Potential use of phenolic antioxidants on peanut to control growth and aflatoxin B1 accumulation by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus

Food‐grade antioxidants: butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), propyl paraben (PP) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) (10 and 20 mmol g^?1) and all the mixtures of these chemicals were tested for inhibitory activity on the growth of and aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) accumulation by Aspergillus parasiticus and A. flavus on irradiated (7 kGy) peanut grains. Also, the influence of these treatments was evaluated in different water conditions (0.982, 0.955, 0.937a_w) at 11 and 35 days of incubation at 28 °C. Water activity (a_w) affected the fungal growth, no fungal development was observed at the highest stress water condition (0.937a_w). Butylated hydroxyanisole at 10 mmol g^?1 level and all the mixtures with PP and/or BHT were significantly effective (P = 0.05) in increasing lag phase and reducing growth rate and colony forming units per gram of peanut of both Aspergillus section Flavi strains and AFB₁ accumulation. The application of BHA at concentrations of 20 mmol g^?1 alone or with PP and/or BHT totally inhibited fungal growth at 11 and 35 days of incubation. The results suggest that the addition of these chemical mixtures on peanut grains at low levels has potential to impact synergically on the control of Aspergillus section Flavi. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Molecular weight effect on the obtainment of parallel and perpendicular orientation in thermotropic poly(diethylene glycol <Emphasis Type="Italic">p,p′</Emphasis>-bibenzoate)

Summary The effect of molecular weight on the uniaxial orientation process has been analyzed in two samples of thermotropic poly(diethylene glycol p,p′-bibenzoate), evaluating the influence of that parameter on the type of orientation obtained. Several strain rates and deformation temperatures have been tested in order to map out the conditions for obtaining the two different kinds of orientation. The results show that in the lower molecular weight PDEB sample (M_w=31200) it is rather easy to get exclusively perpendicular “anomalous” orientation, with the molecular axes aligned transversely to the stretching direction. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain 100% parallel “normal” orientation. On the contrary, either type of orientation or a mixture of them can be easily developed for the higher molecular weight PDEB sample (M_w=102900).     

Use of recycled copper slag for blended cements

Copper slag is a by‐product generated during smelting to extract copper metal from the ore. The copper slag obtained may exhibit pozzolanic activity and may therefore be used in the manufacture of addition‐containing cements. In this paper the effect of the incorporation of the copper slag in cement is measured. Blends of copper slag with Portland cement generally possess properties equivalent to Portland cement containing fly ash, but very different to the silica fume incorporation. Copper slag and fly ash reduce the heat of hydration more effectively than silica fume in mortars. The replacement of 30% cement by copper slag reduces the flexural and compressive strength in a similar way to fly ash; however, after 28 days, the reduction is less than the percentage of substitution. Hydrated calcium aluminate phases were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The pozzolanic activity of copper slag is similar to that of fly ash and higher than silica fume. In the presence of low water/cement ratios, certain pozzolanic materials produce a very compact cement paste that limits the space available for hydration products, a determining factor in the formation of hydrated calcium aluminates. SEM was found to be a useful analytical technique when aluminates are formed and can be clearly detected by XRD. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Continuous and Discontinuous Innovation: Overcoming the Innovator Dilemma

Challenged by competition pressures and unprecedented pace of change, firms can no longer choose whether to concentrate on the needs of today's customers or on the anticipation of those of tomorrow: they must be excellent in both. This requires managing two related balancing acts: on the one side, being excellent in both exploitation and exploration of their capabilities and, on the other side, being excellent in managing both incremental and radical innovation. These balances are critical since exploitation and exploration, on the one side, and incremental and radical innovation, on the other, require different approaches that have traditionally been considered difficult to combine within the same organization. Working on evidence and discussion from the 7th CINet Conference held in Lucca (Italy) in 2006, this Special Section is aimed at contributing to theory and practice on these two complex balancing acts that today represent a hot issue in innovation management.     

Experimental and simulation studies of gas sorption processes in polycarbonate films

This work reports the experimental isotherms describing the concentration of oxygen and nitrogen in poly(bisphenol A carbonate-co-4,4′-(3,3,5-trimethylcyclohexylidene) diphenol carbonate) vs pressure, at 30 °C. The solubility coefficients are interpreted in terms of the Flory-Huggins theory, obtaining reasonable values for the enthalpic polymer-gas parameter. A new method is outlined to simulate the probabilities of inserting/removing a gas molecule in a host matrix already containing n molecules of gas. The simulated isotherms representing the pressure dependence of the concentration exhibit the same pattern as those experimentally obtained.     

Evaluation of the completion of influenza vaccination

OBJECTIVE: To find the reasons which determine failures to comply with anti-flu vaccinations, so that these can be corrected and the coverage of this preventive action be increased. DESIGN: Observational crossover study, done by means of a telephone survey of people over 65. A questionnaire with closed questions, composed after a pilot study and validated by Cronbach's alpha. SETTING: Primary Care Centre (PCC). PATIENTS: We calculated a population sample for qualitative variables (_ = 0.05; p = 0.60; e = 0.05) of 294 people over 65, chosen from the PCC records, by means of random sampling (K = 4) stratified for age and discounting the telephone selection bias. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The proportion of vaccinated patients (60.9%) obtained in our study did not significantly differ from that in the general population. The percentage of patients included in the programme for the first time was 14%. Level of satisfaction among those vaccinated was 89.4%, with 8.9% of problems detected being light. Main causes of non-vaccination were: thinking that they didn't need it (63.5%), ignorance of the campaign (35.7%), fear of the reaction (24.3%), forgetting (10.4%). The main form of access to the campaign information was from the PCC, both through individuals and posters. Lack of information was statistically significant (p < 0.00001) as a determinant of non-vaccination, without other factors (age, sex, associated pathologies...) explaining these differences. CONCLUSIONS: Individualised and on-going health education by the PCC is fundamental. This would enable the identification of the group not vaccinated due to their express refusal and the recovery of non-vaccinated patients.     

The potato mitochondrial initiator methionine tRNA gene and its flanking regions: an illustration of the diversity of mitochondrial genome rearrangements among plant species

The initiator methionine transfer RNA (tRNA(fMet)) gene was identified on a 347 bp Eco RI-Hind III DNA fragment of the potato mitochondrial (mt) genome. The sequence of this gene shows 1 to 7 nucleotide differences with the other plant mt tRNAs(fMet) or tRNA(fMet) genes studied so far. Whereas the tRNA(fMet) gene is present as a single copy in the potato mt genome, a tRNA 'pseudogene' corresponding to 60% of a complete tRNA (from the 5' end to the variable region) and located at 105 nucleotides upstream of the tRNA(fMet) gene on the opposite strand was shown to be repeated at least three times. Furthermore, the physical environment of the tRNA(fMet) gene in the mt genome is very different among plants, which suggests that the tRNA(fMet) gene region has often been implicated in recombination events of plant mt genomes leading to important rearrangements in gene order.     

Effect-Size Indices for Dichotomized Outcomes in Meta-Analysis.

It is very common to find meta-analyses in which some of the studies compare 2 groups on continuous dependent variables and others compare groups on dichotomized variables. Integrating all of them in a meta-analysis requires an effect-size index in the same metric that can be applied to both types of outcomes. In this article, the performance in terms of bias and sampling variance of 7 different effect-size indices for estimating the population standardized mean difference from a 2 × 2 table is examined by Monte Carlo simulation, assuming normal and nonnormal distributions. The results show good performance for 2 indices, one based on the probit transformation and the other based on the logistic distribution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metric analysis of the information visibility and diffusion about the European Higher Education Area on Spanish University websites

The purpose of the study proposed in this paper is to evaluate the Spanish public university websites dedicated to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). To do so, the quality of these resources has been analysed in the light of data provided by a series of indicators grouped in seven criteria, most of which were used to determine what information is made available and in what way. The criteria used in our analysis are: visibility, authority, updatedness, accesibility, correctness and completeness, quality assessment and navigability. All in all, the results allow us to carry out an overall diagnosis of the situation and also provide us with information about the situation at each university, thus revealing their main strengths, namely authority and navegability, and also their chief shortcomings: updatedness, accessibility and quality assessment. In this way it is possible to detect the best practices in each of the aspects evaluated so that they can serve as an example and guide for universities with greater deficiencies and thus help them to improve their EHEA websites.