Mass spectrometry detection of egg proteins in red wines treated with egg white

The need of label declaration for egg proteins is temporarily suspended when they are used as a processing aid in winemaking, because of a lack of scientific data concerning their actual permanence as residual proteins in fined wines.The possibility to detect residual egg proteins in red wines treated with a commercial egg white preparation was studied. By using an immunochemical method residual egg proteins were detected in the experimental red wines only for doses of fining agent of 50 g/hL or higher, whereas no residual proteins were detected by this system in a commercial red wine.A simple method based on the recovery and identification of the wine fining proteins by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem MS (LC-MS/MS) in a gel-free approach was developed. This allowed the detection of egg proteins in red wines fined down to 5 g/hL of commercial egg white preparation and also in the commercial red wine. These results indicate that the analytical approach here suggested is superior to the immunochemical methods in detecting egg proteins in wines. Therefore hypersensitivity reactions after consumption of wines treated with egg proteins can be a real risk for egg-allergic people.     

The Disgust Scale: Item analysis, factor structure, and suggestions for refinement.

In the 4 studies presented (N = 1,939), a converging set of analyses was conducted to evaluate the item adequacy, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Disgust Scale (DS; J. Haidt, C. McCauley, & P. Rozin, 1994). The results suggest that 7 items (i.e., Items 2, 7, 8, 21, 23, 24, and 25) should be considered for removal from the DS. Secondary to removing the items, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the DS taps 3 dimensions of disgust: Core Disgust, Animal Reminder Disgust, and Contamination-Based Disgust. Women scored higher than men on the 3 disgust dimensions. Structural modeling provided support for the specificity of the 3-factor model, as Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust were significantly predictive of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) concerns, whereas Animal Reminder Disgust was not. Results from a clinical sample indicated that patients with OCD washing concerns scored significantly higher than patients with OCD without washing concerns on both Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust, but not on Animal Reminder Disgust. These findings are discussed in the context of the refinement of the DS to promote a more psychometrically sound assessment of disgust sensitivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual avoidance in specific phobia

OBJECTIVE: To describe the results of a multicenter study that validated two new patient-reported measures of neurologic impairment and disability for use in MS clinical research. BACKGROUND: Self-reported data can provide a cost-effective means to assess patient functioning, and can be useful for screening patients who require additional evaluation. METHODS: Thirteen MS centers from the United States and Canada implemented a cross-sectional validation study of two new measures of neurologic function. The Symptom Inventory is a measure of neurologic impairment with six subscales designed to correlate with localization of brain lesion. The Performance Scales measure disability in eight domains of function: mobility, hand function, vision, fatigue, cognition, bladder/bowel, sensory, and spasticity. Measures given for comparison included a neurologic examination (Expanded Disability Status Scale, Ambulation Index, Disease Steps) as well as the patient-reported Health Status Questionnaire and the Quality of Well-being Index. Participants included 274 MS patients and 296 healthy control subjects who were matched to patients on age, gender, and education. RESULTS: Both the Symptom Inventory and the Performance Scales showed high test-retest and internal consistency reliability. Correlational analyses supported the construct validity of both measures. Discriminant function analysis reduced the Symptom Inventory to 29 items without sacrificing reliability and increased its discriminant validity. The Performance Scales explained more variance in clinical outcomes and global quality of life than the Symptom Inventory, and there was some evidence that the two measures complemented each other in predicting Quality of Well-being Index scores. CONCLUSIONS: The Symptom Inventory and the Performance Scales are reliable and valid measures.     

Automated forest fire dispatching—A progress report

Computers may offer a way of speeding up forest fire dispatching. Results of tests made on a prototype system suggest that automated fire dispatching is feasible, and can be a useful tool to both the skilled and unskilled dispatcher.     

Disgust and disgust sensitivity in blood-injection-injury and spider phobia

Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobics and spider phobics show markedly different cognitive, psychophysiological, and motoric reactions to activating stimuli. These observations have led theorists to question whether the emotion of fear mediates both phobias. The present study examined the role of disgust and disgust sensitivity in these subtypes of specific phobia. BII phobics, spider phobics, and nonphobics completed questionnaires and rated pictures of specific objects on fear and disgust scales. Questionnaire data indicated that phobic participants were higher than nonphobics on fear, and also on disgust sensitivity. The reaction of BII phobics to pictures of medical stimuli was one of disgust, rather than fear. The reaction of spider phobics to pictures of spiders was a combination of fear and disgust, though fear appeared to predominate. Results are discussed in view of current theories of emotional factors in specific phobia.     

Sex differences in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder: A quantitative review of 25 years of research.

Meta-analyses of studies yielding sex-specific risk of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicated that female participants were more likely than male participants to meet criteria for PTSD, although they were less likely to experience PTEs. Female participants were more likely than male participants to experience sexual assault and child sexual abuse, but less likely to experience accidents, nonsexual assaults, witnessing death or injury, disaster or fire, and combat or war. Among victims of specific PTEs (excluding sexual assault or abuse), female participants exhibited greater PTSD. Thus, sex differences in risk of exposure to particular types of PTE can only partially account for the differential PTSD risk in male and female participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting symptom exaggeration in combat veterans using the MMPI–2 symptom validity scales: A mixed group validation.

Although validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI–2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) have proven useful in the detection of symptom exaggeration in criterion-group validation (CGV) studies, usually comparing instructed feigners with known patient groups, the application of these scales has been problematic when assessing combat veterans undergoing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) examinations. Mixed group validation (MGV) was employed to determine the efficacy of MMPI–2 exaggeration scales in compensation-seeking (CS) and noncompensation-seeking (NCS) veterans. Unlike CGV, MGV allows for a mix of exaggerating and nonexaggerating individuals in each group, does not require that the exaggeration versus nonexaggerating status of any individual be known, and can be adjusted for different base-rate estimates. MMPI–2 responses of 377 male veterans were examined according to CS versus NCS status. MGV was calculated using 4 sets of base-rate estimates drawn from the literature. The validity scales generally performed well (adequate sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency) under most base-rate estimations, and most produced cutoff scores that showed adequate detection of symptom exaggeration, regardless of base-rate assumptions. These results support the use of MMPI–2 validity scales for PTSD evaluations in veteran populations, even under varying base rates of symptom exaggeration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of Nanocellulose to Produce Water-Based Conductive Inks with Ag NPs for Printed Electronics

The need for more sustainable printed electronics has emerged in the past years. Due to this, the use of nanocellulose (NC) extracted from cellulose has recently been demonstrated to provide interesting materials such as functional inks and transparent flexible films due to its properties. Its high specific surface area together with the high content of reactive hydroxyl groups provide a highly tailorable surface chemistry with applications in ink formulations as a stabilizing, capping, binding and templating agent. Moreover, NC mechanical, physical and thermal properties (high strength, low porosity and high thermal stability, respectively) provide an excellent alternative for the currently used plastic films. In this work, we present a process for the production of water-based conductive inks that uses NC both as a template for silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) formation and as an ink additive for ink formulation. The new inks present an electrical conductivity up to 2 × 10⁶ S/m, which is in the range of current commercially available conductive inks. Finally, the new Ag NP/NC-based conductive inks have been tested to fabricate NFC antennas by screen-printing onto NC-coated paper, demonstrating to be operative.     

The Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI): Development and validation.

This article describes the development and validation of a new measure of trauma-related thoughts and beliefs, the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), whose items were derived from clinical observations and current theories of post-trauma psychopathology. The PTCI was administered to 601 volunteers, 392 of whom had experienced a traumatic event and 170 of whom had moderate to severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Principal-components analysis yielded 3 factors: Negative Cognitions About Self, Negative Cognitions About the World, and Self-Blame. The 3 factors showed excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability; correlated moderately to strongly with measures of PTSD severity, depression, and general anxiety; and discriminated well between traumatized individuals with and without PTSD. The PTCI compared favorably with other measures of trauma-related cognitions, especially in its superior ability to discriminate between traumatized individuals with and without PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)