Modelling of Energy Consumption in Wheat Production Using Neural Networks “Case Study in Canterbury Province, New Zealand“

An artificial neural network (ANN) approach was used to model the energy consumption of wheat production. This study was conducted over 35,300 hectares of irrigated and dry land wheat fields in Canterbury in the 2007-2008 harvest year.1 In this study several direct and indirect factors have been used to create an artificial neural networks model to predict energy use in wheat production. The final model can predict energy consumption by using farm condition (size of wheat area and number paddocks), farmers- social properties (education), and energy inputs (N and P use, fungicide consumption, seed consumption, and irrigation frequency), it can also predict energy use in Canterbury wheat farms with error margin of ±7% (± 1600 MJ/ha).

Bioactive Component in Milk and Dairy Product

Recent research has shown that milk proteins can yield bioactive peptides with opioid, mineral binding, cytomodulatory, antihypertensive, immunostimulating, antimicrobial and antioxidative activity in the human body. Bioactive peptides are encrypted in milk proteins and are only released by enzymatic hydrolysis in vivo during gastrointestinal digestion, food processing or by microbial enzymes in fermented products. At present significant research is being undertaken on the health effects of bioactive peptides. A variety of naturally formed bioactive peptides have been found in fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, sour milk and cheese. In particular, antihypertensive peptides have been identified in fermented milks, whey and ripened cheese. Some of these peptides have been commercialized in the form of fermented milks. Bioactive peptides have the potential to be used in the formulation of health-enhancing nutraceuticals, and as potent drugs with well defined pharmacological effects.

Optimization of Growth Conditions for Acidic Protease Production from Rhizopus oligosporus through Solid State Fermentation of Sunflower Meal

Rhizopus oligosporus was used in the present study for the production of protease enzyme under SSF. Sunflower meal was used as by-product of oil industry incorporated with organic salts was employed for the production of protease enzyme. The main purpose of the present was to study different parameters of protease productivity, its yields and to optimize basal fermentation conditions. The optimal conditions found for protease production using sunflower meal as a substrate in the present study were inoculum size (1%), substrate (Sunflower meal), substrate concentration (20 g), pH (3), cultivation period (72 h), incubation temperature (35oC), substrate to diluent-s ratio (1:2) and tween 81 (1 mL). The maximum production of protease in the presence of cheaper substrate at low concentration and stability at acidic pH, these characteristics make the strain and its enzymes useful in different industry.

Loss of P16/INK4A Protein Expression is a Common Abnormality in Hodgkin's Lymphoma

P16/INK4A is tumor suppressor protein that plays a critical role in cell cycle regulation. Loss of P16 protein expression has been implicated in pathogenesis of many cancers, including lymphoma. Therefore, we sought to investigate if loss of P16 protein expression is associated with lymphoma and/or any specific lymphoma subtypes (Hodgkin-s lymphoma (HL) and nonHodgkin-s lymphoma (NHL)). Fifty-five lymphoma cases consisted of 30 cases of HL and 25 cases of NHL, with an age range of 3 to 78 years, were examined for loss of P16 by immunohistochemical technique using a specific antibody reacting against P16. In total, P16 loss was seen in 33% of all lymphoma cases. P16 loss was identified in 47.7% of HL cases. In contrast, only 16% of NHL showed loss of P16. Loss of P16 was seen in 67% of HL patients with 50 years of age or older, whereas P16 loss was found in only 42% of HL patients with less than 50 years of age. P16 loss in HL is somewhat higher in male (55%) than in female (30%). In subtypes of HL, P16 loss was found exclusively in all cases of lymphocyte depletion, lymphocyte predominance and unclassified cases, whereas P16 loss was seen in 39% of mixed cellularity and 29% of nodular sclerosis cases. In low grade NHL patients, P16 loss was seen in approximately one-third of cases, whereas no or very rare of P16 loss was found in intermediate and high grade cases. P16 loss did not show any correlation with age or gender of NHL patients. In conclusion, the high rate of P16 loss seen in our study suggests that loss of P16 expression plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of lymphoma, particularly with HL.

Effect of Dietary Chromium Yeast on Thigh Meat Quality of Broiler Chicks in Heat Stress Condition

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of dietary chromium yeast (Cr-yeast) on thigh meat quality of broiler chicks reared under heat stress condition. Two hundred and forty Ross male chickens in heat stress condition (33±3°C) were allocated to five treatments in a completely randomized design. Treatments were supplemented with 0 (control), 200, 400, 800 and 1200 μg kg-1 Cr in the form of Cr yeast. Twelve chicks from each treatment were slaughtered at 42 d, to evaluate moisture, protein, lipid, pH and lipid oxidation of thigh meat. Protein, moisture, lipid and pH of thigh meat were not affected by supplemental Cr. Thigh meat lipid tended to decrease in broilers received 1200 μg kg-1. Storage time increased lipid oxidation of meat (P

Estimating Enzyme Kinetic Parameters from Apparent KMs and Vmaxs

The kinetic properties of enzymes are often reported using the apparent KM and Vmax appropriate to the standard Michaelis-Menten enzyme. However, this model is inappropriate to enzymes that have more than one substrate or where the rate expression does not apply for other reasons. Consequently, it is desirable to have a means of estimating the appropriate kinetic parameters from the apparent values of KM and Vmax reported for each substrate. We provide a means of estimating the range within which the parameters should lie and apply the method to data for glutamate dehydrogenase from the nematode parasite of sheep Teladorsagia circumcincta.

Growth and Mineral Content of Mokara chark kuan Pink Orchid as Affected by Allelopathic Lantana camara Weed

Growth and mineral nutrient elemental content were studied in Mokara chark kuan pink terrestrial orchid and wild Lantana camara weed agroecosystem. The treated subplots were encircled with L. camara plants and sprayed weekly with L. camara 10% leaf aqueous extract. Allelopathic interactions were possible through extensive invading root of L. camara plants into the treated orchid subplots and weekly L. camara leaf aqueous extract sprayings. Orchid growth was not significantly different in between the control and treated plots, but chlorosis and yellowish patches of leaves were observed in control orchid leaves. Nitrogen content in L. camara leaf was significantly higher than in orchid leaf, the order of importance of mineral nutrient contents in L. camara leaf was K>Mg>Na>N. In treated orchid leaf, the order of importance was N>K>Mg>Na. Orchid leaf N content from the treated plot was higher than control, but Mg and Na contents were almost similar.

Prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus Latent Membrane Protein-1 in Jordanian Patients with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Non- Hodgkin's Lymphoma

The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of EBV infection in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) occurring in Jordanian patients. A total of 55 patients with lymphoma were examined in this study. Of 55 patients, 30 and 25 were diagnosed as HL and NHL, respectively. The four HL subtypes were observed with the majority of the cases exhibited the mixed cellularity (MC) subtype followed by the nodular sclerosis (NS). The high grade was found to be the commonest subtype of NHL in our sample, followed by the low grade. The presence of EBV virus was detected by immunostating for expression of latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1). The frequency of LMP-1 expression occurred more frequent in patients with HL (60.0%) than in patients with NHL (32.0%). The frequency of LMP-1 expression was also higher in patients with MC subtype (61.11%) than those patients with NS (28.57%). No age or gender difference in occurrence of EBV infection was observed among patient with HL. By contrast, the prevalence of EBV infection in NHL patients aged below 50 was lower (16.66%) than in NHL patients aged 50 or above (46.15%). In addition, EBV infection was more frequent in females with NHL (38.46%) than in male with NHL (25%). In NHL cases, the frequency of EBV infection in intermediate grade (60.0%) was high when compared with frequency of low (25%) or high grades (25%). In conclusion, analysis of LMP-1 expression indicates an important role for this viral oncogene in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated malignant lymphomas. These data also support the previous findings that people with EBV may develop lymphoma and that efforts to maintain low lymphoma should be considered for people with EBV infection.

Poverty Alleviation Potential of Snail Farming in Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria

The recurring decimal of rural and urban poverty in Nigeria, resulting from lack of sustainable livelihood activities by the people due to non-diversification of the economy, necessitated this study. One hundred snail farmers were randomly selected in Akure North and Akure South Local Government areas of Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria where snail farming is widely practised. Data collection was through questionnaires administration and onsite observation of farms. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics, Student-s t-test and regression analysis. Cost benefit ratio (CBR) and rate of return on investment (RORI) were calculated in order to determine the poverty alleviation potentials of snail farming in the study areas. Although snail farming was profitable and viable, it was below poverty line. With time and more knowledge in its farming activities, and with more people taking to snail production, its poverty alleviation and reduction potentials will increase.

Effect of Heat-Moisture Treatment on the Formation and Properties of Resistant Starches From Mung Bean (Phaseolus radiatus) Starches

Mung bean starches were subjected to heat-moisture treatment (HMT) by different moisture contents (15%, 20%, 25%, 30% and 35%) at 120Ôäâ for 12h. The impact on the yields of resistant starch (RS), microstructure, physicochemical and functional properties was investigated. Compared to native starch, the RS content of heat-moisture treated starches increased significantly. The RS level of HMT-20 was the highest of all the starches. Birefringence was displayed clear at the center of native starch. For HMT starches, pronounced birefringence was exhibited on the periphery of starch granules; however, birefringence disappeared at the centre of some starch granules. The shape of HMT starches hadn-t been changed and the integrity of starch granules was preserved for all the conditions. Concavity could be observed on HMT starches under scanning electronic microscopy. After HMT, apparent amylose contents were increased and starch macromolecule was degraded in comparison with those of native starch. There was a reduction in swelling power on HMT starches, but the solubility of HMT starches was higher than that of native starch. Both of native and HMT starches showed A-type X-ray diffraction pattern. Furthermore, there is a higher intensity at the peak of 15.0 and 22.9 Å than those of native starch.

Performance Enhancement of Membrane Distillation Process in Fruit Juice Concentration by Membrane Surface Modification

In this work Membrane Distillation is applied to concentrate orange Juice. Clarified orange juice (11o Brix) obtained from fresh fruits and a sugar solution was subjected to membrane distillation. The experiments were performed on a flat sheet module using orange juice and sucrose solution as feeds. The concentration of a sucrose solution, used as a model fruit juice and also orange juice, was carried out in a direct contact membrane distillation using hydrophobic PTFE membrane of pore size 0.2 μm and porosity 70%. Surface modification of PTFE membrane has been carried out by treating membrane with alcohol and water solution to make it hydrophilic and then hydrophobicity was regained by drying. The influences of the feed temperature, feed concentration, flow rate, operating time on the permeate flux were studied for treated and non treated membrane. In this work treated and non treated membrane were compared in terms of water flux, Within the tested range, MD with surface modified membrane the water flux has been significantly improved by treating the membrane surface.

Callusing in Stevia rebaudiana (Natural Sweetener) for Steviol Glycoside Production

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (natural sweetener) belongs to Asteraceae family and can be used as substitute of artificial sweeteners for diabetic patients. Conventionally, it is cultivated by seeds or stem cutting, but seed viability rate is poor. A protocol for callus induction and multiplication was developed to produce large no. of calli in short period. Surface sterilized nodal, leaf and root explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with different concentrations of plant hormone like, IBA, kinetin, NAA, 2,4-D, and NAA in combination with 2,4-D. 100% callusing was observed from leaf explants cultured on combination of NAA and 2,4-D after three weeks while with 2,4-D, only 10% callusing was observed. Calli obtained from leaf and root explants were shiny green while with nodal explants it was hard and brown. The present findings deal with induction of callusing in Stevia to achieve the rapid callus multiplication for study of steviol glycosides in callus culture.