Authors' Contribution NM conceived and designed the study. NM and TM analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. PR improved the manuscript through valuable discussion and constructive comments. AA and SM participated in the fieldwork.
The fossil site Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon (DBAK) is located 35 km southeast from Chakwal district, Punjab, Pakistan. It has yielded a significant amount of fossil artiodactyls including five families: Bovidae, Tragulidae, Suidae, Giraffidae, and Anthracotheriidae. This site principally exposes Middle Miocene strata that have been dated approximately as 14.2–11.63 Mya. A detailed study was carried out on the fossils found at DBAK and 29 specimens have been described herein. The collection comprises isolated upper and lower teeth and fragments of mandibular ramii. Gazella lydekkeri, Elachistoceras khauristanensis, Dorcatherium majus, Listriodon pentapotamiae, Giraffokeryx punjabiensis, Giraffa priscilla, and Merycopotamus nanus have been described in this article. The newly discovered material is productive to understand the fauna of this Middle Miocene locality and it enhances our knowledge about the described species. Merycopotamus nanus have been reported for the first time from this locality. Palaeoenvironmental data indicates that the Miocene climate of Pakistan was most likely to be monsoonal. All the feeding habits and distribution of those animals suggested the presence of abundant forests, herbaceous, grassy, and bushy vegetation in the DBAK and its surroundings.
Probiotics are posing diverse applications to modify food constituents for health benefits of humans. There is an increasing trend to get insights into developments of new technologies to improve the food products. The present study explored the preservation effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as potential probiotics for improving the shelf life of GIFT Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). The probiotics addition in agar film exhibited a reasonable antioxidant activity and antimicrobial potency against some food‐borne pathogens such as H2S‐producing Pseudomonas sp. and luminescent bacterial colonies at 15°C. During storage, the physicochemical properties (pH) and microbial and sensory properties were evaluated. The study indicated that probiotics addition in agar film was found principal responsible for the inhibitory activity of total bacteria. Probiotics reduced the H2S‐producing bacteria due to which reduction in chemical spoilage was observed. The lactic acid bacterial counts were 4.5 log CFU/g in treatment F4 on day 10 and 15. H2S‐producing bacteria were 8.5–3 log CFU/g in F4. Enterobacteriaceae were 7–2 log CFU/g on day 10. Pseudomonas spp. was 3.5 log CFU/g in F4 on day 15. Total viable bacterial count was 9 log CFU/g in F4 on day 15. The pH was 6.8 in F4 at day 15, which indicate that decreasing in bacterial count was observed from control to treatment F4 which contain both probiotics. The colour of fillet was stable throughout the storage period in treatments. Thus, it may be concluded that films with probiotic could extend shelf life of tilapia fillets up to at least one week.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.