Use of encapsulated bacteriophages to enhance farm to fork food safety

Bacteriophages have been successfully applied to control the growth of pathogens in foods and to reduce the colonization and shedding of pathogens by food animals. They are set to play a dominant role in food safety in the future. However, many food-processing operations and the microenvironments in food animals' guts inactivate phages and reduce their infectivity. Encapsulation technologies have been used successfully to protect phages against extreme environments, and have been shown to preserve their activity and enable their release in targeted environments. A number of encapsulation technologies have shown potential for use with bacteriophages. This review discusses the current state of knowledge about the use of encapsulation technologies with bacteriophages to control pathogens in foods and food animals.     

Household food security in the face of climate change in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region

This study attempts to understand local people’s perceptions of climate change, its impacts on agriculture and household food security, and local adaptation strategies in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, using data from 8083 households (HHs) from four river sub-basins (SBs), i.e. Upper Indus (Pakistan), Eastern Brahmaputra (India), Koshi (Nepal) and Salween and Mekong (China). The majority of households in SBs, in recent years, have perceived that there have been more frequent incidences of floods, landslides, droughts, livestock diseases and crop pests, and have attributed these to climate change. These changes have led to low agricultural production and income, particularly in Eastern Brahmaputra (EB) where a substantial proportion of HHs reported a decline in the production of almost all staple and cash crops, resulting in very low farm income. Consequently, households’ dependency on external food items supplied from plain areas has increased, particularly in the Upper Indus (UI) and EB. After hazards, households face transitory food insecurity owing to damage to their local food systems and livelihood sources, and constrained food supply from other areas. To cope with these, HHs in SBs make changes in their farming practices and livestock management. In EB, 11 % of HHs took on new off-farm activities within the SB and in SM, 23 % of HHs chose out-migration as an adaptation strategy. Lastly, the study proposes policy instruments for attaining sustainable food security, based on agro-ecological potential and opportunities for increasing agricultural resilience and diversity of livelihoods.     

Use of asphaltene filler to improve low-density polyethylene properties

Asphaltene filled LDPE composite were prepared and characterized. The composites were studied to determine the reinforcement imparted by the asphaltene on the durability of LDPE polymer. The study showed that the composites have higher melting and crystalline behavior, delays the degradation induced by heat and acts as a thermal barrier limiting the emission of the gaseous degradation products, resulting in an increase in the thermal stability of the composites, higher tensile strength, have higher values of the storage and loss modulus. 5 wt% of asphaltenes added in the LDPE afforded the best dispersion in the polymeric matrix, larger crystallite size, enhanced thermal stability, highest relative degree of crystallinity and improved mechanical tensile or thermo-mechanical properties.     

Models of growing season weather impacts on breadmaking quality of spring wheat from producer fields in western Canada

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to quantify growing season weather and wheat quality at individual producer fields to understand weather impacts and develop weather‐based models of spring wheat quality. RESULTS: Ninety‐six hard red spring wheat samples of two genotypes supplied by western Canadian producers in 2003 and 2004 underwent comprehensive analysis for breadmaking quality. For each individual field, daily rainfall, maximum and minimum air temperature were observed and used to calculate several measures of heat. Modeled water use, demand and stress were also calculated and all weather variables were accumulated over different phenological stages. Relationships between weather variables and wheat quality variables were determined by multivariate regression analysis separated into four steps, each adding more complex information into the models. There was substantial variation in weather conditions and wheat quality between years with generally higher quality and stronger dough in the warmer and drier year, 2003. The two genotypes displayed many differences in response to the environment. Prediction of wheat quality improved with increasing complexity of weather models and close to 50% of the variation in quality could be explained by multivariate models. CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that even for top‐grade milling wheat of similar protein content, significant differences exist in breadmaking quality of wheat from different farms. The improvement in r² when using modeled environmental variables indicates that crop water use and water stress are important for wheat quality. The development of Canada Western Red Spring quality prediction models for western Canada based on growing season weather shows promise. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Diversity and Taxonomic Distribution of Endophytic Bacterial Community in the Rice Plant and Its Prospective

Endophytic bacterial communities are beneficial communities for host plants that exist inside the surfaces of plant tissues, and their application improves plant growth. They benefit directly from the host plant by enhancing the nutrient amount of the plant’s intake and influencing the phytohormones, which are responsible for growth promotion and stress. Endophytic bacteria play an important role in plant-growth promotion (PGP) by regulating the indirect mechanism targeting pest and pathogens through hydrolytic enzymes, antibiotics, biocontrol potential, and nutrient restriction for pathogens. To attain these benefits, firstly bacterial communities must be colonized by plant tissues. The nature of colonization can be achieved by using a set of traits, including attachment behavior and motility speed, degradation of plant polymers, and plant defense evasion. The diversity of bacterial endophytes colonization depends on various factors, such as plants’ relationship with environmental factors. Generally, each endophytic bacteria has a wide host range, and they are used as bio-inoculants in the form of synthetic applications for sustainable agriculture systems and to protect the environment from chemical hazards. This review discusses and explores the taxonomic distribution of endophytic bacteria associated with different genotypes of rice plants and their origin, movement, and mechanism of PGP. In addition, this review accentuates compressive meta data of endophytic bacteria communities associated with different genotypes of rice plants, retrieves their plant-growth-promoting properties and their antagonism against plant pathogens, and discusses the indication of endophytic bacterial flora in rice plant tissues using various methods. The future direction deepens the study of novel endophytic bacterial communities and their identification from rice plants through innovative techniques and their application for sustainable agriculture systems.     

Spectral efficiency evaluation for selection combining diversity (SCD) scheme over slow fading

In this paper we derive closed-form expressions for the single-user capacity of selection combining diversity (SCD) system, taking into account the effect of imperfect channel estimation at the receiver. The channel considered is a slowly varying spatially independent flat Rayleigh fading channel. The complex channel estimate and the actual channel are modelled as jointly Gaussian random variables with a correlation that depends on the estimation quality. Three adaptive transmission schemes are analysed: 1) optimal power and rate adaptation opra; 2) constant power with optimal rate adaptation ora; and 3) channel inversion with fixed rate cifr. Furthermore, we derive in this paper analytical results for capacity statistics including moment generating function (MGF), complementary cumulative distribution function (CDF) and probability density function (PDF). These statistics are valid for arbitrary number of receive antennas. Our numerical results show the effect of Gaussian channel estimation error on the achievable spectral efficiency.     

Solid State Reaction Yielding a Mineral Utilizing Silica Obtained from an Agricultural Waste

1.IntroductionWollastonite,chemicallycalciummetasilicate(CaSiO3),isamineralofwideindustrialutility[l~6].Asityieldstheendproductswithdesirableproper-ties,theworldmarketdemandforthisrawmaterialhasbecometremend.us[7].Shortsupplyofthenatu-ralmineral,consequently,hasurgedresearchworkerstoproduceitsynthetically.Muster[8]mixedtheappropriatequantitiesofCaOandSiO2andfiredthemixtureinasolarfurnace.HeemployedXRDandchemicalanalysis(CA)tech-niquesforevaluatingtheproduct.While,Kakitani[9]attemptedtoaf…     

A self-tuning microcontroller-based glass measuring instrument

This paper describes the development and implementation of a self-tuning microcontroller-based instrument for measuring different thicknesses of glass and glass substitutes. The instrument’s hardware was successfully tested in the laboratory on coated and uncoated glass under a variety of conditions. It is designed to provide high performance and high precision measuring capability to the system user. The obtained experimental data suggest that the proposed instrument surpasses existing techniques in its accuracy, reliability, simple operation, safety and measuring capability.     

Nanomedicine Strategies for Management of Drug Resistance in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer (LC) is one of the leading causes of cancer occurrence and mortality worldwide. Treatment of patients with advanced and metastatic LC presents a significant challenge, as malignant cells use different mechanisms to resist chemotherapy. Drug resistance (DR) is a complex process that occurs due to a variety of genetic and acquired factors. Identifying the mechanisms underlying DR in LC patients and possible therapeutic alternatives for more efficient therapy is a central goal of LC research. Advances in nanotechnology resulted in the development of targeted and multifunctional nanoscale drug constructs. The possible modulation of the components of nanomedicine, their surface functionalization, and the encapsulation of various active therapeutics provide promising tools to bypass crucial biological barriers. These attributes enhance the delivery of multiple therapeutic agents directly to the tumor microenvironment (TME), resulting in reversal of LC resistance to anticancer treatment. This review provides a broad framework for understanding the different molecular mechanisms of DR in lung cancer, presents novel nanomedicine therapeutics aimed at improving the efficacy of treatment of various forms of resistant LC; outlines current challenges in using nanotechnology for reversing DR; and discusses the future directions for the clinical application of nanomedicine in the management of LC resistance.     

Combustion of Black Powder. Part 1: Thermo-analytical studies

An experimental programme is described, in which a number of thermo-analytical techniques, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TG and DTG) are applied to investigate the combustion of black powder. The primary aim has been to investigate, and determine qualitatively and quantitatively, the nature of the solid products of combustion. Additionally, standard analytical techniques were applied, to a chemical analysis of the solid products, resulting from the electric arcignition of a sample of black-powder, under ambient, open air conditions. The solid products formed 33% by weight of the unburned black powder, consisting of K₂SO₄ (15%), K₂CO₃ (11.5%) and small amounts of KNO₃ and KNO₂. The DSC, TG and DTG analyses suggest a mechanism for the combustion, based on phase changes and transition stages of sulfur and KNO₃, and their interaction with charcoal.