Miscellaneous Food Products

DELICATESSEN AND Releated
FOODS Delicatessen foods, such as salads and sandwiches, are sometimes involved in food-poisoning outbreaks. These foods are often prepared
by hand, and this direct contact may lead to an
increased incidence of food-poisoning agents
such as Staphylococcus. Once organisms such
as these enter meat salads or sandwiches, they
may grow well because of the reduction in numbers of the normal food biota by the prior cooking of salad ingredients.
In a study of retail salads and sandwiches, 36%
of 53 salads were found to have total counts
>log 6.00/g, but only 16% of the 60 sandwiches
had counts as high.4 With respect to coliforms,
57% of sandwiches were found to harbor <log
2.00/g. S. aureus was present in 60% of sandwiches and 39% of salads.Yeasts and molds were
found in high numbers, with six samples containing >log 6.00/g.
In a study of 517 salads from around 170 establishments, 71-96% were found to have aerobic plate counts (APCs) <log 5.00g.33 Almost
all (96-100%) salads contained coagulasepositive S. aureus at levels <log 2.00/g. Salads
included chicken, egg, macaroni, and shrim

Cancer Metabolism – A brief Overview

Cancer is second most leading cause of mortality, worldwide, after Cardiovascular diseases. There has been ongoing investigation to find more hallmarks of cancers. As reported on 2011 published article on hallmarks of Cancer by Hanahan and Weinberg, few more hallmarks have been reported within a ten year period. Among those newly discovered hallmarks, metabolism within cancer cells have been summarized.

The reason to focus on cancer metabolism is to find an effective treatment to cure a cancer patient. Apart from deregulation in protein expression in cancer cells, the malfunction of enzymes affects composition of metabolites and sustains cancer cell survival.

Three metabolic activity have so far been stated:


Transforming metabolism 
 Such activities helps cancer cells to progress from one form to other, i.e. from the genesis of cancer cells to a lump within local tissue to metastasis. One of them is Isocitrate dehydrogenase I and II (IDH I and II). Studies have reported the mutant form of IDH I and II in patients suffering from Glioblastoma Multiforme. The mutation within IDH has resulted accumulation of D-hydroxyglutarate (by catalysing α-ketoglutarate), thereby affecting expression of particular genes. 

Enhancing Metabolism 
The second type which are involved in sustaining survival of cancer cell. There are three major aspects of metabolism, within this category and will be discussed in separate article. But to briefly summarize: 1) Catabolic reactions: The breakdown of biomolecules to extract energy. Cancer cells depend on Glucose (the most famous being, the Warburg effect) and Glutamine for energy production (but depends of current state of the cell and the composition of microenvironment); 2) Anabolic reactions: The buildup of macromolecule from its monomers. Cancer cells depend on Protein, Fats and Nucleic Acids for its survival and growth, and; 3) Redox reaction: As cancer cells proliferate rapidly, it faces lack of oxygen and nutrients and so, it produces free radicals that damages cellular structure inside cancer cells. In order to protect themselves, cancer cells overexpress enzymes that neutralizes those radicals and prevents from damaging. 

Neutral Metabolism 
   The process doesn't affect on the growth and survival of cancer cells upon its inhibition. Enzymes like, Pyruvate Kinase B, is one of the example. Such molecules are necessary to be detected, in order to classify and exempt them for drug target.


In short, cancer metabolism plays one of the major part to find treatment because an altered metabolic pathway inside cancer cells determines other hallmark of cancer.

Cancer treatment by heat stock

New method for cancer tretIn patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) represents a promising treatment strategy.

Here, we studied the role of hyperthermic chemotherapy on heat shock protein (HSP) expression and induction of tumor cell death and surviva  HSP70, and HSP90 combined with effects on tumor cell proliferation and chemosensitivity were analyzed in human colon cancer.
 Hyperthermic chemotherapy resulted in significant HSP27/HSP70 and HSP90 gene/protein overexpression in analyzed HT-29/SW480/SW620 colon cancer cells and peritoneal metastases from patients displaying amplified expression of proliferation markers, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL. Moreover, functionally increased chemoresistance against 5-fluorouracil/mitomycin C and oxaliplatin after hyperthermic chemotherapy points to induced survival mechanisms in cancer cells. In conclusion,
the results indicate that intracellular HSP-associated antiapoptotic and proliferative effects after hyperthermic chemotherapy negatively influence beneficial effects of hyperthermic chemotherapy-induced cell death From a total of 63 patients who underwent CRS with additional HIPEC therapy as a closed procedure in our department (October 2008 to April 2011) and available representative tumor tissues before and after HIPEC therapy, 24 patients with isolated PC from colorectal cancer were investigated. Informed consent was obtained preoperatively, as was approved by the local medical ethics committee. Patient data are summarized in Table 1. The HIPEC therapy was performed under specific conditions (60 minutes permanent chemotherapeutical flux via external pump into the abdominal cavity after resection of relevant tumor masses with elevated temperature up to 41°C). Tumor biopsies from peritoneal tumors were taken before and after the HIPEC procedure. Tumor biopsies after a HIPEC procedure were taken from specifically marked peritoneal areas with small peritoneal metastases completely resected after the HIPEC.ment

University of California Astronauts May Soon Grow & Eat SPACE Tomatoes

Astronauts May Soon Grow & Eat SPACE Tomatoes

Written on 04/30/2019

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Astronauts May Soon Grow & Eat SPACE Tomatoes

University of California – Riverside has developed tiny tomato plants that could solve the food issue for astronauts in Space. The plants stalks and have leaves but generate a normal quantity of fruit, which makes them a harvest for cultivation anywhere with limited soil and natural resources.

With a grant in the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, UCR investigators will tweak the tomatoes to make them uniquely suited to grow in space. Dubbed Little Plants for spACe Expeditions, plants or SPACE from the researchers, the technologies can be applied to crops to come up with a suite of plants for agriculture around space colonies and the International Space Station.

Robert Jinkerson, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering in the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering and Martha Orozco-Cárdenas, director of the Plant Transformation Research Center in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, will use the two-year $800,000 grant to continue to lower the size of the tiny plants, engineer them to get improved photosynthesis, develop them in a container that mimics conditions on the International Space Station, examine the fruit’s nutritional content, and conduct taste tests.

Orozco-Cárdenas originally used gene-editing technology that was CRISPR-Cas9 to shrink the size of tomato plants and reduce the ratio of leaves and stems to fruit.

It was quite exciting to find out how one base change in a few of the genes can have this impact on plant growth and development,” she explained.

Soon there will be nine billion people on Earth, but the land is decreasing – lesser lands can be inhabited. Also, global food production will have to double to meet the food requirements by then. On the top climatic fluctuations will increase the problems.

Most vegetable and fruit plants produce inedible leaves and stems, known as biomass, than vegetables or edible fruit. Plants with portions than biomass could produce large amounts of spaces such as farms that are vertical and food on small plots. But, vertical farming techniques tend to develop greens since they have trouble supporting larger fruiting plants like tomatoes.

In addition to their small dimensions, energy and resource consumption is minimized by the UC Riverside tiny tomatoes by producing fruit than traditional plants.

The traits which make the tomatoes suitable for growing in urban farms around Earth, with a few tiny tweaks, could make them suitable for developing on the International Space Station, where astronauts yearn for vegetables and fresh fruit.

“When I first saw those very small berries growing in Martha’s lab, I just knew we had to get them onto the space station,” Jinkerson said.

1 modification that is necessary is to increase the rate of photosynthesis that enables the plants to convert carbon dioxide and to produce oxygen. Photosynthesis can help replace carbon dioxide into space channel air with oxygen, enhancing sustainability and the air quality of human life inspace.

These chemical editing approaches can be applied to other plants for use here on Earth which could help bring people to settlements in distance and also feed the growing population.

“Most plant research has already focused on optimizing crops for expansion outside in areas, opening up a lot of opportunities to engineer plants for built environments such as in distance or greenhouses,” said Jinkerson.