Automatic alkaloid removal system.

This alkaloid automated removal machine was developed at Instrumentation Laboratory, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Malaysia that purposely for removing the alkaloid toxicity from Dioscorea hispida (DH) tuber. It is a poisonous plant where scientific study has shown that its tubers contain toxic alkaloid constituents, dioscorine. The tubers can only be consumed after it poisonous is removed. In this experiment, the tubers are needed to blend as powder form before inserting into machine basket. The user is need to push the START button on machine controller for switching the water pump ON by then creating turbulence wave of water in machine tank. The water will stop automatically by triggering the outlet solenoid valve. The powders of tubers are washed for 10 minutes while 1 liter of contaminated water due toxin mixture is flowing out. At this time, the controller will automatically triggered inlet solenoid valve and the new water will flow in machine tank until achieve the desire level that which determined by ultra sonic sensor. This process will repeated for 7 h and the positive result is achieved and shows it significant according to the several parameters of biological character ofpH, temperature, dissolve oxygen, turbidity, conductivity and fish survival rate or time. From that parameter, it also shows the positive result which is near or same with control water and assuming was made that the toxin is fully removed when the pH of DH powder is near with control water. For control water, the pH is about 5.3 while water from this experiment process is 6.0 and before run the machine the pH of contaminated water is about 3.8 which are too acid. This automated machine can save time for removing toxicity from DH compared with a traditional method while less observation of the user.

Survivability of Vibrio cholerae O1 in Cooked Rice, Coffee, and Tea.

This study aimed to investigate the survival of Vibrio cholerae O1 in 3 types of preparation for cooked rice, Oryza sativa L., (plain rice, rice with coconut milk, and rice with ginger); coffee, Coffea canephora, (plain coffee, coffee with sugar, and coffee with sweetened condensed milk); and tea, Camellia sinensis, (plain tea, tea with sugar, and tea with sweetened condensed milk) held at room temperature (27°C). The survival of V. cholerae O1 was determined by spread plate method on TCBS agar. Initial cultures of 8.00 log CFU/mL were inoculated into each food sample. After 6 h incubation, significant growth was only detected in rice with coconut milk (9.67 log CFU/mL; P < 0.05). However, all 3 types of rice preparation showed significant growth of V. cholerae after 24 h (P < 0.05). For coffee and tea preparations, V. cholerae survived up to 6 h in tea with condensed milk (4.72 log CFU/mL) but not in similar preparation of coffee. This study showed evidence for the survivability of V. cholerae in rice, coffee, and tea. Thus, holding these food and beverages for an extended period of time at room temperature should be avoided.