Outbreak of Salmonella serotype Hartford infections associated with unpasteurized orange juice

CONTEXT: Acidic foods such as orange juice have been thought to be unlikely vehicles of foodborne illness. OBJECTIVE: To investigate an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Hartford (Salmonella Hartford) infections among persons visiting a theme park in Orlando, Fla, in 1995. DESIGN: Review of surveillance data, matched case-control study, laboratory investigation, and environmental studies. SETTING: General community. PARTICIPANTS: The surveillance case definition was Salmonella Hartford or Salmonella serogroup C1 infection in a resident of or a visitor to Orlando in May or June 1995. In the case-control study, case patients were limited to theme park hotel visitors and controls were matched to case patients by age group and hotel check-in date. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Risk factors for infection and source of implicated food. RESULTS: Sixty-two case patients from 21 states were identified. Both Salmonella Hartford and Salmonella enterica serotype Gaminara (Salmonella Gaminara) were isolated from stool samples of 1 ill person. Thirty-two case patients and 83 controls were enrolled in the case-control study. Ninety-seven percent of case patients had drunk orange juice in the theme park vs 54% of controls (matched odds ratio, undefined; 95% confidence interval, 5.2 to undefined). The orange juice was unpasteurized and locally produced. Salmonella Gaminara was isolated from 10 of 12 containers of orange juice produced during May and July, indicating ongoing contamination of juice probably because of inadequately sanitized processing equipment. CONCLUSIONS: Unpasteurized orange juice caused an outbreak of salmonellosis in a large Florida theme park. All orange juice was recalled and the processing plant closed. Pasteurization or other equally effective risk-management strategies should be used in the production of all juices.     

Maternal depressive disorder and contextual risk: contributions to the development of attachment insecurity and behavior problems in toddlerhood

Research has shown that offspring of depressed caregivers are at increased risk for maladaptive development and emotional difficulties. Specifically, infants and toddlers of depressed mothers have been shown to evidence higher percentages of insecure attachments and more behavioral difficulties than offspring of nondisordered mothers. However, even in studies that reveal significant differences between children of depressed and nondepressed caregivers, a substantial number of children with depressed caregivers do not evidence dysfunction. Such findings have resulted in increased attention to the broader social context in which children of depressed mothers develop. This investigation examined the direct influences of maternal depression on child development, as well as the role of contextual risks that may be particularly heightened in families with depressed parents. Toddlers with depressed mothers evidenced significantly more insecure attachments than did toddlers with nondisordered mothers, and this difference was not accounted for by contextual risk. In predicting child behavior problems, contextual risk was found to mediate the relation between maternal depression and child behavior problems. Father-report data on child behavior corroborated the mother report data. Results are discussed in terms of the diversity of functioning in offspring of depressed caregivers that can be attributed to varied levels of contextual risk accompanying depression.     

High resolution radially symmetric nanostructures from simultaneous electron beam induced etching and deposition

Electron beam induced etching (EBIE) and deposition (EBID) are promising fabrication techniques in which an electron beam is used to dissociate surface-adsorbed precursor molecules to achieve etching or deposition. Spatial resolution is normally limited by the electron flux distribution at the substrate surface. Here we present simultaneous EBIE and EBID (EBIED) as a method for surpassing this resolution limit by using adsorbate depletion to induce etching and deposition in adjacent regions within the electron flux profile. Our simulation results indicate the possibility of growth control of radially symmetric nanostructures at the sub-1 nm length scale on bulk substrates. The technique is well suited to the fabrication of ring-shaped nanostructures such as those employed in plasmonics, sensing devices, magneto-optics and magnetoelectronics.     

Impacts of layout,surface condition and alloying elements on diffusion welding of micro process devices

The formation of a monolithic part during diffusion bonding is accompanied by the diffusion of atoms across the bonding planes. At sufficient low roughness, it mainly depends on the temperature and dwell time. At the same time, the diffusion process competes against grain growth. By adjusting an appropriate level of bearing pressure, it is possible to control deformation taking into account additional parameters resulting from mechanical microstructures and the design and aspect ratio of the part. Furthermore, material properties, such as the content of alloying elements, the degree of cold work hardening and the grain size, have an impact on diffusion and deformation behavior. Also the surface condition of mating surfaces is important to diffusion kinetics and the quality of the joint. Especially passivation layers of corrosion‐resistant alloys, such as stainless steels and nickel‐based alloys, impair diffusion. In contrast to this, cold work hardening at low depth below the surface, e. g. by means of a blasting processes, may facilitate formation of a good bond and help to limit grain size. For oxide dispersion‐strengthened materials, additional impacts on diffusion bonding behavior applies.     

Physical nature of empirical time dependencies of the strength and failure characteristics of materials

Correlations between each of two parameters of empirical relationships describing arrays of experimental data on the long-term strength, creep, multi- and low-cycle fatigue, and the growth of fatigue cracks are established. Well-defined relationships between parameters within each array make it possible to reduce significantly the required volume of material tests. The physical essence of the observed correlations is associated with the thermally active nature of damage processes, which accompany each form of material tests. It is demonstrated that the pattern of the dependence of correlating empirical parameters on fundamental characteristics of thermally activated damage processes can be established for all types of tests under consideration: the height of the potential barrier, the frequency factor, etc. For all types of tests, analytical predictions are in good qualitative agreement with correlations observed in experiment.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 6, pp. 3–9, June, 1994.     

Somnogenic and pyrogenic effects of interleukin-1beta and lipopolysaccharide in intact and vagotomized rats

The vagus nerve appears to serve a role in mediating peripheral immunologic influences on CNS processes. Previous work demonstrates that subdiaphragmatic vagotomy prevents or attenuates many of the behavioral and physiological responses to exogenous interleukin-1 (IL-1) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We determined whether the somnogenic effects of IL-1 and LPS were altered in vagotomized rats, and whether the effects of vagotomy on IL-1- and LPS-induced alterations in sleep would vary as a function of circadian phase. The data indicate that vagotomy does not influence the normal circadian patterns of sleep and wakefulness in untreated rats, or modify the pyrogenic or somnogenic effects of intracerebroventricular administration of IL-1. However, in unchallenged animals vagotomy reduces basal brain temperatures, increases delta wave amplitudes during slow-wave sleep (SWS), and induces a reduced rate of weight gain, gastric distension, and adrenal hypoplasia. Vagotomy attenuates the febrile effects of IL-1 during both light and dark phases, attenuated IL-1-induced sleep enhancement during the dark phase, and attenuated IL-1-induced increases in delta wave amplitudes within SWS during the light period. In LPS-treated rats, vagotomy attenuates the febrile and SWS responses to LPS after administration at light onset, but not after administration at dark onset. These results indicate that subdiaphragmatic vagotomy attenuates several of the somnogenic and pyrogenic effects of IL-1beta and LPS, although the effectiveness of the vagal transection in modulating these responses is influenced by circadian factors.     

Effects of iminodipropionitrile on cerebral amino acid levels

Iminodipropionitrile (IDPN), a compound that causes dyskinetic symptoms in animals and has possible use as a model for human dyskinesia, was tested in mice and rats for its effect on cerebral amino acids. In mice, 2 h after IDPN administration, the level of total brain alanine was reduced; after 5 h the levels of aspartic acid and glutamic acid were also reduced, and the level of glutamine was increased. In rats, after chronic administration of IDPN, the level of glutamic acid in the total brain tissue was reduced. After acute administration of IDPN using microdialysis, extracellular GABA and extracellular glutamine levels in the striatum were elevated. This study shows that IDPN causes alterations in total and extracellular levels of neurotransmitter amino acids in the brain, which could have a role in IDPN-induced dyskinesia.     

Introduction of Wide-Band Communications in the Telecommunications Network

An increasing demand for digital wide-band business communications has been emerging as a new driving force in the evolution of the telecommunication network. In parallel with this demand, new transmission, multiplexing, and switching technologies are becoming available to support the implementation of attractive end-to-end wide-band services. This paper looks at the application opportunities of wide-band technologies in the telecommunication network for both near and longer term use, and discusses key implementation and evolution issues. The paper also defines a wide-band channel structure plan as a basis for wide-band ISDN standardization.     

Automated method for identifying and prioritizing project risk factors

This paper describes an approach for automatically determining project risk factors based on answers to an interactive questionnaire. Stored knowledge of complex interrelationships is used to transform qualitative inputs into quantitative factors used to rank and compare identified risks. A tool called the Software Technology Risk Advisor is described which implements these techniques and provides a testbed for further refinement.