The production possibility of squash pureecontaining edible sheet and its improvement by different hydrocolloids were studied. In this study, two hydrocolloids [carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and tragacanth gum] and also one plasticizer (glycerol) were used to produce squash puree-based edible sheets and optimization was performed to produce an edible sheet sample with the optimum properties. The results revealed that the CMC increased the tensile strength, elongation, and water vapor transition (WVT) of the edible sheets, whilst decreased their moisture content. The tragacanth increased the edible sheets elongation, oxygen transition (OT) and opacity. The glycerol also increased the elongation, density, OT, WVT, opacity and water solubility of the edible sheets; whereas the water activity, tensile strength, elastic modulus, and swelling capacity were decreased. The optimum quality of edible sheets was obtained from a combination of 0.14 g of CMC, 0.25 g of tragacanth and 1.88 g of glycerol.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of recombinant probiotic bacteria as a candidate for oral vaccine with the potential of treating allergy to Amaranthus retroflexus pollens. The main gene of this allergen, Ama r 2, was cloned into the food grade plasmid pNZ7025 and then was electrotransformed into the food grade Lactococcus lactis NZ1330. No expression was observed in the primary structure due to the distance between the ribosome binding site and the start codon. Therefore, the vector structure was corrected using the site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) technique. The cell extract of this strain was used for assessing the expression of the recombinant allergen in western blot analysis, and the existence of this protein with a molecular weight of 14.2 kDa was confirmed. To evaluate the efficacy of this strain in the treatment of allergies as an oral vaccine, probiotic ice cream was prepared. After the sensitization of mice, the treatment was performed by oral immunotherapy for 4 weeks, 4 to 5 times per week. 20 μl of functional ice cream with 1012 CFU/ml of r-L. lactis NZ1330 significantly reduced the serum IgE level. The levels of IFN-γ and TGF-β cytokines increased in the 20 μl ice cream treatment group as well as 40 μg/ml pure allergen compared with the PBS-treated group, and IL-4 cytokine levels decreased compared with the PBS-treated group. Overall, 20 μl ice cream with 1012 CFU/ml of the recombinant bacteria resulted in the best performance in terms of improving allergies to Th1 and Treg responses.

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Background: Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the preeminent public health concerns of the 21 st century. Objectives: In this study, antibacterial activity of Mespilus germanica extract against some pathogenic bacterial strains (Streptococcus pyogene, Listeria innocua, Enterobacter aerogenes and Klebsiella pneumoniae) was evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, maceration extraction method was used for M. germanica extract. Disk diffusion method was used to evaluate the antimicrobial effect and broth microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS-18 statistical software and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. Results: Antimicrobial activity was assessed by inhibition diameters which were found to range from 8 to 21.5 mm for the two extracts against all the bacterial strains tested. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for the extracts were later determined by three fold serial dilutions method and they ranged 2-64 mg/mL against all the strains and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) for the extracts were later determined by three fold serial dilutions method and they ranged 4-128 mg/mL against all the strains. Conclusions: The M. germanica extract showed the more effective impact on the growth S. pyogene and L. innocua than E. aerogenes and K. pneumoniae (P < 0.05). M. germanica in comparison with common therapeutic antibiotics had more inhibitory effect on some of the studied strains in vitro.

Background: In this study, the antibacterial activity of Mangle negro extract against selected pathogens from Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillaceae was evaluated. Objectives: The antibacterial activity of M. negro ethanolic and aqueous extracts were evaluated, through disk agar diffusion method, extract on medium surface method and microdilution method. Materials and Methods: This experimental study after collection and preparation of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of M. negro, their effects against human pathogen microorganism were determined. Results: The ethanolic and aqueous extracts inhibited the growth of all the organisms tested. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts ranged between 4 mg/mL and 64 mg/mL. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that the ethanolic leaf extract of M. negro hold an excellent potential as an antibacterial agent.