Sex discrimination counseling.

Presents a comprehensive discussion of the problems of women who actively challenge sex discrimination in their work and in consequence face lonely, expensive, and emotionally trying experiences. The steps by which a woman reaches the point of active protest, the institutional responses she may meet, and the countermoves open to her, are described. Special attention is given to the attitudes of unions, to legislation and the conduct of legal suits, to the type of support needed from a personal counselor during the stages of the discrimination action,and to the special problems of Black women, who are in double jeopardy, from racism and sexism. Numerous practical strategies are suggested. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in learned helplessness: I. Differential debilitation with peer and adult evaluators.

Predicted that sex differences in learned helplessness (attributions of failure to uncontrollable factors) and the impaired performance associated with it would be agent specific. Two experiments were conducted with 105 female and 111 male 4th and 5th graders. Among girls, failure feedback from adults led to little improvement in performance on a series of digit-letter substitution problems, but failure from peers led to immediate and sustained improvement. Among boys, however, failure feedback from adults led to rapid improvement, but failure from peers led to no improvement over trials. Moreover, girls' and boys' attributions for failure varied systematically with the agent of evaluation. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood parameters of young calves at abattoirs are related to distance transported and farm of origin

Nonreplacement dairy calves, or bobby calves, are fasted and transported to abattoirs from as young as 5 d of age in Australia. The aims of this cross-sectional observational study were (1) to assess the welfare status, as measured by blood parameters, of bobby calves in the commercial supply chain after transport and lairage, and (2) to assess whether distance and duration of transport are risk factors for poor bobby calf welfare, as measured by blood parameters. We hypothesized that bobby calves transported greater distances would be more likely to show evidence of compromised welfare, as measured by blood indicators of hydration, energy status, and muscle fatigue or damage. We also hypothesized that there would be a large amount of variability in indicators of energy status between calves from different farms. We analyzed blood samples collected at slaughter over a spring and an autumn calving period from 4,484 Australian bobby calves aged approximately 5 to 14 d old from 3 different states, after transport, fasting, and lairage. Packed cell volume (PCV), plasma glucose, and serum urea, total protein, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), and creatine kinase (CK) were measured. Radio frequency identification ear tag data were used to estimate the distance that the calves were transported and to identify the farm of origin. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models, except for BHB, which was analyzed using a Goodman-Kruskal gamma test due to left censoring of the data. Twelve percent of calves showed evidence of anemia (PCV less than 0.23 L/L), and 11% had urea concentrations consistent with dehydration (urea more than 7.7 mmol/L). Thirty-six percent of calves had CK activity above normal resting values, and 1% of calves had CK >2,000 U/L, indicating muscle fatigue or damage. Distance transported had significant effects on all blood variables except urea and BHB. With increasing distance transported, calves were more likely to show evidence of a negative energy balance (low plasma glucose) or dehydration (high PCV or total protein). The estimated effect of distance overall was small, but for calves transported more than 500 km, plasma glucose concentration declined more per kilometer. The calves' farm of origin accounted for a reasonable amount of the random variation between calves for plasma glucose (20%). Our results suggest that longer transport distances may increase the risk of poor calf welfare (dehydration, negative energy balance) after transport, and on-farm calf management (e.g., nutrition, timing of feeding before transport) may affect transported calves' energy status; improving this area could result in better energy availability during fasting.     

Local Notions of Healthy Eating and National Dietary Guidelines: A Comparison in Vulnerable Salvadoran Communities

This study presents an assessment of local definitions and perceptions concerning healthy eating through a study in four resource-poor border communities in El Salvador. The study included focus groups, key-informant interviews, and observations of the food environment. Local definitions of healthy eating elicited through focus groups were compared to the national Salvadoran dietary guidelines recommendations. The comparison revealed several areas of overlap (including the importance of dietary variety, fruits, and vegetables, among others) and omissions (mention of limiting sweets/candy, salt, sugar, and alcohol). Focus group participants expressed concerns over the origin of their foods and whether food contained harmful chemicals. These conversations also revealed the contradictions between nutrition knowledge and preferences for foods classified as unhealthy. This article concludes with a discussion about barriers to healthy eating identified in the focus groups and through the food environment assessment.     

Vacuum impregnation of chitosan‐based edible coating in minimally processed pumpkin

The goal of this research was to evaluate the use of vacuum impregnation (VI) and soaking techniques (ST) in the application of edible coatings of chitosan and chitosan + lauric acid to minimally processed pumpkins (MPP). The vacuum impregnation method led to greater component incorporation (5.9% and 1.75%, respectively) in the pumpkins when compared to soaking and consequently the formation of more uniform, thicker coatings (25.6 and 22.3 μm, respectively). However, VI caused greater changes in pH, acidity, colour and firmness. Relating to water content and carotenoid content, noncoated pumpkins presented greater losses during the storage period, regardless of impregnation method. The pumpkins with edible coatings, regardless of method, presented lower numbers of psychrotrophic micro‐organisms and coliforms during the storage period. Therefore, soaking was considered the best method for the application of chitosan‐based edible coatings to minimally processed pumpkins, as it led to smaller changes in the properties of the product.     

Retention of aroma compounds in food matrices of similar rheological behaviour and different compositions

Two matrices with a similar rheological behaviour but with a different composition have been developed: one containing carbohydrates (d-glucose, pectin and starch) and in the second one, called complex matrix, a lipid (triolein) was added. The release of six aroma compounds is quantified by using the measurements of partition coefficients at thermodynamic equilibrium. The role of lipid (triolein) on the retention of all the aroma compounds was pointed out. The effect of carbohydrates was more complex: in comparison with water, ethyl hexanoate and trans-2-hexenal were more retained whereas diacetyl, 2-pentanone and cis-3-hexenol were “repulsed” from the matrix. The kinetic study of the release from these matrices had shown a decrease of the initial rate of release by reference with water. From carbohydrates matrix, the decrease of the release for three compounds (ethyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, 2-pentanone) seemed to arise from the variation of diffusion and/or retention by carbohydrates. For the three other aroma compounds (diacetyl, cis-3-hexenol and trans-2-hexenal) no variation of the initial rate was registered. The comparison of the release rates from carbohydrate and complex matrices indicated the role of lipids and the comparison of the release rates from water and complex matrix showed the combined effects of texture and lipids. The decrease of initial release rate was more important in presence of lipids than in presence of carbohydrates. The most important decrease was observed with the most hydrophobic compound.     

Evidence of debromination of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) in biota from a wastewater receiving stream

Decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) is a high production volume flame retardant. To date, regulation and control of its environmental release have been minimal. Once in the environment, BDE-209 may encounter conditions favoring debromination, potentially forming congeners with greater toxicity, bioaccumulation potential, and persistence. However, (photolytic and in vivo) debromination has only been demonstrated under laboratory scenarios. To examine whether debromination was likely in the field, PBDE congener profiles were tracked from a wastewater treatment plant (sludge) to receiving stream sediments and associated aquatic biota. BDE-209 and 23 additional PBDEs were detected. Sludge congener profiles resembled the commercial penta- and deca- formulations, suggesting minimal -209 debromination during wastewater treatment. Similar profiles were observed in surficial sediments at the outfall and downstream. However, sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), and crayfish (Cambarus puncticambarus sp. c) collected near the outfall contained tri- through deca-PBDEs, including congeners not detected in the commercial deca-mixture, sludges or sediments (BDE-179, -184, -188, -201, and -202). A previous in vivo laboratory study identified these as -209 debromination products. This supports the hypothesis that metabolic debromination of -209 does occur in the aquatic environment under realistic conditions. Hence assessments that assume no BDE-209 debromination may underestimate associated bioaccumulation and toxicity attributable to the less brominated congeners produced.     

Characterization of the Arcobacter contamination on Belgian pork carcasses and raw retail pork

In the present study, the occurrence of Arcobacter was assessed at four sites on 169 porcine carcasses (foreleg, chest, pelvis and ham) at different stages of slaughter and 47 pork products at retail. Carcass swab samples were enriched in Arcobacter broth containing 5-fluorouracil, amphotericine B, cefoperazone, novobiocine and trimethoprim as selective supplement. After microaerobic incubation, arcobacters were isolated using Arcobacter selective agar plates, containing the selective supplement described above. Some carcass samples and all pork samples were also examined quantitatively. All 862 isolates were identified by a species-specific m-PCR-assay and 182 isolates were further characterized by ERIC-PCR. Arcobacters were isolated from one or more sampling places on 96.4% of the carcasses, with the foreleg and the chest area as the two most contaminated sites. Furthermore, A. cryaerophilus was the most common species. Chilling decreased the number of positive carcasses, but did not eliminate all arcobacters. Direct isolation revealed that only a few carcasses were contaminated with arcobacters on foreleg and/or chest at levels higher than 10(2 )cfu/100 cm(2). Characterization demonstrated a large heterogeneity among the isolates, with ten genotypes present on more then one site per carcass. Fourteen genotypes were simultaneously present on carcasses from different herds slaughtered on the same day, which may indicate cross-contamination. Arcobacters were present in 21% of the pork samples taken at retail, but contamination levels did not exceed 100 cfu per gram. Characterization of the A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus isolates indicated an additional contamination during processing at retail.     

Application of proteomics to understand the molecular mechanisms behind meat quality

The proteome is expressed from the genome, influenced by environmental and processing conditions, and can be seen as the molecular link between the genome and the functional quality characteristics of the meat. In contrast to traditional biochemical methods where one protein is studied at a time, several hundred proteins can be studied simultaneously. Proteomics is a promising and powerful tool in meat science and this is reflected by the increasing number of studies emerging in the literature using proteomics as the key tool to unleash the molecular mechanisms behind different genetic backgrounds or processing techniques of meat. Thus understanding the variations and different components of the proteome with regard to a certain meat quality or process parameter will lead to knowledge that can be used in optimising the conversion of muscles to meat. At present, there has been focus on development of techniques and mapping of proteomes according to genotypes and muscle types. In the future, focus should be more towards understanding and finding markers for meat quality traits. This review will focus on the methods used in the published proteome analyses of meat, with emphasis on the challenges related to statistical analysis of proteome data, and on the different topics of meat science that are investigated.