Determination of Menbutone in Bovine Milk and Meat Using Micellar Liquid Chromatography: Application to Injectable Dosage Forms

A simple, sensitive, and rapid method was developed for the routine identification and quantification of menbutone in different matrices by micellar liquid chromatography. Separation was performed in less than 4 min using a C₁₈ column with UV detection at 234 nm. A micellar solution composed of 0.12 M sodium dodecyl sulfate, 8 % n-butanol, and 0.3 % triethylamine in 0.02 M phosphoric acid at pH 6.0 was used as the mobile phase. The method was fully validated in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.95 and 2.86 ng mL^?1, respectively. The method showed good repeatability, linearity, and sensitivity according to the evaluation of the validation parameters. The micellar method was successfully applied for the analysis of menbutone in its commercial injections with a mean % recovery value of 99.73?±?1.634 % and in spiked bovine milk and meat samples with a mean % recovery values in the range of 98.00–100.60 %. High extraction efficiency was obtained without matrix interference in the extraction process and in the subsequent chromatographic determination. No organic solvent was used during the pretreatment step. Hence, this method can be considered as an interesting example for green chemistry.     

Green Alternatives to Nitrates and Nitrites in Meat-based Products–A Review

Several food additives are added in food for their preservation to maintain the freshness of food (antioxidants) or to slow down or stop the growth of microorganisms (preservative agents). Nitrites and nitrates are used as preservative agents in meat. Nitrites give a smoked taste, a pinkish color in the meat and protect the consumers against the risk of bacterial deterioration. Their addition is however very limited as, in high dose, it can have risks on human health and the environment. Nitrites may also combine with secondary or tertiary amines to form N-nitroso derivatives. Certain N-nitroso compounds have been shown to produce cancers in a wide range of laboratory animals. Thus, alternatives of nitrates and nitrites are the object of numerous research studies. Alternatives, such as the addition of vitamins, fruits, chemicals products, natural products containing nitrite or spices, which have similar properties of nitrites, are in evaluation. In fact, spices are considered to have several organoleptic and anti-microbial properties which would be interesting to study. Several spices and combinations of spices are being progressively evaluated. This review discusses the sources of nitrites and nitrates, their use as additives in food products, their physicochemical properties, their negatives effects and the use of alternatives of nitrites and nitrates in preserving meat products.     

Flavor Release from a Banana Soft Drink Complex Model System: Evaluation of the Efficiency of Different Adsorbents for Trapping the Released Volatiles During Storage

The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the release of aroma compounds from a banana soft drink complex model system in comparison with their release from simple model systems, each contains individual food ingredients. The effect of different food ingredients (sweeteners and thickeners at different concentrations), used in formulation of the soft drinks, on flavor release from simple model systems containing banana flavor was evaluated separately. The optimum release of isoamyl acetate (the most potent odorant of banana aroma) was observed at a concentration of 10% of each investigated sweetener (sucrose, glucose, and corn syrup). Pectin and xanthane showed the highest release at a concentration of 2.5 and 0.8% w/w, respectively. The level of each ingredient that showed the optimum release of isoamyl acetate was selected and used in formulation of a banana soft drink complex model system. The released volatiles were trapped by tenax and activated carbon. The gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis revealed a gradual decrease (p < 0.05) in the volatile compounds release from the complex banana soft drink model system during storage for 90 days. However, the total content of the volatiles adsorbed by activated carbon trap was higher than that trapped by tenax. The percentage of isoamyl acetate to total volatiles (isoamyl acetate/total volatiles %) was calculated for each sample during storage. A distinct linear correlation was found between the calculated values and storage time (r = 0.97 and 0.92 for volatiles trapped by tenax and activated carbon, respectively). Sample stored for 60 days showed the highest value. These findings confirmed the results of aroma sensory evaluation.     

Electromagnetic shielding efficiency of nonwoven insulation panels designed with recycled textiles and copper wires

Insulation applications of nonwovens has become increasingly important in the construction and automotive industries since the late 1990s. Besides, recycling and reusing fibrous waste becomes one of the most important raw materials of nonwovens to promote effective use of resources recently. On the other hand, metals are now being increasingly replaced by thermoplastics for housing commercial equipment, due to flexibility, light weight, and low cost for electromagnetic shielding purposes. In this study, we design nonwoven insulation panels containing copper wires with different intensity and length to provide electromagnetic wave protection by using recycled textiles. The method is simple, the material is cheaper, and more importantly, the whole material can be produced by using only waste materials. The electromagnetic shielding characteristics of the panels were measured and discussed. The experimental results indicated that the variation in wire length and amount affects the electromagnetic (EM) shielding property. With this method, the products with electromagnetic shielding effect in certain areas can be developed. In particular, there is a big potential for electromagnetic shielding applications in wide bandwidth, such as 1125–2925 MHz.     

Sensors fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control for grid connected PV system

This paper discusses a Sensors Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) and Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) of three phase inverter for PV system application. All sensors used in the inverter control strategy are addressed in this work. The developed FDI algorithm focuses on residuals generation; it is defined by the different between measurement and reconstituted signal. So, estimators block are investigated, such as, two Models References Adaptive Systems (MRAS) are developed to reconstitute the information of three phase line currents and dc link voltage sensors. The reconstituted information is injected to the corresponding FDI algorithm. Grid voltage sensors FDI is presented in this contribution trough the use of scaled virtual flux estimator, based on Second Order Generalized Integrator and Frequency Looked Loop. When a fault detected, FTC is ensured by replacing the erroneous measurement by its corresponding estimator. Theoretical study and simulations results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Bacteriological effects of functionalized cotton dressings

This study aims to achieve effects of improved hydrophilicity and microorganism inhibition, which are rarely simultaneously present in wound dressings. Cotton gauzes were modified using the grafting of a polymer-based β-cyclodextrin. After optimizing the grafting conditions, the untreated and modified cellulosic samples were principally characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA/DTA analysis, in vitro drug release, and wettability measurements. In light of desired characteristics of wound dressings, the effectiveness of procedures was evaluated. It was found that contact angles for cotton gauzes decreased after functionalization, which means that hydrophilicity was proven to become excellent. A successful Methylene Blue complexation was confirmed through measure of the dyebath exhaustion using UV-spectrophotometry. Then, during Methylen Blue release test, we reported an initial burst release of active ingredient over 7?h, followed by zero-order release. The treatment effect on antimicrobial activity was investigated by growth inhibition, which was proven against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.     

A sandwich-type DNA array platform for detection of GM targets in multiplex assay

Over the last decade, array detection has been developed to qualitatively assess the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). To date, DNA array systems have the highest capabilities as a result of GMOs analysis. We describe the construction of an array platform in the sandwich hybridization format for the detection of transgenic promoter of Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV; p35S). Sequence-specific signal development has been achieved by a sandwich complex composed of a surface immobilized capture probe and a fluorescein-tagged signal probe, which are partially complementary to the p35S oligonucleotide. We used poly-l-lysine-coated glass slides as support material, on which capture probes were immobilized by a heterobifunctional cross-linker. The comparative results of optimization studies including cross-linker types probe concentrations and hybridization conditions (sequence, temperature and duration) were reported. An optimum hybridization signal was obtained with a 32.5 ? cross-linker, 10???M capture and 20???M signal probe concentrations, respectively. A relatively short hybridization time (2.5?h) provided reproducible array signals. No significant effect of hybridization sequence on the fluorescence intensity was observed. The described platform can specifically detect label-free transgenic sequences with a target of 0.01???M concentration, while the optimized system exhibits great potential for the application of different GMO target sequences (p35S, tNOS, bar and cry) to multiplex array formats.     

Optical properties of sol–gel dip-coated Ta2O5 films for electrochromic applications

Amorphous Ta₂O₅ films were prepared by sol–gel dip process on different substrates. The dip-coating technique was used to prepare amorphous Ta₂O₅ films by hydrolysis and condensation of tantalum ethoxide, Ta(OC₂H₅)₅, precursor. Stable coating solutions were prepared using acetic acid as a chelating ligand and catalyzer. Single layer and multi-layered Ta₂O₅ films were fabricated at a dipping rate of 107 mm/min. The microstructure, stoichiometry and optical properties of these films were investigated as a function of the film thickness. Room temperature CV measurements clearly revealed a protonic conductor behavior for Ta₂O₅ films. Optical properties such as refractive index, extinction coefficient and optical band gap value of the Ta₂O₅ films were calculated from optical transmittance measurements. It was found that the refractive index and extinction coefficient values were affected by the thickness of the coatings. The refractive index at a wavelength of 550 nm increased from 1.70 to 1.72 with increasing film thickness. The optical band gap value (3.75±0.12 eV) of the coating was unaffected by the film thickness. These results indicate that sol–gel-deposited Ta₂O₅ films have a promising application as proton conductors in electrochromic devices.     

Investigation of water gas-shift activity of Pt–MOx–CeO2/Al2O3 (M = K,Ni, Co) using modular artificial neural networks

The water gas shift activity of promoted Pt–CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts were investigated in this work. The catalysts were prepared by incipient to wetness impregnation and tested using a microflow reaction system. It was found that K has beneficial effects under product-containing feed compositions while Co and Ni promoters worsen catalyst performance. The reaction temperature and feed H₂O/CO ratio positively affect the catalytic activity, whereas CO₂ and H₂ addition to the feed decreases CO conversion, as expected. The experimental results were also modeled using modular neural networks, at which the catalyst preparation and operational (reaction) variables were used together in the same network because they are interacting but processed differently because they are dissimilar in their form (i.e. categorical versus continuous) and their effects on catalytic activity. It was concluded that the effects of catalyst preparation and operational variables and their relative importance could be comprehended more accurately by using this approach, which may be also employed in other similar systems.