bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Does cardioplegia leave room for postconditioning in paediatric cardiac surgery?
Authors: Luo Wanjun , Li Bei , Lin Guoqiang , Chen Ri , Huang Rimao 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackgroundPostconditioning by brief episodes of ischaemia performed just at the time of reperfusion have been shown to reduce the size of infarcts in animal models, and in the clinical setting of percutaneous cardiac intervention. The clinical applicability of postconditioning in cardiac surgery remains to be determined. We investigated the effect of postconditioning on myocardial protection in children undergoing cardiac surgery.MethodsWe randomly assigned 40 patients scheduled for surgical correction of congenitally malformed hearts under cold blood cardioplegic arrest to postconditioning or control treatment. Postconditioning was performed by two cycles of 30 seconds ischaemia and 30 seconds reperfusion using aortic reclamping, and declamping started 30 seconds after cardioplegic arrest. We assayed creatine kinase-MB, troponin I, transcardiac release of lactate and neutrophil counts.ResultsThe types of procedure, age, bypass and aortic cross-clamping times were similar in both groups. The postoperative peaks of creatine kinase-MB and troponin I were lower after aortic de-clamping in the postconditioned patients compared with their controls (128 ± 48 units per liter as opposed to 199 ± 79 units per liter, p = 0.016, and 0.34 ± 0.21 nanograms per milliliter as opposed to 0.61 ± 0.53 nanograms per milliliter, p = 0.05), with reduced inotropic scores in those submitted to postconditioning compared with their controls (4.8 ± 3.1 versus 2.3 ± 1.5, p = 0.036). Transcardiac release of lactate was reduced in the postconditioned patients compared with their controls (0.10 ± 0.27 as opposed to 0.37 ± 0.43 millimols per liter, p = 0.048). No differences between groups were found for transcardiac neutrophil count during reperfusion (10.8 ± 6.3% for postconditioning versus 14.0 ± 8.7% for controls, p = 0.48).ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that postconditioning may protect the myocardium of children undergoing cold blood cardioplegic arrest. These data support the need for a larger clinical trial of postconditiong in children undergoing cardiac surgery.
Iron status of adolescent girls from two boarding schools in southern Benin
Authors: Alaofè Halimatou , Zee John , Dossa Romain , O’Brien Huguette Turgeon 
Published: March 2008

AbstractIron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency in the world, particularly in developing countries. Blood samples and a qualitative FFQ on Fe- and vitamin C-rich foods were obtained in 180 adolescent girls aged 12 to 17 years living in two boarding schools from south Benin. ID, defined as serum ferritin either <20μg/l or 20–50μg/l, plus two of the following parameters: serum Fe<11μmol/l, total iron-binding capacity>73μmol/l or transferrin saturation<20%, was found in 32% of subjects. Anaemia (Hb<120g/l) was found in 51% of adolescents, while 24% suffered from iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) (ID and Hb<20g/l). After adjusting for confounding factors (age, mother's and father's occupation, household size) in a logistic regression equation, subjects having a low meat consumption (beef, mutton, pork) (<4 times/week) were more than twice as likely to suffer from ID (OR=2·43; 95% CI 1·72, 3·35;P=0·04). Adolescents consuming less fruits (<4 times/week) also had a higher likelihood of suffering from ID (OR=1·53; 95% CI 1·31, 2·80;P=0·03). Finally, subjects whose meat consumption was low were twice as likely to suffer from IDA (OR=2·24; 95% CI 1·01, 4·96;P=0·04). The prevalence of ID represents an important health problem in these Beninese adolescent girls. A higher consumption of Fe-rich foods and of promoters of Fe absorption (meat factor and vitamin C) is recommended to prevent ID deficiency in these subjects.
Refinement and validation of an FFQ developed to estimate macro- and micronutrient intakes in a south Indian population
Authors: Iqbal Romaina , Ajayan Kamalasanan , Bharathi Ankalmadagu V , Zhang Xiaohe , Islam Shofiqul , Soman Chitthakkudam R , Merchant Anwar T 
Published: March 2008

AbstractObjectivePotential error sources in nutrient estimation with the FFQ include inaccurate or biased recall and overestimation or underestimation of intake due to too many or too few items on the FFQ, respectively. Here we report the refinement of an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake and its validation against multiple 24 h recalls.Study designData on 2527 participants in south India (Trivandrum) were available for the original FFQ (OFFQ) that overestimated nutrient intake (132 food items). After excluding participants with implausible energy intake estimates (<2·72 MJ/d (<650 kcal/d), >15·69 MJ/d (>3750 kcal/d)) we ran stepwise regression analyses with selected nutrients as the outcomes and food intake (servings/d) as predictor variables (n1867). From these results and expert consultation we refined the FFQ (RFFQ), and validated it by comparing intakes obtained with it and the mean of two 24 h recalls among 100 participants.ResultsThe OFFQ overestimated usual daily nutrient intake before and after exclusions [for energy: 13·39 (sd5·46) MJ (3201 (sd1305) kcal) and 10·96 (sd2·65) MJ (2619 (sd634) kcal), respectively]. In stepwise analyses, fifty-seven food items explained 90 % of the variance in nutrients; we retained thirteen food items because participants consumed them at least twice monthly and twelve food items that local nutritionists recommended. Mean energy intake estimated from the RFFQ (eighty-two food items) was 7·94 (sd2·05) MJ (1897 (sd489) kcal). The de-attenuated correlations between mean 24 h recall and RFFQ intakes ranged from 0·25 (vitamin A) to 0·82 (fat).ConclusionWe refined an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake by shortening and redesigning, and validated it by comparisons with 24 h dietary recall data.
Rapid and Efficient Selection of Yeast Displaying a Target Protein Using Thermo‐responsive Magnetic Nanoparticles
Authors: Fukuda Nobuo , Ishii Jun , Tanaka Tsutomu , Fukuda Hideki , Ohnishi Noriyuki , Kondo Akihiko 
Published: March 2008

AbstractMagnetic separation provides a relatively quick and easy‐to‐use method for cell isolation and protein purification. We have developed a rapid and efficient procedure to isolate yeast cells displaying a target polypeptide, namely, the Staphylococcus aureus ZZ domain, which serves as s model for protein interactions and can bind immunoglobulin G (IgG). We optimized selection of ZZ‐displaying yeast cells using thermoresponsive magnetic nanoparticles. A model library was prepared by mixing various proportions of target yeast displaying the ZZ domain with control cells. Target cells in the model library that bound to the ZZ‐specific binding partner, biotinylated IgG, were selected with biotinylated thermoresponsive magnetic nanoparticles using the biotin‐avidin sandwich system. We determined ZZ expression levels and optimized the concentrations of both magnetic nanoparticles and avidin for efficient selection of target cells. After optimization, we successfully enriched the target cell population 4700‐fold in a single round of selection. Moreover, only two rounds of selection were required to enrich the target cell population from 0.001% to nearly 100%. Our results suggest that magnetic separation will be useful for efficient exploration of novel protein‐protein interactions and rapid isolation of biomolecules with novel functions.
Merging two gene-expression studies via cross-platform normalization
Authors: Shabalin Andrey A. , Tjelmeland Håkon , Fan Cheng , Perou Charles M. , Nobel Andrew B. 
Published: March 2008

Abstract
Motivation: Gene-expression microarrays are currently being applied in a variety of biomedical applications. This article considers the problem of how to merge datasets arising from different gene-expression studies of a common organism and phenotype. Of particular interest is how to merge data from different technological platforms.
Results: The article makes two contributions to the problem. The first is a simple cross-study normalization method, which is based on linked gene/sample clustering of the given datasets. The second is the introduction and description of several general validation measures that can be used to assess and compare cross-study normalization methods. The proposed normalization method is applied to three existing breast cancer datasets, and is compared to several competing normalization methods using the proposed validation measures.
Availability: The supplementary materials and XPN Matlab code are publicly available at website: https://genome.unc.edu/xpn
Contact: shabalin@email.unc.edu
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
First Report of Peach latent mosaic viroid Infecting Peach in Egypt
Authors: Hassan M. , Rysanek P. , Malfitano M. , Alioto D. 
Published: March 2008

Peach latent mosaic viroid (PLMVd) is a widespread pathogen of stone fruit trees in some European and Mediterranean countries and also in North America. To access the presence of the viroid in Egypt, a survey was conducted that covered five commercial peach orchards in the El Khatatba Region in Al Minufiya Governorate. During 2003 and 2004, 73 peach trees (cv. Florida grafted on Nemagard rootstock) were visually inspected and sampled. No symptoms characteristic of PLMVd infection, such as mosaic, delayed growth, or fruit suture cracking, were observed. All samples were tested for the presence of PLMVd using dot-blot hybridization and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Aliquots (5 μl) of total nucleic acids extracted from approximately 2 mg of leaf tissue were spotted onto positively charged nylon membranes and hybridized under stringent conditions with a digoxigenin-labeled riboprobe (2). The extracts (1 μl) also were used in RT-PCR as described (1). Only 1 of the 73 peach trees was positive for PLMVd using these detection techniques. The RT-PCR product was of the size expected for PLVMd and was cloned and sequenced. The 339 nucleotide sequence was deposited in GenBank as Accession No. DQ839564. The sequence of this Egyptian PLMVd isolate was 94% identical to the reference PLMVd variant (GenBank Accession No. M83545) and most closely (95%) related to Canadian isolate variant 16 (GenBank Accession No. AJ550911). Such a low incidence compared with other countries may be because the survey was restricted to a limited number of samples, conducted on newly reclaimed lands where no sources of infection existed before, and material with relatively low PLMVd incidence might have been used for planting. Although the incidence of PLMVd was low in this survey, the occurrence represents a threat to the stone fruit tree industry in this country and regular screening of PLMVd in certification programs is suggested. To our knowledge, this is the first report of PLMVd on peach in Egypt. References: (1) S. Loreti et al. EPPO Bull. 29:433, 1999. (2) A. M. Shamloul et al. Acta Hortic. 386:522, 1995.
Occurrence of Late Leaf Rust Caused by Pucciniastrum americanum in Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Entre Ríos, Argentina
Authors: Lucero X. , Wright E. R. , Pérez B. A. 
Published: March 2008

In the fall of 2003, severity of late leaf rust in leaves and fruits of red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) reached 50% in Buenos Aires (Azul, Baradero, Capilla del Señor, Gral. Rodríguez, Mar del Plata, and Tandil), Córdoba (Villa de Las Rosas), and Entre Ríos (Concordia). The south of Argentina, Río Negro (El Bolsón), and Chubut (El Hoyo, Lago Puelo) remained rust free. The abaxial side of the field infected leaves had pustules filled with masses of yellow spores. Chlorotic areas corresponded in the adaxial side. Urediospores were vacuum harvested from field infected leaves collected in the Tandil area and placed onto a healthy 1-year-old greenhouse-grown plant (cv. Heritage). Spores from a single pustule were increased on plants of the same cultivar. Spores were studied with optic and electronic microscopy. Uredial ostiolar cells were warted, laterally free, and constricted in the middle. The obovoid, echinulate urediospores, from infected leaves averaged 24 × 16 μm (16 to 30 × 11 to 21 μm). Morphological characteristics and spore measurements agreed with those reported for Pucciniastrum americanum (1). Urediniospores were suspended in mineral oil and sprayed onto three raspberry cultivars that were maintained in a darkened mist chamber at 20°C for 48 h and the transferred to a 20°C and 12-h light cycle chamber. Control plants were inoculated with sterile water. There were three replicate plants of each treatment. After 11 days, large sporulating uredia (0.5 mm) were produced on inoculated leaves of cv. Autumn Bliss and smaller uredia (0.1 to 0.3 mm) were produced on cv. Heritage. There were necrotic flecks and the least and smallest uredia were produced on cv. Himbo Queen. No symptoms were present in control plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. americanum causing disease on raspberry in Argentina. Reference: (1) G. F. Laundon and A. F. Rainbow. Pucciniastrum americanum. No. 210 in: Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. CMI, Kew, Surrey, England, 1969.
First Report of Rhizoctonia Blight of a Coastal Redwood Tissue-Culture-Derived Saplings Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-IV in Taiwan
Authors: Hsiao W. W. , Wu Y. S. , Wang Y. N. , Huang B. L. , Huang L. C. 
Published: March 2008

Coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) is native to North America. This tall tree species is used for forestation and lumber; its wood is also used for furniture, its burls for art ware, and its bark for fuel, insulation, and mulch. In August 2005, an instance of wilt was observed among 2-year-old tissue-culture-cloned plants (2) in the Sitou Forest of central Taiwan. Essentially, all plants were infected. The leaves or stems near the ground were affected first, but the wilt soon spread over the entire plant with the leaves becoming grayish brown and water soaked, and then wilting, drying, and finally defoliation occurred. Aerial hyphae were present over the affected areas, aerial mycelium was cob-web-like, hyaline, later becoming slightly brown. Hyphae were 6.5 to 10.4 μm wide with right-angle branching and septal constriction at their bases. Sclerotia were hemispherical, subglobose, to irregular in shape, 1 to 2 mm, and brown. The perfect stage of the fungus was not found. The fungus was identified as Rhizoctonia solani Kühn (3). Vegetative cells were stained with alkaline safranin solution and identified as multinucleate (1). Portions of the stem that displayed symptoms, together with adjacent healthy tissue, were disinfested for 1 min in 0.5% NaOCl and plated on to potato-dextrose agar (PDA) (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) supplemented with 100 mg/L of ampicillin (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Single hyphal tips were transferred to PDA and two isolates were established as pure cultures. On the basis of hyphal anastomosis with AG-IV tester isolates (exfop234, exfop241, and exfop250) (1), the fungus was identifed as R. solani AG-IV. Pathogenicity of the fungal isolates was confirmed by inoculating 2-month-old tissue-culture-derived S. sempervirens plants that were grown in pots and incubated in a growth chamber maintained at 28°C with a relative humidity above 95%. Inoculum consisted of a single mycelial 5-day-old 0.5-cm disc grown on PDA of the pathogen placed on the soil surface touching the base of each plant. Four plants were inoculated with mycelium and the four control plants were noninoculated. Inoculated plants wilted gradually over 4 days and all plants developed severe stem rot and were dead in 6 days, whereas control plants remained symptomless. The Rhizoctonia solani AG-IV was reisolated from all inoculated plants. This fungus has been observed to cause disease in many species of plants (4), but to our knowledge, this is the first report of Rhizoctonia blight of coastal redwood tissue-culture-derived saplings caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-IV in Taiwan. References: (1) T. T. Chang. Taiwan J. For. Sci. 12:47, 1997. (2) L. C. Huang et al. Plant Physiol. 98:166, 1992. (3) B. Sneh et al. Identification of Rhizoctonia species. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1991. (4) S. T. Su et al. List of Plant Diseases in Taiwan. The Phytopathological Society of the Republic of China, 2002.
Effect of water activity on the inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli O157:H7 by electron beam in ground beef, chicken breast meat, and trout fillets
Authors: Black Jennifer Leah , Jaczynski Jacek 
Published: March 2008

SummaryWater activity (aw) of ground beef, chicken breast meat, and trout fillets was modified to intermediate (aw 0.98–0.99) and lowest (aw 0.94–0.96) levels. The meat samples with modified and unaltered (native, aw 1.00) aw were inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 and subjected to electron beam (e‐beam). Survivor curves were plotted and the D10‐values were calculated. The D10‐values ranged from 0.22 kGy for trout at native aw to 0.33 kGy for beef at intermediate, and chicken and trout at lowest aw. Regardless of the species, aw reduction increased E. coli resistance to e‐beam, suggesting that even small depletion of unbound water from food increases survival. The difference of the D10‐values between the samples at intermediate and lowest aw was insignificant. E‐beam could be used before aw‐reducing techniques are applied to food products. However, this would require stringent microbial control following e‐beam processing. The ‘tailing’ of survivors was observed for some samples with reduced aw.
Optimisation of hydrophilic antioxidant extraction from Hizikiafusiformis by integrating treatments of enzymes, heat and pH control
Authors: Siriwardhana Nalin , Kim Kil‐Nam , Lee Ki‐Wan , Kim Soo‐Hyun , Ha Jin‐Hwan , Song Choon Bok , Lee Joon‐Bak , Jeon You‐Jin 
Published: March 2008

SummaryEffective extraction of algal bioactive compounds can be achieved by treatments such as pH control, heat and enzymatic hydrolysis. Hizikia fusiformis antioxidants were extracted with those treatments individually and extraction efficacies were compared by measuring yield, total phenolic content and antioxidant activities. Increased pH could successfully improve the extraction, and incubation at pH 12.0 for 12 h was the most effective pH treatment. Incubation at 100 °C for 45 min was significantly (P < 0.05) more effective than the other heat treatments. Optimum condition for enzymatic treatment was combination of 2% Alcalase (alkaline endopeptidase/protease) and 3% Ultraflo (β‐glucanase/carbohydrase) at pH 8.0 and 54–58 °C for 24 h. Integration of those optimised treatments in the extraction sequence of heat (H), enzymatic hydrolysis (E) and pH control (P) was the most effective sequence. Compared with other extraction sequences, HEP sequence indicated significantly higher phenolic content and antioxidative activities in 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays.
Changes in vegetable microbiological quality introduced by processing methods
Authors: Kokkinakis Emmanuel , Boskou Georgios , Fragkiadakis Georgios A. , Kokkinaki Aikaterini 
Published: March 2008

SummaryThe main objective of this research was to investigate the effect in microbial quality of vegetables, because of the chain of buyers and sellers involved in the collection, processing and selling of vegetables, from the primary production sector up to the consumer level (from farm to table). Two processing plants and six hotels were selected and 240 vegetables, 30 vegetable containers, 18 water samples used for sanitation purposes and samples of 18 personnel's hands, were microbiologically analysed. Based on actual results and processing plants auditing, we conclude that initial vegetable microbial quality is critical. The storage, separation and packaging processes, cleaning procedures and retention time at processing plants can influence vegetable microbial quality. Buyers–sellers involved between vegetable production in primary sector and final consumer can offer a dramatic decrease in vegetable quality. The use of ISO 9001:2000 can improve product quality through techniques such as product traceability and resources management.
Influence of natural and controlled fermentations on α‐galactosides, antinutrients and protein digestibility of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
Authors: Shimelis Emire Admassu , Rakshit Sudip Kumar 
Published: March 2008

SummaryThe influence of natural fermentation (NF) and controlled fermentation (CF) in diminishing the content of antinutrients, α‐galactosides and increments in in vitro protein digestibility was investigated. The dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) flour was the substrate used in this research study. A decrease in raffinose oligosaccharide, antinutritional components and pH was observed in both types of fermentation. The natural lactic fermentation of ground beans produced significant increase (P < 0.05) in protein digestibility. For all varieties of beans, raffinose concentration reduced significantly to an undetectable level after 96 h of NF. CF did not have any significant effect on the reduction of the α‐galactosides content of the flours during fermentation. NF is an inexpensive method by which consumers can obtain good‐quality protein. Both types of fermentation diminish antinutrients and improve the nutritional value of the bean flour, and indicate the potential to use bean flour as an ingredient for fabricated foods.
Antioxidant activities and composition of extracts from chilli
Authors: Li‐E Jin , Qing Cao , Ke‐Chang Xie 
Published: March 2008

SummaryThe extract yields obtained by three methods in different solvents from chilli were compared. The antioxidant activities of chilli extracts vs. butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was determined through the peroxide value (POV), the beta‐carotene bleaching assay and the 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging method. The results showed that the extract yields by three extract methods, namely, Soxhlet, ultrasonic wave and saturation, were 16.32%, 15.78% and 11.62%, respectively, when 85% ethanol acted as solvent. The extracting efficiency of solvent from high to low was 95% ethanol > ethyl acetate > anhydrous ethanol > distilled water. The total phenol content of chilli extracts from ultrasonic wave with 85% ethanol as solvent was 73.91 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per gram extracts and the value of inhibitory capacity IC50 on free radical (DPPH) was 38.99 mg mL−1. The POV of chilli extracts was close to that of BHT. The ultrasonic wave was more helpful for the extraction of antioxidant substance from chilli than other methods. In addition, the composition of chilli extracts was analysed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrum (GC‐MS).
Modelling of cooking‐cooling processes for meat and poultry products
Authors: Marcotte Michèle , Chen Cuiren R. , Grabowski Stefan , Ramaswamy Hosahalli S. , Piette Jean‐Paul Gabriel 
Published: March 2008

SummaryTraditional cooking‐cooling of processed meat and poultry products is industrially carried out in smokehouses or autoclaves. A mathematical model was developed to simulate these operations. Equations, describing heat transfer and thermal destruction of micro‐organisms and quality characteristics, were solved numerically. The model was validated experimentally for heat transfer and energy consumption and was used to perform a sensitivity analysis. Input variables were: process time (PT), smokehouse temperature (TSH), bologna size (diameter, D and height, H), surface heat transfer coefficients (hheat and hcool), product thermal diffusivity (αheat and αcool). Output variables were: product core temperature (Tc), core and volume‐average lethality (Pcm and Pvm) and cook (Cc and Cv) values as well as surface (Qs) and volume‐average (Qv) quality retention, total specific energy consumption (En) and energy efficiency (Ce). Multiple linear regression models were developed to predict Cc and Cv from five inputs and used to obtain acceptable deviation ranges.