Bibliographic analysis of papers and authors published in Tobacco Control 1998-September 2011

In the present work, the top 20 cited papers published in Tobacco Control between 1998 and 15 September 2011, the top 10 cited papers published after 2008 and the 50 authors whose papers have been most cited in the journal are reported. US authors dominated the most cited papers and the most cited authors, with Australian authors in second place. Papers on youth and secondhand smoke dominated the top 20 papers, although harm reduction and packaging papers appeared in the post 2008 leading cited papers.     

Use of antioxidants to minimize rancidity in pressurized and cooked chicken slurries

Sodium chloride (5%) and some antioxidants (400 ppm rosemary extract; 2000 ppm acerola extract; 50 ppm ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA); 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 pm of sodium hexametaphosphate or 5 and 10% egg white powder) were added to minced chicken. From these mixtures, slurries were made by mixing with water (1:3) at 15,000 rpm for 30 s at 20?°C. Samples were pressurized (300, 500 and 900 MPa for 30 min at 20?°C) or cooked (90?°C for 15 min). Hexanal was quantified by solid phase microextraction at 1, 3, 6 and 9 days of 4?°C storage in contact with air. Hexanal values increased with pressure and storage time. Cooked slurries had higher hexanal contents than samples pressurized at 300 MPa, but lower than those treated at 500 and 900 MPa. Rosemary extract was an antioxidant for pressure-treated samples, but had little effect on cooked ones. Acerola extract was not an effective antioxidant, but EDTA strongly inhibited oxidation. Hexamethaphosphate also showed antioxidant ability. Egg white powder inhibited hexanal generation, which can be a new way for revalorizing egg constituents.     

Experimental and modelling of supercritical oil extraction from rapeseeds and sunflower seeds

The supercritical oil extraction from oleaginous seeds (sunflower and rapeseeds) is presented here through experimental and modelling results. The experimental setup allows an accurate following of the mass of the oil extracted and to derive the experimental influences of pressure, temperature and supercritical CO₂ flowrate on the extraction curves. These parameters are very sensitive and highlight the necessity of precise optimisation of experimental conditions. In order to complete the behaviour of supercritical fluids extraction, an improved modelling is proposed. The modelling basic equations are based on others modelling published previously. In this work, the determination of several parameters comes from correlations and the other constants are fitted with all the experimental results. Thus the modelling is more representative and predictive as other ones. The modelling results present a good agreement with the experimental results, and hence it can be used for the dimensioning of some extraction autoclaves.     

Dimethyl silane-modified silica in polydimethylsiloxane as gas permeation mixed matrix membrane

The gas transport behaviors of O₂, N₂, CO₂ and CH₄ were investigated in mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) prepared from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) filled with surface functionalized silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles. SiO₂ surface modification was performed through silanization using chlorodimethyl silane. FTIR confirmed the presence of dimethyl silane on SiO₂ (Si-DMS) whereas elemental analysis showed 94.2% successful modification. Thermal gravimetric analysis revealed the improved thermal stabilities of PDMS MMMs. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed the uniform distribution of Si-DMS within the membrane. The effect of Si-DMS in gas permeabilities (P) was in contrast to the Maxwell model prediction. Enhanced P values of all gases in PDMS MMMs (as compared to pure PDMS) were associated to the improvement in diffusion coefficients (D_m) despite the reduction in gas solubility coefficients. The increase in D_m values was attributed to the higher free volumes in PDMS MMMs. However, slight declines (<8% of pure PDMS) in selectivities were observed. Overall, PDMS MMMs have improved performances due to enhanced gas permeabilities.     

Significant Decline in Galactomannan Signal during Storage of Clinical Serum Samples

Galactomannan (GM) is widely used for detection of invasive aspergillosis in high-risk haemato-oncology patients. Recent publications have reported a lack of repeatability of GM detection. The objective of this retrospective study was to assess the repeatability of GM levels during storage of clinical samples. In a GM screening strategy, positive sera were repeat tested as per manufacturer’s recommendations. Short-term (ST) storage of samples was at +4 °C while long-term (LT) storage was at −80 °C. Bronchoalveolar (BAL) fluid was also repeating tested after ST storage and LT storage. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was employed to assess the repeatability of GM levels. In a subset of 14 GM positive sera, repeat testing was performed on both the original serum and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) pre-treated sample. There was a significant reduction in GM signals on repeat testing following ST storage (median GM index: 0.65 vs. 0.19; p < 0.001) and LT storage (median GM index: 0.56 vs. 0.10; p < 0.001) of serum samples. Of samples that were initially GM positive, an average GM index reduction of 50% was seen, with approximately two-thirds becoming GM negative on repeat testing of the same sample. In contrast, GM signal loss was not seen on repeat testing of BAL fluid following ST or LT storage. When GM positive serum samples were repeat tested using EDTA pre-treated serum from the first step of the testing protocol, all samples remained GM positive. In contrast, when the same samples were repeat tested from the original collected serum, 9 samples (64%) became GM negative. The significant reduction in GM signals during ST and LT storage of serum samples has implications for clinical management. Although the reasons for GM decline are unknown, they occur prior to the EDTA pre-treatment stage, indicating that the time from phlebotomy to testing should be minimized. BAL fluid GM index values remain stable.     

Self-organizing maps based on chaotic parameters to detect adulterations of extra virgin olive oil with inferior edible oils

A nonlinear algorithm based on chaotic parameters (CPs) has been employed to determine the nature of different output signals obtained from UV–vis spectrophotometer (UV) measurements. These signals come from UV scans of adulterated samples of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with refined olive oil or refined olive pomace oil, or from pure samples of EVOO with white random or sinusoidal white random noises. The data collected from this equipment was used to calculate CP values. Then, a self-organizing map was used to detect different types of signals. Using this method, the signals can be identified and classified into five groups depending on their type, the percentage of noise added, and the concentration of adulterant agents, with a misclassification rate of less than 1.3%.     

Comparison of Simple and Rapid Extraction Procedures for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Fruit Juices by Fast Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Three sample treatment methods, based on QuEChERS, solid-phase extraction (SPE) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME), were compared and evaluated in order to obtain the best conditions to determine pesticide residues in fruit juice by fast gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (single quadrupole GC-MS). Analysis were performed under selected ion monitoring, acquiring the three most abundant and/or specific ions for each analyte and using their relative intensity ratios as a confirmatory parameter. The 3 methodologies (QuEChERS, SPE and SPME) were validated taking 15 selected pesticides as model compounds, using commercial apple juice. QuEChERS procedure was based on the AOAC Official Method 2007.01, using acetonitrile (containing 1 % acetic acid) as extraction solvent and primary–secondary amine during the dispersive solid-phase extraction. Oasis hydrophilic–lipophilic balance cartridges were used for SPE, and polyacrylate fibers were used for direct immersion SPME procedure. Three isotopically labeled standards were added to the samples before extraction and used as surrogate standards. Validation parameters as recoveries, limits of detection, and limits of quantification (LOQ), as well as matrix effects and sample throughput, were obtained and compared for the three extraction procedures. QuEChERS was considered faster and led to the best quantitative results. In this way, validation was extended to up to 56 pesticides by applying QuEChERS in multi-fruit juice samples, obtaining LOQs ranging from 2 to 20 μg/L for most compounds. Accuracy and precision were evaluated by means of recovery experiments at two concentration levels (10 and 100 μg/L), obtaining recoveries between 70 and 120 % in most cases and relative standard deviations below 15 %. Finally, the QuEChERS method was applied to the analysis of commercial juices, including mango–apple, pineapple, grapefruit and orange.     

Integrated combined cycle from natural gas with CO2 capture using a Ca–Cu chemical loop

The integration in a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) of a novel process for H₂ production using a chemical Ca–Cu loop was proposed. This process is based on the sorption‐enhanced reforming process for H₂ production from natural gas with a CaO/CaCO₃ chemical loop, but including a second Cu/CuO loop to regenerate the Ca‐sorbent. An integration of this system into a NGCC was proposed and a full process simulation exercise of different cases was carried out. Optimizing the operating conditions in the Ca–Cu looping process, 8.1% points of efficiency penalty with respect to a state‐of‐the‐art NGCC are obtained with a CO₂ capture efficiency of 90%. It was demonstrated that the new process can yield power generation efficiencies as high as any other emerging and commercial concepts for power generation from NGCC with CO₂ capture, but maintaining competing advantages of process simplification and compact pressurized reactor design inherent to the Ca–Cu looping system. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 2780–2794, 2013     

Spanish Melon Landraces: Revealing Useful Diversity by Genomic,Morphological, and Metabolomic Analysis

Spain is a secondary centre of the diversification of the melon (Cucumis melo L.), with high diversity represented in highly appreciated landraces belonging to the Flexuosus and Ibericus groups. A collection of 47 accessions of Flexuosus, Chate, Piel de Sapo, Tendral, Amarillo, Blanco, and Rochet was analysed using a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach. A total of 66,971 quality SNPs were identified. Genetic analysis differentiated Ibericus accessions and exotic materials (Ameri, Momordica, Kachri, and Agrestis), while Flexuous accessions shared ancestry between them. Within the Ibericus group, no clear genomic distinction could be identified for the different landraces evaluated, with accessions of different landraces showing high genetic similarity. The morphological characterization confirmed that the external colour and fruit shape had been used as recognition patterns for Spanish melon landraces, but variability within a landrace exists. Differences were found in the sugars and acid and volatile profiles of the materials. Flexuosus and Chate melons at the immature commercial stage accumulated malic acid and low levels of hexoses, while Ibericus melons accumulated high contents of sucrose and citric acid. Specific trends could be identified in the Ibericus landraces. Tendral accumulated low levels of sugars and citric acid and high of malic acid, maintaining higher firmness, Rochet reached higher levels of sugars, and Amarillo tended to lower malic acid contents. Interestingly, high variability was found within landraces for the acidic profile, offering possibilities to alter taste tinges. The main volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Flexuosus and Chate were aldehydes and alcohols, with clear differences between both groups. In the Ibericus landraces, general trends for VOC accumulation could be identified, but, again, a high level of variation exists. This situation highlights the necessity to develop depuration programs to promote on-farm in situ conservation and, at the same time, offers opportunities to establish new breeding program targets and to take advantage of these sources of variation.