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Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 19/07/2025 -- Heat .

First idea in the scorching heat was to capture some heat haze , either for the roads , or cars with shimmer coming off of the roofs - could I find any - NO !!

Next idea was looking down the barrel of a heat gun - a crafter's tool a bit like a hair dryer with a super-charger , got a shot but very under whelming !!

Third idea a Scotch Bonnet Chilli one of the hottest chillies around could I find one locally - NO !!

So you will have to make do with the hottest chillies the local supermarket had , pretty tame by Scotch Bonnets standards which in turn is quite mediocre compared to the Carolina Reaper !!!!!!!!!!

 

The Scoville scale is a measurement of spiciness of chili peppers and other substances, recorded in Scoville heat units (SHU). It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component.

 

The scale is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, whose 1912 method is known as the Scoville organoleptic test . The Scoville organoleptic test is a subjective assessment derived from the capsaicinoid sensitivity by people experienced with eating hot chilis.

 

An alternative method, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), can be used to analytically quantify the capsaicinoid content as an indicator of pungency.

 

Unfortunately the obvious choice of a tune is The Red Hot Chili Peppers - not a group I like as a rule - but here is one of their tunes anyway --

 

youtu.be/GLvohMXgcBo?feature=shared

Viales de vidrio

Explore May 30, 2023 #500

Digital pinhole taken for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2021.

 

pinholeday.org/gallery/2021/index.php?id=77

Digital pinhole taken for worldwide pinhole photography day 2017.

 

pinholeday.org/gallery/2017/?id=634

Digital pinhole taken for worldwide pinhole photography day 2017.

Digital pinhole

Digital pinhole

Digital pinhole

If you like us follow on Facebook!

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Random Wednesday

 

Let's get some coffee! OK... but which one?!

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Digital pinhole HDR

Scoville rating:

In 2000, India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a Scoville rating of 855,000 SHUs and in 2004 a rating of 1,041,427 SHUs was made using HPLC analysis.

 

400(x) HOTTER Than Tabasco Sauce.

 

Digital pinhole taken for worldwide pinhole photography day 2016.

Digital pinhole taken for worldwide pinhole photography day 2016.

 

pinholeday.org/gallery/2016/index.php?id=141

Digital pinhole

Sikorsky S-76A N38PP and S-76B G-HPLC at Farnborough on 8th September 1990.

Captured by a Navy photographer to document the testing of an F16 fighter engine at NAS Pax River (a.k.a. Pawtuxet AFB, or the official name - Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland)

 

We set up in the "safety" of our work van, though if the engine blew, we woulda been more like canned hash.

The guys at the throttle were a bit better off, in a poured concrete, steel reinforced, pill-house with a 3" thick quartz window. But, even those guys still wore googles, ear protection, and throat mikes when the engine was hot .

 

Most of the time, I worked "the bench" at G.A.S. doin' GC and HPLC, but I also did my fair share of wet-work, and sampling.

 

On this job, we did the sampling ourselves, for chain-of-possession (and other legal BS), but mostly to make sure we got it right.

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Digital pinhole using the Holga HPL-C.

Digital pinhole

It's biological, I've just messed around with it. One of those fractions contains some complex I

Digital pinhole

The Devaraja market in Mysore was built during the reign of Chamaraja Wodeyar IX (1868 – 1894). It is said that there was at this place a small weekly market which may have been as old as the origin of the city itself.

_______________________

 

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone (4-MMC) or 4-methylephedrone, is a synthetic stimulant drug of the amphetamine and cathinone classes. Slang names include drone,[5] M-CAT,[6] and meow meow.[7] It is chemically similar to the cathinone compounds found in the khat plant of eastern Africa. It comes in the form of tablets or a powder, which users can swallow, snort or inject, producing similar effects to MDMA, amphetamines and cocaine.

 

In addition to its stimulant effects, mephedrone produces side effects, of which teeth grinding is the most common. The metabolism of mephedrone has been studied in rats and humans and the metabolites can be detected in urine after usage. Despite similarities to known neurotoxins such as methamphetamine and cathinone derivatives, mephedrone does not appear to produce neurotoxic effects in the dopamine system of mice.[8]

 

Mephedrone was first synthesised in 1929, but did not become widely known until it was rediscovered in 2003. By 2007, mephedrone was reported to be available for sale on the internet, by 2008 law enforcement agencies had become aware of the compound, and by 2010, it had been reported in most of Europe, becoming particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom. Mephedrone was first made illegal in Israel in 2008, followed by Sweden later that year. In 2010, it was made illegal in many European countries and in December 2010, the EU ruled it illegal. In Australia, New Zealand and the USA, it is considered an analog of other illegal drugs and can be controlled by laws similar to the Federal Analog Act. In September 2011, the USA temporarily classified mephedrone as illegal, in effect from October 2011.

Mephedrone is one of hundreds of designer drugs or legal highs that have been reported in recent years, including artificial chemicals such as synthetic cannabis and semisynthetic substances such as methylhexanamine. These drugs are primarily developed to avoid being controlled by laws against illegal drugs, thus giving them the label of designer drugs.[9] According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the synthesis of mephedrone was first reported in 1929 by Saem de Burnaga Sanchez in the Bulletin de la Société Chimique de France, under the name "toluyl-alpha-monomethylaminoethylcetone",[1]:17[10] but the compound remained an obscure product of academia until 2003, when it was "re-discovered" and publicised by an underground chemist on The Hive website, working under the pseudonym "Kinetic".[11] Kinetic posted on the site, "I’ve been bored over the last couple of days and had a few fun reagents lying around, so I thought I’d try and make some 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-methylaminopropanone hydrochloride, or 4-methylmethcathinone." before going on to describe that after taking it, the user had a "fantastic sense of well-being that I haven’t got from any drug before except my beloved Ecstasy."[12] In interviews Kinetic was described as "a mathematician who used to design sleeping pills for a major pharmaceutical company" and he stated that he was based in Israel when he rediscovered mephedrone.[13][14]

 

A drug similar to mephedrone, containing cathinone, was sold legally in Israel from around 2004, under the name hagigat. When this was made illegal, the cathinone was modified and the new products were sold by the Israeli company, Neorganics.[15][16][17] The products had names such as Neodoves pills, but the range was discontinued in January 2008 after the Israeli government made mephedrone illegal.[5][18][19] The Psychonaut Research Project, an EU organisation that searches the internet for information regarding new drugs, first identified mephedrone in 2008. Their research suggested the drug first became available to purchase on the internet in 2007, when it was also discussed on internet forums.[9][20] Mephedrone was first seized in France in May 2007, after police sent a tablet they assumed to be ecstasy to be analysed, with the discovery published in a paper titled "Is 4-methylephedrone, an "Ecstasy" of the twenty first century?"[21] Mephedrone was reported as having been sold as ecstasy in the Australian city of Cairns, along with ethylcathinone, in 2008.[22][23] An annual survey of regular ecstasy users in Australia in 2010 found 21% of those surveyed had used mephedrone, with 17% having done so in the previous six months. The price they paid per gram varied from A$16 to $320.[3]

 

Europol noted they became aware of it in 2008, after it was found in Denmark, Finland and the UK.[24] The Drug Enforcement Administration noted it was present in the United States in July 2009.[25] By May 2010, mephedrone had been detected in all 22 EU member states that reported to Europol, as well as in Croatia and Norway.[1]:21 The Daily Telegraph reported in April 2009 that it was manufactured in China, but it has since been made illegal there.[26][27] In March 2009, Druglink magazine reported it only cost a "couple of hundred pounds" to synthesise a kilogram of mephedrone,[15] the same month, The Daily Telegraph reported manufacturers were making "huge amounts of money" from selling it.[28] In January 2010, Druglink magazine reported dealers in Britain spent £2,500 to ship one kilogram from China, but could sell it for £10 a gram, making a profit of £7,500.[12][29] A later report, in March 2010, stated the wholesale price of mephedrone was £4000 per kilogram.[30]

 

In March 2011, the International Narcotics Control Board published a report about designer drugs, noting mephedrone was by then being used recreationally in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia.[31][32]

 

In the UK[edit]

 

The number of samples analysed by the Forensic Science Service of seized MDMA, piperazines and cathinones between the third quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2010: MDMA seizures in blue, piperazine seizures in orange and cathinone seizures in purple[33]

Between the summer of 2009 and March 2010, the use of mephedrone grew rapidly in the UK, with it becoming readily available at music festivals, head shops and on the internet.[34] A survey of Mixmag readers in 2009, found it was the fourth most popular street drug in the United Kingdom, behind cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy.[30] The drug was used by a diverse range of social groups. Whilst the evidence was anecdotal, researchers, charity workers, teachers and users reported widespread and increasing use of the drug in 2009. The drug's rapid growth in popularity was believed to be related to both its availability and legality.[34]

 

Fiona Measham, a criminologist at The University of Lancaster, thought the emergence of mephedrone was also related to the decreasing purity of ecstasy and cocaine on sale in the UK,[34] a view reinforced in a report by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.[35] The average cocaine purity fell from 60% in 1999 to 22% in 2009 and about half of ecstasy pills seized in 2009 contained no MDMA,[36] and by June 2010 almost all ecstasy pills seized in the UK contained no MDMA.[37] A similar pattern was observed in the Netherlands, with the number of ecstasy tablets containing no MDMA rising from 10% in mid-2008 to 60% by mid-2009, with mephedrone being detected in 20% of ecstasy tablets by mid-2009.[38] The decrease of MDMA was thought to be partly due to the seizure of 33 tonnes of sassafras oil, the precursor to MDMA, in Cambodia in June 2008, which could have been used to make 245 million doses of MDMA.[12] According to John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's, University of London, the emergence of mephedrone was also related to the UK government banning the benzylpiperazine class of drugs in December 2009.[15][39] gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), another previously "legal high", was also banned in August 2009 despite concerns it would be replaced by other drugs.[40]

 

By December 2009 mephedrone was available on at least 31 websites based in the UK and by March 2010 there were at least 78 online shops, half of which sold amounts of less than 200 grams and half that also sold bulk quantities. The price per gram varied from £9.50 to £14.[1]:11 Between July 2009 and February 2010, UK health professionals accessed the National Poisons Information Service '​s (NPIS) entry on mephedrone 1664 times and made 157 telephone inquiries; the requests increased month on month over this period. In comparison over a similar time period, the entries for cocaine and MDMA were accessed approximately 2400 times.[41] After mephedrone was made illegal the number of inquiries to the NPIS fell substantially, to only 19 in June 2010.[42]

 

Media organisations including the BBC and The Guardian incorrectly reported mephedrone was commonly used as a plant fertiliser. In fact sellers of the drug described it as "plant food" because it was illegal to sell the compound for human consumption.[36] In late 2009 UK newspapers began referring to the drug as meow or miaow (sometimes doubled as meow meow or miaow miaow), a name that was almost unknown on the street at the time.[43] In November 2009, the tabloid newspaper, The Sun published a story stating that a man had ripped off his own scrotum whilst using mephedrone.[44] The story was later shown to be an online joke posted on mephedrone.com, later included in a police report with the caveat that it could be unreliable. The police report was used as a source for the story in The Sun.[45][46] Other myths the media often repeated during 2010 were that mephedrone had led to the deaths of over 20 people, teachers were unable to confiscate the drug from pupils and the government was too slow to ban the drug.[47] Parallels were drawn between the media coverage of mephedrone and a piece of satire by Chris Morris in 1997 on Brass Eye when he tricked public figures into talking of the dangers of taking the fictional legal drug "cake".[46] The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) have suggested that the media coverage of the drug led to its increased usage.[48] Jon Silverman, a former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent, has written two articles discussing how the media had a strong influence over the UK government's drugs policy, particularly in that the government wished to demonstrate they were being "tough" on drugs.[40][49]

 

A survey of 1000 secondary school pupils and university students in Tayside conducted in February 2010 found 20% of them had previously taken mephedrone. Although at the time it was available legally over the internet, only 10% of users reported purchasing it online, with most purchasing it from street dealers. Of those who had used mephedrone, 97% said it was easy or very easy to obtain. Around 50% of users reported at least one negative effect associated with the use of mephedrone, of which teeth grinding is the most common.[50] Detailed interviews with users in Northern Ireland similarly found that few purchased mephedrone online, with most interviewees citing concerns that their address would be traced or that family members could intercept the package.[9]

 

On 30 March 2010, Alan Johnson, the then Home Secretary, announced mephedrone would be made illegal "within weeks" after the ACMD sent him a report on the use of cathinones.[51][52] The legislation would make all cathinones illegal, which Johnson said would "stop unscrupulous manufacturers and others peddling different but similarly harmful drugs".[53] The ACMD had run into problems with the UK Government in 2009 regarding drugs policy, after the government did not follow the advice of the ACMD to reclassify ecstasy and cannabis, culminating in the dismissal of the ACMD chairman, David Nutt, after he reiterated the ACMD's findings in an academic lecture.[54] Several members resigned after he was sacked, and prior to the announcement that mephedrone was to be banned, the trend continued when Dr Polly Taylor resigned, saying she "did not have trust" in the way the government would use the advice given by the ACMD.[55] Eric Carlin, a member of the ACMD and former chairman of the English Drug Education Forum, also resigned after the announcement. He said the decision by the Home Secretary was "unduly based on media and political pressure" and there was "little or no discussion about how our recommendation to classify this drug would be likely to impact on young people's behaviour."[56] Some former members of the ACMD and various charity groups expressed concern over the banning of the drug, arguing it would inevitably criminalise users, particularly young people.[57] Others expressed concern that the drug would be left in the hands of black market dealers, who will only compound the problem.[58] Carlin's resignation was specifically linked to the criminalisation of mephedrone, he stated: "We need to review our entire approach to drugs, dumping the idea that legally-sanctioned punishments for drug users should constitute a main part of the armoury in helping to solve our country’s drug problems. We need to stop harming people who need help and support".[59]

 

The parliamentary debate was held on 8 April, one day after the 2010 general election had been announced, meaning it was during the so-called "wash-up period" when legislation is passed with little scrutiny. Only one hour was spent debating the ban and all three parties agreed, meaning no vote was required.[60] In an interview conducted in July 2010, when he was no longer a minister, Johnson admitted the decision to ban mephedrone was sped up after widespread reporting of deaths caused by the drug, and because the government wished to pass the law before parliament was dissolved prior to the upcoming general election.[40] In January 2011, however, Johnson told the Scunthorpe Telegraph that the decision was based only on information from the ACMD.[61] An editorial in the April 2010 edition of The Lancet questioned the decision to ban mephedrone, saying the ACMD did not have enough evidence to judge the potential harms caused by mephedrone and arguing that policy makers should have sought to understand why young people took it and how they could be influenced to not take it.[48] Evan Harris, then the Liberal Democrat science spokesman, stated the ACMD "was not 'legally constituted'" as required by the Misuse of Drugs Act, when the report on cathinones was published, since after Taylor resigned, it lacked a veterinary surgeon.[53] In the rush to make mephedrone illegal, the act that was passed specified the inactive enantiomer of mephedrone, leaving the active form legal until the loophole was closed in February 2011 by another act of parliament.[62] In Chemistry World, John Mann, professor of chemistry at Queen's University Belfast, suggested the UK create a law similar to the Federal Analog Act of the United States, which would have made mephedrone illegal as an analog of cathinone.[63] In August 2010, James Brokenshire, the Home Office drugs minister, announced plans to create a new category in the Misuse of Drugs Act, through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, that would allow new legal highs to be made temporarily illegal, without the need for a vote in parliament or advice from the ACMD, as was required to categorise mephedrone.[64][65][66]

 

According to the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, after mephedrone was made illegal, a street trade in the drug emerged, with prices around double those prior to the ban, at £20–£25 per gram.[67] In September 2010, Druglink reported the ban had had a mixed effect on mephedrone use, with it decreasing in some areas, remaining similar in others and becoming more prevalent in some areas.[68] In an online survey of 150 users after the ban, 63% said they were continuing to use mephedrone, half of those used the same amount and half said they used less. Compared to previous surveys, more users purchased it from dealers, rather than the internet. The average price per gram was £16, compared to around £10 before the ban.[69] The 2010 Mixmag survey of 2500 nightclubbers found one-quarter had used mephedrone in the previous month, the price had roughly doubled since it was made illegal, and it was more likely to be cut with other substances.[70] Of those who had already used mephedrone prior to the ban, 75% had continued to use it after the ban. Of the various drugs used by the survey participants, users were more likely to have concerns about it.[71] Interviews with users in Northern Ireland also found the price had roughly doubled since it was made illegal, to around £30 a gram. Rather than the price rising due to increased scarcity of the drug, it is thought to have risen for two other reasons. Firstly, dealers knew there was still demand for mephedrone, but were aware the supplies may be exhausted in the future. Secondly, the dealers perceived customers were likely to be willing to pay more for an illegal substance.[9]

 

Professor Shiela Bird, a statistician at the Medical Research Council, suggested the ban of mephedrone may lead to more cocaine-related deaths. In the first six months of 2009, the number of cocaine-related deaths fell for the first time in four years, and fewer soldiers tested positive for cocaine in 2009 than in 2008. She suggested this may have been due to users switching to mephedrone from cocaine, but cautioned that before full figures are available for 2009 and 2010, it will be difficult to determine whether mephedrone saved lives, rather than cost them.[72][73] Other supposedly legal drugs have filled the gap in the market since mephedrone was made illegal, including naphyrone (NRG-1) (since made illegal)[74] and Ivory Wave, which has been found to contain MDPV, a compound made illegal at the same time as mephedrone. However, some products branded as Ivory Wave possibly do not contain MDPV.[75] When tested, some products sold six weeks after mephedrone was banned, advertised as NRG-1, NRG-2 and MDAI, were found to be mephedrone.[76] A Drugscope survey of drugs workers at the end of 2012 reported that mephedrone use was still widespread in the UK and that there increasing reports of problematic users. It was being taken as not only a "poor man's cocaine" but also amongst users of heroin and crack cocaine. Cases of intravenous use were also reported to be on the increase.[77]

 

Effects[edit]

No formal published studies have been conducted into the psychological and/or behavioural effects of mephedrone on humans, nor on animals (from which the potential effects might be extrapolated). As a result, the only information available comes from users themselves and clinical reports of acute mephedrone toxicity.[1]:12 Psychologists at Liverpool John Moores University were to conduct research into the effects of mephedrone on up to 50 students already using the drug, when it was still legal in the UK.[78] At the time the study was proposed, Les Iversen, the chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs called the experiments "pretty unethical".[79] The study was discontinued in August 2010, following the change in the legal status of the drug.[80]

 

Intended effects[edit]

Users have reported that mephedrone causes euphoria, stimulation, an enhanced appreciation for music, an elevated mood, decreased hostility, improved mental function and mild sexual stimulation; these effects are similar to the effects of cocaine, amphetamines and MDMA, and last different amounts of time, depending on the way the drug is taken. When taken orally, users reported they could feel the effects within 15–45 minutes; when snorted, the effects were felt within minutes and peaked within half an hour. The effects last for between two and three hours when taken orally or nasally, but only half an hour if taken intravenously.[1]:12 Of 70 Dutch users of mephedrone, 58 described it as an overall pleasant experience and 12 described it as an unpleasant experience.[38] In a survey of UK users who had previously taken cocaine, most users found it produced a better-quality and longer-lasting high, was less addictive and carried the same risk as using cocaine.[2]

 

Side effects[edit]

The ECMDDA reported mephedrone can cause various unintended side effects including: dilated pupils,[81] poor concentration, teeth grinding, problems focusing visually, poor short-term memory, hallucinations, delusions, and erratic behaviour.[1]:13 They noted the most severe effects appear anecdotally to be linked with high doses or prolonged usage, and the effects may be due to users taking other intoxicants at the same time. Other effects users in internet forums have noted include changes in body temperature, increased heart rate, breathing difficulties, loss of appetite, increased sweating, discolouration of extremities, anxiety, paranoia and depression.[1]:13 When snorted, it can also cause nose bleeds and nose burns.[1]:13[82] A survey conducted by the National Addiction Centre, UK, found 67% of mephedrone users experienced sweating, 51% suffered from headaches, 43% from heart palpitations, 27% from nausea and 15% from cold or blue fingers,[83] indicative of vasoconstriction occurring.[41] Doctors at Guy's Hospital, London reported, of 15 patients they treated after taking mephedrone in 2009, 53% were agitated, 40% had increased heart rates, 20% had systolic hypertension and 20% had seizures; three required treatment with benzodiazepines, predominantly to control their agitation. They reported none of their patients suffered from cold or blue peripheries, contrary to other reports. Nine of the 15 of patients had a Glasgow coma scale (GCS) of 15, indicating they were in a normal mental state, four had a GCS below 8, but these patients all reported using a central nervous system depressant, most commonly GHB, with mephedrone. The patients also reported polydrug use of a variety of compounds.[84]

 

Long-term effects[edit]

Almost nothing is known about the long-term effects of the drug due to the short history of its use.[83] BBC News reported one person who used the drug for 18 months became dependent on the drug, in the end using it twice a week, and had to be admitted to a psychiatric unit after he started experiencing hallucinations, agitation, excitability and mania.[1]:13[85]

 

Typical use and consumption[edit]

Mephedrone can come in the form of capsules, tablets or white powder that users may swallow, snort, inject, smoke or use rectally.[1]:12[2][3] It is sometimes sold mixed with methylone in a product called bubbles in the UK[86] and also mixed with other cathinones, including ethcathinone, butylone, fluoromethcathinone and methedrone.[1]:9 The Guardian reported some users compulsively redose, consuming their whole supply when they only meant to use a small dose,[87] and there have been other similar reports of users craving mephedrone, suggesting it may be addictive.[1]:13[38] A survey conducted in late 2009 by the National Addiction Centre (UK) found 41.3% of readers of Mixmag had used mephedrone in the last month, making it the fourth most popular drug amongst clubbers. Of those, two-thirds snorted the drug and the average dosage per session was 0.9 g; the length of sessions increased as the dosage increased. Users who snorted the drug reported using more per session than those who took it orally (0.97 g compared to 0.74 g) and also reported using it more often (five days per month compared to three days per month).[2] An Irish study of people on a methadone treatment program for heroin addicts found 29 of 209 patients tested positive for mephedrone usage.[88] A study of users in Northern Ireland found they did not equate the fact that mephedrone was legal with it being safe to use. This was contrary to another study in New Zealand, where users of benzylpiperazine thought that because it was legal, it was safe.[9]

 

Harm reduction[edit]

See also: Harm reduction and Responsible drug use

The drugs advice charity Lifeline recommends that to reduce the potential harm caused by using mephedrone, users should only use mephedrone occasionally (less than weekly), use less than 0.5 g per session, dose orally rather than snorting the drug, and avoid mixing it with alcohol and other drugs. Users should also drink plenty of water at sensible intervals while taking the drug, as it causes dehydration.[89]

 

Pharmacology[edit]

The pharmacology and toxicology of mephedrone had not been studied in detail until well after its sale as a designer drug and its addition to controlled drug lists in many countries.[90][91] Writing in the British Medical Journal, psychiatrists stated, given its chemical structure, "mephedrone is likely to stimulate the release of, and then inhibit the reuptake of monoamine neurotransmitters".[81] The cathinone derivatives methcathinone and methylone act in a similar way to amphetamines, mainly acting on catecholamine transporters, so mephedrone is expected also to act in this way. The actions of amphetamines and cathinones are determined by the differences in how they bind to noradrenalin, dopamine and serotonin transporters.[90] Molecular modelling of mephedrone suggests it is more hydrophilic than methyl-amphetamines, which may account for the higher doses required to achieve a similar effect, because mephedrone is less able to cross the blood–brain barrier.[1]:12[92] Mephedrone has a chiral centre, so exists in two forms, called enantiomers; the S form is thought to be more potent than the R form, because this applies to cathinone.[90] Professor David Nutt, former chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in the UK has said, "people are better off taking ecstasy or amphetamines than those [drugs] we know nothing about" and "Who knows what's in [mephedrone] when you buy it? We don't have a testing system. It could be very dangerous, we just don't know. These chemicals have never been put into animals, let alone humans."[93] Les King, a former member of the ACMD, has stated mephedrone appears to be less potent than amphetamine and ecstasy, but that any benefit associated with this could be negated by users taking larger amounts. He also told the BBC, "all we can say is [mephedrone] is probably as harmful as ecstasy and amphetamines and wait until we have some better scientific evidence to support that."[94]

 

Several articles published near the end of 2011 examined the effects of mephedrone, compared to the similar drugs MDMA and amphetamine in the nucleus accumbens of rats, as well as examining the reinforcing potential of mephedrone. Dopamine and serotonin were collected using microdialysis, and increases in dopamine and serotonin were measured using HPLC. Reward and drug seeking are linked to increases in dopamine concentrations in the nucleus accumbens, and drug half-life plays a role in drug seeking, as well. Based on histological examination, most of the author's probes were in the nucleus accumbens shell. Mephedrone administration caused about a 500% increase in dopamine, and about a 950% increase in serotonin. They reached their peak concentrations at 40 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively, and returned to baseline by 120 minutes after injection. In comparison, MDMA caused a roughly 900% increase in serotonin at 40 minutes, with an insignificant increase in dopamine. Amphetamine administration resulted in about a 400% increase in dopamine, peaking at 40 minutes, with an insignificant increase in serotonin. Analysis of the ratio of the AUC for dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) indicated mephedrone was preferentially a serotonin releaser, with a ratio of 1.22:1 (serotonin vs. dopamine). Additionally, half-lives for the decrease in DA and 5-HT were calculated for each drug. Mephedrone had decay rates of 24.5 minutes and 25.5 minutes, respectively. MDMA had decay values of 302.5 minutes and 47.9 minutes, respectively, while amphetamine values were 51 minutes and 84.1 minutes, respectively. Taken together, these findings show mephedrone induces a massive increase in both DA and 5-HT, combined with rapid clearance. The rapid rise and subsequent fall of DA levels could explain some of the addictive properties mephedrone displays in some users.[95][96]

 

Metabolism[edit]

Based on the analysis of rat and human urine by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, mephedrone is thought to be metabolised by three phase 1 pathways. It can be demethylated to the primary amine (producing compounds 2, 3 and 5), the ketone group can be reduced (producing 3) or the tolyl group can be oxidised (producing 6). Both 5 and 6 are thought to be further metabolised by conjugation to the glucuronide and sulfate derivatives. Knowledge of the primary routes of metabolism should allow the intake of mephedrone to be confirmed by drug tests, as well as more accurate determination of the causes of side effects and potential for toxicity.[97]

 

Deaths[edit]

Sweden[edit]

In 2008, an 18-year-old Swedish woman died in Stockholm after taking mephedrone. The newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported the woman went into convulsions and turned blue in the face.[104] Doctors reported she was comatose and suffering from hyponatremia and severe hypokalemia; the woman died one and a half days after the onset of symptoms. An autopsy showed severe brain swelling.[105] Mephedrone was scheduled to be classified as a "dangerous substance" in Sweden even before the woman's death at Karolinska University Hospital on 14 December, but the death brought more media attention to the drug. The possession of mephedrone became classified as a criminal offence in Sweden on 15 December 2008.[104]

 

UK[edit]

In 2010, unconfirmed reports speculated about the role mephedrone has played in the deaths of several young people in the UK. By July 2010, mephedrone had been alleged to be involved in 52 fatalities in the UK, but detected in only 38 of these cases. Of the nine that coroners had finished investigating, two were caused directly by mephedrone.[106] The first death reported to be caused by mephedrone use was that of 46-year-old, John Sterling Smith,[107] who had underlying health problems and repeatedly injected the drug.[108] A report in Forensic Science International in August 2010 stated mephedrone intoxication has been recorded as the cause of death in two cases in Scotland. Post mortem samples showed the concentration of mephedrone in their blood was 22 mg/l in one case and 3.3 mg/l in the other.[109] The death of a teenager in the UK in November 2009 was widely reported as being caused by mephedrone, but a report by the coroner concluded she had died from natural causes.[46] In March 2010, the deaths of two teenagers in Scunthorpe were widely reported by the media to be caused by mephedrone. Toxicology reports showed the teenagers had not taken any mephedrone and had died as a result of consuming alcohol and the heroin substitute methadone.[108][110] According to Fiona Measham, a criminologist who is a member of the ACMD, the reporting of the unconfirmed deaths by newspapers followed "the usual cycle of ‘exaggeration, distortion, inaccuracy and sensationalism'" associated with the reporting of recreational drug use.[34]

 

USA[edit]

Mephedrone has been implicated in the death of a 22-year-old male, who had also injected black tar heroin. Mephedrone was found in his blood at a concentration of 0.50 mg/l and in his urine at a concentration of 198 mg/l. The blood concentration of morphine, a metabolite of heroin, was 0.06 mg/l.[111] For comparison, the average blood morphine concentration resulting from deadly overdoses involving only heroin is around 0.34 mg/l.[112]

 

Chemistry[edit]

Appearance[edit]

Mephedrone is a white substance. It is sold most commonly as crystals or a powder, but also in the form of capsules or pills.[21][94] It can have a distinctive odour, reported to range from a synthetic fishy smell[113] to the smell of vanilla and bleach, stale urine, or electric circuit boards.[114]

 

Synthesis[edit]

Mephedrone can be synthesised in several ways. The simplest method, due to the availability of the compounds,[1]:17 is to add 4-methylpropiophenone dissolved in glacial acetic acid to bromine, creating an oil fraction of 4'-methyl-2-bromopropiophenone. The oil fraction can then be dissolved in dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) and drops of the solution added to another solution of CH2Cl2-containing methylamine hydrochloride and triethylamine. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is then added and the aqueous layer is removed and turned alkaline using sodium hydroxide before the amine is extracted using CH2Cl2. The CH2Cl2 is then evaporated using a vacuum, creating an oil which is then dissolved in a nonaqueous ether. Finally, HCl gas is bubbled through the mixture to produce 4-methylmethcathinone hydrochloride.[18] This method produces a mixture of both enantiomers and requires similar knowledge to that required to synthesise amphetamines and MDMA.[1]:17

  

Mephedrone synthesis scheme from 4-methylpropiophenone

It can also be produced by oxidising the ephedrine analogue 4-methylephedrine using potassium permanganate dissolved in sulfuric acid. Because 4-methylephedrine can be obtained in a specific enantiomeric form, mephedrone consisting of only one enantiomer can be produced. The danger associated with this method is it may cause manganese poisoning if the product is not correctly purified.[1]:17

 

A stereospecific form of (S)-mephedrone could be prepared via Friedel–Crafts acylation. The first step in the synthesis would be to react toluene and (S)-N-trifluoroacetylalanoyl chloride in the presence of aluminium chloride, then deprotect the intermediate with hydrochloric acid-propyl alcohol. This would produce (S)-4-methylcathinone, which could then be methylated to produce mephedrone.[90][115]

 

Purity[edit]

One published study that analysed samples of mephedrone bought using the internet in the UK in 2010 found it was racemic (a mixture of both stereoisomers) and of high purity.[92] An unpublished study of six samples also ordered off the internet in the UK in 2010 found they contained very few organic impurities.[116] Four products sold in Irish head shops were tested in 2010 and were found to contain between 82% and 14% mephedrone, with some products containing benzocaine and caffeine.[117]

 

Legal status[edit]

 

A sample of mephedrone that was confiscated in Oregon, USA, 2009

When mephedrone was rediscovered in 2003, it was not specifically illegal to possess in any country. As its use has increased, many countries have passed legislation making its possession, sale, and manufacture illegal. It was first made illegal in Israel, where it had been found in products such as Neodoves pills, in January 2008.[5] After the death of a young woman in Sweden in December 2008 was linked to the use of mephedrone, it was classified as a hazardous substance a few days later, making it illegal to sell in Sweden. In June 2009, it was classified as a narcotic with the possession of 15 grams or more resulting in a minimum of two years in prison – a longer sentence, gram for gram than given for the possession of cocaine or heroin.[118][119] In December 2008, Denmark also made it illegal[120] and through the Medicines Act of Finland, it was made illegal to possess without a prescription.[121] In November 2009, it was classified as a "narcotic or psychotropic" substance and added to the list of controlled substances in Estonia[122] and made illegal to import into Guernsey along with other legal highs,[123] before being classified as a Class B drug in April 2010.[124] It was classified as a Class C drug in Jersey in December 2009.[125]

 

In 2010, as its use became more prevalent, many countries passed legislation prohibiting mephedrone. It became illegal in Croatia[126] and Germany[127] in January, followed by Romania[128] and the Isle of Man in February.[129] In March 2010, it was classified as an unregulated medicine in the Netherlands, making the sale and distribution of it illegal.[130][131] The importation of mephedrone into the UK was banned on 29 March 2010.[132] The next day, the ACMD in the UK published a report on the cathinones, including mephedrone, and recommended they be classified as Class B drugs. On 7 April 2010, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2010 was passed by parliament, making mephedrone and other substituted cathinones, Class B drugs from 16 April 2010.[133][134] Prior to the ban taking effect, mephedrone was not covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.[26] It was, though, an offence under the Medicines Act to sell it for human consumption, so it was often sold as "plant food" or "bath salts", although it has no use as these products; this, too, was possibly illegal under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.[52][82][83] In the USA, similar descriptions have been used to describe mephedrone, as well as methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).[135] In May 2010, the Republic of Ireland made mephedrone illegal,[136][137][138] followed by Belgium,[139] Italy,[140] Lithuania,[141] France[142][143] and Norway[144] in June and Russia in July.[145] In August 2010, Austria[146] and Poland[147] made it illegal and China announced it would be illegal as of 1 September 2010.[27] Mephedrone had been reported to be used in Singapore in February 2010,[148] but it was made illegal in November 2010.[149] In December 2010, following the advice of the EMCDDA, mephedrone was made illegal throughout the EU, a move Switzerland also made shortly afterwards.[150][151] Countries which have not already banned it, such as the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal, will need to change legislation to comply with the EU ruling.[151] In Hungary, a government advisory body recommended mephedrone should be made illegal in August 2010, which was followed, making it illegal in January 2011;[152][153] Spain followed in February 2011.[154] Mexico, by Decree,[155] outlawed mephedrone as a substance "with low or no therapeutical use which pose a serious threat to public health"[156] in 2014.

 

In some countries, mephedrone is not specifically listed as illegal, but is controlled under legislation that makes compounds illegal if they are analogs of drugs already listed. In Australia during 2010, it was not specifically listed as prohibited,[18] but the Australian Federal Police stated it is an analogue to methcathinone and therefore illegal. In February 2010, 22 men were arrested in connection with importing mephedrone.[157] By January 2011, every state in Australia, other than Victoria, had listed it as a controlled drug.[158] In New Zealand, it is not included in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975,[159] but is illegal, as it is similar to controlled substances.[160] In Canada, mephedrone is not explicitly listed in any schedule of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but "amphetamines, their salts, derivatives, isomers and analogues and salts of derivatives, isomers and analogues" are included in Section 19 of Schedule I of the act. Cathinone and methcathinone are listed in separate sections of Schedule III, while diethylpropion and pyrovalerone (also cathinones), are listed in separate sections of Schedule IV, each without language to capture analogues, isomers, etc.[161] Mephedrone is considered a controlled substance by Health Canada.[162] According to the Canadian Medical Association, mephedrone is grouped with other amphetamines as Schedule I controlled substances.[163] There have been several media reports of the Canadian police seizing mephedrone.[164][165][166] Mephedrone is also currently scheduled in the United States as of 2011. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) states, as an analogue of methcathinone, possession of mephedrone can be controlled by the Federal Analog Act, but according to the Los Angeles Times, this only applies if it is sold for human consumption.[167][168][169] Several cities and states, such as New York,[170] have passed legislation to specifically list mephedrone as illegal, but in most areas it was legal, so long as it is not sold for human consumption, so retailers described it as 'bath salts'.[169] In September 2011, The DEA began using its emergency scheduling authority to temporarily control mephedrone. Except as authorized by law, this action made possessing and selling mephedrone or the products that contain it illegal in the USA for at least one year while the DEA and the United States Department of Health and Human Services conduct further study.[171] Control of these compounds became permanent on 9 July 2012, via passage of the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2012.[172]

 

Multicomplex Management (MCM) Expected Creative Potential (ECP) Picture 1 - Organization Structure

 

Organization Structure Model used: Nordic Industrial Fund - Nordic Council of Ministers – Bio & Chemistry Division (BCD) - Division REI-activities (Research / Education / Innovation): 5 programmes: NordFood, Nordic Wood, NordPap, NordBio and NordYeast; 748 projects; 6.000 participating private and public companies, institutions, organizations and agencies in 62 countries. BCD connected 180.000 researchers, operators, engineers, technicians and company, organization and agency executives (1998). BCD was - in combination with NordTek (the organization managing the cooperation of the 23 Nordic technical universities) - the largest industrial and technological REI-network in Northern Europe. BCD was a 27.000 ECP Organization connecting 275.000 people totalling 2.8 million ECP. Photo on Picture 1: Hans Bruno Lund visiting the governor of Oulu province, Finland Dr. Eino Siuruainen during a NordTek seminar.

Multicomplex Management (MCM) is explained in Picture 2, 04.

Expected Creative Potential (ECP) is explained in Picture 2.

Pictures to Multicomplex Management (MCM): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

9, 10, 11 and 12.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A MULTICOMPLEX ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE - ORGANIZATION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NORDIC INDUSTRIAL FUND (NIF)

NORDIC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS (NCM)

BIO & CHEMISTRY DIVISION (BCD)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 BIO & CHEMISTRY DIVISION (BCD)

1.1 NIF HISTORY

1.2 BCD BUSINESS IDEA

1.3 BCD OPERATION AREA

1.4 BCD OPERATION AREA INHABITANTS

1.5 BCD PARTNER-COUNTRIES AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

1.6 BCD GEOGRAPHIC OPERATION REGIONS

1.7 BCD PARTNERS

1.8 BCD ACTIVITIES

1.9 BCD ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

1.9.1 - MANAGEMENT

1.9.2 - BIO INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (BIO)

1.9.3 - FOOD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOO)

1.9.4 - FOREST INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOR)

1.9.5 - OTHER INDUSTRIAL AREAS (OIA)

1.9.6 BCD – HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS – A RESUME

 

2 MULTICOMPLEX MANAGEMENT (MCM) LITERATURE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.1 NIF HISTORY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NIF HISTORY

NIF was established 1973 (the Helsinki Treaty). In 1987 the organization expanded by taking over the activities of NordForsk (a Nordic government agency for basic research). In the new century the activities of NIF (and BCD) were split up between two new-established organizations: A new NordForsk (basic research) and Nordic Innovation Centre (NICe)(applied research and innovation).

BCD (one of NIF's two divisions) was operational from 1991 to 1999.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.2 BCD BUSINESS IDEA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD BUSINESS IDEA

Initialization, expansion and utilization of Nordic and Nordic / international cooperation networks between relevant partners from the private and the public sectors to the benefit of the Nordic countries´ competitiveness and the wealth and health of their inhabitants and based on internordic / international cooperation projects as the primary tool and improved and new concepts, methods, technologies and products as valuable spinoffs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.3 BCD OPERATION AREA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD OPERATION AREA

Approx. 22 million square km

Land: Approx. 6 million square km

Oceans and seas: Approx. 16 million square km

The water quality of the oceans and seas surrounding

the Nordic countries is of extreme importance to the

Nordic economies and the inhabitants health and qua-

lity of life. To protect and improve water quality at land as

well as at sea was therefore a substantial goal in almost

all BCD projects.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.4 BCD OPERATION AREA INHABITANTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD OPERATION AREA INHABITANTS

Approx. 45 million

Nordic Countries: Approx. 24 million

Baltic Countries: Approx. 7 million

North West Russia: Approx. 14 million

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.5 BCD PARTNER-COUNTRIES AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD PARTNER-COUNTRIES AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

Aland Islands

Denmark

Estonia

Faroe Islands

Finland

Greenland

Iceland

Latvia

Lithuania

North West Russia

Norway

Sweden

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.6 BCD GEOGRAPHIC OPERATION REGIONS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A BCD project must have participants - private and public partners - from at least two - better three or four - Nordic countries. Most geographic regions has their specific profile in regard to industry, centers of excellence, inhabitants, culture, nature, environment etc. To identify the optimal combination of partners for a project to be initiated it can sometimes be useful to identify and select partners from related geographic regions in relation to the above mentioned parameters. BCD has 67 geographic operation regions:

 

Denmark: 11

Finland: 9

Iceland: 9

Norway: 10

Sweden: 8

Estonia: 3

Latvia: 3

Lithuania: 3

North West Russia: 11

 

The geographical allocation of BCD´s approx.

10.000 Project Participant Representatives and

other superior officers in the Nordic Countries:

(Project Participant Representatives and

other superior officers in other countries approx.

1.000).

 

DEN-00 Denmark 1.972

DEN-01 København 220

DEN-02 Lyngby 730

DEN-03 Nordsjælland 91

DEN-04 Øvrige Sjælland 123

DEN-05 Fyn 82

DEN-06 Kolding 132

DEN-07 Herning 137

DEN-08 Århus 228

DEN-09 Aalborg 163

DEN-10 Færøerne 47

DEN-11 Grønland 19

FIN-00 Finland 2.089

FIN-01 Helsinki & Espoo 1.274

FIN-02 Turku ( Åbo) 189

FIN-03 Tampere 194

FIN-04 Jyväskylä 57

FIN-05 Lappeenranta 105

FIN-06 Vaasa 108

FIN-07 Kuopio 35

FIN-08 Joensuu 31

FIN-09 Oulu / Kemi 96

ICE-00 Iceland 513

ICE-01 Reykjavik 396

ICE-02 Keflavik 42

ICE-03 Akranes 13

ICE-04 Isafjördur 11

ICE-05 Saudarkrökur 8

ICE-06 Akureyri 15

ICE-07 Egilsstadir 20

ICE-08 Selfoss 5

ICE-09 Vestmannaeyjar 3

NOR-00 2.173

NOR-01 Oslo 646

NOR-02 Ås 301

NOR-03 Moelv 231

NOR-04 Porsgrunn 217

NOR-05 Stavanger 167

NOR-06 Bergen 97

NOR-07 Ålesund 90

NOR-08 Trondheim 329

NOR-09 Bodø 39

NOR-10 Tromsø 56

SWE-00 3.202

SWE-01 Stockholm 868

SWE-02 Lund / Malmö 427

SWE-03 Halmstad 178

SWE-04 Göteborg 402

SWE-05 Borås 329

SWE-06 Norrköping 241

SWE-07 Uppsala 304

SWE-08 Sundsvall 213

SWE-09 Luleå 240

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.7 BCD PARTNERS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD PARTNERS

Private and public companies

Private and public organizations

Universities

Technological institutes

Governments

Government agencies

Other relevant partners

Partners: approx. 6.000 in 62 countries

Private area partners: approx. 4.800

Public area partners: approx. 1.200

See:

Flickr, Hans Bruno Lund´s photostream:

"Multicomplex Management (MCM) Picture 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.8 BCD ACTIVITIES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD ACTIVITIES

 

Research

Education

Innovation

Visits

Exchanges

Meetings

Seminars

Workshops

Cources

Reports

Articles

Newsletters

Presentations

Posters

WEB-Activities

Improved Concepts

New Concepts

Improved Methods

New Methods

Improved Technologies

New Technologies

Improved Products

New Products

Patents

Evaluation of Results

Dissemination of Results

Improved Nordic Networks

New Nordic Networks

Improved Nordic/International Networks

New Nordic/International Networks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.9 BCD ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BCD ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Upper right in the picture

REI = Research-Education-Innovation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.9.1 MANAGEMENT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MANAGEMENT

 

Management (sand-colored areas/elements)

Head of Division: Hans Bruno Lund (DEN)

Division Director BIO: Marianne Damhaug (NOR) until 1992

Division Director FOOD/OIA: Maija Uusisuo (FIN)

Division Director BIO/FOREST/OIA: Juhani Kuusilehto (FIN)

Deputy Division Director FOREST: Per Brenøe (DEN)

Associate Division Director OIA: Peter Göranson (SWE)

Associate Division Director OIA: Svein Østevik (NOR)

Associate Division Director OIA: Snæbjörn Kristjansson (ICE)

Other Division Administration Staff: 11 officers

Division Advisers: 16

DIVISION REI Areas: 92

DIVISION REI Subareas: 1.200

DIVISION Programmes: 5

DIVISION Part Programmes: 20

DIVISION REI Projects: 748

DIVISION REI Part Projects: approx. 3.000

DIVISION Senior Officers: 370

DIVISION Project Managers: 649

DIVISION Part Project Managers: approx. 2.500

DIVISION Other Officers: approx. 28.000

DIVISION Network Participants (People): approx. 278.000 (incl. NordTek)

DIVISION Network ECP: approx. 2.800.000 (incl. NordTek)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.9.2 BIO INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (BIO)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BIO INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (BIO)

(blue-colored areas/elements)

Marianne Damhaug (NOR)

Juhani Kuusilehto (FIN)

REI = Research-Education-Innovation

BIO REI Areas: 22

BIO REI Subareas: 340

BIO Programmes: 2 - NORDYEAST & NORDBIO

BIO Part Programmes: 6

BIO REI Projects: 188

BIO REI Part Projects: approx. 750

BIO Senior Officers: 122

BIO Project Managers: 213

BIO Part Project Managers: approx. 640

BIO Other Officers: approx. 7.000

BIO Network Participants (People): approx. 45.000

BIO Network ECP: approx. 535.000

BIO REI Areas:

02 Antibodies and Antigens

04 BioEnergy

05 Biomimetic Materials

06 Bioprocess Engineering

07 BioScience and BioTechnology

20 Environmental BioTechnology

21 Environmental Technology

24 Food BioTechnology

30 Genes and GeneTechnology

35 Industrial Enzymes

37 Marine Biology and BioTechnology

40 BioHydroMetallurgi

45 NeuroBiology and InformationsTransfer

47 Biological OffGas Treatment

50 Physiological Engineering

Project example with Part Projects:

Z508 Physiological Engineering:

Part Projects:

Z508.1 Energy and redox balances during aerobic growth

Z508.2 Regulation of energy flux at anaerobic conditions

Z508.3 Xylose metabolizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Z508.4 Physiological responses of Sac.Cer. to SubConVar

Z508.5 Morphological charact. of Penicillium chrysogenum

Z508.6 Morphology and amylase production in Aspergillus oryzae

 

The Research Team:

Albers, Eva

Alexander, N J

Anderlund, Mikael

Bao, Xing

Carlsen, Morten

Christensen, Lars H

Deleuran, Jan

Edelmann, Kari

Ehlde, Magnus

Einarsson, Sigbjørn

Eliasson, Anna

Ellingsen, Trond

Enari, Tor-Magnus

Enfors, Sven-Olof

Flenø, Bent

Franzén, Carl J

George, Stefan

Gram, Jens

Granstrøm, Tom

Gustafsson, Lena

Hahn-Hägerdal, Bärbel

Haldrup, Anna

Hallborn, J

Hansen, Tronn

Hjortkjær, Poul

Holmgreb, K

Jeppsson, Helena

Johansen, Kenneth

Johansson, Björn

Jørgensen, Birthe R

Karsbøl, Birgitte

Klein, Christopher

Korhola, Matti

Krabben, Preben

Kristjansson, Jakob

Larsen, Susanne Slot

Larsson, Christer

Larsson, Gen

Lidén, Gunnar

Londonsborough, John

Meinander, Nina

Michelsen, M L

Mikkelsen, Jørn D

Mølgaard, Henrik

Mørkeberg, R

Nielsen, Jens (Project Manager)

Niklasson, Claes

Nilsson, Annika

Nybergh, Paula

Ojamo, Heikki

Olkku, Juhani

Olsson, Lisbeth

Overballe-Petersen, C

Pakula, Tiina

Palmqvist, Eva

Parkkinen, Elke

Peltola, Petri

Penttilä, Merja

Pettersson, Lennart

Pham, Hop

Prior, B A

Pronk, Jack

Påhlman, Inga-Lil

Rasmussen, Preben

Reuss, Mathias

Ruohonen, Laura

Rønnow, Birgitte

Salminen, Antti

Salonen, Laura

Santerre, Anne

Schmidt, Karsetn

Schulze, Ulrik

Skoog, K

Skov, Allan

Smits, Hans Peter

Spohr, Anders

Suhr-Jessen, Trine

Søderblom, Tore

Taherzadeh, Mohammad

Thevelein, J

Thomas, Colin

Toma, Simona

Tufvesson, Göran

Valadi, Hadi

van Dam, Karel

van Dijken, J P

Villadsen, John

Visser, Jaap

Walfridsson, Mats

Winell, Anna

Winge, Michael

Zacchi, Guido

Zimmerman, Friedrich

Aarts, Robert

  

Participants:

  

Alko Oy

Amsterdam University

Birmingham University

Bryggerilaboratorium Oy AB

Chalmers Technical University

Cheminova A/S

Danisco Biotechnology A/S

Delft University of Technology

Dumex A/S

Göteborg University

IceTec

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan

Lahden Poltimo Oy

Novo Nordisk A/S

Pripps AB

Primalco Oy

SINTEF

Skåne Brännerier AB

Technical University of Denmark

Technische Universität Darmstadt

Universität Stuttgart

VTT

Waageningen University

  

51 PlantCell Biology and BioTechnology

57 Protein Engineering

 

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z037 Fluid dynamics and mass transfer in bioreactors (BR)

Z038 Physiological effects of oscillating fermentation parameters

Z039 Kinetics of cell responce to local conc. gradients in BR

Z040 Multi-dimensional modelling of flow-processes in BR

Z041 On-line HPLC control of mammalian cell bioreactors

Z042 Bioprocess monotoring system based on ESC / HEU

Z043 Implementation of biosensors in process environments

Z044 Mechanisms of foaming in bioreactors

Z045 Productivity of bioreactors (I)

Z046 Productivity of bioreactors (II)

63 Recycling

73 Thermophilic and Psychrophilic Organisms

74 Waste and WasteWater Treatment

75 Yeast and YeastTechnology

84 LifeCycle Assessment (LCA)

NORDYEAST

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z001 Protein secretion and glycoprotein production in Sac.Cer.

Z002 Molecular cloning and expression of genes by key enzymes

Z003 Cloning and studies of DNA coding for g-3-p-d of Sac.Cer.

Z004 Membrane bound IPP in mitochondria from Sac.Cer.

Z005 Cloning of DNA alkylation genes from yeast

Z006 Regulation of methionine-threonine biosynthesis

Z007 Studies on genetic recombination in Sac.Cer.

Z008 MS of the DNA gene sequence in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Z009 Exp. and sec. in yeast of human parathyroid hormone

Z010 RNA polymerases and TF in transcription of RNAs

NORDBIO

NORDBIO Part Programmes:

NB-01 Protein Engineering

NB-02 Bioprocess Engineering

NB-03 Plant Cell Biotechnology

NB-04 Thermophiles and Psychrophiles

NB-05 Food Biotechnology

NB-06 Environmental Biotechnology

------------------------------------------------------------

1.9.3 FOOD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOO)

------------------------------------------------------------

FOOD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOO)

(orange-colored areas/elements)

Maija Uusisuo (FIN)

REI = Research-Education-Innovation

FOO REI Areas: 10

FOO REI Subareas: 180

FOO Programmes: 1 - NORDFOOD

FOO Part Programmes: 4

FOO REI Projects: 125

FOO REI Part Projects: approx. 500

FOO Senior Officers: 37

FOO Project Managers: 107

FOO Part Project Managers: approx. 425

FOO Other Officers: approx. 5.000

FOO Network Participants (People): approx. 30.000

FOO Network ECP: approx. 360.000

FOO REI Areas:

03 Aquaculture

11 Cereals

22 Fishery and Fish

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z217 Nordisk Blåvilling

Z290 Frysfartyg

Z339 Atlantic Salmon

Z346 Hippoglossus

Z437 Landbaserte Anlegg

Z461 Monotoring and PC in Aquaculture

Z483 Hälleflundra, Torsk och Havskat

Z563 CIMFISK - IT in Fish Fillet Factories

Z570 BENEFISH - New Technologies in the Nordic Fishindustries

Z594 Havmiljøets påvirkning af fisks reproduktionsevne

23 Fish Diseases

25 Food Hygiene

26 Food Packaging and Transportation

27 Food Processing

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z120 Cleaner production

Z121 Environmental beer production

Z122 Water in fish industry

Z123 Nordic shellfish

Z124 Value from heads

Z125 Water jet deboning

Z126 Aseptic safety

Z127 Probiotic foods

Z128 Rye technology and its influence on health

Z129 Structures in food fat

28 Food Quality

29 Food Technology

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z103 Fish - Packaging and Transportation

Z104 Aroma Transfer in PET

Z105 Shelf Life Prediction

Z107 Salmon Quality

Z108 Microbial Antagonists

Z109 Managing the Meat Tend Process

Z110 Sensoric Calibration

Z111 Fluorescence Screening

Z112 Quality of Emulsions

Z113 Lean Logistics

Let us as an example take a closer look at

Project Z115 On Line Measuring Control

Project Participants

  

Denmark

 

Bioteknologisk Institut

Paaske Jensen

 

Danisco Sugar Development

Ole Hansen

Danmarks Fiskeriundersøgelser

Erling Larsen

 

Fødevaregruppen

Finn Holm

 

KVL

Lars Munk

 

Lactosan A/S

Jørgen Schmidt

 

Meincke A/S

Peter Clausen

 

Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut

J Rud Andersen

 

Foss Electric A/S

Torben Lapp

 

Reciprotor Engineering A/S

Per Andersen

 

Q-Interline

Anders Larsen

 

Steins Laboratorium A/S

Jakob Korsgaard

 

Finland

 

Ingman Foods Oy AB

Hans Ingman

 

Process Flow Ltd Oy

Björn Jernström

Saarioinen Oy

Mirja Rautakoski

 

Oy Snellman AB

Rolf Snellman

 

Sucros Oy

Juha Oravainen

 

Hutiia Research Centre

Jonas Slotte

 

VTT Bio- & Livsmedelsteknik

Arvo Kinnunen

 

Software Point Oy

Andrea Holmberg

 

Iceland

 

Fiskeriindustriens Forskningsinstitut

Helga Eyjófsdóttir

 

Marel HF

Sigurpáll Jonsson

 

Milk Distribution Centre

Einar Matthiasson

 

IceTec

Hannes Hafsteinsson

 

Univesity of Iceland

Kristberg Kristbergsson

 

Landbruges Forskningsinstitut

Gudjón Torkelsson

 

Industriforbundet

Ragneidur Hédinsdóttir

 

Norwegen

 

Mills DA

Narinder Singh

Maarud A/S

Terje Drøyvold

 

A/S Margarinfabrik Norge

Aziz Fooladi

 

Matforsk

Jens Petter Wold

 

Nerliens Kemisk-Tekniske A/S

Vigdis Rustad

 

Norges Lantbrukshøgskole

Ingolf F Nes

 

Norsk Kjøtt

Ole-Johan Røtterud

Tine Norske Meierier BA

Svein Kloster

 

T Skretting A/S

Astrid Staumbotn

 

Stabburet A/S

Anita Bakker

 

SINTEF Kjemi Havbruk

Marit Aursand

 

Sweden

 

Abba Seafood AB

Göran Sjögren

 

Procordia Food AB

Ene Pilman-Willers

 

Lunds Universitet Kemicentrum

Ingegerd Sjöholm

 

Kraft Freia Marabou AB

Thomas Wassholm

 

Oleinitec AB

Marlene Jegeborn

Arla F&U

Clas Johan Dahlsten

 

Pentronic AB

Roland Gullqvist

 

Pripps AB

Klas Johansson

 

Pååls Bröd AB

Bo Folkesson

Radians Innova AB

Bengt Kleman

SIK

Christana Skjöldebrand (Project Manager)

 

Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet

Ingemar Hansson

 

STFi

Anders Pettersson

 

Charkdelikatesser AB

Anna-Karin Norén

Svenska Nestlé AB

Anita Johansson

Foss Sverige AB

Ingrid Mild / Niklas Persson

 

Tekniska Högskolan Linköping

Alexander Lauber

 

Tetra Pack Food AB

Christer Lanzingh

 

Wasabröd AB

Bengt Carlson

 

Köttforskningsinstituttet

Magnus Wahlgren

 

Nestlé R&D AB

Jennifer Cloke

Bergman & Beving Process AB

Per Henriksson

 

Teltec Electronic AB

Philip Dahl

 

Candelia AB

Urban Eriksson

 

Sensor Control AB

Björn Zetterberg

 

Danfoss AB

Anders Leidermark

 

Nordic Sensor Technologies AB

Andreas Bunge

 

Electrona-Sievert AB

Alf Mikkelä

 

Mettler-Toledo AB

Peter Tinér

 

Korsnäs AB

Jan Jynnskog

 

Sigma Teknik AB

Stellan Lundberg

 

Foss Tecator AB

Karin Thente

  

The participating industrial companies

had on a global basis:

 

Revenue: 100 billion €

Employees: 500.000

 

53 Polysaccharides

 

NORDFOOD

NORDFOOD Part Programmes:

NF-01 Food Packaging and Transportation

NF-02 Food Quality

NF-03 Food Hygien

NF-04 Food Processing

 

One out of several significant milestones achieved as a result of NORDFOOD was the set up of the European REI cooperation SAFEFOODERA – Safer food for 446 million people. Headed by two of BCDs former executive officers Mr. Ola Eide from Norway and Mr. Oddur Már Gunnarsson from Iceland the National Food Authorities of 18 European countries now works together to improve food quality and food hygiene. The 18 countries are: Basque Country, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom.

 

Over the years hundreds of Nordic Industrial Fund REI projects or initiatives has resulted in expanded efforts with new European partners under the auspices of the EU research programmes or EUREKA.

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1.9.4 FOREST INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOR)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOREST INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (FOR)

(green-colored areas/elements)

Juhani Kuusilehto (FIN)

Per Brenøe (DEN)

REI = Research-Education-Innovation

FOR REI Areas: 13

FOR REI Subareas: 220

FOR Programmes: 2 - NORDPAP & NORDIC WOOD

FOR Part Programmes: 10

FOR REI Projects: 170

FOR REI Part Projects: approx. 680

FOR Senior Officers: 78

FOR Project Managers: 103

FOR Part Project Managers: approx. 570

FOR Other Officers: approx. 6.000

FOR Network Participants (People): approx. 40.000

FOO Network ECP: approx. 475.000

FOR REI Areas:

49 Paper as Carrier of Informations

54 Printing Technology

58 Pulp and Paper Bleaching

59 Pulp and Paper Fibers

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z133 Pot. titrering och polyelektrolyttitrering

Z134 Ytsammensättning, ytenergi och syra-base-egenskaper

Z135 Anvendelse av dielektrisk spektroskopi

Z136 Karakterisering av fiber med biotekniska metoden

Z137 Elektromikroskopi

Z138 Konfokal mikroskopi og billedanalyse

Z139 Porstorlek v.h.a. omvendt storlek kromatografi

Z140 Porstorlek v.h.a. NMR-metodik

Z141 Cellulosens reaktivitet og krystallinitet

Z142 TB-method för mättning av specific yta

60 Pulp and Paper EU-Standardization

61 Pulp and Paper Technology

76 Environmental Properties of Wood

77 Properties and Applications of Nordic Wood

78 Nordic Wood as a Construction Material

79 Marketing of Nordic Wood

80 Nordic Wood and the Asian Markets

81 Wood Production

83 Wood Technology

 

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z177 Trä och miljö

Z527 Skog-Trä-Miljö

Z528 Miljödeklaration

Z529 Trä-F&U-Miljöinformation

Z530 Spånplader i møbelindustrien

Z531 Furu Kjernved

Z178 Datorprogram Limträ

Z179 Brandsäkra trähus

Z532 Våtlimede byggkomponenter

Z181 Styrkesortering ger mervärde

NORDPAP

NORDPAP Part Programmes:

NP-01 Pulp and Paper Fibers

NP-02 Pulp and Paper Bleaching

NP-03 Paper as Carrier of Informations

NP-04 Pulp and Paper EU-Standardization

NORDIC WOOD

NORDIC WOOD Part Programmes:

NW-01 Environmental Properties of Wood

NW-02 Properties and Applications of Nordic Wood

NW-03 Nordic Wood as a Construction Material

NW-04 Marketing of Nordic Wood

NW-05 Nordic Wood and the Asian Markets

NW-06 Wood Production

We often think that cross-border REI activities, regional or global, are the playground for large enterprises as it is often the case. BCD had more than 70% of the largest Nordic enterprises as active project participants.

Very encouraging was the fact that many SMB´s found their way to Nordic REI cooperation.

In NORDIC WOOD as an example 21 carpenter guilds from the following small or mediumzised Danish towns participated in the research: ESBJERG, FREDERICIA, FREDERIKSHAVN, HADERSLEV, HERNING, HILLERØD, HJØRRING, HOLSTEBRO, KOLDING, MARSTAL, NYKØBING FALSTER, ODENSE, RANDERS, ROSKILDE, SILKEBORG, SKIVE, SVENDBORG, SØNDERBORG, ÅBENRÅ, AALBORG / NØRRESUNDBY and ÅRHUS cooperated with large companies such as ABB, AKZO NOBEL, ASSI-DOMÄN, COWI, ENZO-GUTZEIT and IKEA.

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1.9.5 OTHER INDUSTRIAL AREAS (OIA)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OTHER INDUSTRIAL AREAS (OIA)

(red- and brown-colored areas/elements)

Juhani Kuusilehto (FIN)

Peter Göranson (SWE)

Svein Østevik (NOR)

Maija Uusisuo (FIN)

Snæbjörn Kristjansson (ICE)

REI = Research-Education-Innovation

OIA REI Areas: 48

OIA REI Subareas: 460

OIA Programmes: 0

OIA Part Programmes: 0

OIA REI Projects: 265

OIA REI Part Projects: approx. 1.060

OIA Senior Officers: 106

OIA Project Managers: 226

OIA Part Project Managers: approx. 900

OIA Other Officers: approx. 10.000

OIA Network Participants (People): approx. 64.000

OIA Network ECP: approx. 760.000

OIA REI Areas:

01 Allergy Research

09 Cancer Research

10 Catalysis and Catalysts

12 Chemical Fibers and Polymers

13 Chemistry and Chemical Technology

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z194 Miljö i garverier

Z198 Olieseparation

Z200 Chromgarvningsmetode

Z207 Korrosionsskyddfärg

Z595 Biotannor

Z497 Adsorption av polymerer

Z578 Lut- och syraprocess

Z492 Processregulering

Z491 Styrd denitrifikation

Z475 Crude oil emulsions

14 Colours and Paints

15 Concrete Technology

16 Corrosion

32 Hormones

33 Immunology and ImmunoTechnology

34 Implantations and ImplantationTechnology

39 Medicine-Pharma-Health

41 Mineralogy and Minerals

48 Offshore Technology

52 Plasma and PlasmaTechnology

69 Supercritical Technologies

70 Surfaces and SurfaceTechnology

71 Tanning and TanningTechnology

08 Business Development

17 Culture and Technology

22 Expert Systems

31 Global REI-Relations

36 Information Technology

38 Measuring Technology

42 Molecule Structures and Modelling

43 NanoTechnology

55 ProcessTechnology

56 Product Development

62 Product Quality & Quality Management

64 Research Management

66 Sensors and SensorTechnology

67 Simulation and Modelling

68 SMBs

72 Technolgy Management

82 Systems Research and Development

44 REI Networks

18 Doctoral Education

19 Engineering Education

46 Technical Universities

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

NTU = Nordic Technical Universities

Z476 NTU Students Seminar (NTUSS)

Z540 Nordic Industrial Researcher Education Programme (NIREP)

Z551 NTU Students Exchange Programme (NTUSEP)

Z555 NTU PhD Students Exchange Programme (NTUPSEP)

Z584 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Norway 1993

Z513 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Iceland 1994

Z517 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Denmark 1995

Z520 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Finland 1996

Z633 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Sweden 1997

Z722 NTU Presidents Meeting & Industrial Seminar Norway 1998

65 Technology Forecasting

85 Regional Development

86 Materials Technology - Aluminium

87 Materials Technology - Ceramics

88 Materials Technology - Composites

89 Materials Technology - Simulation

90 Materials Technology - Surfaces

91 Materials Technology - Steel

92 General Materials Technology

Project examples (without listing Part Projects):

Z275 Oxidceramics

Z282 Zeolites

Z398 Eurodyn - High Technology Gas Turbine

Z591 Material - POM - Polyacetal

Z648 Composites and Sandwich Structures in Ship Construction

Z678 SOL Materials

Z683 Ferroalloys in the Nordic Countries

Z684 Tribology (Friction - Lubrication - Wear)

Z688 Fenite Element Analysis (FEA) in the Automotive Industries

Z713 Nordic Aluminium Cluster (NAC)

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1.9.6 BCD – HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS – A RESUME

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More than 25 million people in the Nordic countries – and many more around the World – are each day and many times using or consuming products which were created or improved in one of the Nordic Industrial Fund´s Bio & Chemistry Division´s more than 50.000 research-, education- and innovation activities. More than 500.000 engineers, technicians, workers, university teachers, students, researchers, managers and officials from the 5 Nordic countries have – from a start in 1973 – gained new knowledge in their combined efforts to improve Nordic competitiveness, the Nordic environment and the health and quality of life of the countries populations and in many cases in crossborder cooperation with industrial and institutional partners from 57 other countries. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 MULTICOMPLEX MANAGEMENT (MCM) - LITERATURE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lund, Hans Bruno

Multicomplex Management (MCM)

CD-ROM, 678 colored illustrations

Dr. Hans Bruno Lund, Management Consultant

Skodsborg

Denmark

2009

   

Poster made with lot of white space and proximity

If you would like to do similar posters visit my site visualizeyourscience.com

Sold to Lord Haughey as G-HAUG in 1994 and subsequently crashed in Northern Ireland in 1996 with the loss of all onboard.

 

Middle Wallop Airfield - EGVP : IAS Heli Meet 1992

These are tiny valves, taken apart, that go into a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument. The metal cylinders are about 0.75 cm tall, and the red balls, actually synthetic rubies (made to withstand pressures of more than 3000 psi), are probably around 4 mm in diameter. There's something very beautiful to me about precision machined parts, and these--which I acquired from the service guy when he was swapping them out and about to throw them away--are no exception.

The Devaraja market in Mysore was built during the reign of Chamaraja Wodeyar IX (1868 – 1894). It is said that there was at this place a small weekly market which may have been as old as the origin of the city itself.

_______________________

 

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Crystal Thomas, part of the Ocean Biology Processing Group at NASA Goddard, inspects the previous day’s chromatogram, showing the types and amounts of different phytoplankton pigments in each water sample. NASA collects high-quality in situ data for the calibration of ocean color satellite sensors and to validate the algorithms for which remotely-sensed observations are used as input parameters. oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/cms/hplc

 

Image credit: NASA GSFC/Chris Kenemer

Description: Adjusting a testing machine, possibly an HPLC with autosampler.

 

Date: September 1979

 

Item: PUC.PIC.Chemistry_382

 

Photograph from Pacific Union College Archives & Special Collections photographs, filed under Department of Chemistry.

Instalação, comissionamento e treinamento do HPCL-MS Shimadzu.

Crystal Thomas inserts an ocean water sample into the high-performance liquid chromatograph for overnight analysis to identify the phytoplankton pigments in the water. The concept of pigment oceanography has become important in mapping global community structure in response to climate change and understanding current and future global CO2 budgets. oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/cms/hplc

 

Image credit: NASA GSFC/Chris Kenemer

Introduction

Argemone mexicana grows abundantly all over the India mainly during the months of March to May. Its seeds are blackish brown, round and netted. These seeds apparently have close resemblance with mustard seeds. Due to this reason, mustard seeds are often adulterated with Argemone mexicana seeds either accidentally or intentionally.

The oil of Argemone mexicana seeds is pale yellow in colour and is almost tasteless. It has a specific gravity of 0.920 and remains clear at -8ºC. It contains toxic alkaloids namely Sanguinarine and Dihydro-sangunarine.1

Argemone mexicana is used as a medicinal plant in several countries. Its yellow juice is used in the treatment of Jaundice, cutaneous infections, eye diseases etc. In Nigeria, it is used as a stimulant. In Mexico, the seeds are considered as an antidote to snake venom. In India, the smoke of the seeds is used to relieve toothache.2

Argemone mexicana seeds are often mixed as an adulterant with mustard seeds, while extracting oil for edible purposes. Such oils are tremendous health hazard. When consumed, argemone oil produces a condition similar to epidemic dropsy. Several workers have described various instrumental methods for the detection of Argemone oil in the adulterated mustard oil3,4 but colour tests and thin layer chromatography are the methods of choice, these being simple, sensitive, reliable and economic. Keeping these significant aspects in view, an attempt has been made in the present study to check to the sensitivity of the conventional colour tests and to develop a new TLC method to sort out this problem.

 

Materials and Methods

Seeds of both Argemone mexicana and Brassica compestris (mustard) were observed visually and then under light microscope to study their morphology.

 

Figure 2: Seeds of Brassica campestris (mustard) when observed under magnifying lens (Click to enlarge)

Argemone oil was expelled from the seeds of Argemone mexicana in HPLC grade methanol with the help of pestle and mortar. The extract was then filtered through whatmann filter paper no. 1 and collected in a beaker. The beaker was then heated over a water bath for some time to evaporate excess of methanol, so that pure argemone oil was left behind. Same method was used for the extraction of mustard oil from mustard seeds. Argemone oil and mustard oil were mixed in different ratios (vol./vol.) to make adulterated samples of mustard oil. The sensitivity of the following conventional colour tests has been checked with the help of these adulterated samples (as mentioned above).

Colour tests

The following colour tests were performed for the detection of argemone oil in adulterated mustard oil.

1. Nitric acid test

Took 5 ml. of adulterated mustard oil in a test tube. To this, we added 5 ml of concentrated nitric acid and the test tube was shaken. Orange yellow colour was developed in the acid layer confirming the presence of argemone oil in the sample.

2. Cupric acid test

Took 5 ml. of adulterated oil in a test tube. To this 1 ml. glacial acetic acid and 2 mg. of cupric acetate solution were added. Green colour confirmed the presence of argemone oil in the sample.

3. Ferric chloride test

 

Figure 3: Seeds of Argemone mexicana when observed under magnifying lens (Click to enlarge)

Took 5 ml. of adulterated oil sample in a test tube. To this were added 2 ml. of concentrated HCl ml. of rectified spirit. It was shaken for one minute. The tube was then kept gently in a boiling water bath for 2 minutes. The acid and oil layers were separated clearly. Held the test tube in a slanting position and slowly added 1ml. of the Ferric chloride reagent allowing it to just tickle down the side of the tube. Mixed the solution by rolling the test tube gently between the palms. Placed the tube in the same water bath for 12 minutes. Then the test tube was examined. Reddish brown, needle shaped crystalline precipitate were obtained which confirmed the presence of argemone oil in the sample.

Thin layer chromatography

Extraction of standard sanguinarine sample

Standard sanguinarine sample was extracted from the argemone oil by using the method reported by Shenolikar et al. in 19775.

Method

Silica gel-G coated plates were taken and activated at 110ºC for 30 minutes prior to spotting of the sample. Then using capillary tube spots of standard Sanguinarine alkaloid, adulterated mustard oil, pure argemone oil and pure mustard oil were spotted on the TLC plates. Then the plates were developed in ascending way in TLC chamber with 30 minutes prior saturation. The plates were run upto 10 cm. distance. 20 different solvent systems were used. After the completion of solvent run the plates removed and air dried.

Visualization of spots

The developed plates were visualized in ultra violet light. The spot of sanguinarine appeared as bright golden yellow fluorescent spot. The spots were also visualized with the help of iodine fuming.

Results and Discussion

The examination of mustard seeds and argemone seeds under low power of the microscope revealed that the mustard seeds were round, smooth and brown in colour whereas the Argemone mexicana seeds were darker in colour and had a netted appearance.

 

Figure 4: Visualization of spots with iodine fuming. 1. Pure Argemone oil sample 2. Pure Mustard oil sample 3. Adulterated sample 4. Standard Sanguinarine sample (Click to enlarge)

 

The results of the colour tests are given in table no. 1 and 2 (Please click here to download tables). It is evident from the table no. 2 that the intensity of the colour decreases with the decrease in concentration of the Argemone oil in the adulterated mustard oil and it has also been found that colour is not produced when the concentration of Argemone oil is 1% or less in the sample. Results of the thin layer chromatography are shown in table no. 3. The diagram showing a developed TLC plate run with standard sanguinarine sample, pure argemone oil, adulterated mustard oil sample and pure mustard oil sample can be downloaded by clicking here.

Thin layer chromatography was found to be the most suitable method for separation and identification of argemone alkaloid in adulterated mustard oil. The solvent system comprising of n-Butanol : Acetone : Ethanol : H2O (60 : 20 : 20 : 15) was found to be the best solvent system which results in the separation of the three spots (more or less heart shaped) at hRf values 85, 30 and 15 with pure argemone oil, 2 spots with adulterated mustard sample at hRf values 85 and 30, one spot with standard sanguinarine sample at hRf value 85 and no spot with pure mustard oil at temperature ranging from 34ºC to 38ºC. The one spot at hRf value 85 gave a bright Golden yellow fluorescence under long ultra violet light and a brown colored heart shaped spot, when fumed with the iodine. This spot is of alkaloid Sanguinarine is of same colour and it is at the same hRf value at which standard Sanguinarine sample produced the spot.

 

Figure 5: Visualization of spots under UV light 1. Pure Argemone oil sample 2. Standard Sanguinarine sample 3. Adulterated sample 4. Pure mustard oil sample (Click to enlarge)

Shenolikar et al., 19816 reported a TLC method with solvent system n-Butanol, acetic acid and water (60 : 15 : 25) which is very slow, takes more than two hours to complete.

Thus, this new Thin Layer Chromatography solvent system comprising of n-Butanol : Acetone : Ethanol : H2O (60 : 20 : 20 : 15) has been found to be the best system for the separation of the toxic alkaloid sanguinarine and its identification, that too, in a very quick time i.e. time of running of solvent is only 55 minutes.

It is expected that above findings made in the present study will be of immense value to the forensic scientists working in this field.

References

 

1. Asolkar, L.V., Kakkar, K.K. and Chakre, O.J. (1992) : Glossary of India Medicinal plants with active principles Part - I (A-K) (1965-1981). Publications & Information Directorate (CSIR), New Delhi.

2. Kirtikar, K.R., Basu, B.D. and an I.C.S. (retired) (1993) : Indian Medicinal plants (Vol. - I). Periodical experts book agency, Delhi.

3. Murthi, T.N. Sharma, M. and Devdhara, V.D. (1988) : High performance liquid chromatographic determination of argemone oil in edible oil. J. Fd. Sci. Technol. Vol.-25, No. 3, 170-172.

4. Pundlik, M.D., and Meghal, S.K. (1977) : Spectrophotometric identification and estimation of argemone oil. Res. Ind. 22, 182. (c.f. Murthi et al., 1988).

5. Shenolikar, I.S. (1976) : Removal of Sanguinarine from edible oils, contaminated with argemone oil. Indian Journal Med. Res. 64, 8.

6. Shenolikar, I.S., Babu, S., Thapar, G.S. and Ramasastri, B.V. (1981) : Quantitative determination of argemone oil in edible oils by thin layer chromatography. Indian J. Med. Res. 73, 204-207.

 

Scoville rating:

In 2000, India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a Scoville rating of 855,000 SHUs and in 2004 a rating of 1,041,427 SHUs was made using HPLC analysis.

 

400(x) HOTTER Than Tabasco Sauce.

In 2002 Hans Bruno Lund introduced the concept

"Multicomplex Management (MCM)" as a platform

for a new series of management concepts and tools,

e.g. "Expected Creative Potential (ECP)", desig-

ned as personal tools for the CEO of large, multicom-

plex organizations in addition to the traditional mana-

gement concepts and tools.

 

As of January 2010 the new concepts / tools "Multicomplex Management (MCM)" and "Expected Creative Potential (ECP)" were referred to on more than 800.000 websites or 40.000.000 webpages.

 

Literature:

 

Lund, Hans Bruno

Multicomplex Management (MCM)

Version 3

CD-ROM, 741 colored illustrations

Hans Bruno Lund

Skodsborg

Denmark

2009

 

A multicomplex organization:

 

Organization Structure Model used: Nordic Industrial Fund - Nordic Council of Ministers - Bio & Chemistry Division (BCD) - Division REI-activities (Research / Education / Innovation): 5 programmes: NordFood, Nordic Wood, NordPap, NordBio and NordYeast; 748 projects; 6.000 participating private and public companies, institutions, organizations and agencies in 62 countries. BCD connected 180.000 researchers, operators, engineers, technicians and company, organization and agency executives (1998). BCD was - in combination with NordTek (the organization managing the cooperation of the 23 Nordic technical universities) - the largest industrial and technological REI-network in Northern Europe. BCD was a 27.000 ECP Organization connecting 278.000 people totalling 2.7 million ECP. Photo on Picture 1: Hans Bruno Lund visiting the governor of Oulu province, Finland Dr. Eino Siuruainen during a NordTek seminar.

 

Hans Bruno Lund

Contact: hansbrunolund@hotmail.com

 

Pictures to Multicomplex Management (MCM): 1, 2, 3, ... , 16.

 

Multicomplex Management (MCM) Pictures:

Picture 1 - 9 on Page 1

Picture 10 on Page 2

Picture 11 - 12 on Page 6

Picture 13 - 15 on Page 7

Picture 16 on Page 8

 

Multicomplex Management (MCM) is explained in Picture 2.

 

Expected Creative Potential (ECP) is explained in Picture 2.

 

NORDIC INDUSTRIAL FUND

BIO & CHEMISTRY DIVISION (BCD)

 

RESEARCH SUBJECTS A - K:

 

Comment:  are symboles for REI-areas which could

not be transferred from the original file.

 

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Bioseminar (468) 

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Biosurfaktanter (453) 

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Biotechnica Hannover (474) 

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Biotekniske substanser (377) 

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Bioteknologi (466/490/507) 

Bioteknologi (355) 

Bioteknologikonference (424) 

Biotester (168/170)

Bjelkelag (575) 

Blandsyra (212)

Blåvilling (217) 

Blekning (148) XMX

Blekningens miljöpåverkan (239)  XMX

Bleksteg (143) XMX

Blekteknik (143-152/632) XMX

Blockpolymerer (307) 

Branching enzymes (051) 

Brandsäkra trähus (179/622) 

Broer i tre (184/626) 

Brokarage event (526) 

Brus (153/155) 

BSC (077/078/081)

Bullerskärmar i trä (187)  XMX

Byggkomponenter (532) 

Bygninger - Miljø (615)  XMX

Car.pis. (069) 

Carbohydrates (054/520) 

Catalysis (425)

Cell Cultures (047) 

Cell cycle gene cdc 21 (NY29) 

Cell response (039) 

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Cellular Development (458) 

Cellulase (031/060) 

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Cellulose (057/141) 

Cerealier (263)

Chlorinated compounds (085)  XMX

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CIMFISK (563)

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Civil Guard (409)  XMX

Cleaner Production (120)  XMX

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Cod (065) 

Cod trypsin (034)

Collagenolytic enzymes (066) 

Concentration gradients (039) 

Control Methods (118) 

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Cryotin (065) 

Cured in bag bacon (075) 

Cyclodextrin (631)

Dairies (119) 

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Djurkroppar (542)

DNA 

DNA coding (NY03) 

DNA gene sequence (NY08/NY28) 

DNA polymeraser (431) 

DNA-metoder (384) 

DNA-symposium (401) 

Doktorandutbytte (555) 

Dörrar (183/546) 

Dryforming paper (231)  XMX

Dynabeads (471)

EDI i træindustrin (599) 

EDISAW - Norden (182/588) 

Egenskaper (178-179) 

EG-netværk (463)

Electronic Miniturisation (629) 

Elektronmikroskopi (137) 

Emulgerte system (436) 

Emulsioner (296) 

Emulsions (112) 

Energi (608) XMX

Energi biomassa (249)  XMX

Energisnåla metoder (619) 

Energy metabolism control (048) 

Environm. Beer Production (121)  XMX

Environm. Biotechnology (085-102)  XMX

Environment (120-122)  XMX

Environmental Seafloor mapping (496)  XMX

Enzymatic lipid modification (083) 

Enzymatic Modification (082-084) 

Enzymatic modifications of lipids (084) 

Enzymatisk affedtning (571) 

Enzymatisk peptidsyntes (251) 

Enzyme Catalysis (425) 

Enzymer (147/571) 

Enzymer fra marine råstoffer (297) 

Enzymes (090/356/635) 

Enzymes in yeast (NY24) 

Enzymes/Lipids-stipend (511) 

EPI (592)  XMX

EROD-aktiviteten (169) 

Eucaryotic tRNA (NY26) 

EUREIN (613)

Eurodyn (398) 

Europastandarder (165-176) 

Evaluation - NordBio (606) 

Expertsystem Medicin (270) 

Expression of genes (NY02) 

Fab domain (NY16) 

Fabrik för blekt massa (277)  XMX

Facadefilm (685) 

Färg (155/207/237/335)  XMX

Färgbrusmätning (155) 

Färger (291/294)  XMX

Färgers reologi (335) 

Färgsystem (403)  XMX

Fartøy (712)

Fartyg (290) 

Fasadytor (541/573) 

Fat (386) 

Fatty Acid Synthethases (452) 

Fatty acids (063)

Fermentated sausage (074) 

Fermentation (038/076/079) 

FerroAlloys (687) 

Fiber (136/197) 

Fiberåtervinning (2.3)  XMX

Fiberlindningsteknologi (295) 

Fibermaterial (2.1) 

Fiberväggens egenskaper (2.2.3) 

FIMS (562)

Fingerskarvning (597) 

Finkemikalieområdet (286) 

Fish Packaging (103)  XMX

Fish Transportation (103)  XMX

Fisk (124/169/395/557/558/563) 

Fisk (267)

Fisk (564/568/570/594/609/617) 

Fiskavfallenzym (268)  XMX

Fiskeoppdrett (301) 

Fiskeriutbildning (219) 

Fiskfars (247)  XMX

Fiskindustriell vattenvård (206)  XMX

Fiskodling (292/412)  XMX

Fission yeast (NY08/NY27/NY29 

Fixation (094)  XMX

Fjernvarmerør (352) 

Flexotryckning (495) 

Flow injection (048) 

Flow processes (040) 

Fluid dynamics (037) 

Fluorescence (111)

FMS i nordisk treindustri (188) 

Foaming in bioreactors (044) 

Fönster (183/537/560) 

Food (607/616/618) 

Food Biotechnology (067-084) 

Food Brokerage (593) 

Food Fat (129) 

Food Hygiene (116-119)  XMX

Food Packaging (103-106/605)  XMX

Förgasning torv (254)  XMX

Förpackningar (548) 

Forskerseminar (569) 

Förstudie kemiområdet (260) 

Förtjockare (337) 

Förureningar (5.2)

Fouling av membran (264) 

Friktion (174) 

Frysfartyg (290)

Frysing (284) 

Fuktvatten (574)

Functional starch types (053) 

Furu kjernved (531) 

Fyrfärgsproduktion (237) 

Fytokemi (289) 

Garvning (194/200/242/246/278)  XMX

Garvning (595)  XMX

Gas (191/254/345/354/400/481)  XMX

Gasrensning (400)  XMX

Gener (NY02) 

Genetic recombination (NY07) 

Genteknik - Utställning (456) 

Genteknologi (327) 

Geometriska tolleranser (218) 

Geotermiska gaser (345)  XMX

Ginsing (258) 

Glasfiber (679) 

Gluten (215) 

Grafiska produkter (241) 

Grain (132) 

Gram-positive cocci (NY17) 

Gran (536) 

Gravity Ice Island (236)  XMX

Grundvandsrensning (486)  XMX

Gruvvatten (298)  XMX

Hallbyggnader i limtræ (577) 

Hälleflundra (483) 

Hållfastighet - Træ (624) 

Hårdförkromningsmetal (415) 

Havskatt (483) 

Health (128) 

Heavy Metals (094-098)  XMX

Hemaglutinin (NY12) 

Hemicellulose (057) 

Hepatocyter (169) 

Hesteblod (336) 

Heuristics (042) 

HH Stansning (536) 

High Pressure (130) 

Hippoglossus (346) 

Höga tryck (248)

Household waste (100)  XMX

Høyutbyttemassa (330)  XMX

HPLC control (041) 

Hudpermeation (358) 

Hum. mon. antikroppar (344/422) 

Human parathyroid hormone (NY09/372) 

Hushållsavfall (434)  XMX

Hydrofobe fasadefilmer (573) 

Hydrofobering (315) 

Hydrogen Al-legering (202) 

Hydrokarbonkjemi (281) 

Hydrolytic Enzymes (064-066) 

Hydrothermal Grain (132) 

Hygiene (075/116-119)  XMX

Hygienic Milk Packages (106)  XMX

Hygienisering foder (273)  XMX

Hygienproblem (470)  XMX

Hygienproblem (503)  XMX

Hyperbarisk CO2 (325) 

Iminobenzyl (303) 

Immunologi (478)

Immuntechnology (510) 

Immunteknologi-NW (517) 

Impregnerat virke (545) 

Industrial Enzymes (056-058/635)

Industrial waste (100)  XMX

Industrisamarbejde Island/Norden (353) 

Infektionsskydd (304) 

Influenza virus (NY12) 

Inneklimasystem (416)  XMX

Inorganic pyrophosphatase (NY18) 

Inorganic pyrophosphate (NY04) 

Instant pulping (256) 

INVIS-projektet (602) 

Islandsk perlit (203) 

Japan (185) 

Järnverk (190) XMX

Jäst- och växtceller (324) 

Jästgenetik (276)

Jordrensning (486)  XMX

Katalysatorgifte (391) 

Katalysatorgifter (280) 

Kem.mek. massa (550)  XMX

Kemikalier (286)

Kemiområdet (260) 

Kemisk massa (144/145)  XMX

Keramer 01 (640) 

Keramer 02 (641) 

Keramer 03 (642) 

Keramer 04 (643) 

Keramer 05 (644) 

Keramer 06 (645) 

Klima (416)  XMX

Kloningsvektorer (310) 

Klorfria bleksteg (143)  XMX

Kloridåtervinning (192)  XMX

Kloridutstötning (209)  XMX

Köksfläktar (238) 

Kolhydrater (393)

Kompositter 01

Kompositter 02

Kompositter 03

Kompositter 04

Kompositter 05

Kompositter 06

Kompositter 07

Konfokal mikroskopi (138) 

Konkurrenceevne (389) 

Konsumentförpackningar (548) 

Koordinatmålemaskiner (514) 

Korntørring (539)

Korrosion (207/223/224/274) 

Kreftrisiko (387)  XMX

Kvalitet (220) 

 

Literature

 

Lund, Hans Bruno

Multicomplex Management (MCM)

Version 3

CD-ROM, 741 colored illustrations

Dr. Hans Bruno Lund, Management Consultant

Skodsborg

Denmark

2009

 

Not available in libraries

  

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Barcelona, Spain.

 

Day three. Continuing our wandering up to the Montjuic area, now in the Old Botanical Gardens.

 

Ephedra altissima is a species of Ephedra that is native to northern Africa. It was originally described by René Louiche Desfontaines in 1799 and placed in section Pseudobaccatae (=sect. Ephedra), "tribe" Scandentes. In 1996 Robert A. Price classified E. altissima in section Ephedra without recognizing a tribe.

 

Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in the family Ephedraceae and order Ephedrales. These plants occur in dry climates over a wide area mainly in the northern hemisphere, across southern Europe, north Africa, southwest and central Asia, southwestern North America, and, in the southern hemisphere, in South America south to Patagonia. In temperate climates, most of the ephedra species grow on shores or in sandy soils with direct sun exposure.

 

They are also called Joint-pine, Jointfir, Mormon-tea or Brigham Tea. The Chinese name is mahuang (literally "cannabis yellow"). Ephedra is also sometimes called Sea Grape (from the French raisin de mer), although that is also a common name for Coccoloba uvifera.

 

Medicinal uses -

Plants of the Ephedra genus, including E. sinica and others, have traditionally been used by indigenous people for a variety of medicinal purposes, including treatment of asthma, hay fever, and the common cold. E. sinica (Ma Huang) contains 1-2% alkaloids, 40-90% of which is ephedrine; 2-10g of the herb are used to relieve the symptoms of colds and asthma. The alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are active constituents of E. sinica and other members of the genus. These compounds are sympathomimetics with stimulant and decongestant qualities and are related chemically to the amphetamines. Ephedra nevadensis contains ephedrine in its roots, stems and branches. Ephedra distachya contains up to 3% ephedrine in the entire plant. Ephedra sinica contains approximately 2.2% ephedrine.

 

Pollen of Ephedra spp was found in the Shanidar IV burial site in Iraq, suggesting its use as a medicinal plant dates to over 60,000 years ago. It has been suggested that Ephedra may be the Soma plant of Indo-Iranian religion.

 

Earliest uses of Ephedra spp. (Ma Huang) for specific illnesses date back to 5000 BCE. Ephedrine and isomers were already isolated in 1881 from Ephedra dystachia and characterized by the Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi of the 19th century. His work to access Ephedra drug materials to isolate a pure pharmaceutical substance, and the systematic production of semi-synthetic derivatives thereof is relevant still today as the three species Ephedra sinica, Ephedra vulgaris and to a lesser extend Ephedra equisetina are commercially grown in Mainland China as a source for natural ephedrines and isomers for use in pharmacy. The application of botanical extracts from Ma Huang as a stimulant and anorexic drug has no validity in either TCM or modern Western medicine. E. sinica and E. vulgaris carry usually six optically active phenylethylamines, mostly ephedrine and pseudoephedrine with minor amounts of norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine as well as the three methylated analogs. Reliable information on the total alkaloid content of the crude drug is difficult to obtain. Based on HPLC analyses in industrial settings, the concentrations of total alkaloids in dried Herba Ephedra ranged between 1 to 4%, and in some cases up to 6%.

 

For a review of the alkaloid distribution in different species of the genus Ephedra see Jian-fang Cui (1991). Other American and European species of Ephedra, e.g. Ephedra nevadensis (Mormon tea) have not been systematically assayed; based on unpublished field investigations, they contain very low levels (less than 0.1%) or none at all.

Barcelona, Spain.

 

Day three. Continuing our wandering up to the Montjuic area, now in the Old Botanical Gardens.

 

Ephedra altissima is a species of Ephedra that is native to northern Africa. It was originally described by René Louiche Desfontaines in 1799 and placed in section Pseudobaccatae (=sect. Ephedra), "tribe" Scandentes. In 1996 Robert A. Price classified E. altissima in section Ephedra without recognizing a tribe.

 

Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in the family Ephedraceae and order Ephedrales. These plants occur in dry climates over a wide area mainly in the northern hemisphere, across southern Europe, north Africa, southwest and central Asia, southwestern North America, and, in the southern hemisphere, in South America south to Patagonia. In temperate climates, most of the ephedra species grow on shores or in sandy soils with direct sun exposure.

 

They are also called Joint-pine, Jointfir, Mormon-tea or Brigham Tea. The Chinese name is mahuang (literally "cannabis yellow"). Ephedra is also sometimes called Sea Grape (from the French raisin de mer), although that is also a common name for Coccoloba uvifera.

 

Medicinal uses -

Plants of the Ephedra genus, including E. sinica and others, have traditionally been used by indigenous people for a variety of medicinal purposes, including treatment of asthma, hay fever, and the common cold. E. sinica (Ma Huang) contains 1-2% alkaloids, 40-90% of which is ephedrine; 2-10g of the herb are used to relieve the symptoms of colds and asthma. The alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are active constituents of E. sinica and other members of the genus. These compounds are sympathomimetics with stimulant and decongestant qualities and are related chemically to the amphetamines. Ephedra nevadensis contains ephedrine in its roots, stems and branches. Ephedra distachya contains up to 3% ephedrine in the entire plant. Ephedra sinica contains approximately 2.2% ephedrine.

 

Pollen of Ephedra spp was found in the Shanidar IV burial site in Iraq, suggesting its use as a medicinal plant dates to over 60,000 years ago. It has been suggested that Ephedra may be the Soma plant of Indo-Iranian religion.

 

Earliest uses of Ephedra spp. (Ma Huang) for specific illnesses date back to 5000 BCE. Ephedrine and isomers were already isolated in 1881 from Ephedra dystachia and characterized by the Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi of the 19th century. His work to access Ephedra drug materials to isolate a pure pharmaceutical substance, and the systematic production of semi-synthetic derivatives thereof is relevant still today as the three species Ephedra sinica, Ephedra vulgaris and to a lesser extend Ephedra equisetina are commercially grown in Mainland China as a source for natural ephedrines and isomers for use in pharmacy. The application of botanical extracts from Ma Huang as a stimulant and anorexic drug has no validity in either TCM or modern Western medicine. E. sinica and E. vulgaris carry usually six optically active phenylethylamines, mostly ephedrine and pseudoephedrine with minor amounts of norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine as well as the three methylated analogs. Reliable information on the total alkaloid content of the crude drug is difficult to obtain. Based on HPLC analyses in industrial settings, the concentrations of total alkaloids in dried Herba Ephedra ranged between 1 to 4%, and in some cases up to 6%.

 

For a review of the alkaloid distribution in different species of the genus Ephedra see Jian-fang Cui (1991). Other American and European species of Ephedra, e.g. Ephedra nevadensis (Mormon tea) have not been systematically assayed; based on unpublished field investigations, they contain very low levels (less than 0.1%) or none at all.

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Von Hippel-Lindau disease, or von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, is a rare genetic disorder characterized by visceral cysts, benign masses, and the potential for malignant transformation in multiple organ systems.

 

von Hippel–Lindau VHL, the manifestations of the syndrome are protean; therefore, imaging plays a key role in identification of abnormalities and subsequent follow-up of lesions.

 

von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) disease is a rare, inherited, multisystem disorder that is characterized by development of a variety of benign and malignant tumors.

 

The spectrum of clinical manifestations of the disease is broad, About 40 different lesions in 14 different organs have been described.

 

The diagnostic criteria for VHL disease include:

 

(a) more than one CNS hemangioblastoma,

 

(b) one CNS hemangioblastoma and visceral manifestations of VHL disease, and

 

(c) any manifestation and a known family history of VHL disease.

 

Although genetic testing is available, imaging plays a key role in the identification of abnormalities and their subsequent follow-up, in the screening of asymptomatic gene carriers, and in their long-term surveillance.

 

The importance of screening is emphasized because the lesions in VHL disease are treatable; thus, early detection enables more conservative therapy to be performed and may enhance the patient’s length and quality of life.

 

A multidisciplinary approach to screening is emphasized; the team, which is led by a geneticist, includes urologists, gastroenterologists, neurologists, ophthalmologists, and radiologists

 

Because VHL varies so widely, there is not a consistent set of symptoms in each person. Every incidence of the disease has its own diagnostic evaluation. Being multi -ordinal disorder getting help for treatment of a VHL person is pie in the sky.

   

My pennyworth experience with VHL

 

I have been suffering Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) Syndrome since my early childhood. This disorder results in excess blood flow due to hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) resulting in repeated tumor growths in different organs of my body. VHL is a lifetime disease. Patients need to be constantly checked and treated/operated for the tumors and cysts that develop at various sites in the central nervous system and visceral organs throughout their lifetime. Because of the complexities associated with management of the various types of tumours in this disease, treatment is multidisciplinary.

 

VHL, LIVER TRANSPLANT,MDR-TB , neurologic complications

Very often timely aggressive surgical intervention is the only cure. As a VHL liver transplant patient, I have undergone and 9 surgeries one brain tumor removal, recent cyber knife at Medanta on 18th June 2013 besides grappling with MDR-TB which was diagnosed in 2010.

 

I developed MDR-TB. Manifestation of my latent TB happened under immune compromised situation, confirmed by a radiological conference facilitated by Dr Randeep Guleria at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). I developed pulmonary, bone and lymph involvement, to such an extent that it gnaws my bones and I walk with help of a four-toed stick.

 

Why VHL and MDR TB

 

I often face the question regarding significance of prolonged TB treatment and VHL, as VHL is not directly linked with TB.

 

Pre- transplant evaluation of Whole Body PET City Scan mentions:

 

A subcentimetric size lymph node is seen in the right posterior triangle

 

region which shows markedly increased FDGuptake (1 significance):- dated 21/9/07

 

8th July 2008:- A tiny non FDG avid, subcentimetre sized, subpleural nodule is noted in the apicoposterior segment of left upper lobe. Compared to previous PET CT, the left lung nodule is a new finding.

 

Tuberculosis was not detected and my long strife without repository began. Disseminated MDR TB manifested under immunocompromised situation though currently not active.

 

This is significance of TB aside from VHL, underdiagnosis and lowered immunesystem:- lowered immune system makes it almost impossible to survive the pandemic, I’m lucky to respond but there’s no guarantee it won’t comeback.

 

Chronological Medical events:

 

Date of surgery

  

Site

  

diagnosis

         

15/3/1993

  

Left foot

  

fibrolipomatous hamartoma (?)cavernous hemangioma

 

no proper diagnosis

 

20/12/1994

  

Right knee

  

Hamartomatous Malformation(?) cavernous hemangioma / no proper diagnosis

 

Jan 2005

  

toncills

  

Toncillectomy due to multinodular toncills evidence of which remains in multiple nodules in Esophagus in mid and lower third section (definitive inference from the pre-transplant endoscopy performed by Dr.Sanjiv Saigal)

   

6/2/2006

  

thyroid

  

Thyroidectomy 6th Feb 2006 (Multinodular goitre with retrosternal extension and a prominent cavernoma)

 

8/12/2006

  

Brain

  

Craniotomy (haemorrhaged brain tumor) due to cavernous haemangia

 

6/8/2008

  

Liver

  

Liver Transplant due to vascular malformation performed by Dr.A.S.Soin and team with proper diagnosis of VHL

 

26/7/2009

  

Left fore-arm

  

Dr.A.S.Soin removed a cavernous hemangioma from left fore-arm

 

3/8/2010

     

. After long painful suffering within 15 days of my Father’s demise on 6/4/2010 in a penniless condition, whatsoever, I survived to know on 3/08/2010 That I got Tuberculosis. Line Probe Assay (HAIN Test) for TB yielded Positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis( 22/12/2010)

         

Hence I fell into MDR TB category. This was detected by Dr.Himanshu Garg.

 

Prior TB treatment was performed by Dr. Sainjiv Saigal with normal prophylactic drugs.

   

18/july/2011

  

Cervical lymph gland

  

Von Hippel Lindau With MDR Kochs cervical lymphadenopathy 20011 at Medanta the Medicity by Dr.K.K . Handa

   

18/June/2013

  

Cyber knife Brain

  

extra dural based well defined nodular lesion adjacent to rt cavernous sinus

Planned for SRS cyber knife to a total dose of 1500cGy to the two lesions, by Dr.Aditya Gupta

   

The underdiagnosis happened in past as doctors were not well informed.

My general Financial condition:

 

1. My Father has left nothing, no repository to carryon my treatment

 

2. We are homeless. I’m living in a crummy rented place with narrow stairs, without ventilation

 

3. Initial support was provided by my friends and well-wishers but I need support on a larger scale due to multiple problems already narrated

 

4. Friends and income of younger brother who is a freelancer can no longer pull the economy of my diseases together

 

5. I’ve no property or any financial assets to pull me through.

 

Current Situation:-

 

1. VHL is multidisciplinary, can happen in visceral and Central Nervous System manifestations genetically, which are outwardly not visible. Hence MRI of whole spine and brain/body (CT?) is required -bi annually (as decided by neurosurgeon) Plasma free metaephrines and urinary metaephrines by HPLC method not ELISA method- for tachycardia.

 

2.Opthalmic by retinal specialist check ups are required(bi- annually)

  

3.I am Currently undergoing gingival excision and treatment due to initial cyclosporine(immunosuppressant) treatment side-effects.

 

4.Livertransplant, biannual tests and my current immunosuppressant( Sirolimus) level going up for past year requiring monitoring.

 

5.CECT of neck and chest/ USG of neck, chest xray often required.

 

6.Bimonthly LFT,Sirolimus,RFT,CBC

 

7.Biannual CBC, LFT, Na, K, Bun, Creatinine, Uric Acid,Hb1C, Lipid profile, Chest Xray, Urine Routine/Microscopic, Urine Culture/ sensitivity, Ultrasound whole Abdomen +liver Doppler (MHV showing monophasic flow in the liver graft suddenly from triphasic requiring repeated test for explanation)

 

All this is Way too expensive for me to bear with my younger brother( 4 yrs younger) being the sole earning member.

 

My mother is just a pensioner which doesn’t even suffice our accommodation and victuals.

 

My experience tells me VHL is seldom understood, and discrimination against disease exists. I’m a survivor not sufferer, I guess my strife with a rare disease shall be taken in good stride and help me in my spirited fight against a lifelong disease.

 

I don’t flinch and Cyber knife now performed, I need to deal with other complexities; but lack of funds and understanding makes the feelings worse. Please help me live the joyous life with a rare disorder as I am a survivor and not merely a sufferer. I’ve not lost the verve to life- help me lead a very happy life with VHL.

 

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”- Hence I appeal to exercise my fundamental right to health of a minority individual being discriminated.

  

The Devaraja market in Mysore was built during the reign of Chamaraja Wodeyar IX (1868 – 1894). It is said that there was at this place a small weekly market which may have been as old as the origin of the city itself.

_______________________

 

The chili pepper (also chile pepper, chilli pepper, or simply chilli) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] (About this sound listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

 

Chili peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

 

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced. China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

 

HISTORY

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

 

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers are consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.

 

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the Piper genus known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns, which at the time were so costly that they were used as legal currency in some countries.

 

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after Indigenous people shared them with travelers. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.

 

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century. Today chilies are an integral part of South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

 

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

 

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

 

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times. According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martialis (Martial) mentioned "Piperve crudum" (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

 

PRODUCTION

In 2014, world production of fresh green chillies and peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total. Global production of dried chillies and peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.

 

SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

 

Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.

Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi

Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil and Scotch bonnet

Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers

Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

 

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

 

Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

 

INTENSITY

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.

 

When peppers are consumed, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived. The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating. The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

 

USE

CULINARY USES

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

 

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

 

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

 

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not. The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola. In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi. In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

 

Chili is by far the most important fruit in Bhutan. Local markets are never without chilies in different colors and sizes, in fresh and dried form. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan; the ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese. Chili is also an important ingredient in almost all curries and food recipes in the country.

 

In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

 

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

 

Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.

Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.

Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.

Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chillies.

Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.

Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.

Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.

'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.

Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.

Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chillies, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).

Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment - usually bottled when commercially available - that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand.

Capsaicin is also the primary component in pepper spray, a less-than-lethal weapon.

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

 

MEDICINAL

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.

 

PEPPER SPRAY

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in pepper spray as an irritant, a form of less-lethal weapon.

 

CROP DEFENSE

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly-Dung Bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.

 

FOOD DEFENSE

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene. In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B6

 

SPELLING AND USAGE

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

 

Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States and Canada. However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.

Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries, as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.

Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants. Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

 

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin. Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster. The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

 

WIKIPEDIA

My Questionable Content t-shirt. That's a Finnigan LTQ ion-trap mass spectrometer with ESI source behind me, with the HPLC and autosampler to my right. I didn't feel like lugging my guitar into the lab, so I used my much more compact flute as the music prop. Go buy a shirt. You know you want one. People loved it at the last science fiction convention I attended.

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