Attitudes and beliefs of Eastern European meat consumers – a review

Eastern European consumers are traditional meat eaters who are still not looking forward in order to substitute their traditional meat-based dishes with meat analogues or their substitutes. In general, vegetarianism is in its infancy if we do not take into account Lenten fasting, the period of the year when in Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe one can find food not containing meat, dairy and eggs, widely available. Chicken meat is the most frequently consumed type of meat, and it is preferred because it is easy to prepare. Eastern European meat consumers believe that meat from castrated pigs is of better quality, and one third of them is indifferent towards animal welfare issues. The highest proportion of Eastern European consumers (42.9%) believes that game meat has many health benefits, is rich in proteins and is more organic than other types of meat. However, two thirds of Eastern European consumers eat game meat less than once a year. Differences in attitudes and beliefs of Eastern European meat consumers compared to their Western European equivalents are evident

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF APODEMUS FLAVICOLLIS AND A. AGRARIUS IN A FOREST COMMUNITY QUERCETUM-PETRAEA ON MT. AVALA (SERBIA)

ABSTRACT Spatial distribution of Apodemus flavicollis and A. agrarius were studied in a forest community Quercetum-petraea at Avala mountain (Serbia). During this study (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999

CLIMATE AND HARVEST TIME IMPACT ON AROMATIC COMPOUNDS OF SAUVIGNON BLANC WINE

Research was carried out in vineyard of King Peter I Karadjordjevic-Royal Winery at Oplenac-Topola municipality. Climate parameters included: mean monthly, vegetation and annual temperature and precipitation. Different compounds of aromatic complexes were detected by GC-MS and GC-FID analysis. Wine was made from grapes harvested in full maturity and fifteen days after full maturity. The relationship between measured attributes of aromatic wine complex were visualized using principal component analysis and presented graphically through dispersion diagram. In wine were detected following aromatic compounds: higher alcohols, lactones, organic acids, esters and amides. During  the research it variation of the relative proportion of aromatic compounds was found in Sauvignon blanc wine influenced by different climate conditions, accordingly to temperature and precipitation distribution

Chromium content in the meat of male Saanen goat kids from Vojvodina (Northern Serbia)

Goats, the earliest ruminant to be domesticated, are traditional sources of meat, milk, fibre, leather, related products of animal origin and as draught and pack animals. Meat is the major product of the goat. Meat quality is the sum of all sensory, nutritive, technological and hygienic-toxicological factors of meat. The aims of this study were to investigate the chromium content of four different muscles (M. psoas major, M. longissimus dorsi, M. semimembranosus and M. triceps brachii) of Saanen goat male kids and to determine whether the chromium contents differed between the muscles. Chromium content was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after dry ashing mineralisation. The studied muscles did not significantly differ (P >0.05) with respect to chromium content. The chromium content ranged from 0.012 to 0.067 mg/100 g, with an average of 0.026 mg/100 g

Impact of renal impairment on atrial fibrillation: ESC-EHRA EORP-AF Long-Term General Registry

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) and renal impairment share a bidirectional relationship with important pathophysiological interactions. We evaluated the impact of renal impairment in a contemporary cohort of patients with AF. Methods: We utilised the ESC-EHRA EORP-AF Long-Term General Registry. Outcomes were analysed according to renal function by CKD-EPI equation. The primary endpoint was a composite of thromboembolism, major bleeding, acute coronary syndrome and all-cause death. Secondary endpoints were each of these separately including ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic event, intracranial haemorrhage, cardiovascular death and hospital admission. Results: A total of 9306 patients were included. The distribution of patients with no, mild, moderate and severe renal impairment at baseline were 16.9%, 49.3%, 30% and 3.8%, respectively. AF patients with impaired renal function were older, more likely to be females, had worse cardiac imaging parameters and multiple comorbidities. Among patients with an indication for anticoagulation, prescription of these agents was reduced in those with severe renal impairment, p <.001. Over 24 months, impaired renal function was associated with significantly greater incidence of the primary composite outcome and all secondary outcomes. Multivariable Cox regression analysis demonstrated an inverse relationship between eGFR and the primary outcome (HR 1.07 [95% CI, 1.01–1.14] per 10 ml/min/1.73 m2 decrease), that was most notable in patients with eGFR <30 ml/min/1.73 m2 (HR 2.21 [95% CI, 1.23–3.99] compared to eGFR ≥90 ml/min/1.73 m2). Conclusion: A significant proportion of patients with AF suffer from concomitant renal impairment which impacts their overall management. Furthermore, renal impairment is an independent predictor of major adverse events including thromboembolism, major bleeding, acute coronary syndrome and all-cause death in patients with AF

Genome Stability of Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Comparative Genomics of Borrelia burgdorferi Plasmids

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne human illness in North America. In order to understand the molecular pathogenesis, natural diversity, population structure and epizootic spread of the North American Lyme agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, a much better understanding of the natural diversity of its genome will be required. Towards this end we present a comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the numerous plasmids of B. burgdorferi isolates B31, N40, JD1 and 297. These strains were chosen because they include the three most commonly studied laboratory strains, and because they represent different major genetic lineages and so are informative regarding the genetic diversity and evolution of this organism. A unique feature of Borrelia genomes is that they carry a large number of linear and circular plasmids, and this work shows that strains N40, JD1, 297 and B31 carry related but non-identical sets of 16, 20, 19 and 21 plasmids, respectively, that comprise 33–40% of their genomes. We deduce that there are at least 28 plasmid compatibility types among the four strains. The B. burgdorferi ∼900 Kbp linear chromosomes are evolutionarily exceptionally stable, except for a short ≤20 Kbp plasmid-like section at the right end. A few of the plasmids, including the linear lp54 and circular cp26, are also very stable. We show here that the other plasmids, especially the linear ones, are considerably more variable. Nearly all of the linear plasmids have undergone one or more substantial inter-plasmid rearrangements since their last common ancestor. In spite of these rearrangements and differences in plasmid contents, the overall gene complement of the different isolates has remained relatively constant

Optimizing gDNA extraction from fresh frozen meningioma tissue for downstream genetic analysis

Objective: Meningioma is the most common brain tumor. Genetic mutations in meningioma that include deletion of the neurofibromatosis type 2 gene, (NF2), offer diagnostic information on tumor behavior, recurrence and potential response to treatment. Obtaining high-grade genetic material is critical for accurate, sensitive and robust molecular testing. Currently, no standardized procedure exists for extracting gDNA from meningioma, and this problem was addressed in this report.Method: This study compared the yield and quality of extracted gDNA from patient meningioma specimens using an optimized phenol chloroform method and two commercial silica column-based extractions kits and tested respective performances as template in qPCR tests and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) NF2 screening.Results: Mean gDNA yields were comparable for each method tested; however, phenol chloroform extraction outperformed column-based kits in all other quality assurance metrics examined. Phenol chloroform extracted, gDNA was highly pure, and of a higher fragment size species when compared to column prepared gDNA. OCR of GAPDH, B2MG, and RPL37A housekeeping genes demonstrated variance in cycle thresholds between patient samples was much lower in the phenol chloroform group. Similarly, primer efficiencies were significantly improved in this sample group which translated to a broader qPCR linear dynamic range and much improved qPCR performance at low concentrations of template. MLPA screening identified NF2 gene deletions in 6 of 12 meningioma samples. Inconsistencies in copy number data for NF2 and reference regions of the genome were observed between gDNA sample extraction groups that included both false negative and positive errors in silica column derived gDNA samples.Conclusions; This study outlines a highly robust phenol chloroform extraction method for obtaining high quality gDNA from frozen meningioma tissue and highlights the significance of performing adequate quality assurance when using gDNA for downstream genetic analysis. Most importantly, we demonstrate using gDNA extracted with silica column based kits can lead to diagnostic errors when screening NF2 deletions in meningiomas with MLPA. (C) 2016 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved