legal regulations to maintain food quality in fast food restaurants. Keywords: fast food, oil stability, antioxidant activity

Acanthamoeba keratitis in Sudan: outcome of ketoconazole treatment in six patients

In an exploration of the acanthamoebic aetiology of chronic keratitis cases (not responding to antibiotics, antiviral or antifungal therapy), 138 Sudanese patients were seen over a 2-year period at two teaching eye hospitals in Khartoum State. Six (4.3%) of these patients were found to be suffering from Acanthamoeba keratitis. The present study focuses on the good outcome of oral ketoconazole in four patients at 18 months follow up period. The drug oral route, convenient frequency of doses, minimal side effects and availability at reasonable price favour ketoconazole therapy. Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences Vol. 1(1) 2006: 34-3

A Novel Photosynthesis of Carboxymethyl Starch-Stabilized Silver Nanoparticles

The water soluble photoinitiator (PI) 4-(trimethyl ammonium methyl) benzophenone chloride is used for the first time in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). A new green synthesis method involves using PI/UV system, carboxymethyl starch (CMS), silver nitrate, and water. A mechanism of the reduction of silver ions to AgNPs by PI/UV system as well as by the newly born aldehydic groups was proposed. The synthesis process was assessed by UV-vis spectra and TEM of AgNPs colloidal solution. The highest absorbance was obtained using CMS, PI and AgNO3 concentrations of 10 g/L, 1 g/L, and 1 g/L, respectively; 40°C; 60 min; pH 7; and a material : liquor ratio 1 : 20. AgNPs so-obtained were stable in aqueous solution over a period of three weeks at room temperature (~25°C) and have round shape morphology. The sizes of synthesized AgNPs were in the range of 1–21 nm and the highest counts % of these particles were for particles of 6–10 and 1–3 nm, respectively

Heat and freezing pre-thermal treatments as a means of freeing potatoes from mosaic virus and its effects on potato plants quality characters

The aim of the study was to control of potato mosaic virus by using hot-air, hot-water and freezing as a physical pre-thermal treatments. Infected tubers of Lady Rosetta and Mondial potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars were treated by hot-air and hot-water treatments at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours.  Hot-air and freezing treatments showed complete elimination of mosaic virus from treated tubers. Hot-water treatment caused tuber damage at different exposure times. In this respect, hot-air treatment at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for two hours gave the best results of eliminating the virus from tubers and did not affect on economic characters of potato cultivars.

On the stationary vibrations of a rectangular plate subjected to stress prescribed partially at the circumference

The stationary periodical problem of a vibrating rectangular plate, stressed at a segment while fixed elsewhere at one of its edges, is considered. Using the finite Fourier transformation, the problem is converted to a singular integral equation that in turn can be reduced to an infinite system of algebraic equations. The truncation of the algebraic system is justified