Search results for: functional food

Authors: Beata Kaczmarek-Szczepańska, Lidia Zasada

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Marine collagens such as fish skin, bone, cartilage, and scales, including both marine vertebrates and invertebrates sources, are more bioavailable compared to bovine or porcine collagen and have a higher absorption capability and more rapid bloodstream circulation due to their low molecular weight and small particle size. Fish skin may be used as a source of bioactive compounds. The advantage is that fish skin is a by-product of the food industry. The subject of the study is a lyophilizate consisting of a mixture of compounds from the group of glycosaminoglycans and collagen obtained as a result of processing fish skins. Bioactive compounds may find biomedical use in the production of dressing materials for wounds or in tissue engineering for the production of scaffolds for cells. Collagen and glycosaminoglycans were isolated from Salmo salar skin. The final mixture was obtained by the freeze-drying method. In the obtained lyophilizate, the content of amino acids was studied as well as the presence of polysaccharides. The studies showed the presence of glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, which are the main amino acids of collagen. The HPLC analysis showed the presence of glucose which is a product of polysaccharides hydrolyzation and then reduction of glucuronic acid. It may be assumed that the lyophilizate contains both collagen and polysaccharide, which is probably hyaluronic acid. Acknowledgment: This work was carried out as a result of research project no. TANGO-V-A/0020/2021 financed by the National Centre for Research and Development.

Keywords: collagen, glycosaminoglycans, bioactive compounds, fish skin

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Authors: Gloria G. Delan, Alfonso S. Piquero, Rachel Luz V. Rica, Christine M. Corrales

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The selected marine protected areas (MPAs) of southern Cebu, Philippines were assessed after these have been established between the years 2000 to 2007. These include Casay of Argao, Cawayan of Dalaguete, Guiwang-Daang Lungsod of Alcoy, North Granada of Boljoon and Sta. Cruz of Ronda. These MPAs were assessed to gather baseline information on its coral life-form structure. Point-intercept transect (PIT) method was used in the observation. Benthic life form and reef substrate at each 0.25 m point interval were identified and recorded along 50 meters transect line both inside and outside of these MPAs. It has been observed that massive, branching and digitate form of corals dominated among the five sanctuaries. Percentage of Live Hard Corals was much higher inside than outside in all sanctuaries. Common to all sanctuaries were noticeable presence of dead corals with algae and coral rubbles indicating an over-exploited habitat. Casay, Cawayan and Daan-Lungsod MPAs had some Crown of Thorn Starfish (COTS) which may pose threat to its coral community. It has been recommended that there should be strict law enforcement and a long term monitoring to continuously conserve and protect coral reef which is an important habitat for fishes for its sustainability as food for human.

Keywords: coral rubbles, coral reef, live hard coral, point-intercept transect

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Authors: Pholosho M. Kgopa, Phatu W. Mashela

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Due to high incidents of marginal land in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and increasing demand for arable land, small-holder farmers tend to continuously cultivate the same fields and at the same time, applying fertilisers to improve yields for meeting local food security. These practices might have an impact on the distribution of trace and essential elements. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to assess the distribution of essential elements and trace metals in a continuously cultivated and fertilised field, at the University of Limpopo Experimental Farm. Three fields, 3 ha each were identified as continuously cultivated (CC), moderately cultivated (MC) and virgin fields (VF). Each field was divided into 12 equal grids of 50 m × 50 m for sampling. A soil profile was opened in each grid, where soil samples were collected from 0-20; 20-40 and 40-60; 60-80 and 80-100 cm depths for analysis. Samples were analysed for soil texture, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter content, selected essential elements (Ca, P and Mg), Na and trace elements (Cu, Fe, Ni, and Zn). Results suggested that most of the variables were vertically different, with high concentrations of the test elements except for magnesium. Soil pH in depth 0-20 cm was high (6.44) in CC when compared to that in VF (5.29), but lower than that of MC (7.84). There were no distinctive vertical trends of the variables, except for Mg, Na, and K which displayed a declining trend at 40-60 cm depth when compared to the 0-20 cm depth. Concentrations of Fe, Cu, Zn, and Ni were generally low which might be due to their indirect relationship with soil pH. Continuous cultivation and fertilisation altered soil chemical properties; which could explain the unproductivity of such fields.

Keywords: over-cultivation, soil chemical properties, vertical distribution, spatial distribution

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Authors: Pukhtoon Yar

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Peshawar City is experiencing a rapid spatial urban growth primarily as a result of high rate of urbanization along with economic development. This paper was designed to understand the impacts of urbanization on agriculture land use change by particularly focusing on land use change trajectories from the past (1991-2014). We used Landsat imageries (30 meters) for1991along with Spot images (2.5 meters) for year 2014. . The ground truthing of the satellite data was performed by collecting information from Peshawar Development Authority, revenue department, real estate agents and interviews with the officials of city administration. The temporal satellite images were processed by applying supervised maximum likelihood classification technique in ArcGIS 9.3. The procedure resulted into five main classes of land use i.e. built-up area, farmland, barren land, cultivable-wasteland and water bodies. The analysis revealed that, in Peshawar City the built-up environment has been doubled from 8.1 percent in 1991 to over 18.2 percent in 2014 by predominantly encroaching land producing food. Furthermore, the CA-Markov Model predicted that the area under impervious surfaces would continue to flourish during the next three decades. This rapid increase in built-up area is accredited to the lack of proper land use planning and management, which has caused chaotic urban sprawl with detrimental social and environmental consequences.

Keywords: Urban Expansion, Land use, GIS, Remote Sensing, Markov Model, Peshawar City

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Authors: Yousef Abdulaziz Almolhem

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Geographically, the most Arabic countries locate in areas confined to arid or semiarid regions. For this reason, most of our countries have adopted the seawater desalination as a strategy to overcome this problem. For example, the water supply of AUE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia is almost 100% from the seawater desalination plants. Many areas in Saudia Arabia and other countries in the world suffer from lack of fresh water which hinders the development of these areas, despite the availability of saline water and high solar radiation intensity. Furthermore, most developing countries do not have sufficient meteorological data to evaluate if the solar radiation is enough to meet the solar desalination. A mathematical model was developed to simulate and predict the thermal behavior of the solar still which used direct solar energy for distillation of seawater. Measurement data were measured in the Environment and Natural Resources Department, Faculty of Agricultural and Food sciences, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, in order to evaluate the present model. The simulation results obtained from this model were compared with the measured data. The main results of this research showed that there are slight differences between the measured and predicted values of the elements studied, which is resultant from the change of some factors considered constants in the model such as the sky clearance, wind velocity and the salt concentration in the water in the basin of the solar still. It can be concluded that the present model can be used to estimate the average total solar radiation and the thermal behavior of the solar still in any area with consideration to the geographical location.

Keywords: mathematical model, sea water, distillation, solar radiation

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Authors: Rizwan Ahmad, Soomin Chang, Daeun Kwon, Jeonghwan Kim

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Interests in an inorganic membrane are growing rapidly for industrial wastewater treatment due to its excellent chemical and thermal stability over polymeric membrane. Nevertheless, understanding of the membrane rejection and fouling rate caused by the deposit of contaminants on membrane surface and within membrane pores through inorganic porous membranes still requires much attention. Microfiltration alumina membranes were developed and applied for the industrial wastewater treatment to investigate rejection efficiency of organic contaminant and membrane fouling at various operational conditions. In this study, organic rejection and membrane fouling were investigated by using the alumina flat-tubular membrane developed for the treatment of industrial wastewaters. The flat-tubular alumina membranes were immersed in a fluidized membrane reactor added with granular activated carbon (GAC) particles. Fluidization was driven by recirculating a bulk industrial wastewater along membrane surface through the reactor. In the absence of GAC particles, for hazardous anionic dye contaminants, functional group characterized by the organic contaminant was found as one of the main factors affecting both membrane rejection and fouling rate. More fouling on the membrane surface led to the existence of dipolar characterizations and this was more pronounced at lower solution pH, thereby improving membrane rejection accordingly. Similar result was observed with a real metal-plating wastewater. Strong correlation was found that higher fouling rate resulted in higher organic rejection efficiency. Hydrophilicity exhibited by alumina membrane improved the organic rejection efficiency of the membrane due to the formation of hydrophilic fouling layer deposited on it. In addition, less surface roughness of alumina membrane resulted in less fouling rate. Regardless of the operational conditions applied in this study, fluidizing the GAC particles along the surface of alumina membrane was very effective to enhance organic removal efficiency higher than 95% and provide an excellent tool to reduce membrane fouling. Less than 0.1 bar as suction pressure was maintained with the alumina membrane at 25 L/m²hr of permeate set-point flux during the whole operational periods without performing any backwashing and chemical enhanced cleaning for the membrane.

Keywords: alumina membrane, fluidized membrane reactor, industrial wastewater, membrane fouling, rejection

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Authors: Nonhlanhla Nkosi, Kulsum Kondiah

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The toxicological manifestation of heavy metals motivates interest towards the development of a reliable, eco-friendly biosorption process. With that being said, the aim of the current study was to characterise the EPS from heavy-metal resistant bacteria isolated from acid mine decant on the West Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. To achieve this, six exopolysaccharide (EPS) producing, metal resistant strains (Pb101, Pb102, Pb103, Pb204, Co101, and Ni101) were identified as Bacillus safensis strain NBRC 100820, Bacillus proteolyticus, Micrococcus luteus, Enterobacter sp. Pb204, Bacillus wiedmannii and Bacillus zhangzhouensis, respectively with 16S rRNA sequencing. Thereafter, EPS was extracted using chemical (formaldehyde/NaOH) and physical (ultrasonification) methods followed by physicochemical characterisation of carbohydrate, DNA, and protein contents using chemical assays and spectroscopy (FTIR- Fourier transformed infrared and 3DEEM- three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy). EPS treated with formaldehyde/NaOH showed better recovery of macromolecules than ultrasonification. The results of the present study showed that carbohydrates were more abundant than proteins, with carbohydrate and protein concentrations of 8.00 mg/ml and 0.22 mg/ml using chemical method in contrast to 5.00 mg/ml and 0.77 mg/ml using physical method, respectively. The FTIR spectroscopy results revealed that the extracted EPS contained hydroxyl, amide, acyl, and carboxyl groups that corresponded to the aforementioned chemical analysis results, thus asserting the presence of carbohydrates, DNA, polysaccharides, and proteins in the EPS. These findings suggest that identified functional groups of EPS form surface charges, which serve as the binding sites for suspended particles, thus possibly mediating adsorption of divalent cations and heavy metals. Using the extracted EPS in the development of a cost-effective biosorption solution for industrial wastewater treatment is attainable.

Keywords: biosorbent, exopolysaccharides, heavy metals, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Kajal Zarei

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Supply chain management is becoming an increasingly important issue in many businesses today. In such circumstances, a number of reasons such as management deficiency in different segments of the supply chain, lack of streamlined processes, resistance to change the current systems and technologies, and lack of advanced information system have paved the ground to ask for innovative research studies. To this end, information technology (IT) is becoming a major driver to overcome the supply chain limitations and deficiencies. The emergence of IT has provided an excellent opportunity for redefining the supply chain to be more effective and competitive. This paper has investigated the IT impact on two-digit industry codes in the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) that are operating in four groups of the supply chains. Firstly, the primary fields of the supply chain were investigated, and then paired comparisons of different industry parts were accomplished. Using experts' ideas and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the status of industrial activities in Kurdistan Province in Iran was determined. The results revealed that manufacturing and inventory fields have been more important compared to other fields of the supply chain. In addition, IT has had greater impact on food and beverage industry, chemical industry, wood industry, wood products, and production of basic metals. The results indicated the need to IT awareness in supply chain management; in other words, IT applications needed to be developed for the identified industries.

Keywords: supply chain, information technology, analytical hierarchy process, two-digit codes, international standard industrial classification

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Authors: Marziyeh Khavari

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In recent decades, climate change, global warming, and the growing population worldwide face some challenges, such as increasing food consumption and shortage of resources. Assessing how climate change could disturb crops, especially hazelnut production, seems crucial for sustainable agriculture production. For hazelnut cultivation in the mid-warm condition, such as in Iran, here we present an investigation of climate parameters and how much they are effective on fertility and nut production of hazelnut trees. Therefore, the climate change of the northern zones in Iran has investigated (1960-2017) and was reached an uptrend in temperature. Furthermore, the descriptive analysis performed on six cultivars during seven years shows how this small-scale survey could demonstrate the effects of climate change on hazelnut production and stability. Results showed that some climate parameters are more significant on nut production, such as solar radiation, soil temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation. Moreover, some cultivars have produced more stable production, for instance, Negret and Segorbe, while the Mervill de Boliver recorded the most variation during the study. Another aspect that needs to be met is training and predicting an actual model to simulate nut production through a neural network and linear regression simulation. The study developed and estimated the ANN model's generalization capability with different criteria such as RMSE, SSE, and accuracy factors for dependent and independent variables (environmental and yield traits). The models were trained and tested while the accuracy of the model is proper to predict hazelnut production under fluctuations in weather parameters.

Keywords: climate change, neural network, hazelnut, global warming

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Authors: Pulari C. Milu Maria Anto

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Background: Cognitive Rehabilitation/Retraining has been variously used in the research literature to represent non-pharmacological interventions that target the cognitive impairments with the goal of ameliorating cognitive function and functional behaviors to optimize the quality of life. Along with adult’s cognitive impairments, the need to address acquired cognitive impairments (due to any chronic illnesses like CHD - congenital heart diseases or ALL - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) among child populations is inevitable. Also, it has to be emphasized as same we consider the cognitive impairments seen in the children having neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: All published brain image studies (Hermann, B. et al,2002, Khalil, A. et al., 2004, Follin, C. et al, 2016, etc.) and studies emphasizing cognitive impairments in attention, memory, and/or executive function and behavioral aspects (Henkin, Y. et al,2007, Bellinger, D. C., & Newburger, J. W. (2010), Cheung, Y. T., et al,2016, that could be identified were reviewed. Based on a systematic review of the literature from (2000 -2021) different brain imaging studies, increased risk of neuropsychological and psychosocial impairments are briefly described. Clinical and research gap in the area is discussed. Results:30 papers, both Indian studies and foreign publications (Sage journals, Delhi psychiatry journal, Wiley Online Library, APA PsyNet, Springer, Elsevier, Developmental medicine, and child neurology), were identified. Conclusions: In India, a very limited number of brain imaging studies and neuropsychological studies have done by indicating the cognitive deficits of a child having or undergone chronic illness. None of the studies have emphasized the relevance nor the need of implementingCR among such children, even though its high time to address but still not established yet. The review of the current evidence is to bring out an insight among rehabilitation professionals in establishing a child specific CR and to publish new findings regarding the implementation of CR among such children. Also, this study will be an awareness on considering cognitive aspects of a child having acquired cognitive deficit (due to chronic illness), especially during their critical developmental period.

Keywords: cognitive rehabilitation, neuropsychological impairments, congenital heart diseases, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, epilepsy, and neuroplasticity

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Authors: Jia Zhang, Fengmei Yao, Yanjing Tan

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The accurate estimation of crop yield is of great importance for the food security. In this study, a process-based mechanism model was modified to estimate yield of C4 crop by modifying the carbon metabolic pathway in the photosynthesis sub-module of the RS-P-YEC (Remote-Sensing-Photosynthesis-Yield estimation for Crops) model. The yield was calculated by multiplying net primary productivity (NPP) and the harvest index (HI) derived from the ratio of grain to stalk yield. The modified RS-P-YEC model was used to simulate maize yield in the Northeast China Plain during the period 2002-2011. The statistical data of maize yield from study area was used to validate the simulated results at county-level. The results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficient (R) was 0.827 (P < 0.01) between the simulated yield and the statistical data, and the root mean square error (RMSE) was 712 kg/ha with a relative error (RE) of 9.3%. From 2002-2011, the yield of maize planting zone in the Northeast China Plain was increasing with smaller coefficient of variation (CV). The spatial pattern of simulated maize yield was consistent with the actual distribution in the Northeast China Plain, with an increasing trend from the northeast to the southwest. Hence the results demonstrated that the modified process-based model coupled with remote sensing data was suitable for yield prediction of maize in the Northeast China Plain at the spatial scale.

Keywords: process-based model, C4 crop, maize yield, remote sensing, Northeast China Plain

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Authors: Kanayo Kenneth Asogwa

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The influence of the flow of nanoparticles in nanofluids across a vertical surface is significant, and its application in medical sciences, engineering, pharmaceutical, and food industries is enormous & widely published. However, the comparative examination of alumina nanoparticles with cupric nanoparticles past a rapid progressive Riga plate remains unknown. Thus, this report investigates water-based alumina and cupric nanoparticles passing through an exponentially accelerated Riga plate. Nanofluids containing copper (II) oxide (CuO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles are considered. The Laplace transform technique is used to solve the partial differential equations guiding the flow. The effect of various factors on skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, velocity and temperature profiles is investigated and reported in tabular and graphical form. The upsurge of Modified Hartmann number and radiative impact improves copper (II) oxide nanofluid compared to aluminum oxide nanofluid due to Lorentz force and since CuO is a better heat conductor. At the same time, heat absorption and reactive species favor a slight decline in Alumina nanofluid than Cupric nanofluid in the thermal and velocity fields. The higher density of Cupric nanofluid is enhanced by increasing nanoparticle volume fraction over Alumina nanofluid with a decline in velocity distribution.

Keywords: alumina, cupric, nanoparticles, water-based

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Authors: T. Tommasi, E. Batuecas, G. Mancini, G. Saracco, D. Fino

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Extra virgin olive-oil (EVO) production is an important economic activity for several countries, especially in the Mediterranean area such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Tunisia. The two major by-products from olive oil production, solid-liquid Olive Pomace (OP) and the Olive Mill Waste Waters (OMWW), are still mainly disposed on soil, in spite of the existence of legislation which already limits this practice. The present study compares the environmental impacts associated with two different scenarios for the management of waste from olive oil production through a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The two alternative scenarios are: (I) Anaerobic Digestion and (II) current Disposal on soil. The analysis was performed through SimaPro software and the assessment of the impact categories was based on International Life Cycle Data and Cumulative Energy Demand methods. Both the scenarios are mostly related to the cultivation and harvesting phase and are highly dependent on the irrigation practice and related energy demand. Results from the present study clearly show that as the waste disposal on soil causes the worst environmental performance of all the impact categories here considered. Important environmental benefits have been identified when anaerobic digestion is instead chosen as the final treatment. It was consequently demonstrated that anaerobic digestion should be considered a feasible alternative for olive mills, to produce biogas from common olive oil residues, reducing the environmental burden and adding value to the olive oil production chain.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, waste management, agro-food waste, biogas

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Authors: Jummai Sekinat Seriki-Mosadolorun, Oyebamiji John Okesoto

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School-aged children in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Lagos State, were surveyed to determine their food habits, environmental exposures and nutritional status. The method used in this study was a descriptive survey. A systematic questionnaire and anthropometric measurement scales were utilized to compile the data. Information about the children's environment, diets, and demographics were collected using a questionnaire. The children's Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using anthropometric measuring scales. The sample size of 400 people was determined by a multi-stage sampling procedure. Chi-square test mean, and Analysis of Variance were used to examine the data. The study's findings suggested that the quality of the children’s natural environments was fairly satisfactory. The youngsters had an unhealthy diet consisting mostly of high-calorie items, including fufu/yam/Eba/pounded yam, biscuits, bread, vegetables, soups, meat, and sweetened drinks. The incidence of malnutrition among school-aged children varied dramatically. The children's environmental quality, eating pattern, and nutritional status were also significantly related to one another (p <0.005). The research came to the conclusion that historic structures should be updated with current technology to promote healthy growth in children, and it suggests that this be done as a matter of strategy.

Keywords: environmental quality, dietary pattern, nutritional status, school-aged children., dietary pattern, school-aged children, nutritional status

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Authors: ALi Zaker, Zhi Chen

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Due to the concerns about the depletion of fossil fuel sources and the deteriorating environment, the attempt to investigate the production of renewable energy will play a crucial role as a potential to alleviate the dependency on mineral fuels. In this respect, biofuels are measured as a vital nominee for national energy security and energy sustainability. Sewage sludge (SS), as an alternative source of renewable energy with a complex composition, is a major waste generated during wastewater treatment. Stricter legislation is continuously refining the requirements for the level of removal of various pollutants in treated water, causing continuous growth of sludge production, which has become a global challenge. In general, there are two main procedures for dealing with SS: incineration and landfill. However, there are a variety of limitations in these options (e.g., production of greenhouse gases and restrictive environmental regulations) in regard to negative social and economic impacts. Pyrolysis is a feasible and cost-effective technology that can simultaneously tackle boundaries concerning the current disposal routes while retrieving bioenergy. Pyrolysis of SS has drawn vigorous interest in research due to the ability of high mass yield of pyrolytic liquid production. Nonetheless, the presence of high molecular weight hydrocarbons and oxygenated- and nitrogenated compounds poses a considerable challenge. In this context, catalytic pyrolysis is another attainable route in order to upgrade the bio-oil quality. Among different catalysts (i.e., zeolites) studied for sewage sludge pyrolysis, activated chars are eco-friendly and low-cost alternatives. The beneficial features comprise comparatively large surface area, long-term stability, and enriched surface functional groups. In light of these premises, this research attempts to investigate the catalytic pyrolysis of sewage sludge with a high-performance sludge-based activated char in contrast to HZSM5 from a theoretical and experimental point of view.

Keywords: catalytic pyrolysis, sewage sludge, char, HZSM5, bio-oil.

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Authors: Lakshmi, Yakshita Awasthi, Deepika, Lovleen Jha, Archna Kumar

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From the back of centuries, plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) have been recognized as a major threat to agriculturalists globally. It causes 21.3% global food loss annually. The utilization of harmful chemical pesticides to minimize the nematode population may cause acute and delayed health hazards and harmful impacts on human health. In recent years, a variety of plants have been evaluated for their nematicidal properties and efficacy in the management of plant-parasitic nematodes. Several Phyto-nematicides are available, but most of them are incapable of sustainable management of PPN, especially Meloidogyne spp. Thus, there is a great need for a new eco-friendly, highly efficient, sustainable control measure for this nematode species. Keeping all these facts and after reviewing the literature, aqueous extract of Cymbopogon citratus, Tagetes erecta, and Azadirachta indica were prepared by adding distilled water (1 g sample mixed with 10ml of water). In vitro studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacious nature of targeted botanicals against PPN Meloidogyne spp. The mortality status of PPN was recorded by counting the live and dead individuals after applying 100μl of selected extract. The impact was observed at different time durations, i.e., 24h and 48h. The result showed that the highest 100% mortality was at 48h in all three extracts. Thus, these extracts, with the addition of a suitable shelf-life enhancer, may be exploited in different nematode control programs as an economical, sustainable measure.

Keywords: Meloidogyne, Cymbopogon citratus, Tagetes erecta, Azadirachta indica, nematicidal

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Authors: Freddy Houndekindo

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A study was carried out to evaluate the flood risk in the district of Malanville located along the Niger River. The knowledge produce by this study is useful in the implementation of adaptation and/or mitigation measures to alleviate the impact of the flooding on the populations, the economy and the environment. Over the course of the study, the lack of data in the area of interest has been one of the main challenges encountered. Therefore, in the analysis of the flood hazard different sources of remotely sensed data were used. Moreover, the flood hazard was analysed by applying a 1D hydraulic model: HEC-RAS. After setting up the model for the study area, the different flood scenarios considered were simulated and mapped using ArcGIS and the HEC-GEORAS extension. The result of the simulation gave information about the inundated areas and the water depths at each location. From the analysis of the flood hazard, it was found that between 47% and 50% of the total area of the district of Malanville would be flooded in the different flood scenarios considered, and the water depth varies between 1 and 7 m. The townships of Malanville most at risk of flooding are Momkassa and Galiel, located in a high-risk and very high-risk zone, respectively. Furthermore, the assessment of the flood risk showed that the most vulnerable sector to the inundations is the agricultural sector. Indeed, the cultivated floodplains were the most affected areas by the floodwater in every flood scenarios. Knowing that a high proportion of the population of the district relies on their farmlands in these floodplains for their livelihood, the floods pose a challenge not only to the food security in the area but also to its development.

Keywords: flood risk management, Niger, remote sensing, vulnerability

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Authors: Rajnish Gourh, Nitesh Sharma, Nikhil Patil

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Introduction: Adequate nutrition is essential for improving pregnancy and its outcomes. Failure to comply with the required daily intake of nutrition can lead to complications threatening both mother and child survival. Objectives: To provide access to nutritious diet to mothers in antenatal and post-natal stage for supporting a healthy progressive pregnancy, positive delivery outcome, and lactation and to promote regular consumption of the foods by the mothers and help overcome the dietary gap by nutrition education during pregnancy time. Methodology: Total of 95 ANC mothers were identified from Malvada PHC area, in Palghar district of Maharashtra. This short-term cohort intended for the proposed supplementation and education was targeted for follow-up until birth and six-months of post-natal period. In month of May 2016 to June 2017. Results: Average weight of women was observed 40.01kg, (SD- 5.024) at registered for ANC at Centre in the first month. In same month, average Haemoglobin level of women was observed 9.13gm/dl. Average increase in weight of women during pregnancy in month October 2016 was 48.83kg. Birth weight of 14 babies was less than 2 kgs. 13 babies with birth weight in range of 2.1kgs to 2.4kgs. 68 babies with birth weight in range of 2.5kg to 3kg and above. Conclusion: Importance of consumption of food, improving levels of nutrient intake and outcome of delivery was excellent.

Keywords: delivery status, nutrition, pregnancy, education

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Authors: Akachi Odoemene

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Climate change and land grabbing are tightly interconnected in ways that are both diverse and complex. They have impacted each other in significant ways too. Both phenomena are not only a political reality, but have diverse dire implications, especially for food and livelihood security of vulnerable populations in developing economies. The critical nexus and interactions of climate change and land grabbing remain one of the challenges of sustainable development in modern times. The nuanced understanding of the nexus, importance and implications of climate change and land grabbing are the primary focus of this chapter. It begins with conceptual clarifications, particularly arguing that the absence of some important principles of engagement underline and define a land grab. It also analyses and notes a good number of contemporary land deals as 'one-sided', in which wealthy entities connive with local elites to exploit and disposes rural poor populations. The paper not only examines both global and local factors that drive land grabbing and, in some cases, their connections with the incidence of climate change, but also explores their crucial links with such sector as agriculture. It is argued and exhibited in the paper why certain societies are susceptible to the incidence of climate change and land grabbing, while the overall consequences of these phenomena on the affected societies are further interrogated. The paper concludes that the lack of political will by global political leaders to effectively combat and resolve critical issues associated with both climate change and land grabbing remains a daunting challenge. It notes that these phenomena – climate change and land grabbing – if not abated, will certainly become another set of global tragic episodes to be regretted in the future.

Keywords: climate change, land grabbing, global governance, developing economies

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Authors: Makamas Kumprou, Pipatana Amatachaya, Sugalya Amatachaya, Thiwabhorn Thaweewannakij, Preeda Arayawichanon

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Many individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) need an ambulatory assistive device (AAD) to promote their independence and experience of task-specific walking practice. Without a periodic follow-up for their walking progression, however, many individuals may use the same AAD even though up to 66% of them had the potential to progress walking ability. This may distort their optimal ability and increase the possibility of having negative impacts due to the long-lasting used of an AAD. However, these findings were cross-sectionally collected without data confirmation for the benefit or negative impacts of those who changed the types of AAD used. Therefore, this study prospectively assessed the proportion of ambulatory individuals with SCI who were able to progress their walking ability as determined using a type of AAD, and the changes of their functional ability as well as the incidence of falls over 6 months. Twenty-four subjects with SCI who daily walked with an AAD were involved in the study for 2 visits over 6 months. At the first visit (baseline assessments), the subjects were assessed for their spatiotemporal variables (i.e., cadence, step length, stride length, and step symmetry) and walking ability using the 10-meter walk test (10MWT). Then, they were assessed for the possibility of their walking progression as determined using the ability of walking with the least support AAD with no more than contact guarding assist. Those who were capable of changing an AAD were trained for the ability to walk with a new AAD. Thereafter, all subjects were monthly monitored for incidence of fall over 6 months. At the second visit (after 6 months followed-up), subjects were reassessed for their spatiotemporal variables and 10MWT. The findings indicated that, of all 24 subjects, 8 subjects (33.3%) were able to walk with less support AAD than their usual one. The walking cadence, step length symmetry, and walking ability of these subjects improved significantly greater than those who walked with the same AAD (p < 0.05). Among these subjects, one subject (12.5%) reported fell (3 times) during the follow-up period, whereas 5 subjects (31.3%) who walked with the same AAD experienced at least one fall (range 1 – 16 times). The findings indicated that a large proportion of ambulatory individuals with SCI who daily walked with an AAD could progress their walking ability, whereby their walking ability and safety also significantly improved after they walked with an optimal AAD. The findings suggest the need for a periodic follow-up for an appropriate AAD used for these individuals.

Keywords: walking device, walker, crutches, cane, rehabilitation

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Authors: Gerrit Ter Haar, Thorsten Becker, Deborah Blaine

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The Additive Manufacturing (AM) process of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) has seen an exponential growth in sales and development in the past fifteen years. Whereas the capability of SLM was initially limited to rapid prototyping, progress in research and development (R&D) has allowed SLM to be capable of fully functional parts. This technology is still at a primitive stage and technical knowledge of the vast number of variables influencing final part quality is limited. Ongoing research and development of the sensitive printing process and post processes is of utmost importance in order to qualify SLM parts to meet international standards. Quality concerns in Ti-6Al-4V manufactured through SLM has been identified, which include: high residual stresses, part porosity, low ductility and anisotropic mechanical properties. Whereas significant quality improvements have been made through optimising printing parameters, research indicates as-produced part ductility to be a major limiting factor when compared to its wrought counterpart. This study aims at achieving an in-depth understanding of the underlining links between SLM produced Ti-6Al-4V microstructure and its mechanical properties. Knowledge of microstructural transformation kinetics of Ti-6Al-4V allows for the optimisation of post-process heat treatments thereby achieving the required process route to manufacture high quality SLM produced Ti-6Al-4V parts. Experimental methods used to evaluate the kinematics of microstructural transformation of SLM Ti-6Al-4V are: optical microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. Results show that a low-temperature heat treatment is capable of transforming the as-produced, martensitic microstructure into a duel-phase microstructure exhibiting both a high strength and improved ductility. Furthermore, isotropy of mechanical properties can be achieved through certain annealing routes. Mechanical properties identical to that of wrought Ti-6Al-4V can, therefore, be achieved through an optimised process route.

Keywords: EBSD analysis, heat treatments, microstructural characterisation, selective laser melting, tensile behaviour, Ti-6Al-4V

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Authors: Achitphol Chookaew, Paramee Thongsukhsai, Patamarerk Engsontia, Narongwit Nakwan, Pritsana Raugrut

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Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies and primary cause of death due to cancer worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the main subtype in which majority of patients present with advanced-stage disease. Herein, we analyzed differentially expressed genes to find potential biomarkers for lung cancer diagnosis as well as prognostic markers. We used transcriptome data from our 2 NSCLC patients and public data (GSE81089) composing of 8 NSCLC and 10 normal lung tissues. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NSCLC and normal tissue and between early-stage and late-stage NSCLC were analyzed by the DESeq2. Pairwise correlation was used to find the DEGs with false discovery rate (FDR) adjusted p-value £ 0.05 and |log2 fold change| ³ 4 for NSCLC versus normal and FDR adjusted p-value £ 0.05 with |log2 fold change| ³ 2 for early versus late-stage NSCLC. Bioinformatic tools were used for functional and pathway analysis. Moreover, the top ten genes in each comparison group were verified the expression and survival analysis via GEPIA. We found 150 up-regulated and 45 down-regulated genes in NSCLC compared to normal tissues. Many immnunoglobulin-related genes e.g., IGHV4-4, IGHV5-10-1, IGHV4-31, IGHV4-61, and IGHV1-69D were significantly up-regulated. 22 genes were up-regulated, and five genes were down-regulated in late-stage compared to early-stage NSCLC. The top five DEGs genes were KRT6B, SPRR1A, KRT13, KRT6A and KRT5. Keratin 6B (KRT6B) was the most significantly increased gene in the late-stage NSCLC. From GEPIA analysis, we concluded that IGHV4-31 and IGKV1-9 might be used as diagnostic biomarkers, while KRT6B and KRT6A might be used as prognostic biomarkers. However, further clinical validation is needed.

Keywords: differentially expressed genes, early and late-stages, gene ontology, non-small cell lung cancer transcriptomics

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Authors: Dong-Gi Lee, Suyeon Cha, Yong-Sun Bahn

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Sterol lipid is essential for cell membrane structure in eukaryotic cells. In mammalian cells, sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) act as principal regulators of cellular cholesterol which is essential for proper cell membrane fluidity and structure. SREBP and sterol regulation are related to levels of cellular oxygen because it is a major substrate for sterol synthesis. Upon cellular sterol and oxygen levels are depleted, SREBP is translocated to the Golgi where it undergoes proteolytic cleavage of N terminus, then it travels to the nucleus to play a role as transcription factor. In yeast cells, synthesis of ergosterol is also highly oxygen consumptive, and Sre1 is a transcription factor known to play a central role in adaptation to growth under low oxygen condition and sterol homeostasis in Cryptococcus neoformans. In this study, we observed phenotypes in other strains of Cryptococcus species by constructing hob1Δ and sre1Δ mutants to confirm whether the functions of both genes are conserved in most serotypes. As a result, hob1Δ showed no noticeable phenotype under treatment of antifungal drugs and most environmental stresses in R265 (C. gattii) and XL280 (C. neoformans), suggesting that Hob1 is related to sterol regulation only in H99 (serotype A). On the other hand, the function of Sre1 was found to be conserved in most serotypes. Furthermore, mating experiment of hob1Δ or sre1Δ showed dramatic defects in serotype A (H99) and D (XL280). It revealed that Hob1 and Sre1 related to mating ability in Cryptococcus species, especially cell fusion efficiency. In conclusion, HOB1 and SRE1 play crucial role in regulating sterol-homeostasis and differentiation in C. neoformans, moreover, Hob1 is specific gene in Cryptococcus neoformans. It suggests that Hob1 is considered as potent factor-targeted new safety antifungal drug.

Keywords: cryptococcus neoformans, Hob1, Sre1, sterol regulatory element binding proteins

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Authors: Saidasanov Saidazal Shokhmurodovich, Topolnickiy Orest Zinovyevich, Afaunova Olga Arturovna

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Relevance: Bilateral congenital cleft is one of the most complex forms of all clefts, which makes it difficult to choose a surgical method of treatment. During primary operations to close the hard and soft palate, there is a shortage of soft tissues and their lack during standard uranoplasty, and these factors aggravate the period of rehabilitation of patients. Materials and methods: The results of surgical treatment of children with bilateral cleft, who underwent uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue, were analyzed. The study used methods: clinical and statistical, which allowed us to solve the tasks, based on the principles of evidence-based medicine. Results and discussion: in our study, 15 patients were studied, who underwent surgical treatment in the following volume: uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue in two stages. Of these, 9 boys and 6 girls aged 2.5 to 6 years. The first stage was surgical treatment in the volume: veloplasty. The second stage was a surgical intervention in volume: uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue. In all patients, the width of the cleft ranged from 1.6-2.8 cm. All patients in this group were orthodontically prepared. Using this method, the surgeon can achieve the following results: maximum narrowing of the palatopharyngeal ring, long soft palate, complete closure of the hard palate, alveolar process, and the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity is also sutured, which creates good conditions for the next stage of osteoplastic surgery. Based on the result obtained, patients have positive results of working with a speech therapist. In all patients, the dynamics were positive without complications. Conclusions: Based on our observation, tongue flap uranoplasty is one of the effective techniques for patients with wide clefts of the hard and soft palate. The use of a flap from the tongue makes it possible to reduce the number of repeated reoperations and improve the quality of social adaptation of this group of patients, which is one of the important stages of rehabilitation. Upon completion of the stages of rehabilitation, all patients had the maximum improvement in functional, anatomical and social indicators.

Keywords: congenital cleft lips and palate, bilateral cleft, child surgery, maxillofacial surgery

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Authors: Wedad Albalawi

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The mathematical inequalities have been the core of mathematical study and used in almost all branches of mathematics as well in various areas of science and engineering. The inequalities by Hardy, Littlewood and Polya were the first significant composition of several science. This work presents fundamental ideas, results and techniques and it has had much influence on research in various branches of analysis. Since 1934, various inequalities have been produced and studied in the literature. Furthermore, some inequalities have been formulated by some operators; in 1989, weighted Hardy inequalities have been obtained for integration operators. Then, they obtained weighted estimates for Steklov operators that were used in the solution of the Cauchy problem for the wave equation. They were improved upon in 2011 to include the boundedness of integral operators from the weighted Sobolev space to the weighted Lebesgue space. Some inequalities have been demonstrated and improved using the Hardy–Steklov operator. Recently, a lot of integral inequalities have been improved by differential operators. Hardy inequality has been one of the tools that is used to consider integrity solutions of differential equations. Then dynamic inequalities of Hardy and Coposon have been extended and improved by various integral operators. These inequalities would be interesting to apply in different fields of mathematics (functional spaces, partial differential equations, mathematical modeling). Some inequalities have been appeared involving Copson and Hardy inequalities on time scales to obtain new special version of them. A time scale is defined as a closed subset contains real numbers. Then the inequalities of time scales version have received a lot of attention and has had a major field in both pure and applied mathematics. There are many applications of dynamic equations on time scales to quantum mechanics, electrical engineering, neural networks, heat transfer, combinatorics, and population dynamics. This study focuses on double integrals to obtain new time-scale inequalities of Copson driven by Steklov operator. They will be applied in the solution of the Cauchy problem for the wave equation. The proof can be done by introducing restriction on the operator in several cases. In addition, the obtained inequalities done by using some concepts in time scale version such as time scales calculus, theorem of Fubini and the inequality of H¨older.

Keywords: time scales, inequality of Hardy, inequality of Coposon, Steklov operator

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Authors: Assia Belfar, Mohamed Hadjadj, Messaouda Dakmouche, Zineb Ghiaba

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Introduction: This study aims to phytochemical screening; Extracting the active compounds and estimate the effectiveness of antioxidant in Medicinal plants desert Limoniastrum guyonianum (Zeïta) from South Algeria. Methods: Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content using Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride colorimetric methods, respectively. The total antioxidant capacity was estimated by the following methods: DPPH (1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical) and reducing power assay. Results: Phytochemical screening of the plant part reveals the presence of phenols, saponins, flavonoids and tannins. While alkaloids and Terpenoids were absent. The acetonic extract of L. guyonianum was extracted successively with ethyl acetate and butanol. Extraction of yield varied widely in the L. guyonianum ranging from (0.9425 %to 11.131%). The total phenolic content ranged from 53.33 mg GAE/g DW to 672.79 mg GAE/g DW. The total flavonoid concentrations varied from 5.45 to 21.71 mg/100g. IC50 values ranged from 0.02 ± 0.0004 to 0.13 ± 0.002 mg/ml. All extracts showed very good activity of ferric reducing power, the higher power was in butanol fraction (23.91 mM) more effective than BHA, BHT and VC. Conclusions: Demonstrated this study that the acetonic extract of L. guyonianum contain a considerable quantity of phenolic compounds and possess a good antioxidant activity. Can be used as an easily accessible source of Natural Antioxidants and as a possible food supplement and in the pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: limoniastrum guyonianum, phenolics compounds, flavonoid compound, antioxidant activity

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Authors: K. Sivasubramanin, S. Mahimairaja, S. Pavithrapriya

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Heavy metal pollution originating from industrial wastes is becoming a serious problem in many urban environments. These heavy metals, if not properly managed, could enter into the food chain and cause a serious health hazards in animals and humans. Industrial wastes, sewage sludge, and automobile emissions also contribute to heavy metal like Pb pollution in the urban environment. However, information is scarce on the heavy metal pollution in Coimbatore urban environment. Therefore, the current study was carried out to examine the extent of lead pollution in Coimbatore urban environment the maximum Pb concentration in Coimbatore urban environment was found in ukkadam, whose concentration in soils 352 mg kg-1. In many places, the Pb concentration was found exceeded the permissible limit of 100 mg kg-1. In laboratory, closed incubation experiment showed that the concentration of different species of Pb viz., water soluble Pb(H2O-Pb), exchangeable Pb(KNO3-Pb), organic-Pb(NaOH-Pb), and organic plus metal (Fe & Al) oxides bound-Pb(Na2 EDTA-Pb) was found significantly increased during the 15 days incubation, mainly due to biotransformation processes. Both the moisture content of soil and ambient temperature exerted a profound influence on the transformation of Pb. The results of a batch experiment has shown that the sorption data was adequately described by the Freundlich equation as indicated by the high correlation coefficients (R2= 0.64) than the Langmuir equation (R2 = 0.33). A maximum of 86 mg of Pb was found adsorbed per kilogram of soil. Consistently, a soil column experiment result had shown that only a small amount of Pb( < 1.0 µg g-1 soil) alone was found leached from the soil. This might be due to greater potential of the soil towards Pb adsorption.

Keywords: lead pollution, adsorption, transformation, heavy metal pollution

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Authors: Muhammad Mohsin, Mir Md Abdus Salam, Pertti Pulkkinen, Ari Pappinen

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Soil polluted with elevated level of nickel (Ni) concentration may cause severe hazards to humans and forest ecosystems, for example, by polluting underground water reserves, affecting food quality and by reducing agricultural productivity. The present study investigated the phytoextraction ability of Salix schwerinii, enhanced with an application of the N100 (11-amino-1-hydroxyundecylidene) chelate. N100 has proved to be a non-toxic, low risk of leaching, environmentally friendly and easily biodegradable chelate that has a potential for metal chelation. The Salix were grown in garden soil that was also amended with nickel (Ni; 150 mg kg⁻¹). Multiple doses of N100 were applied to the treatments as follows: Ni + N100 1.2 g and Ni+ N100 2.4 g. Furthermore, N100 doses were also repeated with the control soil. The effect of N100 on height growth, biomass, and the accumulation of Ni in Salix in polluted soils was studied. In this study, N100 application was found to be effective in enhancing height and biomass growth under polluted treatments. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometry was used to determine the concentration of Ni in the Salix tissues. The total Ni concentrations in the soils amended with N100 increased substantially by up to 324% as compared to the control. The Ni translocation factor (TF) and bioconcentration factor (BF) values for S. schwerinii increased with the application of N100 as varied from 0.45–1.25 and 0.80‒1.50, respectively. This study revealed that S. schwerinii is suitable for the phytoextraction of Ni-contaminated soils.

Keywords: bisphosphonic acid, nickel, phytoextraction, Salix

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Authors: Gianella Franco, Karen Suarez, María Quijano, Patricia Manzano

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Agro-industries generate large amounts of waste, which are mostly untapped. This research was carried out to use cocoa, coffee and orange industrial by-products to develop a dairy drink. The product was prepared by making a 10% aqueous extract of the mixture of cocoa and coffee beans shells and orange peel. Extreme Vertices Mixture Design was applied to vary the proportions of the ingredients of the aqueous extract, getting 13 formulations. Each formulation was mixed with skim milk and pasteurized. The attributes of taste, smell, color and appearance were evaluated by a semi-trained panel by multiple comparisons test, comparing the formulations against a standard marked as "R", which consisted of a coffee commercial drink. The formulations with the highest scores were selected to maximize the Total Polyphenol Content (TPC) through a process of linear optimization resulting in the formulation 80.5%: 18.37%: 1.13% of cocoa bean shell, coffee bean shell and orange peel, respectively. The Total Polyphenol Content was 4.99 ± 0.34 mg GAE/g of drink, DPPH radical scavenging activity (%) was 80.14 ± 0.05 and caffeine concentration of 114.78 mg / L, while the coffee commercial drink presented 3.93 ± 0.84 mg GAE / g drink, 55.54 ± 0.03 % and 47.44 mg / L of TPC, DPPH radical scavenging activity and caffeine content, respectively. The results show that it is possible to prepare an antioxidant - rich drink with good sensorial attributes made of industrial by-products.

Keywords: DPPH, polyphenols, waste, food science

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Authors: Nada Alqadri, Omaima Nasir

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Natural compounds are an important source of potential inhibitors; they have a lot of pharma potential with less adverse effects. The effective antiviral activities of natural products have been proved in different studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei, in December 2019, coronavirus has had a significant impact on people's health and lives. Based on previous studies, natural products can be introduced as preventive and therapeutic agents in the fight against COVID-19; considering that no food or supplement has been authorized to prevent COVID-19, individuals continue to search for and consume specific herbs, foods, and commercial supplements for this purpose. This study will be aimed to estimate the uses of herbal and natural products during the COVID-19 infection to determine their usage reasons and evaluate their potential side effects. An online cross-sectional survey of different participants will be conducted and will be a focus on respondents’ chronic disease histories, socio-dmographic characteristics, and frequency and trends of using these products. Descriptive and univariate analyses will be performed to determine prevalence and associations between various products used and respondents’ socio-demographic data. Relationships will be tested using Pearson’s chi-square test or an exact probability test. Our main findings will give evidence of beneficial uses of natural products and herbal medicine as prophylactic and will be a vigorous approach to stop or at least slow down COVID-19 infection and transmission. This will be of great interest of public health, and the results of our study will lend health officials better control on the current pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, herbs, natural products, saudi arabia

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