Quality-Based Thermokinetic Optimization of Ready-to-Eat Whole Edible Crab (Cancer pagurus) Pasteurisation Treatments

Traditional processing practices used in the manufacture of ready-to-eat edible crab products include a double-heat treatment involving an initial cooking step followed by washing and packaging and finally, a second heat pasteurisation. The latter, pasteurisation step, results in the most severe impact on product quality. The main objective of this research was to optimise this pasteurisation step using quality index degradation kinetic approach. Preliminary work involved the characterisation of temperature rise in the crab cold-spot during pasteurisation. Equivalent treatments (F90°C 10°C = 10 min) were defined in order to assess the impact of pasteurisation temperature on different crab quality indexes in both crab meat types, white and brown. Colour degradation of crab white meat was defined as the critical quality parameter to be monitored during thermal pasteurisation. The effect of time and temperature on the kinetics of white meat colour change (¿E*) were characterised and fitted to an exponential equation. Following this, an industry focus group was used to define white meat colour change vs product quality and defined ‘good’ (¿E* = 7), ‘acceptable’ (7 < ¿E* < 9) and ‘unacceptable’ (¿E* = 9) quality. Finally, using the developed equations, optimal pasteurisation conditions were defined and validated. To produce ‘good’ quality crab, optimal temperatures ranged between 96 and 100 °C while temperatures between 104 and 108 °C produced ‘acceptable’ quality in crabs of 400 and 800 g, respectively. Overall, the results show that the equations obtained could be used in a decision support system (DSS) to define heat pasteurisation conditions to optimise the quality of ready-to-eat edible crab

An assessment of the application of ultrasound in the processing of ready-to-eat whole brown crab (Cancer pagurus)

This study assesses the potential of incorporating ultrasound as a processing aid in the production of whole cooked brown crab (Cancer pagurus). The FDA recommended heat treatment to reduce Listeria monocytogenes by 6 log10 cycles in this product is a F70 7.5 of 2 min. An equivalent F value was applied at 75 °C in presence and absence of ultrasound in water alone or in water with 5% w/v NaCl added. Heat penetration, turbidity and conductivity of the cook water and also salt and moisture content of the crab meat (white and brown) were determined. Ultrasound assisted cooking allowed a reduction of the cooking time by up to 15% while still maintaining an F70 7.5 of 2 min. Ultrasound also enhanced the rate and total amount of compounds released from the crab, which suggests that crabs cooked in the presence of ultrasound would be expected to be cleaner. Ultrasound also proved to be effective in reducing the salt content but hardly affected the final moisture content of the crab meat

State space mixed models for binary responses with scale mixture of normal distributions links

Abstract We propose a state space mixed models for binary time series where the inverse link function is modeled to be a cumulative distribution function of the scale mixture of normal (SMN) distributions. Specific inverse links examined include the normal, Student-t, slash and the variance gamma links. We use the threshold latent approac

INTEnsive care bundle with blood pressure reduction in acute cerebral hemorrhage trial (INTERACT3): study protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster-randomized controlled trial

Background: Early intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering remains the most promising treatment for acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), despite discordant results between clinical trials and potential variation in the treatment effects by approach to control BP. As the third in a series of clinical trials on this topic, the INTEnsive care bundle with blood pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral hemorrhage Trial (INTERACT3) aims to determine the effectiveness of a goal-directed care bundle protocol of early physiological control (intensive BP lowering, glycemic control, and pyrexia treatment) and reversal of anticoagulation, in acute ICH. Methods: INTERACT3 is a pragmatic, international, multicenter, stepped-wedge (4 phases/3 steps), cluster-randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of a multifaceted care package in adult (age ≥ 18 years) patients (target 8360) with acute ICH (< 6 h of onset) recruited from 110 hospitals (average of 19 consecutive patients per phase) in low- and middle-income countries. After a control phase, each hospital implements the intervention (intensive BP lowering, target systolic < 140 mmHg; glucose control, target 6.1–7.8 mmol/L and 7.8–10.0 mmol/L in those without and with diabetes mellitus, respectively; anti-pyrexia treatment to target body temperature ≤ 37.5 °C; and reversal of anticoagulation, target international normalized ratio < 1.5 within 1 h). Information will be obtained on demographic and baseline clinical characteristics, in-hospital management, and 7-day outcomes. Central trained blinded assessors will conduct telephone interviews to assess physical function and health-related quality of life at 6 months. The primary outcome is the modified Rankin scale (mRS) at 6 months analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. The sample size of 8360 subjects provides 90% power (α = 0.05) to detect a 5.6% absolute improvement (shift) in the primary outcome of the intervention versus control standard care, with various assumptions. Discussion: As the largest clinical trial in acute ICH, INTERACT3 is on schedule to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of a widely applicable goal-directed care bundle for a serious condition in which a clearly proven treatment has yet to be established. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03209258. Registered on 1 July 2017. Chinese Trial Registry ChiCTR-IOC-17011787. Registered on 28 June 201