Salmonella in pork – Lessons to be learned from salmonella control in poultry

Based on Reg. (EC) No. 2160/2003, programs to control Salmonella in primary production in poultry have been decided and implemented in Europe. This paper addresses the question of the efficacy of these programs to reduce the incidence of salmonellosis in humans in Germany

Investigation of optimal thermal parameters for essential oils extraction using laboratory and solar distillation systems

Essential oils are used in medicines, foods, fragrances, perfumery and cosmetics etc.  Different methods are used for essential oils extraction.  Out of all these methods, distillation methods have advantage of extracting refine essence of the plant materials and herbs by evaporating volatile components.  The main object of the research is to investigate optimal thermal parameters and to develop simple and best methodologies for easy adaptation of these techniques for decentralized applications.  The research for essential oils extraction was conducted under laboratory conditions and by using solar energy.  For each laboratory experiment, equal weights of the herbs were used.  The energy consumption for different herbs was recorded with the help of energy meters and process curves were drawn for comparison.  The heat energy consumption to extract one milliliter of essential oil from Cloves buds, Fennel, Cumin, Patchouli, Cassia and Orange barks was found to be 0.133, 0.503, 0.574, 2.716, 2.807 kWh respectively.  The methodology and thermal parameters provide useful information regarding temperature and energy requirements to process different herbs.  On the basis of laboratory results, a de-centralized solar distillation system was developed using Scheffler reflector (8 m2 aperture area) and evaluated.  The power and system efficiency of solar based system was found to be 1.58 kW and 43.25% respectively.  Successful results were obtained for essential oils extraction from herbs by using solar energy.  These results were found similar to that of laboratory showing that the solar energy can be effectively used for the distillation of essential oils.Keywords: Essential oils, herbs, scheffler reflector, solar distillation Citation: Munir A., and O. Hensel.  Investigation of optimal thermal parameters for essential oils extraction using laboratory and solar distillation systems.  Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal, 2010, 12(1): 107-114

UMass Dartmouth Community Engaged Research Academy: Some Methods to Develop Inclusive CER

Breakout Session 1A: The UMass Dartmouth Community Engaged Research Academy has completed two years of CER skills building, mentoring, seed funding, and other resources, with seven supported CER scholars to date. This interactive breakout session draws on the curriculum of the CER Academy to build particular skills, stakeholder analysis and mapping of needs that together chart the path to inclusive and practical CER proposals, and lead to creative, relevant approaches to grant seeking. In a stakeholder analysis, the goal is to identify who is involved in a CER issue, to what extent they are engaged at the start of the process of identifying needs to be addressed in the research, how likely they are to try to address the issue and remain involved as those who have a stake in outcomes, and what might happen post-research findings, leading to impact, implementation, and dissemination. The mapping of basic and perceived human needs (adapted from David Gil’s Unraveling Social Policy) deepens researchers’ understanding of the problems they will address, in a format that serves as a readily accessible communications tool for working with community partners. This training workshop will address stakeholder analysis, mapping basic and perceived human needs, and CER grant seeking through the analysis of a CER disparities issue as a case study. At the end of the workshop, participants will have learned a clearly articulated process for working through these essential steps toward inclusive CER, and to engage, more effectively, with community partners challenged by health disparities

Community Engaged Research Academy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Reflections, Visions, and Plans

The Community Engaged Research (CER) Academy at UMass Dartmouth began in 2015 to develop and support dynamic research efforts, in partnerships with community organizations, agencies, and public services, with the goal of seeking external funding to support substantial CER projects. Its primary aim is to engage research-active faculty who are working, specifically, with community partners in the UMass Dartmouth catchment area. Further, the CER Academy actively seeks to build a community of like-minded scholars in interactive, supportive, and didactic processes. The coordinator of the CER Initiative facilitates modules, with activities designed to mentor CER Academy scholars during and after their participation in the structured curriculum of the CER Academy. Beyond the interactive curriculum with a cohort of CER Scholars, ongoing mentorship continues for as long as CER Scholars want/need support to develop durable community partnerships. Plans going forward include 1) working with community-based professionals in UMass Dartmouth catchment area agencies and organizations to participate in the structured CER Academy with their respective CER Scholars; and 2) to incentivize and recruit, and then to educate and engage, undergraduate students to develop skills and experience in community engaged research in an academic CER Student-Scholar Partnership Program. This poster articulates the development, curriculum, work, and plans of the UMass Dartmouth Community Engaged Research Academy, to disseminate our experience and vision, and to invite collaborations with potential community partners and CER colleagues across the UMass System

Perspective on statistical effects in the adhesion of micropatterned surfaces

Bioinspired micropatterned adhesives have attracted extensive research interest in the past two decades. In modeling the performance of these adhesives, the common assumption has been that the adhesive strength of each sub-contact is identical. Recent experiments, however, have shown that interfacial defects of different characters lead to a distribution of the adhesive strength within a fibrillar array. Based on experimental observations of detachment events, a statistical model for the distribution of the local adhesive strength and the resulting performance of a micropatterned adhesive are presented. This approach constitutes a paradigm shift, providing better understanding of micropatterned adhesives under real conditions. Examples presented include the prediction of unstable detachments in compliant systems. Future directions are discussed, including the extension of the statistical approach to non-uniform loading and rate-dependent effects, the contribution of suction to adhesion and aging of contacts over specific time periods, as well as the necessity for a more in-depth understanding of defect formation considering surface roughness and other imperfections in the system

Preventing Catastrophic Failure of Microfibrillar Adhesives in Compliant Systems Based on Statistical Analysis of Adhesive Strength

Adhesives based on fibrillar surface microstructures have shown great potential for handling applications requiring strong, reversible, and switchable adhesion. Recently, the importance of the statistical distribution of adhesive strength of individual fibrils in controlling the overall performance was revealed. Strength variations physically correspond to different interfacial defect sizes, which, among other factors, are related to surface roughness. For analysis of the strength distribution, Weibull's statistical theory of fracture was introduced. In this study, the importance of the statistical properties in controlling the stability of attachment is explored. Considering the compliance of the loading system, we develop a stability criterion based on the Weibull statistical parameters. It is shown that when the distribution in fibril adhesive strength is narrow, the global strength is higher but unstable detachment is more likely. Experimental variation of the loading system compliance for a specimen of differing statistical properties shows a transition to unstable detachment at low system stiffness, in good agreement with the theoretical stability map. This map serves to inform the design of gripper compliance, when coupled with statistical analysis of strength on the target surface of interest. Such a treatment could prevent catastrophic failure by spontaneous detachment of an object from an adhesive gripper. © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

NPTI: New Periodic Emission Inspection to guarantee PN Emission Stability of all modern vehicles

Periodic Technical Inspection of emission quality PTI was abandoned by most EU member states in 2014 following the EU-Directive 2014/45 which recommended to delegate emission quality to OBD. After Dieselgate this naïve dream was over and VERT proposed during the German Dieselgate Hearing Sept.2016 to re-introduce PTI for all vehicles with emission control by DPF and SCR. With the introduction of particulate filters on diesel as well as GDI engines, the measurement of particulate emissions during PTI or road-side checks however, became a nontrivial task. Opacity and smoke meters do not have sufficient sensitivity to identify particulate filter failures or tampering on new, low emission internal combustion engines. Recent studies conducted in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium have shown that about 10% of passenger cars equipped with DPF have high PN emissions that could indicate a damaged or removed DPF. To address this problem, the VERT Association launched a New Periodic Technical Inspection (N-PTI) initiative to develop a simple, robust and tamper-proof method for checking the functionality of DPFs using particle number (PN) instruments. The N-PTI initiative, launched in November 2016, is supported by the European Union as well as the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland. The proposed test is conducted at idle using a PN instrument. It is assumed that the process will be suitable with minor, if any, modifications for petrol engines. The test protocol is also appropriate for road-side inspections, such as by the police. The first results are promising. Instruments in their prototype stage are already capable of recognizing vehicles that have been manipulated using partial bypass that resulted in PN emissions close to maximum allowed type approval levels (i.e., 6×1011 1/km) and present a satisfactory correlation with PEMS compliant instrumentation. Work on the testing procedure and pass/fail limit is still ongoing. This work is also under the evaluation of the CITA (International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee) Roadworthiness Technical Working Group which focuses on tampering with exhaust emission control systems. The results show a good correlation between emission levels during the type approval cycle (NEDC/ WLTC) and low idle emissions even with first generation N-PTI instruments. These results suggest that the technical specifications of NPTI instruments should have acceptable uncertainty, with low cost. The Netherlands and Germany have already started programs that will lead to the adoption of mandatory N-PTI emission testing requirements. NMI, the Dutch metrology institute, has released a draft InternationalRecommendation with the specifications of the PTI particulate number counter. The N-PTI DPF test maybecome available in the Netherlands at RDW test stations as soon as 2019, while the nationwide targetdate for the introduction of N-PTI testing is 2021. In Germany, the Federal Council passed a law inSeptember 2017 (published in the German StVZO 2017) that re-introduces PTI first by smokemeasurement but PN measurements at idle are to be required from 2021

Std fimbriae-fucose interaction increases Salmonella-induced intestinal inflammation and prolongs colonization

Author summary The intestinal epithelium is a crucial biological interface, interacting with both commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. It’s lined with heavily glycosylated proteins and glycolipids which can act as both attachment sites and energy sources for intestinal bacteria. Fut2, the enzyme governing epithelial α1,2-fucosylation, has been implicated in the interaction between microbes and intestinal epithelial cells. Salmonella is one of the most important bacterial gastrointestinal pathogens affecting millions of people worldwide. Salmonella possesses fimbrial and non-fimbrial adhesins which can be used to adhere to host cells. Here we show that Salmonella expresses Std fimbriae in the gastrointestinal tract in vivo and exploit Std fimbriae to bind fucosylated structures in the mucus and on the intestinal epithelium. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Std fimbriae-fucose interaction is necessary for bacterial colonization of the intestine and for triggering intestinal inflammation. These data lend new insights into bacterial adhesion-epithelial interactions which are essential for bacterial pathogenesis and key factors in determining tissue tropism and host susceptibility to infectious disease

Comparative examination and validation of ELISA test systems for Salmonella diagnosis of slaughtering pigs

Infections with Salmonella enterica are one of the most important sources of human gastroenteritis. The consumption of contaminated pork products was found to be assoc1ated with 20% of human salmonellosis in Germany, whereas S. Typhimurium, especially phagetype DT 104, is the most frequently isolated Salmonella serotype from pork (Steinbach and Kroell, 1999)