Novel trends to revolutionize preservation and packaging of fruits/fruit products: microbiological and nanotechnological perspectives.

Fruit preservation and packaging have been practiced since ages to maintain the constant supply of seasonal fruits over lengthened periods round the year. However, health and safety issues have attracted attention in recent decades. The safety and quality assurance of packaged fruits/fruit products are vital concerns in present day world-wide-integrated food supply chains. The growing demand of minimally or unprocessed packaged fruits has further aggravated the safety concerns which fuelled in extensive research with objectives to develop novel techniques of food processing, preservation, and packaging as well as for rapid, accurate, and early detection of contaminant products/microbes. Nevertheless, fruits and fruit-based products have yet to observe a panoramic introduction. Tropics and subtropics are the stellar producers of a variety of fruits; majority if not all is perishable and prone to postharvest decay. This evoked the opportunity to critically review the global scenario of emerging and novel techniques for fruit preservation and packaging, hence providing insight for their future implementation. This review would survey key nanotechnology innovations applied in preservation, packaging, safety, and storage of fruits and fruit-based products. The challenges and pros and cons of wider application of these innovative techniques, their commercial potential, and consumer acceptability have also been discussed.

Rodents as reservoirs of parasites in India.

We monitored the prevalence of endoparasitic infections of rodents in Punjab State, India, between January 2004 and December 2005. Three species of wild rodents, namely the house rat, Rattus rattus (n= 42), the lesser bandicoot rat, Bandicota bengalensis (n= 34) and the Indian gerbil, Tatera indica (n= 15), were live-captured from houses and crop fields. Examination of various organs revealed that the highest rates of endoparasitic infection occurred in R. rattus (40.5%), followed by B. bengalensis (35.3 %) and then T. indica (20.0%), with an overall infection rate of 35.2%. All three rodent species were found naturally infected with one or more species of helminths. Metacestodes (1-6) of Cysticercus fasciolaris (larvae of Taenia taeniaeformis) were found in all three rodent species (in the liver). In one male T. indica, numerous robust T. taeniaeformis metacestodes were found in oval sacs attached to the mesentery and the abdominal wall, an unusual site. The cauda epididymal fluid of the same gerbil was also found to be infected with a very rare species of strongylid nematode, which could not be identified to genus or species level. It is possible that this nematode is transmitted sexually and thus may affect the reproductive potential of gerbils. This appears to be the first report of this phenomenon. In one B. bengalensis individual, the intestine was found to be obstructed with an acanthocephalan, Moniliformis moniliformis, with concurrent infection with C. fasciolaris in the form of multiple cysts in the liver. Although no natural protozoan infection was found in these field rodents, experimental Trypanosoma evansi infection has been established in all three species with high pathogenicity, and the possibility of sexual transmission was supported by the presence of T. evansi in the cauda epididymal fluid of male rats.

Sleep disturbances in clinically stable young asthmatic adults.

BACKGROUND: Although nocturnal asthma is a well documented clinical problem, the effect of asthma on sleep itself and morbidity caused thereby have not received adequate attention. It is now recognized that partial sleep deprivation has a considerable effect on human functions. OBJECTIVES: With this in view, we conducted a study to determine the occurrence and nature of sleep disturbances in a homogeneous group of patients with clinically stable bronchial asthma in their home environment. METHODS: Thirty young adult unmarried university students with clinically stable bronchial asthma attending the Institute's outpatient department were asked to respond to an asthma/sleep questionnaire and were requested to maintain a sleep diary for 1 week. A similar group of 30 unmarried healthy young university students also underwent an identical workup and functioned as controls. Ten subjects from each group maintained a peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) diary. RESULTS: The questionnaire revealed that 28 (93%) of the 30 patients experienced sleep disturbances (average 2.7/subject) as compared to 10 (33%) subjects in the control group (average 0.4/subject). The sleep diary confirmed that 27 (90%) of the 30 patients had sleep disturbances (2.4/subject/wk) as compared with 8 (27%) subjects (0.3/subject/wk) in the control group. These differences were statistically significant. Daytime sleepiness and tiredness (63%) and difficulty in maintaining sleep (60%) along with early morning awakening (46%) were more frequently seen. The asthmatic patients also had a shorter duration of sleep (427 min) as compared with the controls (474 min). These findings were significantly different from the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Increased daytime sleepiness and tiredness was perhaps a reflection of the poor quality of sleep experienced by patients with clinically stable asthma. This consequently may lead to impaired daytime performance which can have a potentially serious effect for the patient and society.

A Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analysis of organic matter degradation in a bench-scale solid substrate fermentation (composting) system.

The degradation of organic matter was evaluated by a quantitative Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis technique. The degradation process was conducted in a bench-scale reactor under controlled operational conditions of 50 degrees C, with 50-60% moisture content, and subjected to uniform aeration for 325 h. During the composting process, ATP concentration increased from 0.1 to 8 mug/g and the maximum CO(2) evolution and O(2) consumption rates reached 0.04 and 0.085 mmol/g-h, respectively. Polysaccharide content decreased approximately 50% while lignin content remained unchanged. Three regions of the FTIR spectra were used for quantification: 1070-974, 1705-1614, and 2995-2887 cm(-1), which correspond to polysaccharides and aromatic and aliphatic compounds, respectively. The actual spectra quantification consisted of peak identification using a second derivative and curve fitting technique, followed by normalization using the internal standard CaCO(3). The results obtained with the spectra quantification technique was then compared to commonly used wet chemistry extraction procedures. Reasonable correlation between the two techniques was obtained. (c) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.