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The lifespan of an organism is affected by the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. In C. elegans, this interaction between genes and environment is mediated by the sensory system. Indeed, a subset of gustatory and olfactory neurons has been shown to inhibit worm longevity, while a different subset of gustatory neurons promotes longevity. While olfactory neurons have been found to affect lifespan through signals coming from the worm’s reproductive system, the lifespan effects of gustatory neurons are shown to be mediated by the insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway. Recently, the effects of olfaction on lifespan have been reported in Drosophila, which suggests that other aspects of the sensory influence on lifespan will also be conserved between these two species. For my thesis, I show that gustatory inputs not only affect Drosophila lifespan but that they also do so in a bidirectional manner. Interestingly, I find that fly gustatory inputs influence lifespan independent of the level of food intake. Indeed, compared to controls, taste-impaired flies have an increase in feeding rates and body weights and show no decrease in lipid storage. Moreover, I show that the gustatory influence on fly lifespan is dependent on food type, i.e., this influence depends partly on yeast in the food source, which suggests that the gustatory system affects longevity in response to a number of food-derived cues. Consistent with the above hypothesis, I find that the gustatory system affects lifespan partly in parallel to the IIS pathway. I show that taste inputs shorten Drosophila lifespan through inhibition of the IIS pathway effector dFOXO, while other taste inputs lengthen lifespan via a different pathway that acts in parallel to dFOXO. These data suggest that different gustatory cues will modulate the activities of distinct molecular pathways, one of which is IIS, to optimize the animal’s survival under different environments.The findings that the gustatory and olfactory influences on lifespan exist in bothC. elegans and Drosophila raise the intriguing possibility that mammalian lifespan is also subject to the activities of the sensory system. Indeed, in mammals both gustatory and olfactory information are relayed to the hypothalamus, a region in the brain that controls neuroendocrine function and physiology. Thus, the processing of this sensory information by the hypothalamus may consequently affect lifespan.

Background: Taste, gustatory perception or gustation is one of the five traditional senses that belongs to the gustatory system. Taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue. The different kinds of taste include sweetness, sourness, bitterness and so on. It has been noted that the intensities depreciate with age. Objective: To observe and analyse how the taste intensities differ with respect to age in the Indian Population. Materials and Methods: 20 candidates in the age group of 18-25, 26-40, 40-50, 50 years and above where given different substsnaces to taste and asked to score the substance based on the intensity of taste. Results and Conclusion: The perception of sweet taste was higher in the 18-25 age group. The perception of bitter sensation was more above 40 years. There is a change in the perception of taste with age although the results were not found to be statistically significant. (P = 0.0892).

Clarithromycin (CLA) is an extremely bitter macrolide antibiotic used to treat paediatric and adult infections. The bitter taste affects patient adherence and may compromise therapy. This research developed a taste masked CLA resinate using Indion® 234, a weak acidic cation exchange resin. The factors affecting formation of the CLA-resin complex were assessed. Design of experiments was used to optimize response while evaluating input variables such as temperature, CLA-resin ratio,stirring time and pH. CLA loading efficiency was determined spectrophotometrically and CLA release using USP Apparatus II. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscop (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to confirm complex formation. A spectrophotometric method was used to assess taste evaluation. The optimum CLA-resin ratio, temperature, and stirring time were 1:4, 80 °C, 3 hours, respectively, at pH 8. Characterization techniques revealed that CLA was crystalline and the complex amorphous in nature. FT-IR spectra of resinate revealed the absence of resonance due to the tertiary amine functional group that is responsible for the bitter taste of CLA. CLA was stable in simulated salivary fluid and was released within 3 hours in gastric fluid. All CLAresin batches revealed complete taste masking. Taste analysis highlighted the improvement of taste masking properties of the resinate as the CLA to resin ratio, increased.

Chemosensory perception involves the detection of chemical compounds. In animals, there are 2 chemical senses: taste, and olfaction. The two are related in that they utilize ligand-gated receptors, expressed in primary sensory neurons, to detect chemical stimuli from the surrounding environment. However, the processing of these inputs is quite different in the two systems, leading to divergent roles for olfaction and taste in sensory perception. This dissertation highlights some of these differences, by looking at processing of ethologically relevant stimuli at the very peripheral receptor neurons. The work is divided into 2 parts: water sensing by the mammalian taste system, and CO₂ sensing by the Drosophila olfactory system. In Chapter 1, I talk about water sensing in the mammalian taste system. Initiation of drinking behavior relies on peripheral water detection. It is likely that this detection is mediated, at least in part, by the taste system. Here, I have shown that acid-sensing taste receptor cells (TRCs) that were previously suggested as the sensors for sour taste, also respond to water. This response is mediated by a bicarbonate-dependent molecular mechanism, likely involving the Carbonic Anhydrase enzyme family. Furthermore, optogenetic stimulation of the acid-sensing TRCs in thirsty animals induces robust licking responses towards the light source, even in the absence of water. Conversely, thirsty animals lacking functional acid-sensing TRCs show compromised discrimination between water and non-aqueous fluids. Taken together, this work reveals the cellular mechanism of water detection by the mammalian taste system. In chapter 2, I talk about CO₂ sensing in the fruit fly. The Drosophila olfactory system responds to most odors with the activation of a large subset of its olfactory receptors (ORs). This broad activation is a consequence of the ORs having affinity to multiple chemical compounds. In contrast, a small number of odors, like CO₂, elicit responses in only single ORs. These ORs are, in contrast to most ORs, very narrowly tuned, generally responding only to that one odor. It has been assumed up until now that the specificity of these unique ORs is inherited by the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) they are expressed in, and even in the projection neurons (PNs), that the ORNs synapse onto. I show here that CO₂, though it activates only a single OR, the GR63a/GR21a hetero-dimer complex, actually activates multiple ORN axon terminals. This activation is due to lateral excitatory connections between axon terminals of the GR63a/GR21a expressing ORNs, and at least 4 other ORN types. Focusing on one of these ORNs, Ab1B, I show the lateral connections bypass the ORN cell bodies, only driving responses at the axon terminals. Consequently, Ab1B ORN axon terminals receive 2 sources of excitatory input, a feed-forward excitation from its endogenous OR, and a lateral excitation from GR63a/GR21a. This effectively divides the ORN into 2 compartments, distinct in their odor tuning. Finally, I show that lateral excitation is a general feature of the ORN circuit by silencing the feed-forward input of another ORN class, Ab1A. The Ab1A cell body is completely silent, but the axon terminals retain odor responses from lateral excitatory inputs. Thus, there is a lateral flow of odor information between multiple ORNs of the Drosophila olfactory system.

Among the sensors that imitating the human five senses, the visual sensors are commercialized as CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) and CCD (Charge Coupled Device), and tactile sensor are partly commercialized as a touch sensor. Also, auditory sensor is commercialized as a microphone. However, the smell and taste sensors are still under development. If the taste is sensed electrically, it is possible to obtain standard taste information. For portable applications a small size taste sensor system is required and a suitable technology for manufacturing such a highly sensitive small-sized sensor is semiconductor technology. Conventional taste sensors require a large amount of test material because they are large in volume. Also require expensive equipment and not suitable for portable device. Various types of biosensors have been developed to overcome these drawbacks. The FET-type biosensor has advantages of miniaturization and standardization by integrating the sensor and the circuit by utilizing the integrated circuit manufacturing process. Among the devices capable of integrated circuits, thin film transistors with oxide semiconductor materials are one of the candidates having a simpler process than the LTPS TFT and a higher field effect mobility than the a-Si TFT. Depending on the taste substances, the emitter current in the FET sensor changes. Each taste solution and lipid sensing membrane have different sensing principles. For example, a sourness, saltiness, or sweetness solution are electrochemical reactions in which specific ions are assembled near the lipid sensing membrane by electrical attraction, the bitterness solution is hydrophobic and certain molecules are absorbed by the lipid sensing membrane Hydrophobic binding. Those reactions induce potential changes of the floating gate and changes the current of the device. As the concentration of the taste substances increases, the current of the transistor increases. And each solution has different values depending on the lipid sensing membrane. In this paper, an oxide transistor-based amplifier is designed for a taste sensor. We designed an amplifier that works well even when the size of the transistor changes and the threshold voltage changes. Usually amplifier circuit require the optimum operation bias, which make the circuit complicated. However, in this paper we proposed a cascaded Class A amplifier which uses self-bias unit instead of voltage divider by resistors as shown in figure. In this circuit, T3 is a taste sensing transistor. Sensing signal is amplified by supply the alternation voltage through capacitor. The alternative way is to use T4 as a taste sensor. The amplification gains for different location of the sensor were compared. Figure 1

Artificial taste sensors mimicking human tongue enables a non-destructive, rapid, and objective method for taste assessment, and the integration of multiple sensing units to fully emulate human gustatory system remains challenge. Here, we present a dielectric-response-based taste (DRT) sensor with a facile structure for generic liquid identification. The representative tastants of the five basic tastes have been identified with a wide range (10 μM–100 mM), a low limit of the detection (5 μM), and long-term stability (>30 d). Moreover, mixtures of tastants can be distinguished by combining the potential and conductance measurement modes of the DRT sensor. An accuracy of 98.98% has been achieved on recognizing the types of six different beverages by the proposed sensor with the assistance of machine learning. The DRT sensor based on the idea of direct acquiring dielectric responses shows excellent performances in transcending human gustatory senses, providing an efficient, stable and low-cost method for applications in food industry, pharmaceutics, and environment monitoring.

The essence and significance of tasting events as an element of integration marketing communications are revealed. The approaches, statements and opinions of modern scientists are analyzed. The mechanism, components, algorithm of construction and the procedure of carrying out a complex of tasting events are investigated. The basic problems of management of marketing communication policy of business structures have been formed. The basics of the application of integrated marketing communications are defined. The problems of the correctness of the tasting events as the main element of marketing management on the way of the enterprise to conquering the market niche are considered. Management of marketing is represented by the main element of influence on the consumer decision, the formation of demand and sales promotion of their products by modern enterprises. The introduction of integrated marketing communications into the marketing management of enterprises provides opportunities to study how proper, expedient, expensive, and fast is the use of marketing tools. One such marketing tool is the implementation of presentation measures regarding the products. Effective management of marketing communications requires consideration of such functions as: developing a marketing strategy, adhering to the logical relationship between goals and business planning, taking into account previous experience, number of clients, message functions. It is necessary to create a slogan, theme, idea and a unique business proposal. All this will attract an additional consumer or business partner. Tasting a product can be seen as a mechanism for investing in innovation and image of the company (knowledge of its business, product, brand). The purpose of this mechanism is to create a brand image and gain popularity, which over time will provide a more reliable guarantee of interaction with suppliers, resellers and consumers. Integrated marketing communications include the development and use of a variety of communication measures (active use of ATL / IBTL technologies) to introduce and market various TM food manufacturers based on brand-oriented technologies. Tasting gives people the opportunity to taste and buy products for free. The best, effective and efficient measure to familiarize the consumer with the taste and quality of the products, appearance, quality is tasting events among all integrated marketing communications.

Geosmin and 2-methylisorboneol (2-MIB) are major organic pollutants responsible for undesirable taste and odour in drinking water. Geosmin produces earthy (muddy) taste and 2-MIB produces musty (mouldy) taste. These compounds impact greatly on the aesthetic quality and general consumer acceptability of drinking water. Hence identification, quantification and removal of these compounds from water is essential. There are no direct guidelines been established for drinking water taste and odour causing compounds. But according to SLSI standards and other international standards (WHO and USA EPA), taste and odour causing compounds in the drinking water should be below the human sensory threshold level (5 ng/L). Hence, water treatment technologies that can remove Geosmin and 2-MIB from water below human detection threshold (<5 ngl-1) are highly sought by drinking water suppliers worldwide. Geosmin and 2-MIB contamination levels in 16 treated final water samples from National Water Supply and Drainage Board water treatment plants covering 5 districts (Anuradhapura, Pollonnaruwa, Ampara, Batticcaloe and Trincomalee ) in Sri Lanka at dry season were analyzed using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The level of Geosmin in treated water was ranged between 8.4 to 38.9 ng/L whereas 2-MIB level ranged from 4.5 to 98.5 ng/L. Neither Geosmin nor 2-MIB were recorded at Wavantiv and Kondawatuwana WTP treated water at detectable levels (Geosmin minimum detectable level-1.5 ng/L, 2-MIB-1.3 ng/L). Various conventional and modern treatment processes such as granular activated carbon beds, usage of powder activated carbon, membrane filtration system, Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) system, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration (Sand filter system) and disinfection facilities are being operated in the Wavnativ and Konadawatuwana WTP where both Geosmin and 2-MIB were not detected. It was found that the treatment processes include granular and powder activated carbon. However, All the other treated water collected from Jayanthi tank, Minneriya tank and Parakkrama Samudra reservoir showed taste and odour issue with having greater concentration of Geosmin (18.6 ng/L, 38.9 ng/L, 10.3 ng/L) and 2-MIB (22.7 ng/L, 10.3 ng/L, 34.1 ng/L) in treated water and the concentrations were greater that the raw water. The reason for elevating the levels of Geosmin and 2 MIB in raw water might be due to stress effect on algae and cyanobacteria during the treatment processing steps such as pre-chlorination, flocculation, coagulation, which may enhance algae and cyanobacteria cell lysis. It was noticed that the Jayanthi tank, Minneriya tank and Parakkrama Samudra follow conventional water treatment processes with some modifications and activated carbon is not used for the treatment. A questionnaire analysis found that most of the consumers rejected those treated water with geosmin and 2-MIB due to the bad taste and odour for drinking purposes. As a summary, 84% and 63% collected treated water exceeded human sensory threshold level of Geosmin and 2-MIB compounds. The study showed that activated carbon either granular or powder form, regular usage at the treatment processes was highly effective in removing Geosmin and 2-MIB. Compared to activated carbon, it was also found that both sand filtration and membrane filtration fail in removing these two odorants. Keywords: Geosmin, 2-MIB, Water treatment, Raw water, Activated carbon, SPME, GC-MS

Objective To determine the effects of early taste stimulation care in comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury (STBI). Methods Sixty patients with severe STBI who had been in coma for more than 6 hours and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scored 5-8, were divided into two groups according to random digit table. The control group received conventional care, while the taste stimulation group received both conventional care and early taste stimulation intervention. They were assessed according to GCS at 10, 20 and 30 days after treatment. Results After the intervention, the GCS scores in the taste stimulation group were higher than those of the control group after 20 days (10.70±0.48 vs 8.65±0.58, t= 2.714, P < 0.05) and 30 days (11.70 ± 0.49 vs 9.60 ± 0.57, t=2.792, P < 0.05). Conclusions Early taste stimulation care has a certain wake-promoting effect on comatose patients with STBI. Key words: Taste stimulation; Severe traumatic brain injury; Wake-promoting

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;This research aims to use tubers into tape products as a substitution for rice in the application of fermented biotechnological learning. The research used a type of local tubers such as sweet potato, which includes purple sweet potato (purple color), honey sweet potato (yellow color), white sweet potato (white color) and taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott.), while the control treatment used cassava (Manihot utillisima Crantz) using completely randomized research design. The tests were conducted by looking for the alcohol content and through organoleptic test (taste) as well as the appearance of the tape products by involving 20 researchers as testers. The results showed that the making of tape using tubers through fermentation process produced an average alcohol of 3.994% in honey sweet potatoes; 1.3773% in white sweet potato; 1.0576% in purple sweet potato; 1.3295% in taro and 0.59625% in cassava. The organoleptic test conducted by the panelists showed: honey sweet potato (yellow color, soft texture, sour taste, alcoholic aroma, attractive appearance); white sweet potato (white color, soft texture, sour taste, alcoholic aroma, attractive appearance); purple sweet potato (purple color, soft texture, sour taste, alcoholic aroma, attractive appearance); taro (whitecolor, rather dense texture, sour taste, mildly alcoholic aroma, ordinary appearance) and cassava (yellow color, soft texture, sour taste, alcoholic aroma, attractive appearance).&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

The n umber of questions and scale types could be factors affecting consumer responses in sensory evaluation. In four basic taste test s of orange juice, consumers were requested to rate the intensity of the taste of each product by asking for only one taste (sweetness or sourness), two tastes (sweetness and sourness), three tastes (sweetness, sourness, and saltiness) and all four tastes (sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and bitterness) in each trial. It was found that sweetness was rated significantly higher (p<0.05) when asking for only one question, while the opposite result was found in sourness but the intensity discrimination of sourness when asking only one question was better than when asking more questions. Three different scales for the acceptance test , including a 9-point hedonic scale , two 10 cm line scales, one anchoring “min-max” scale and one anchoring “dislike-like” scale , were used for evaluating six snacks. The result s of the 9-point hedonic scale w ere significantly higher (p<0 . 05) than those of 10 cm line scale with “dislike-like” end-anchors, and the product discrimination of the 9-point hedonic scale was better than those of the 10 cm line scale s with “dislike-like” and “min-max” end-anchors, respectively.

In the present work, taste masked particles of acetaminophen (AAP), a highly soluble bitter tasting drug, were developed and ODT containing the taste masked particles were prepared. Taste masked particles of AAP were prepared using different amounts of tetraglycerol polyricinoleate (TGPR) and Eudragit ®E100. Although the drug content ratio and drug recovery decreased with increasing TGPR, drug release from AAP-CR100 particles containing a large amount of TGPR was mostly suppressed for 2 min. Hence, AAP-CR100 was incorporated into ODT as taste masked particles for AAP. Three major disintegrants were used for ODT, and it was confirmed that the tensile strength of all formulations showed applicable hardness for handling. The AAP-CR100-CP(40) formulation containing crospovidone showed the shortest disintegration time and the drug release from AAP-CR100-CP(40) into pH 6.8 test solution was suppressed compared with commercial AAP tablets. Because the drug release from AAP-CR100-CP(40) into the pH 1.2 test solution was rapid, it was suggested that drug release from AAP-CR100-CP(40) is suppressed in the oral cavity, and the drug is released promptly in the stomach. Thus AAP-CR100-CP(40) may be useful as an ODT in which the dissolution of AAP in the oral cavity is suppressed.

Objective To investigate the role of individual dental stent on taste protection in the patients with primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Firstly, dosimetric evaluation of the tongue under the circumstance of 10 pairs of patient wearing dental stent or not was done. Secondly, a total of 61 patients were randomized into two arms: 29 were in the trial arm and 32 in the control arm. The patients wore dental stent during radiotherapy in trial group, but not in control group. The endpoint was taste dysfunction before radiotherapy, every week during radiotherapy till the completion of radiotherapy, and followed up six months after radiotherapy. Results The mean dose of tip of tongue, body of tongue, base of tongue for patient with dental stent or not were (394.43±24.01) cGy, (986.35±77.15) cGy, (4 401.16±179.01) cGy and (677.03±110.05) cGy, (2 418.19±414.18) cGy, (4 878.67±387.45) cGy (P value were 0.031, 0.007 and 0.284, respectively) separately. By the completion of the radiotherapy, there were 9 (31.03 %) patients suffering from a taste dysfunction in the trial group and 25 (78.13 %) in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusions Individual dental stent has a potential tendency to relieve the taste impairment by reducing the irradiation dose of tongue. Key words: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Radiotherapy; Dental stent; Side effects; Taste dysfunction

The sense of taste is essential for proper functioning of the organism. The authors describe, in an accessible way, the complex mechanisms of taste perception. The structure of particular taste receptors, variants of their activation, as well as physical and chemical factors modifying the sensation of taste, are presented. Exquisite culinary examples are given in order to facilitate the reader with the understanding of why, at the level of the cerebral cortex, a virtually infinite number of combinations of taste sensations can be perceived. The discourse is spiced up by reflections of the eminent philosopher of taste, J.A. Brillat-Savarin, who convinces us that food intake should be not only a physiological act, but also a refined pleasure.

Energy efficient artificial gustatory system for in-sensor computing