Microbiology

The microbiological quality of the following eye drops, gentamicin,chloramphenicol,ciloxan and sulpacetamide was studied.Gentamicin,chloramphenicol and ciloxan products were sterile while sulphacetamide products were contaminated by Staphylococcus spp(16.7%) Bacillus spp(66.7%).The mean aerobic count found in sulphacetamide was 3 x 102cfu/ml.This observation probably implies that eye drops,sulphacetamide products could cause more health risk.However,hygienic practices of eye drops,proper bottle design and training of patients could influence their microbial contamination.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are primarily formed as a result of thermal treatment of food, especially roasted foods. Contamination by PAHs is due to generation by direct pyrolysis of food nutrients and deposition from smoke produced through incomplete combustion of thermal agents. PAHs are ubiquitous compounds, well-known to be carcinogenic, which can reach the food in different ways. As an important human exposure pathway of contaminants, dietary intake of PAHs is of increasing concern for assessing cancer risk in the human body. In addition, the risks associated with consumption of roasted may increase if consumers use cooking practices that enhance the concentrations of contaminants and their bioaccessibility. Since total PAHs always overestimate the actual amount that is available for absorption by the body, bioaccessibility of PAHs is to be preferred. Bioaccessibility of PAHs in food is the fraction of PAHs mobilized from food matrices during gastrointestinal digestion. Thus, this review aimed not only to provide an overview of general aspects of PAHs such as the formation, carcinogenicity, sources, occurrence, and factors affecting PAH concentrations, but also to enhance understanding of the impact of PAH in roasted / cooked foods as it affects human health.

Remote optical imaging can rapidly acquire information describing spatial variability in vineyard block performance. Canopy characteristics were derived from very high spatial resolution (0.25 m) optical imagery of a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard acquired at various canopy growth stages. Within-season changes to correlation coefficients between vineyard canopy and ultimate composition and yield of harvested fruit were then investigated. Canopy area and density

This paper describes the design, calibration and operational use of the Multispectral Airborne Video System that is currently in use at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia. The camera array consists of 4 high resolution CCD cameras ...

Compressed and stretched polyacrylamide hydrogels previously have been shown to offer a robust method for aligning proteins. A simple, funnel-like apparatus is described for generating uniformly stretched hydrogels. For prolate-shaped proteins, gels stretched in the direction of the magnetic field yield two-fold larger alignment than gels compressed to the same aspect ratio in this direction. Empirically, protein alignment is found