Sourdough in gluten-free bread-making: An ancient technology to solve a novel issue?

The increasing demand for high quality gluten-free (GF) bread, clean labels and natural products is raising the need for new approaches in GF bread-making. Sourdough is the foremost fermentation used for baking purposes and it has been proven to be ideal for improving the texture, palatability, aroma, shelf life and nutritional value of wheat and rye breads. These characteristic features derive from the complex metabolic activities of the sourdough-resident lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, e.g. acidification, production of exopolysaccharides, proteolytic- amylolytic- and phytase activity, and production of antimicrobial substances. These effects have been extensively studied and well described for traditional baking, whereas little is known about the role of sourdough in GF baking. Yet, the microbiological and qualitative characterisation of local GF fermented products indicate an overlap with the microbiota of wheat/rye fermentation and suggest that the positive metabolic activities of the sourdough microbiota are still retained during fermentation of GF crops. Thus, the use of sourdough in GF baking may be the new frontier for improving the quality, safety and acceptability of GF bread.     

Muscular involvement in Beh?et's disease: case report and review of the literature

Acute necrotizing myositis is described in a 22-yr-old man with clinically diagnosed Beh?et's disease. Light microscopic examination revealed a prominently granulocytic-monocytic infiltration of the muscle with severe necrosis. An infectious (bacterial, fungal or parasitic) etiology could be excluded by specific staining techniques and by immunohistochemistry. Vascular deposition of immune complexes was detected by direct immunofluorescence. Electron microscopy revealed severe structural damage and phagocytosis of muscle fibers. In the endomysium, leukocytes and occasional erythrocytes were found. Virus-like particles were not seen. The relevant literature on muscular involvement in Beh?et's disease is reviewed. It is suggested that two different stages of inflammation occur in Beh?et's disease. In the acute stage it presents as a granulocytic-monocytic necrotizing reaction developing from a neutrophil-mediated vasculitis. In the later phase lymphocytic infiltrations predominate. Despite the rare involvement of muscles the diagnosis of Beh?et's disease should be considered particularly in younger patients presenting with muscular symptoms like pain and swelling pre-dominantly of the lower extremities.     

A fundamental prediction error: Self–others discrepancies in risk preference.

This research examined whether people can accurately predict the risk preferences of others. Three experiments featuring different designs revealed a systematic bias: that participants predicted others to be more risk seeking than themselves in risky choices, regardless of whether the choices were between options with negative outcomes or with positive outcomes. This self–others discrepancy persisted even if a monetary incentive was offered for accurate prediction. However, this discrepancy occurred only if the target of prediction was abstract and vanished if the target was vivid. A risk-as-feelings hypothesis was introduced to explain these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expression of alpha-D-mannosidase in man-hamster somatic cell hybrids

Two types of alpha-D-mannosidase isozymes are present in human white blood cells, human diploid fibroblasts, and HeLa cells. One of these (the S isozyme) constitutes the major alpha-D-mannosidase of the human cells, has a pH optimum of 4.4, and is associated with lysosomes. The other (the F isozyme) is most active at pH 6, is acid labile, and is located in the soluble portion of the cytoplasm. The expression of human lysosomal alpha-D-mannosidase was examined in man-hamster hybrid clones, and was found to be concordant with that of phosphohexose isomerase in 54 of 55 primary clones. A locus specifying human lysosomal alpha-D-mannosidase has therfore been assigned to chromosome 19.     

Videokeratoscope for accurate and detailed measurement of the cornea surface

A videokeratoscope based on the imaging of a gridlike pattern is introduced. Unlike conventional videokeratoscopes that rely on Placido disks, the new measurement principle allows an exact reconstruction of the surface and the display of fine details. The experimental instrument was tested on precision glass spheres; the maximum error of the height data was less than 3 microm. The sensitivity and the potential to resolve fine details were demonstrated with irregular surfaces of specially prepared contact lenses. Structures with height deviations of 0.1 microm are well identifiable. The eyes of 18 individuals were investigated, and fine structures were found on these cornea surfaces. Conventional videokeratoscopes do not resolve such detail.     

Prolonged retention of methyl mercury by mallard drakes

Mallard drakes accumulated mercury rapidly from dietary dosage of methylmercury dicyandiamide and eliminated it slowly, retaining approximately one half at the end of 84 days; no measurable loss occurred between the end of the 7th and 56th days, but loss resumed concurrently with new feather growth, and continued through the 112th day, the close of the study.     

Nutzerzufriedenheit und Komfort am Arbeitsplatz – Ergebnisse einer Feldstudie in Bürogebäuden

Thermal comfort and satisfaction at workplaces – a field study in office buildings. By applying multivariate analysis to survey data of a field study in 17 buildings, several correlations between different parameters with regard to satisfaction at workplaces could be found and validated. One important result was that the individual satisfaction parameters were independent. A significant difference between winter and summer votes on the satisfaction with the indoor temperature could be shown; the dissatisfaction at neutral thermal sensation was considerably higher in summer. In total, only 30% of the occupants were very satisfied or satisfied with the temperature at their workplace in summer and winter. The perceived effectiveness of attempted temperature changes proofed to be the dominant parameter for the satisfaction with the indoor temperature. By weighting individual satisfaction parameters a matrix could be generated which provides a straight‐forward assessment of building performance by showing the optimisation potential for each parameter and the necessity to act for the building manager. The conclusion with regard to building design is that small office rooms with individual control of the indoor environment perform best in terms of acceptance by occupants.     

Chemometric Analysis of <Superscript>1</Superscript>H NMR Fingerprints of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Coffea arabica</Emphasis> Green Bean Extracts Cultivated under Different Planting Densities

High planting density has been used to increase coffee production but there are few studies related to the variations it provokes in metabolite compositions. The use of ¹H NMR data associated with chemometric techniques allows the determination of metabolic fingerprints and verification of metabolic changes when coffee is subjected to high planting densities. The aim of this work is to investigate ¹H NMR spectral data of green bean extracts of Coffea arabica cv. IAPAR 59 grown in a square pattern at two planting densities, 6000 and 10,000 plants ha^?1. Thirty extracts were obtained using a simplex centroid design with four solvents (ethanol, acetone, dichloromethane, and hexane). The lyophilized extracts were dissolved in DMSO-d₆ to obtain the ¹H NMR spectra. The spectral data were analyzed with principal component (PCA) and cluster analyses (CA). Significant differences between ethanolic and non-ethanolic extracts were found by PCA. Only the ethanolic mean spectrum showed characteristic chemical shifts of sugars and trigonelline. Acetone extracts were separated by cluster analysis.