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Agriculture plays an important part in the overall growth and development of a nation. Concerns about agriculture continue to be a recalcitrant obstacle in the path of upward movement. Although agricultural yields are increased, however, low‐ and middle‐income countries still have difficulty in producing all of the required foods with the current state of agricultural technology. Smart agriculture is becoming increasingly important to the farmers as a means of ensuring optimal field growth and higher crop yield. This systematic study analysed and briefly explained the effects of using smart agriculture techniques (SATs) from a variety of countries, including China, the United States of America, Australia, India, the Philippine Islands, South Africa, Pakistan and Iran, among others. Increased climatic change resulting in abiotic stress and other harmful effects on plants have resulted in decreased productivity under traditional agricultural practices. Stats from the literature have shown that the launching of SATs has resulted in a significant increase in cotton–wheat and rice–wheat crop yields, resultantly increased incomes of the farmers. Application of SATs, including satellite remote sensing, drones, machine learning and image processing, monitoring, wireless sensor networks, IoT–based robotics, precision agriculture and agroforestry could be extremely useful in developing intelligent agricultural systems in underdeveloped and developing countries, with improved plant growth, high crop yield and ensuring food security. These technologies could help farmers by storing additional water, spraying pesticides with drones, practicing precision agriculture and employing sensors for assessing different environmental parameters. By making efficient use of these technologies, countries could be able to increase the yield of their crops, which, in turn, will contribute to the reduction of poverty and the elimination of food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical modification of starch to produce resistant starch (RS) is a viable strategy for the glycemic index (GI) lowering of foods and functionality improvement in starchy food products. RS cannot be digested in the small intestine but can be fermented in the colon to produce short-chain fatty acids rather than being broken down by human digestive enzymes into glucose. This provides major health advantages, like better blood sugar regulation, weight control, and a lower chance of chronic illnesses. This article provides a concise review of the recent developments in physical starch modification techniques, including annealing, extrusion, high-pressure processing, radiation, and heat–moisture treatment. Specifically, the focus of this paper is on the alteration of the crystalline structure of starch caused by the heat–moisture treatment and annealing and its impact on the resistance of starch to enzymatic hydrolysis, as well as the granular structure and molecular arrangement of starch caused by extrusion and high-pressure processing, and the depolymerization and crosslinking that results from radiation. The impacts of these alterations on starch's textural qualities, stability, and shelf life are also examined. This review demonstrates how physically modified resistant starch can be used as a flexible food ingredient with both functional and health benefits. These methods are economically and ecologically sustainable since they successfully raise the RS content and improve its functional characteristics without the need for chemical reagents. The thorough analysis of these methods and how they affect the structural characteristics and health advantages of RS emphasizes the material's potential as an essential component in the creation of functional foods that satisfy contemporary dietary and health requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of baby spinach as a vehicle to transfer Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (LP299v) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) is quite promising and may address the research regarding the absence of suitable whole vegetable carriers in the current probiotic food industry. The objective of this study was to observe the effects of food storage and preparation on Lp299v and LGG viability in baby spinach before consumption. The strains were sequentially introduced into baby spinach by dipping leaves in probiotic suspension to achieve an attachment of approximately 8 log 10 CFU/g spinach. Then, probiotic viability was tested using serial dilutions. Furthermore, data processing and ANOVA during 7-day storage, with or without salad dressing, were performed using Tukey's test. In the 7-day storage trials, LP299v and LGG viability on baby spinach declined after 7 days with significant differences by 0.19 and 0.39 log10 CFU/g, respectively. In salad dressing trials, LP299v (p value = 0.79 > 0.05) and LGG (p value = 0.58 > 0.05) survivability on baby spinach after the addition of salad dressing fluctuated approximately 8.27 and 8.40 log10 CFU/g with no statistically significant difference, respectively. LP299V and LGG viability on baby spinach in both trials was greater than 8 log10 CFU/g and close to FDA requirements, showing that food storage and preparation do not affect their viability and can be used commercially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saffron is considered as most prominent food product used in medicine, flavouring and colouring substances due to its bioactive compounds that have health-boosting characteristics. Saffron has been cultivated to get flower and obtain metabolites from dried stigma. The main phytochemicals found in saffron are picrocrocin, safranal, kaempferol, phenol, flavonoid, delphinidin and crocetin which shows good bioactivity and antioxidant capacity. However, the quantity and quality of bioactive compounds vary with extraction techniques used. Extraction of bioactive compounds from saffron requires continued searching for extraction technique s that are ecologically and economically feasible. Conventional extraction methods are time-consuming and require a huge quantity of solvents. Therefore, novel extraction techniques have been developed to extract bioactive compounds from saffron, which can decrease the extraction time as well as solvent consumption to improve the extract quality and extraction yield. This review discusses the development of promising techniques for the extraction bioactive compounds from saffron, which could be utilized in the value-added products (food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the frequency of types of foot ulcers, and its clinical features among diabetic patients. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medicine Department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, between July to December 2019. A total of 133 diabetic patients presenting at the study site for foot ulcer treatment were recruited after obtaining informed consent. The foot ulcers were classified as neuropathic, ischemic ulcer, or neuroischemic. The severity/degree of the ulcer was determined using an internally developed ten points scoring system in which a score of 3 was considered as non-severe ulcers, 4 to 6 score was considered as mild/moderate disease, and a score >6 was referred as a severe disease for neuropathic and ischemic ulcers. Further, neuroischemic foot ulcers were established if a score of e 3 (each) was obtained in the sensory examination score for neuropathy and vascular examination score for ischemic ulcer. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Results: There was a high frequency of neuropathic ulcers (69.2%) among the enrolled diabetic patients, followed by ischemic ulcer (30.8%) and neuroischemic (24.8%). The mean neuropathic scores were significantly high among males (4.83 ± 2.09) than females (4.02 ± 1.77) (p= 0.025). It was also higher in those aged 50 years or greater (4.84 ± 2.09) as compared to those with less than 50 years of age (3.80 ± 2.13) (p=0.01). While the mean vasculopathic scores were quite similar between the two genders and age groups i.e. p=0.772 and p=0.125, respectively. Conclusion: Neuropathic ulcers were the most frequent type of diabetic foot ulcer. Increased severity of these foot ulcers was observed with advancing age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was designed to assess the safety and quality status of street‐vended barbecue chicken samples. The samples were collected from four regions of Faisalabad city: Ghulam Mohammad Abad (R1), Jhang Road (R2), Sargodha Road (R3), and Satiana Road (R4); and compared with the self‐prepared barbecue chicken sample (R0). Purposely, all the collected samples were subjected to assess the quality aspects by physicochemical analyses. The results of the physicochemical analysis showed that moisture content varied from 54% to 60%, crude protein 26.97% to 32.87%, crude fat 7.25% to 9.00%, crude ash 1.61% to 1.72%, pH 5.60 to 6.30, free fatty acid value 1.00% to 1.39%, and peroxide value 0.63 to 0.84 meq/Kg. Results pertaining to the enumeration of total microbial load and total coliform count exhibit 2.39–5.17 and 1.20–3.20 log cfu/g, respectively. The samples were assessed for heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, and Fe) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The concentration of highly toxic metals Pb and Cd was found to be much higher than recommended value as they ranged from 1.90 to 3.70 mg/kg for Pb and 0.10 to 0.90 mg/kg for Cd. However, the level of essential metals (Fe and Zn) in barbecue chicken samples ranged from 67.10 to 180 and 8.30 to 35.80 mg/kg which was much higher than their safe limits for Fe (15 ppm) and Zn (5 ppm), respectively. The study concludes that the consumption of street‐vended barbecue chicken possesses to be a serious public health risk for consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of present study was to probe the effect of cereal bran cell wall addition on farinographic and mixographic characteristics of wheat flour dough. For the purpose, bran cell wall was isolated from three varieties of each cereal (wheat, barley, maize) according to respective method. Additionally, cereal bran cell walls were added in wheat flour with concentrations of 1% and 2% and rheological properties were determined through farinograph and mixograph. Addition of cereal bran cell walls significantly improved rheological properties of wheat flour. Higher increase in water absorption capacity (71.55 ± 0.30%), dough stability (8.80 ± 0.09 min), peak height (74.11 ± 0.31 BU), and mixing tolerance index (74.54 ± 0.30%) of dough was observed with the addition of barley cell wall followed by wheat and maize bran cell walls at 2%. Moreover, dough development time (2.78 ± 0.38 min), mixing time (4.12 ± 0.27 min), and softness of dough (123.60 ± 0.79%) were decreased more significantly through barley cell wall than wheat and maize cell walls. Conclusively, exploitation of cereal bran cell wall in cereal‐based products improves product quality. Practical applications: Cereal bran cell walls were added in wheat flour and various properties of wheat dough such as water absorption capacity, dough development time, mixing time, softness of dough, dough stability, mixing tolerance index, and peak height were improved. Utilization of cell wall in cereal‐based products can fulfill many objectives including improving product quality, shelf life, value addition, and maintaining good health of the consumers. Novel products with improved rheology can be introduced in market as functional foods against various diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cancer, and bacterial infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]