Arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in meat, livers and kidneys of sheep slaughtered in The Netherlands

Summary The results obtained between 1981 and 1986 in a Dutch monitoring programme investigating the presence of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in meat, livers and kidneys of sheep are presented. For the meat, livers and kidneys, the median values were 0.001, 0.003,and 0.007 mg/kg (fresh weight) for arsenic; 0.003, 0.054, and 0.098 mg/kg for cadmium; 0.04, 0.85, and 0.36 mg/kg for lead; and 0.001, 0.002, and 0.007 mg/kg for mercury. During the reported period, no clear trends were observed. The results are compared with the data from other countries. The mercury and arsenic concentrations in meat and organs may be regarded as low, but the levels of lead in livers are relatively high. The lead concentrations in livers showed seasonal fluctuations, the highest concentrations usually being found during the winter. Significant linear relationships were found between the concentrations in livers and kidneys for arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Tissue trace element levels were not related to the age of the investigated animals.

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Arsen, Cadmium, Blei und Quecksilber in Fleisch, Leber und Niere von Schafen in den Niederlanden

Zusammenfassung Es wird über die Ergebnisse der Jahre zwischen 1981 und 1986 eines holländischen Überwachungsprogramms über das Vorkommen von Arsen, Cadmium, Blei und Quecksilber in Fleisch, Leber und Niere von Schafen berichtet. Für Fleisch, Leber und Niere lagen die ermittelten Medianwerte für Arsen bei 0,001 bzw. 0,003 und 0,007 mg/kg (bezogen auf Frischgewicht), für Cadmium bei 0,003 bzw. 0,054 und 0,098 mg/kg, für Blei bei 0,04 bzw. 0,85 und 0,36 mg/kg und für Quecksilber bei 0,001 bzw. 0,002 und 0,007 mg/kg. Die Gehalte zeigten keine signifikante Änderung während dieser Periode. Die Gehalte werden verglichen mit Angaben anderer Länder. Die Arsen- und Quecksilbergehalte unserer Untersuchung sind niedrig. Die Bleigehalte in Leber sind relativ hoch, sie zeigten Änderungen abhängig von der Jahreszeit. Die Höchstgehalte wurden gewöhnlich während der Winterzeit gefunden. Die Gehalte von Niere und Leber sind signifikant miteinander korreliert für die Elemente Arsen, Cadmium und Blei. Die Arsen-, Cadmium-, Blei- und Quecksilbergehalte von Fleisch und Organen sind nicht mit dem Alter der Tiere korreliert.

     

L?slichkeit und gel-elektrophoretische Muster hitzedenaturierter Proteine, auch von st?rkehaltigen Proben, nach Einwirkung von Na-dodecylsulfat (SDS)

Zusammenfassung Das Lösungsvermögen des Anionendetergents Na-dodecylsulfat (SDS) in Gegenwart disulfidbrückenspaltender Reagentien auf native und auf hitzedenaturierte Proteine wird an Fleisch-und Kartoffelproteinen mit Hilfe elektrophoretischer Methoden untersucht. Die zur Resolubilisierung notwendige Menge an SDS und die erforderliche Incubationszeit werden für die verschiedenen Proben ermittelt. Die Proteine des Skeletmuskels von Rind, Schwein, Huhn und Pute einerseits und die Proteine der europäischen Kartoffelsorten und der südamerikanischen Primitivkultivare andererseits zeigen in der SDS-PAGE ein sehr ähnliches Bandenmuster, das speziesdifferenzierend kaum ausgewertet werden kann, aber ein gutes Charakteristikum für Muskel-bzw. Kartoffelproteine ist.

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Solubility and electrophoretic patterns of heat-denaturated proteins (including samples containing starch) after treatment with SDS (sodiumdodecylsulfat)

Summary The ability of the anionic detergent SDS (sodium-dodecylsulfate) to solubilize native and heat-denaturated proteins of meat and potatoes in presence of disulphide reducing agents was checked by electrophoretic methods. Skeletal muscle proteins of beef, pork, chicken and turkey have shown very similar patterns in SDS-gelelectrophoresis, which could hardly be used for species identification but they are characteristic for fresh or boiled muscles. Proteins of European potato cultivars and primitive cultivars from South America have almost identical SDS-patterns even if taken from boiled potatoes. Their patterns are different from the proteins of other European crops plants and may serve for detection of the presence of potatoes in food mixtures.

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Diese Arbeit ist Teil der Dissertation von I. de Wreede. Die Analyse der tierischen Proteine bearbeitete I. de Wreede.Sonderdruckanfragen an: I. de Wreede (Adresse siehe oben)     

Heterogeneous Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Activated Ketones Catalyzed by Modified Pt‐Catalysts: A Systematic Structure‐Selectivity Study

A systematic structure‐selectivity study was carried out for the enantioselective hydrogenation of activated ketones with chirally modified Pt/Al₂O₃ catalysts. For this, 18 modifiers containing an extended aromatic system able to form a strong adsorption complex with the Pt surface, and a suitable chiral group with an amino function capable to interact with the keto group of the substrate ( HCd, Qd, HCn, Qn , and semi‐synthetic derivatives, as well as synthetic analogues) were prepared and tested on 8 different activated ketones in AcOH and toluene under standard conditions. It was found that relatively small structural changes of the substrate and/or modifier structures strongly affected the enantioselectivity, and that no “best” modifier exists for all substrates. The highest ees for all substrates were obtained with quinuclidine‐derived modifiers in combination with naphthalene or quinoline rings, either in AcOH (substrates 1 – 5 and 8 , all carrying an sp³ carbon next to the keto group) or toluene ( 6 and 7 , with an sp² carbon next to the ketone). The presence and nature of the substituent R' at the quinuclidine significantly affected the ee (positive and negative effects). Certain combinations of an aromatic system and an amino function were preferred: For the quinuclidine moiety, quinoline and to a somewhat lesser extent naphthalene were a better match, while for the pyrrolidinylmethyl group anthracene was better suited. Methylation of the OH group often had a positive effect for hydrogenations in AcOH but not in toluene. With the exception of 8 , higher ees were obtained for the Cd / Qn series [leading to (R)‐products] than for the Cn / Qd series [leading to (S)‐products]. In several cases, opposite structure‐selectivity trends were detected when comparing reactions in toluene and AcOH, indicating a significant influence of the solvent.     

Classification of Amyloidosis by Model-Assisted Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics

Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by the misfolding and extracellular aggregation of proteins as insoluble fibrillary deposits localized either in specific organs or systemically throughout the body. The organ targeted and the disease progression and outcome is highly dependent on the specific fibril-forming protein, and its accurate identification is essential to the choice of treatment. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics has become the method of choice for the identification of the amyloidogenic protein. Regrettably, this identification relies on manual and subjective interpretation of mass spectrometry data by an expert, which is undesirable and may bias diagnosis. To circumvent this, we developed a statistical model-assisted method for the unbiased identification of amyloid-containing biopsies and amyloidosis subtyping. Based on data from mass spectrometric analysis of amyloid-containing biopsies and corresponding controls. A Boruta method applied on a random forest classifier was applied to proteomics data obtained from the mass spectrometric analysis of 75 laser dissected Congo Red positive amyloid-containing biopsies and 78 Congo Red negative biopsies to identify novel “amyloid signature” proteins that included clusterin, fibulin-1, vitronectin complement component C9 and also three collagen proteins, as well as the well-known amyloid signature proteins apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein A4, and serum amyloid P. A SVM learning algorithm were trained on the mass spectrometry data from the analysis of the 75 amyloid-containing biopsies and 78 amyloid-negative control biopsies. The trained algorithm performed superior in the discrimination of amyloid-containing biopsies from controls, with an accuracy of 1.0 when applied to a blinded mass spectrometry validation data set of 103 prospectively collected amyloid-containing biopsies. Moreover, our method successfully classified amyloidosis patients according to the subtype in 102 out of 103 blinded cases. Collectively, our model-assisted approach identified novel amyloid-associated proteins and demonstrated the use of mass spectrometry-based data in clinical diagnostics of disease by the unbiased and reliable model-assisted classification of amyloid deposits and of the specific amyloid subtype.     

Thermal,mechanical, and barrier properties of polyethylene terephthalate‐platelet nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization

This study used in situ polymerization to prepare polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanocomposites incorporating Ethoquad‐modified montmorillonite (eMMT), unmodified hectorite (HCT), or phenyl hectorite (phHCT) particles to study the impact of platelet surface chemistry and loading on thermal, mechanical, and gas barrier properties. eMMT platelets reduced the PET crystallization rate without altering the ultimate degree of crystallinity. In contrast, HCT and phHCT platelets accelerated the polymer's crystallization rate and increased its crystallinity. DMA results for thermally‐quenched samples showed that as T increased past glass transition temperature (T_g), HCT and phHCT nanocomposites (and control PET) manifested precipitous drops in G′ followed by increasing G′ due to cold crystallization; in contrast, eMMT nanocomposites had much higher G′ values around T_g. This provides direct evidence of eMMT reinforcement in thermally‐quenched eMMT nanocomposites. These results suggest that eMMT has a strong, favorable interaction with PET, possibly through Ethoquad‐PET entanglement. HCT and phHCT have a fundamentally different interaction with PET that increases crystallization rate and T_g by 11 to 17°C. Water barrier improvement in eMMT nanocomposites agrees with previously published oxygen barrier results and can be rationalized in terms of a tortuous path gas barrier model. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 52:1888–1902, 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The diastereofacial selectivity of the addition of various 1-metalated 1-heptynes to substituted cyclopentanecarbaldehydes. – The use of 1-titanated 1-heptyne for the construction of the alkyl side chain of Prostaglandins

A highly diastereoselective addition of 1-heptyne to substituted cyclopentanecarbaldehydes is one of the indispensable prerequisites to the construction of the (S)-3-hydroxy-1(E)-octenyl side chain of prostaglandins by palladium(II)-catalyzed [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic acetates. It was found that 1-titanated 1-heptynes afford the Cram product at best with a diastereofacial selectivity of 92.5%. The corresponding lithium and magnesium compounds are less diastereoselective.     

Low-Temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition Tungsten Carbide Coatings for Wear/Erosion Resistance

A new chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process has been developed to deposit hard coatings, containing tungsten carbide, at temperatures below 500°C. These coatings, which have been applied to both ferrous and nonferrous alloys, exhibit excellent resistance to wear and erosion. The coatings comprise a mixture of tungsten and the tungsten carbide, the latter being present as W₂C, W₂C + W₃C, or W₃C. The coatings' composition and properties can be controlled by varying the CVD process parameters. The unique lamellar, fine-grained microstructures of these coatings contribute to their good tribological properties.