Abstract Food safety is enhanced by the use of antimicrobials that prevent or delay spoilage and ensure widespread use of pesticides with drawbacks such as increased costs, concerns about food residues and toxins. This study evaluated the production capacity of antimicrobial proteins by two Enterococcus strains (Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus hirae). After the cultures of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus hirae in BHI agar medium, the antimicrobial compounds of the strains were purified by dialyzing, and the amount of produced protein was determined by a Lowry test. Further, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis was used to estimate molecular weight. The well-diffusion method was used to test the antimicrobial properties of the compounds studied. Before and after dialysis, factors related to protein activity were determined. Additionally, compounds were evaluated for their minimum inhibitory concentrations. The results show that the most antimicrobial effect of antimicrobial species on the Bacillus cereus and more antimicrobial effects on the hirae species on Staphylococcus aureus.

Abstract In this research, the quality properties of persimmon were predicted using artificial intellect techniques. The persimmon samples were transferred to a computer vision lab, room temperature of 24 °C and 22% RH. The samples were divided into three groups for temperature treatment. They were kept at three temperature levels of 5 °C, 15 °C, and 24°C (control group) for 72 hours. The sample was then placed at room temperature and was imaged every second day for a 14 day period. After imaging, each sample underwent destructive tests to determine their quality attributes, including sugar content, firmness, and pH. The results indicate that the neural network's predicted values of acidity, firmness, and sugar of persimmon were not statistically significant differences from their actual values. In predicting the acidity of persimmon, the sugar RMSE is more than the two factors of firmness and acidity. For this reason, the accuracy of firmness and acidity is higher than sugar. MAPE is 10.11, 20.81, and 6.03 for acidity, firmness, and sugar, respectively. The model for sugar indicates a high difference between the actual values and the predicted values.

Abstract Infrared waves have found a special place in the food industry as one of the new sources of heat production. Infrared heating technology transfers large amounts of energy to the environment or material being processed in a short time. Also improves the quality of the product and makes the product produced by this method have a higher quality than the product produced by traditional methods. Applying modern methods of heating food achieves high-quality processed products and also reduces energy consumption. One of these methods is infrared heating, which can replace many other processes in the industry as an effective method in food processing. Infrared heating has many advantages over conventional heating in similar conditions, including reduced heating time, uniform heating, high heat transfer coefficient, reduced quality loss, significant energy savings, and environmental friendliness. This paper investigates heating using infrared radiation at temperatures of 55, 65, 75, and 85 °C, and its effect on pumpkin drying. The studied parameters include moisture ratio, drying rate, effective diffusion coefficient, and activation energy. According to the results, with increasing temperature from 55 to 85 °C, the drying time decreases by about 60%, and the effective diffusion coefficient has increased by 140%.

Abstract Introduction The detection of inflammatory mediators in the serum of children with have otitis media with effusion (OME) and their correspondence with clinical considerations may enable the use of a modern nonsurgical curative treatment for OME. Objective To determine the relation between interleukin-17 (IL-17) serum level and reactive oxygen species (ROS) serum levels in children suffering from OME and to disclose if any variation occurs in the level of IL-17 Will affect the ROS and antioxidant equilibrium in the serum, which indicates the entire body’s reaction to OME. Methods The present study was a case-control study. A total of 24 children experienced OME, and 24 healthy controls were recruited. All participants in the study were subjected to a systematic clinical investigation including otoscopic, audiometric, and tympanometric examination. Also, venous blood samples were collected from all children to determine the levels of IL-17 and ROS. Results The mean ± standard deviation (SD) age ranges of the patients and the control group were 6.8 ± 2.7 and 6.2 ± 3.4 years, respectively. A stylistically significant difference in the levels of serum nitric oxide (NO), catalase (CT), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and malondialdehyde (MDA) (p < 0.05) was detected between OME and control patients. No significant difference was found in serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) between OME and control patients. The serum levels of MDA, NO, and MPO positively correlated with the serum levels of IL-17 in OME patients. Conclusion In the present study, there is a reasonable role of the IL-17 pathway in OME pathogenesis through an increase in ROS levels.

Abstract Date fruit is the ancient discovered and consumed fruit. Worldwide, Egypt is the largest producer of date. Besides its health benefits, many recent studies have proved its antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory effect. Currently, probiotic fermented fruit juices have a great attention especially for lactose intolerance patients. This study assessed the survival of two probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus and L. sakei) in the date juice. Phenolics characterization was performed by HPLC. Anti-proliferative activity of fermented juice against Caco-2 and Hep-2 cell lines was also evaluated. Under cold storage, L. sakei was still live for 2 weeks at 1.8 x 107 CFU/mL. In contrast, L. acidophilus reduced from 5.2 x 106 CFU/mL to below the minimum value of probiotic products just after 1 week. L. sakie significantly multiplied the total phenols and antioxidant activity in the juice compared to the unfermented juice. Interestingly, probiotic date juice exhibited an antitumor activity against larynx cell lines (Hep-2) with no activity against Caco-2. Date juice was proved to be suitable for probiotic and as potential larynx anticancer juice. Therefore, the developed juice is recommended to contribute to the available probiotic foodstuffs.

Resumo O trabalho descreve duas espécies diferentes de parasitas digêneos isolados do intestino de Rhinopoma hardwickii, com novos registros de hospedeiros e localidade no Egito. Os helmintos recuperados foram estudados morfologicamente e morfometricamente por microscopia óptica, e a topografia superficial das duas espécies foi verificada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV). Urotrema scabridum apresenta um corpo alongado, testículos em tandem, ovários localizados pré-testiculares e os folículos vitelinos foram observados em 2 campos laterais. A microscopia eletrônica (ME) mostrou que a metade anterior do tegumento estava coberta com espinhos aleatoriamente e voltados para trás. O lúmen da ventosa oral apresentava-se como uma fenda longitudinal cercada de papilas em forma de cúpula tipo I. A ventosa ventral estava enrrugada e coberta por espinhos no tegumento em forma de língua e com várias papilas dispersas. Renschetrema indicum tinha um corpo fusiforme com espinhos diminutos densamente distribuídos na parte anterior do corpo; testículos sub-triangulares, ovários fusiformes; as glândulas vitelínicas estavam distribuídas aleatoriamente em torno do ceco e dos órgãos genitais. À ME a região anterior mostrou-se ventralmente côncava e cercada por cristas citoplasmáticas equipadas com numerosos espinhos em forma de unhas muito próximos. A ventosa oral apresentou-se externamente cercada por duas fileiras de papilas, enquanto a borda da ventosa ventral mostrou-se arredondada e cercada por três papilas localizadas na sua extremidade superior e antero-lateralmente.

Abstract This report introduced the description of two different species of digenean parasites isolated from the intestine of Rhinopoma hardwickii with new host and locality records in Egypt. The recovered helminthes were studied morphologically and morphometrically by light microscopy and the surface topography of the two species was elucidated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Urotrema scabridum had an elongated body, testes were tandem, ovaries were pretesticular, and vitelline follicles were observed in 2 lateral fields. SEM showed that the anterior half was covered with random and backwardly directed tegument spines. The lumen of the oral sucker was as a longitudinal slit encircled with type I dome-shaped papillae. The ventral sucker was wrinkled and covered by tongue-shaped tegument spines and several scattered papillae. Renschetrema indicum had a fusiform body with minute spines densely distributed in the anterior part of the body; testes sub-triangular, ovary fusiform; vitellaria were randomly distributed around the ceca and genital organs. SEM showed that the fore-body was ventrally concave and surrounded by cytoplasmic ridges equipped with numerous closely packed claw-shaped spines. The oral sucker was externally surrounded by two circles of papillae while the lip of the ventral sucker was rounded and surrounded by three papillae located in its upper end and anterolaterally.