Histometric study of meat products. A literature review

In the present paper, the literature on the development of methods for histometric monitoring the quality of meats is reviewed. The value of specific techniques, statistical interpretation of results and the practicability of automation of histometric analysis are examined more closely. It is concluded from the study of the literature that histometric examination of meats allows an objective assessment of volume percentages of tissue components. When a distinct difference in contrast between various tissues is achieved by specific staining methods, developments in the field of image analysis systems will allow automation of the quantitative histological examination of meats.     

Measurement and differential kinetic analysis of wall temperatures in monolith converters—I kinetic analysis

It is possible to measure axial wall temperature profiles in adiabatic monolith converters under actual reaction conditions. By applying a differential method of kinetic analysis, axial profiles of concentrations at the wall as well as of reaction rates can be derived with proper computation methods. The data thus obtained may serve for further kinetic evaluation, that is for model building and parameter estimation by proven and well-known methods. The whole procedure looks also promising for performing activity tests on fresh and partly deactivated monolith converters. The slightly greater effort of measuring wall temperatures compared with the usual method only to record inlet and outlet temperatures and integral conversions might more than pay off. In the present first part of the paper the differential method of kinetic analysis is developed and tested by some simulation studies. The second part will deal with actual experiments.     

Fatigue-crack growth in Ti-6Al-4V-0.1Ru in air and seawater: Part II. crack path and microstructure

In Part I of this article, the influence of various testing parameters and environments on the fatigue-crack growth rates in samples of beta-annealed Ti-6Al-4V-0.1Ru (extra-low interstitials) ELI was reported.^[1] A design-of-experiments (DOE) approach was used to survey different combinations of variables, all expected to be important for dynamically loaded offshore oil and gas production risers, and to identify significant effects on the fatigue-crack propagation rate at a stress-intensity range of ΔK=17 MPa . The da/dN vs ΔK curves also were examined for the DOE and supplementary tests, and the results of the two approaches were compared. In this part of the study, the microstructural basis for the robust fatigue-crack growth resistance of beta-annealed Ti-6Al-4V-0.1Ru (ELI) samples was investigated with optical metallography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A gradual transition from structure-sensitive (microfacet formation) to structure-insensitive (striation formation) crack propagation centered at ΔK _trans ≅24 MPa , regardless of the combination of testing/environmental conditions examined; the absence of a sharp transition in the slope of the da/dN vs ΔK curves was, therefore, entirely consistent with the fracture-surface morphology. The size of the reversed cyclic plastic zone at the transition ΔK value correlated with the size of the lamella packets, but the number of cycles required to generate a striation ranged between one and ten, suggesting that the crack actively grew over only a portion of its front at any one instant. It is interesting to note that ΔK _trans was the same as the stress range where the da/dN curves at 0.2, 2, and 20 Hz (in seawater) converged to a single curve (refer to Part I of this article): at lower stress ranges, crack growth rates at 20 Hz were significantly higher than those at 0.2 and 2 Hz. The quantitative data showed that fatigue cracks propagated parallel to lamellae interfaces when the long axes of the lamellae made a relatively small angle (<30 deg) to the nominal crack-propagation direction. The crack cut directly across lamellae (i.e., perpendicular to their surfaces) when the long axes of the lamellae were nearly perpendicular to the nominal crack-propagation direction. If the lamellae long axes lay 45 deg to the crack-propagation direction, the crack deflected to run parallel or perpendicular to the lamellae. This behavior occurred regardless of the environment and loading conditions investigated. There was considerable variation in the amount that the cracks deviated from their nominal plane (i.e., the plane normal to the load axis and through the notch tip), with much greater deflections in the cold-rolled than in the parent material, but the angle of the macroscopic crack plane did not exceed 11 deg. Crack branching was observed both at the center and outer surfaces of the samples, regardless of ΔK or other parameters. The relationship between micro- and macrobranches was examined, and branching was more prominent below ΔK _trans, which separated the structure-sensitive and continuum-mode crack-propagation regimes. The relative amounts of micro- and microbranches are reported, and this branching may explain the large scatter in the measurements of the fatigue-crack growth rate often encountered in Ti-6Al-4V and its variants and points to the need for thorough characterization of crack paths, both midplane and surface, as part of the interpretation of da/dN vs ΔK data.     

Body expressions influence recognition of emotions in the face and voice.

The most familiar emotional signals consist of faces, voices, and whole-body expressions, but so far research on emotions expressed by the whole body is sparse. The authors investigated recognition of whole-body expressions of emotion in three experiments. In the first experiment, participants performed a body expression-matching task. Results indicate good recognition of all emotions, with fear being the hardest to recognize. In the second experiment, two alternative forced choice categorizations of the facial expression of a compound face-body stimulus were strongly influenced by the bodily expression. This effect was a function of the ambiguity of the facial expression. In the third experiment, recognition of emotional tone of voice was similarly influenced by task irrelevant emotional body expressions. Taken together, the findings illustrate the importance of emotional whole-body expressions in communication either when viewed on their own or, as is often the case in realistic circumstances, in combination with facial expressions and emotional voices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMP and TIMP expression pattern in pleural effusions of different origins

The matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are proteolytic enzymes that are essentially involved in the turnover of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Their activity is counterbalanced by specific antagonists, the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP). In this study, we sought to analyze the expression of MMP and TIMP isoforms in pleural effusions from 88 patients. We compared MMP and TIMP isoform expression in transudates (n = 21) and exudates (n = 67), the latter divided into exudates of paraneoplastic (n = 46) or parainfectious (n = 21) origin. Zymographic and Western blot analyses revealed constant expression of interstitial collagenase (MMP-1), gelatinase-A (MMP-2), and TIMP-1 in all 88 samples. In contrast, analyses of gelatinase-B (MMP-9) demonstrated a specific expression pattern, with high expression in exudates and lack of expression in transudates. Neutrophil collagenase (MMP-8) was detected in trace amounts, and correlated with the number of neutrophils in the effusion. Low levels of TIMP-2 were detected only in exudates and not in transudates. Quantitative analysis of the expression ratio of gelatinase-B to gelatinase-A revealed statistically significant differences between effusions of different origin. The ratio was highest in exudates of paraneoplastic origin and lowest in transudates. Our data thus suggest that interstitial collagenase, gelatinase-A, and TIMP-1 play a role in homeostasis of the pleural space in vivo as constitutively expressed proteins, whereas gelatinase-B and TIMP-2 expression are induced in specific disease states. These observations contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of pleural effusions, and may help to characterize and possibly distinguish effusions of different origin.     

Differential expression of two functional serine/threonine protein kinases from soybean that have an unusual acidic domain at the carboxy terminus

Two soybean cDNA clones, SPK-3 and SPK-4, encoding putative protein kinases were isolated and characterized. Both cDNAs encoded approximately 40-kDa serine/threonine kinases with unusual stretches of acidic amino acids in their carboxy-terminal regions, which are highly homologous to PKABA1 from wheat and ASKs from Arabidopsis. These kinases are encoded by one- or two-copy genes in the soybean genome. Notably, SPK-3 and -4 showed different patterns of expression in various soybean tissues. SPK-3 is highly expressed in dividing and elongating tissues of young seedlings but relatively weakly in tissues of mature plants. In contrast, SPK-4 showed relatively high and constitutive expression in all the tissues examined except for leaf tissues of mature plants. Although various stressors, such as dehydration and high salinity, increased the expression of both genes, the induction kinetics were different. The two genes also differed in their response to abscisic acid (ABA). SPK-3 was induced but SPK-4 was not affected by exogenously supplied abscisic acid. In accordance with these expression data analysis of the activity of a chimeric SPK-3 promoter::beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene by transient expression in tobacco leaves confirmed the inducibility of SPK-3 by salt and ABA. Polyclonal antibodies raised against a recombinant SPK-4 protein produced in Escherichia coli specifically recognized both recombinant SPK-3 and -4 proteins. Kinase assays using affinity-purified SPK-4/ antibody complexes with crude soybean extracts as substrate identified specific phosphorylation of two 41 and 170 kDa soybean proteins that were phosphorylated on serine residues. Taken together, our results suggest that SPK-3, and/or SPK-4 are functional serine protein kinase(s). Furthermore, SPK-3 and -4 may play different roles in the transduction of various environmental stresses.