Cyanide Content of Sorghum Sprouts

The seeds of four cultivars of grain sorghum and four of sweet sorghum (Sorghum blcolor (L.) Moench) contained only traces (1 or 2 ppm) to 29 ppm of potential hydrocyanic acid (HCN) that could be generated as free HCN by digestion and steam distillation. Sprouts of the same cultivars grown for 3 days in the dark at 30°C, however, contained from 258–1030 ppm potential HCN relative to the weight of the ungerminated, dry seed. Drying at 50°C and grinding of sprouts to produce a meal did not reduce the potential HCN content. The consumption of sorghum sprouts or products made from them may be hazardous. The average amount (61.3 mg) of HCN obtained in our laboratory from sprouts grown from 100g of seed exceeds the average fatal dose for an adult.     

SYSTEMATIC KNOWLEDGE BASE DESIGN FOR MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS

Experienced diagnosticians draw on a rich variety of reasoning techniques, ranging from the association of symptoms and diseases to causal reasoning about disease mechanisms and first-principle analysis grounded in basic science. The entire range of diagnostic reasoning strategies is also necessary for a computer program to be truly proficient and robust. The development of such a program has been impeded by the inherent complexity of the domain and the consequent lack of an adequate methodology for knowledge organization and integration. We present a methodology for structuring medical knowledge and managing its complexity. We illustrate this methodology in the context of an experimental knowledge base in the domain of jaundice. We believe that this systematic knowledge base design will support the development of automated reasoning methods that span the entire range of reasoning techniques used by physicians.