A case of cowpox

A 37-year-old woman was admitted to the dermatology department at a regional hospital with a severe ulceration at the medial angle of the right eye. Virus culture yielded orthopoxvirus-like particles, later identified as cowpox virus. The clinical picture and virological diagnosis of cowpox are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the need for awareness among health personnel that such infections may well be encountered in an increasingly unvaccinated population. Guidelines for clinicians and for virology laboratories are given. Cats as a zoonoic source is discussed.     

The response of terrestrial ecosystems to global climate change: towards an integrated approach

Accumulating evidence points to an anthropogenic 'fingerprint' on the global climate change that has occurred in the last century. Climate change has, and will continue to have, profound effects on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems. As such, there is a critical need to continue to develop a sound scientific basis for national and international policies regulating carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reflects on the nature of current global change experiments, and provides recommendations for a unified multidisciplinary approach to future research in this dynamic field. These recommendations include: (1) better integration between experiments and models, and amongst experimental, monitoring, and space-for-time studies; (2) stable and increased support for long-term studies and multi-factor experiments; (3) explicit inclusion of biodiversity, disturbance, and extreme events in experiments and models; (4) consideration of timing vs intensity of global change factors in experiments and models; (5) evaluation of potential thresholds or ecosystem 'tipping points'; and (6) increased support for model-model and model-experiment comparisons. These recommendations, which reflect discussions within the TERACC international network of global change scientists, will facilitate the unraveling of the complex direct and indirect effects of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and their components.     

The effects of pre-salting methods on water distribution and protein denaturation of dry salted and rehydrated cod - A low-field NMR study

Low field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF-NMR) relaxation time measurements were used to evaluate the effect of different pre-salting methods (brine injection of salt and/or phosphates followed by brining, solely brining, pickling and kench salting) on the protein denaturation and change in muscle properties during the production steps of dry salted cod fillets followed by rehydration. The NMR relaxation curves were affected by the salting method and represented well the structural differences between the salting methods at each processing step. Significant correlations were observed between the NMR relaxation parameters and all physicochemical quality properties measured, except the cooking yield, when samples from all processing stages were analyzed together. The longitudinal relaxation time T₁, and the faster relaxing transverse relaxation time T₂₁ were shown to be especially sensitive to protein denaturation in the fillets. The water distribution indicated that the salting and rehydration processes changed the cells irreversibly. The study indicated that pre-brining by brine injection followed by brining, with low salt concentrations, led to the least protein denaturation during the dry salting and rehydration process.     

Superchilled,chilled and frozen storage of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) fillets – changes in texture,drip loss,protein solubility and oxidation

Changes in quality characteristics in relation to protease activity and protein oxidation in chilled, superchilled and frozen mackerel fillets during storage were studied. The solubility of sarcoplasmic proteins was quite stable in mackerel samples for all storage experiments, whereas the solubility of myofibrillar proteins decreased in both superchilled and frozen samples. A significant correlation (r = 0.983, P < 0.05) between the increased activity of cathepsin B+L in chilled fillets and softening of the fish flesh during storage was revealed. Contrary with chilled samples, the texture of superchilled mackerel fillets became tougher along the storage period, which can be explained by a higher rate of myofibrillar oxidation (r = 0.940, P < 0.05). The hardness and drip loss decreased slightly at the end of frozen storage. Superchilling preserved the quality of mackerel fillets with the least side effects in relation to protein solubility, drip loss and softening of the fish tissue as compared to chilled and frozen storage.     

Initial theoretical study of solar cells with an intermediate band of non‐zero width and a thermalized electron population

A model based on detailed balance principles is developed to study how the thermalized nature of the electrons in the intermediate band (IB) affects the efficiency of intermediate band solar cells. Published work on intermediate band solar cells with finite IB width has focused on the fundamental case when the absorptivity is assumed to be high for all photon energies above the smallest band gap. In this work, an attempt is made to incorporate variations in the absorptivity due to the thermal distribution of the IB electrons. In a wide IB with a thermalized electron population, there will be a low density of electrons close to the upper band edge. The density of unoccupied electron states close to the lower band edge will also be low. As a consequence, the absorption coefficients for photon energies where the only energetically allowed transitions involve exciting electrons from or to, respectively, such states can be expected to be low. The presented model incorporates the effect of the thermalized electron population in an idealized way. In some cases, the calculated efficiency is well above the limit for single band gap cells, whereas in other cases it is not. It is concluded that absorption coefficients rising rapidly from very low values to higher values are advantageous, that overlap between the absorption coefficients can be beneficial when the IB becomes sufficiently wide, and finally, that a case‐by‐case study probably is required to evaluate whether a particular IB material can give cells with high efficiency. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quality Changes of Prerigor Filleted Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.) Packaged in Modified Atmosphere Using CO2 Emitter, Traditional MAP, and Vacuum

ABSTRACT:  Pieces of prerigor salmon fillets were packaged in modified atmosphere (60% CO₂ and 40% N₂) and in vacuum. The MA packages had a gas to product volume ratio (g/p ratio) of 3/1 (traditional MAP) and 1/1 (packaged with a CO₂ emitter). All the samples were stored at 1.2 °C for 25 d. The MA packages had lower bacterial growth during storage compared to vacuum packages. The analyses of 16S rRNA at day 22 indicated a similar bacterial diversity, independent of packaging methods, dominated by  Photobacterium phosphoreum . The results therefore suggest that CO₂ inhibited total bacterial count, including,  P. phosphoreum . Negative odors and liquid losses were detected earlier for the vacuum-packaged samples (8 d) compared to the MA samples (15 d) and higher levels were detected at the end of the storage period. The breaking strength (firmness) tended to be lower for the MA packaged samples compared with the vacuum samples after 15 d of storage, whereas the redness ( a * value) and the yellowness ( b * value) were significantly higher for the MA samples. In conclusion, MA packaging preserved the quality better during storage than vacuum packaging. MA packaging with a CO₂ emitter and reduced g/p ratio gave similar or better results compared with traditional MAP, thus CO₂ emitters are well suited for reduction of volume of MA packaged farmed salmon fillet pieces.     

Possibilities for the utilisation of marine by‐products

Fish industry by‐products can account for up to 75% of the catch depending on postharvest or industrial preparation processes. Different terms such as ‘fish waste’, ‘by‐product’ and ‘rest raw materials’ have been used. The review gives an overview of value‐added processes that provide an alternative to low‐profit uses such as silage, fish meal and mince. The preparation of different by‐product fractions such as fish blood, marine lipids, omega‐3 fatty acids, fish protein fractions and bioactive components with nutraceutical potential, i.e. antioxidants and bioactive peptides, is considered. There are several future opportunities for the preparation of high‐value by‐products such as enzymes, minerals and other bioactive substances including hydroxyapatite, phosphorus, taurine and creatine. Both regulatory status and future market potential need to be considered. In addition, there is a need for technologies that maintain good quality by‐products and ‘simple’ processes to produce bulk products for further refining.