The response surface methodology and central composite rotatable design for K=3 was used to study the combined effect of blanching, soaking and sodium hexametaphosphate salt concentration on moisture, ash, leached solids, phytates, tannins and hardness of bambara groundnut during canning. Regression models were developed to predict the effects of the processing parameters on the studied indices...

A finite element analysis was conducted to determine the effect of moisture diffusion and hygroscopic swelling in rice. A parallel simple stochastic modeling was performed to predict the number of grains cracked as a result of moisture absorption and hygroscopic swelling. Rice grains were soaked in thermally (25C) controlled water and then tested for compressive stress. The destructive compress...

The effects of different alkaline pretreatments on cellulose structural features and accessibility are compared and correlated with the enzymatic hydrolysis of Populus. The pretreatments are shown to modify polysaccharides and lignin content to enhance the accessibility for cellulase enzymes. The highest increase in the cellulose accessibility was observed in dilute sodium hydroxide, followed b...

BACKGROUND Postoperative sore throat (POST) is a complication that undermines patient satisfaction and increases discomfort in the postoperative period. The present study examined the effects of dexamethasone gargle and endotracheal tube cuff soaking on the incidence and severity of POST. METHODS Ninety patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly allocated into three groups...

To provide the basic information about the release of heavy metals from the pyrite tailings of Huangjiagou pyrite mine, the pyrite tailings were investigated through a series of batch experiments under different initial pH of extractant, temperature, liquid-solid (LS) ratio, and soaking time conditions. Moreover, calcium carbonate was added in the pyrite tailings to determine the reduction effe...

The purpose of this study was to assess flexural strength and color alteration of acrylic resins immersed in denture cleansers for different periods of time. Rectangular specimens (65 x 10 x 3mm) made from three heat-polymerized acrylic resins (Lucitone 550, QC-20 and Triplex) were assigned to three denture cleansers groups (Bony Plus, Corega Tabs and Efferdent Plus) and a control group (immers...

Changes in the trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) of faba beans (Vicia faba L. Major) were investigated after beans were soaked in distilled water, citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate solutions. The soaking solution was discarded. The effect of cookingsdiscarding both soaking and cooking solutionsswas also studied. Finally, a dry-heating process was examined. Soaking treatment produced a slight d...

BACKGROUND Rhizoma Pinelliae is the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Rhizoma Pinelliae has antitussive, antiemetic, glandular secretion inhibiting and antitumor effects. OBJECTIVES To optimize the processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum, and to study its anti-tumor effect. METHODS Orthogonal design method was appli...

The steady expansion in the capacity of modern beamlines for high-throughput data collection, enabled by increasing X-ray brightness, capacity of robotics and detector speeds, has pushed the bottleneck upstream towards sample preparation. Even in ligand-binding studies using crystal soaking, the experiment best able to exploit beamline capacity, a primary limitation is the need for gentle and n...

The objective of this study was to understand the factors that affect the hydration and cooking profiles of different bean varieties. During this study, nine bean varieties were classified as either easy-to-cook (ETC) or hard-to-cook (HTC) based on a subjective finger pressing test and an objective cutting test. Rose coco, Red haricot, and Zebra beans were classified as ETC, while Canadian wond...