Autolysis and the endogenous proteinases characterised in beardless barb (Anematichthys apogon) muscle

Beardless barb is a common fish species used in fermentation of fish paste Ka-pi-plaa. Autolytic profile of beardless barb muscle showed the maximum autolysis was at 50 °C, at both acidic and alkaline pH values. With augmentation concentration of NaCl, autolytic activity slightly decreased. Endogenous proteinases isolated from fish muscle in crude extract forms were also characterised. The acidic proteinases had optimum activity at pH 3.0 and 50°C, and they showed higher proteolytic activity than the alkaline proteinases which were optimally active at pH 9.0 and 50 °C. Proteinases in peak at pH 3.0 were inhibited by pepstatin A, but those in peak at pH 9.0 were highly inhibited by PMSF, TLCK and soybean trypsin inhibitor, suggesting that both aspartic and serine proteinases were existed in beardless barb muscle. The proteinases were stable in pH range of 2.0-5.0 but unstable at the temperatures higher than 40 °C. NaCl suppressed the proteolytic activity, ATP activated the proteinase activity, while CaCl₂, MgCl₂ and CoCl₂ exhibited no influence on the activity. The results implied that cathepsin D is the predominant proteinase responsible for autolysis in beardless barb. The findings were useful to improve the processing and qualities of Ka-pi-plaa product using beardless barb as raw material.     

Investigation of UV-A light irradiation on tomato fruit injury during storage

We investigated the effect of UV-A light (wavelength 315 to 400 nm) irradiation during storage on tomato fruit injury. Mature green tomato fruit (cv. House Momotaro) were exposed to UV-A at doses of 0.02, 0.5, and 2 mW x cm(-2) throughout storage at 25 degrees C. The physiological disorders, fruit ripening, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and increases in fruit temperature were evaluated. All UV-A-irradiated and nonirradiated tomatoes developed a full red color at the same time (2 weeks). Irradiated fruit ripened normally, and exposure of tomato fruits to UV-A did not lead to the discoloration of ripe tomato fruit at any dosage. The fruit temperature did not increase in response to various UV-A light doses and exposure times, and none of the UV-irradiated fruits showed physiological disorders (dull skin blemish, pitting). The SOD activity of UV-A-irradiated fruit exposed to the various UV-A doses did not significantly (P = 0.05) differ from that of fruit stored in dark conditions. The SOD results imply that UV-A light might not induce reactive oxygen species in UV-A-irradiated fruit.     

Investigation of volatile organic compounds in office buildings in Bangkok,Thailand: Concentrations,sources, and occupant symptoms

To conserve energy, office buildings with air-conditioning systems in Thailand are operated with a tight thermal envelope. This leads to low fresh-air ventilation rates and is thought to be partly responsible for the sick building syndrome symptoms reported by occupants. The objectives of this study are to measure concentrations and to determine sources of 13 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in office buildings with air-conditioning systems in the business area of Bangkok. Indoor and outdoor air samples from 17 buildings were collected on Tenax-TA^™ sorbent tubes and analyzed for individual VOCs by thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD–GC/MS). Building ventilation was measured with a constant injection technique using hexafluorobenzene as a tracer gas. The results show that the VOC concentrations varied significantly among the studied buildings. The two most dominant VOCs were toluene and limonene with average concentrations of 110 and 60.5 μg m⁻³, respectively. A Wilcoxon sum rank test indicated that the indoor concentrations of aromatic compounds and limonene were statistically higher than outdoor concentrations at the 0.05 level, while the indoor concentrations of chlorinated compounds were not. Indoor emission factors of toluene and limonene were found to be highest with the average values of 80.9 and 18.9 μg m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively. Principal component analysis was applied to the emission factors of 13 VOCs, producing three components based on source similarities. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey investigation and field measurements of building air exchange pointed to indoor air complaints related to inadequate ventilation.     

Ka-pi-plaa fermented using beardless barb fish: physicochemical,microbiological and antioxidant properties as influenced by production processes

Production of Thai fish paste Ka-pi-plaa fermented using beardless barb, Cyclocheilichthys apogon was monitored. The physicochemical, microbiological and antioxidant properties were compared after each process, that is autolysis, salting, sun-drying and fermentation. Colour parameters L* decreased while a* and b* increased during production (P < 0.05). The Ka-pi-plaa finished product presented an intense brown colour as shown with the increase in browning intensity (A₄₂₀). Contents of formal nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen and amino nitrogen showed continuous increase (P < 0.05) indicating the formation of peptides and free amino acids, which were verified by protein patterns. Populations of total, halophilic, proteolytic, lipolytic and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) generally increased. Halophilic bacteria grew rapidly after salting. LAB counts were correlated with the pH change. It was suggested that a few biochemical reactions occurred during production, including protein hydrolysis by microbial and fish proteases, lipid oxidation as presented by the increasing thiobarbituric acid reactive substances value, and Maillard reaction based on the determined precursors and products. Antioxidant activities generally increased during production particularly fermentation, suggesting Ka-pi-plaa possessed 2,2-diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) scavenging and metal chelating activities, and ferric reducing power. This study provides important information on the relationship among production steps, various properties and chemical reactions for fish fermentation.     

Cell-Based Odorant Sensor Array for Odor Discrimination Based on Insect Odorant Receptors

The olfactory system of living organisms can accurately discriminate numerous odors by recognizing the pattern of activation of several odorant receptors (ORs). Thus, development of an odorant sensor array based on multiple ORs presents the possibility of mimicking biological odor discrimination mechanisms. Recently, we developed novel odorant sensor elements with high sensitivity and selectivity based on insect OR-expressing Sf21 cells that respond to target odorants by displaying increased fluorescence intensity. Here we introduce the development of an odorant sensor array composed of several Sf21 cell lines expressing different ORs. In this study, an array pattern of four cell lines expressing Or13a, Or56a, BmOR1, and BmOR3 was successfully created using a patterned polydimethylsiloxane film template and cell-immobilizing reagents, termed biocompatible anchor for membrane (BAM). We demonstrated that BAM could create a clear pattern of Sf21 sensor cells without impacting their odorant-sensing performance. Our sensor array showed odorant-specific response patterns toward both odorant mixtures and single odorant stimuli, allowing us to visualize the presence of 1-octen-3-ol, geosmin, bombykol, and bombykal as an increased fluorescence intensity in the region of Or13a, Or56a, BmOR1, and BmOR3 cell lines, respectively. Therefore, we successfully developed a new methodology for creating a cell-based odorant sensor array that enables us to discriminate multiple target odorants. Our method might be expanded into the development of an odorant sensor capable of detecting a large range of environmental odorants that might become a promising tool used in various applications including the study of insect semiochemicals and food contamination.     

Antifungal activity of TiO2 photocatalysis against Penicillium expansum in vitro and in fruit tests

The antifungal activity of TiO2 photocatalytic reaction in the form of TiO2 powder and TiO2 coated on a plastic film against Penicillium expansum was investigated in vitro and in fruit tests. The mixture of P. expansum conidial suspension and TiO2 powder was added to potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates for vitro test. The TiO2 photocatalytic reaction reduced conidial germination of the fungal pathogen. It was found that the ability of the TiO2 photocatalytic reaction to suppress P. expansum growth correlated to the amount of TiO2 added. Lower numbers of viable colonies of P. expansum were observed with increasing amount of TiO2. Regardless of the kind of selected fruit inoculated with P. expansum, both TiO2 powder and TiO2-coated film exhibited antifungal activity to control fruit rot. Development of Penicillium rot in apple was significantly (P = 0.05) retarded by the TiO2 photocatalytic reaction. Similarly the TiO2 photocatalytic reaction was the only treatment where no tomato fruit rot was noticeable after 1 week of storage. TiO2-coated film also decreased brown lesions and Penicillium rot infection in lemons. The mean severity fruit rot scores (browning and softening flesh) were 3.2 and 1.9 for uncoated and TiO2-coated film, respectively. Our findings suggest that "TiO2 photocatalytic reaction" shows antifungal activity against P. expansum which may have potential for postharvest disease control.     

Influence of ammonia and carbon dioxide on the sorption of a basic organic pollutant to carpet and latex-painted gypsum board

Sorptive interactions with indoor surfaces strongly influence indoor exposure to organic pollutants. Adsorption itself may be influenced by indoor levels of common indoor gases such as CO2, NH3, and H2O. We quantified sorption characteristics of trimethylamine (TMA) on carpet and painted wallboard, while challenging the surface with gas-phase CO2, NH3 and H2O. We show that the capacity of the carpet to sorb TMA, doubles when the CO2 mixing ratio is increased from 0 to 1000 ppm CO2 at 90% relative humidity. In contrast, NH3 decreases the surface capacity of both carpet and latex paint. Sorption of TMA to these indoor materials is primarily caused by interactions at one or more interfaces. Dissolution of TMA and aqueous acid-base chemistry appear to also contribute to the overall sorptive capacity of carpet at high relative humidity. The reduction in the distribution coefficient, k(e), in the presence of NH3 is explained by competition between TMA and NH3 molecules for sites on the substrates at low-to-medium relative humidity conditions.     

Probiotic lactic acid bacteria from Kung‐Som: isolation,screening, inhibition of pathogenic bacteria

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from Kung‐Som at various fermentation periods. Only ten strains, named D2SM22, D6SM3, D6SM24, D6SM26, D8SM21, D10SM5, D10SM11, D10SM16, D10SM20 and D16SM26 showed a survival rate of more than 50% under the simulated gastric juice. After being subjected to simulated gastric juice, four strains (D6SM3, D8SM21, D10SM16 and D10SM20) showed a survival rate of more than 50% in simulated small intestinal juices. Growth of strain D6SM3, D8SM21 and D10SM16 under micro‐aerobic and anaerobic conditions was not different. Tested pathogenic strains (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella sp.) were inhibited by probiotic LAB. However, none of strains could produce bacteriocins. All strains were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum. No differences in pH, acidity, LAB count and liking scores between Kung‐Som produced with starter culture and conventional method were observed (P > 0.01).