Developing microbial spoilage population in vacuum-packaged charcoal-broiled European river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis)

Microbiological and sensory changes in vacuum-packaged charcoal-broiled river lampreys from three lamprey processing plants were monitored as a function of time at 8 degrees C. The lampreys were examined every 7 days up to 8 weeks for aerobic plate count (APC) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The highest mean APC and LAB were 6.01 log CFU/g and 4.86 log CFU/g, respectively. Only 6 out of 15 lots reached an APC value of 7.0 log CFU/g during storage. The sensory scores remained at the baseline levels after 8 weeks' storage. Twenty-seven isolates were randomly picked from MRS agar and identified to species level using a 16S and 23S rDNA HindIII RFLP (ribotyping) database and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene if no database match was obtained. Twelve of the 27 isolates were identified as Lactobacillus curvatus subsp. curvatus, and two Leuconostoc mesenteroides and one Weissella halotolerans strain were also detected. Twelve isolates were not identified by the LAB database. However, they possessed very high (99.9%) 16S gene sequence similarity with either Staphylococcus warneri or Staphylococcus pasteuri type strains. The LAB detected, with the exception of W. halotolerans, have commonly been associated with spoilage of fishery products, but in these vacuum-packaged lampreys, they were not the dominant organisms within the developing spoilage population.     

Comparison of methods for estimation of the intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion coefficient (<Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>) and perfusion fraction (<Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>)

Objective

Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) shows great potential in many applications, e.g., tumor tissue characterization. To reduce image-quality demands, various IVIM analysis approaches restricted to the diffusion coefficient (D) and the perfusion fraction (f) are increasingly being employed. In this work, the impact of estimation approach for D and f is studied.

Materials and methods

Four approaches for estimating D and f were studied: segmented IVIM fitting, least-squares fitting of a simplified IVIM model (sIVIM), and Bayesian fitting of the sIVIM model using marginal posterior modes or posterior means. The estimation approaches were evaluated in terms of bias and variability as well as ability for differentiation between tumor and healthy liver tissue using simulated and in vivo data.

Results

All estimation approaches had similar variability and ability for differentiation and negligible bias, except for the Bayesian posterior mean of f, which was substantially biased. Combined use of D and f improved tumor-to-liver tissue differentiation compared with using D or f separately.

Discussion

The similar performance between estimation approaches renders the segmented one preferable due to lower numerical complexity and shorter computational time. Superior tissue differentiation when combining D and f suggests complementary biologically relevant information.

     

Maternal representations of past and current attachment relationships, and emotional experience across the transition to motherhood: A longitudinal study.

Sad and anxious feelings are known to increase in the immediate postpartum period, whereas studies on new mothers' other emotional qualities such as anger are scarce. In laboratory studies, attachment security was found to be associated with effective emotion regulation in challenging situations. This study investigated attachment representations of experiences with parents and of current experiences with the partner as predictors of sad, anxious, and angry feelings across the transition to motherhood. Seventy-seven pregnant women in their third trimester were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and the Current Relationship Interview. The Differential Emotions Scale was given in pregnancy and at the infant's ages of 2 weeks, 2, 4, and 6 months, asking both mothers and fathers about maternal emotional experience. Sadness and anxiety increased 2 weeks postpartum and returned to below baseline over the following months, while anger did not change. Contrary to mothers with an insecure representation of their couple relationship, those with a secure representation reported and displayed increased sadness and anxiety 2 weeks after giving birth, from which they quickly recovered. For mothers secure in their representation of past attachment relationships with parents, an increase of low-level anger emerged 4 months postpartum, which did not occur in insecure participants and receded quickly. It can be concluded that secure representations of current and past attachment relationships help new mothers express and recover from negative emotions. These findings further elucidate the associations between attachment status and emotion regulation while adding a couple perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood Cell Responses Following Heavy Alcohol Consumption Coincide with Changes in Acute Phase Reactants of Inflammation,Indices of Hemolysis and Immune Responses to Ethanol Metabolites

Aberrations in blood cells are common among heavy alcohol drinkers. In order to shed further light on such responses, we compared blood cell status with markers of hemolysis, mediators of inflammation and immune responses to ethanol metabolites in alcohol-dependent patients at the time of admission for detoxification and after abstinence. Blood cell counts, indices of hemolysis (LDH, haptoglobin, bilirubin), calprotectin (a marker of neutrophil activation), suPAR, CD163, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and autoantibodies against protein adducts with acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, were measured from alcohol-dependent patients (73 men, 26 women, mean age 43.8 ± 10.4 years) at baseline and after 8 ± 1 days of abstinence. The assessments also included information on the quantities of alcohol drinking and assays for biomarkers of alcohol consumption (CDT), liver function (AST, ALT, ALP, GGT) and acute phase reactants of inflammation. At baseline, the patients showed elevated values of CDT and biomarkers of liver status, which decreased significantly during abstinence. A significant decrease also occurred in LDH, bilirubin, CD163 and IgA and IgM antibodies against acetaldehyde adducts, whereas a significant increase was noted in blood leukocytes, platelets, MCV and suPAR levels. The changes in blood leukocytes correlated with those in serum calprotectin (p < 0.001), haptoglobin (p < 0.001), IL-6 (p < 0.02) and suPAR (p < 0.02). The changes in MCV correlated with those in LDH (p < 0.02), MCH (p < 0.01), bilirubin (p < 0.001) and anti-adduct IgG (p < 0.01). The data indicates that ethanol-induced changes in blood leukocytes are related with acute phase reactants of inflammation and release of neutrophil calprotectin. The studies also highlight the role of hemolysis and immune responses to ethanol metabolites underlying erythrocyte abnormalities in alcohol abusers.     

Synaptoproteomic Analysis of the Prefrontal Cortex Reveals Spatio-Temporal Changes in SYNGAP1 Following Cannabinoid Exposure in Rat Adolescence

The regular use of cannabis during adolescence has been associated with a number of negative life outcomes, including psychopathology and cognitive impairments. However, the exact molecular mechanisms that underlie these outcomes are just beginning to be understood. Moreover, very little is known about the spatio-temporal molecular changes that occur following cannabinoid exposure in adolescence. To understand these changes, we exposed mid-adolescent male rats to a synthetic cannabinoid (WIN 55,212-2 mesylate; WIN) and, following drug abstinence through late adolescence, we subjected the synaptosomal fractions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to proteomic analyses. A total of N = 487 differentially expressed proteins were found in WIN-exposed animals compared to controls. Gene ontology analyses revealed enrichment of terms related to the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurotransmitter system. Among the top differentially expressed proteins was the synaptic Ras GTPase-activating protein 1 (SYNGAP1). Using Western blotting experiments, we found that the WIN-induced upregulation of SYNGAP1 was spatio-temporal in nature, arising only in the synaptosomal fractions (not in the cytosol) and only following prolonged drug abstinence (not on abstinence day 1). Moreover, the SYNGAP1 changes were found to be specific to WIN-exposure in adolescence and not adulthood. Adolescent animals exposed to a natural cannabinoid (Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC) were also found to have increased levels of SYNGAP1 in the PFC. THC exposure also led to a pronounced upregulation of SYNGAP1 in the amygdala, but without any changes in the dorsal striatum, hippocampus, or nucleus accumbens. To our knowledge, this is the first study to uncover a link between cannabinoid exposure and changes in SYNGAP1 that are spatio-temporal and developmental in nature. Future studies are needed to investigate the putative role of SYNGAP1 in the negative behavioral consequences of cannabis use in adolescence.     

Small-scale assessment method for the fire resistance of historic plaster system and timber structures

The primary protection against the charring of timber is ensured by protection materials. Today, there are only a limited number of materials given in design codes as fire protection materials for timber. Historic surface finish materials such as plasters have rarely been studied with respect to fire; no design values exist in the current fire part of Eurocode 5. Full-scale fire testing is costly to assess the fire performance of material combinations, thus this study presents a useful tool that is specifically tailored to evaluate the fire protection ability of materials in small-scale. A review of conducted tests demonstrate that the cone heater of a cone calorimeter is a dependable device to estimate the charring performance of protected timber specimens as the test results approximate the ones obtained from furnace tests. This work contributes to the assessment of fire resistance performance of various combinations and types of plaster systems found in existing timber buildings that often require an individual approach for an adequate fire risk analysis and design decisions to meet current fire safety regulations with respect to the load-bearing capacity and compartmentation of building structures. Increased knowledge on the fire protection performance of traditional plasters is believed to facilitate their wider use in timber buildings, primarily to preserve their significance as part of the cultural built heritage.     

Hybrid Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of C7-Sugars for Molecular Evidence of in vivo Shikimate Pathway Inhibition

The design of distinctive chemical synthesis strategies aims for the most efficient routes towards versatile compounds in drug target studies. Here, we establish a powerful hybrid synthetic approach of total chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis to efficiently obtain various 7-deoxy-sedoheptulose (7dSh, 1 ) analogues, unique C₇ sugars, for structure-activity relationship studies. 7dSh ( 1 ) is a rare microbial sugar with in planta herbicidal activity. As natural antimetabolite of 3-dehydroquinate synthase (DHQS), 7dSh ( 1 ) inhibits the shikimate pathway, which is essential for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in bacteria, fungi, and plants, but absent in mammals. As glyphosate, the most used chemical herbicide faces restrictions worldwide, DHQS has gained more attention as valid target of herbicides and antimicrobial agents. In vitro and in vivo analyses of the C₇-deoxysugars confirm DHQS as enzymatic target, highlight the crucial role of uptake for inhibition and add molecular aspects to target mechanism studies of C₇-sugars as our contribution to global efforts for alternative weed-control strategies.     

Electrochemically Induced Conformational Change of Di-Boronic Acid-Functionalized Ferrocene for Direct Solid-State Monitoring of Aqueous Fluoride Ions

While fluoride ions (F⁻) are abundant across environmental and biological systems, common procedures and potentiometric sensors for quantifying aqueous F⁻ are inefficient, time-consuming, and suffer from poor pH resiliency and high detection limits. Herein, this work reports a new di-boronic acid-functionalized ferrocene (FDBA) molecular receptor for noncovalent F⁻ recognition, toward the development of a solid-state miniaturized voltammetric fluoride sensor capable of direct and reversible F⁻ detection in drinking water (DW) (pH 6) and community water (pH 7.6–9.1) over the µg L⁻¹–mg L⁻¹ range. The associated sensing mechanism is enabled by the conformational change of FDBA from the open (charge-repelled) to closed (π-dimerized) conformation, which is facilitated by the unique linkage of two electron-accepting phenylboronic acid moieties with the electron-donating ferrocene moiety using rigid conjugated amide linkers. The square wave voltammetric (SWV) oxidation current response of the FDBA-based fluoride sensor is spectroscopically investigated, suggesting a combination of electrooxidation-triggered conformational change of FDBA on a nanocarbon-modified electrode, F⁻ anion–π interactions, and resulting electron transfer between F⁻ and FDBA. The performance of the voltammetric fluoride sensor is compared to that of a commercial liquid junction-based fluoride ion-selective electrode (F-ISE), and of a solid-contact (SC) F-ISE sensor chip, demonstrating significant advantages versus traditional potentiometric F-ISEs.