Influence of modified starches on properties of gluten-free dough and bread. Part II: Quality and staling of gluten-free bread

The aim of the study was to check the quality of gluten-free bread produced basing on the recipes, in which part of native starch was replaced with high amylose corn starch (HACS), acetylated distarch adipate (ADA), and hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate (HDP). The application 10 or 15% of chemically modified starches (HDP, ADA) caused the increase in volume of the obtained gluten-free loaves. The changes were accompanied by a decrease of average cell size, and an increase in their number. Due to the addition of modified starch crumb structure became more elastic, which was revealed in the results of stress relaxation. A slight decrease in hardness and chewiness of the crumb was also observed on the day of baking, and its extent depended on the level of modified starch, and was a little more pronounced in case of starch adipate. In comparison to the chemically modified starches, HACS deteriorated structural and mechanical properties of the crumb, which is probably related to their resistance to pasting and divergence in retrogradation pattern, where amylose component is more important than amylopectin.     

New insights into loss of swelling power and pasting profiles of acid hydrolyzed starch granules

The effect of acid hydrolysis on the swelling power of pea starch granules was studied by field emission SEM (FE‐SEM). The swelling power of the native starch granules (g water absorbed/g dry starch) was 13, and this decreased to less than 2 after 1 day of acid hydrolysis. The proportion of the starch that was soluble in hot water increased from 15% for native starch to 75% after 1 day of hydrolysis. The swelling power of the starch decreased further, and solubility increased, with more extended hydrolysis. The decrease in swelling power and increase in solubility were attributed mainly to the disruption of side chains of amylopectin. Observations with FE‐SEM indicated that starch granules were still able to melt and coalesce after 1 day of acid hydrolysis, but after 2 days solubilization of starch chains occurred predominantly rather than swelling when the granules were heated in excess water. The intactness of amylopectin is proposed to play a crucial role in the swelling power of starch granules and in the structure of granule ghosts.     

Industrial agglomeration,geographic innovation and total factor productivity: The case of Taiwan

The paper analyses the impact of geographic innovation on total factor productivity (TFP) in Taiwan in 2001 using 242 four-digit standard industrial classification (SIC) industries. We compute TFP by estimating Translog production functions with K, L, E and M inputs, and measure the geographic innovative activity using both Krugman's Gini coefficients and the location Herfindahl index. We also consider the geographic innovation variable as an endogenous variable and use two stage least squares (2SLS) to obtain a consistent, albeit inefficient, estimator. The empirical results show a significantly positive effect of geographic innovation, as well as R&D expenditure, on TFP. These results are robust for the Gini coefficients and location Herfindahl index, when industrial characteristics and heteroskedasticity are controlled. Moreover the Hausman test shows that the geographic innovation variable should be treated as endogenous which supports the modern theory of industrial clustering regarding innovation spillovers within clusters.     

Force variability and movement accuracy in space-time.

In four experiments we examined the relative contribution of different impulse parameters to response outcome variability in a unidimensional timing task. The findings indicate that (a) there is not a linear and proportional relation between force and force variability; (b) low rates of force production are proportionally more variable than high rates of force production; (c) adding a preload to the limb induces effects on movement error different from those induced by the addition of mass to the manipulandum; and (d) the space-time error function for movement control is strongly linked to the average rate of force production. Collectively, these findings indicate limitations to the extant impulse-variability models and suggest that rate of force production is an important parameter determining response outcome variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The challenge of the borderline patient: Competency in diagnosis and treatment.

Reviews the book, The challenge of the borderline patient: Competency in diagnosis and treatment by Jerome Kroll (see record 1988-97021-000). In this new volume on borderline psychopathology, Jerome Kroll has some axes to grind-of the kind found in DSM-III, that is. He offers a refreshing perspective on this popularized topic and casts a healthy skepticism on the current trends and trendiness reflected in the literature. Unique in its back-to-basics, common-sensical approach to diagnosis and treatment, the book, in its essence, aims at demystifying and debunking the aura that surrounds this field. Kroll's volume spans the three predominant areas of inquiry that constitute most of the published works on borderline personality disorders, namely: 1) empirically rooted efforts to establish its construct validity as a diagnostic entity, 2) psychotherapeutic strategies that are primarily enmeshed in larger, unresolved theoretical controversies between the object relations versus self psychology factions within contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, and 3) the search for the magical psychopharmacological bullet that will eradicate borderline symptomotology. For both novice and experienced clinician, this book serves as a useful counterpoint to the current directions in empirical and theoretical work on borderline pathology, a reminder of the potential dangers of getting caught up in methodological precision or overelaborated theory or high-technology psychopharmacology and, as a consequence, of losing sight of the individual, whole patient. It is supportive therapy of the best kind for those of us who face the challenge of treating the borderline patient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Necropsy survey of metacarpal fusion in the horse

Paired metacarpi obtained at necropsy from 100 horses ranging in age from term fetus to 35 years were examined to estimate the prevalence and sites of metacarpal fusion. Metacarpal fusion was seen in 192 of 200 metacarpi, and 78% of all horses 2 years or older had 2 or more fusions. Fusion of the second metacarpal bone to the third metacarpal bone was significantly (P < 0.001) more common than was fusion of the fourth to the third metacarpal bone. Fusions appeared for the most part in pairs and were bilaterally symmetric. Rooney-Prickett type-A carpometacarpal joint configurations (in which there is no measurable articulation between the third carpal and second metacarpal bones) were rare in this population, and Rooney-Prickett type-B configurations (in which there is a measurable articulation between the third carpal and second metacarpal bones) were observed in 98.5% of metacarpi. Medial metacarpal fusion was positively correlated with age, occupation, and proportion of the proximal projection of the carpometacarpal distal joint surface that was taken by the second metacarpal bone. Lateral metacarpal fusion was positively correlated with age and the proportion of the proximal projection of the carpometacarpal distal joint surface taken by the fourth metacarpal bone. Horses in performance careers (racing, race training, or show ring occupations) had an earlier development of the first 2 fusions than did horses in other or unknown occupations; development of the third and fourth fusions were not significantly different between occupation groups. The rate of metacarpal fusion per horse-year appeared to be at least 10 times higher than a clinically evident rate. A variety of gross morphologic features was observed in the fusions from this sample, some of which were small, subtle, and possibly difficult to detect in vivo. It is hypothesized that many instances of metacarpal fusion may be a result of functional adaptation of the metacarpus to increased or changed loading conditions, rather than a response to isolated traumatic events.     

Cloning and sequence of ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) from Schizosaccharomyces pombe

A gene encoding a homologue of the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTP binding proteins was cloned from a Schizosaccharomyces pombe cDNA library by a functional screen of suppressors of sensitivity to 3-aminotriazole in a gcn3 null strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two independent isolates each contained the full coding region of the ARF1 gene. The encoded SpARF1 protein has a predicted molecular weight of 20 618 and is 88% and 79% identical to human and S. cerevisiae ARF1 proteins, respectively. As independent isolates were obtained, this effect of the SpARF1 appears to be a real phenomenon, but cannot currently be easily understood within the context of the evidence for a role(s) for ARF proteins in the protein secretory pathway.     

Sex Attractant Pheromones of Virgin Queens of Sympatric Slave-Making Ant Species in the Genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Polyergus,</Emphasis> and their Possible Roles in Reproductive Isolation

Species of the ant genus Polyergus are social parasites that steal brood from colonies of their hosts in the closely related genus Formica. Upon emergence as adults in a mixed population, host Formica workers carry out all the normal worker functions within the Polyergus colony, including foraging, feeding, grooming, and rearing brood of the parasitic Polyergus ants. Some unmated Polyergus gynes (queens) run in the raiding columns of their colonies and attract males by releasing a pheromone from their mandibular glands. There are two Polyergus species groups in North America: an eastern P. lucidus group and a western P. breviceps group. One species of each of these groups, P. lucidus Mayr and P. mexicanus Emery, are sympatric in Missouri. In this study, we characterized the sex pheromones of virgin queens of two species of the P. lucidus group (P. lucidus sensu stricto and P. sanwaldi) and one species of the P. breviceps group (P. mexicanus), and compared these with the previously identified sex pheromone of P. topoffi of the P. breviceps group. We then used sex pheromone blends reconstructed from synthesized components of the two groups to test their efficacy at reproductively isolating these species. We found that methyl 6-methylsalicylate is conserved as the major component of the pheromone blends for both Polyergus species groups; however, methyl (R)-3-ethyl-4-methylpentanoate is the species-specific minor component produced by P. lucidus group queens, and (R)-3-ethyl-4-methylpentan-1-ol is the crucial minor component for P. breviceps group queens. The optimal ratio of the major and minor components for P. lucidus group queens was about 100:1 salicylate to ester. In concurrent field trials in Missouri, males of P. lucidus sensu stricto and P. mexicanus (a member of the P. breviceps group) were attracted almost exclusively to their particular blends of sex pheromone components. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a possible sex-pheromone-based reproductive isolating mechanism in ants.     

GARCH dependence in extreme value models with Bayesian inference

Extreme value methods are widely used in financial applications such as risk analysis, forecasting and pricing models. One of the challenges with their application in finance is accounting for the temporal dependence between the observations, for example the stylised fact that financial time series exhibit volatility clustering. Various approaches have been proposed to capture the dependence. Commonly a two-stage approach is taken, where the volatility dependence is removed using a volatility model like a GARCH (or one of its many incarnations) followed by application of standard extreme value models to the assumed independent residual innovations.This study examines an alternative one stage approach, which makes parameter estimation and accounting for the associated uncertainties more straightforward than the two-stage approach. The location and scale parameters of the extreme value distribution are defined to follow a conditional autoregressive heteroscedasticity process. Essentially, the model implements GARCH volatility via the extreme value model parameters. Bayesian inference is used and implemented via Markov chain Monte Carlo, to permit all sources of uncertainty to be accounted for. The model is applied to both simulated and empirical data to demonstrate performance in extrapolating the extreme quantiles and quantifying the associated uncertainty.