A new genus and species of the subtribe Batrisina from western Sarawak, Bryantinus matangus gen. et sp. n., is described, illustrated, and compared with related taxa. In addition, examination of a small series of batrisine material from Thailand revealed a new country record for Cerochusa cilioceps Yin & Nomura, which was previously known only from the island of Hainan in southern China.

One major problem with frozen fruits is a loss of texture. Therefore this study investigated the effects of the freezing process on the freezing profiles, texture, and drip loss of apple, mango, cantaloupe, and pineapple fruit samples. All frozenthawed fruits varied in these three properties because of diversity in the fresh fruits. Mango had the highest total soluble solids content and the low...

A dynamic method was developed for kinetic model parameter estimation of ascorbic acid degradation during air-dehydration of pretreated (sucrose and sulphiting pretreatments) pineapple slices. Pineapple slices were pretreated in sucrose solution of 40% and 60% and SO2 solution of 1500ppm and 2500ppm SO2 respectively before air-dried in a cabinet dried for 10h at 700C temperature. Ascorbic acid ...

In recent years, with the growing complexity of global food supply chains and trade, food fraud, including adulteration of high value foods with cheaper substitutes, has become an increasingly important issue. A metabolomics approach can be applied to discover biomarkers that can be used to trace food adulteration. A study was undertaken to discover novel, potential biomarkers for the rapid det...

The loss caused by the so-called minor diseases is not usually considered of sufficient importance to warrant the adoption of control measures such as those used in combating major diseases; nevertheless it has frequently been asserted that if the total loss due to the activities of all minor diseases could be estimated it would probably amount to more than is imagined. Further, a disease which...

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) has been used to develop a methodology able to identify and quantify fermentable sugars present in the enzymatic hydrolysis phase of second-generation bioethanol production from pineapple waste. Thus, a low-cost non-destructive system consisting of a stainless double needle electrode associated to an electronic equipment that allows the implementatio...

INTRODUCTION Thyroid cancer is the most common among all endocrine malignancies. The worldwide prevalence of goitre in the general population is estimated at 4-7 percent and the incidence of malignancy in goitrous thyroid is about ten percent. It is postulated that goitrous thyroid is a precursor lesion to the development of malignant thyroid diseases. As Sarawak is a state well known for endem...

BACKGROUND Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis across Asia with approximately 70,000 cases a year and 10,000 to 15,000 deaths. Because JE incidence varies widely over time, partly due to inter-annual climate variability effects on mosquito vector abundance, it becomes more complex to assess the effects of a vaccination programme since more or less climatically ...