Mass spectrometry detection of egg proteins in red wines treated with egg white

The need of label declaration for egg proteins is temporarily suspended when they are used as a processing aid in winemaking, because of a lack of scientific data concerning their actual permanence as residual proteins in fined wines.The possibility to detect residual egg proteins in red wines treated with a commercial egg white preparation was studied. By using an immunochemical method residual egg proteins were detected in the experimental red wines only for doses of fining agent of 50 g/hL or higher, whereas no residual proteins were detected by this system in a commercial red wine.A simple method based on the recovery and identification of the wine fining proteins by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem MS (LC-MS/MS) in a gel-free approach was developed. This allowed the detection of egg proteins in red wines fined down to 5 g/hL of commercial egg white preparation and also in the commercial red wine. These results indicate that the analytical approach here suggested is superior to the immunochemical methods in detecting egg proteins in wines. Therefore hypersensitivity reactions after consumption of wines treated with egg proteins can be a real risk for egg-allergic people.     

Finite memory non-linear model of a S/H-ADC device

A new model has been proposed for the characterisation of the non-linear dynamic effects of a S/H-ADC device and a new mathematical approach has been introduced to describe its non-ideal dynamic behaviour. The measurement procedure to deduce the parameters of the proposed model is given together with the experimental results on a commercial device.     

Classroom peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization: distinct relational systems that contribute uniquely to children's school adjustment?

The proposition that relationships make differential (i.e., unique, redundant, contingent) contributions to adjustment was examined by investigating the linkages between children's participation in different types of peer relationships (i.e., friendship, peer acceptance, peer victimization) and their adjustment to school. Relationship measures were gathered for 5- to 6-year-old children (105 males, 95 females) twice during kindergarten (i.e., fall and spring) and were correlated with adjustment indicators at each time of assessment and used to predict changes in school adjustment over time. Examination of the relative associations between the relationship measures and children's adjustment revealed evidence of both unshared (i.e., unique) and shared (i.e., redundant) linkages, depending on the form of adjustment examined. These findings suggest that adjustment may be influenced by the diverse experiences (i.e., provisions) that children encounter in different forms of relationship, and that certain types of relationships may have greater or lesser adaptive significance depending on the adjustment outcome examined.     

Corticosteroids significantly delay the onset of docetaxel-induced fluid retention: final results of a randomized study of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Investigational Drug Branch for Breast Cancer

PURPOSE: To confirm the efficacy of docetaxel in patients with breast cancer previously treated with one chemotherapy regimen for advanced or metastatic disease and to compare the incidence of fluid retention (FR) and skin toxicity when docetaxel is administered with and without prophylactic corticosteroids. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-three patients, pretreated with one chemotherapy regimen for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with bidimensionally measurable and progressive disease, were eligible for this randomized trial. Docetaxel with prophylactic oral antihistamine was administered at a dose of 50 mg/m2 as a 1-hour infusion on days 1 and 8 every 21 days and patients were randomized to receive methylprednisolone (40 mg days -1, 0, 1, 7, 8, and 9 of each cycle) (arm A) or no methylprednisolone (arm B). RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients (34%, 95% confidence interval [CI], 23% to 45%) achieved on objective response. The median time to disease progression and median overall survival time were 5 and 13.5 months, respectively. In total, 415 cycles of docetaxel were administered (arm A: N = 219, median = six; arm B: N = 196, median = five). The most common toxicity observed was grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, which occurred in 79% of patients. Clinically significant nonhematologic side effects included skin reactions and asthenia. In an intent-to-treat analysis, patients who received methylprednisolone premedication had a delayed onset of FR (median time to onset of FR: arm A, 84 days; arm B, 62 days; P = .01) and received a higher median cumulative dose of docetaxel before the onset of FR (arm A, 333 mg/m2; arm B, 215 mg/m2; P = .001). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of skin toxicity between the two arms. CONCLUSION: Docetaxel, at this dose and schedule, has definite antitumor activity in pretreated MBC patients. Moreover, this is the first randomized trial to show that corticosteroids have a favorable impact on docetaxel-induced FR.     

Medication side effects in anxious patients: negative placebo responses?

Heart sounds produce an incessant noise during lung sounds recordings. This noise severely contaminates the breath sounds signal and interferes in the analysis of lung sounds. In this paper, the use of a wavelet transform domain filtering technique as an adaptive de-noising tool, implemented in lung sounds analysis, is presented. The multiresolution representations of the signal, produced by wavelet transform, are used for signal structure extraction. In addition, the use of hard thresholding in the wavelet transform domain results in a separation of the nonstationary part of the input signal (heart sounds) from the stationary one (lung sounds). Thus, the location of the heart sound noise (1st and 2nd heart sound peaks) is automatically detected, without requiring any noise reference signal. Experimental results have shown that the implementation of this wavelet-based filter in lung sound analysis results in an efficient reduction of the superimposed heart sound noise, producing an almost noise-free output signal. Due to its simplicity and its fast implementation the method can easily be used in clinical medicine.     

The risk of acquiring Q fever on farms: a seroepidemiological study

OBJECTIVES: To determine the occupational risk of Q fever. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Community: five English local authority districts. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Prevalence and incidence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) specific antibody to Coxiella burnetii phase II antigen was measured in a representative (study) cohort of farm workers in the United Kingdom, and detailed exposure data were collected. Also seroprevalence of Q fever in a (control) cohort of police and emergency service personnel was measured. RESULTS: Prevalence was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in the study cohort (105/385 v 43/395). During the first 12 month period after enrollment no seroconversions were found (upper 95% confidence limit: 1318/100,000/year). During the second 12 month period after enrollment two seroconversions were found, equalling an incidence of 813/100,000/year (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 98-2937/100,000/year). No association was found between seroprevalence and age. In the study cohort, extent of total contact with farm animals seemed more important than exposure to any specific animal: full time employees were more than four times more likely to be antibody positive than part time employees (P < 0.05). Exposure to cattle, but not sheep, goats, cats, raw milk, and hay (all reported sources of Q fever) was associated with being positive to Coxiella burnetii IgG by univariate analysis but this association was not independent of total farm animal contact. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of Q fever on livestock farms is related to contact with the farm environment rather than any specific animal exposure. The absence of an increasing prevalence with age suggests that exposure may occur as clusters in space and time (outbreaks).     

Corrosion-protection properties of water-borne paint coatings as studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and gravimetry

Water-borne paint coatings while used outdoors, show good protective behaviour on metals, even though they can take up and release much moisture. As experience shows for physically drying paint coatings, the changing wet-and-dry environment improve their corrosion protection properties. To find out the reasons, eight model coatings – built up from various combinations of layers made of the physically drying styrene-acrylate, and the oxidatively drying alkyd-acrylate based paints – were tested on metal substrate by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; water uptake/release kinetics was followed by gravimetry on self-standing films made of the above resins. The results of experiments simulating the weathering effects (wet–dry cycling and heating) with the physically drying paint coatings lead us to the conclusions that: (i) water uptake and release removes the water-soluble components from the film and thereby contributes to the good or improving corrosion protection feature, and explains the observation that these coatings perform satisfactorily outdoors and (ii) water release is always much faster than the uptake which helps to keep the interior of the coating dry protecting the metal surface against moisture.     

InxGa1-xAs-AlyGa1-yAs-GaAs strained-layer quantum-well heterostructure circular ringlasers

The growth, processing, and optical characterization of a single Y-junction In_xGa_1-xAs-Al_yGa_1-y As-GaAs strained-layer quantum-well heterostructure circular ring laser (6 μm width, 11~251 μm outer radius) are described. The circular ring lasers have been grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, etched by SiCl₄ reactive ion etching, and planarized by polyimide. The dependences of laser threshold current density and peak emission wavelength (950~1015 nm) on outer radius are presented. The emission spectra show that the circular ring lasers lase mainly in high-order whispering gallery modes, with smaller outer radius ring lasers operating in low-order whispering gallery modes