Characterization of a partially purified carom (Trachyspermum ammi) extract and its influence on starch functionality and digestibility : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology (MFoodTech) at Massey University (Manawatu Campus), New Zealand

The interactions between starches and the components in spices and herbs have been poorly studied so far. This study investigated the preliminary effects of thirty-six different spices and herbs on pasting properties of rice starch. It largely concentrated on the characterization of a partially purified carom extract (from the dried fruit of the Trachyspermum ammi plant) and its influence on the structural, thermal, pasting properties and digestibility of native rice starch. Rheology, differential scanning calorimetry, size exclusion chromatography coupled with a multi-angle laser light scattering, zeta potential, hot-stage optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and in-vitro starch digestion analysis were carried out to characterise the carom extract and starch-carom system. The results showed that carom, cumin, fennel, mulberry leaf, perilla leaf, neem and coriander seed extracts showed peak and final viscosity-suppressing effect, while mesona, rosemary, green tea, thyme, and clove extracts showed peak viscosity-enhancing effect on rice starch during starch pasting. The water-soluble fraction of carom had the highest degree of viscosity-suppressing effect as compared to other spices and herbs. With increasing concentration of carom, the peak and final viscosities of rice starch decreased; the onset, peak, and end temperatures of rice starch increased; and granular swelling of potato starch was restricted and delayed. The viscosity-suppressing effect was not caused by pH or small molecular carom compounds such as mineral salts and phytochemicals. A protein polymer in carom extract with an Mw of ~2.08 + 0.10 x 105 Da and isoelectric point of ~3.5 was found responsible for the suppression effect. The protein fraction completely denatured at ~83oC. Micrographs of SEM showed that carom protein appeared as raisin-like clusters. The ability of carom protein to suppress the peak viscosity of starch was also observed in potato, tapioca, glutinous rice, waxy maize, waxy rice, rice, sweet potato, maize, wheat, and pea starches, suggesting that the effect was independent of the source and ratio of amylose to amylopectin. It was proposed that the protein molecules could be interacting with the starch granular surface and/or starch molecules. In-vitro starch digestion study showed that dialysed carom extract with rice starch caused an unusual increment in glucose release. The lower viscosity of the starch-carom gels and/or a carom enzyme stimulatory effect were proposed to be responsible for increasing the rapid breakdown of starch

South Asian Integration Prospects and Lessons from East Asia

In the context of the low levels of regional cooperation among South Asian countries when compared with the successful results from cooperation in East Asia (consisting of South East and East Asian countries), the objective of this paper is first to assess the prospects of cooperation among South Asian economies and then to draw lessons from East Asian regional experiments for South Asian regionalism for the betterment of these prospects. The main argument of the paper is that South Asia should adopt a twin-track approach : better integration within itself and better integration with rest of the world particularly East Asia. Both tracks would complement and supplement each other ensuring a greater chance of success.South Asian integration prospects, Lessons from East Asian regionalism, Open regionalism, Asian development

TLR3 Deficiency Leads to a Dysregulation in the Global Gene-Expression Profile in Murine Oviduct Epithelial Cells Infected with Chlamydia muridarum

OBJECTIVE Describe the implementation and effects of Mobile Acute Care for Elders (MACE) consultation at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis. INTERVENTION Veterans aged 65 or older who were admitted to the medicine service between October 1, 2012, and September 30, 2014, were screened for geriatric syndromes via review of medical records within 48 hours of admission. If the screen was positive, the MACE team offered the admitting team a same-day consultation involving comprehensive geriatric assessment and ongoing collaboration with the admitting team and supportive services to implement patient-centric recommendations for geriatric syndromes. RESULTS Veterans seen by MACE (n = 421) were compared with those with positive screens but without consultation (n = 372). The two groups did not significantly differ in age, comorbidity, sex, or race. All outcomes (30-day readmission, 30-day mortality, readmission costs) were in the expected direction for patients receiving MACE but did not reach statistical significance. Patients receiving MACE had lower odds of 30-day readmission (11.9% vs 14.8%; odds ratio [OR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.54-1.25; p = .360) and 30-day mortality (5.5% vs 8.6%; OR = 0.64; CI = 0.36-1.12; p = .115), and they had lower 30-day readmission costs (MACE $15,502; CI =$12,242-$19,631; comparison =$18,335; CI = $14,641-$22,962; p = .316) than those who did not receive MACE after adjusting for age and Charlson Comorbidity Index. CONCLUSION Our MACE consultation model for older veterans with geriatric syndromes leverages the limited supply of clinicians with expertise in geriatrics. Although not statistically significant in this study of 793 subjects, MACE patients had lower odds of 30-day readmission and mortality, and lower readmission costs. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:818–824, 2019

Food Security, Research Priorities and Resource Allocation in South Asia

The study conduced on South Asian countries is focused on three issues, viz. (a) research priorities in agriculture, (b) level of research investment, and (c) focus of research investments to attain food-secured South Asia. The results of this empirical exercise have suggested that (a) cereals, horticulture, livestock and fisheries in commodity groups and rice and milk as commodities should receive greater attention in resource allocation at South Asia level with certain minor variations across the countries, (b) prioritization exercises need to explicitly target poor as otherwise their needs will continue to remain under-funded, and at least 2-3 times increase (if the AgGDP growth is assumed at 2.1%) and 3-4 times increase (if the AgGDP growth is assumed at 4%) is needed in funding support to these countries in agricultural research and education to attain food and nutritional security.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Human resource issues and its implications for health sector reforms

Given the growing complexities and challenges the health sector faces, reforms in this sector are inevitable. Often health sector reforms aimed to address many of these deficiencies and ensuring effectiveness and efficiency of resource use, they focus on making the health systems responsive through strengthening financial systems, ensuring local participation and public private partnerships, and autonomy of health facilities. The reform process, among other things, intrinsically makes some fundamental assumptions some of which are as follows: high organisational commitment of health care providers, high professional commitment of health care providers, and adequate skills of health care providers. This paper examines the commitment of district level health officials in the newly carved out state of Chhattisgarh in India. Since development oriented HR practices (HRD) are powerful tools to commit people working in health sector to enhance the quality of care, we believe that health sector reforms will have to concentrate on human resource issues and practices more than ever before in near future. The papers attempts to examine the following questions: (i) what is status of professional commitment, organisational commitment and technical competencies of health officials? (ii) what are the characteristics of human resource management practices in the health sector in the state? and (iii) how these management practices are linked with professional and organisational commitment? Finally the paper discusses the implications of these to health sector reform process.

The Process of Generating Single Large Combined Cloud for Grid-Free Solvers

Dealing with moving body problems, where one component moves relatively with respect to other, is a difficult task in CFD due to the efforts needed in grid handling for every delta change in position of the moving component. The inherent nature of mesh-free solvers reduces the efforts needed for these kinds of problems by operating on a cloud of points rather than a grid. A new method to handle moving body problems is proposed, where individual clouds are generated around each component and are combined into a single large combined cloud. The proposed method is applied to store separation problem and results generated using NAL-MCIR mesh-less solver is compared with experimental results

Continuous Functional Calculus for Quaternionic Bounded Normal Operators

In this article we give an approach to define continuous functional calculus for bounded quaternionic normal operators defined on a right quaternionic Hilbert space.Comment: Submitted to a journal. There was a gap in the previous version. We have corrected it and stated all the results for bounded cas