Fungal-contaminated tissues are known to produce volatile profiles that are different from uncontaminated tissues. Fungi require certain water activity levels before growth can occur. For nonxerophilic fungi, a water activity of 0.85 is typical for growth, and for extreme xerophilic fungi, the water activity can be as low as 0.64. Recent investigations with stored pistachios (kernels in shell, ...

PURPOSE Aflatoxins (AFs) are a group of mycotoxins and secondary metabolites of various species of Aspergillus. There are various forms of aflatoxins including B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 and M2 types. Aflatoxins cause important health problems and have high potential effect on liver cancer. Therefore, numerous investigations have been conducted during last three decades. The aim of this work is to dete...

The common pistachio psylla, Agonoscena pistaciae (Homoptera: Psyllidae) is known as the key pest of pistachio trees in Iran. This study was carried out during three years to test the effect of dish washing detergent (Rika ® ) against this pest in a randomized complete block design with five treatments and four replicates. The treatments were including: 13500ml dish washing detergent per 1000 l...

Due to low consumer acceptance and the possibility of immature kernels, closed‐shell pistachio nuts should be separated from open‐shell nuts before reaching the consumer. A system using impact acoustics as a means of classifying closed-shell nuts from open-shell nuts has already been shown to be feasible and have better discrimination performance than a mechanical system.The accuracy of an impa...

BACKGROUND Positive effects of pistachio nut consumption on plasma inflammatory biomarkers have been described; however, little is known about molecular events associated with these effects. PURPOSE We studied the anti-inflammatory activity of a hydrophilic extract from Sicilian Pistacia L. (HPE) in a macrophage model and investigated bioactive components relevant to the observed effects. M...

BACKGROUND Managing cardiovascular risk factors is important for reducing vascular complications in type 2 diabetes, even in individuals who have achieved glycemic control. Nut consumption is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk; however, there is mixed evidence about the effect of nuts on blood pressure (BP), and limited research on the underlying hemodynamics. This study assessed the e...

Pistacia vera L. is the only species of Pistacia genus producing edible nuts. This paper investigates the antioxidant potential of a Sicilian variety of pistachio nut by chemical as well as biological assays and measured antioxidant vitamins and a number of antioxidant polyphenols in either the hydrophilic and/or the lipophilic nut extract. In accordance with the majority of foods, the total an...

Pistachio fruit components, including hulls (mesocarps and epicarps), seed coats (testas), and kernels (seeds), all contribute to variable aflatoxin content in pistachios. Fresh pistachio kernels were individually inoculated with Aspergillus flavus and incubated 7 or 10 days. Hulled, shelled kernels were either left intact or wounded prior to inoculation. Wounded kernels, with or without the se...