Elimination of Aspergillus parasiticus from nut surface with low pressure cold plasma (LPCP) treatment

Low pressure cold plasma (LPCP) using air gases and sulfur hexafluoride (SF(6)) was developed and tested for anti-fungal efficacy against Aspergillus parasiticus on various nut samples. Artificially A. parasiticus contaminated hazelnuts, peanuts, and pistachio nuts were treated with air gases plasma and SF(6) plasma for up to 20 min duration. The sterilizing effect of LPCP on A. parasiticus was higher during the early treatment period than the later treatment period. Air gases plasma treatment for 5 min resulted in 1-log reduction of A. parasiticus and a further 5 min treatment resulted in additional 1-log reduction. SF(6) plasma application was more effective resulting in approximately a 5-log decrease in fungal population for the same duration. When effectiveness of plasma treatment against aflatoxins were tested, 20 min air gases plasma treatment resulted in a 50% reduction in total aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2), while only a 20% reduction in total aflatoxin was observed after 20 min SF(6) plasma treatment. In this study, a rapid, functional clean-up method for the elimination of aflatoxin producing fungus from shelled and unshelled nuts was investigated as a suitable fungal decontamination method.     

Reduction of Aspergillus parasiticus on hazelnut surface by UV-C treatment

The reduction in counts of Aspergillus spp. and aflatoxin production was assessed on hazelnuts after 254 nm UV-C treatment. A 2 log reduction in Aspergillus spp. counts was observed after 2 h reperated UV-C treatment on hazelnuts. Only one dose treatment of 6 h UV-C was sufficient to yield nearly 25% reduction in aflatoxin B1 and G1, but this dose had no effect on aflatoxin B2 and G2. SDS-PAGE of the crude extracellular protein isolated at different growth periods of A. parasiticus in liquid medium revealed production of twelve extracellular proteins starting from day 4 of inoculation, and all twelve proteins decreased after UV-C radiation. No molecular changes in macromolecular components of hazelnut with UV-C treatment were detected by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy.     

Rigidity in neurosis and general personality functioning.

That neurotics manifested greater rigidity than nonneurotics was the major assumption tested. Rigidity was measured in five different areas of psychological functioning, viz., problem solving, motor, learning, perception, and concept formation. The results confirmed the hypothesis to at least the .05 level of confidence in all areas except problem solving and some aspect of a learning task. Neurotics were seen not to be rigid on all tasks uniformly. Some interneurotic differences were noted; anxiety neurotics seemed to be more rigid on some tasks, obsessive on others. Further exploration was called for to validate this observation. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2JT89P. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Existentialism, psychology, and psychotherapy.

The basic elements of existentialism and its relevance to psychology and psychotherapy are considered. "Existentialists are concerned with the meaning of life… . The existential analysts emphasize the study of the experiencing individual. Events are looked at in terms of their meaning for the individual… . In an attempt to get at the patient's inner universe of experience, the existential analyst studies how the phenomenological coordinates of time, space, causality, and materiality are experienced… . Logotherapy focuses upon the search for meaning in human existence." If it is approached as an area representing possible suggestions for further study "existentialism may have much to offer and psychology considerable to gainp" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A novel approach for improvement of the interfacial binding of ceramics for dental materials: Chemical treatment and oxygen plasma etching

Dental ceramic is one of the most widely used materials in the dental industry because of its extensive use in resin‐bonded restorations and porcelain repair systems. In this study, two approaches were applied to dental ceramic surfaces for improvement in the wettability and surface energy of the effective resin–ceramic interfacial binding. One group of dental ceramics was treated by glow discharge with oxygen at a discharge power of 20 W and for an exposure time of 15 min. The other group was dipped onto hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution. Then, the samples were washed with distilled water and dried at the room temperature before the oxygen plasma treatment. The effectiveness of the two approaches was compared by means of changes in the surface wettability and polarity as measured by both the sessile drop and captive bubble techniques. Oxygen plasma treatment increased the surface wettability, but a greater increase was found with HF etching before the oxygen plasma treatment. This result was demonstrated by the decrease in the static contact angle as measured by the sessile drop technique (53.6 ± 4.19 to 27.7 ± 3.30). In addition, with the combination of the prechemical treatment with HF and the oxygen plasma treatment, the polarity increased more dramatically (0.706 ± 0.013 to 0.845 ± 0.008). The surface chemical composition and physical morphology were investigated by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, the HF etching before oxygen plasma treatment was found to improve the shear bond strength, and it was significantly stronger than that of the groups treated with oxygen only for the resin composite materials (p < 0.05). This two‐step treatment could be a new approach for the activation of dental ceramic discs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Evaluation of Synurus deltoides for antioxidant,antimicrobial, and anti-proliferative activities using In vitro assays

The antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-proliferative activities of water and ethanol extracts from leaves of Synurus deltoides (SD) were investigated. Extracts showed strong reductive powers, nitrite-scavenging activities, DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, and superoxide radical scavenging activities, and DNA damage prevention activities. SD extracts also showed strong cellular antioxidant activities in a dose-dependent manner with IC₅₀ values of 0.93 and 0.65 mg/mL for water and ethanol extracts, respectively. Antimicrobial activities were evaluated against 4 microorganisms. SD extracts showed high inhibitory activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The anti-proliferative activity was dose-dependent against human colon adenocarcinoma (HT-29) and mouse rectum carcinoma cells (CMT-93). In addition, HPLC analyses of SD leaf extracts revealed the presence of different phenolic compounds. SD can be considered as a source of functional foods and pharmaceuticals.