Paleoindian seafaring, maritime technologies, and coastal foraging on California's Channel Islands

Three archaeological sites on California's Channel Islands show that Paleoindians relied heavily on marine resources. The Paleocoastal sites, dated between ~12,200 and 11,200 years ago, contain numerous stemmed projectile points and crescents associated with a variety of marine and aquatic faunal remains. At site CA-SRI-512 on Santa Rosa Island, Paleocoastal peoples used such tools to capture geese, cormorants, and other birds, along with marine mammals and finfish. At Cardwell Bluffs on San Miguel Island, Paleocoastal peoples collected local chert cobbles, worked them into bifaces and projectile points, and discarded thousands of marine shells. With bifacial technologies similar to those seen in Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition assemblages of western North America, the sites provide evidence for seafaring and island colonization by Paleoindians with a diversified maritime economy.     

Modeling the Inclusion of Fish Powder and Fish Oil into Extruded Snacks by Response Surface Methodology

ABSTRACT

Extrusion cooking plays an important role in the production of puffed snacks, which enjoy wide acceptance all over the world and are potential vehicles for increasing the consumption of n-3 fatty acids. Response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design was adopted to investigate the effects of four independent variables (fish powder, fish oil, moisture, and screw speed) at five levels on expansion ratio, breaking strength index, hardness, color, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). A second order polynomial model was used to study the main, interactive, and quadratic effects of the independent variables and to explain the relationship between the responses and independent variables. Moisture was found to be the most significant factor (p < 0.001) influencing expansion ratio, breaking strength index, and color. Inclusion of fish powder and fish oil were found to be negatively associated with the expansion characteristics, resulting in decreased lipid oxidation due to less exposed surface area of the extrudates to air. Further, the absence of linear effect of fish powder and fish oil on TBARS demonstrated the possibility to incorporate higher levels of these ingredients to produce oxidatively stable extruded snacks rich in fish proteins.     

Effect of antioxidant protection of must on volatile compounds and aroma shelf life of Falanghina (Vitis vinifera L.) wine

Two vinification methods involving different degrees of antioxidant protection of Falanghina must during prefermentative steps, and referred as HAMP (high antioxidant must protection) and LAMP (low antioxidant must protection), were compared in terms of fermentation performances of four different yeast strains, composition of the volatile fraction of wines at the end of alcoholic fermentation, and shelf life of wines during storage. The use of HAMP technology resulted in wines with lower volatile acidity and higher concentrations of medium-chain fatty acid ethyl esters, acetates, and volatile fatty acids. For two of the four strains a lower concentration of isoamyl alcohol was also observed. HAMP wines also revealed increased shelf life because of the higher concentration of odor active esters at the end of storage and better preservation of varietal aromas.     

Clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin: in vitro antibacterial activity and oral bioavailability in calves

The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of amoxycillin and clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin (amoxycillin:clavulanic acid, 4:1 by weight) were compared for 171 Salmonella, 170 Escherichia coli, and 32 Pasteurella isolates recovered from infected neonatal calves. In the presence of clavulanic acid, the MIC of amoxycillin was reduced to levels less than or equal to 12.5 micrograms/ml for all the Salmonella group B, all the Pasteurella, and for 12 out of the 44 E. coli isolates which were resistant to amoxycillin (MIC greater than or equal to 100.0 micrograms/ml). For isolates sensitive to amoxycillin (MIC less than or equal to 1.56 microgram/ml) there was no change in MIC values in the presence of clavulanic acid. A small proportion of Salmonella and E. coli isolates were resistant to clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin. In a cross-over trial involving 10 preruminant (2 weeks old) calves, amoxycillin trihydrate and clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin were administered orally at 10 mg/kg. An analysis of serum amoxycillin level data showed that the pharmacokinetic parameters t1/2ab, Cmax, t1/2 beta, AUC, Cp degree, and f' (estimated drug absorption ratio) were the same after treatment with amoxydrate and clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin. Administration of clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin and probenecid resulted in elevation and prolongation of serum amoxycillin levels. Computations showed that in preruminant calves serum amoxycillin concentrations sufficient to inhibit sensitive pathogens can be maintained by oral clavulanate-potentiated amoxycillin treatment at 10 mg/kg TID. At two times that dose rate serum drug concentrations capable of inhibiting 50% of all types of pathogens examined can be maintained.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Genetic Diversity of Tropical Hybrid Rice Germplasm Measured by Molecular Markers

Investigation of genetic diversity and relationships among breeding lines is of great importance to facilitate parent selection in hybrid rice breeding programs.In this study,we characterized 168 hybrid rice parents from International Rice Research Institute with 207 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 353 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers.A total of 1 267 SSR and 706 SNP alleles were detected with the averages of 6.1 (SSR) and 2.0 (SNP) alleles per locus respectively across all lines.Based on the genetic distances estimated from the SSR and SNP markers separately and combined,the unrooted neighbor-joining cluster and STRUCTURE analyses consistently separated the 168 hybrid rice parents into two major groups:B-line and R-line,which is consistent with known parent pedigree information.The genetic distance matrices derived from the SSR and SNP genotyping were highly correlated (r=0.81,P < 0.001),indicating that both of the SSR and SNP markers have distinguishable power to detect polymorphism and are appropriate for genetic diversity analysis among tropical hybrid rice parents.A subset of 60 SSR markers were also chosen by the Core Hunter with 368 alleles,and the cluster analysis based on the total and subset of SSR markers highly corresponded at r=0.91 (P < 0.001),suggesting that fewer SSR markers can be used to classify and evaluate genetic diversity among parental lines.     

Impact of nitrogen supply on glucosinolate content and phenolic acids in cauliflower varieties

Application of nitrogen (N) is a common practice used to achieve profitable yields in horticultural crops and N application can be used as a tool to manipulate the enhancement of phytochemicals in vegetable crops to address consumer-oriented quality production. Our previous findings recommended 90?kg?ha^?1 for certain types of cauliflower varieties without compromising yields. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate the effect of N application on glucosinolates and phenolic acids, at harvest, in varieties ‘Largardo’, ‘Eskimo’ and ‘CF-744’ grown in the field. N was applied as ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) at concentrations from 0, 60, 90, 120, 150 to 180?kg?ha^?1. Variety ‘CF-744’ was more sensitive to N supply and at 180?kg?ha^?1 N it showed the highest accumulation of glucosinolates (sinigrin, glucoiberin, progoitrin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin) at harvest. However, 90?kg?ha^?1 N supply demonstrated the highest accumulation of majority of the glucosinolates in varieties ‘Largardo’ and ‘Eskimo’. Different varieties responded differently to N supply and glucosinolate levels in cauliflowers. Also, different varieties responded differently to N supply and antioxidant property. In all three varieties, the N supply at 120?kg?ha^?1 showed the highest accumulation of protocatechoic acid, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, ρ-coumaric acid and caffeic acid.     

Clinical pharmacology of mecillinam in calves

The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of mecillinam, a novel beta-amidinopenicillanic acid derivative with unusual activity against Gram-negative bacteria, were compared with the MIC of cephazolin, cephalothin, amoxycillin, oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol, dihydrostreptomycin, neomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin and sulfadoxin/trimethoprim (TMP) against pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria recovered from neonatal calves. The MIC values of mecillinam ranged between 0.05 microgram/ml and 12.5 micrograms/ml, and the MIC90 values were 1.56 micrograms/ml and 3.12 micrograms/ml. The activity of mecillinam against salmonella, Escherichia coli and Pasteurella multocida was similar to or slightly greater than the activities of the first-generation cephalosporins, gentamicin and sulfa/TMP. Mecillinam concentrations less than or equal to 3.12 micrograms/ml inhibited the growth of the majority of isolates which were resistant (MIC90 greater than 100 micrograms/ml) to the other antibiotics studied. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of mecillinam were two- to three-fold higher than the MIC values. The two-compartment open model was appropriate for the analysis of serum mecillinam concentrations measured after intravenous administration. The distribution half-life (t1/2 alpha) was 11.7 min, the elimination half-life (t1/2 beta) was 53.3 min, and the apparent volume of distribution (Vd (area)) and the distribution volume at steady state (Vd (ss)) were 0.568 and 0.896 l/kg, respectively. The drug was quickly absorbed after intramuscular (i.m.) injection; peak serum drug concentrations were directly related to the dose administered. They were obtained 30 min after treatment and the i.m. t1/2 was approximately 65 min.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)