The bioactive components and bioactivities of citrus peel can be enhanced with microbial fermentation. Accordingly, this study investigated the ability of Aspergillus niger CGMCC3.6189 to accumulate flavonoids in Citrus reticulata peel powder (CRPP) by solid-state fermentation (SSF). Under the optimal SSF conditions including 80% moisture, 30 °C, pH 4.0, 4 × 107 spores/g d.w. CRPP, and 192 h, the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activities of fermented CRPP significantly increased by 70.0, 26.8, 64.9, and 71.6%, respectively. HPLC analysis showed that after fermentation, the contents of hesperidin, nobiletin, and tangeretin were significantly increased from 19.36, 6.31, and 2.91 mg/g to 28.23, 7.78, and 3.49 mg/g, respectively, while the contents of ferulic acid and narirutin were decreased under the optimal fermentation conditions. Fermentation time is one of the most important factors that affect the accumulation of flavonoids and antioxidant activity; however, extended fermentation time increased the darkness of CRPP color. Therefore, our study provides a feasible and effective SSF method to increase the bioactive components and the antioxidant activity of CRPP that may be used in food, nutraceutical, and medicinal industries.

This study was carried out in the laboratories of the Biomedical Equipment Technology and Instrumentation and Physical Measurements departments of the Higher Institute of Technology of Mamou. The methodology adopted in this work is based on embedded systems technology. Its objective is the Design and Production of a surgical aspirator. The main results obtained during this work relate to the realization of the electrical diagrams of the power supply, the motherboard, the operation of the algorithm, the determination of the technical characteristics of the vacuum cleaner, the synoptic diagram of operation and the principle of operation. The improvement and popularization of this present device would make it possible to equip the various health structures of the country with surgical aspirators locally at a lower cost.

Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MLP) has exceptional nutritional properties due to its high content of micronutrients, fatty acids, and especially protein. This makes it a suitable ingredient for the fortification of taro flour. Taro is a high-energy product but low in protein and fat, which weanling children need for their normal development. This study aimed to evaluate the protein-energy contribution of MLP powder in infant taro porridge. Three fortified taro porridges named FTP10% (Taro + 10% of Moringa), FTP15% (Taro + 15% of Moringa) and FTP15% (Taro + 15% of Moringa) were performed. Their analyses indicated significant increases (P<0.05) in crude protein content, energy value and titratable acidity from 0.580 0046% to 1.570 0052%, 82.137 143% to 88.807 1658% and from 0.130 0017g/100g to 0.380 0010 g/100 g respectively. KEYWORDS: Proximal composition, taro porridge, Moringa oleifera.