Proteomics in food: Quality, safety, microbes, and allergens

Food safety and quality and their associated risks pose a major concern worldwide regarding not only the relative economical losses but also the potential danger to consumer's health. Customer's confidence in the integrity of the food supply could be hampered by inappropriate food safety measures. A lack of measures and reliable assays to evaluate and maintain a good control of food characteristics may affect the food industry economy and shatter consumer confidence. It is imperative to create and to establish fast and reliable analytical methods that allow a good and rapid analysis of food products during the whole food chain. Proteomics can represent a powerful tool to address this issue, due to its proven excellent quantitative and qualitative drawbacks in protein analysis. This review illustrates the applications of proteomics in the past few years in food science focusing on food of animal origin with some brief hints on other types. Aim of this review is to highlight the importance of this science as a valuable tool to assess food quality and safety. Emphasis is also posed in food processing, allergies, and possible contaminants like bacteria, fungi, and other pathogens

Anatomy of the sign-problem in heavy-dense QCD

QCD at finite densities of heavy quarks is investigated using the density-of-states method. The phase factor expectation value of the quark determinant is calculated to unprecedented precision as a function of the chemical potential. Results are validated using those from a reweighting approach where the latter can produce a significant signalto-noise ratio. We confirm the particle–hole symmetry at low temperatures, find a strong sign problem at intermediate values of the chemical potential, and an inverse Silver Blaze feature for chemical potentials close to the onset value: here, the phase-quenched theory underestimates the density of the full theory

Modelling Z → ττ processes in ATLAS with τ-embedded Z → μμ data

This paper describes the concept, technical realisation and validation of a largely data-driven method to model events with Z→ττ decays. In Z→μμ events selected from proton-proton collision data recorded at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012, the Z decay muons are replaced by τ leptons from simulated Z→ττ decays at the level of reconstructed tracks and calorimeter cells. The τ lepton kinematics are derived from the kinematics of the original muons. Thus, only the well-understood decays of the Z boson and τ leptons as well as the detector response to the τ decay products are obtained from simulation. All other aspects of the event, such as the Z boson and jet kinematics as well as effects from multiple interactions, are given by the actual data. This so-called τ-embedding method is particularly relevant for Higgs boson searches and analyses in ττ final states, where Zarrowττ decays constitute a large irreducible background that cannot be obtained directly from data control samples. In this paper, the relevant concepts are discussed based on the implementation used in the ATLAS Standard Model H→ττ analysis of the full datataset recorded during 2011 and 2012

Effect of mastitis and related-germ on milk yield and composition during naturally-occurring udder infections in dairy cows

The effect of mastitis and related-germs on milk chemical composition (protein and lactose contents) and milk somatic cell count (SCC) was investigated in 501 milk quarter samples during two consecutive years in cows from three experimental herds. Each infected quarter was matched by a healthy one in the same udder, as a control. Milk protein and mineral assays were performed in a sub- sample of 128 milks. Staphylococci were the most frequently isolated germs (Staphylococcus aureus: 27%, coagulase-negative Staphylococci: 26%, Streptococci: 21%). Major milk pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis or Escherichia coli) associated with clinical signs of mastitis were accompanied by higher SCC (+1.6 log$\cdot$mL$^{-1}$, $P < 0.01$), lower lactose concentration (-7.6 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$, $P < 0.01$), higher protein concentration (+3.3 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$, $P < 0.01$) and higher soluble protein concentrations (IgG and BSA), hence a sharp decrease in the casein/protein ratio (-10 percentage points, $P < 0.01$). Changes were more marked when Escherichia coli was present. Corynebacterium bovis did not alter milk chemical composition whereas coagulase-negative Staphylococci slightly reduced lactose concentration (-1.8 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$) and increased SCC (+0.37 log$\cdot$mL$^{-1}$). Calcium and phosphorus milk contents were hardly modified by the presence of microorganisms. The decrease in milk yield during clinical mastitis varied from 1.6 kg$\cdot$d$^{-1}$ in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus to 15 kg$\cdot$d$^{-1}$ in the presence of Escherichia coli.Effet du type de mammite et du germe sur la production et la composition du lait lors d'infections mammaires naturelles chez la vache laitière. L'effet de la nature des germes pathogènes présents dans le lait sur la composition chimique (taux protéique, taux de lactose) et la numération cellulaire du lait a été étudié à partir d'un échantillon de 501 laits de quartiers prélevés au cours de 2 années consécutives sur les vaches de 3 troupeaux expérimentaux. Pour chaque quartier infecté, un quartier sain de la même mamelle a servi de témoin. Sur 128 de ces prélèvements, des analyses de la composition minérale et protéique des laits ont été réalisées. Les germes les plus fréquemment observés ont été les staphylocoques (27 % de Staphylococcus aureus et 26 % de staphylocoques à coagulase négative) et les streptocoques (21 %). Lorsqu'elle a été associée à des signes de mammites cliniques, la présence d'un germe majeur (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis ou Escherichia coli) s'est accompagnée d'une augmentation de la numération cellulaire (+1,6 log$\cdot$mL$^{-1}$, $P < 0,01$), d'une diminution de la teneur en lactose (-7,6 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$, $P < 0,01$), d'une augmentation du taux protéique (+3,3 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$, $P < 0,01$) et du taux de protéines solubles (IgG et BSA), de sorte que le rapport caséines/protéines a fortement diminué (-10 points de pourcentage, $P < 0,01$). Ces modifications ont été les plus importantes en présence d'Escherichia coli. La présence de Corynebacterium bovis n'a pas modifié la composition chimique du lait, alors que celle de staphylocoques à coagulase négative a légèrement mais significativement entraîné une diminution de la teneur en lactose (-1,8 g$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$) et une augmentation de la numération cellulaire (+0,37 log$\cdot$mL$^{-1}$). Les teneurs en calcium et en phosphore n'ont été que peu modifiées par la présence de germes pathogènes. La chute de production au moment de la mammite clinique a varié de 1,6 kg$\cdot$j$^{-1}$ en présence de Staphylococcus aureus à 15,5 kg$\cdot$j$^{-1}$ en présence d'Escherichia coli

Open questions in astrophysically triggered gravitational wave searches

Sources of gravitational waves are often expected to also be observable through several other messengers, such as gamma rays, X-rays, optical, radio, and/or neutrino emission. Some of these channels are already being used in searches for gravitational waves with the LIGO-GEO600-Virgo interferometer network, and others are currently being incorporated into new searches. Astrophysical targets include gamma-ray bursts, soft-gamma repeaters, supernovae, and glitching pulsars. The simultaneous observation of electromagnetic or neutrino emission could be a crucial aspect for the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Information on the progenitor, such as trigger time, direction and expected frequency range, can enhance our ability to identify gravitational wave signatures with amplitudes close to the noise floor of the detector. Furthermore, combining gravitational waves with electromagnetic and neutrino observations will enable the extraction of scientific insight that was hidden from us before. The paper discusses the status of transient multimessenger detection efforts as well as intriguing questions that might be resolved in the future by advanced and third generation gravitational wave detector

Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1

We report the results of the first search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence using data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Five months of data were collected during the concurrent S5 (LIGO) and VSR1 (Virgo) science runs. The search focused on signals from binary mergers with a total mass between 2 and 35 Msun. No gravitational waves are identified. The cumulative 90%-confidence upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence are calculated for non-spinning binary neutron stars, black hole-neutron star systems, and binary black holes to be 8.7x10^-3, 2.2x10^-3 and 4.4x10^-4 yr^-1 L_10^-1 respectively, where L_10 is 10^10 times the blue solar luminosity. These upper limits are compared with astrophysical expectations

Joint searches for gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos

Many of the astrophysical sources and violent phenomena observed in our Universe are potential joint emitters of gravitational waves and high-energy cosmic radiation, in the form of photons, hadrons, and also neutrinos. This has triggered a collaborative analysis project between gravitational wave detectors and high-energy neutrino telescopes. In this article, we review some of the motivations for having pursuing science jointly and present the effort’s status

Search for top quark decays t -> q H with H -> gamma gamma using the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for flavour-changing neutral currents in the decay of a top quark to an up-type (c, u) quark and a Higgs boson, where the Higgs boson decays to two photons. The proton-proton collision data set used corresponds to 4.7 fb(-1) at root s = 7TeV and 20.3 fb(-1) at root s = 8TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Top quark pair events are searched for in which one top quark decays to qH and the other decays to bW. Both the hadronic and the leptonic decay modes of the W boson are used. No significant signal is observed and an upper limit is set on the t -> qH branching ratio of 0.79% at the 95% confidence level. The corresponding limit on the tqH coupling combination root lambda(2)(tcH) + root lambda(2)(tuH) is 0.17