Influence of Sediment Preservation on Total Mercury and Methylmercury Analyses

Estuarine and riverine sediments from fourlocations showing different sediment structures wereanalysed as fresh, thawed and lyophilised samples fortotal mercury (TotHg) and methylmercury (MeHg)concentrations, and results were compared to addresseffects of sample preservation on Hg speciation. TotHg was measured by cold vapour atomic absorptionspectrometry (CVAAS). MeHg was isolated bydistillation and ion-exchange and analysed by coldvapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CVAFS) afterpreconcentration on a gold trap. No loss of TotHg norMeHg due to lyophilisation was found. Concentrationsof TotHg and MeHg respectively ranged from 92 to 267ng g^-1 dw and 1.1 to 2.9 ng g^-1 dw in freshsamples, from 94 to 215 ng g^-1 dw and 1.1 to 2.8ng g^-1 dw in thawed samples, and from 100 to 256ng g^-1 dw and 1.2 to 3.1 ng g^-1 dw inlyophilised samples. Lyophilised samples showedbetter homogeneity and better MeHg analysisreproducibility compared with wet samples.     

Proteome analysis of the sarcoplasmic fraction of pig semimembranosus muscle: implications on meat color development

Two-dimensional electrophoresis was used to investigate sarcoplasmic protein expression in pig Semimembranosus muscles sampled 20 min after slaughter. Two groups (light and dark) of 12 animals were selected from 1000 pigs, based on meat L values measured 36 h postmortem. Twenty-two proteins or fragments (p < 0.05) were differentially expressed. Muscles leading to darker meat had a more oxidative metabolism, indicated by more abundant mitochondrial enzymes of the respiratory chain, hemoglobin, and chaperone or regulator proteins (HSP27, alphaB-crystallin, and glucose-regulated protein 58 kDa). Conversely, enzymes of glycolysis were overexpressed in the lighter group. Such samples were also characterized by higher levels of glutathione S-transferase omega, which can activate the RyR calcium channels, and higher levels of cyclophilin D. This protein pattern is likely to have severe implications on postmortem metabolism, namely, acceleration of ATP depletion and pH fall and subsequent enhanced protein denaturation, well-known to induce discoloration.     

Molecular Mobility in Glassy Bread: A Multispectroscopy Approach

The molecular mobility in low-moisture (<9%, web) white bread was studied as a function of temperature using pulsed-proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and dielectric and dynamic mechanical spectroscopies. The water was mobile, even in glassy samples. Different processes below glass transition temperature (sub-T_g) were observed, and a relaxation map of the studied system was drawn. These results have been interpreted and extrapolated to suggest that the T_g is not a universal predictive parameter for the physical stability of glassy food.     

Multivariate approach to the measurement of tomato maturity and gustatory attributes and their rapid assessment by Vis-NIR spectroscopy

Standard methods for determining quality and maturity are time- and labor-consuming and generally measure individual criteria at a specific time, without considering relationships among quality parameters. To propose a rapid and nondestructive analysis method describing multidimensional quality variables, an experiment was undertaken with mature green to overripe tomato fruits found on the North American retail markets. Factor analysis was used to analyze results. Four factors were considered, representing 81% of total variance. The first one, tomato maturity stage (TMS), is related to color, lycopene content, firmness, titratable acidity (TA), pH, and soluble solids (SS). Nondestructive rapid assessment by vis-NIR spectroscopy can predict TMS (r(2)=0.93). Factors 2 and 3 are both related to taste and should be considered simultaneously. Factor 2, called the gustatory index, is linked to electrical conductivity (EC), SS, TA, and pH. Factor 3, defined by SS, can be directly measured by a refractometer. Four categories of taste are proposed; the most desirable one ranks high both in soluble solids (above 4.5 degrees Brix) and in gustatory index (above 0). It was not possible to measure the gustatory index by vis-NIR spectroscopy (r(2)=0.17), but it can be estimated by EC, using a simple formula. The proposed limit between high and low gustatory index then corresponds to an EC of 5.4 mS/cm. Factor 4, variety, mostly discriminates the pink tomato type and field-grown samples from other varieties.     

Impact of a mutator phenotype on motility and cell adherence in Salmonella Heidelberg

In this study, we investigated adherence and motility of the hypermutator Salmonella enterica Heidelberg B182 bovine strain related to a 12bp deletion in mutS. This mutator phenotype was associated with increased adherence to epithelial cells and with high expression of fimA as shown by real-time RT-PCR. Motility studies showed that fliC were up-regulated in the B182 strain, while fljA and fljB were down-regulated. In order to determine if mutated mutS is implicated in this genes expression, isogenic strains, derived from a WT strain, containing the 12bp deletion in mutS (Δ12bpmutS) or an inactivated mutS (ΔmutS) were generated. Δ12bpmutS and ΔmutS strains showed a spontaneous mutation rate similar to the environmental strain B182, but exhibited lower adherence capacity and fimA expression. In contrast to the fimbriae genes, in Δ12bpmutS, fliC expression was up-regulated, but fljA and fljB expression were decreased, as in the B182 strain. Only fljB expression was increased in ΔmutS mutants. Taken together, our data suggest that mutS alteration does not influence fimbriae expression but can impact flagella genes.     

Environmental Conditions and Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus Production under Similar Pond Management Regimes in Alabama and Mississippi

This study was conducted to compare water quality and channel catfish production in earthen ponds located in two dissimilar physiographic regions of the southeastern United States and supplied with water of disparate quality. Ponds at Auburn, Alabama are on acidic Piedmont soils and filled with poorly mineralized runoff water; ponds at Stoneville, Mississippi are on slightly alkaline alluvial clays and filled with groundwater of high total alkalinity and hardness. Channel catfish were stocked at 8,750 fish/ha, fed daily, and provided nightly aeration in 0.04-ha ponds at both sites. Ponds were managed as similarly as possible. Minimum daily water temperatures and pH were higher at Stoneville than at Auburn, and there were greater concentrations of suspended clay turbidity, dissolved inorganic phosphorus, total ammonia-nitrogen, and nitrite-nitrogen at Auburn than at Stoneville. The taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton community was broadly different between the two sites. Taste tests revealed off-flavor in fish at both sites, but there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in flavor scores between sites. The quality of flavor was somewhat different between sites, and these differences in quality were thought to result from observed differences in the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton communities. All differences in water quality seemed to be directly or indirectly related to the dissimilarity in the quality of the water supply and soils at the two locations. Although some water quality variables differed between sites and changed over time at both sites, environmental conditions never deteriorated enough at either site to cause serious stress or mortality in fish. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in average net fish production, survival, weight of individual fish at harvest, or feed conversion ratios. Average net fish production and feed conversion ratios, respectively, were 4,905 kg/ha and 1.27 at Auburn and 5,286 kg/ha and 1.27 at Stoneville. The results of this study demonstrate the need for site-specific investigations when conducting certain types of aquaculture research.     

Conservation implications of establishment success of the Critically Endangered Twee River redfin ‘Pseudobarbus’ erubescens (Skelton, ) in an artificial impoundment in South Africa

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A haptoglobin-hemoglobin receptor conveys innate immunity to Trypanosoma brucei in humans

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei is lysed by apolipoprotein L-I, a component of human high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles that are also characterized by the presence of haptoglobin-related protein. We report that this process is mediated by a parasite glycoprotein receptor, which binds the haptoglobin-hemoglobin complex with high affinity for the uptake and incorporation of heme into intracellular hemoproteins. In mice, this receptor was required for optimal parasite growth and the resistance of parasites to the oxidative burst by host macrophages. In humans, the trypanosome receptor also recognized the complex between hemoglobin and haptoglobin-related protein, which explains its ability to capture trypanolytic HDLs. Thus, in humans the presence of haptoglobin-related protein has diverted the function of the trypanosome haptoglobin-hemoglobin receptor to elicit innate host immunity against the parasite.