Essential oils as antibacterial agents against food-borne pathogens: are they really as useful as they are claimed to be ?

Original articleMost studies evaluating the use of essential oils (EO) as antibacterial agents focus mainly on minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) rather than minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC). In this work, we compared MICs and MBCs of EO from condiment plants commonly used in Mediterranean Europe, namely Origanum vulgare, Salvia lavandulaefolia, Salvia officinalis, Salvia sclarea and Rosmarinus officinalis, aiming to evaluate their application as disinfecting agents in minimally processed produce. Outbreaks-related pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Yarrowia lipolytica were used. Results showed that all EO were able to reduce bacterial growth in all bacterial strains tested, particularly O. vulgare. However, fewer EO exhibited bactericidal activities, and were only effective against one or two bacterial strains, hence eliminating the possibility to use them as broad range disinfectants. Furthermore, the necessary concentrations were too high for food application. Hence, our work suggests the need to evaluate MBC rather than MIC and questions EO usefulness in controlling undesired microorganisms. Overall, and despite the large volume of data published on EO, results obtained were not very encouraging for a realistic application on produce and question the viability of EOs as disinfecting agents in foodinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Turkey’s population dynamıcs as a candidate country for EU membership

Literally, it has been accepted that one of the major obstacles to Turkey’s EU membership is in population term. There has not been any enlargement process as large as Turkey’s population as a single state in EU history before. The enlargement in 2004 which includes 10 states involved 74 million people as whole member states while Turkey’s population is 72 million inhabitants in 2007 data which is only lower than Germany’s population in all EU member states. Thus, Turkey's accession would be different from previous enlargements because of the combined impact of high population. This study compares the population dynamics, working conditions, minimum wage rates and main macroeconomic indicators between Turkey and EU member states. Turkey has young generations compared to EU countries. In the comparison of age groups proportion in total population, 0-19 age group %21,9 in EU 27 and %36,5 in Turkey, 20-39 age group is %28 in EU 27 and %34,3 in Turkey, 40-59 age group is %27,9 in EU and %20,9 in Turkey, 60 and above age group is %22,1 in EU and %9,5 in Turkey. Thus, population dynamics of Turkey could make a contribution to offsetting the ageing of EU 27 societies if the membership would occur in the future. However, minimum wage rates in Turkey are lower than many EU member states but generally higher than EU member states located in Central and Eastern Europe. Thus, immigration possibilities from Turkey can be expected to Western European Countries, but not the same direction to Central and Eastern Europe Countries. Furthermore, the process in macroeconomic indicators will be a determinant in immigration expectations while Turkey’s GDP has been grown faster than EU level recently. © 2011, Econjournals. All rights reserved

Saving, Investment and capital mobility in G-7 countries: Time varying parameters approach

This paper investigates the relationship between domestic saving (S) and investment (I) to assess degree of capital mobility for G7 countries during the period 1960- 2007. To this end, Engle-Granger (1987) and Gregory-Hansen (1996) residual based co-integration tests was firstly applied for each of the G7 countries, but we did not find any evidence of a long-run relationship between S and I. Extending the analysis to time varying parameters (TVP) approach to see changes in the capital mobility over time, the findings suggest that there is no significant increase in capital mobility in the sense of Feldstein-Horioka (1980). © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2010

The inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines with pentoxifylline in the cardiopulmunary bypass lung

In addition to preventing tissue energy loss during cardiopulmonary bypass. pentoxifylline (Ptx) prevents the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines as well. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Ptx decreases the inflammatory effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on the lungs during open-heart surgery, The patients in the study group (n=15) who were going through an open-heart surgery had 500 mg l(-1) of Ptx added to their prime solution, whereas the patients in the control group (n=10) only received prime solution. Pre-pump and post-pump blood samples were obtained from both groups and assayed for intereukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), Lung tissue samples that were obtained after the pump were examined with light microscopy and stained for tissue TNFalpha Non-parametric Wilcoxon test was utilized for statistical evaluation, In the post-pump period, the difference in the IL-6, IL-8 and TNFalpha levels of the two groups was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.005). The tissue samples from the control group had significant staining with TNFalpha. We think that Ptx has important protective effects on the lungs during cardiopulmonary bypass

Finding useful cancer information may reduce cancer information overload for Internet users

Background An excessive overload of information causes an ineffective management of information, stress and indefiniteness. Furthermore, this situation can prevent persons from learning and making conscious decisions. Objective This study aims to determine the cancer information overload (CIO) and the factors related to it in adults who are Internet users. Methods A cross-sectional study with 482 Internet users was conducted. The data were collected by using an Introductory Information Form andthe Cancer Information Overload Scale. Results It was found that the Internet was the most used information source (62.2%). The CIO of those with a university level education was found to be high (P = 0.012). It was found that the CIO of individuals who used the Internet (P = 0.031) and newspapers/magazines (P = 0.004) as sources of information was high compared with those who did not use these sources. It was determined from the information obtained that those who found the information to be beneficial and enough had a low CIO (P = 0.004,P = 0.00). Conclusion Health literacy around cancer information is challenging for frequent Internet users. Health professionals, information specialists and librarians should orient people to reliable sources.C1 [Sercekus, Pinar; Gencer, Hatice; Ozkan, Sevgi] Pamukkale Univ, Fac Hlth Sci, Kinikli Campus, TR-20070 Denizli, Turkey

Ethical values of academic nurses: A pilot study

PMID = 2979207