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Controlling insect pests through nano-based formulation of chemicals is one of the newly applied methods in IPM programs; however, the probable side impacts of nano-pesticides on non-target organisms need to be evaluated. In this study, deltamethrin and matrine were encapsulated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and chitosan (Cs), respectively, and their toxicity were investigated against Habrabracon hebetor Say using the contact method. According to the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spherical nanoparticles for both formulations were observed. The average hydrodynamic nanoparticle diameters for deltamethrin and matrine were 65 and 70.5 nm. The LC₅₀ values were 254.48, 334.90, 760.31 and 1021 mg L^-1 in PEG-encapsulated deltamethrin, commercial deltamethrin, Cs-encapsulated matrine, and commercial matrine, respectively. Exposing to the LC₃₀ of the commercial and nano-encapsulated deltamethrin significantly prolonged the total pre-adult period. The adults of H. hebetor in PEG-encapsulated deltamethrin treatment had the lowest longevity compared to other treatments and control. Furthermore, the sublethal exposure to the PEG-based nanoformulation of deltamethrin and commercial deltamethrin resulted in a significant reduction of the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r_m) (0.159 and 0.168 day^-1, respectively). Same trend was observed for the gross reproductive rate (GRR), net reproductive rate (R₀), and finite rate of increase (λ) of the parsitoid. Our findings indicate that the negative side effects of commercial and nano-based formulations of deltamethrin on H. hebetor should be considered in IPM programs.
 

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Encapsulation process is a method by which sensitive materials (core) are covered with polymeric materials (wall). As most encapsulation techniques need complicated equipments, long laboratory works and are expensive, therefore, in this study a new technique is utilized for producing microcapsules at a very short time and low cost. This technique is based on the difference between dielectric constants of core and wall materials as well as electromagnetic energy. Edible citric acid crystals (core) were combined with some coating materials such as salab, gum tragacanth, refined starch, sucrose, guar gum, agarose, gelatin, fibrosis carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), inulin, low and high methoxyl pectin (LMP & HMP), casein, and sorbitol at ratios about 1:2 up to 1:100 (core:wall). Each mixture was treated up to 600 seconds (depending on the type of wall materials) at various microwave power intensities (10–100 %). Afterwards, the prepared microcapsules were separated by distinct (with defined mesh No.) sieves and their apparent structure and quality were evaluated using binocular and their photographs were taken by a microscope equipped with digital camera. Our findings revealed that amongst the materials were examined only inulin, casein , LMP (9.5%), fibrosis CMC, and sorbitol were able to produce high quality as well as highly efficient microcapsules, respectively. In addition, the highest coating efficiency was seen at 100% microwave power intensity (1200W) at 1:10 mixing ratio. Moreover, the optimum microwave treating time for casein, inulin, fibrosis CMC, LMP (9.5%), and sorbitol was 400, 75, 400, 100, and 100 seconds, respectively.

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  Over the past few decades, microwave processing and its high potential capabilities has attracted food scientists where they preferred to replace the old and time-bearing prevalent methods with this swift and simple method. Application of microwaves for microencapsulation is an innovative and new method in which the core and shell were combined at an appropriate ratio and treated by microwaves in order to microencapsulate the core material by coating one. In this research, the citric acid powder at two various size (100–500 and <100 micron) was microencapsulated at different ratios (1:5 and 1:10) by casein and inulin, at various microwave powers (up to 1200 W) for 50 to 250 seconds. Findings of qualitative evaluation of microcapsules by laboratory binocular, scanning electron microscope photographs as well as particle size analysis illustrated that the optimum conditions namely ratio and microwave power for microencapsulation of citric acid by both casein and inulin were 1:10 and 1200 W with slightly different treating time where it was 150 and 50 seconds, respectively. In the next step, these two microcapsules along with uncoated citric acid powder as well as commercial microcapsules of citric acid were added to the ribbon type chewing gum and the sensory evaluation regarding texture, stability of sour taste and aftertaste was done by a semi-trained taste panel. The findings revealed that in terms of sour taste stability and aftertastes, the chewing gum containing citric acid microencapsulated with inulin had highest score whereas with regard to texture one treated with the commercial microcapsules gained the highest score. In addition, the lowest sensorial scores were belonged to samples which treated by citric acid microencapsulated with casein. Finally, for the first time on a real foodstuff the practical capability of this novel, simple, low cost, and rapid microencapsulation technique was confirmed.

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Backgrounds: Due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant Candida species, the discovery of new antifungal agents with minimum side effects is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the antifungal activity of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid against C. albicans as well as their effect on the expression of EFG1 gene.
Materials & Methods: In this laboratory trial study, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid against C. albicans was evaluated at various concentrations (400-625 and 1.3-50 μL/mL, respectively). Real time-PCR was performed to assess the expression level of EFG1 gene. Cytotoxicity effect of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid was evaluated on SW480 cell line using MTT test.
Findings: Antifungal activity findings displayed that MIC90 and MIC50 values of caprylic acid were 500 and 450 μg/mL, respectively, whereas MIC90 and MIC50 values of nano-encapsulated caprylic acid were 6.2 and 3.1 μg/mL, respectively. The expression of EFG1 gene significantly decreased in the groups treated with caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid compared to the control group. According to the cytotoxicity evaluation findings, the viability of cells treated with caprylic acid was significantly higher than that of cells exposed to nano-encapsulated caprylic acid.
Conclusions: According to the obtained results, nano-encapsulated caprylic acid successfully inhibited C. albicans growth at a lower concentration compared to caprylic acid. Overall, it was found that nano-encapsulated caprylic acid is a promising antifungal agent against Candida species; however, further studies are needed to be performed about nano-encapsulation of caprylic acid.

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  The probiotic, Lactobacillus acidophilus PTCC 1643 was encapsulated in calcium alginate beads with the objective of enhancing survival during exposure to the adverse conditions of the gastro-intestinal tract. The probitic was incubated in simulated gastro-intestinal conditions for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min. at 37 ^oC.  The survivability of the probiotic, L. acidophilus PTCC 1643 was expressed as the destructive value (D-value). Particle size distribution was measured using laser diffraction technique. bead appearance was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The alginate coat prevented acid-induced reduction of the probiotic in simulated gastric juice (pH 1.5, 2 h), resulting in significantly (P < 0.05) higher numbers of survivors due to retarding the permeation of the gastric fluid into the cells. After sequential incubation in simulated gastric (60 min) and intestinal juices (pH 7.25, 2 h), number of surviving cells were 6.5 log cfu ml ^-1 for encapsulated L. acidophilus while 2.3 log cfu ml ^-1 was obtained for free cells.

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Recently, the methods that improve essential oils (EOs) properties and make them appropriate to be applied as biorational pesticides have been regarded more precisely. The essential oils nanoformulation (EONF) is a promising strategy to develop and facilitate the applicability of the EOs in stored pest management. In this study, the toxicity, antifeedant and physiological effects of Mentha spicata L. and Mentha pulegium L. EOs and their NFs was investigated on the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). Characterization of nanocapsules using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the nanocapsules were spherical in shape with the average sizes of 56.91 and 98.99 nm for M. spicata and M. pulegium EONF, respectively. The encapsulation efficiency obtained was 95.47 and 86.03% for M. spicata and M. pulegium EONF, respectively. After 72 h, the LC₅₀ values of the EOs and NF of M. spicata were 18.422 and 9.279 µl/ml and 7.939 and 6.793 µl/ml for M. pulegium, respectively. The results confirmed that the feeding indices of T. castaneum were affected by the EOs and their NFs. In addition, both the EOs and EONF decreased the relative growth rate (RGR) and relative consumption rate (RCR) and had a moderate feeding deterrent activity on the adults of T. castaneum. The EOs and their NFs decreased the general esterase, acetylcholine esterase, α-amylase and general protease and increased the glutathione S-transferases activity of T. castaneum. The overall findings of this research suggest that the NF of the EOs (especially M. pulegium) can be used for an efficient control of T. castaneum. 

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Yog-ice cream (frozen yogurt), is a kind of frozen desserts which has similar features with ice cream in physical and apparent characteristics. In this study, frozen yogurt was produced as a synbiotic product containing both probiotics and prebiotics. Lactobacillus Casei(LAFTI-L26)as a probiotic bacteria was added to low fat frozen yogurt in two types;free and encapsulated,and its survivability was evaluated during 30 days storage at -18^oc.Prebiotic compound that was used in this study,was Inulin that added to frozen yogurt in different levels(0,2.5 and 5% w/w). The viable cell number of L.casei in the free state in prepared low fat frozen yogurt mixture, was between 9.801-9.779 log cfu/ml at the first day, and after 30 days storage at -18^oc,its viable number redused to 7.451-7.866 log cfu/ml. In samples of frozen yogurt containing L.casei that was encapsulated by sodium alginate-whey protein concentration(wpc),the viable cell number of L.casei was 8.150-8.661 log cfu/ml  at the first day that reduced to 6.650-7.477 log cfu/ml at the end of 30 days storage at -18^oc.Totally ,obtained results showed that encapsulation of lactobacillus casei in Alginate-Whey protein capsules, could significantly improve survivability of L.casei.(p<0.05) that the viable number of this bacteria in frozen yogurt containing encapsulated probiotic,was in the range of investigated levels by the International Dairy Federation(10⁶-10⁷ cfu/g).

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Probiotic potato chips as a dry product can distribute probiotics among consumars but so far sufficient studies hasnot done on the possibility of adding probiotics in kind of snacks yet.In this study, probiotic potato chips with two species of lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus rhamnosuswas produced by using of standard methods,then survival of mentioned probiotic bacteria was studied during storage of 4,21 and 38°C temperatures,covered packaging and non-covered packaging in two weeks.Microencapsulation of two mentioned species carried out with arabic gum and gelatin.Results have shown that population of viable bacteria was reduced during 14 days. Stored samples at 4,21 and 38°C temperatures had significant difference (p≤0.01). Stored samples in two type of packaging had significant difference too (p≤0.01). Probiotic potato chips was stored in covered packaging at 38°C temperature hadmaximiumviability. Population of viable probiotics per each gram was higher than 10⁶ and it was according to recommened content by FDA. By adding probiotic bacreia more than applied content, we can reach to a desirable standard in final product.    

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Structured polymer fibres with a diameter of about several micrometers to a few nanometres have attracted considerable attention in various scientific fields. Among the various methods applied to produce the fibre, electrospinning is proposed as one of the novel techniques. In this method, the non-woven structures are produced by applying electrical field to the polymer solution and due to the solvent evaporation. In the electrospraying method (as a branch of the electrospinning technique), the manufacturing process of the fibre production shifts to the production of capsules and thus conditions are provided for other varied applications of this technique. The electrospun fibres are applied in the processes such as filtration, tissue engineering, drug and nutraceutical targeted delivery as well as reinforcement of composite systems. In this comprehensive paper, relying on the experiences of the author, the introduction of electrospinning, the method of its implementation, and its potential applications in the food industry as well as the prospect of this technique in the industry will be discussed. Indeed, the entrances of this new approach to the food industry can induce significant alterations in this area of science.

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Background: In recent years, the use of medicinal plants has increased significantly. Essential oils are one of the most important secondary metabolites in plants with promising potentials to promote health. Paying attention to the quality and effectiveness of medicinal plant products is important. Use of free essential oils due to volatility, low stability, poor solubility in water and low bioavailability, limit both their use and effectiveness. The most important tool to increase the quality of essential oil is the use of nanoparticles as carriers. This study aimed to investigate the nanoencapsulation of essential oils of medicinal plants and its effect on increasing the stability of essential oils and improving the quality of drug delivery systems. Method: In the present study, the data of scientific research articles have been used to investigate the use of nanoparticles in increasing the effectiveness of the essential oils. Findings: Drug-carrier nanoparticles include various materials such as nano polymers, dendrimers, etc. that can have different morphology and sizes depending on their synthesis method. Technology of nanoencapsulation of essential oils is used to increase stability, purposefulness and control the release time of essential oil in the human. One of the advantages of targeted drug delivery is the accurate and intelligent accumulation of essential oil as a drug at the target site, thus increasing the stability and pharmacological effects of the essential oil on the organs in the human. Conclusion: Nanocapsules containing essential oils of medicinal plants have significantly increased the effectiveness of essential oils in medical applications.

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Stem cells are characterized by their capacity for self-renewal and their ability to differentiate into specific cell types under the influence of their microenvironment. It is known that matrix chemistry controls stem cell differentiation. Single cell encapsulations of the Mesenchymal stem cells into a semi-permeable microgel, allows a greater control of the stem cell fate. In this study, a chip for single-cell encapsulation was designed and fabricated using microfluidic technology. By using microfluidic chip, human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) are encapsulated inside alginate and alginate-poly-l lysine (PLL) microgels. The results of long-term viability of MSCs inside alginate-PLL microgels, shows a significant increase compared to alginate microgels. Mesenchymal stem cell proliferation in alginate-PLL microgels also increased significantly on days 14 and 21. It seems that PLL improves cell adhesion and function by creating a positively charged matrix. Microscopic studies indicate that the morphology of the cells inside the microgels is spherical. However, the average diameter and volume of cells in microgels containing PLL are smaller than others, which indicates more proliferation and space limitation inside the microgels. Therefore, single cell alginate-PLL microgels provide a suitable substrate in clinical studies for tissue engineering, organ transplantation and cell therapy.

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Quercetin is a flavonoid, abundantly present in plants and has gained considerable interest for its antioxidant properties.  The present study was designed to assess and compare the influence of both free and nano-encapsulated quercetin on growth indices and survival in Penaeus vannamei. The ionic gelation method was used to prepare quercetin loaded nanoparticles (Qu-ChiNPs), and their characteristics were determined using DLS method. The finding related to the characterization of Qu-ChiNPs demonstrated that hydrodynamic size and Zeta potential were 160/1 nm and 33/8 mV, respectively, and in vitro release of drug from Qu ChiNPs illustrated burst release in the initial period. For feeding trial, shrimps with an average weight of 2/27 ± 0/18 g with 5 diets including: basic diet without Qu, Qu-Chi and Chitosan nanoparticles supplement (control), supplement with 0.5 g Querectin, 0.25 g Qu-Chi, 0.5 g Qu-Chi and 0.5 g Chitosan nanoparticles per kg of diet were fed. Shrimp were randomly divided into 5 groups, with 3 replicates in each group and 50 shrimp in each replicate. After a 2-month feeding period, results showed that final weight (Wf), weight gain (WG) and mean daily weight gain (ADG) of shrimp fed Qu-Chi 0.5 g were higher than the other treatments (P˂ 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in survival rate (SR) between treatments. The results showed that the use of Qu-Chi 0.5 g in the diet can have a positive effect on growth performance and survival of Penaeus vannamei.

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In the present research work, response surface methodology was used to achieve optimum condition to prepare orange peel oil – quince seed mucilage (QSM) and maltodextrin (MD) emulsion and using this emulsion in microencapsulation. For this purpose and in order to access stable emulsion, effect of three independent variables including orange peel oil concentration (15-25% w/w), QSM/MD (0.015-0.02) and solid concentration (QSM+MD)(25-35% w/w) on the three dependent variables including droplet size, creaming index and viscosity were investigated. Optimized emulsion (25% solid concentration, 0.02 QSM/MD and 0.025 orange peel oil concentration) were dried by freeze dryer, and were kept in three temperature (4, 25 and 42 °C) in order to investigation its stability during 6 week storage. The results showed that rheological properties of QSM, in particular its viscosity, had the highest effect on the stability and properties of emulsions and QSM could make quite stable emulsion over time. Also, our results revealed that half-life and release rate of encapsulated samples were significantly lower than control samples.

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Today, nutritious drinks enriched by probiotics find many importance and this importance is due to these bacterial role in prevention more multitude of infectious diseases. Synbiotic products are products that have probiotic and prebiotic components. the aim of the research was  study of industrial new juice production as synbiotic sour cherry juice and apple juice that inoculated with lactobacillus casei and lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria and inulin added as prebiotic. Physiochemical properties of produced juice under controlled conditions of preservation times 1,7,14, 21 and 28 day after production including  pH, Brix, Formalin index and Rheological properties were measured. Experimental results revealed that inulin addition motivate starter metabolic activity and cause increasing acidity and reducing pH. Brix of samples that have longer preservation time, reduces from 12.25 reduce to 12.15, and samples that prepared first day, had increased brix. Formalin index don't reduce meaningfully by considering encapsulation. Apple juice have minimum viscosity but sourcherry juice have high viscosity that depend on it's formulation and fruit component type. Totally, these results colud be planned for introducing synbiotic juice as new product with society culturing for it's consumption time like dairy family by considering industrial and economical view. We determined maximum expiration time one month by refer to physicochemical analysis. Also, samples that contain encapsulated micro-organisms have best expiration time toward others, and this time reduces in acidic fruits that physicochemical analysis of juice changes significantly from 21 th day later.

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In food products packed in hot filling mode, the use of probiotic bacteria is very limited due to thermal sensitivity. The microencapsulation of probiotic bacteria is suggested as a suitable method for reducing thermal damage. Dual layer extrusion using high molecular weight hydrocolloids, such as zedo gum, can prevent thermal damage. In this research, microencapsulation by two layers extrusion method was performed on Lactobacillus rhamnosus. The first layer was sodium alginate and the second was zedo gum at 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8%., was used. Microencapsulation was followed by light microscopy, texture and color analysis. Thermal stability, acid and salt stability, acid production tests and the growth of microencapsulated bacteria during storage conditions in MRS medium were investigated. The results showed that 0.8% zedo gum used as the second layer could significantly change the outer layer diameter. However, the increase of zedo concentration did not increase the hardness component. Only at 0.2% zedo gum had a significant difference with the rest (p<0.05). At 0.6% and 0.8% zedo gum increase in gumminess component wasobserved. At 72 ° C, the number of microencapsulated bacteria remained stable for 10 minutes, and at the 5th minute their count was about 5 log CFU‌/‌ml higher than free bacteria (p <0.05). The amount of acid production was lower and bacterial growth in the microencapsulated bacteria was slower than free bacteria. The microencapsulated bacteria had microbial survival of 2 log CFU/ml more than free bacteria the of 15% (pH = 1.5).

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In the present study, in order to identifying the composition of Sargassum sp. Extract, total carotenoid, phenolic and flavonoid compounds were measured by spectrophotometric method. The antioxidant activity of extract was evaluated by free radical inhibitory test (DPPH). Nanoencapsulation of the Sargassum sp. Extract was performed by freeze drying method with composed wall materials of maltodextrin (M) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) and the effects of nanocapsules on oxidation stability Sargassum sp. Extract and subsequently improvement its antioxidant effect on fish oil were assessed by determining of peroxide and para-anisidine during 15 days storage. The evaluations showed the mean values of 0.32 mg/g, 84.19 mg GA/Eg and 4.03 mg GA/Eg of carotenoids, phenols and flavonoids in the Sargassum sp. Extract, respectively. The emulsion prepared from mixture of algae extract and M+WPC was completely stable, and its viscosity and particle size was measured at 670 ± 4 mPa.s and 59.530±62.4 nm, respectively., Fish oil enriched with encapsulated Sargassum sp. Extract and TBHQ showed lowest level of peroxide value and para-anesidine among all treatments during 15 days storage. The highest levels of oxidation indexes were shown in fish oil and pure algae extract, respectively. The results of this study obviously showed that the encapsulation of extract of Sargassum sp. with composed wall materials of maltodextrin (M) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) was effective on improvement of its antioxidant properties stability.

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In this study, the feasibility of fabrication of nanoemulsions containing garlic extract to hide the unpleasant odor and keeping functional properties of them in order to promote their applications in food formulation was considered. For this purpose, the various formulations of nanoemulsions containing garlic extract using high energy method (water bath type ultrasonic) were produced and also, the effect of various ratios of garlic extract on droplet size, encapsulation efficiency, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, viscosity, electrical conductivity and turbidity of nanoemulsions was evaluated. Droplet size of various nanoemulsions ranged from 62 to 302 nm for water in oil nanoemulsions based on the dispersed phase ratio. The results of gas chromatography showed that the produced nanoemulsions were covered the volatile compounds of garlic extracts by a relatively high performance, but with an increase in the percentage of dispersed phase (garlic extract) from 5 to 25 percent, encapsulation efficiency was dropped from 89 to 80 % in water-in-oil nanoemulsion. Results from microbial test showed that water-in-oil nanoemulsions have a relatively low antimicrobial activity and they have only an inhibitory effect in high percent of garlic extract (25 %). Results of antioxidant activity by DPPH method cleared that water-in-oil nanoemulsions have a high free radical scavenging power. Also, the electrical conductivity of water-in-oil nanoemulsions was very low due to the oily continuous phase of nanoemulsions.

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The aim of the study was to determine the Suitable concentration of Arabic gum, sodium caseinate and beta-cyclodextrin to encapsulation of pomegranate seed oil. For this purpos Beta-cyclodextrin, sodium caseinate and Arabic gum as wall covering by Mixture Design for trapping pomegranate seed oil were used and Then optimized samples with the least turbidity to determine viscosity, encapsulation efficiency, SEM, FT-IR and DLS were choiced. Turbidity of treatments increased at high levels of sodium caseinate as well as in the combination of Arabic gum with beta-cyclodextrin in lack of sodium caseinate. Results of Viscosity showed that the sample containing beta-cyclodextrin-sodium caseinate had a high viscosity than the Arabic gum-sodium caseinate. The maximum encapsulation efficiency was observed in sample containing of sodium casheinate (37.1%) and Arabic gum (62.9%), which had the lowest surface oil. According to the results of DLS , the smallest capsule diameter was related to the sample containing of beta-cyclodextrin and sodium caseinate (439 nm), and had an inverse relationship the diameter of the capsules with the polydispersity index, and values of Zeta potential in the sample containing 62.9% Arabic gum + 37.1% Sodium caseinate was maximum (-25.7). FT-IR results showed the electrostatic interactions in the formation of capsules and their stability. According to SEM images, the capsules irregularly and different morphologically were formed. Therefore, according to the results, 37.1% sodium caseinate and 62.9% Arabic gum is suggested for encapsulation of pomegranate seed oil.