Resistant starch—An accessible fiber ingredient acceptable to the Western palate

Dietary fiber intakes in Western societies are concerningly low and do not reflect global recommended dietary fiber intakes for chronic disease prevention. Resistant starch (RS) is a fermentable dietary fiber that has attracted research interest. As an isolated ingredient, its fine particle size, relatively bland flavor, and white appearance may offer an appealing fiber source to the Western palate, accustomed to highly refined, processed grains. This review aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the current knowledge (classification, production methods, and characterization methods), health benefits, applications, and acceptability of RS. It further discusses the present market for commercially available RS ingredients and products containing ingredients high in RS. The literature currently highlights beneficial effects for dietary RS supplementation with respect to glucose metabolism, satiety, blood lipid profiles, and colonic health. An exploration of the market for commercial RS ingredients indicates a diverse range of products (from isolated RS2, RS3, and RS4) with numerous potential applications as partial or whole substitutes for traditional flour sources. They may increase the nutritional profile of a food product (e.g., by increasing the fiber content and lowering energy values) without significantly compromising its sensory and functional properties. Incorporating RS ingredients into staple food products (such as bread, pasta, and sweet baked goods) may thus offer an array of nutritional benefits to the consumer and a highly accessible functional ingredient to be greater exploited by the food industry.     

Natural Lignocellulosic Fibers as Engineering Materials—An Overview

Recent investigations on the tensile properties of natural cellulose-based fibers revealed an increasing potential as engineering materials. This is particularly the case of very thin fibers of some species such as sisal, ramie, and curaua. However, several other commonly used fibers such as flax, jute, hemp, coir, cotton, and bamboo as well as less known bagasse, piassava, sponge gourde, and buriti display tensile properties that could qualify them as engineering materials. An overview of the strength limits attained by these fibers is presented. Based on a tensile strength vs density chart, it is shown that natural fibers stand out as a relevant class of engineering materials.     

Implicit and explicit preferences for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner: A double dissociation in predictive validity.

Five studies develop and examine the predictive validity of an implicit measure of the preference for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner. Three hypotheses were generally supported. First, 2 variants of the go/no-go association task revealed that participants, on average, demonstrate an implicit preference (i.e., a positive spontaneous affective reaction) for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner. Second, these implicit measures were not redundant with a traditional explicit measure: The correlation between these constructs was .00 on average, and the implicit measures revealed no reliable sex differences, unlike the explicit measure. Third, explicit and implicit measures exhibited a double dissociation in predictive validity. Specifically, explicit preferences predicted the extent to which attractiveness was associated with participants' romantic interest in opposite-sex photographs but not their romantic interest in real-life opposite-sex speed-daters or confederates. Implicit preferences showed the opposite pattern. This research extends prior work on implicit processes in romantic relationships and offers the first demonstration that any measure of a preference for a particular characteristic in a romantic partner (an implicit measure of physical attractiveness, in this case) predicts individuals' evaluation of live potential romantic partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Harmonizing agriculture and health sector actions to improve household nutrition: policy experiences from Afghanistan (2002–2007)

Coordination across sectors to address undernutrition with its varied underlying causes remains a challenge in developing countries. In Afghanistan, harmonization of health and agriculture policies and actions to reduce endemic undernutrition occurred during 2002-2007. This qualitative case study explores the forms of harmonization, enabling features and constraints in the policy process. We interviewed 57 stakeholders (39 central level, 18 provincial) involved in public nutrition or food security issues. Forms of harmonization included written policies, reseach, training and advocacy. Important features of the policy process included: policy entrepreneurs with operational and strategic capacity, consensus-building using a shared causal framework, working groups and strategic alliances. This case presents an interesting alternative to a national nutrition coordinating body, an approach that has met with mixed results, often due to the lack of authority, budget, and operational capacity of such a body to oversee ministries and enforce national nutrition objectives. Mid-level professionals mobilized into task forces achieved much with the support of national and international partners. This study highlights the importance of building capacity for sustaining change through local institutions.     

Use of cysteine to remove mercury from shark muscle

The efficiency of cysteine to remove mercury from sliced and minced shark was evaluated. Treatment with 0.5% cysteine at pH 2.0–2.5 and subsequent washing with sodium chloride (5%) failed to remove the mercury from the sliced shark. The efficiency of 0.5% cysteine at pH 7.0 in removing mercury from minced shark was 40–45% (dry material), obtained by two of the three methods studied. This removal rate was considered relatively low for it failed to attend to the practical proposal of decontaminating species of fish highly contaminated by mercury. The need for fuller understanding of the mechanisms involved in the removal of mercury by cysteine was also considered.     

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance.

Based on data from 4 independent studies reported by R. Vineberg and E. N. Taylor (1972) with a total sample size of 1,474, path analysis was used to examine the causal impact of job experience on job knowledge, performance capability as measured by job sample tests, and supervisory ratings of job performance. Findings support the conclusion that (1) when mean job experience is 2–3 yrs, there is substantial variance in job experience and (2) when the jobs are of an intermediate complexity level, job experience has a substantial direct impact on job knowledge and a smaller direct impact on performance capabilities as assessed by job sample measures. Job experience also has a substantial indirect effect on work sample performance through its effect on job knowledge, which, in turn, was found to be the strongest determinant of work sample performance. The pattern and magnitude of causal effects of general mental ability were similar to those of job experience. The effect of job knowledge on supervisory ratings was several times stronger than the effect of job sample performance, confirming the findings of J. E. Hunter (1983). When job experience was held constant, the direct impact of ability on the acquisition of job knowledge increased substantially, and this, in turn, increased the indirect effect of ability on job sample performance. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)