Minimal effects of high-pressure treatment on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium inoculated into peanut butter and peanut products

About 1.2 billion pounds of peanut butter are consumed annually in the United States. In 2008 to 2009, an outbreak involving Salmonella Typhimurium in peanut butter led to a recall of over 3900 products by over 200 companies. More than 700 people became sick, 100 were hospitalized, and 9 people died from this outbreak. This study examines the efficacy of high-pressure processing (HPP) to decrease S. Typhimurium American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 53647 inoculated into peanut butter and model systems. The viability of S. Typhimurium in peanut butter stored at room temperature was investigated. A culture of S. Typhimurium (6.88 log CFU/g) was inoculated into peanut butter. Following 28 d at 20 °C there was a 1.23-log reduction. Approximately 10(6) to 10(7) CFU/g S. Typhimurium were inoculated into 4 brands of peanut butter, 3 natural peanut butters and peanut flour slurries at 2, 5, and 10% peanut flour protein in peanut oil and in distilled water. All were treated at 600 MPa for 5 min at 45 °C. While significant differences were found between natural peanut butter and peanut protein mixtures, the reduction was <1.0 log. The peanut flour/oil mixtures had a 1.7, 1.6, and 1.0-log reduction from HPP (2, 5, and 10% protein, respectively) whereas peanut flour/water mixtures had a 6.7-log reduction for all protein levels. Oil had a protective effect indicating HPP may not help the microbial safety of water-in-oil food emulsions including peanut butter. Practical Application: There have been multiple outbreaks of foodborne illness involving peanut butter products. This study looks at the potential use of high-pressure processing to reduce the bacteria that may be in peanut butter.     

Characterization and Implications of Enterobacter cloacae Strains, Isolated from Italian Table Olives "Bella Di Cerignola"

ABSTRACT:  Enterobacter cloacae  can be recovered in the spontaneous fermentations of Italian table olives. In this study, the effects of salt (20 to 100 g/L), temperature (10 to 37 °C), pH (4 to 5 and 8 to 10),  p -coumaric and vanillic acids (0.5 to 2 g/L), and the acidification of the medium through lactic, citric, and ascorbic acids were investigated on 15 strains of  E. cloacae , isolated from Italian table olives "Bella di Cerignola." Finally, a confirmatory experiment in synthetic brine was run. The strains were inhibited only by an NaCl amount of 70 to 80 g/L and by  p -coumaric acid; on the other hand, they showed the ability to grow also at low temperatures (10 to 15 °C). The confirmatory experiment highlighted their ability to survive both at 15 °C and at pH 5.  Enterobacter cloacae  could be a real problem for the fermentation of table olives in southern Italy; some hurdles could be used (salt or brine acidification), but some environmental conditions (for example, the temperature) should be controlled carefully to maintain olive safety at acceptable levels.     

A mass spectrometry and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy study of the interaction between linear carbon chains and noble metals

Linear carbon chains (LCCs) contain sp hybridization either as alternating triple and single bonds (polyynes) or with consecutive double bonds (cumulenes). They are detected here in solution by a combined mass spectrometry (MS) and surface enhanced Raman scattering approach, and new insight into the carbon structures, formed after performing pulsed laser ablation of a polycrystalline graphite rod in water stabilized by the presence of metals is given. The possibility to establish a LCC-metal bond is also investigated by carrying out atmospheric pressure matrix assisted laser desorption ionization MS experiments on copper and silver polyynides. It was found that while the interaction of metal colloids with LCCs results mainly in a weak bond, polyynides appear as true organometallic compounds in which the metal is covalently bonded to the LCCs.     

A 2.5-GHz DDFS-PLL With 1.8-MHz Bandwidth in 0.35-$mu$m CMOS

A wideband frequency synthesizer architecture is presented. The proposed topology employs a direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS) to control the output frequency of an offset-PLL. In this way, the synthesizer features a very fine frequency resolution, 24 Hz, as in delta-sigma fractional-N PLLs, but without being affected by the quantization-induced phase noise. This, in turn, allows enlarging the loop bandwidth. The frequency synthesizer is designed to be employed as a direct modulator for Bluetooth transmitter in a low-cost 0.35-mum CMOS technology. At 2.5GHz it achieves 1.8-MHz bandwidth, while the settling time within 30ppm for an 80-MHz step is 3 mus. The integrated phase noise gives less than 1 degree of rms phase error and the worst-case spur is 48dBc at 1 MHz, well below the specifications. Power dissipation is 120 mW for the PLL core, 50 mW for the DDFS plus DACs, and 19 mW for the GFSK modulator.     

Heterogeneous Catalysis for Fine Chemicals in Dense Phase Carbon Dioxide

An increasing number of fine chemicals is being produced using heterogeneously catalysed reactions in supercritical carbon dioxide with significant improvements in terms of process selectivity and purity of the products thereby obtained. A selection of examples and of recent findings shows the large potential of this technology for the synthetic chemistry of the future.     

The analysis of sensory and chemical–physical variables via multivariate additive PLS splines

When the information given by a panel of judges on wine sensory characteristics is resumed in a three-way table, Y, and the objective is to extract knowledge from a chemical data-set, X, which has a predictive power for wine sensorial variables, the study of the relationships between chemical–physical variables and sensorial data sets is really complex. In this paper after resuming the information in Y, we propose to consider multivariate additive partial least squares via splines, recently presented in literature, to predict Y by X.     

Effect of texture on oxidation resistance of Ti3AlC2

Oxidation resistance of textured Ti₃AlC₂ ceramics was measured in the temperature range 1273–1573?K. It was found that the oxidation was markedly anisotropic and the samples exhibited a better oxidation resistance when tested along a direction transverse to the c-axis. This behavior was attributed to the rapid diffusion of Al within its basal planes to form a passivating Al₂O₃ scale and it respected Ellingham diagrams. The scales formed had different compositions depending on the testing direction; this response was clearly resulting from the crystallographic orientation. Even at 1473?K after 20?h exposure, the samples tested in a direction transverse to the c-axis showed a reduced weight gain which was 45 times lower than one seen on a basal plane.     

Portrait of Cancer Stem Cells on Colorectal Cancer: Molecular Biomarkers,Signaling Pathways and miRNAome

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and about 20% is metastatic at diagnosis and untreatable. Increasing evidence suggests that the heterogeneous nature of CRC is related to colorectal cancer stem cells (CCSCs), a small cells population with stemness behaviors and responsible for tumor progression, recurrence, and therapy resistance. Growing knowledge of stem cells (SCs) biology has rapidly improved uncovering the molecular mechanisms and possible crosstalk/feedback loops between signaling pathways that directly influence intestinal homeostasis and tumorigenesis. The generation of CCSCs is probably connected to genetic changes in members of signaling pathways, which control self-renewal and pluripotency in SCs and then establish function and phenotype of CCSCs. Particularly, various deregulated CCSC-related miRNAs have been reported to modulate stemness features, controlling CCSCs functions such as regulation of cell cycle genes expression, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metastasization, and drug-resistance mechanisms. Primarily, CCSC-related miRNAs work by regulating mainly signal pathways known to be involved in CCSCs biology. This review intends to summarize the epigenetic findings linked to miRNAome in the maintenance and regulation of CCSCs, including their relationships with different signaling pathways, which should help to identify specific diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers for CRC, but also develop innovative CCSCs-targeted therapies.     

Exploring Molecular Contacts of MUC1 at CIN85 Binding Interface to Address Future Drug Design Efforts

The modulation of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) by small molecules represents a valuable strategy for pharmacological intervention in several human diseases. In this context, computer-aided drug discovery techniques offer useful resources to predict the network of interactions governing the recognition process between protein partners, thus furnishing relevant information for the design of novel PPI modulators. In this work, we focused our attention on the MUC1-CIN85 complex as a crucial PPI controlling cancer progression and metastasis. MUC1 is a transmembrane glycoprotein whose extracellular domain contains a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) regions that are highly glycosylated in normal cells and under-glycosylated in cancer. The hypo-glycosylation fosters the exposure of the backbone to new interactions with other proteins, such as CIN85, that alter the intracellular signalling in tumour cells. Herein, different computational approaches were combined to investigate the molecular recognition pattern of MUC1-CIN85 PPI thus unveiling new structural information useful for the design of MUC1-CIN85 PPI inhibitors as potential anti-metastatic agents.