Equine milk proteins: Chemistry,structure and nutritional significance

Equine milk has important nutritional and therapeutic properties that can benefit the diet of the elderly, convalescent or newborn. The protein content of equine milk is lower than that of bovine milk but similar to that of human milk. In this review qualitative and quantitative differences between the caseins and whey proteins of equine, bovine and human milk are discussed. Important biological and functional properties of specific proteins are reviewed and their significance in human nutrition considered. As well as characterizing equine milk proteins in the context of human nutrition and allergology, the potential industrial exploitation of equine milk is explored. Cross-reactivity of proteins from different species is discussed in relation to the treatment of cows’ milk protein allergy. While there is some scientific basis for the special nutritional and health-beneficial properties of equine milk based on its protein composition and similarity to human milk, further research is required to fully exploit its potential in human nutrition.     

An Expedient Synthesis of Flexible Nucleosides through Enzymatic Glycosylation of Proximal and Distal Fleximer Bases

The structurally unique “fleximer” nucleosides were originally designed to investigate how flexibility in a nucleobase could potentially affect receptor–ligand recognition and function. Recently they have been shown to have low-to-sub-micromolar levels of activity against a number of viruses, including coronaviruses, filoviruses, and flaviviruses. However, the synthesis of distal fleximers in particular has thus far been quite tedious and low yielding. As a potential solution to this issue, a series of proximal fleximer bases (flex-bases) has been successfully coupled to both ribose and 2′-deoxyribose sugars by using the N-deoxyribosyltransferase II of Lactobacillus leichmannii (LlNDT) and Escherichia coli purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP). To explore the range of this facile approach, transglycosylation experiments on a thieno-expanded tricyclic heterocyclic base, as well as several distal and proximal flex-bases were performed to determine whether the corresponding fleximer nucleosides could be obtained in this fashion, thus potentially significantly shortening the route to these biologically significant compounds. The results of those studies are reported herein.     

Lobbying friends and foes in climate policy: The case of business and environmental interest groups in the European Union

Drawing on two conflicting hypotheses from the theoretical literature on lobbying, I consider the strategies applied by interest groups lobbying to influence climate policy in the European Union (EU). The first hypothesis claims that interest groups lobby their ‘friends’, decision-makers with positions similar to their own. The second claims that interest groups lobby their ‘foes’, decision-makers with positions opposed to their own. Using interviews with lobbyists and decision-makers, I demonstrate that in the field of climate policy, interest groups in the EU lobby both friends and foes, but under different conditions. Moreover, I find that the interest groups’ motives are not always in line with the theoretical hypotheses. Interest groups lobby their friends on single policy decisions to exchange information, to further a common cause and to exert pressure, and their foes because a foe on one issue might prove to be a friend on another issue. Interest groups direct general lobbying towards both friends and foes. This paper provides a new empirical contribution to a literature that has so far been heavily dominated by studies focusing on lobbying in the US.     

Observed and perceived parental overprotection in relation to psychosocial adjustment in preadolescents with a physical disability: The mediational role of behavioral autonomy.

The purpose of this study was to test a mediational model of associations between parental overprotectiveness (OP), behavioral autonomy, and psychosocial adjustment in 68 families with 8- and 9-year-old preadolescents with spina bifida and a demographically matched sample of 68 families with able-bodied children. Measures included questionnaire and observational assessments of parental OP; parent and child reports of behavioral autonomy; and parent, child, and teacher reports of preadolescent adjustment. On the basis of both questionnaire and observational measures of OP, mothers and fathers of children with spina bifida were significantly more overprotective than their counterparts in the able-bodied sample, although this group difference was partially mediated by children's cognitive ability. Both questionnaire and observational measures of parental OP were associated with lower levels of preadolescent decision-making autonomy as well as with parents being less willing to grant autonomy to their offspring in the future. For the questionnaire measure of OP, and only for the spina bifida sample, the mediational model was supported such that parental OP was associated with less behavioral autonomy, which was, in turn, associated with more externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The extreme xerophilic mould Xeromyces bisporus--growth and competition at various water activities

Little is known about the mould, Xeromyces bisporus, unique in its strong xerophilicity and ability to grow at water activity (a_w) 0.62, lower than for any other known organism. The linear growth rates of one fast and one slow-growing strain of X. bisporus were assessed at 20, 25, 30 and 37 °C on solid agar media containing a mixture of glucose and fructose to reduce a_w to 0.94, 0.88, 0.84, 0.80, 0.76 and 0.66. Growth rates of xerophilic species closely related to X. bisporus, viz. Chrysosporium inops, C. xerophilum and Monascus eremophilus, were also assessed. Optimal conditions for growth of both X. bisporus strains were approx. 0.84 a_w and 30 °C, despite FRR 2347 growing two- to five-fold faster than CBS 185.75. X. bisporus FRR 2347 even grew well at 0.66 a_w (0.48 mm/day). C. inops and C. xerophilum were more tolerant of high a_w than X. bisporus, and could be differentiated from each other based on: the faster growth of C. xerophilum; its preference for temperatures ≥ 30 °C and a_w ≥ 0.94 (c.f. ≤ 25 °C and ~ 0.88 a_w for C. inops); and its ability to grow at 0.66 a_w, which is the lowest a_w reported to date for this species. M. eremophilus grew slowly (max. 0.4 mm/day) even in its optimal conditions of ~ 0.88 a_w and 25 °C. To investigate the competitive characteristics of X. bisporus at low a_w, both X. bisporus strains were grown in dual-culture with xerotolerant species Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium roqueforti, and xerophilic species A. penicillioides, C. inops, C. xerophilum and Eurotium chevalieri, on glucose-fructose agar plates at 0.94, 0.84, 0.80 and 0.76 a_w and at 25 °C. Growth rates and types of interactions were assessed. Excretion of inhibitory substances acting over a long-range was not observed by any species; inhibitors acting over a short-range that temporarily slowed competitors' growth or produced a protective zone around the colony were occasionally observed for A. penicillioides, C. inops and C. xerophilum. Instead, rapid growth relative to the competitor was the most common means of dominance. The xerotolerant species, A. flavus and P. roqueforti were dominant over X. bisporus at 0.94 a_w. E. chevalieri was often dominant due to its rapid growth over the entire a_w range. At a_w < 0.80, X. bisporus was competitive because it grew faster than the other species examined. This supports the concept that its ideal environmental niche is sugary foods with low a_w.     

Both sides of the employment interview interaction: Perceptions of interviewers and applicants with disabilities.

Examined perceptions of the interview process in a correlational field study of 70 applicants (APs) with disabilities and 36 interviewers (IRs) without disabilities. IRs provided ratings of APs. 56 APs responded to questions about the IR and the interview. Results support hypotheses contending that the interview is a mutual influence process. IRs' preinterview impressions were positively correlated with their postinterview evaluations. However, time spent actively recruiting the AP was negatively correlated with the APs' ratings of IRs. AP disclosure of some types of disability-related information was positively related with IRs' ratings of APs' interview performances. Findings suggest that APs may want to discuss job-related aspects of their disability in the interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Endophthalmitis in eyes following vitrectomy

The authors describe two patients who underwent pars plana vitrectomy for nonclearing vitreous hemorrhage. Both patients had severe pain, increased intraocular pressure, and orbital swelling. The anterior chamber became flat in a phakic eye. The infection progressed rapidly, and ultimately evisceration was required in both cases. The presence of a flat anterior chamber in gas-filled, phakic eyes and a severe orbital inflammatory reaction in the early postoperative period should alert the physician to the possibility of endophthalmitis.     

Methodological issues in meta-analyzing standard deviations: Comment on Bond and DePaulo (2008).

In this comment on C. F. Bond and B. M. DePaulo (see record 2008-08177-001), the authors raise methodological concerns about the approach used to analyze the data. The authors suggest further refinement of the procedures used, and they compare the approach taken by Bond and DePaulo with standard methods for meta-analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A more natural approach for use in the evaluation of infants' stranger reactions.

Proposes an approach to 7-12 mo old infants in seeking to evaluate their social, emotional, cognitive, and/or physiological responses to a stranger, in a fashion that is consistent with a standardization that controls a multitude of possible variables while retaining sufficient spontaneity to prevent the stranger from appearing peculiar to the child. The approach is semistructured but integrates the findings of a previous study by R. Shaffran (1972) which concluded that the ideal way to avoid inhibition of stranger behavior imposed by a structured approach was not to standardize it and to do a post-facto analysis of the stranger-child interaction. In the proposed approach, the naive stranger is very spontaneous, he introduces several actions (as compared with one action) at once, he speaks frequently in various tones using various phrases, and he includes the mother in the interaction with the child. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)