Delayed onset post-traumatic wound botulism.

A 41-year-old man developed rapidly progressive cranial neuropathies and muscle weakness followed by respiratory failure, requiring ventilation support. On examination, there was marked bilateral ptosis and ophthalmoplegia with bulbar, neck and proximal upper limb weakness. He had a recent open left humeral fracture that eventually required amputation. Despite immunoglobulin therapy, his progressive weakness continued. Multiple investigation results were inconclusive. Eventually, botulinum type A toxin was found positive, by which time the therapeutic window for antitoxin had passed. He continued on supportive management and was treated for concomitant infections and nosocomial illnesses. He was subsequently weaned from respiratory support and has made a good neurological recovery.

A combined use of different functional additives for improvement of wheat flour quality for bread making.

BACKGROUND: Low-protein wheat flour can produce bread with poor texture and appearance, reducing its nutritional value and market appeal. This is a growing concern for both the food industry and consumers relying on wheat as a dietary staple. The present study evaluated the individual and combined effects of bacterial xylanase (BX), maltogenic α-amylase (MG), vital gluten (VG) and ascorbic acid (AA) with respect to improving weak flour properties for bread making. RESULTS: BX, VG and AA improved gluten Index (GI), whereas MG was employed for optimizing amylolytic-activity in flour. VG increased the water absorption (WA) capacity of flour and prolonged dough development time (DDT). The dough stability (DST) was increased by BX and VG. BX and MG decreased crumb firmness (CF) and showed anti-staling effect. All additives reduced bake loss, increased loaf volume (LV) and retained or improved sensory attributes of bread. However, MG at 60 mg kg-1 (MG60), BX at 30 mg kg-1 (BX30), VG at 5% (VG5) and AA at 50 mg kg-1 (AA50) were found to be the most suitable for evaluating in combinations. Ternary combinations of MG60, BX30, VG5 or AA50 imparted significantly (P < 0.05) positive impacts on GI, WA, DDT, DST, CF, LV and sensory attributes compared to control, individual and binary combinations. CONCLUSION: The PCA suggested that a combination of MG60 + VG5 was more similar to MG60 + BX30 + VG5, whereas, MG60 + BX30 and MG60 + AA50 were more related to MG60 + BX30 + AA50 combination, but all of these combinations showed the improvement in the characteristics compared to control flour. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Chapatti sensory and textural quality in relation to whole meal flour and dough characteristics.

Current study was designed to evaluate sensory and textural quality characteristics of chapatti, a commonly consumed flat bread in South-Asia in relation to flour quality parameters. Whole meals of cultivars and commercial wheat samples were analysed for physicochemical, pasting, dough and baking properties. Flours contained medium protein contents (12.4-13.7%) and possessed medium to high gluten strength (51-88). Pasting and dough properties were also suitable for chapatti making. Chapatti sensory attributes were strongly related to gluten content (r = -0.915) and strength (r = 0.851). Moderate relationships were also observed with protein (r = -0.665), falling number (r = -0.750), water absorption (r = -0.623) and maximum viscosity (r = -0.745) of whole meal flours. Tearing force for chapatti was largely related to gluten content (r = -0.893) and dough development time (r = 0.847) but also showed reasonable relationships with gluten index (r = 0.643), ash (r = 0.640), falling number (r = -0.681), maximum (r = -0.743) and breakdown (r = -0.650) viscosities. The information would be useful for household and commercial semi-mechanical chapatti-making process.