Comparative study on the proximate content of the flesh of red and yellow fruits of Terminalia catappa L.

The flesh of two fruits were analysed and compared for their proximate compositions on dry weight basis, the red fruits have the following proximate composition: ash content (7.83±0.76%): crude protein (3.92±0.08%): crude fibre (8.67±0.29%): crude lipid (1.33±0.29%): and available carbohydrate (78.31+ 1.14%) with high energy value (1447.19 KJ per 100g). The moisture content (71.33±6.90) was high. while for the yellow sample are: ash content (8.33 ±0.76%): crude protein (10.01±0.43%): crude fibre (15.83±0.29%): crude lipid (0.67±0.29%): and available carbohydrate (64.90± 0.69%) with high energy value (1295.13 KJ per 100g). The moisture content (84.00± 2.00%): the result showed moisture, crude protein and crude fibre are significantly (p<0.05) higher in yellow compared to red variety. On the other hand crude lipid, available carbohydrate and calorific value were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the red variety. Ash content however, showed no significant (p>0.05) variation between the two varieties.Key words: proximate composition, crude lipid, available carbohydrate, crude protein

Study of Bioavailability of Ca and Zn in the Flesh of Yellow Terminalia catappa (Linn) Fruits

The analyses of antinutritional and mineral composition of the flesh of yellow fruits variety of Terminal catappa using standard methods were conducted. The results (mg/100g dry sample) are as follows: Total oxalate 1.90, soluble oxalate 1.62, tannin 16.28, phytate 2872.67, saponin 1.495, nitrate 0.64, hydrocyanic acid 4.19, Ca 143.30, Mg 48.50 and Zn 1.42. Bioavailability studies revealed that the oxalate content of the fruit have no effect on Ca availability as Oxalate]/[Ca] and [Oxalate]/[Ca + Mg] are below critical level of 2.5. However, phytate affect both the Ca and Zn bioavailability with [Phytate]/[Ca] and [Ca][Phytate]/[Zn] above critical level of 0.2 and 0.5 respectively.Keywords: Anti-nutritional, Terminal catappa, fruits, minerals, bioavailability

Validation of IoT secure communication gateway for constrained devices

This article deals with the challenge how to secure communication of constrained embedded devices via the Internet of Things protocols. The main focus is paid on a secure communication gateway, which is designed to enhance the security level of communication for constrained devices. The goal is to classify devices according to communication needs and associate needed measures (partitioning). The proposed gateway is focused on D2D and D2S application protocols. Validation of the proposed model was done for MQTT and CoAP protocols

Combining confocal and atomic force microscopy to quantify single-virus binding to mammalian cell surfaces

Over the past five years, atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based approaches have evolved into a powerful multiparametric tool set capable of imaging the surfaces of biological samples ranging from single receptors to membranes and tissues. One of these approaches, force–distance curve-based AFM (FD-based AFM), uses a probing tip functionalized with a ligand to image living cells at high-resolution and simultaneously localize and characterize specific ligand–receptor binding events. Analyzing data from FD-based AFM experiments using appropriate probabilistic models allows quantification of the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters that describe the free-energy landscape of the ligand–receptor bond. We have recently developed an FD-based AFM approach to quantify the binding events of single enveloped viruses to surface receptors of living animal cells while simultaneously observing them by fluorescence microscopy. This approach has provided insights into the early stages of the interaction between a virus and a cell. Applied to a model virus, we probed the specific interaction with cells expressing viral cognate receptors and measured the affinity of the interaction. Furthermore, we observed that the virus rapidly established specific multivalent interactions and found that each bond formed in sequence strengthened the attachment of the virus to the cell. Here we describe detailed procedures for probing the specific interactions of viruses with living cells; these procedures cover tip preparation, cell sample preparation, step-by-step FD-based AFM imaging and data analysis. Experienced microscopists should be able to master the entire set of protocols in 1 month