[en] Mortality rates of irradiated adults of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum DuV., and the grain weevil, Stophilus granarius L., kept after the treatment with food or without food , were very similar to those of nonfeeding and nonirradiated insects. Early death of the irradiated beetles was caused by the starvation, as a result of the loss of digestive function of the midgut, severely affected by the irradiation treatment. (author)

[en] A survey was conducted with the objective to determine the level of public knowledge and awareness in tissue banking. From 233 respondents of 62.2% male and 37.8% female, only 44.6% have heard about tissue banking in Malaysia, mainly from newspapers and mass media, and only 11.6% realised the existence of the two tissue banks i.e at MINT, Bangi and USM, Kubang Kerian. However, higher percentage of respondents were aware of donation for both organs (56.2%) and tissues (51.1%). When asked about donating, 54.5% were willing to donate after death and surprisingly only 39.9% as life donors. On the contrary, 71.7% were willing to accept tissue grafts for clinical treatment and transplantation. The findings suggest that more aggressive publicity on tissue banking is necessary and more detailed information have to be made known especially regarding the 'fatwa' in particular for the Muslims and the Human Tissue Act 1974 for the general public. This may lead to even better response to the tissue donation programme which is being planned. Most of the respondents congratulated both tissue banks in our effort to develop indigenous expertise in this interesting new venture with high appreciation to our social and welfare obligations

[en] The installation for sterilization of disposal medical goods based on the ILU electron accelerators Are described. The industrial installation is running where the syringes are sterilized in consumer packs directly by the electron beam having energy of 2.6 MeV. The different irradiation technologies for immobilization of enzymes, production of medical preparations and gels for medical and technical applications are described. (author)

[en] Trade in food and agricultural products is important to all countries, the economies of many developing countries would be significantly improved if they were able to export more food and agricultural products. Unfortunately, many products can not be traded because they are infested with, or hosts to, harmful pests, contaminated with microorganisms, or spoil quickly. Foods contaminated with microorganisms cause economic losses, widespread illness and death. Several technologies and products have been developed to resolve problems in trading food and to improve food safety, but none can provide all the solutions. Irradiation is an effective technology to resolve technical problems in trade of many food and agricultural products, either as a stand- alone technology or in combination with others. As a disinfestation treatment it allows different levels of quarantine security to be targeted and it is one of few methods to control internal pests. The ability of irradiation virtually to eliminate key pathogenic organisms from meat, poultry, and spices is an important public health advantage. In addition to controlling pests and eliminating harmful bacteria, irradiation also extends the storage life of many foods. In the laboratories of Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, many research projects were completed on the effects of gamma irradiation to the storage life of chicken meat, anchovy, Turkish fermented sausage, dried and fresh fruits and vegetables and also research projects were conducted on the effects of gamma irradiation on microorganisms (Salmonella, Campylo-bacteria, E.coli and S.aureus in white and red meat) and parasites (food-borne, trichostrongylus spp. and Nematodes spp.)

[en] Anther and somatic tissue culture in combination with mutagenesis were carried out to evaluate the efficiency of different mutagenic treatments of various in vitro culture materials, and to obtain some promising variants for rice improvement. Results indicated that in japonica rice radiation treatment of dry seeds and young panicles influenced the percentage of green plantlets regeneration from anther culture. Both treatments increased significantly the percentage of regenerated green plantlets in comparison with the control. Irradiation with 30 Gy of rice callus increased also the percentage of regenerated green plantlets. For indica rice, the combination of the suitable dose of gamma rays irradiation on seeds and an improved medium, increased the percentage of callus induction. This approach made it possible to use anther culture in indica rice breeding. Somatic tissue cultures combined with radiation-induced mutagenesis led to the development of a number of promising mutants including some new cytoplasm-nucleus interacting male-sterile lines with almost 100% stigma exertion. Their development would be of practical significance for increasing the genetic diversity for production of hybrid rice. (author)

No abstract available

[en] Seeds of three cultivars of broad beans were subjected to germination at 25 deg. for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Also, three sets of experiments were germinated for 48 hour se and each one was subjected to different concentrations of gibberellin (100), 200 ppm) as growth regulator. Significant levels of variation were found in the contents of vicine and con vicine during seeds germination. Meanwhile, a complete disappearance of raffinose, scythe's and verbascose (the flatus factors in broad beans) were observed. No significant differences were found in the non-flatulent sugars, protein, ash and oil in the un germinated and germinated seed. (authors). 19 refs., 3 tabs

[en] Field trial was conducted at two locations of the semi-arid region of Morocco with an objective of estimating the N balance for the applied urea to wheat under two different agroecological zones. N-15 labelled urea was applied in microplots (1 m x 1 m) at tillering stage at rates of 0,40,80, and 120 kg/ha. Soil and plant samples were analyzed for N-15 excess. An average of 45% increase in grain yield of wheat was due to fertilization with 60 kg N/ha. Recovery of N-15 labelled N ranged between 28.8 and 45.1% for the rate of 40 kg N/ha. Results suggested that efficiency of the applied fertilizer is governed by seasonal rainfall and soil properties

[en] Dried fruits and nuts were assessed for insect and nutritional losses, during 3-12 months storage, under controlled laboratory conditions. Losses were generally storage and commodity dependant. The insect progeny production and percent weight loss, caused by Tribolium castaneum (herbs), in all the commodities, varied from 10 - 120.75 and 0.78 -28.34, respectively. In nutritional aspect, colour, acidity and ascorbic acid decreased while reducing sugars increased during storage. The results based on all parameters showed that during 12 months storage, almond, groundnut, pine nut, walnut and chickpea suffered significantly higher P< 0.05) losses (9.01 - 28.34%) as compared to fig, apricot, date, raisin and mulberry (1.09 - 1.81%). (author)

[en] Chromium speciation was investigated in the liver cytosol, serum and urine of normal and diabetic rats after a single intravenous injection of enriched stable isotope ⁵⁰Cr tracer solution. Sephadex G-25 gel chromatography combined with instrumental neutron activation analysis was used to isolate and characterize protein-bound chromium in the above materials. The results indicate that Cr is mainly combined with a high-molecular-weight protein either in liver cytosol or serum. A low-molecular-weight, Cr-containing compound (LMWCr) was found in all the observed liver, serum and urine samples of both normal and diabetic rats. Chromium is excreted chiefly as LMWCr in urine. (author)