In the mice, instillation of influenza virus A/Udorn/317/72(H3N2) intranasally resulted in a significant decrease in the pulmonary concentrations of catalase, reduced glutathione, and superoxide dismutase. There was a decrease in vitamin E level also. These effects were observed on the 5th day after viral instillation. Oral supplementation with quercetin simultaneous with viral instillation produced significant increases in the pulmonary concentrations of catalase, reduced glutathione, and superoxide dismutase. However, quercetin did not reverse the fall in vitamin E level associated with the viral infection. It is concluded that during influenza virus infection, there is "oxidative stress." Because quercetin restored the concentrations of many antioxidants, it is proposed that it may be useful as a drug in protecting the lung from the deleterious effects of oxygen derived free radicals released during influenza virus infection.

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In a monitoring study, the effects of household processing on removal of organophosphate residues (malathion, fenitrothion, formothion, parathion, methyl parathion and chlorpyriphos) in tomato, bean, okra, eggplant, cauliflower and capsicum were studied. The processes included washing separately with (water, 0.9 % NaCl, 0.1 % NaHCO₃, and 0.1 % acetic acid, 0.001 % KMnO₄, 0.1 % ascorbic acid, 0.1 % malic acid and 0.1 % oxalic acid and 2 % aqueous solution of raw Spondias pinnata (SP)) and boiling. Organophosphorous (OP) residues were estimated (for real market samples and spiked samples) using multi residue analytical technique employing with capillary gas chromatograph with mass spectrometry detector (GCMSD). In all of the vegetables, washing with different household chemicals reduced the residues by 20-89 % and boiling reduced the residues by 52-100 %. Boiling of vegetables was found to be more effective than washing in dislodging the residues.

Natural plant-based gums and their derivatives are widely utilized in food industries, however, their applications as edible coatings to extend fresh fruits and vegetable shelf-life has been explored recently. These natural polymeric polysaccharides have many advantages as compared to synthetic polymers, because they are biodegradable, nontoxic, economical and easily available in the environment. Natural gums can also be semi synthetically modified to produce derivatives, which can easily compete with the synthetic preservatives available on the food market. In this review, the recent developments in the use of natural gums and their derivatives as edible coatings have been explored and discussed.

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