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INTRODUCTION:International guidelines suggest different possibilities for drying of endoscopes during reprocessing. Clinical results of these available drying methods are not satisfactory. The aim of this study was to compare the drying cycle of a standard endoscope washer-disinfector (EWD) (standard drying method [SD]) with a shortened mandatory drying by the EWD followed by a special drying device using laminar and turbulent air flow (novel drying method [ND]).METHODS:Sixty endoscopes (duodenoscopes, colonoscocopes, and gastroscopes) from 3 different manufacturers underwent high-level disinfection and drying depending on the randomization group. Operational time of drying was measured for both groups. Residual fluid in the channels was measured using a laboratory scale. After a 14-day storage period, a sample of the endoscope channels was obtained to determine bacterial contamination.RESULTS:ND had significantly fewer residual water in endoscope channels (SD: 90% vs ND: 0%; P < 0.001) after high-level disinfection and drying and less bacterial contamination after storage for 14 days (SD: 47% vs ND: 20%; P = 0.028). Time consumed for drying in ND was also significantly shorter (SD: 16 minutes 4 seconds vs ND: 5 minutes 59 seconds; P < 0.001).DISCUSSION:Drying with a special automatic drying device was superior compared with an EWD's drying program as evidenced by no measurable residual water, reduced microbiological contamination, and a more than 2-fold decrease in operational time. Thus, drying by laminar and turbulent airflow may represent an attractive alternative to the currently used standard approach in the reprocessing process of flexible endoscopes.

In this review, recent advances in the methods of pre-treatment of plant material for the extraction of secondary metabolites with high biological activity are presented. The correct preparation of the material for extraction is as important as the selection of the extraction method. This step should prevent the degradation of bioactive compounds as well as the development of fungi and bacteria. Currently, the methods of preparation are expected to modify the particles of the plant material in such a way that will contribute to the release of bioactive compounds loosely bonded to cell wall polymers. This review presents a wide range of methods of preparing plant material, including drying, freeze-drying, convection drying, microwave vacuum drying, enzymatic processes, and fermentation. The influence of the particular methods on the structure of plant material particles, the level of preserved bioactive compounds, and the possibility of their release during the extraction were highlighted. The plant material pre-treatment techniques used were discussed with respect to the amount of compounds released during extraction as well their application in various industries interested in products with a high content of biologically active compounds, such as the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries.

Summary The application of beneficial, plant‐associated microorganisms is a sustainable approach to improving crop performance in agriculture. However, microbial inoculants are often susceptible to prolonged periods of storage and deleterious environmental factors, which negatively impact their viability and ultimately limit efficacy in the field. This particularly concerns non‐sporulating bacteria. To overcome this challenge, the availability of protective formulations is crucial. Numerous parameters influence the viability of microbial cells, with drying procedures generally being among the most critical ones. Thus, technological advances to attenuate the desiccation stress imposed on living cells are key to successful formulation development. In this review, we discuss the core aspects important to consider when aiming at high cell viability of non‐sporulating bacteria to be applied as microbial inoculants in agriculture. We elaborate the suitability of commonly applied drying methods (freeze‐drying, vacuum‐drying, spray‐drying, fluidized bed‐drying, air‐drying) and potential measures to prevent cell damage from desiccation (externally applied protectants, stress pre‐conditioning, triggering of exopolysaccharide secretion, ‘helper’ strains). Furthermore, we point out methods for assessing bacterial viability, such as colony counting, spectrophotometry, microcalorimetry, flow cytometry and viability qPCR. Choosing appropriate technologies for maintenance of cell viability and evaluation thereof will render formulation development more efficient. This in turn will aid in utilizing the vast potential of promising, plant beneficial bacteria as sustainable alternatives to standard agrochemicals. Biostimulants and biopesticides based on non‐sporulating bacteria are of great interest in agriculture, but their low shelf life and efficacy under field conditions is often a limiting factor to practical application. Protective formulations are thus necessary. A range of methods to maintain and monitor cell viability is presented to decide on suitable approaches for formulation development.

Aerogel‐based biomaterials are increasingly being considered for biomedical applications due to their unique properties such as high porosity, hierarchical porous network, and large specific pore surface area. Depending on the pore size of the aerogel, biological effects such as cell adhesion, fluid absorption, oxygen permeability, and metabolite exchange can be altered. Based on the diverse potential of aerogels in biomedical applications, this paper provides a comprehensive review of fabrication processes including sol‐gel, aging, drying, and self‐assembly along with the materials that can be used to form aerogels. In addition to the technology utilizing aerogel itself, it also provides insight into the applicability of aerogel based on additive manufacturing technology. To this end, how microfluidic‐based technologies and 3D printing can be combined with aerogel‐based materials for biomedical applications is discussed. Furthermore, previously reported examples of aerogels for regenerative medicine and biomedical applications are thoroughly reviewed. A wide range of applications with aerogels including wound healing, drug delivery, tissue engineering, and diagnostics are demonstrated. Finally, the prospects for aerogel‐based biomedical applications are presented. The understanding of the fabrication, modification, and applicability of aerogels through this study is expected to shed light on the biomedical utilization of aerogels. Aerogel‐based biomaterials are increasingly being considered for biomedical applications due to their unique properties such as high porosity, hierarchical porous network, and large specific pore surface area. Based on the diverse potential of aerogels, this paper provides a comprehensive review of fabrication processes, materials, and additive manufacturing along with the biomedical application utilizing aerogel technology.

In the current study, a modified solar dryer (SD) integrated automatic solar collector tracker (ASCT) was used for drying tomato fruit (TF) at three slice thicknesses of 4, 6, and 8 mm on both drying systems at three air speeds of 1, 1.5, and 2 m/s until reaching the equilibrium moisture content. Where the comparison study was conducted between the ASCT, and another SD integrated with a fixed solar collector (FSC). The obtained results of the current study showed that the maximum solar intensity and ambient air temperature during the test period were 900 W/m 2 , and 43.6 °C, respectively. As well as the highest efficiency of the PV system was 16.69% at the same time. On the other hand, the height, greatest diameter and smallest diameter of the TF used in the current study ranged between (4.6 and 5.2 cm), (3.5 and 4.2 cm), and (3.4 and 4.1 cm), respectively. As well as both the athematic and geometric diameters ranging between 3.87 and 4.47 cm and 2.26 and 2.38 cm, the sphericity values of tomatoes tend to have a round shape. In addition, the obtained results that there was no significant effect of the hot air velocities on the drying time, but the final moisture content (MC) decreased with increasing the hot air velocities. The lowest final MC was 6%, and it was recorded with a slice thickness of 4.0 mm that dried on SD integrated with ASCT. Additionally, color analysis showed that, the darkest tomato slices were dried on the SC integrated with FSC at a hot air velocity of 1.0 m/s. Meanwhile, the intensity of red and yellow colors significantly increased after drying with the SD integrated with ASDT. Furthermore, the chemical analysis of the dried tomato slices showed that the highest rehydration ratio of 4.43 kg water/kg dry matter was obtained for the dried tomato slices dried on SD integrated with ASCT at a hot air velocity of 1.5 m/s and a slice thickness of 8.0 mm. As well as the highest values of pH were monitored on the dried tomato slices on ASCT in comparison to the other tomato slices dried on FSC. Also, the highest ascorbic acid content recorded was 141 mg/100 g (d.b.) in tomato slices with an 8.0 mm thickness, dried using SD combined with FSC at an air velocity of 2 m/s. After drying, the total phenols content increased in all dried tomato samples but decreased with lower hot air velocities.

The drying process is a critical step in determining the quality of safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius L.). This study aims to systematically evaluate the effects of different drying methods on the chemical composition, color, morphology, odor, and microstructure of safflower dried petals, and to establish a comprehensive quality evaluation model for safflower based on machine learning. The results showed that drying methods significantly altered the chemical composition of safflower. Freeze-dried samples exhibited significantly higher levels of the active components hydroxysafflower yellow pigment A and anhydrosafflower yellow pigment B compared to other methods ( p < 0.05), presenting a bright orange color and a mild odor. Microscopic structure and morphological analysis indicate that freeze-dried safflower effectively preserves its morphological characteristics, with a clear arrangement of cells and lower overall shrinkage. Based on nineteen quality parameters, nine quality evaluation models for safflower were constructed. The multiclassification decision forest model achieved a prediction accuracy of 89.1%. The importance analysis of quality parameters revealed that the B, G, and R color features in the RGB color mode are the most critical indicators for evaluating safflower quality. This study provides key basis for optimizing the drying process of safflower. The comprehensive evaluation model established provides a technical foundation for intelligent evaluation and standardized control of safflower quality, which is of significant practical value for improving safflower quality and promoting the standardized development of the industry.

Two different drying methods (vacuum freeze-drying and hot-air drying) were used to dry mulberry of three varieties ’Baiyuwang’(D1), ’Longsang’(D2) and ’Zhongshen.1’(D3), and the fresh fruit of each variety was used as the control. The effects of different processing conditions on the physical characteristics, nutrients, functional components and antioxidant activity of mulberry fruit were analyzed. The results show that after different drying methods, after vacuum freeze-drying, the physical properties of dried mulberry fruit such as wettability, hygroscopic property and water retention, soluble protein, ascorbic acid and other nutrients, functional components such as polyphenols, resveratrol, chlorogenic acid and anthocyanin, and antioxidant activities such as DPPH free radical scavenging ability and ABTS free radical scavenging ability were superior to hot air drying (P < 0.01). It was concluded that vacuum freeze drying was more beneficial for retaining the original quality of mulberry than hot air drying. This study can provide a retaining theoretical basis for mulberry deep processing and comprehensive development and utilization.

Desiccation tolerance is an ancient and complex trait that spans all major lineages of life on earth. Although important in the evolution of land plants, the mechanisms that underlay this complex trait are poorly understood, especially for vegetative desiccation tolerance (VDT). The lack of suitable closely related plant models that offer a direct contrast between desiccation tolerance and sensitivity has hampered progress. We have assembled high-quality genomes for two closely related grasses, the desiccation-tolerant Sporobolus stapfianus and the desiccation-sensitive Sporobolus pyramidalis. Both species are complex polyploids; S. stapfianus is primarily tetraploid, and S. pyramidalis is primarily hexaploid. S. pyramidalis undergoes a major transcriptome remodeling event during initial exposure to dehydration, while S. stapfianus has a muted early response, with peak remodeling during the transition between 1.5 and 1.0 grams of water (gH₂O) g−1 dry weight (dw). Functionally, the dehydration transcriptome of S. stapfianus is unrelated to that for S. pyramidalis. A comparative analysis of the transcriptomes of the hydrated controls for each species indicated that S. stapfianus is transcriptionally primed for desiccation. Cross-species comparative analyses indicated that VDT likely evolved from reprogramming of desiccation tolerance mechanisms that evolved in seeds and that the tolerance mechanism of S. stapfianus represents a recent evolution for VDT within the Chloridoideae. Orthogroup analyses of the significantly differentially abundant transcripts reconfirmed our present understanding of the response to dehydration, including the lack of an induction of senescence in resurrection angiosperms. The data also suggest that failure to maintain protein structure during dehydration is likely critical in rendering a plant desiccation sensitive.

Lake Nasser in Egypt contains significant tilapia fish quantities, yet consumption remains low due to its geographical isolation from marketing and consuming areas. Therefore, investigating efficient and economical Tilapia fish drying methods is essential. The current study developed and tested a solar dryer based on solar energy collection, using evacuated tubes at three Nile Tilapia slice (NTS) thicknesses of 4, 8, and 12 mm, and an air velocity of 0.5 m/s. The obtained result of the solar dryer with evacuated tubes (SDET) was compared with the other results of the oven liquid petroleum gas (OLPG) as an industrial drying method. The results obtained showed that the air temperature inside the drying room of the SDET ranged between 44 and 75 °C. The average initial moisture content (MC) was 74.83% (w.b.). For both systems, the drying time ranged between 13 and 17 h at the same slice thickness. The effective moisture diffusivity was in the range of 0.87 × 10 –11 to 5.66 × 10 –11 m 2 /s. Furthermore, the mathematical modeling revealed the Modified Midilli (II) and Modified Henderson and Pabis models as the most suitable models to describe the drying behavior of NTS dried on SDET. On the other hand, the environmental analysis indicates that the developed SDET can mitigate approximately 273.6 tons of CO 2 during its lifetime, resulting in a carbon credit equivalent of approximately 19,838.89 $. Additionally, the economic analysis of the SDET showed that the annual production of dried fish was 450 kg; this may result in substantial cost savings, amounting to a total of 608.4 $ per year. Also, the developed SDET had a payback period of approximately 0.413 years or less than half a year.

This study investigates the drying behavior of potatoes using a hybrid solar dryer equipped with a Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) collector, Phase Change Materials (PCM), and Infrared Radiation (IR). Drying experiments were conducted at 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C under different PCM and IR configurations to evaluate drying kinetics, energy consumption, and product color quality. Energy and exergy analyses, along with assessments of drying time and color change (ΔE), were performed to identify the most efficient drying conditions. This study introduces a novel integration of PCM and IR in a hybrid solar drying system, providing a unique approach to optimizing energy efficiency, and product quality. The results demonstrated that PCM significantly improved the drying process by reducing drying time by an average of 5.3%, stabilizing the thermal environment, and enhancing both energy and exergy efficiency. The lowest Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) and shortest drying time were recorded at 60°C with PCM and IR, demonstrating the efficiency of this setup in reducing energy consumption while ensuring high drying performance. IR alone reduced drying time by 40%, accelerating moisture removal considerably. However, while the combination of PCM and IR enhanced thermal stability, it slightly prolonged drying time due to PCM’s heat absorption characteristics. Among the tested conditions, 60°C with PCM and IR was identified as the optimal setting, achieving the lowest SEC while minimizing drying time and color degradation. This study highlights the importance of integrating PCM and IR into solar drying systems to enhance efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and improve product quality. Future research should explore additional drying techniques, such as microwave and ultrasound-assisted drying, to further optimize hybrid solar drying systems.