Mechanical Behavior of Lentil Seeds in Relation to their Physicochemical and Microstructural Characteristics

The mechanical characteristics (rupture force, maximal deformation, and rupture energy) of red and green lentils under compression loading were determined as a function of moisture content ranging from 9.5 to 21.1% (w.b.). Scanning electron microscopy, laser diffraction particle size analysis, and instrumental texture evaluation were successfully applied to relate the microstructure and texture of different lentil seed varieties. Results demonstrated that all of the mechanical parameters of the green lentils, which have smaller starch granules, were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those of the red lentils. At a loading rate of 4 mm min^?1, the force required for initiating seed rupture decreased with an increase in moisture content, for vertical and horizontal orientations (p < 0.05). The scanning electron microscopy observations also revealed that seeds were more flexible in a horizontal orientation.     

The effect of pH,salts and sugars on the rheological properties of cress seed (Lepidium sativum) gum

Effect of shear rate (15–600 s^?1), gum concentration (1–2%), pH (3–9), sucrose (10–40%), lactose (5–15%), NaCl (100–300 mm ) and CaCl₂ (5–50 mm ) was evaluated on apparent viscosity (η_a), flow behaviour index (n), consistency coefficient (K) and yield stress (τ₀) indices of cress seed gum (CSG) solutions. Different rheological models were used to fit the experimental data, although the Herschel–Bulkley model was found the best model. An increase in gum concentration led to an increase in τ₀, η_a, and k and a decrease in n values. The addition of salts lowered the k value; however, the n value showed slight significant change. The presence of sugar resulted in the enhancement of n, k, τ₀ and η_ap values. The existence of yield stress and pseudoplastic behaviour of CSG, its stability against salts, wide range of pH and synergic effect of sugar make it a good thickener and stabiliser in food formulations.     

An expert egg grading system based on machine vision and artificial intelligence techniques

The main purpose of this research was design and development of an intelligent system based on combined fuzzy logic and machine vision techniques for grading of egg using parameters such as defects and size of eggs. The detected defects were internal blood spots, cracks and breakages of eggshell. The Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) color space was found useful in obtaining visual features during Image Processing (IP) stage. The fuzzy inference system (FIS) was designed based on triangular and trapezoidal membership functions, fuzzy rules with logical operator of AND inference system of Mamdani and method of center average for defuzzifier. The evaluation results of IP algorithms showed that use of IP technique has good performance for defects and size detection. The Correct Classification rate (CCR) was 95% for size detection, 94.5% for crack detection and 98% for breakage detection. The overall accuracy FIS model in grading of the eggs was 95.4.     

Oil Content and Fatty Acids Composition in Brassica Species

Seeds of 20 accessions of six Brassica species including cultivated and five wild relatives were analyzed for oil and fatty acid composition. The results showed that oil content varied from 21 (B. nigra) to 46% (B. napus). Among wild species, B. rapa and B. oleracea had highest oil content (31 and 28%, respectively). The main fatty acids of oleic, linoleic, linolenic, erucic, palmitic, and stearic acids accounted for 89–94% of the total fatty acids in all species. Cultivated species of B. napus had highest oleic acid (61%) and lowest erucic acid (1%) content compared to other studied species. Brassica rapa and B. oleracea had the highest content of erucic acid (41 and 46%, respectively). The highest content of linolenic (20%) and linoleic (19%) acid was observed for B. juncea. The results showed that there was high genetic variation among the studied species for oil content and fatty acids composition. This indicates that seed oil of these species is possibly suitable for both human consumption and industrial purposes.     

Effect of pulsed ultrasound treatment compared to continuous mode on microbiological and quality of Mirabelle plum during postharvest storage

The effects of pulsed and continuous ultrasound treatment on microbiological and physiological quality of Mirabelle plum fruit were investigated. Freshly harvested Mirabelle plum was treated with 30‐kHz pulsed and continuous ultrasound at 20 °C for 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 min and subsequently stored at 4 °C for 10 days. The total count of bacteria, total fungi, decay index, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), colour, texture, ascorbic acid content and total phenolics was measured. The results showed that pulsed and continuous ultrasonic treatment significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the number of microorganisms and improved the quality of Mirabelle plums during storage. Increasing pretreatment time enhanced the positive effects of pulsed and continuous ultrasound. Also, in terms of the total count of bacteria, total fungi, titratable acidity and total phenolics, the pulsed and continuous ultrasound did not show a significant difference (P < 0.05). However, pulsed ultrasound was better compared to continuous mode in preservation of TSS, colour, texture and ascorbic acid content of the fruit during storage. Our results demonstrated that pulsed ultrasound is an appropriate method for improving safety and maintaining the quality of Mirabelle plum fruit.     

Hyperspectral imaging as an effective tool for prediction the moisture content and textural characteristics of roasted pistachio kernels

The objective of this study was to develop calibration models for prediction of moisture content and textural characteristics (fracture force, hardness, apparent modulus of elasticity and compressive energy) of pistachio kernels roasted in different conditions (temperatures 90, 120 and 150 °C; times 20, 35 and 50 min and air velocities 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 m/s) using Vis/NIR hyperspectral imaging and multivariate analysis. The effects of different pre-processing methods and spectral treatments such as normalization [multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), standard normal variate transformation (SNV)], smoothing (median filter, Savitzky–Golay and Wavelet) and differentiation (first derivative, D¹ and second derivative, D²) on the obtained data were investigated. The prediction models were developed by partial least square regression (PLSR) and artificial neural network (ANN). The results indicated that ANN models have higher potential to predict moisture content and textural characteristics of roasted pistachio kernels comparing to PLSR models. High correlation was observed between reflectance data and fracture force (R²?=?0.957 and RMSEP?=?3.386) using MSC, Savitzky–Golay and D¹, compressive energy (R²?=?0.907 and RMSEP?=?15.757) using the combination of MSC, Wavelet and D¹, moisture content (R²?=?0.907 and RMSEP?=?0.179) and apparent modulus of elasticity (R²?=?0.921 and RMSEP?=?2.366) employing combination of SNV, Wavelet and D¹, respectively. Moreover, Vis–NIR data correlated well with hardness (R²?=?0.876 and RMSEP?=?5.216) using SNV, Wavelet and D². These results showed the capability of Vis/NIR hyperspectral imaging and the central role of multivariate analysis in developing accurate models for prediction of moisture content and textural properties of roasted pistachio kernels.     

Curcumin and Liver Disease: from Chemistry to Medicine

Curcumin, the natural yellow‐colored active principle, also called turmeric yellow, extracted from the perennial herb Curcuma longa L., has potent biological and pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, anti‐ischemic, antitumor, and anticancer actions. The molecular mechanism of the hepatoprotective action of curcumin is due to its antioxidant properties and inhibitory activity against nuclear factor (NF)‐κB that regulates different proinflammatory and profibrotic cytokines. Overall, scientific reports demonstrate that curcumin has high therapeutic ability for treating hepatic disorders. Here is a systematic discussion of the hepatoprotective activity of curcumin and its possible mechanisms of actions.     

Effect of different levels of fat and inulin on the microbial growth and metabolites in probiotic yogurt containing nonviable bacteria

Effects of different levels of fat and inulin on bacterial cell counts, degree of proteolysis and concentrations of organic acids in the yogurt containing inactivated cells of probiotic strains Bifidobacterium animalis and Lactobacillus acidophilus were investigated. Results showed that both L. acidophilus and B. animalis grew well in the yogurt samples reaching cell counts higher than 10⁶ CFU mL^?1 at the final pH of 4.5. Inulin at the concentration of 1% had no significant effects on the production of organic acids and cell counts of L. acidophilus, but promoted the growth of B. animalis with a reduction in the degree of proteolysis. Generally, different fat levels showed significant effects on the production of organic acids and nonsignificant effects on the cell counts of probiotic bacteria and degree of proteolysis. In case of lactic acid, the ratio of L‐ (+)to D‐ (?) isomer ranged from 50/50 to 80/20 in yogurt samples.