Biochar production and use are part of the modern agenda to recycle wastes, and to retain nutrients, pollutants, and heavy metals in the soil and to offset some greenhouse gas emissions. Biochars from wood (eucalyptus sawdust, pine bark), sugarcane bagasse, and substances rich in nutrients (coffee husk, chicken manure) produced at 350, 450 and 750°C were characterized to identify agronomic and ...

BACKGROUND Lipid transfer protein (LTP) is a widely cross-reacting plant pan-allergen, and sensitized patients may react to many foods. Although peanut allergy is frequently reported by LTP-allergic patients, the evidence of the presence of an allergen homologous to LTP in peanuts is limited. OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of peanut allergy in patients sensitized to LTP, detect any allerg...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of peanut allergy has increased in developed countries, but little is known about developing countries with high peanut consumption and widespread parasitic infections. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate peanut allergy in Ghana. METHODS In a cross-sectional survey among Ghanaian schoolchildren (n = 1604), data were collected on reported adverse reactions to peanut,...

Peanut allergy affects 1-2% of the world's population. It is dangerous, and usually lifelong, and it greatly decreases the life quality of peanut-allergic individuals and their families. In a word, peanut allergy has become a major health concern worldwide. Thirteen peanut allergens are identified, and they are briefly introduced in this paper. Although there is no feasible solution to peanut a...

Arsenic pollution became a great problem in the recent past in different countries including Bangladesh. The microlevel studies were conducted to see the spatial variation of arsenic in soils and plant parts contaminated through ground water irrigation. The study was performed in shallow tube well command areas in Sadar Upazila (subdistrict), Faridpur, Bangladesh, where both soil and irrigation...

Adding catalysts such as boric acid into biomass is a flexible method to achieve high biochar yield with low carbon emission levels. This work is directed towards investigating the effects of boric acid content on biochar yield, composition, and property through a two-step pyrolysis of rice husk. The results showed that biochar yields, compositions, and properties were associated with the amoun...

Laccases are copper-containing enzymes involved in the degradation of lignocellulosic materials and used in the treatment of phenol-containing wastewater. In this study we investigated the effect of culture conditions, i.e. submerged or semi-solid, and copper supplementation on laccase production by Trametespubescens grown on coffee husk, soybean pod husk, or cedar sawdust. The highest specific...

The ability of two different strains of Ceratocystis fimbriata for fruity aroma production by solid state fermentation (SSF) was tested on coffee pulp and coffee husk complemented with glucose as substrates. Experiments were carried out in 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks and the experimental conditions were: 70% of initial moisture, 20% of glucose addition and pH 6.0. Aeration was made by passive diff...

BACKGROUND Many children develop a sensitization to peanut in early infancy, even before peanut is introduced in their diet. Sensitization is particularly common in young children with eczema. There have been scant data available to date on the sensitization pattern for specific peanut allergens in this patient group. The aim of this study was to investigate the allergen profile of infants and ...

In this study, the modified rice husk was tested to remove Cu(II) from water. Batch experiments were carried out to evaluate the adsorption characteristics of the modified rice husk for Cu(II) removal from aqueous solutions. The adsorption isotherms, thermodynamic parameters, kinetics, pH effect, and desorbability were examined. The results show that the maximum adsorption capacity of the modif...