Category: B

Spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, aerobic to facultative aerobe, proteolytic. Saprophytic aerobic Gram-positive spore-bearing bacillus, shorter than B. anthracis. Found often in milk and cream, causing a failed methylene blue test. A gram-positive spore forming food pathogen that causes two types of food poisoning syndromes: emesis and diarrhea. Type 1, the emetic syndrome, is caused by the…

Rod-shaped bacteria, some of which cause disease by infecting the body. Bacilli can cause anthrax, a potentially lethal germ disease, as well as dysentery, tetanus, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. Short rod-shaped bacteria. They are the most common bacteria and produce diseases such as tetanus (lockjaw), typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and diphtheria. Bacilli, which are bacteria characterized by…

Enzyme in red blood cells for which flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD; derived from vitamin B2) is the essential cofactor. It converts oxidised to reduced glutathione, with reduced nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) as co-substrate. Activation of this enzyme in vitro from red cell extracts by added FAD provides a means of assessing vitamin B2 nutritional status,…

A short-chain saturated fatty acid (CTO). fatty acid, C3H7COOH, derived from butter but rare in most fats. It is a viscid liquid with a rancid odor; it is used in disinfectants, emulsifying agents, and pharmaceuticals.  

Salts of weak acids and bases that resist a change in the pH when acid or alkali is added. A mixture of compounds which, when added to a solution, protects it from any substantial change in pH. In pharmacology, a mixture of an acid and its conjugate base which, when present in a solution, reduces…

Mucus-secreting glands in the duodenum. Glands in the duodenum and jejunum [Described 1687. After Johann Konrad Brunner (1653-1727), Swiss anatomist at Heidelberg, then at Strasbourg.] Compound glands of the small intestine, found in the duodenum and the upper part of the jejunum. They are embedded in the submucosa and secrete mucus. Compound glands of the…

Metabolically highly active adipose tissue, which is involved in heat production to maintain body temperature, as opposed to white adipose tissue, which is storage fat and has a low rate of metabolic activity.  

The science of foods.  

Eating very slowly. Abnormal slowness in eating or swallowing.  

A degenerative brain disease in cattle, transmitted by feeding slaughter-house waste from infected animals. Commonly known as ‘mad cow disease’. The infective agent is a prion; it can be transmitted to human beings, causing early- onset variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Known colloquially as mad cow disease’, this is a fatal and untreatable disease. Along with scrapie…