Valorization of waste biomass for synthesis of carboxy-methyl-cellulose as a sustainable edible coating on fruits: A review.

The coating on fruits and vegetables increases the shelf-life by providing protection against their spoilage. The existing petroleum-based coating materials have considerable health threats. Edible coating materials prepared with the cellulose derivative extracted from the waste biomass could be a sustainable alternative and environment friendly process to increase the shelf-life periods of the post-harvest crops. Selection of suitable waste biomass and extraction of cellulose are the critical steps for the synthesis of cellulose-based edible film. Conversion of extracted cellulose into cellulosic macromolecular derivatives such as carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC) is vital for synthesizing edible coating formulation. Applications of sophisticated tools and methods for the characterization of the coated fruits would be helpful to determine the efficiency of the coating material. In this review, we focused on: i) criteria for the selection of suitable waste biomass for extraction of cellulose, ii) pretreatment and extraction process of cellulose from the different waste biomasses, iii) synthesis processes of CMC by using extracted cellulose, iv) characterizations of CMC as food coating materials, v) various formulation techniques for the synthesis of the CMC based food coating materials and vi) the parameters which are used to evaluate the shelf-life performance of different coated fruits.

Expression of miR-145 and miR-18b in Peripheral Blood Samples of Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) is one of the most prevalent type of cancer known in Indian population. Studies are needed to identify the early biomarkers for HNSCC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules, expression of which can be used as biomarker for early diagnosis of HNSCC. For miRNA profiling total RNA, which also contained small RNAs were isolated from ten HNSCC tissue samples and adjacent control. Purity and concentration of eluted RNA was assessed using the NanoDrop1000® spectrophotometer, Reverse Transcription reaction was carried out with megaplex RT primers of pool A and pool B and the expression of selected miRNAs (miR-143/145 and miR-18a/b) was measured using TaqMan primers specific for mature miRNAs. Our study showed dramatic downregulation in expression of two miRNAs, miR-18b and miR-145 in blood samples of HNSCC patients, which are inhibitor of tumorigenesis and can be targeted as biomarker of HNSCC pathogenesis therefore developing avenues for miRNA role in prognosis and therapeutics. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12291-023-01119-2.

Effect of acetyl esterification on physicochemical properties of chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.) starch.

Acetyl esterification of isolated Bengal gram starch was carried out using acetic anhydride as reactant. Modification of native starch at variant concentrations of acetic anhydride (6, 8 and 10 %, w/w) resulted in modified starch with 2.14, 3.35, 4.47% acetyl content and 0.082, 0.130 and 0.176° of substitution (DS) respectively. The acetyl esterification of native starch brought significant changes in physicochemical properties with respect to pasting behavior, granule morphology, thermal properties and retrogradation profile. Acetyl modifications of native starch increased swelling capacity, water absorption power and oil absorption capability by 17, 13 and 20 % respectively. Acetylation has decreased pasting temperature, pasting time, final viscosity and set back viscosity due to increase in amylsoe content, hydrogen bonding and porosity of starch granule. The acetyl modification was confirmed by IR spectra with the presence of an ester carbonyl group (C = O) at 1720.3 cm(-1) and absorption band at 174.8 cm(-1). In DSC evaluation there was decrease in To, Tp, Tc and ΔH of acetylated starch than native starch which resulted in reduced retrogradation by 56 %.