Effect of ultrasound pretreated hydrocolloid batters on quality attributes of fried chicken nuggets during post-fry holding.

In this study, batters formulated with different hydrocolloids (i.e., pectin, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and methylcellulose) were treated with ultrasound as edible coatings for fried chicken nuggets. Quality characteristics (i.e., batter pickup, flow behaviours, thermal properties, moisture loss, color and textural properties) in chicken nuggets coated with ultrasound treated batters were evaluated before and after post frying exposure to heat lamp. Ultrasonication significantly reduced batter pickup, flow behavior and gelatinization enthalpy, revealing its tendency to alter functional properties of batter systems. Rheological evaluation of all batter samples revealed a pseudoplastic (shear thinning) flow characteristic when fitted to power law model, with ultrasonicated (US) samples exhibiting a significantreduction in viscosity over non-ultrasonicated (NUS) samples. Compared to the control NUS, fat content of chicken nuggets coated with US-treated batters decreased by 39.0, 60.9, 62.87, 64.1, 65.7, and 65.0 % for pectin, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and methylcellulose, respectively. Finally, chicken nuggets coated with US and NUS treated batters exhibited greater cutting force values immediately after frying but declined within the first 10 min of heat lamp exposure and increased subsequently with extended heat lamp holding time. Furthermore, NUS-treated guar gum resulted in chicken nuggets with the most minimal variability in cutting force during post-frying holding, indicating that crispiness was maintained. Overall, application of ultrasound as a batter pretreatment technique can be exploited by the frying food industry as an alternative approach to producing low fat chicken nuggets with appreciable quality attributes.

Pilot-Scale Assessment of a Novel Farrowing Creep Area Supplementary Heat Source.

Pre-weaning morality (PWM) is attributed to a poor creep area microclimate and causes major economic and productivity losses for the US swine industry. Piglets need supplementary heat to overcome a high surface area to body weight ratio and minimal thermoregulation. A pilot-scale study was conducted to evaluate a semi-enclosed heated microclimate (SEHM) as a supplementary heat source for farrowing creep areas over six farrowing cycles (from January to July 2019) in two rooms with 24 farrowing stalls in each room. Six SEHMs (each SEHM covers two stalls) were randomly distributed to each room and compared to heat lamps (HLs) for productivity and electricity usage. Data from 113 (SEHM) and 101 litters (HL) showed no significant difference between treatments in average daily gain (p = 0.26), 252.4 ± 8.0 g hd-1 d-1 (SEHM) and 260.3 ± 8.1 g hd-1 d-1 (HL) and PWM (p = 0.08), 9.67% ± 0.82% (SEHM) and 12.04% ± 0.87% (HL). However, a significant difference (p = 0.02) was noted in the PWM attributed to over-lay mortalities, 4.05% ± 0.76% (SEHM) compared to 6.04% ± 0.78% (HL). The SEHM electricity averaged 3.25 kWh d-1 (2.91, 3.59 kWh d-1; 95% CI), which was significantly different (p < 0.01) from the HL equivalent (125 W bulb; 6 kWh d-1).

Improved Heat Lamp for Preventing Arterial Spasm after Microvascular Surgery

PURPOSE: Heat therapy by heat lamp after microvascular surgery is being used for preventing blood vessels's contraction and blood-flow's disturbance. As usually, incandescent lamp has been used. But there have been several problems and need for improvement in the existing heat lamp treatment. So we would like to introduce improved heat lamp to keep an appropriate temperature and intensity of illumination. METHODS: The existing heat lamps are the ones of general light stands covered with newspaper, having 60 watt light bulb of incandescence and lampshade made of aluminum. We have tried to improve shortcomings of the existing heat lamps by enlarging the size of aluminum lampshade and attaching a curtain that can block heat and light. We conducted a comparative study between the existing and improved heat lamps. Under the assumption that there are several affected parts, we have also measured the distance from heat lamp to patients' eye region and then intensity of illumination. RESULT: The target temperature of surface was realized in 11 minutes with the maximum temperature reaching at 36.6 degrees C in 28 minutes at the existing heat lamp while the target temperature reached in 7 minutes with the maximum temperature reaching at 39.0 degrees C in 17 minutes at the improved heat lamp. The existing and improved heat lamp showed 38 lx and 0.1 lx of intensity of lumination, respectively. CONCLUSION: Using improved heat lamps, we can keep an appropriate temperature and we think we can make contribution to patients' treatment by making them and their neighbors able to sleep with minimized disturbance thanks to low intensity of illumination secured by blocking light.