Effects of Addition of Dried Sweet Potato Peels Powder on the Quality Characteristics of Cupcakes

The study was conducted to develop baked cakes using different pretreated sweet potato peels powders (such as fresh, boiled and citric acid) with various concentration (5%, 10% & 20%) and to evaluate the changes of quality characteristics. Sweet potato peel powder was investigated for the different nutritional and physiochemical properties were boiling and pretreatment effects also evaluated. Fresh peel, 0.5% citric acid treated and boiled sweet potato peel powder was utilized as sample powder for the studies. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in fiber and ash content and Hunter color values between powders from fresh peeled, 0.5% citric acid treated and boiled sweet potato peels powders. However, fresh and boiled sweet potato peel powder had higher fiber content than treated. The highest amount of fiber content was found in cakes incorporated with 10% boiled treated sweet potato peels powders content highest fiber. Pretreated and boiled with citric acid samples were obtained overall acceptability in the hedonic rating test.

Microalbuminuria as a Predictor of Short-Term Mortality in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Stroke is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Microalbuminuria is one of the predictors of mortality. Available published data has suggested that microalbuminuria is a potential new risk factor for ischemic stroke. This study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College during the period from July 2009 to June 2010. In this study, we enrolled 120 patients of ischemic stroke. 60 of them were with microalbuminuria (MA) and 60 were without MA. Among the MA +ve group, 38 (63.3%) were males and 22 (36.7%) were females. On the other hand those belonging to MA -ve groups 52 (36.7%) were males and 8 (13.3%) were females. Age range of the subjects in MA +ve group was 45-70 years and in MA-ve group was 50-70 years. In patients with microalbuminuria mortality was 26.7% and in patients without MA mortality was 11.7% (p<0.05). The study showed significantly higher mortality in patients with microalbuminuria than that of the patients without microalbuminuria.

Cardiac Troponin-I And CK-MB for Risk Stratification in Acute Myocardial Infarction (First Attack): A Comparative Study.

Myocardial infarction is associated with release of two important enzymes. The enzymatic diagnosis is mainly based on the measurement of CK-MB and troponin-I. Cardiac troponin- I(cTnI) is known to have higher specificity and analytic sensitivity than CK-MB for detection of myocardial injury & risk stratification. These are used both as diagnostic and prognostic marker. This prospective observational study included 60 patients of 40-65 years age range, diagnosed as acute myocardial infarction. The mean ages were 50± 8 years and 53±8 years respectively. Male and female patients included were 86.7% and 13.3%; BMI was 25.3±1.5. The two important cardiac markers troponin-I and CK-MB were studied in 60 patients, admitted in the hospital with acute MI. Blood samples to estimate these markers were collected from the patients after admission at 6-9 hours, 9-24 hours and after 24 hours and their mean values with ±SD were calculated, evaluated and compared between the two groups of patients with low and high risk MI. The patients with low risk MI were those who recovered early and the high risk patients improved later in comparison to low risk group. Out of 60 patients, 37 had troponin-I level>1.5 ng /ml. Among them 29 developed high risk MI and 8 recovered earlier than high risk group. 23 patients had troponin-I <1.5 ng /ml, out of whom 10 were high and 13 were low risk. The difference of troponin-I levels between high and low risk groups of patients was statistically significant (p<0.01). On the other hand CK-MB level was >7 ng /ml in 33 patients. Out of them 22 patients developed high and 11 patients were low risk but 18 patients out of 27 who had CK-MB <7 ng /ml became high and 9 patients were low risk. The difference of outcome in respect to higher and lower values of CK-MB between the two groups was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Both troponin-I and CK-MB were estimated in all 60 patients on three occasions. The mean troponin-I levels were statistically significant between the high and the low risk groups on all occasions .On the contrary, the values of CK-MB were not statistically significant on two occasions but was significant (p < 0.01) on one occasion when it was estimated at 9 - 24 hour. Serum cTnI is better and more characteristic biomarker than CK-MB for risk prediction and prognosis evaluation in AMI patients.