Search

The present work is a part of our scientific project about the valorisation of the common dates grown in southern Algeria. The principal aim was to study the drying ability of the fruit pulp with the view to produce food powders, which can easily take the place of many synthetics ingredients (white sugar, colorant like caramel) in many food preparations. The specific structure of the date pulp was also described: presence of two edible constitutive tissues (outside pigmented and inside white) that can influence the technological proprieties (as drying) of the whole fruit. The pigmented and white part weights were significantly different (p [less than or equal to] 0.05). Results reveal the preponderance of white part, which can favourably influence the heat processing such as drying since the coloured pulp is already pre-browned compared with the white part. Hot air (60[degrees]C) and microwave (MW) (350W) drying kinetics of date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) pulp pieces from Mech-Degla variety were investigated. Colour change (browning) was also analyzed during these drying processes using absorbance measurement at 420nm of the hydro alcoholic extract from pulp pigmented part. The latter has a heterogeneous initial colour in the same fruit. Three shades can be noticed: yellow, beige and brown related to the optic densities (at 420nm) of 0.92, 1.5 and 1.93 respectively. The minimal moisture contents reached by means of MW and hot air drying are about 8 (during 5 min) and 5 % dry basis (during 165 min) respectively. On the other hand, the MW drying could be considered instantaneous but it involves a few scorched spots on pulp pieces what may be due to the non uniformity of the initial date pulp colour or to the inadequacy of the chosen power. In addition, the applied model strongly fit the experimental data for convective air drying ([R.sup.2] = 0.995; MRE = 6.71%) compared to MW drying ([R.sup.2] = 0.94; MRE = 18.4%) Key words: date, hot air, drying, microwave, INTRODUCTION There is an important genetic biodiversity of the date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) palm in the Maghreb region (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) with more than 1000 varieties [1]. Furthermore, the [...]

Recent studies have shown that in individuals who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the level of IgG antibodies decreased over time. In addition, the resurgence of the epidemic due to variants has led the authorities in several countries, including Morocco, to extend the third dose to the entire adult population. In this study, we included 43 healthcare workers (HCWs) who were vaccinated with three doses. They were vaccinated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 for the first two doses and with BNT 162b2 or BBIBP-CorV vaccine for the third dose. Humoral response was assessed on the day of injection of the third dose of vaccine and one month after the third dose by measuring anti-receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG levels. Seven months after the second dose, the median titer of anti-RBD IgG was higher in the group with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection than in the group with no history of infection (1038 AU/mL vs. 76.05 AU/mL, respectively, p = 0.003). One month after the third dose, a significant increase in median level of anti-RBD in both groups was observed: from 76.05 AU/mL to 6127 AU/mL in the group with no history of infection and from 1038 AU/mL to 14,412 AU/mL in the group with history of infection. Notably, the BNT 162b2 vaccine elicits a high titer of anti-RBD antibody compared to the BBIBP-CorV vaccine. Median antibody titers were 21,991 AU/mL and 3640 AU/mL for BNT 162b2 and BBIBP-CorV vaccines, respectively (p = 0.0002). 23% of HCWs were infected with SARS-CoV-2 within the first two months after the third dose injection. However, all these patients developed mild symptoms and tested negative by RT-qPCR between 10 and 15 days after the onset of symptoms. Our findings support that the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine significantly improves the humoral response and protects against the severe disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health threat. The kinetics of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) need to be assessed, as the long-term duration of these immunoglobulins remains largely controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal dynamics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) protein and the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein up to one year in a cohort of 190 COVID-19 patients. Between March and September 2021, we enrolled patients from two regional hospitals in Casablanca, Morocco. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for antibody levels. We used the commercial Euroimmun ELISA for the determination of anti-N IgM, the Abbott Architect™ SARS-CoV-2 IgG test for the detection of anti-RBD IgG, and an in-house kit for the assay of anti-N IgG and anti-N IgA. IgM and IgA antibodies were assessed 2-5, 9-12, 17-20 and 32-37 days after symptom onset. IgG antibodies were also assessed 60, 90, 120 and 360 days after symptom onset. One-third of patients developed IgM (32%), while two-thirds developed IgA (61%). One month of symptom onset, most patients developed IgG, with 97% and 93% positivity for anti-RBD IgG and anti-N IgG, respectively. The anti-RBD IgG positivity rate remained high up to one year of follow-up. However, the anti-N IgG positivity rate decreased over time, with only 41% of patients testing positive after one year's follow-up. IgG levels were significantly higher in older people (over 50 years) than in other study participants. We also found that patients who had received two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine prior to infection had a lower IgM response than unvaccinated patients. This difference was statistically significant two weeks after the onset of symptoms. We present the first study in Africa to measure the kinetics of antibody response (IgA, IgM and IgG) to SARS-CoV-2 over one year. Most participants remained seropositive for anti-RBD IgG after one year but showed a significant decline in antibody titers., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Amellal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Management of the COVID-19 pandemic relies on molecular diagnostic methods supported by serological tools. Herein, we developed S-RBD- and N- based ELISA assays useful for infection rate surveillance as well as the follow-up of acquired protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2. ELISA assays were optimized using COVID-19 Tunisian patients' sera and prepandemic controls. Assays were further validated in 3 African countries with variable endemic settings. The receiver operating curve was used to evaluate the assay performances. The N- and S-RBD-based ELISA assays performances, in Tunisia, were very high (AUC: 0.966 and 0.98, respectively, p < 0.0001). Cross-validation analysis showed similar performances in different settings. Cross-reactivity, with malaria infection, against viral antigens, was noticed. In head-to-head comparisons with different commercial assays, the developed assays showed high agreement. This study demonstrates, the added value of the developed serological assays in low-income countries, particularly in ethnically diverse populations with variable exposure to local endemic infectious diseases., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)