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Introduction: The aim of report - the complications of the eye after photo-epilation by Vectus Palomar diode laser. Case report: A 28-year-old woman with BCVA equal to 5/5, who underwent photo-epilation of her left eyebrow. Directly after the hair removal procedure by the Vectus Palomar laser in the area of the left eyebrow, the patient complained of a horizontal oval pupil in the left eye and conjunctival hyperemia in both eyes. We started the anti-inflammatory treatment of steroid eye drops and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drops with mydriatics. The observational period was 3 years. Main outcome measures: Visual acuity, intraocular pressure, ophthalmic examination, photos of the anterior chamber and iris. Twelve hours after the photo-epilation, examination showed uveitis in the anterior section of the left eye, minor tyndallization in the anterior chamber, exudative membrane in the pupil, and posterior synechiae. During 3 years of observation, persistent photophobia, enhanced iris transillumination, and sectional damage to the iris sphincter muscle, iris dilator muscle, and iris nerves were noted. Those resulted in the permanent shape change of the left pupil. Furthermore, the patient observes moving pigment clumps and flashes of light in the left eye. Conclusions: Diode laser epilation in the region of the eyelid may result in iris atrophy, posterior synechiae, persistent photophobia, as well as flashes of light and pigment clump movements in the eye. It is essential to pay attention to protect the eye and to be aware of possible eye complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety is a crucial aspect, when designing food packaging. It is necessary to assess every layer of the material that could be interacting with food. There are various substances that could be used to produce coatings for the cardboard materials, safe for the application in the food packaging materials. By introducing additional layer to the packaging material, it is possible to enhance food safety, improve packaging and food quality, and extend food shelf-life. The aim of this work is to present the background of some applications of paper coatings based on proteins, polysaccharides, lipids and others. Moreover the food safety aspect of paper and cardboard was described.

Recently, consumers are paying more attention to healthy diets and often seek products with a high number of bioactive compounds, such as fruit and vegetables [[1]]. For example, fruit juice concentrates such as strawberry, chokeberry, and cherry concentrates have been used in the osmotic dehydration of strawberries, as presented by Kowalska et al. [[16]]. However, osmotic dehydration might also be used to obtain minimally processed fruit and vegetable products [[8]]. 10.5539/jfr.v1n2p202 8 Nowacka M., Dadan M., Tylewicz U. Current Applications of Ultrasound in Fruit and Vegetables Osmotic Dehydration Processes. [Extracted from the article]

The study examined the effects of pulsed electric field treatment on the kinetics and properties of convective-dried mushrooms using different drying agents. Increasing the drying air temperature reduced drying time, while the use of dehumidified air resulted in faster water removal. PEF treatment, depending on the parameters, shortened the drying time maximum by 12% or extended the drying time. The physical (dry matter content, rehydration properties, hygroscopic properties, and color) and chemical (polyphenols content and anti-oxidant activity) properties were analyzed. The dry matter contents of the mushrooms were influenced by the drying temperature, while PEF pre-treatment did not influence the rehydration and hygroscopic properties in both cases of drying using air humidity. However, the color parameters were affected by the drying method and energy input, with higher energy input leading to decreased lightness, increased redness, and color saturation. The chemical analyses revealed that the anti-oxidant compounds in the dried mushrooms were influenced by various factors, with PEF treatment and drying non-dehumidified air polyphenol content increasing, whereas dehumidified air caused more phenolic degradation if it was combined with PEF treatment. Anti-oxidant activity varied depending on the drying agent, with non-dehumidified air generally exhibiting better properties. The highest total polyphenol content and best anti-oxidant properties were obtained for the PEF pre-treated with 3 kJ/kg of energy and dried with non-dehumidified air at a temperature of 70 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot air drying (HAD) at temperatures below the spontaneous evaporation temperature could be combined with microwave (MW) radiation as a thermal energy source in order to reduce the drying time. A photon flux in the microwave range interacts with dipolar molecules (water) through orientation and induction, producing electrical energy storage and thermal energy accumulation and generating an increase in the internal energy of food. The different mechanisms involved in water transport could change when the microwave penetration depth exceeds the sample characteristic dimension of mass transport. The aim of this paper is to determine the effect of MW in the combined HAD-MW drying of raw potato in order to obtain the real driving forces and mechanisms involved in the water transport, with the purpose of optimizing the MW power used. For this purpose, combined drying was carried out on potato samples (0, 4 and 6 W/g). The sample surface temperature was monitored by infrared thermography, and the sample mass was measured continuously through a precision balance. In parallel with continuous drying, another drying treatment was performed at different times (20, 40, 60, 90, 120, 180, 420 min) and conditions (0, 4 and 6 W/g) to analyze the dielectric properties, mass, moisture, volume and water activity. The results show that it is possible to monitor combined drying by infrared thermography, and it can be concluded that the convection heating is mostly transformed into surface water evaporation, with negligible thermal conduction from the surface, and microwave radiation is mostly transformed into an increase in the potato's internal energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-treatment in ethanol solution carried out in variable time with and without ultrasound (US) assistance on convective drying kinetics, total phenolic content (TPC) and hygroscopicity of an apple. The drying time after immersion in ethanol solution was shorter up to 13.4 (without US) and 18.3 % (with US) in comparison to intact slices. The most appropriate model that described kinetics of drying was the one proposed by Sledz et al. Drying of the untreated apple resulted in a decrease of the TPC by 18 %, compared with raw apples and the pre-treatment led to further losses. The tissue after ethanol pre-treatment was less hygroscopic, which proves the possibility to maintain a characteristic texture of the dried apple with prolonged storage stability. The best quality of dried apples was obtained after 1 min of ethanolic pre-treatment with US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on the convective drying kinetics of a carrot and color and microstructure changes of the dried product. Samples were treated by PEF with the specific energy input equal to 5.63, 8 and 80 kJ · kg-1· cm-1; 10 pulses) in comparison to intact tissue. Statistical analysis showed that Midilli et al.'s model was considered to describe the kinetics of the process the most precisely. Pulsed electric field treatment increased the effective water diffusion coefficient up to 16.7%. Moreover, PEF treatment and drying caused the alteration of the sample color. After drying, the lightness and chroma were higher or unchanged in comparison to the intact tissue. The dried PEF-treated samples exhibited significantly higher redness (higher value of a* parameter) in comparison to the untreated dried samples. Moreover, the visual inspection of scanning electron microscope images revealed that PEF pretreatment performed at high electric field intensity (5 kV · cm-1, regardless of pulse number) provoked the material to form greater cavities during drying in comparison to the untreated material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a pretreatment, performed by a combined method based on blanching, ultrasound, and vacuum application, on the kinetics of osmotic dehydration and selected quality properties such as water activity, color, and bioactive compound (polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins) content. The pretreatment was carried out using blanching, reduced pressure, and ultrasound (20 min, 21 kHz) in various combinations: Blanching at reduced pressure treatment conducted three times for 10 min in osmotic solution; blanching with reduced pressure for 10 min and sonicated for 20 min in osmotic solution; and blanching with 20 min of sonication and 10 min of reduced pressure. The osmotic dehydration was performed in different solutions (61.5% sucrose and 30% sucrose with the addition of 0.1% of steviol glycosides) to ensure the acceptable taste of the final product. The changes caused by the pretreatment affected the osmotic dehydration process by improving the efficiency of the process. The use of combined pretreatment led to an increase of dry matter from 9.3% to 28.4%, and soluble solids content from 21.2% to 41.5%, lightness around 17.3% to 56.9%, as well as to the reduction of bioactive compounds concentration until even 39.2% in comparison to the blanched sample not subjected to combined treatment. The osmotic dehydration caused further changes in all investigated properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]