No abstract

Sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus Selenka, SC) was dried using far infrared radiation drying (FIRD) and air drying (AD). The effect of the drying temperature of FIRD and AD on the drying rate of SC was investigated. Temperatures varied at 60, 70 and 80C, with a constant air velocity (13.2 m/s). Thin‐layer drying models were applied to describe the drying process of SC with FIRD and AD. The Midilli and Kucuk equation showed the best fit (R2 > 0.99). The effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) was estimated by the diffusion model based on the Fick's second law. The Deff values of FIRD and AD treated samples varied in the range of 3.39 × 10−10 to 5.16 × 10−10 m2/s and 2.81 × 10−10 to 3.81 × 10−10 m2/s, respectively. The activation energy (Ea) based on the drying temperature showed that the thermal sensitivity of FIRD was higher than that of AD. The scanning electron microscope images showed more damages on the surface of AD treated sample than that of FIRD. Practical Applications Dried sea cucumbers are highly value‐added products. Currently, solar radiation is mainly used to produce the dried sea cucumber, but solar radiation drying requires more than 5 days under suitable environment. Such a long drying period causes sanitation problems as well as more cost to produce the dried sea cucumber. Our study showed that the far infrared radiation drying (FIRD) dramatically shortens the drying time. The quality of dried sea cucumber using FIRD was better than that of the air drying, because the surface hardening of the sea cucumber was minimized by the radiation heating mechanism. FIRD might be a good technology to replace the solar drying as well as the air drying to produce the dried sea cucumber.

Summary Purple‐fleshed potatoes (PFP) and red‐fleshed potatoes (RFP) were dried using hot air. The hardness, anthocyanin content and colour in PFP and RFP during drying were evaluated at 60, 70 and 80 °C. The hardness was characterised by a softening stage in the early drying period, followed by a hardening stage. The times to reach at the transition were 420, 300 and 240 min at 60, 70 and 80 °C, respectively, for PFP, and 480, 360 and 240 min for RFP. However, the moisture content of both PFP and RFP at the transition time was identical at 0.3 (d.b.). The two stages of hardness changes were well described by combining two modified first‐order kinetics models. The activation energy (Ea) for the degradation of anthocyanin in PFP and RFP was 25.12 and 28.43 kJ mol−1, respectively. The Ea values demonstrated that the thermal sensitivity of PFP was higher than that of RFP.

Recently, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support has been increasingly applied in acute respiratory failure. The ECMO brings some advantages for enhancing the capacity of lung regeneration. Thus, the timing of determining irreversibility of the injured lung could be delayed. In this study, we experienced a case of prolonged maintenance of veno-venous ECMO for 104 days that resulted in native lung recovery. In this case, the initial empirical treatment showed no response within 4 weeks with ECMO support but the patient did not want a lung transplantation. With prolonged maintenance of the ECMO, related ethical issues arose, such as how long should the applied ECMO be maintained. Hence, there was a discussion that was centered on the timing of determining futility and ethical issues, while applying the ECMO in acute respiratory failure.