Phytic acid and Fe and Zn concentration in lentil (Lens culinaris L.) seeds is influenced by temperature during seed filling period

Phytic acid (PA), found in cereal and legume staple foods, is considered an antinutrient for iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). Amongst numerous factors, temperature has a substantial effect on PA synthesis in seeds of legumes. PA, Fe, and Zn concentrations were determined for mature seeds of eleven lentil genotypes grown under simulated long term temperature regimes representative of Saskatoon, Canada (decreasing temperatures) and Lucknow, India (increasing temperatures). PA and Zn concentrations in lentil seeds were significantly higher in the rising temperature regime (8.8 mg/g and 69 mg/kg, respectively) than in the decreasing temperature regime (6.7 mg/g and 61 mg/kg, respectively). Fe concentrations followed the same trend (116 vs. 113 mg/kg). The cooler temperatures of temperate summers might be an important factor in the production of seeds with lower PA concentrations. These results are relevant to the development of biofortification strategies aimed at lowering the PA content in staple crops.     

Exploring relationships among anger, perceived organizational support, and workplace outcomes.

The present study examines anger within a perceived organizational support (POS) theory framework. Using structural equation modeling, the authors explored relationships among POS, anger, and workplace outcomes in a sample of 1,136 employees in 21 stores of a U.S. retail organization. At both individual and store levels, low POS was directly associated with greater anger. At the individual level, anger partially mediated relationships among low POS and turnover intentions, absences, and accidents on the job. Anger had direct and indirect effects on alcohol consumption and health-related risk taking. At the store level, anger had direct negative effects on inventory loss and turnover. The authors interpret these findings in light of social exchange theory and emotion regulation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Grating overgrowth and defect structures indistributed-feedback-buried heterostructure laser diodes

Distributed-feedback (DFB)-buried heterostructure lasers incorporating a substrate grating require epitaxy of waveguide layers over the corrugated grating surfaces. Unlike epitaxy on planar (100) substrate, the corrugated substrate surface contains undesirable crystal facets which lead to an uncontrollable variation in local composition during epitaxy, and thereby results in strong localized misfit stresses. These localized misfit stresses further affect the subsequent growth of high quality layers which constitute the active device structures. To address the general issue of epitaxy on a corrugated surface, a thermodynamic analysis is performed for surface mass transport on a grating surface at normal growth temperature to show that grating wash-out is a thermodynamically favorable process. However, growth on a perfectly preserved grating is undesirable due to the composition shift on groove facets. A systematic study of substrate orientation dependent composition variation of quaternary layers indicates a composition shift generally toward In and P rich directions for orientations from (100)-(111). Conditions for a strain free waveguide layer growth are demonstrated. The commonly observed imperfections associated with a grating overgrowth are summarized, and their effects on device reliability are discussed     

Book reviews

Cities in Civilisation

Peter Hall. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1998. ISBN 0297842196 (hardback). 1,169 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $75.00

A Study of Town Life:. Living Standards in the City of York 100 Years After Rowntree

Meg Huby, Jonathan Bradshaw and Anne Corden York Publishing Services, York, 1999. ISBN 1902633229 (paperback). 54 pp.; bibliography. RRP $36.50

Future Makers, Future Takers: Life in Australia, 2050

Kenneth Douglas Cocks. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 1999. ISBN 086840473X (paperback). 331 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $39.95

Constructing Suburbs: Competing Voices in a Debate over Urban Growth

Ann Forsyth. Gordon & Breach, Amsterdam, 1999. ISBN 9057005271 (paperback). 195 pp.: bibliography and index. RRP $36.00     

Establishment of a real-time PCR method for quantification of geosmin-producing Streptomyces spp. in recirculating aquaculture systems

Geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) have been associated with off-flavour problems in fish and seafood products, generating a strong negative impact for aquaculture industries. Although most of the producers of geosmin and MIB have been identified as Streptomyces species or cyanobacteria, Streptomyces spp. are thought to be responsible for the synthesis of these compounds in indoor recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). The detection of genes involved in the synthesis of geosmin and MIB can be a relevant indicator of the beginning of off-flavour events in RAS. Here, we report a real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) protocol targeting geoA sequences that encode a germacradienol synthase involved in geosmin synthesis. New geoA-related sequences were retrieved from eleven geosmin-producing Actinomycete strains, among them two Streptomyces strains isolated from two RAS. Combined with geoA-related sequences available in gene databases, we designed primers and standards suitable for qPCR assays targeting mainly Streptomyces geoA. Using our qPCR protocol, we succeeded in measuring the level of geoA copies in sand filter and biofilters in two RAS. This study is the first to apply qPCR assays to detect and quantify the geosmin synthesis gene (geoA) in RAS. Quantification of geoA in RAS could permit the monitoring of the level of geosmin producers prior to the occurrence of geosmin production. This information will be most valuable for fish producers to manage further development of off-flavour events.     

An evaluation of selected DNA extraction strategies for short tandem repeat typing

Organic and Chelex extraction methods are compared to five commercially available DNA extraction kits. For forensic purposes, comparison of different extraction strategies is based on the ability of the methods to economically recover high yields of amplifiable DNA from small blood samples in a quick, simple and safe manner. The findings of this study indicate that resin-based methods, such as Chelex, are best able to meet these criteria.     

Assessing newcomers' changing commitments to the organization during the first 6 months of work.

Examined changes in the level of 4 organizationally relevant constructs and their reconstitution by newcomers to a work organization using J. Schaubroeck and S. G. Green's (1989) confirmatory factor analytic procedure. Results support a general decline in levels (alpha changes) of organizationally relevant attitudes over 3 time periods (1st day and the 3rd- and 6th-mo employment anniversaries). The pattern of decline, however, varied after accounting for gamma and beta changes. Indeed, for 2 of the variables (affective and continuance commitment; N. J. Allen and J. P. Meyer, 1990), the presence of gamma changes (changes in the underlying construct) were so dramatic as to render the pattern of mean differences uninterpretable. Implications of the method and findings to organizational entry research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developing new markets for high aspect ratio micro-machined devices

 This paper reports on the commercialization strategy being developed by MEMStek Products, LLC (formerly CONCIS) to startup a component business using sacrificial LIGA (S-LIGA) as the initial manufacturing technology. S-LIGA provides the ability to fabricate fluidic, mechanical, and optical components and modules in the mesoscopic scale that exists between conventional silicon micro-machining and precision machining tools such as molding, stamping, and embossing. S-LIGA technology commercialization has some unique challenges. The S-LIGA technology must be developed from its current state into a viable manufacturing process. Since nearly every device fabricated sees x-ray exposure at least once, this creates the need for a production oriented synchrotron facility with the capacity for handling substantial wafer volume. Reliably electro-plating into 0.01 mm feature size becomes a major technical challenge to overcome. Finally, targeting the initial applications for the market requires a careful selection of initial customers and partners. Received: 25 August 1997/23 November 1997     

Efficacy of adenoidectomy in relieving symptoms of chronic sinusitis in children

Infantile capillary hemangiomas are vascular neoplasms that can appear quite infiltrative histologically and that are characterized by cords of cells with areas of marked cellularity. These lesions have been shown to contain a population of rapidly proliferative endothelial cells. Given the recent association between the presence of human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) and another proliferative vascular lesion, Kaposi's sarcoma, we used polymerase chain reaction technology to examine a series of 16 biopsy specimens from 15 infantile capillary hemangiomas for the presence of HHV8 DNA. We were unable to detect HHV8 DNA in any of the lesions studied. All of the cases were examined in parallel with a case of Kaposi's sarcoma that was known to be positive for HHV8 DNA and a series of negative controls. In all of our cases, amplification of beta-globin gene DNA demonstrated adequate preservation of DNA in the tissue studied. These findings suggest that not all endothelial cell proliferations can be attributed to HHV8 and that the etiology of some of these conditions remains unclear.