Survey of undeclared soy allergen levels in the most frequently recalled food categories with or without precautionary labelling

A comprehensive study was designed to determine the frequency and levels of soy allergen in packaged bakery and snack food products. A representative sample of products with no soy allergen disclosed on the label was analysed using two widely used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. Samples were chosen that either had no soy identified on the product label or which had a soy precautionary statement. Among 558 bakery and snack products, soy protein was detected in 17% of the products using the Neogen (NE) kit and 11% of the products using the Elisa Systems (ES) kit. The disagreement rates between kits were 8.8% for bakery products and 3.3% for snack products. Overall soy protein was detected at higher frequency in bakery products than in snack foods. Among 284 bakery samples, soy protein was detected in 25% of the samples with no precautionary statement and 19% of the samples which had a precautionary statement. Among 274 snack samples, soy protein was detected in 11% of the samples with no precautionary statement and 9% of the samples which had a precautionary statement. The sample repeatability was at an acceptable level (< 9%) for each method and food commodity. The reproducibility between kits was 23% for bakery foods and 36% for snack foods. None of the bakery (21) and snack (6) products without precautionary labelling (measured level > 5 ppm) had a higher level of soy protein per serving compared with the eliciting dose₁₀ (ED₁₀) of 10.6 mg for soy allergic patients. But the level of soy protein per serving may be clinically relevant to a subpopulation of soy allergic patients if a more stringent eliciting dose is applied. These findings emphasise that suitable detection methodologies and references doses are crucial for labelling accuracy and the safety of soy allergic consumers.     

Influence of separate interviews on clinicians' evaluative perceptions in family therapy.

The parents and identified patients of 68 families in both conjoint and separate assessment interviews were rated by 48 clinical staff and students according to the semantic differential technique. Each evaluating clinician saw the entire family in a conjoint interview and either the parents or the child identified as the patient during a separate interview. As predicted, clinicians who had separately interviewed identified patients rated them more favorably than did clinicians who had instead conducted separate interviews of parents. Ratings of parents, however, were unaffected by the separate interview variable. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SCAN, an exploratory program for preliminary analysis of bioassay and immunoassay data

We describe the program SCAN which has been designed for use in conjunction with analysis of variance of immunoassay or bioassay data and which may also be used with more general one-way analysis of variance. Data within treatment groups are examined for outliers and normality of distribution. Overall statistics for normality and homogeneity of variance are also computed. Contributions of individual groups to these statistics are tabulated to permit the detection of aberrant groups. Means and variances are available in a form which facilitates detection of any response error relationship.     

Performance of AERMOD at different time scales

As high-density monitoring networks observing pollutant concentrations are costly to establish and maintain, researchers often employ various models to estimate concentrations of air pollutants. The AMS/EPA Regulatory Model (AERMOD) is a fairly recent and promising model for estimating concentrations of air pollutants, but the effectiveness of this model at different time scales remains to be verified. This paper evaluates the performance of AERMOD in estimating sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations in Dallas and Ellis counties in Texas. Results suggest that SO₂ concentrations simulated by AERMOD at the 8 h, daily, monthly, and annual intervals match their respective observed concentrations much better compared with the simulated 1 and 3 h SO₂ concentrations. In addition, AERMOD performs better in simulating SO₂ concentrations when combined point and mobile emission sources are used as model inputs rather than using point or mobile emission sources alone. Results also suggest that, at the monthly scale, AERMOD performs much better in simulating the high end of the spectrum of SO₂ concentrations in the study area compared to results at the 1, 3, 8 h, and daily scales. These results not only help us better understand the performance of AERMOD but also provide useful information to researchers who are interested in applying AERMOD in various applications, such as the utilization of AERMOD in chronic exposure assessment in epidemiological studies where long-term (i.e., monthly and/or annual) air pollution concentration estimations are often used.     

The development of a spatially explicit model to estimate radiocaesium body burdens in raccoons (Procyon lotor) for ecological risk assessment

A spatially explicit model of raccoon (Procyon lotor) distribution for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) in west-central South Carolina was developed using data from a raccoon radio-telemetry study and visualized within a Geographic Information System (GIS). An inductive approach was employed to develop three sub-models using the ecological requirements of raccoons studied in the following habitats: (1) man-made reservoirs, (2) bottomland hardwood/riverine systems, and (3) isolated wetland systems. Logistic regression was used to derive probabilistic resource selection functions using habitat compositional data and landscape metrics. The final distribution model provides a spatially explicit probability (likelihood of being in an area) surface for male raccoons. The model is a stand-alone tool consisting of algorithms independent of the specific GIS data layers to which they were derived. The model was then used to predict contaminant burdens in raccoons inhabiting a riverine system contaminated with radiocaesium (137Cs). The predicted 137Cs burdens were less than if one would assume homogeneous use of the contaminated areas. This modelling effort provides a template for DOE managed lands and other large government facilities to establish a framework for site-specific ecological assessments that use wildlife species as endpoints.     

The mild oxidation of three Tertiary lignites

Three Tertiary lignites have been oxidized with nitrobenzene and sodium hydroxide at 200 °C in a sealed tube. A scheme of extraction has been used to separate the oxidation products and the resulting solutions have been characterized by their infra-red and ultraviolet absorption spectra and by spot tests. The products contain phenolic hydroxyl and carbonyl — rather than carboxyl — groups. Some of the solutions have been reduced and their n.m.r. spectra recorded. The oxidation procedure shows promise as a method of determining the structure of lignites.     

The dielectric constant of H2, D2, and HD in the condensed phases

Measurements have been made of the dielectric constant in the liquid and solid phases of H₂, D₂, and HD. Precise measurements were made in the liquid phase at saturated vapor pressure and compared with previous data. A study was made of the change in the dielectric constant upon solidification. Measurements were made in the solid phases of H₂ and HD from the solidifition point to about 0.02 K. Both solids exhibited temperature-dependent dielectric constants which were rather similar. The magnitude of the temperature dependence was found to be related to the concentration of molecules in the rotationalJ=1 state. The dielectric constant of HD was found to change quite dramatically between 1 and 2 K, while H₂ and D₂ show no similar change.