EFFECTIVE TRANSPORTATION OF BREWER'S YEAST SLURRY

A yeast shipment method suitable (depending on vessel size) for 1 to 20 litres of slurried yeast is described. The method was investigated primarily assuming transit (storage) temperature at approximately 21°C. Under these conditions, the contained yeast was stable over 116 h at temperatures well under 16°C, and maintained its viability, fermentability and vigour to reinitiate new fermentations. Under more vigorous climatic conditions, shipment time would have to be reduced, but adequate protection time was afforded for all but the most extreme sub-zero situations.     

Persistence of hepatitis C virus in newborn mice brain cell culture

A model of chronic infection of primary cultures of suckling mouse brain (SMB) cells actively producing hepatitis C virus (HCV) is developed. Destruction and repopulation of cells was observed for at least 6 months; this phenomenon was paralleled by virus release in culture medium. Persistent HCV contained in SMB cultures induced a cytopathogenic effect in PS, BHK-21, Vero, HAK, and click embryo cell cultures, its infective titers being 10.0-12.0 lg TCD50/0.2 ml. Persistent HCV formed heterogeneous plaques under agar in chick embryo cells. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) regularly detected the HCV RNA at the stage of cell destruction in the culture fluid of HCV-infected cell cultures. The cytopathogenic activity of persistent HCV was neutralized by anti-HCV positive patients' sera with the neutralization index of 8.0-9.0 lg. The results of persistent HCV neutralization were confirmed by PCR. Immunofluorescence detected virus-specific HCV antigens in 15-40% of infected cells. Hence, the SMB-HCV system realized the cytopathogenic potential of HCV circulating in the blood of patients with hepatitis C. This system is promising for the study of the pathogenesis of HCV infection at a cellular level, for screening for specific and nonspecific antiviral agents, and for preparing native virus-specific proteins and RNA.     

Color versus form discrimination learning in 1-year-old infants.

A comparison of form and color discrimination learning in 48 Ss showed that none of the color-trained Ss reached criterion, whereas approximately half of the form-trained Ss did reach criterion. Analysis showed that, in contrast to Ss who were given color problems, Ss who were given form problems showed both an initial curiosity about changes in form and an ability to solve form problems. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting adjustment in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease: A test of the risk-resistance–adaptation model.

Objective: A theoretical model was used to examine the impact of risk and resistance factors on the psychological adjustment of children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Participants: One hundred eighteen children and adolescents with SCD receiving treatment at a comprehensive sickle cell center and their mothers. Measures: Included risk factors (condition parameters, functional independence, and disability stressors), resistance factors (stress processing, intrapersonal factors, and social ecological factors), and adjustment. Results: Adaptive behavior was associated with child maladjustment, severity of disability was associated with disability stress, and child competence was associated with child maladjustment. Coping did not moderate the association between stress and maladjustment, and adaptive behavior and stress did not mediate the association between severity of disability and maladjustment, as the model had predicted. Conclusions: Results support the continued use of theoretically driven models to investigate the adjustment of children and adolescents with chronic conditions and to promote comparisons of different chronic illnesses and disabling conditions… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Foetal alcohol syndrome in Saskatchewan: unchanged incidence in a 20-year period

Ethers and thioethers of monosaccharides have been synthesised which show potent toxicity to mouse (LD50 > or = 4 g.kg-1 O.W. and 0.2 to 1.5 g.kg-1 I.P.W.). A study of calcium antagonist activity for the full series of compounds indicated that the activity was similar for both O- and S- ethers and maximum activities were observed for monoacetoneglucose ethers possessing carbon chain close to 8 carbons.     

Coenzymes Q in lemon shark liver

Earlier studies have shown that some extracts of nonpolar lipids from lemon shark liver are able to stimulate the reticuloendothelial system (RES) of experimental animals. This communication reports the identification of the coenzymes Q as the constituents of a fraction from lemon shark liver lipid which showed intense biological activity.     

Using duration models to reduce fragmentation in audio segmentation

We investigate explicit segment duration models in addressing the problem of fragmentation in musical audio segmentation. The resulting probabilistic models are optimised using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods; in particular, we introduce a modification to Wolff’s algorithm to make it applicable to a segment classification model with an arbitrary duration prior. We apply this to a collection of pop songs, and show experimentally that the generated segmentations suffer much less from fragmentation than those produced by segmentation algorithms based on clustering, and are closer to an expert listener’s annotations, as evaluated by two different performance measures. Editor: Gerhard Widmer     

NADP-Isocitrate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas nautica: kinetic constant determination and carbon limitation effects on the pool of intracellular substrates

Variations of intracellular concentrations of isocitrate and NADP+ were measured throughout all growth phases of the marine bacterium Pseudomonas nautica. The intracellular isocitrate concentration tracked the intracellular protein concentration throughout all phases of growth. It rapidly increased in early exponential phase to a maximum and fell to nearly zero in parallel with pyruvate exhaustion in the culture medium. The intracellular NADP+ and protein concentrations increased in parallel during the exponential phase but were poorly correlated. Even after carbon exhaustion, the intracellular NADP+ concentration stayed high, as did protein levels. The results demonstrated that the intracellular isocitrate concentration, but not the intracellular NADP+ concentration, was affected by the carbon availability in the culture. They also suggest that, because of its variability, isocitrate, but not NADP+, plays the larger role in the control of the respiratory CO2 production rate (RCO2). From initial rate studies, bisubstrate Michaelis constants and the dissociation constant were determined for NADP+-specific isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) from P. nautica. These studies support the hypothesis that the mechanism of IDH's activity involves the ordered addition of the substrates, D-isocitrate and NADP+. Furthermore, the results support the use of a bisubstrate enzyme kinetic equation to model RCO2 in P. nautica.