Gelatine obtained from fish skin has become a potential source of preparing nanoparticles and
encapsulation of bioactive compounds. Within these fish skin, gelatine nanoparticles show
potent benefits for application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. The encapsulated
bioactive ingredients within nanoparticles have improved bioavailability, delivery properties,
and solubility of the nutraceuticals within the human body and blood stream. Many of such
bioactive peptides (biopeptides) are potent antioxidants; and as oxidative stress is the main
cause of the onset of various chronic diseases, encapsulation of antioxidant biopeptides within
fish gelatine nanoparticles could be a potential remedy to prevent or delay the onset of such
diseases and for better health prospects. The purpose of the present work was to prepare a
simple, safe, and reproducible novel food delivery nanoparticle system encapsulating a desirable antioxidant biopeptide. An optimisation study was conducted to produce a desirable size
of gelatine nanoparticles which showed a higher encapsulation efficiency of an antioxidant
biopeptide. Sunflower biopeptide was chosen as the antioxidant biopeptide, as the activity of
this protein hydrolysate is quite high at DPPH of 89% and FRAP assay of 968 µm/L. Tilapia
fish was used as gelatine source at an average yield of the process at 10% wt/wt. Effects of
parameters such as pH, biopeptide concentration, and cross-linking agent ‘glutaraldehyde’ on
the size, stability, and encapsulation efficiency on the nanoparticles were studied. The average
diameter of the biopeptide loaded gelatine nanoparticle was between 228.3 and 1,305 nm.
Encapsulation efficiency was 76% at an optimal pH of 2, glutaraldehyde concentration of 2
mL, and biopeptide concentration of 0.1 mg/mL exhibited DPPH at 92% and FRAP assay of
978 µm/L. To understand the absorption of sunflower biopeptide in stomach, blood stream,
and biopeptide release of the gelatine nanoparticles, biopeptide loaded gelatine nanoparticles
were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal conditions mimicking human stomach and
intestine; and showed peptide release of 0.1464 and 0.277 mg/mL upon pepsin and pancreatin
digestion, respectively.
Lycopene is a well-known carotenoid, causing red color of fresh tomatoes. The significance of lycopene as antioxidant agent and coloring in the cosmetics, and its use in pharmaceutical and food industries has expanded in the recent years. Extraction of lycopene was improved effectively under solid state fermentation process; whereby, cellulase produced from the fermentation process was employed to degrade the cell-wall constituents, which facilitated the release of intracellular contents. The optimum conditions for the fermentation process were determined using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The Facecentered Central Composite Design (FCCD) was employed to investigate the effects of three independent factors: moisture content in the range of 60 to 80 %, inoculum size ranging between 5 to 15% while the incubation time was set at 2, 3 and 4 days. Twenty runs of experiment were conducted and each one was repeated three times. The obtained data was analyzed using the Design Expert software v.6.0.8. Regression analysis showed that 94.56% of the variation was explained by the software. Under the optimized conditions, the highest lycopene yield was 307.2 µg/g when the moisture content was 80%, the inoculum size was 15% in 4 incubation days. The experimental values agreed with the predicted values, thus proving stability of the model used and the success of RSM. This study showed as to how fermentation can improve the extraction process by comparing the result with the control (extraction without fermentation) which was 0.8 µg/g.
Considerable attention has been directed to nanoparticles based on gelatin biopolymer due to its numerous available active group sites for attaching target molecules and acting as a drug or nutraceutical delivery system aiming to improve the therapeutic effects and also to reduce the side effects of formulated drugs as gelatin is a natural biodegradable biocompatible polymer, nontoxic, readily available, cheap and is used in parental formulations. With mammalian gelatin (pig and cow) as the major source of gelatin production, alternatives are required due to sociocultural and health concerns to maintain halal status. This paper aims at reviewing fish skin gelatin from warm water species which can provide a potential alternative source of gelatin with almost the same rheological properties as mammalian gelatin and is a beneficial way to use fish waste such as skin, bones and fin which is generally discarded. The study also entails a lot of research being done in the field of nanoencapsulation of gelatin with various nutraceuticals as well as drug and gene therapy. There is an especially increasing interest in encapsulating biopeptides within gelatin nanoparticles in the functional food industry due to their role in preventing or delaying the onset of various diseases, food fortification, improvement of food quality, increase in shelf life, targeted peptide delivery and hence can be used as additives in food products. This review also attempts to provide an overview of the application of gelatin nanoparticles in nanoencapsulation in the food industry.
Lecturers are expected to cope with stress in their workplace in order to continue to be productive. The demand to fulfill targets will increase the incidence of occupational stress. The aim of the study was to determine the factors associated with occupational stress among state university lecturers in Bandung, Indonesia. The study was carried out on 354 state university lecturers in Bandung, who came to the research location during May 2017. It was conducted by means of a diagnostic survey with the use of the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ), Spiritual Wellness Inventory-R (SWI-R), Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), Miller Smith lifestyle assessment inventory, and Occupational Stress Scale (OSC). A total of 330 respondents became our study subjects with response rate of 92.94%. A correlation bivariate was applied to analyse the correlation of external and internal factors with occupational stress. The statistical analysis was conducted by means of SPSS Statistics 18.0 with p≤0.05. From 330 lecturers, there were 153 (46.4%) males and 177 (53.6%) females. The marital status included 257 (77.9%) married, 27 (8.2%) single, while 46 (13.9%) did not answer. The results proved the existence of a correlation between life, stress event, life style, mental emotional disorders, with occupational stress. The spirituality factors contributed to occupational stress were selfworth, control, and connectedness. Lecturer had to cope with occupational stress. There are some factors, which could influence occupational stress among lecturers.
This paper deals with the evaluation of novel imidazole molecules for their antimicrobial and larvicidal activities. A series of imidazole derivatives 1(a-f) and 2(a-e) were prepared by the Mannich base technique using a Cu(II) catalyst. The Cu(phen)Cl2 catalyst was found to be more effective than other methods. FTIR, elemental analyses, mass spectrometry, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy were performed to elucidate the structures of the synthesised compounds. Antimicrobial and larvicidal activities were investigated for all compounds. The antibacterial activity of compounds (2d) and (2a) were highly active in S.aureus (MIC: 0.25 μg/mL) and K.pneumoniae (MIC: 0.25 μg/mL) compared to ciprofloxacin. Compound (1c) was significantly more effective than clotrimazole in C.albicans (MIC: 0.25 μg/mL). Molecular docking studies of compound 2d showed a higher binding affinity for the 1BDD protein (- 3.4 kcal/mol) than ciprofloxacin (- 4.4 kcal/mol). Compound 1c had a higher binding affinity (- 6.0 kcal/mol) than clotrimazole (- 3.1 kcal/mol) with greater frontier molecular orbital energy and reactivity properties of compound 1c (∆E gap = 0.13 eV). The activity of compound 1a (LD50: 34.9 μg/mL) was more effective in the Culex quinquefasciatus than permethrin (LD50: 35.4 μg/mL) and its molecular docking binding affinity for 3OGN protein (- 6.1 kcal/mol). These newly synthesised compounds can act as lead molecules for the development of larvicides and antibiotic agents.