Antidiabetic Potential of Commonly Consumed Legumes: A Review

Over the last few decades, lifestyle changes have resulted in a drastic increase in the incidence of diabetes all over the world, especially in the developing countries. Oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin form the mainstay in controlling diabetes, but they have prominent side effects and fail to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications. Appropriate diet and exercise programs that form a part of lifestyle modifications have proven to be greatly effective in the management of this disease. Dietary therapy is showing a bright future in the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Legumes, owing to their high nutritive value, are increasingly being used in dietetic formulations in the treatment and prevention of diabetes on account of their antidiabetic potential. Given this background, this paper reviews the glucose- and lipid-lowering action possessed by various commonly consumed legumes through several animal and human studies. It is concluded that the various legumes not only have varying degrees of antidiabetic potential but are also beneficial in decreasing the risk factors for cardiovascular and renal disease.     

Multifunctional carbon-nanotube cellular endoscopes

Glass micropipettes, atomic force microscope tips and nanoneedles can be used to interrogate cells, but these devices either have conical geometries that can damage cells during penetration or are incapable of continuous fluid handling. Here, we report a carbon-nanotube-based endoscope for interrogating cells, transporting fluids and performing optical and electrochemical diagnostics at the single organelle level. The endoscope, which is made by placing a multiwalled carbon nanotube (length, 50-60?μm) at the tip of a glass pipette, can probe the intracellular environment with a spatial resolution of ～100?nm and can also access organelles without disrupting the cell. When the nanotube is filled with magnetic nanoparticles, the endoscope can be remotely manoeuvered to transport nanoparticles and attolitre volumes of fluids to and from precise locations. Because they are mounted on conventional glass micropipettes, the endoscopes readily fit standard instruments, creating a broad range of opportunities for minimally invasive intracellular probing, drug delivery and single-cell surgery.     

Pectin and calcium chloride treatment for low‐fat fried green gram splits

Fried green gram (Phaseolus mungo L) splits are a traditional savoury relished by consumers of all age groups as an anytime snack. The high oil content in such products is of concern owing to its association with obesity and related health disorders. The present work evaluates the effect of soaking green gram splits in calcium chloride solution (2.5–10 g kg^?1) for 3 h followed by air drying and a subsequent dip in 10–30 g l^?1 pectin solution for 10 min, again followed by air drying, on the oil content in the fried product prepared from them. After frying in groundnut oil at 170 ± 5 °C for 2 min, the oil content in the pretreated fried product was reduced to 211.7 g kg^?1, compared with 335 g kg^?1 for the untreated control. Attempts to further reduce the oil content by applying a second coating of pectin were unsuccessful. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Electrochemical performance of ZnO-coated LiMn1.5Ni0.5O4 cathode material

LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ cathode material was prepared by sol–gel method and annealed at 850 °C for 15 h. The prepared powder was coated with ZnO by dissolving zinc acetate in methanol and LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ powder was mixed in this solution followed by the continuous stirring for 4 h. The LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ and ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ powder was structurally characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The coin cell was fabricated using ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ as cathode materials, LiPF₆, dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC)/dimethyl carbonate (DMC) (1:1 wt ratio) as electrolyte, and Li foil as anode. It was found that ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ cathode materials had the initial discharge capacity of about 146 mA h g⁻¹. The discharge capacity retention after 50 cycles was found to be nearly 97%.     

Enzymic peeling of Indian grapefruit (Citrus paradisi)

The tough nature of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) peel and its close adherence to the inner fruit sections limit the industrial processing of grapefruit. Two commercial peeling enzymes coded as ‘Brand A’ and ‘Brand B’ were studied for enzymic peeling of Indian grapefruit by vacuum infusion. The peeling process was optimised with respect to process parameters such as scalding time, enzyme concentration, vacuum infusion time and incubation time. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Cost analysis of a two unit, three state standby redundant complex system with two types of repair facilities under waiting

This paper deals with the cost analysis of a two unit, three state standby redundant complex system, incorporating the concept of two types of repair facilities, viz. minor and major repair. The concept of waiting time for the major repair of the failed system has also been introduced. The system can suffer from two types of failures, namely catastrophic and partial. Failure and waiting times of units follow exponential time distribution, whereas repair of units follows general time distribution. Using the supplementary variable technique, Laplace transforms of probabilities of the complex system being in various states have been computed. In addition, using Abel's lemma, steady state behaviour has also been examined. Some important graphs have been sketched at the end to highlight the important results.     

Performance testing of a linear fresnel reflector

Results of optical and thermal performance evaluation tests conducted on a prototype linear Fresnel reflector system fabricated using locally available material are presented in this paper.