Occurrence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Streptococcus spp. Isolated from Ewe＇s Milk

The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of Streptococcus spp. isolated from fresh ewe＇s milk and consequently to draw conclusions concerning the health condition of the animal flocks and the current trends of antibiotic use in small ruminants. A total of 77 mountainous sheepfolds were investigated representing 10% of all transhumant sheep and goats flocks in the area. Duplicate milk samples were collected from January to February transferred to the laboratory and analyzed for the presence of Streptococcus spp. by using the serial dilution method and plating on the surface of Slanetz and Bartley agar. The isolates were tested against nine antimicrobial agents with the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The results showed that Streptococcus spp. occurred in 84.4% of the samples and in counts ranged between 1.8 log CFU/mL and 4.6 log CFU/mL. Concerning susceptibility, only 1.3% of the isolates were resistant to all antimicrobials while 27.3% were fully susceptible. Resistance to cefepime was the most common （93.1%） observation followed by resistance to ampicillin （82.1%）, ciprofloxacine （58.3%） and meropenem （51.9%）. The isolates were vancomycin susceptible at a rate of 83.6%. Multidrug resistance to at least three antibiotics was observed to be 22.1% of Streptococcus spp.. Given the prevalence of Streptococcus spp. and the elevated resistance of isolates to various antibiotics it is concluded that further examinations and even interventions are required in order to pertain the appropriate animal health and milk quality.     

Investigating cigarette-smoke indoor pollution in a controlled environment

The objective of this study was to investigate the evolution of pollutant concentrations generated by smoking in a controlled indoor environment. For this purpose, a small flat in the centre of Athens, Greece was equipped with NO(x), O(3) and SO(2) continuous measuring instruments and portable analysers for spot measurements of TVOCs and CO(2), while two volunteer smokers remained inside and smoked as normal inhabitants. The results indicated that when windows are kept closed and smoking takes place NO(x), CO(2) and TVOCs concentrations increase by an order of 3, 4 or 10 times, respectively, and decrease returning to initial levels after 1 or 2 h.     

Capillary zone electrophoresis on-line coupled to mass spectrometry: A perspective application for clinical proteomics

Clinical proteomics, a rapidly growing field, intends to use specific diagnostic proteomic/peptidomic markers for initial diagnosis or prognosis of the progression of various diseases. Analyses of disease-associated markers in defined biological samples can provide valuable molecular diagnostic information for these diseases. This approach relies on sensitive and highly standardized modern analytical techniques. In the recent years, one of these technologies, CZE online coupled to MS (CZE-MS), has been increasingly used for the detection of peptide biomarkers (<20 kDa) in body fluids such as urine. This review presents the most relevant urinary proteomic studies addressing the application of CZE-MS in clinically relevant biomarker research between the years 2006 and 2014.     

Conversational natural language understanding interfacing city event information

The article describes aspects of the development of a conversational natural language understanding (NLU) system done during the first year of the European research project CATCH-2004 (Converse in AThens Cologne and Helsinki) [http://www.catch2004.org]. The project is co-funded by the European Union in the scope of the IST programme (IST 1999-11103).

Its objectives focus on multi-modal, multi-lingual conversational natural language access to information systems. The paper emphasises on architecture, and telephony-based speech and NLU components as well as aspects of the implementation of a city event information (CEI) system in English, Finnish, German and Greek. The CEI system accesses two different databases in Athens and Helsinki using a common retrieval interface. Furthermore the paper singles out methodologies involved for acoustic and language model of the speech recognition component, parsing techniques and dialog modelling for the conversational natural language subsystem. For the implementation it outlines an incremental system refinement methodology necessary to adapt the system components to real-life data. It addresses the implementation of language specific characteristics and a common dialog design for all four languages, but also deals with aspects towards a multilingual conversational system. Finally, it presents prospects for further developments of the project.     

Effects of the additive package on the thermal properties of a commercial polyoxymethylene homopolymer

The present study worked out the effects of the additive package on both the degradation behavior and the thermal properties of a commercial polyoxymethylene (POM) homopolymer (Delrin® 900P) during an artificial thermooxidative aging. The POM pellets were investigated as received and after a storage duration of 5 weeks at 140°C in an oven. Additionally, the pellets for the initial and aged conditions were purified to remove the additives. The degradation behavior was determined by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), while the thermal properties were studied with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Further, optical microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to follow changes occurring during the artificial aging. Dynamic TGA in nitrogen and air showed that even after a severe aging procedure, some thermooxidative stabilizer was still present. However, its effectiveness was no longer good, as the aged POM showed a lower degradation temperature than the initial material. This result is evidence that thermally sensitive and more volatile compounds were formed. Purification of the aged pellets led to a material that degraded immediately during melting. Isothermal DSC experiments carried out at several temperatures showed that the elimination of the additives increased the crystallization rate. The crystallization kinetics could be described by using the Avrami model. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL, 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Investigation of a Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ based cathode SOFC: II. The effect of CO2 on the chemical stability

The effect of carbon dioxide on the chemical stability of a Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3−δ cathode in the real reaction environment at 450 °C was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) techniques. It was found that the presence even of very small quantities of CO₂ seriously deteriorates the fuel cell performance at 450 °C. XPS, TPD and XRD results strongly evidenced the formation of carbonates involving strontium and possibly barium after the BSCF cathode was operated in 1% CO₂/O₂ gas mixture at 450 °C for 24 h. SEM-EDX analysis of the BSCF cathode surface, after treatment in CO₂/O₂ environment at 450 °C, showed small particles on the surface probably associated with a carbonate phase and a segregated phase of the perovskite. The corresponding EDX spectra confirmed the presence of a carbonate layer and also revealed the surface enrichment of strontium and barium elements. EIS results indicated that both ohmic and polarization resistances increased gradually with the introduction of carbon dioxide in the oxidant stream, which could be interpreted by the decreased oxygen reduction kinetics and the formation of carbonate insulating layer.     

Assessment of shelf-life of maricultured gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) stored in ice

Gilthead sea bream ( Sparus aurata ) were stored in melting ice (0 °C) for a period of 24 days from the time of harvest with sensory assessments of the whole raw fish and of the cooked fish flesh conducted at regular intervals. The ungutted fish was given an EC freshness grade E for up to 3 days, grade A for a further 7 days, and grade B for 4 more days after which it was graded as C (unfit). The sensory score for flavour of the cooked fillets decreased linearly with period of storage: fresh characteristic flavours were present for 2–4 days, decreasing to a relatively bland flavour after 10–12 days. Off flavours were evident by 13–15 days storage and by 18–19 days the flesh was unpalatable. With the possible exception of hypoxanthine, none of the chemicals investigated was particularly useful as an indicator of change. Changes in pH, trimethylamine and total volatile bases during the first half of the edible storage life were insignificant. Deterioration of flesh lipids, assessed by free fatty acid content and thiobarbituric acid value, appeared to present no serious problem during shelf-life. Proximate composition and sensory attributes, appropriate for routine inspection of gilthead sea bream were also determined.