Chemical composition,adulteration, total microbial load,and heavy metal in raw milk samples collected from dairy farms and urban areas in Lahore District,Pakistan

The present study evaluated raw milk samples from dairy farms and urban areas in Lahore District, Pakistan, for the measurement of chemical composition, presence of adulterants, total microbial, and heavy metals loads. Measurements of chemical composition and physicochemical properties of the raw milk samples collected from urban areas showed the following mean values of 2.76 ± 0.29, 2.62 ± 0.18, 1.27 ± 0.08, 7.13 ± 0.30, 6.46 ± 0.26, and 0.47 ± 0.02 for lactose, fat, protein, total solids, pH, and ash, respectively, while milk samples collected from dairy farms achieved the mean values of 4.82 ± 0.32, 5.02 ± 0.39, 3.36 ± 0.18, 13.19 ± 0.66, 6.67 ± 0.27, and 0.75 ± 0.05 for lactose, fat, protein, total solids, pH, and ash, respectively. Mean values of total plate count were 5.21 ± 0.28 CFU/ml for urban areas raw milk samples and 4.67 ± 0.27 CFU/ml for the dairy farm milk samples. Heavy metal mean concentrations for Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Ni in urban areas milk samples from milk shop were 0.024 ± 0.005, 0.021 ± 0.006, 1.22 ± 0.25, 2.42 ± 0.57, and 0.044 ± 0.006 ppm, respectively. Conclusively, strategies should be adopted in order to prevent the heavy metal contamination in milk to further minimizes the health risks associated with heavy metal consumption.     

Constrained optimization of test intervals using a steady-state genetic algorithm

There is a growing interest from both the regulatory authorities and the nuclear industry to stimulate the use of Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA) for risk-informed applications at Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Nowadays, special attention is being paid on analyzing plant-specific changes to Test Intervals (TIs) within the Technical Specifications (TSs) of NPPs and it seems to be a consensus on the need of making these requirements more risk-effective and less costly. Resource versus risk-control effectiveness principles formally enters in optimization problems. This paper presents an approach for using the PRA models in conducting the constrained optimization of TIs based on a steady-state genetic algorithm (SSGA) where the cost or the burden is to be minimized while the risk or performance is constrained to be at a given level, or vice versa. The paper encompasses first with the problem formulation, where the objective function and constraints that apply in the constrained optimization of TIs based on risk and cost models at system level are derived. Next, the foundation of the optimizer is given, which is derived by customizing a SSGA in order to allow optimizing TIs under constraints. Also, a case study is performed using this approach, which shows the benefits of adopting both PRA models and genetic algorithms, in particular for the constrained optimization of TIs, although it is also expected a great benefit of using this approach to solve other engineering optimization problems. However, care must be taken in using genetic algorithms in constrained optimization problems as it is concluded in this paper.     

The Increasing Impact of Translational Research in the Molecular Diagnostics of Neuromuscular Diseases

The diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) has been progressively evolving from the grouping of clinical symptoms and signs towards the molecular definition. Optimal clinical, biochemical, electrophysiological, electrophysiological, and histopathological characterization is very helpful to achieve molecular diagnosis, which is essential for establishing prognosis, treatment and genetic counselling. Currently, the genetic approach includes both the gene-targeted analysis in specific clinically recognizable diseases, as well as genomic analysis based on next-generation sequencing, analyzing either the clinical exome/genome or the whole exome or genome. However, as of today, there are still many patients in whom the causative genetic variant cannot be definitely established and variants of uncertain significance are often found. In this review, we address these drawbacks by incorporating two additional biological omics approaches into the molecular diagnostic process of NMDs. First, functional genomics by introducing experimental cell and molecular biology to analyze and validate the variant for its biological effect in an in-house translational diagnostic program, and second, incorporating a multi-omics approach including RNA-seq, metabolomics, and proteomics in the molecular diagnosis of neuromuscular disease. Both translational diagnostics programs and omics are being implemented as part of the diagnostic process in academic centers and referral hospitals and, therefore, an increase in the proportion of neuromuscular patients with a molecular diagnosis is expected. This improvement in the process and diagnostic performance of patients will allow solving aspects of their health problems in a precise way and will allow them and their families to take a step forward in their lives.     

Human dietary exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances in Catalonia, Spain. Temporal trend

In this study, we assessed the levels of 18 perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the most widely consumed foodstuffs in Catalonia, Spain, as well as the total dietary intake of these compounds. Forty food items were analysed. Only perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA), perfluorohexadecanoic acid (PFHxDA) and perfluorooctanoicdecanoic acid (PFOcDA) were not detected in any sample. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was the compound found in the highest number of samples (33 out of 80), followed by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) and perfluorodecane sulfonic acid (PFDS). Fish and shellfish was the food group in which more PFASs were detected and where the highest PFAS concentrations were found. The highest dietary intakes corresponded to children, followed by male seniors, with values of 1787 and 1466ng/day, respectively. For any of the age/gender groups of the population, the Tolerable Daily Intakes (TDIs) recommended by the EFSA were not exceeded. In general terms, PFAS levels found in the current study are lower than the concentrations recently reported in other countries.     

Physiological characterization of spoilage strains of Zygosaccharomyces bailii and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii isolated from high sugar environments

Two isolates of spoilage yeasts Zygosaccharomyces bailii and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii were obtained from a high sugar environment, in a factory producing candied fruit and nougat. Other strains, Z. bailii from other environments and other isolates from high sugar/salt environments were obtained for comparison (Zygosaccharomyces lentus, Candida magnoliae, Candida halophila and Pichia guilliermondii). A full physiological assessment of these isolates was carried out, of preservative and biocide resistance, osmotolerance, ethanol-tolerance, low pH resistance, degree of fermentation, and growth temperature and survival to pasteurisation. Results showed that the strains isolated from high sugar environments did not show extreme physiology. These were robust strains but within the normal parameters expected for the species. One exception to this was that the Z. bailii strains were abnormally able to grow at 37 degrees C. In all strains other than C. magnolia and C. halophila, cells were able to adapt to high levels of sugar. Cultures grown in high glucose concentrations were subsequently able to tolerate higher concentrations of glucose than previously. Similarly, high sugar was found to confer a degree of protection against pasteurisation, enabling survival in what would have otherwise been a lethal treatment. Isolates of Z. bailii showed a high level of resistance to preservatives such as sorbic acid, benzoic acid, acetic acid, cinnamic acid, and ethanol, and also to heat. Unexpectedly Z. bailii isolates were not exceptionally resistant to biocides such as peracetic acid, or hypochlorite. These results indicate that spoilage by yeasts such as Z. bailii may be better prevented by use of biocidal cleaning agents in the factory, rather than treating the food with preservatives.     

Experimental evaluation of commercial heat exchangers for use as PCM thermal storage systems

Phase change materials (PCM) possess a great capacity of accumulation of energy in their temperature of fusion thanks to the latent heat. These materials are used in applications where it is necessary to store energy due to the temporary phase shift between the offer and demand of thermal energy. Thus, possible applications are the solar systems as well as the recovery of residual heat for its posterior use in other processes. In spite of this great potential, the practical feasibility of latent heat storage with PCM is still limited, mainly due to a rather low thermal conductivity. This low conductivity implies small heat transfer coefficients and, consequently, thermal cycles are slow and not suitable for most of the potential applications.     

Somatic instability of the myotonic dystrophy (CTG)n repeat during human fetal development

Myotonic dystrophy is characterised by the striking level of somatic heterogeneity seen between and within tissues of the same patient, which probably accounts for a significant proportion of the pleiotropy associated with this disorder. The congenital form of the disease is associated with the largest (CTG)n repeat expansions. We have investigated the timing of instability of myotonic dystrophy (CTG)n repeats in a series of congenitally affected fetuses and neonates. We find that during the first trimester the repeat is apparently stable and that instability only becomes detectable during the second and third trimesters. In our series repeat instability is apparent only after 13 weeks gestational age and before 16 weeks. The appearance of heterogeneity shows some tissue specificity, with heart most commonly having the largest expansion. The degree of heterogeneity is not correlated with initial expansion size as gauged by chorionic villus and blood (CTG)n repeat sizes.     

Hypomethylation of human sperm pronuclear chromosomes

Using the methylase SssI enzyme, we have analyzed the degree of in situ methylation of human sperm pronuclear chromosomes obtained by fertilizing hamster oocytes with human sperm. Untreated (control) sperm chromosome complements showed a higher degree of in situ methylation, compared to sperm complements previously treated with 5-azadeoxycytidine or lymphocyte chromosomes. This indicates that human sperm pronuclear chromosomes have a lower degree of genomic methylation compared to that of other somatic cells. The similarity in the degree of in situ methylation of the euchromatic and heterochromatic regions of chromosomes 1, 9, 15, and 16 and the Y chromosome in human sperm does not support the existence of a possible correlation between hypomethylation and heterochromatin decondensation.     

Extending OpenMP to Survive the Heterogeneous Multi-Core Era

This paper advances the state-of-the-art in programming models for exploiting task-level parallelism on heterogeneous many-core systems, presenting a number of extensions to the OpenMP language inspired in the StarSs programming model. The proposed extensions allow the programmer to write portable code easily for a number of different platforms, relieving him/her from developing the specific code to off-load tasks to the accelerators and the synchronization of tasks. Our results obtained from the StarSs instantiations for SMPs, the Cell, and GPUs report reasonable parallel performance. However, the real impact of our approach in is the productivity gains it yields for the programmer.