Effect of temperature on raw whole milk density and its potential impact on milk payment in the dairy industry

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of temperature on whole milk density measured at four different temperatures: 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C. A total of ninety-three individual milk samples were collected from morning milking of thirty-two Holstein Friesian dairy cows, of national average genetic merit, once every two weeks over a period of 4 weeks and were assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for milk composition analysis. Density of the milk was evaluated using two different analytical methods: a portable density meter DMA35 and a standard desktop model DMA4500M (Anton Paar GmbH, UK). Milk density was analysed with a linear mixed model with the fixed effects of sampling period, temperature and analysis method; triple interaction of sampling period x analysis method x temperature; and the random effect of cow to account for repeated measures. The effect of temperature on milk density (ρ) was also evaluated including temperature (t) as covariate with linear and quadratic effects within each analytic method. The regression equation describing the curvature and density–temperature relationship for the DMA35 instrument was ρ = 1.0338−0.00017T−0.0000122T² (R² = 0.64), while it was ρ = 1.0334 + 0.000057T−0.00001T² (R² = 0.61) for DMA4500 instrument. The mean density determined with DMA4500 at 5 °C was 1.0334 g cm⁻³, with corresponding figures of 1.0330, 1.0320 and 1.0305 g cm⁻³ at 10, 15 and 20 °C, respectively. The milk density values obtained in this study at specific temperatures will help to address any bias in weight–volume calculations and thus may also improve the financial and operational control for the dairy processors in Ireland and internationally.     

Glycosylation in Indolent,Significant and Aggressive Prostate Cancer by Automated High-Throughput N-Glycan Profiling

The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health-care concern worldwide. This cancer can manifest itself in many distinct forms and the transition from clinically indolent PCa to the more invasive aggressive form remains poorly understood. It is now universally accepted that glycan expression patterns change with the cellular modifications that accompany the onset of tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate if differential glycosylation patterns could distinguish between indolent, significant, and aggressive PCa. Whole serum N-glycan profiling was carried out on 117 prostate cancer patients’ serum using our automated, high-throughput analysis platform for glycan-profiling which utilizes ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to obtain high resolution separation of N-linked glycans released from the serum glycoproteins. We observed increases in hybrid, oligomannose, and biantennary digalactosylated monosialylated glycans (M5A1G1S1, M8, and A2G2S1), bisecting glycans (A2B, A2(6)BG1) and monoantennary glycans (A1), and decreases in triantennary trigalactosylated trisialylated glycans with and without core fucose (A3G3S3 and FA3G3S3) with PCa progression from indolent through significant and aggressive disease. These changes give us an insight into the disease pathogenesis and identify potential biomarkers for monitoring the PCa progression, however these need further confirmation studies.     

Diffuse color patterning using blended electrochromic polymers for proof‐of‐concept adaptive camouflage plaques

A study using three different pairs of electrochromic polymers (ECPs) synthesized onto plaques by means of a modified vapor phase polymerization (VPP) technique is presented. Restriction of the respective polymerization times, allowed both faster and slower polymerizing monomers to be controlled, and produced blended plaques with visually diffuse interfaces. The ECPs within the blended plaques retain their individual electrochromic behavior and when encapsulated into an electrochromic device, show outstanding optical switching performance with little degradation evident over 10,000 cycles, coupled with a switching time of the order of 1 second. Blends also allow multiple diffuse color changes within an electrochromic device, due to the difference in oxidation potentials of the individual ECPs, making them candidates for adaptive camouflage use. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42158.     

Occupational injuries among working adolescents in New York State

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number, distribution, determinants, and health consequences of occupational injuries among working adolescents in New York State. DESIGN: A retrospective, population-based analysis of New York State workers' compensation award data and the Annual Demographic File, a supplement to the US Bureau of the Census Current Population Survey. PARTICIPANTS: Adolescents, aged 14 through 17 years, who received workers' compensation awards for occupational injury from 1980 through 1987. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Numbers, types, and rates of occupational injuries in working adolescents by age, sex, industry, and occupation; (2) health consequences of injury, especially disability and death; and (3) secular trends in injury award rates. RESULTS: A total of 9656 adolescents were compensated for occupational injuries; 4201 compensated adolescents (43.5%) suffered permanent disability; 31 working adolescents died. The annual mean rate of compensated occupational injury was 28.2 per 10,000 adolescent workers. Rates were higher in males than in females and ranged from 8.2 per 10,000 in 14-year-old male workers to 46.8 per 10,000 in 17-year-old male workers. Highest rates by industry were seen in manufacturing (49.0/10,000 adolescent workers) and agriculture (46.2/10,000). Unskilled labor was the most dangerous occupation (52.3/10,000). CONCLUSION: Occupational injuries are a substantial and underrecognized contributor to the continuing epidemic of injury among adolescents.     

Sacrospinous colpopexy in the management of uterovaginal prolapse

The tet(M) genes were characterized from 84 isolates of 10 different bacterial species isolated from the periodontal pockets of 16 patients with periodontal disease. A 740 bp polymerase chain reaction product from the hypervariable region of the tet(M) structural gene was cleaved with the restriction enzymes AluI and HinfI. Three different restriction patterns were identified for each of the two enzymes. By DNA sequencing, using a direct solid-phase automated sequencing method, the isolates could be grouped into 3 different clusters of tet(M) subtypes. The internal DNA homology within each subtype was 98-100%; the homology between clusters was 89-94%. Two different subtypes were identified in 9 of 10 bacterial species, and the remaining species had 3 different subtypes. One of the subtypes (M3) was seen mainly in the anaerobic isolates. This subtype was different from all earlier sequenced structural tet(M) genes present in the Genbank. Most patients had two different subtypes of tet(M), and a third subtype was seen in the 3 patients who exhibited the greatest variety of tetracycline-resistant bacterial species. It appears that the presence of one subtype of the tet(M) gene within a patient or bacterial species does not prevent the acquisition of another subtype of the same gene. This study identified a new subtype of the tet(M) gene and grouped it into 3 distinct yet highly homologous genetic subtypes.     

Efficient random subcloning of DNA sheared in a recirculating point-sink flow system

Based on a high-performance liquid chromatographic pump, we have built a device that allows recirculation of DNA through a 63-microm orifice with ensuing fractionation to a minimum fragment size of approximately 300 base pairs. Residence time of the DNA fragments in the converging flow created by a sudden contraction was found to be sufficiently long to allow extension of the DNA molecules into a highly extended conformation and, hence, breakage to occur at midpoint. In most instances, 30 passages sufficed to obtain a narrow size distribution, with >90% of the fragments lying within a 2-fold size distribution. The shear rate required to achieve breakage was found to be inversely proportional to the 1.0 power of the molecular weight. Compared with a restriction digest, up to 40% of all fragments could be cloned directly, with only marginal improvements in cloning efficiency having been observed upon prior end repair with Klenow, T4 polymerase or T4 polynucleotide kinase. Sequencing revealed a fairly random distribution of the fragments.     

Effect of preoperative supplementation with alpha-tocopherol and ascorbic acid on myocardial injury in patients undergoing cardiac operations

Augmentation of antioxidant defenses may help protect tissues against ischemia-reperfusion injury associated with operations involving cardiopulmonary bypass. In this study we examined the effect of pretreating patients with alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or placebo on injury to the myocardium. Seventy-six subjects undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting participated in a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial, receiving either placebo or both 750 IU dl-alpha-tocopherol per day for 7 to 10 days and 1 gm ascorbic acid 12 hours before the operation. Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations, raised fourfold by supplementation, fell by 70% after the operation in the supplemented group and to negligible levels in the placebo group. There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to release of creatine kinase MB isoenzyme over 72 hours, nor in the reduction of the myocardial perfusion defect determined by thallium 201 uptake. Electrocardiography provided no evidence of a benefit from antioxidant supplementation. Thus the supplementation regimen prevented the depletion of the primary lipid soluble antioxidant in plasma, but provided no measurable reduction in myocardial injury after the operation.     

Heat transport in dilute mixtures of3He in superfluid4He

We report new measurements of the effective thermal conductivity K_eff and relaxation time τ in dilute mixtures of³He in superfluid⁴He, with molar concentrationsX≤10⁻³. The temperature range extended fromT≈1.4 K toT _λ. Both K_cff and τ are found to agree with theoretical predictions, in contrast to previous experiments where significant differences were observed. A new thermal conductivity cell design was used which almost completely eliminates extraneous volumes and surfaces, and the earlier results are explained in relation to these design changes.     

Identification and characterization of cathepsin B as the cellular MARCKS cleaving enzyme

The importance of regulating the cellular concentrations of the myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS), a major cellular substrate of protein kinase C, is indicated by the fact that mice lacking MARCKS exhibit gross abnormalities of central nervous system development and die shortly after birth. We previously identified a novel means of regulating cellular MARCKS concentrations that involved a specific proteolytic cleavage of the protein and implicated a cysteine protease in this process (Spizz, G., and Blackshear, P. J. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 553-562). Here we show that p40, the carboxyl-terminal fragment resulting from this cleavage of MARCKS, was associated with the mitochondrial/lysosomal pellet fraction of human diploid fibroblasts and that its generation in cells was sensitive to treatment with NH4Cl. These data suggest the involvement of lysosomes in the generation and/or stability of p40. The MARCKS-cleaving enzyme (MCE) activity was peripherally associated with a 10,000 x g pellet fraction from bovine liver, and it co-purified with the activity and immunoreactivity of a lysosomal protease, cathepsin B. Cathepsin B catalyzed the generation of p40 from MARCKS in a cell-free system and behaved similarly to the MCE with respect to mutants of MARCKS previously shown to be poor substrates for the MCE. Treatment of fibroblasts with a cell-permeable, specific inhibitor of cathepsin B, CA074-Me, resulted in parallel time- and concentration-dependent inhibition of cathepsin B and MCE activity. Incubation of a synthetic MARCKS phosphorylation site domain peptide with purified cathepsin B resulted in cleavage of the peptide at sites consistent with preferred cathepsin B substrate sites. These data provide evidence for the identity of the MCE as cathepsin B and suggest that this cleavage most likely takes place within lysosomes, perhaps as a result of specific lysosomal targeting sequences within the MARCKS primary sequence. The data also suggest a direct interaction between MARCKS and cathepsin B in cells and leave open the possibility that MARCKS may in some way regulate the protease for which it is a substrate.