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Friday, July 27, 2012

Ways in Preserving Food ; Promotion of Livelihood, Food Production, and Health through Cellular Activities

Ways in Preserving Food:
  • Cell membrane and cytoplasm are the structures directly involved in the preservation of food.
  • Cellular osmosis of water in cells can be clearly be illustrated through this process.
  • Food spoilage is primarily caused by organisms like bacteria and fungi. Factors like moisture and sometimes warm temperatures cause food spoilage because these are suitable conditions for the growth of microbes.
  • Microorganisms utilize the food by breaking them into smaller forms for them to absorb. This results in an undesirable taste and smell and changes in color of the food. In order to prevent spoilage, methods like sugar or salt to the food have been formulated. The method can cause the removal of water from the cytoplasm of the microorganism. These dehydrate the cells---removing water which is necessary for the survival of the microorganisms. The addition of sugar creates an unfavorable3 environment for the microorganisms.
 
Promotion of Livelihood, Food Production, and Health through Cellular Activities
  • Tissue culture is a process that involves exposing plant tissue to a specific regimen of nutrients, hormones, and light under sterile, in vitro conditions to produce many new plants, each a clone of the original mother plant, over a very short period of time. AgriForest's tissue culture plants are characterised by disease free growth, a more fibrous, healthier root system, a bushier branching habit, and a higher survival rate. There are three main steps to the tissue culture process:
    STAGE I is the initiation phase. It concerns the establishment of plant tissue in vitro by sterilising the material and initiating it into culture.

    STAGE II is the multiplication phase. At this stage, the in vitro plant material is re-divided and placed in a medium with plant growth regulators that induce the proliferation of multiple shoots. This process is repeated many times until the number of plants desired is reached.

    STAGE III is the root formation phase. It involves the introduction of hormones to induce rooting and the formation of complete plantlets.
    Following these three stages, the plants are then moved from the laboratory to the greenhouses for acclimatisation and further development.

    • Cancer Treatments
    Knowledge of the cell cycle and the proper physical and chemical treatments (chemotherapies) that interfere with the cell cycle, enable scientists and doctors to plot strategies for use against cancer cells.
    Chemotherapy is not simple, and still remains somewhat unpredictable. An ideal cancer solution would be to discover the abnormal conditions and correct them within the cancer cells. Cancer cell growth can be stopped, if cell cycle activities are blocked, inactivated, or shut down. Unfortunately, this is not done easily. The reason is simple — healthy dividing cells use essentially the same mechanisms for reproduction and division as cancer cells. Therefore, chemotherapy given to cancer patients shuts down normal hair, skin, mucosal, blood cell and other normal cell reproduction.


    • Delaying Ageing Process
    The Cells: Cellular activity starts to slow down over time. This affects all the systems of our body. Cellular changes cause physical changes to occur in people. Speed of decline is determined by many factors including lifestyle choices such as smoking, alcohol abuse, poor nutrition; exposure to sun, hormones, fitness, and genetics.

    HEALTH TIP: You can't change genetics, but you can make healthy lifestyle choices to delay aging or reduce the opportunity for ill health. Avoid tobacco products and alcohol abuse. Choose to eat healthy and nutritious foods and stay fit.

    • Stem Cell Technology
    Stem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.
     
    Stem cells (center ones) can develop into any cell type. They are valuable as research tools and might, in the future, be used to treat a wide range of diseases. Credit: Judith Stoffer
    The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.

     
    • The coordinated functions of  organelles keep the cell alive, thereby allowing the cell to perform its function.

    • The cell of the leaf has the ability to manufacture glucose molecules during formed from photosynthesis can form bigger starch molecules. These starch molecules are stored in plastids of plant cells called amyloplasts. Amyloplasts are most prominent in the roots and tubers of plant cells.

    • We get food from animals through the various cellular processes in animal cells. Meats from animals are good sources of proteins. The organelle responsible for the synthesis of proteins are the ribosomes.

    • Humans get essential vitamins from plants which synthesize vitamins.

    • Artificial insulin and other artificial hormones are manufactured using bacterial cells. The metabolism of these genetically engineered bacteria manufactures insulin and other substances which are needed by diabetics.