Antimicrobial effects of chitosans and chitooligosaccharides, upon Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, in food model systems

The objective of this study was to elucidate the controversial relationship between the molecular weight (MW) of chitosans and their antibacterial activity (upon different inoculum levels, at several concentrations). The influence of food components on the activity was also ascertained, as well as acceptance by a sensory panel. All the compounds tested exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. This activity was shown to be closely dependent on the inoculum level, MW and concentration used. Within 4h at 10(3) cells/mL, all five compounds, at every concentration (0.5%, 0.25% and 0.1%, w/v), proved to be bactericidal; for higher inocula, 0.1% (w/v) was only bacteriostatic; at 10(7) or 10(5) cells/mL, and independently of the inoculum level, 0.25% (w/v) of any chitooligosaccharide (COS) mixture was sufficient to reduce the E. coli initial population by at least 3 log cycles; COS never exhibited bactericidal action over S. aureus, unlike high and medium MW chitosans-which, at 0.5% (w/v), presented a bactericidal effect even against 10(7) cells/mL. When incorporated in liquid food matrices, medium and high MW chitosans maintained their activity, for both matrices and bacteria, although a slower activity was noticeable in milk; however, COS lost their activity upon both bacteria in milk after 4-8h. Furthermore, addition of chitosans to apple juice led to several unpleasant off-flavors, such as astringency and after taste--which increased in magnitude with MW.     

Effects of Temperature and Concentration on the Rheological Behavior of Polyacrylamide-Based Polymers

Polymers are high molecular weight molecules that provide high viscosity at low concentrations to the media they are inserted. In the oil industry, they are used for enhanced oil recovery and for drilling fluids, where its viscosity is an important factor for a greater efficiency. From all the polymers used by industry, the polyacrylamide and the biopolymer xantham gum are those, which appear significantly in those applications. Taking that into consideration, this work intends to study the effects of the physical, chemical and structural parameters of those polymers in their rheological behaviour, by varying their concentrations from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm and their temperatures from 298 K to 328 K, which are values similar to those found in the field. For that, a Brookfield Viscometer-Brookfield Engineering Labs rheometer was used. The results acquired showed that the increase on the polyacrylamides ionicity generates and increase on the medium viscosity. For the temperature, its increase causes a reduction of viscosity for the low ionicity polyacrylamides, while increases the viscosity for the high ionicity ones. In the comparative study between xantham gum and polyacrylamides, it was possible to notice that, even though the biopolymer is more complex, its viscosity still is lower when compared to the polyacrylamides.     

Reliability of non-destructive test techniques in the inspection of pipelines used in the oil industry

The aim of this work is to evaluate the reliability of non-destructive test (NDT) techniques for the inspection of pipeline welds employed in the petroleum industry. Radiography, manual and automatic ultrasonic techniques using pulse-echo and time of flight diffraction (TOFD) were employed. Three classes of defects were analyzed: lack of penetration (LP), lack of fusion (LF) and undercut (UC). The tests were carried out on specimen made from pipelines containing defects, which had been artificially inserted on laying the weld bead. The results showed the superiority of the automatic ultrasonic tests for defect detection compared with the manual ultrasonic and radiographic tests. Additionally, artificial neural networks (ANN) were used in the detection and automatic classification of the defects.     

Assessment of personal hygiene and practices of food handlers in municipal public schools of Natal,Brazil

The aim of this study was to assess the hygiene practices of food handlers in municipal schools of Natal, Brazil, where 27 public schools were evaluated, using a checklist and microbiological analysis of hands. It was found that 74.1% of the handlers did not receive periodic training, 51.9% did not undergo annual health examinations and 100% did not practice proper hand hygiene, a situation that reflected significantly (p < 0.05) in hand contamination, in which fecal coliforms were detected on 55.6% of the hands analyzed. It was concluded that the schools studied did not have appropriate hygienic conditions, suggesting the need for interventions that ensure the quality of school food served to the children.     

Temperature-sensitive mutants of influenza A virus. XIV. Production and evaluation of influenza A/Georgia/74-ts-1[E] recombinant viruses in human adults

The two temperature-sensitive (ts) lesions present in influenza A/Hong Kong/68-ts-1[E] (H3N2 68) virus were transferred via genetic reassortment to influenza A/Georgia/74 (H3N2 74) wild-type virus. A recombinant clone possessing both ts lesions and the shutoff temperature of 38 C of the Hong Kong/68 ts donor and the two surface antigens of the Georgia/74 wild-type virus was administered to 32 seronegative adult volunteers. Thirty-one volunteers were infected, of whom only five experienced mild afebrile upper respiratory tract illness. The wild-type recipient virus was a cloned population that induced illness in five of six infected volunteers. Therfore, the attenuation exhibited by the Georgia/74-ts-1[E] virus could reasonably be assumed to be due to the acquisition of the two ts-1[E] lesions by the Georgia/74 wild-type virus. The serum and nasal wash antibody responses of the ts-1[E] vaccinees were equivalent to those of the volunteers who received wild-type virus. The two ts lesions present in the Hong Kong/68-ts-1[E] virus have now been transferred three times to a wild-type virus bearing a new hemagglutinin, and in each instance the new ts recombination exhibited a similar, satisfactory level of attenuation and antigenicity for adults. It seems likely that the transfer of the ts-1[E] lesions to any new influenza virus will regularly result in attenuation of a recombinat virus possessing the new surface antigens.     

Biomedical instrumentation in the Soviet Union

A modified technique for vaso-vasostomy is described with the aim to achieve better results in operative recanalization and restoration of fertility after vasectomy. Vaso-vasostomy is a success when the man is able to produce fertile semen. Criteria for a fertile semen are mentioned. Fertile semen was obtained in all 5 patients treated by this modified technique.     

Effect of age and sex on the prevalence of intestinal parasitism in dogs

The effects of age, sex, and neutering on the prevalence of canine intestinal parasitism were evaluated by fecal examination of 1,468 pet dogs admitted to the University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital during 1975. Evidence of hookworm infection was encountered in 35.8% of the dogs examined, whipworms in 18.5%, ascarids in 17.9%, tapeworms in 5.2%, and coccidia in 4.5%. Evidence of intestinal parasitism was not detected in 653 (44.4%) dogs. Whipworm infections were detected less often in young dogs than in older ones, whereas ascarid and coccidial infections were more prevalent in pups that in mature dogs. In dogs more than 6 months old, hookworm infections were the most common parasitism. Tapeworm infections were diagnosed sporadically in all age groups. For most of these parasites, castrated males and spayed females had decreased prevalence of infection, compared with their respective intact counterparts. There were significant (P less than 0.05) differences in the prevalence of both ascarid and hookworm infections between intact and spayed female dogs. Also, there were significant (P less than 0.001) differences between age categories for all parasites observed. Overall, parasitism tended to decrease with age.