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As per the news and articles published in mass media in recent years, the usage of formalin in fruits and vegetables has become a worrisome condition in Bangladesh. In this context, this study was conducted to observe the effect of formalin on postharvest quality, shelf life, and nutritional profile of carrot, papaya, plum, apple plum, and guava. Fruits and vegetables sample were treated with different concentrations of formalin solutions (1%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) in two different modes (dipping and spraying) and stored for seven days. Physical parameters (color, texture, and flavor), weight loss, and shelf life were observed on every alternate day during the study period. Furthermore, 20% formalin-treated samples were used to find out the changes in nutritional profile (moisture, ash, carbohydrate, fat, and protein), pH, and vitamin C content. The study results revealed that different concentrations of formalin and treatment methods (dipping and spraying) did not bring up any positive effect in increasing the shelf-life and physical characteristics of selected fruits and vegetables during storage. Moreover, formalin treatment with higher concentration went in faster deterioration in color, texture, and flavor of samples compared to the control. The weight loss of fruits and vegetables is not dependent on formalin application. Formalin treatment worked negatively on the shelf life of samples. A significant reduction (P

Malnutrition refers to a nutritional ailment that functionally and clinically distresses the body. It is very common in aged people. The nutritional status of this vulnerable group in low-income countries does not remain focused upon. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the magnitude of malnutrition and to correlate different factors amongst aged patients administered in a reputed Medical College Hospital in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional eminence of hospitalized aged patients through the original 18-item full Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) screening tool. We evaluated 238 patients in this study. Of whom, 144 (60.5%) were men and 94 (39.5%) were women, whose average age were 68.7 ± 7 years. MNA revealed a prevalence of 46.2% for risk of malnutrition, 31.9% for malnutrition, and 21.8% for within normal. Aged patients who lived alone were malnourished than the patients living with others (p < 0.001). Laboratory investigation revealed that malnourished individuals had substantively decreased levels of serum albumin (2.5 ± 0.7 g/dl), hemoglobin (10.3 ± 1.7 g/dl), lymphocytes (1.4 ± 0.9×10^9/L), and cholesterol (150 ± 35.9 mg/dl). About forty-nine and 32.9 percent of individuals with malnutrition had a severe or a moderate decrease in food intakes respectively. Different health problems collectively had influenced malnutrition. Malnourished patients had a tendency to hospitalize for a longer period of time. Thus malnutrition in hospitalized aged patients was highly prevalent and was associated with low food intake, the presence of health problems, and prolonged length of hospital stay.

This study was conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of an azo dye carmoisine widely used in foods and to investigate its relation to carcinogenicity. Carmoisine administered into mice orally in four different doses as control, low, medium, and high equivalent to 0, 4, 200, and 400 mg/kg bw, respectively, for 120 days. The key toxicological endpoint was observed including animal body weight, organ weights, hematology, biochemistry, and molecular biology assessment. The body weights of medium‐ and high‐dose carmoisine‐treated mice group were significantly decreased as compared to the control mice group. Platelet, white blood cell and monocyte counts of treated group were considerably higher, while Hb and red blood cell counts were drastically lower than the control group. The biochemical parameters such as serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, globulin, urea, and creatinine level were significantly increased, while serum cholesterol level was decreased after treatment as compared to the control. RT‐PCR results showed that expression of Bcl‐x and PARP gene was intensively increased, whereas expression of p53 gene was decreased in the mouse liver tissues treated with carmoisine. This study revealed that high‐dose (400 mg/kg bw) treatment of carmoisine was attributable to renal failure and hepatotoxicity. It also would be suspected as a culprit for liver oncogenesis.

Chemical preservation has become an increasingly important practice in modern food technology. Sodium benzoate is a permitted food additive in restrictive amounts by international laws, but their content must be declared and must not exceed the established limits by legislation. An experimental study for the level of sodium benzoate in different brands of mango juices available in the markets, stores and shops in Tangail region of Bangladesh was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. A Luna 5 ? C18 (2) 100A column (250 × 4.6 mm) was used for the chromatographic analysis. Chromatographic separation was achieved with isocratic solvent system comprising of sodium acetate and acetic acid buffer (pH =4.0)/acetonitrile in the ratio of 80:20 (1 ml/min) at 37oC and the chromatograms were recorded at 254 nm. The limit of detection and quantification for sodium benzoate was 0.00076 mg/100 ml and 0.00231 mg/100 ml, respectively. Quantification of the selected brand juices revealed that the level of the used sodium benzoate was within the FDA standard range. But by comparing with the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI), brand-1 and brand-3 of the analyzed juice samples was found to deviate the current legal limits. The percentage recovery was found to be 92.04 ± 1.98 to 98.01 ± 1.91. It was found that some of the brands used excess amount of sodium benzoate which may be harmful for our health.Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 20(1): 20-26, 2017

Peroxidase enzyme was isolated and purified from the pulp of disease infected ripen papaya of local variety by 90% ammonium sulphate precipitation, chromatography on DEAEcellulose followed by hydrophobic chromatography on Phenyl Sepharose CL-4B and the purifications achieved was about 7.2 fold with 2.5% recovery. The purified enzyme was homogeneous as judged by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme had a Mr of about 55,000 and 50 000 as determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and SDS-PAGE, respectively. The molecular mass of the enzyme was found to be very similar under both reducing and non-reducing conditions indicating that the enzyme contains no subunit. The enzyme has the following characteristics: pH optima at 6.0, temperature optima around 38°C, enzyme activity was found to be strongly inhibited in the presence of potassium cyanide and Fe+2 while the activity was found to be remarkably increased in the presence of ammonium sulphate. The Km value for the peroxidase obtained with pyrogallol as substrate was 0.027 mM. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmb.v6i2.17643 Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2013; 6(2): 49-57

Background: Asthmatic respiratory complications appear to be a notable public health consequence and associated with mortality, morbidity and economic burden worldwide. Globally several epidemiological studies have been conducted to assess the prevalence of asthmatic respiratory complications. As far our knowledge very few population based study have been conducted in Bangladesh to assess the magnitude of asthmatic respiratory complications focusing the rural community. Therefore the study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of asthma and related respiratory complications in the rural community of Tangail area in Bangladesh.Methods: This human population based cross-sectional survey study was conducted during the period of August to December 2016 on some villagers of Tangail area in Bangladesh using a pre-standardized questionnaires called "IUATLD -1984 bronchial symptoms questionnaires", designed by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUATLD). The demographic data of the study subjects were collected by interviewing the subjects and the data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: The results demonstrated that a substantial proportion of study subjects showed the main characteristic symptoms of asthma i.e., wheeze last 12 months is about 18.27%, shortness of breath (SOB) without strenuous work were 21.84%, nocturnal SOB 14.70%, morning cough 13.26%, nocturnal cough 17.25% and morning phlegm 10.37%. Overall 9.69% of the subjects were found to be asthmatic. Female study subjects showed more asthmatic complications than male subjects and in the higher aged group asthmatic symptoms were more prevalent.Conclusions: Among the study subjects, asthmatic complications were found to be substantial. Further clinical study is necessary to confirm the findings.

Three lectins designated as SLL-1, SLL-2 and SLL-3 were purified from small sized Sajna (Moringa oleifera L.) leaves by gel filtration of 100% ammonium sulfate saturated crude protein extract on Sephadex G-75 followed by ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE and affinity chromatography on Sepharose-4B. The molecular weight of the lectins SLL-1, SLL-2 and SLL-3 were 1,55,000, 1,15,000 and 85,000, respectively, as determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-150 and 1,60,000; 1,20,000 and 85,500, respectively, by SDS-polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. SLL-1 and SLL-2 are dimer in nature held together by disulfide bond (s), while SLL-3 is a monomer. The lectins agglutinated specifically rat red blood cells and the agglutination was inhibited specifically by methyl-a-D-galactopyranoside, methyl-β-D-galactopyranoside and D-galactose. The lectins SLL-1, SLL-2 and SLL-3 contain 3.9, 3.4 and 2.8% neutral sugar, respectively, and the sugar compositions were glucose for SLL-1, mannose for SLL-2 and SLL-3 contained either N-acetyl-D-glucosamine or N-acetyl-D-galactosamine or both. The lectins exhibited cytotoxicity in brine shrimp lethality bioassay.