Etablierung eines Frühwarnsystems zur Erkennung lebensmittelbedingter Risiken in Bayern – risikoorientierte Lebensmittelüberwachung weiter gefasst

Recent and past food scandals highlight the urgent need for food safety authorities to anticipate future risks in order to enable improved and proactive response mechanisms. With this goal in mind, the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (LGL) has established an early warning system aimed at early identification of potential health risks and fraudulent practices in the food sector. The early warning approach allows intervention at different stages of risk development. On the one hand, the scanning of a broad area of the food production chain (horizon scanning) may enable prospective risk identification. To this end, relevant factors of influence (drivers) need to be identified, observed and analyzed. On the other hand, the retrospective analysis of case studies may unravel novel cause-effect associations that could be transferred to other products and production technologies, possibly leading to the identification of new drivers (root cause analysis). Additionally, various datasets emanating from food safety authorities, for example data from the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and from Bavarian-wide laboratory analyses and food business inspections, will be closely observed and analyzed. The multidisciplinary character of the LGL has proven to be essential for the realization of the early warning approach, the analysis of inflowing data and implementation of consequences such as food business inspections and sampling for analysis. This article details the objectives and methodical approaches of the project. The acquisition of systematically compiled information as well as its analysis and assessment are comprehensively described. The early warning system presented here has already contributed significantly to the risk-oriented food inspection practiced to date, by integrating novel risk-relevant aspects.     

Can anti-speeding messages based on protection motivation theory influence reported speeding intentions?

The study investigated the effects of anti-speeding messages based on protection motivation theory (PMT) components: severity, vulnerability, rewards, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and response cost, on reported speeding intentions. Eighty-three participants aged 18–25 years holding a current Australian driver's license completed a questionnaire measuring their reported typical and recent speeding behaviors. Comparisons were made between 18 anti-speeding messages used on Australian roads and 18 new anti-speeding messages developed from the PMT model. Participants reported their reactions to the 36 messages on the perceived effectiveness of the message for themselves and for the general population of drivers, and also the likelihood of themselves and other drivers driving within the speed limit after viewing each message. Overall the PMT model-derived anti-speeding messages were better than jurisdiction-use anti-speeding messages in influencing participants’ reported intention to drive within the speed limit. Severity and vulnerability were the most effective PMT components for developing anti-speeding messages. Male participants reported significantly lower intention to drive within the speed limit than did female participants. However, males reported significantly higher intention to drive within the speed limit for PMT-derived messages compared with jurisdiction-based messages. Third-person effects were that males reported anti-speeding messages to be more effective for the general driving population than for themselves. Females reported the opposite effect – that all messages would be more effective for themselves than for the general driving population. Findings provided support for using a sound conceptual basis as an effective foundation for anti-speeding message development as well as for evaluating proposed anti-speeding messages on the target driver population.     

Changes in circulating biomarkers during a single hemodialysis session

The hemodialysis (HD) procedure induces an inflammatory response potentially contributing to cardiovascular disease. Here we investigated the acute impact of HD on circulating biomarkers. Circulating biomarkers (small solutes, middle molecular‐sized peptides, and proteins) related to inflammation, oxidative stress, and vascular calcification (VC) were measured before and after a single session of HD in 45 clinically stable patients. Concentrations were corrected for ultrafiltration‐induced hemoconcentration. Among vascular calcification‐related biomarkers, osteoprotegerin and fetuin‐A remained unchanged while fibroblast growth factor‐23 (FGF23) decreased by ?19%. Changes of FGF23 and changes of phosphate correlated (ρ = 0.61, P < 0.001). While C‐reactive protein did not change, interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) increased by 14% and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) increased by 45%. IL‐6 and PTX3 appear to be valid biomarkers of the intradialytic inflammatory response. VC‐related markers were in general not affected by the single HD session; however, the observed correlation between acute changes of FGF‐23 and phosphate during HD warrants further studies.     

Theoretical and numerical study of lamellar eutectoid growth influenced by volume diffusion

We investigate the lamellar growth of pearlite at the expense of austenite during the eutectoid transformation in steel. To begin with, we extend the Jackson–Hunt-type calculation (previously used to analyze eutectic transformation) to eutectoid transformation by accounting for diffusion in all the phases. Our principal finding is that the growth rates in the presence of diffusion in all the phases are different compared to the case when diffusion in growing phases is absent. The difference in the dynamics is described by a factor ’ρ’ which comprises the ratio of the diffusivities of the bulk and the growing phases, along with the ratios of the slopes of the phase coexistence lines. Thereafter, we perform phase-field simulations, the results of which are in agreement with analytical predictions. The phase-field simulations also reveal that diffusion in austenite as well as ferrite leads to the formation of tapered cementite along with an overall increase in the transformation kinetics as compared to diffusion in austenite (only). Finally, it is worth noting that the aim of present work is not to consider the pearlitic transformation in totality; rather it is to isolate and thereby investigate the influence of diffusivity in the growing phases on the front velocity.     

Low-level occupational 14C contamination--results from a pilot study

This paper presents a pilot study in which specific activities of 14C in hair and urine from 11 radiation workers handling 14C-containing substances have been measured using accelerator mass spectrometry. Varying degrees of contamination were revealed: up to 63% excess in hair and 400% excess in urine. Although the 14C excess reported in this study would result in low effective doses, it would be of interest to monitor the situation at other workplaces with potentially higher risks of contamination. Simultaneous measurements of 14C in hair and urine with additional random measurements of 14C in faeces and exhaled air could provide a means of improving dose estimates for workers handling different types of 14C-containing substances.     

Thioarsenate transformation by filamentous microbial mats thriving in an alkaline, sulfidic hot spring

Thioarsenates dominate arsenic speciation in sulfidic geothermal waters, yet little is known about their fate in the environment. At Conch Spring, an alkaline hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, trithioarsenate transforms to arsenate under increasingly oxidizing conditions along the drainage channel, accompanied by an initial increase, then decrease of monothioarsenate and arsenite. On-site incubation tests were conducted using sterile-filtered water with and without addition of filamentous microbial mats from the drainage channel to distinguish the role of abiotic and biotic processes for arsenic species transformation. Abiotically, trithioarsenate was desulfidized to arsenate coupled to sulfide oxidation. Monothioarsenate, however, was inert. Biotic incubations proved that the intermediate accumulation of arsenite in the drainage channel is microbially catalyzed. In the presence of sulfide, microbially enhanced sulfide oxidation coupled to reduction of arsenate to arsenite could simply enhance abiotic desulfidation of trithioarsenate and potentially also monothioarsenate. However, we were also able to show, in sulfide-free medium, direct microbial transformation of monothioarsenate to arsenate. Some arsenite formed intermediately, which was subsequently also microbially oxidized to arsenate. This study is the first evidence for microbially mediated thioarsenate species transformation by (hyper)thermophilic prokaryotes.     

Local solidosity of microcrystalline cellulose during dead-end filtration and sedimentation

Solid–liquid separation by filtration and sedimentation are important operations used in a wide range of industries. One important characteristic of both the filtration and sedimentation processes is the solidosity of the filter cake/sediment that is formed, affecting the efficiency and design of the separation. In this study local solidosity was investigated using a γ-attenuation method during both filtration and sedimentation experiments for microcrystalline cellulose, a highly crystalline cellulose with particles of about 2–80 μm in diameter. Constitutive relationships for the solidosity were investigated using both filtration (i.e. cake build-up and expression) and sedimentation data for experiments at different pH and suspension concentrations. The sedimentation behaviour under these different conditions was also investigated. It was found that a three parameter empirical model could be used to describe the constitutive relationship between local solidosity and local solid compressible pressure for the sediment formed and the filter cake after both cake build-up and expression. This correlation worked well for the material investigated even at low solid compressible pressures.     

Color changes due to thermal ageing and artificial weathering of pigmented and textured ABS

Acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene copolymers (ABS) are known to be sensitive towards ageing which can lead to color changes, primary interest in this study. The color changes were expressed in terms of the CIELAB color system. ABS plaques were subjected to heat ageing and artificial weathering. Uncolored ABS and dark gray colored specimens were employed. The pigmented ABS plaques were also imposed with different surface textures. In general, the uncolored material suffered from the most severe discoloration and the artificial weathering produced the strongest effect. For both types of specimens, a clear yellowing took place. Both the pigment system and the surface texture affected the color development during the ageing test. The latter can be of significant importance in certain applications when components with different surface textures are placed adjacent to each other. The surface micro‐hardness increased with increasing ageing time and its change followed that of the discoloration. Chemical changes of the surface layers were characterized by FTIR and were in accordance with results reported in the literature; i.e., an increase of the bands associated with carbonyl groups with increasing ageing time and a decrease of the bands associated with the polybutadiene phase clearly indicated chemical degradation due to ageing treatments. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Cyclodextrins: Production,properties and applications in food chemistry

Cyclodextrins have diverse, important applications in food industry. These applications are based on the ability of cyclodextrins to form molecular complexes with small—molecular compounds. Cyclodextrins are harmless in oral administration and advantageous effects by cyclodextrins are achieved by simple mixing of small amounts of them to the material being stabilized. Development of convenient and cost‐effective processes for production of cyclodextrins are undergoing and there are promises in the near future for obtaining cyclodextrins which are realistic in price to be used in foods. While cyclodextrins have been used for more than ten years in Japan as natural additives in foods, the legislation for their approval in foods is still under development in Europe and USA.