Spatial and seasonal distribution of intertidal macrobenthos with their biomass and functional feeding guilds in the Naf River estuary, Bangladesh

The Naf River estuary is one of the most productive ecological ecosystems in Bangladesh providing an important feeding area for fishes and other aquatic animals.However,detailed information on macrobenthic communities is rarely available in this area.Our study focused on the seasonal and spatial variability of macrobenthic community structure with their biomass and functional guilds.In total,fortyseven taxa were identified under nine major groups and seven functional feeding guilds.Among macrobenthic taxa,Polychaeta was dominant in both seasons and all over the estuary contributing 60%of total benthos.The mean abundance of macrobenthos was higher during the pre-monsoon(2 972±1 994 inds./m^2)than the monsoon(1 572±361 inds./m^2)being maximum at mid-estuary region and minimum at upper and lower estuary regions.Of the diversity indices,density(P=0.01,P=0.003),the number of taxa(P=0.000 3,P=0.000 9)and Margalef′s Index(P=0.000 4,P=0.001)of macrobenthos were significantly different among stations and seasons.Shannon-Weiner index(P=0.009,P=0.12)and Pielou’s evenness index(P=0.03,P=0.14)had significant differences among stations but not among seasons.Cluster analysis suggested that distribution of macrofauna is strongly influenced by seasonality.Among the feeding types,carnivorous were found to be dominant at the upper and mid-estuarine regions,and herbivorous were at lower estuarine regions.Carnivorous species were dominant in both seasons.Omnivores have shown to be the most abundant feeding type in terms of biomass though herbivores were highest during monsoon.

Development and Physical Properties of Film of Wheat Gluten Cross-linked by Transglutaminase

Films were developed from the modified wheat glutens by microbial transglutamina se(MTGase, [E/S]=10u/g,15u/g and 20u/g) in order to improve physical and barri er properties of the films.Glycerol was used as a plasticizer.The films prepared from the modified-glutens by MTGase show a lower elongation at break(E) and a water vapor permeability(WVP), and a higher tensile strength(TS) than the nati ve gluten films.When the modified gluten films by different concentrations of MT Gase are immersed in water at 25℃,their weight losses decreased significantly, and their water resistance increases obviously as expected, compared with the c ontrol gluten films. Moreover, an addition of glycerol as plasticizer greatly mo dified water vapor barrier and mechanical properties of the films.

Mechanisms of calcium transport across the placenta: Review

Studies of calcium transfer across the placenta have been reviewed because of the physiological and nutritional importance of this mineral during pregnancy, especially in order to better understand its contribution to development of the fetal skeleton. The placental transfer of maternal calcium to the fetus represents a vital mechanism for fetal development and breast-milk production, yet little meaningful information is currently available regarding the biochemical mechanisms involved in this process. Once again, the use of different animal models as rodents, rabbit, sheep and bovine have demonstrate different mechanisms of calcium transport across the placenta and contribute to better understand its effects in both fetus and mother during the gestation. In relation to the transfer of calcium from the mother to fetus data suggest it occur via an active mechanism;thus calcium concentration is higher in fetus than in maternal blood. Despite conflicting reports, several investigators agreed that calcium concentration in the fetal blood is mainly regulated by fetal parathyroid hormone and plasma concentration of vitamin D3, a metabolite that plays a key role in calcium transport through the syncytial cells.

Physico-Chemical Properties of Milk Whey Protein Agglomerates for Use in Oral Nutritional Therapy

Agglomerates based on milk whey proteins and modified starch (MS) were developed for patients with dysphagia. Calcium caseinate (CaCas), whey protein isolate (WPI), concentrate (WPC) and hydrolysate (WPH) were used. The sources were agglomerated with the MS and an increase in the porosity and viscosity of the agglomerates were observed. In all the systems evaluated, the WPI agglomerate at a concentration of 112 g/L showed a viscosity between 2122 and 5110 cP, and the agglomerates of WPC and WPH between 1115?-?2880 cP and 2600 - 6651 cP, respectively. CaCas exhibited high values in water and milk of 3200 cP and 6651 cP, respectively, and low values of 640 cP in juice. In sensory tests, the 70% WPI: 30% MS juice obtained a score 6.97, an improvement in relation to the other agglomerates, but not differing (p = 0.681) from the commercial thickener, 6.91 (p = 0.380). Based on these results, the 70% WPI: 30% MS was suggested for use in the nutritional therapy of patients with dysphagia.

Testing the Use of Coconut Fiber as a Cushioning Material for Transport Packaging

In spite of being a raw material of virtually unlimited availability due to the massive consumption of the highly popular coconut water, fiber produced from green coconut is much less used than the dried coconut fiber. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of green (white) coconut fiber as a cushioning material for use in packaging systems. The mechanical performance of both green coconut fibers in their natural state as well as those molded into the shape of cushioning pads were evaluated by shock absorption tests. The results showed that the fibers without agglutination agents exhibited the best performance when submitted to increasing static loads by presenting the greatest capacity to reduce impact acceleration. In addition, green coconut fiber presented behavior similar to that of cellulosic cushioning materials and in certain situations can be considered effective in protecting products that are considered fragile.

Multivariate Optimization of Volatile Compounds Extraction in Chardonnay Wine by Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction and Gas Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A method for optimization of extraction of volatile compounds in Chardonnay wine was developed using headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Optimization of the HS-SPME conditions, temperature (T, °C) and extra-ction time (t, minutes), was carried out using a 22 factorial central composite rota- tional design (CCRD). Total area of chromatographic peaks of nineteen compounds was monitored in order to identify the best response and the data was collected on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The mathematical model that describes the response surface for the CCRD was validated using the analysis of variance (ANO VA) with 95% of confidence level. This model showed a lack of fit based on mean square pure error ratios for each response, in which Fcalculated was 2.23 higher than Ftabulated. Even though the models cannot be rigorously used to make quantitative predictions, the coefficients of the model, especially the linear ones, are useful for understanding systematic behaviour of the response values as a function of the factor levels. Multivariate statistical design can be used in optimization of HS-SPME extraction parameters with reduced number of experiments and can be useful in sampling method of volatile compounds of Chardonnay wines analysis by CG-MS/MS. The optimal condition achieved in this method was 30°C and 45 minutes of extraction.

Potentially Toxic Element Concentration in Fruits Collected from Markazi Province(Iran): A Probabilistic Health Risk Assessment

Objective This study was conducted to evaluate the concentration of potentially toxic elements(PTEs)such as arsenic(As),cadmium(Cd),mercury(Hg),and lead(Pb)in fruit samples collected from Markazi Province,Iran.A probabilistic health risk assessment due to ingestion of PTEs through the consumption of these fruits was also conducted.Methods The concentration of PTEs in 90 samples of five types of fruits(n=3)collected from six geographic regions in Markazi Province was measured.The potential health risk was evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation model.Results A significant difference was observed in the concentration of PTEs between fruits as well as soil and water samples collected from different regions in Markazi Province.The order of PTE concentration in the soil and water samples was as follows:Pb>As>Hg>Cd.Furthermore,the highest level of transfer factor for Cd and Hg correlated with the grape.The estimated daily intake for adults and children was lower than the recommended tolerable daily intake.Conclusion The population in Markazi Province,Iran,is not at considerable noncarcinogenic or carcinogenic risk due to the ingestion of PTEs through the consumption of the examined fruits.

Whey Protein-Carboxymethylcellulose Obtained by Complex Coacervation as an Ingredient in Probiotic Fermented Milk

Discharge of whey proteins is still a current practice by small cheese producers. The development of low-cost alternatives for recovery of these proteins is fundamental for small producers who cannot apply expensive techniques. The present study investigated the complex coacervation technique as a cheap technology to recover proteins from sweet whey using carboxymethylcellulose, and the coacervate used as an ingredient in the formulation of probiotic fermented milk. The nutritional properties of whey-carboxymethylcellulose coacervates (WP-CMC) were evaluated in trials with animals (rats) using casein as a reference. All these parameters—the coefficient of feed efficiency (CEA), protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS), and net protein ratio (NPR), as well as weight gain—were determined to evaluate protein quality. A sensory acceptance test was applied to evaluate the sensory characteristics of the product. The complex coacervation technique recovered 86% of the protein from sweet whey. No significant (p > 0.05) differences were observed in the biological tests for both groups (WP-CMC and Casein groups) when NPR (4.98 to 5.04), digestibility (92.35 to 90.64), and CEA (0.40 to 0.42) were evaluated. Probiotic fermented milk beverage containing WP-CMC (0.78%) and guar gum (0.68%) presented good acceptability as determined by sensory evaluation. WP-CMC can be considered an ingredient with high nutritional and biological value that could be applied in probiotic fermented milk as an alternative to small producers to allocate the residual whey from cheese manufacture.

Antimicrobial Properties and Toxicity of Anthraquinones by Microcalorimetric Bioassay

The growth therrnogenic curves of Staphylococcus aureus and Tetrahymena thermophila affected by 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone, emodin and rhein were determined quantitatively by microcalorimetry. The inhibitory effects of the three anthraquinones （AQ） on S. aureus revealed that the sequence of antimicrobial activity of those was rhein〉emodin〉 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone. The toxicity of the three AQ on T. thermophila indicated that all the tested AQ were toxic to the tested protozoa and the hydroxyl and carboxyl substituted at different position of anthraquinone ring resulted in the enhancement of toxicity.

The concentration and probabilistic risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in fillets of silver pomfret(Pampus argenteus):A global systematic review and meta-analysis

The contamination of fish type products such as silver pomfret fish fillets by potentially toxic elements(PTEs)has raised global health concerns.Related studies regarding the concentration of PTEs in fillets of silver pomfret fish were retrieved among some international databases such as Scopus,Pub Med and Embase between 1 January 1983 and 10 March 2020.The pooled(mean)concentration of PTEs in fillets of silver pomfret fish was meta-analyzed with the aid of a random-effect model(REM).Also,the non-carcinogenic risk was estimated via calculating the 95 th percentile of the total target hazard quotient(TTHQ).The meta-analysis of 21 articles(containing 25 studies or data reports)indicated that the ranking of PTEs in fillets of silver pomfret fish was Fe(11,414.81μg/kg wet weight,ww)>Zn(6055.72μg/kg ww)>Cr(1825.79μg/kg ww)>Pb(1486.44μg/kg ww)>Se(1053.47μg/kg ww)>Cd(992.50μg/kg ww)>Ni(745.23μg/kg ww)>Cu(669.71μg/kg ww)>total As(408.24μg/kg ww)>Co(87.03μg/kg ww)>methyl Hg(46.58μg/kg ww).The rank order of health risk assessment by country based on the TTHQ for adult consumers was Malaysia(2.500)>Bangladesh(0.886)>Iran(0.144)>China(0.045)>Pakistan(0.020)>India(0.015),while the corresponding values for child consumers was Malaysia(11.790)>Bangladesh(4.146)>Iran(0.675)>China(0.206)>Pakistan(0.096)>India(0.077).The adult consumers in Malaysia and children in Malaysia and Bangladesh were at considerable non-carcinogenic risk.Therefore,following the recommended control plans in order to reduce the health risk associated with the ingestion of PTEs via consumption of silver pomfret fish fillets is crucial.

Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Organic-inorganic Hybrid and Carbaryl-imprinted Capillary Monolithic Column

Organic-inorganic hybrid and carbaryl-imprinted capillary monolith was synthesized via methacrylic acid（MAA） as functional monomer, γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane（γ-MAPS） as crosslinker and carbaryl as template molecule in an acetonitrile/dichloromethane mixture（1：4, volume ratio）. With the capillary column obtained from this monolith, three carbamates（carbaryl, fenobucarb and metolcarb） were separated effectively by electrochromatography with the kMIp/kNlP values of 7.57, 1.27 and 1.64, respectively. In 20 mmol/L phosphate buffer solution（pH=3.5） with 30%（volume fraction） of acetonitrile, carbaryl was separated directly from the three-carbamate mixture（carbaryl, fenobucarb and metolcarb） with an effective 15 cm-length imprinted column.

Statistical Structures on Metric Path Spaces

The authors extend the notion of statistical structure from Riemannian geometry to the general framework of path spaces endowed with a nonlinear connection and a generalized metric.Two particular cases of statistical data are defined.The existence and uniqueness of a nonlinear connection corresponding to these classes is proved.Two Koszul tensors are introduced in accordance with the Riemannian approach.As applications,the authors treat the Finslerian (α,β)-metrics and the Beil metrics used in relativity and field theories while the support Riemannian metric is the Fisher-Rao metric of a statistical model.