Nasopharyngeal tuberculosis is a rare occurrence, and primarily involves the proximal part of the Eustachian tube. Mechanical obstruction of the Eustachian tube will affect the pressure discrepancy between the middle ear and the external atmosphere, leading to aural fullness, unilateral hearing disturbance, and otitis media. These conditions can be overlooked or mistakenly diagnosed as ear pathology. We report a case of unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus in a 31-year-old healthy woman that was later confirmed to be tuberculosis of the Eustachian tube. In cases with indicators suggesting a high index of suspicion, a thorough examination of the head and neck regions is especially very important. Once it has been diagnosed, Eustachian tuberculosis can be successfully treated with anti-tuberculosis medications.
Common conventional biological treatment methods fail to decolorize palm oil mill effluent (POME). The present study focused on using the abundant palm oil mill boiler (POMB) ashes for POME decolorization. The POMB ashes were subjected to microwave irradiation and chemical treatment using H2SO4. The resultant adsorbents were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analyses. The adsorption efficiency was evaluated at various pH levels (2-8.5), adsorption dosages (3-15 g) in 200 mL, and contact times (1-5 h). The microwave-irradiated POMB-retained ash recorded the highest color removal of 92.31%, for which the best conditions were pH 2, 15 g adsorbent dosage in 200 mL, and 5 h of contact time. At these best treatment conditions, the color concentration of the treated effluent was analyzed using the method proposed by the American Dye Manufacturers Institute (ADMI). The color concentration was 19.20 ADMI, which complies with the Malaysia discharge standard class A. The Freundlich isotherm model better fit the experimental data and had a high R2 of 0.9740. Based on these results, it can be deduced that microwave-irradiated POMB-retained ash has potential applications for POME decolorization via a biosorption process.
Organic loading influences the effectiveness of producing biogas through anaerobic digestion. This study set out to investigate the effect of organic loading on the anaerobic mesophilic digestion of cow dung, the parameters involved in the digestion process and to evaluate the kinetics. Anaerobic digestion of cow dung at different organic loading (gVS/L) of 14 gVS/L, 18gVS/L, 22 gVS/L, 26 gVS/L and 30 gVS/L were investigated. Increasing the organic loading increased the methane yield of the cow dung. The highest cumulative methane yield was observed at 30 gVS/L with 63.42 mL CH4/gVS while the highest biogas yield was reported at 192.53 mL/gVS with the highest methane content of 89%. In addition, the modified Gompertz model equation with an R2 of 0.9980 demonstrated strong consistency and a good fit between predicted and experimental data. The high number of substrates added to the systems when increasing the organic loading increased the λ and slow down the nutrient transport and hydrolysis. This study provides current information on the effects of organic loading on the anaerobic digestion of cow dung in batch mode, including experimental conditions and operational parameters.
This study optimized subcritical water extraction (SWE) conditions to maximize pectin yield from cocoa pod husk (CPH) and compared the characteristics of CPH pectin extracted through SWE with those of CPH pectin obtained through conventional extraction (CE) with citric acid. The Box-Behnken experimental design was employed to optimize SWE and examine the influence of process parameters, including temperature (100 °C-120 °C), extraction time (10-30 min), and solid:liquid ratio (SLR) (1:30-2:30 g/mL), on pectin yield. The maximum pectin yield of 6.58% was obtained under the optimal extraction conditions of 120 °C for 10 min with 1:15 g/mL SLR and closely corresponded with the predicted value of 7.29%. Compared with CE, SWE generated a higher yield and resulted in a higher degree of esterification, methoxyl content, and anhydrouronic acid value but a lower equivalent weight. The extracted pectin was pure, had low-methoxyl content, and similar melting and degradation temperatures.
Cocoa is considered to be one of the most significant agricultural commodities globally, alongside Palm Oil and Rubber. Cocoa is the primary ingredient in the manufacturing of chocolate, a globally popular food product. Approximately 30 % of cocoa, specifically cocoa nibs, are used as the primary constituent in chocolate production., while the other portion is either discarded in landfills as compost or repurposed as animal feed. Cocoa by-products consist of cocoa pod husk (CPH), cocoa shell, and pulp, of which about 70 % of the fruit is composed of CPH. CPH is a renewable resource rich in dietary fiber, lignin, and bioactive antioxidants like polyphenols that are being underutilized. CPH has the potential to be used as a source of pectin, dietary fibre, antibacterial properties, encapsulation material, xylitol as a sugar substitute, a fragrance compound, and in skin care applications. Several methods can be used to manage CPH waste using green technology and then transformed into valuable commodities, including pectin sources. Innovations in extraction procedures for the production of functional compounds can be utilized to increase yields and enhance existing uses. This review focuses on the physicochemical of CPH, its potential use, waste management, and green technology of cocoa by-products, particularly CPH pectin, in order to provide information for its development.
This paper discusses the unprecedented microscopic findings of micellar growth in colloidal system (CS) of catalyzed piperidinolysis of ionized phenyl salicylate (PS-). The giant vesicles (GV) was observed under the optical polarization microscope (OPM) at [NaX]=0.1M where X=3-isopropC6H4O-. The conditions were rationalized from pseudo-first-order rate constant, kobs of PS- of micellar phase at 31.1×10-3s-1 reported in previous publication. The overall diameter of GV (57.6μm) in CS (CTABr/NaX/H2O)-catalyzed piperidinolysis (where X=3-isopropC6H4O) of ionized phenyl salicylate were found as giant unilamellar vesicles (GUV) and giant multilamellar vesicles (GMV). The findings were also validated by means of rheological analysis.