Microbiological and chemical profiles of dairy farm red smear cheese made from pasteurized and un-pasteurized milk

A red-smear soft cheese was produced four times during a year at an organic dairy farm using pasteurized and un-pasteurized milk, respectively, from the same milking. A commercial starter culture was added. The cheeses were characterized microbiologically and chemically in order to study how heat treatment and season affected their characteristics during cheese making and ripening. Large variations between the different lots of cheeses characterized the production. However, the cheeses made from un-pasteurized milk generally had a higher lactic acid bacteria count except in cases, where the pasteurized milk was recontaminated or if acidification failure took place. Delays in acidification caused a more pronounced increase in numbers of E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae and staphylococci, as well as an increase in the plasmin and plasminogen-derived activities. A number of pre-milking and process steps were identified as important for the microbiological contamination and development in the cheeses

Waist Circumference and Body Mass Index as Predictors of Health Care Costs

BACKGROUND: In the present study we analyze the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) and future health care costs. On the basis of the relation between these anthropometric measures and mortality, we hypothesized that for all levels of BMI increased WC implies added future health care costs (Hypothesis 1) and for given levels of WC increased BMI entails reduced future health care costs (Hypothesis 2). We furthermore assessed whether a combination of the two measures predicts health care costs better than either individual measure. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data were obtained from the Danish prospective cohort study Diet, Cancer and Health. The population includes 15,334 men and 16,506 women 50 to 64 years old recruited in 1996 to 1997. The relationship between future health care costs and BMI and WC in combination was analyzed by use of categorized and continuous analyses. The analysis confirms Hypothesis 1, reflecting that an increased level of abdominal fat for a given BMI gives higher health care costs. Hypothesis 2, that BMI had a protective effect for a given WC, was only confirmed in the continuous analysis and for a subgroup of women (BMI<30 kg/m(2) and WC <88 cm). The relative magnitude of the estimates supports that the regressions including WC as an explanatory factor provide the best fit to the data. CONCLUSION: The study showed that WC for given levels of BMI predicts increased health costs, whereas BMI for given WC did not predict health costs except for a lower cost in non-obese women with normal WC. Combining WC and BMI does not give a better prediction of costs than WC alone

Strongly nonlinear dynamics of electrolytes in large ac voltages

We study the response of a model micro-electrochemical cell to a large ac voltage of frequency comparable to the inverse cell relaxation time. To bring out the basic physics, we consider the simplest possible model of a symmetric binary electrolyte confined between parallel-plate blocking electrodes, ignoring any transverse instability or fluid flow. We analyze the resulting one-dimensional problem by matched asymptotic expansions in the limit of thin double layers and extend previous work into the strongly nonlinear regime, which is characterized by two novel features - significant salt depletion in the electrolyte near the electrodes and, at very large voltage, the breakdown of the quasi-equilibrium structure of the double layers. The former leads to the prediction of "ac capacitive desalination", since there is a time-averaged transfer of salt from the bulk to the double layers, via oscillating diffusion layers. The latter is associated with transient diffusion limitation, which drives the formation and collapse of space-charge layers, even in the absence of any net Faradaic current through the cell. We also predict that steric effects of finite ion sizes (going beyond dilute solution theory) act to suppress the strongly nonlinear regime in the limit of concentrated electrolytes, ionic liquids and molten salts. Beyond the model problem, our reduced equations for thin double layers, based on uniformly valid matched asymptotic expansions, provide a useful mathematical framework to describe additional nonlinear responses to large ac voltages, such as Faradaic reactions, electro-osmotic instabilities, and induced-charge electrokinetic phenomena.Comment: 30 pages, 17 eps-figures, RevTe

Antibodies to infliximab and adalimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in clinical remission:a cross-sectional study

Objective. To investigate if antibodies towards biological TNF-α inhibitors (anti-TNFi Abs) are present in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical remission and to relate any anti-TNFi Abs to circulating level of TNF-α inhibitor (TNFi). Methods. Patients with RA, treated with infliximab or adalimumab, and in clinical remission (DAS28(CRP) < 2.6) were included from 6 out-patient clinics. In blood samples, presence of anti-TNFi Abs was determined by radioimmunoassay, and concentration of bioactive TNFi was measured by a cell-based reporter gene assay. Results. Anti-TNFi Abs were present in 8/44 patients (18%) treated with infliximab and 1/49 patients (2%) treated with adalimumab (p=0.012). In the former group, anti-TNFi Abs corresponded with low levels of TNFi (p=0.048). Anti-TNFi Ab-positive patients had shorter disease duration at initiation of TNFi therapy (p=0.023) but were similar for the rest of the compared parameters. Conclusions. In RA patients in clinical remission, anti-TNFi Abs occur frequently in patients treated with infliximab, while they occur rarely in patients treated with adalimumab. Presence of anti-infliximab Abs is accompanied by low or undetectable levels of infliximab. These data suggest that continued infliximab treatment may be redundant in a proportion of RA patients treated with infliximab and in clinical remission

Therapeutic benefits of proning to improve pulmonary gas exchange in severe respiratory failure: Focus on fundamentals of physiology

NEW FINDINGS: What is the topic of this review? The use of proning for improving pulmonary gas exchange in critically ill patients. What advances does it highlight? Proning places the lung in its ‘natural’ posture, and thus optimises the ventilation‐perfusion distribution, which enables lung protective ventilation and the alleviation of potentially life‐threatening hypoxaemia in COVID‐19 and other types of critical illness with respiratory failure. ABSTRACT: The survival benefit of proning patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is well established and has recently been found to improve pulmonary gas exchange in patients with COVID‐19‐associated ARDS (CARDS). This review outlines the physiological implications of transitioning from supine to prone on alveolar ventilation‐perfusion ([Formula: see text]) relationships during spontaneous breathing and during general anaesthesia in the healthy state, as well as during invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with ARDS and CARDS. Spontaneously breathing, awake healthy individuals maintain a small vertical (ventral‐to‐dorsal) [Formula: see text] ratio gradient in the supine position, which is largely neutralised in the prone position, mainly through redistribution of perfusion. In anaesthetised and mechanically ventilated healthy individuals, a vertical [Formula: see text] ratio gradient is present in both postures, but with better [Formula: see text] matching in the prone position. In ARDS and CARDS, the vertical [Formula: see text] ratio gradient in the supine position becomes larger, with intrapulmonary shunting in gravitationally dependent lung regions due to compression atelectasis of the dorsal lung. This is counteracted by proning, mainly through a more homogeneous distribution of ventilation combined with a largely unaffected high perfusion dorsally, and a consequent substantial improvement in arterial oxygenation. The data regarding proning as a therapy in patients with CARDS is still limited and whether the associated improvement in arterial oxygenation translates to a survival benefit remains unknown. Proning is nonetheless an attractive and lung protective manoeuvre with the potential benefit of improving life‐threatening hypoxaemia in patients with ARDS and CARDS