Current Science and Technology

Formulation of Feed Pellet with MD2 Pineapple Peel Inclusion as Potential Prebiotic for Local Red Hybrid Tilapia Fish, Oreochromis Niloticus

Sukirah Abdul Rahman — 2023-06-15

Fruit waste such as pineapple peel is cost-effective, halal and can be applied as feed additives for the value-added feed. Unrestrained use of antibiotics to maintain the health of aquaculture has implicated resistance to pathogenic aquaculture bacteria towards the antibiotics and somehow leaking into the food chain. Therefore, incorporating prebiotics in aquaculture as feed additives could be a harmless and better option to promote aquaculture well-being. The aim of this study is to formulate fish feed for Red Hybrid tilapia, with the inclusion of 5% MD2 pineapple peel (PAP) as a prebiotic supplement and to evaluate the nutritional diet and physical characteristics of the pellet. The tilapia fish diet contains soybean meal, fish meal, corn, corn gluten meal, casava tuber meal, palm oil, mineral premix, vitamins, and MD2 pineapple peel. The formulation comprises calculated values of digestible energy;14MJ/kg and 32%digestible protein. The results for moisture content, bulk density, floatability, expansion ratio and hardness were 25.06%, 385.28kg/m³, 97%, 1.09 and 3.65 respectively. It can be concluded that the formulated pellet was comparable to the commercial feed, Starfeed brand.

In-silico Studies of Usnic Acid against DENV-3 Methyltransferase

Miah Roney — 2023-06-15

There is currently no antiviral medication for dengue, a highly fatal tropical infectious disease spread by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The most conserved of the four Dengue serotypes and an essential element in viral replication, Dengue NS5 MTase is a promising therapeutic target. Applying in-silico techniques such as molecular docking, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacophore analysis, we intend to discover novel inhibitors against Dengue NS5 MTase from Usnic acid. In the end, the docking results indicated that usnic acid had satisfactory docking values of -9.3 kcal/mol. We were able to confirm that the usnic acid had higher potential scores in docking and bound amino acids than the reference compound during our in-silico evaluation. Molecular docking, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacophore evaluations revealed that usnic acid has high pharmacological potential. Additionally, we anticipate that the testing in vitro and in vivo of usnic acid would indicate potential medicinal benefits.

Synthesis and Characterization of Electrospun Fiber from Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottle Waste

M. Ullah — 2023-06-15

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most recyclable plastic used for daily applications and the waste, especially from packaging, posed a significant environmental challenge. Inappropriate handling and disposal of plastic waste caused a majority of pollution, including microplastics. To address this issue, PET were chosen for recycling process. Electrospinning was employed to transform plastic waste into nanofibers. In this work, PET was successfully dissolved and electrospun. The electrospun fibers were characterized using FESEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, and tensile techniques. Overall, this research aimed to transform plastic waste into new materials with various future potential applications, contributing to waste reduction and sustainability.

Safety and Quality Self-Evaluation Tool for Food Industry

Hanida Abdul Aziz — 2023-04-15

Food safety and hygiene are crucially important in any baking industry. The absence of knowledge, attitude, and good practices among food workers has led to concerns over food safety in the modern era. The food industry faces increasing regulatory pressures and consumer demands for safe, high-quality products. To reduce the cases and issues in the food industry related to food contamination in the bakery industry, the evaluation will help determine the relationship between knowledge and good hygiene practices in food handling and the level of hygiene evaluation in food industry quality in food handling processes. The primary objective encompassed constructing a robust framework grounded in established legislation and developing a self-evaluation tool. Two experts in food safety participated in the content validation of the safety and quality self-evaluation tool. The scale-level content validity index (CVI) based on the average method is 0.97. These indicate that most of the items in the developed safety and quality self-evaluation tool meet the satisfaction levels of both experts. A case study was conducted to gain feedback using the System Usability Scale (SUS). The findings from the usability study indicated a marginal acceptability of the tool with an overall average SUS score of 66.25%.

Effect of Free Fatty Acid on Transesterification of Waste Cooking Oil

Gaanty Pragas Maniam — 2023-05-15

The presence of high free fatty acids (FFA) in the feedstock is a primary concern in biodiesel production. Waste cooking oil (WCO) is a potential environmentally friendly source, but further research is needed to fully characterize its properties. This study successfully explored the effect of FFA on the transesterification reaction and achieved the conversion of triglycerides in WCO to biodiesel under optimal conditions (molar ratio of oil to methanol 1:9, 2 hours, 65°C, catalyst loading 2.0 wt.% of WCO). The results show that for feedstocks with 0-3% FFA content, methyl ester conversion exceeds 90%, while for feedstocks containing 4-6% FFA, the conversion rate is less than 50%. Biodiesel containing 4–6% FFA undergoes saponification reaction during washing, highlighting the need for pretreatment prior to transesterification. In contrast, 0-3% FFA showed no saponification effect. The physicochemical properties of biodiesel from each FFA% feedstock, including acid value, degree of saponification, viscosity, density, and moisture content, were observed and compared with the ASTM D6751 standard. The results show that the acid value is directly proportional to FFA%, while the saponification value is inversely proportional. This study found that other properties such as viscosity, density, and moisture content were not related to biodiesel quality. In contrast, saponification value testing and GC analysis highlighted the impact of FFA percentage in the feedstock on biodiesel production.

Arsenic Removal Using Ion Imprinted Polymer: Synthesis and Characterization

I. Kamal — 2023-06-15

Efforts to mitigate arsenic contamination have spurred the development of various remediation technologies, among which ion-imprinted polymers (IIPs) have emerged as a promising solution. IIPs are a class of functional polymer materials tailored to selectively recognize and adsorb specific ions from solution based on their molecular imprinting technique. IIP can be develop using different kinds of monomer. There were 8 potential monomers that can be used such as vinyl pyridine, allylthiourea, methyl methacrylate, methacrylic acid, acrylic acid, allylamine, 1-vinylimiadzole and styrene. In this mini review, different types of monomers used was studied based on their functional group which affect in selectivity of arsenic. The parameters study to determine the effectiveness of IIPs in removing arsenic also was discussed.

Valorization of Recent Arsenic Removal Methods and Parameters Controlled for Testing: Mini Review

N.A.A. Halem — 2023-06-15

This study presented the utilisation of an arsenic-ion imprinted polymer as an adsorbent to effectively eliminate arsenic compounds from water. Several variations of arsenic technique approaches have been described and the recent trends have been reviewed. The parameters investigated encompassed pH, temperature, duration of contact, dosage of adsorbent, initial concentration of arsenic ions, presence of competitive ions, and type of eluent in relation to the recovery process. The adsorption capability of the arsenic-ion imprinted polymer can be considerably influenced by pH and temperature.

A Systematic Review of the Concentration of Bacteria in Daycare Centers (DCCs)

N.F.A. Azman — 2023-06-15

Microbes in indoor buildings have gotten a lot of interest from the scientific community and the public because of their direct relationship to human health. However, there is still a shortage of thorough data on bacterial concentration in daycare centers air. This research systematically reviews the influencing factor of bacteria growth, the concentration of bacteria and proposes a further research direction. The research article was selected from year 2011 to 2022, 11 original research that met the qualifying criteria were assessed in the major databases. The highest indoor bacteria content was identified in a study from Portugal (5256 CFU/m3), while the lowest was found in an Iranian study (453.93 CFU/m3). The concentration of bacteria indoors are varies in different seasons and the higher indoor bacteria concentrations were found in winter and spring seasons. In addition, researchers also find a positive correlation between bacterial growth with the exposure of particulate matter (PM1, 2.5, PM10). This review reveals that a short sampling period is not enough to explain and evaluate the concentration of bacteria in daycare centers. Thus, research suggests that further research be done on bacteria exposure in daycare centers because it can raise awareness among parents and staff about the need for clean air for children and provide ideas for improving daycare facilities.