On the relationship between sweet taste and seasonal body weight changes in a primate (Microcebus murinus)

The relationship between obesity and taste, especially sweet taste, has been and is of interest. From this point of view of a small primate, the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), is of particular interest. It goes through a yearly cycle of physiological changes, one of which is an extreme variation in body weight of up to 100%. This occurs concomitantly with significant changes of the animal's liking for sucrose; measured by two-bottle preference tests, the threshold for sucrose changes from 28-45 in lean to 77-105 mM in obese animals. It is possible that a change in peripheral taste sensitivity might be the cause for these preference changes. To test this possibility we studied the ability of M.murinus to taste sucrose with electrophysiological and conditioned taste aversion techniques. The electrophysiological recordings were obtained from the chorda tympani proper nerve in two heavy and three lean animals. We did not record any difference between the two groups in their neural response to a series of sucrose concentrations. Conditioned taste aversion experiments with 200 mM sucrose as conditioning stimulus and 50 and 200 mM sucrose as test stimuli gave similar results. No difference was found between three heavy and four lean animals; both groups rejected the sucrose concentrations. The results support the notion that the seasonal variations in preference threshold to sucrose were unrelated to the ability of M.murinus to taste sucros

Isolation and characterization of pentadin, the sweet principle of Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon

An aqaeous extract from the pulp of the plant Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon (Pentadiplandraceae) yielded a strong sweet-tasting material. This sweet principle was isolated by water extraction, ultrafiltration and gel filtration. The conclusion that this substance must be of a proteinaceous nature was based on amino acid analysis, characteristic UV-absorption spectrum and positive colour reaction with Coomassie brilliant blue. The mol. wt of the subunit of the sweet protein was estimated to be ˜ 12 000 daltons. The sweetness intensity of the whole protein was ˜ 500 times that of sucrose on a weight basis. The taste response in a Rhesus monkey to a 0.1 % solution was comparable to the response to a 0.02 % monellin solution. We propose the name ‘pentadin' for this sweet-tasting protein and present a few comments about the possible origin of such sugar mimic

On the sense of taste in two Malagasy Primates (Microcebus murinus and Eulemur mongoz)

The relationship between phylogeny and taste is of growing interest. In this study we present recordings from the chorda tympani proper (CT) nerve of two lemuriforme primates, the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) and the mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz), to an array of taste stimuli which included the sweeteners acesulfame-K, alitame, aspartame, D-glucose, dulcin, monellin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDHC), saccharin, sodium superaspartame, stevioside, sucralose (TGS), sucrose, suosan, thaumatin and xylitol, as well as the non-sweet stimuli NaC1, citric acid, tannin and quinine hydrochloride. In M.murinus the effects of the taste modifiers gymnemic acid and miraculin on the CT response were recorded. Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) experiments in M.murinus and two-bottle preference (TBP) tests in E.mongoz were also conducted. We found that all of the above tastants except thaumatin elicited a CT response in both species. The CTA technique showed that M.murinus generalized from sucrose to monellin but not to thaumatin. The intake of aspartame, ranging in concentration from 0.1 to 30 mM was measured in E.mongoz with TBP tests. At no concentration did we see a preference, but there was a significant rejection of 10 and 30 mM aspartame (P←0.025). Miraculin had no effects on the CT response to acids, and gymnemic acid did not selectively suppress the CT response to sucrose or that of any other sweeteners. The absence of ability to taste thaumatin in these species supports the dichotomy between catarrhine and non-catarrhine species. The difference in results with thaumatin and monellin indicate that their sweet moieties are not identical. It also points to a phylogenetic difference in taste within the prosimian group. Further, the results with aspartame indicate that the perception of sweetness from aspartame is limited to catarrhine species. Finally, neither miraculin nor gymnemic acid exhibit the same taste modifying effects in lemuriformes as they do in hominoidea. Thus the results with gymnemic acid and miraculin corroborate those obtained earlier in other prosimian

Constraints on Low-Mass WIMP Interactions on 19F from PICASSO

Recent results from the PICASSO dark matter search experiment at SNOLAB are reported. These results were obtained using a subset of 10 detectors with a total target mass of 0.72 kg of 19F and an exposure of 114 kgd. The low backgrounds in PICASSO allow recoil energy thresholds as low as 1.7 keV to be obtained which results in an increased sensitivity to interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below 10 GeV/c^2. No dark matter signal was found. Best exclusion limits in the spin dependent sector were obtained for WIMP masses of 20 GeV/c^2 with a cross section on protons of sigma_p^SD = 0.032 pb (90% C.L.). In the spin independent sector close to the low mass region of 7 GeV/c2 favoured by CoGeNT and DAMA/LIBRA, cross sections larger than sigma_p^SI = 1.41x10^-4 pb (90% C.L.) are excluded.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Phys. Lett.

The non-adoption of supply chain management

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Construction Management and Economics on 10th October 2013, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01446193.2013.830186.Largely taken for granted within the UK construction sector has been a view that supply chain management theory is robust, relevant and reliable. As such it has formed a substantial aspect of previous and contemporary policy and government funded research. Despite this, the general view of its development and diffusion over the last 15 years within the construction industry has been problematic. Coincidentally, prevailing debates within the supply chain management academic community point to the lack of unified theory, models of diffusion and strong connections to organization theory. Using Straussian grounded theory, iterations between data and organization theory provided a fresh perspective on the development and diffusion of supply chain management in construction. This inductive research provided contextually rich explanations for development and diffusion that explicitly connected with and drew upon robust, relevant and reliable theories of institutions, innovation diffusion, triads, quasifirms and mechanisms of organizational governance. These explanations challenge the simplistic assumption that chains and networks of organizations are holistically managed and controlled by any single organization or institution in the construction industry. The debate therefore shifts away from proselytizing supply chain management towards research that explores the rigour, relevance and reliability of supply chain management assumptions in construction. The gap between industry practice and policy is exposed and the question is posed: to what extent policy and practice do, or should, constitute a recursive relationship.© 2013 Taylor & Francis

The management of diabetic ketoacidosis in children

The object of this review is to provide the definitions, frequency, risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnostic considerations, and management recommendations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children and adolescents, and to convey current knowledge of the causes of permanent disability or mortality from complications of DKA or its management, particularly the most common complication, cerebral edema (CE). DKA frequency at the time of diagnosis of pediatric diabetes is 10%–70%, varying with the availability of healthcare and the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the community. Recurrent DKA rates are also dependent on medical services and socioeconomic circumstances. Management should be in centers with experience and where vital signs, neurologic status, and biochemistry can be monitored with sufficient frequency to prevent complications or, in the case of CE, to intervene rapidly with mannitol or hypertonic saline infusion. Fluid infusion should precede insulin administration (0.1 U/kg/h) by 1–2 hours; an initial bolus of 10–20 mL/kg 0.9% saline is followed by 0.45% saline calculated to supply maintenance and replace 5%–10% dehydration. Potassium (K) must be replaced early and sufficiently. Bicarbonate administration is contraindicated. The prevention of DKA at onset of diabetes requires an informed community and high index of suspicion; prevention of recurrent DKA, which is almost always due to insulin omission, necessitates a committed team effort