Evaluation of quality attributes of grated carrot packaged within polypropylene-clay nanocomposites

Formulation and Quality Evaluation of Chicken Nuggets Supplemented with Beef and Chicken Livers

This study explores the potential of utilizing meat byproducts, specifically chicken and beef liver, to enhance the nutritional value of processed foods like chicken nuggets. Proximate analysis was conducted on the livers, including moisture, ash, fat, and protein content, and degradation potential was observed. Antioxidant potential was analyzed through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The total phenolic content (TPC), oxidative stability through peroxide value (POV), and free fatty acid (FFA) were performed to evaluate quality changes during seven-day storage. The radical scavenging activity showed that beef liver has excellent antioxidant capacity (61.55%- and 195.89-mM gallic acid equivalent for DPPH and TPC, respectively) compared to chicken liver and significantly increased the antioxidant potential of nuggets by 5%-10%. POV and FFA values increased with increased storage days for the liver and its incorporation in nuggets. However, the values remained under the 10 meq/kg threshold. Incorporating the livers into chicken nuggets led to a significant (p=0.000) improvement in nutritional content, particularly a 1.5%-2% increase in protein, with a similar increase in mineral content. Texture and sensory evaluations indicated favorable consumer acceptability for liver-enriched nuggets. Overall, this research shows the value of adding liver as a functional ingredient to enhance the nutritional profile of processed foods.

Biochemical and histopathological changes in livers of rats poisoned with aluminum phosphide and treated with carrot extract

The experimental studies of Aluminum Phosphide (AP) poisoning in rats revealed several clinical and pathological signs such as hemorrhage, sinusoidal dilatation, bile stasis, centrilobular necrosis, Kupffer cell hyperplasia, infiltration by mononuclear cells, and fatty infiltration in the liver tissues. This paper aimed to show the impact of carrots on the toxic effect of AP on the livers of adult rats (female). To investigate some biochemical and histopathological changes effects of AP in rats, sixty white female rats were equally divided into four groups, the first group (G1) was administered orally with 3mg/kg/ body weight of AP, the second group (G2) was orally treated with AP and 10% carrot extract at the same time. The third group (G3) administrated 10% carrot extract only. The fourth (G4) group was the negative control and was treated with distilled water only. The experiments continued for a month at the animal house of the Veterinary Medicine College of Baghdad University. The results revealed that high levels of liver enzymes and bilirubin were induced in G1 with decreasing total protein levels. The pathological examination revealed the presence of marked proliferation of Kupffer cells in G1 livers. However, the G2 group showed slight infiltration of lymphocytes in sinusoids. The pathological changes in the livers of G3 group showed slight cloudy swelling in hepatocytes compared with the normal texture of hepatocytes in G4. The data of this experiment showed that treatment with carrot extract significantly decreases the elevation in the level of liver function enzymes in animal poisoned with AP. In addition, treatment with carrot extract reduces the severe damage in the hepatic tissue that occurred in rats treated with AP only. In general, it could be concluded that treatment with carrot extract provides a remedial effect against the hepatotoxicity that is resulted from exposure to AP.

Structural Alteration, Hydration Stability, Heavy Metal Removal Efficiency, and Montmorillonite Porosity Fate by Coupling the Soil Solution pH and a Thermal Gradient

Clay minerals are considered as a promising material in the context of geological barrier for the confinement of radioactive and industrial waste. Understanding the usefulness of the smectite mineral, in this approach, remains insufficient. The deep investigation about structural response/changes, hydrate stability, cation exchange process, permeability, and heavy metal/radionuclide adsorption/removal efficiency under external constraints is needed. To explore the structural alteration, the hydration stability, and the evolution of montmorillonite porosity under a first order of external applied constraints coupling, a reference Na-rich montmorillonite specimen is used as a starting material, and three exchangeable heavy metal cations (Ba2+, Cu2+, and Co2+) have been selected. The applied constraint coupling is realized at laboratory scale and assured by simultaneously varying of the soil solution pH and the thermal gradient. The evaluation of the mineral fraction response is established by correlation of quantitative XRD analysis results, thermal analysis, and porosity measurements. The quantitative XRD analysis allows rebuilding of the theoretical model describing the interlamellar space (IS) configurations/damages, structural heterogeneity degrees, and hydrous stability. Obtained results show a dominant interstratified hydration character, for all studied complexes, attributed to a new IS organization versus the applied constraint strength. Furthermore, all samples exhibit a heterogeneous hydration behavior traduced by the coexistence of different layers of type population within the crystallite. Additionally, the theoretical XRD profile decomposition allowed us to prove link between the domination of the segregated stacking layers mode against the constraint strength. Thermal analysis allowed us to develop theoretical models describing the decrease of the water molecule amounts as a function of the increase in temperature and soil solution pH. Moreover, a specific hydration footprint response and an interstratification mapping are assigned for each corresponding stress degrees. The evolution of montmorillonite porosity is determined by adsorption measurement, based on Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution analyses which confirms for all samples, the exfoliation process, and the mesopore diameter rise by increasing the constraint intensity.