Background: Plasma-activated water (PAW) is considered one of the emerging strategies that has been highlighted recently in the food industry for microbial decontamination and mycotoxin detoxification, due to its unique provisional characteristics. Aim: The effectiveness of PAW for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), and fumonisin B1 (FB1) detoxification in naturally contaminated poultry feeds with its impacts on the feed quality were inspected. Methods: PAW-30 and PAW-60 were utilized for feed treatment for six time durations (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 min) each. The alterations in the physicochemical properties of PAW after different time durations of plasma inducement and treatment with and without feed samples were monitored. Competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was employed for estimation of mycotoxin levels and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was utilized for results confirmation. Feed composition analyses with peroxide values (PVs) estimation were implemented according to standard analytical methods. Results: The physicochemical properties of PAW showed a significant decrease (P<0.05) in pH value from 6.72 to 2.68 and a significant increase (P<0.05) in oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), electrical conductivity (EC) and temperature from 235 mV, 5.1 μS/cm and 20.5 °C to 499.2 mV, 727.6 μS/cm and 26.8 °C, respectively after 60 min of plasma inducement in a time-dependent manner. The mycotoxins decay kinetics after PAW application were illustrated. Mycotoxins degradation efficiency significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing water activation time. A significant increase (P<0.05) in AFB1, OTA and FB1 degradation levels was reported mainly during the first 10 min of treatment for AFB1 and the first 15 min for OTA and FB1 to record values of 28.33, 32.14 and 34.62% and 33.80, 40.70 and 43.38% after 60 min of feed exposure to PAW-30 and PAW-60, respectively. Significant differences (P<0.05) between examined mycotoxins in their degradation levels were recorded, where FB1 exhibited the highest degradation levels. Generally, feed compositions were slightly affected by PAW and fats were still having good quality. Conclusion: The possibility of PAW for degrading more than a quarter to a third of the original quantity of targeted mycotoxins in poultry feeds after 10 min of treatment with a slight effect on feed quality.
Polycaprolactone polymer is widely used in medical applications due to its biocompatibility. Electro spinning was used to create poly (ε- caprolactone) (PCL) nanocomposite fiber mats containing hydroxyapatite (HA) at concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.4% wt. The chemical properties of the fabricated bio composite fibers were evaluated using FTIR and morphologically using field-emission scanning-electron microscopy (FESEM), Porosity, contact angle, as well as mechanical testing(Young Modulus and Tensile strength) of the nanofibers were also studied. The FTIR results showed that all the bonds appeared for the pure PCL fiber and the PCL/HA nano fibers. The FESEM nano fiber showed that the fiber diameter increased from 54.13 to 155.79 (n
... Show MoreSix isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis were isolated from Iraqi soil characterized as non- insecticidal and non- hemolytic parasporal inclusion proteins. Bacterial isolates were propagated on nutrient broth. Then, the parasporal inclusion proteins were extracted and processed with proteinase K and trypsin. The major protein segments produced of 64KDa were characterized and tested for cytocidal activity against human leukemic T- cells (CLL) (Chronic lymphoid leukemia). Results indicated that the treated parasporal proteins of four isolates (Bt2, Bt3, Bt4 and Bt6) showed strong cytotoxicity with no significant differences between normal lymphocytes and leukemic lymphocytes. Two isolates BtA1 and BtA5 show discriminative cytotoxicity between n
... Show MoreNon-thermal argon plasma needle at atmospheric pressure was
constructed. The experimental setup was based on a simple and low
cost electric component that generates a sufficiently high electric
field at the electrodes to ionize the argon gas which flow at
atmospheric pressure. A high AC power supply was used with 1.1
kV and 19.57 kHz. Non-thermal Argon plasma used on blood
samples to show the ability of non-thermal plasma to promote blood
coagulation. Three tests have been done to show the ability of plasma
to coagulate both normal and anti-coagulant blood. Each blood
sample has been treated for varying time from 20sec. to 180sec. at
different distances. The results of the current study showed that the
co
Low-pressure capacitively coupled RF discharge Ar plasma has been studied using Langmuir probe. The electron temperature, electron density and Debay length were calculated under different pressures and electrode gap. In this work the RF Langmuir probe is designed using 4MHz filter as compensation circuit and I-V probe characteristic have been investigated. The pressure varied from 0.07 mbar to 0.1 mbar while electrode gap varied from 2-5 cm. The plasma was generated using power supply at 4MHz frequency with power 300 W. The flowmeter is used to control Argon gas flow in the range of 600 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm). The electron temperature drops slowly with pressure and it's gradually decreased when expanding the electro
... Show MoreDate stones were used as precursor for the preparation of activated carbons by chemical
activation with ferric chloride and zinc chloride. The effects of operating conditions represented
by the activation time, activation temperature, and impregnation ratio on the yield and adsorption
capacity towards methylene blue (MB) of prepared activated carbon by ferric chloride activation
(FAC) and zinc chloride activation (ZAC) were studied. For FAC, an optimum conditions of 1.25
h activation time, 700 °C activation temperature, and 1.5 impregnation ratio gave 185.15 mg/g
MB uptake and 47.08 % yield, while for ZAC, 240.77 mg/g MB uptake and 40.46 % yield were
obtained at the optimum conditions of 1.25 h activation time, 500