Physicochemical Properties and Antioxidant Potential of Tateishi Kazu Vegetable Soup

Many industrialized areas of the world demand for the nutraceuticals due to rapidly growing health risks linked with higher consumption of processed foods. Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup or miracle soup is widely consumed around the world because of its nutraceutical properties. In the current research, the Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup was made from both organic and nonorganic sources, such as carrot, burdock root, shiitake mushroom, daikon radish, and radish leaves. We analyzed colour, antioxidant properties, cell viability, and mineral and free amino acid contents of both soups. The L ∗ a ∗ b and pH values revealed no drastic changes in the colour of the organic soup stored for 96 hours. The essential amino acids were present in higher amounts in an organic soup compared to the nonorganic soup. Similarly, the total mineral contents of the organic soup were higher than the nonorganic soup; however, potassium was the major mineral in both soups. Higher phenolic contents with elevated 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were noticed in organic soup. Moreover, both soups showed considerable reduction in cell viability of HepG2 cells tested through the MTT assay. From the present study, we concluded that the organic Tateishi Kazu vegetable soup can be of great importance to food industry due to the presence of viable nutrients and pharmacological properties.

Combination of vegetable soup and glucan demonstrates synergistic effects on macrophage-mediated immune responses

Vegetable soup (VS), a plant-based functional food, has been used as a traditional folk medicine and is attracting attention for its ability to enhance the immune response. β-Glucan, a well-established and effective immunomodulator, has synergistic effects when used in combination with some bioactive compounds. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the synergistic immunomodulatory effects of the combination of VS and β-glucan on macrophage-mediated immune responses. β-Glucan was demonstrated to synergistically enhance the VS-stimulated immune response, including the production of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and nitric oxide, mainly through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in macrophages. In addition, this combination has the potential for further development in functional foods with immune-enhancing activity.

Optimization of Extrusion Conditions and Cooked Vegetable-Chicken Mixture for Instant Banana-Vegetable Soup Powder

Instant soups are preferred by consumers for their flexibility in preparation and longer storage life. Extrusion cooking is one of the recent developments reported to improve nutrient content of soups. However, little information is available regarding use of extrusion cooking in development of banana vegetable soups. This study investigated the use of extrusion cooking in production of instant banana-vegetable soup. The moisture content was varied using a chicken broth prepared from chicken wings and spicy vegetables (thyme, rosemary, parsley, etc.) to improve flavor and acceptability of the extruded product. The mixture of Banana : Amaranths: pumpkins : mushrooms : carrots =40.84:40.84:9.24:3.76:5.34 was extruded at different moisture content (10–20%) and barrel temperature (100-180°C) and the effect on product responses; reconstitution potential, vitamin A retention, vitamin C, total fat among other parameters were investigated at constant screw speed (45Hz) and feed rate (50 Hz) to produce an instant banana-vegetables soup. The optimum extrusion temperature and moisture were 123.3oC and 10.122%, respectively. The optimal product had a mixture formulation of 60% extruded flour and 50% vegetable flour with chicken level at 16.6%. The overall acceptability score, fiber content, fat content, ash content, vitamin C and vitamin A values of the optimum flour were 7.1, 6.8%, 11.2%, 4.92%, 19.4 g/100 g and 1.21 mg/100 g, respectively.

Mixed Consistencies in Dysphagic Patients: A Myth to Dispel

Only limited and inconsistent information about the effect of mixed consistencies on swallowing are available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the location of the head of the bolus at the swallow onset, the risk of penetration/aspiration, and the severity of post-swallow pharyngeal residue in patients with dysphagia when consuming mixed consistencies. 20 dysphagic patients underwent a Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) testing five different textures: liquid, semisolid, solid, biscuits-with-milk and vegetable-soup. The location of the head of the bolus at the onset of swallowing was rated using a five-points scale ranging from zero (the bolus is behind the tongue) to four (the bolus falls into the laryngeal vestibule), the severity of penetration/aspiration was rated using the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS), the amount of pharyngeal residue after the swallow was rated using the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale (YPRSRS) in the vallecula and pyriform sinus. When consuming biscuits-with-milk and liquid the swallow onset occurred more often when the boluses were located in the laryngeal vestibule. Penetration was more frequent with biscuits-with-milk, while aspiration was more frequent with Liquid, followed by biscuits-with-milk and vegetable-soup, Semisolid and Solid. In particular, no differences in penetration and aspiration between liquids and biscuits-with-milk were found as well as among vegetable-soup, semisolid and solid. No significant differences in the amount of food residue after swallowing were demonstrated. The risk of penetration-aspiration for biscuits-with-milk and liquid is similar, while the risk of penetration-aspiration is lower for vegetable-soup than for liquid.

Ẹnu dùn ń rò’fọ́…: Theatre design, audience cognition and dramatic adaptation of Fagunwa’s texts

The stage performance of Langbodo, a play, which Nigerian dramatist Wale Ogunyemi adapted from Soyinka’s The Forest of a Thousand Daemons, which, in turn, is a translation of D. O. Fagunwa’s prose, Ògbójú Ọdẹ Nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀. 'The bold hunter in the daemon-infested forest', exposed the limitation of the text as a bearer of meaning in the theatrical adaptation context. The limitation is analysed in this work to justify the centrality of adaptation in bridging the text-design-audience semiotic gap. This study examines the technical challenges of theatre design in D. O. Fagunwa’s works resulting from their adaptation as drama. The Yoruba apothegmatic idiom, Ẹnu ‘dùn ń rò’fọ́, agada ọwọ́ ṣeé ṣán’ko (which means, literally, that ‘vegetable soup can be prepared orally if a mere hand suffices for a cutlass’), a traditional derision for the inadequacies of the text, and the Barthesian notion of intertextuality serve as a dual theoretical structure in this study. A combination of methodologies including participant observation and ethnographic approach suffice for the retrieval and analysis of performance materials, respectively. Therefore, the study contends that the process of stage adaptation in Wale Ogunyemi’s play, Langbodo, used the technical contributions of theatre design, as a catalyst for connecting Fagunwa’s ideas to the final audience.

Kerikil as a Diversified Product from Melinjo Skin For Economic Improvement of the Community on Kadu Agung Village [Kerikil sebagai Produk Diversifikasi Olahan Kulit Melinjo untuk Peningkatan Ekonomi Masyarakat Desa Kadu Agung]

Kadu Agung Village is a mountainous region, the natural wealth of which is agricultural and plantation commodities. The particular one of them is melinjo fruits reaching 60 tons of yield per year. People commonly consume melinjo's leaves as well as the seeds for their daily diets. They cook the leaves for vegetable soup and process the seeds, named tangkil, to be melinjo chips but they waste the fruit skins, kulit tangkil, It is out of question that during harvest season, tons of melinjo skins are dumped in Kadu Agung. Based on this fact, the community service program will carry out a training food diversification to process melinjo skins, kulit tangkil, into a new product that is crackers, named Kerupuk Kulit Tangkil (Kerikil). The method of this activity used is pre-implementation, implementation, and post-implementation. The results of this study are melinjo skin cracker products with good packaging to lift up their selling value. and the improvement of the economy in Kadu Agung of Gunung Sari, Serang.