The Effect of Freezing and Refrigeration on Food Quality

Food shelf-life extension is important not only to food manufacturers, but also to home refrigeration/freezing appliance companies, whose products affect food quality and food waste. While freezing and refrigerating both extend the shelf life of foods, food quality deterioration continues regardless of the preservation method. Quality attributes of frozen Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar) were analyzed at different freezing rates to core holding temperatures of -106°F/-77°C, -20°F/-29°C, 0°F/-18°C, 10°F/-12°C, and 20°F/-7°C. Quality measurements that were traced included total weight loss after freezing, thawing, and cooking, change in color and texture, freezing and thawing rates, as well ice crystal pore analysis. The overall objective of the freezing study was to determine if freezing rates had measurable effects on food quality so that more energy efficient freezer temperature ranges could be used while also minimizing damage to food quality. Samples frozen at faster freezing rates had lower mass loss than samples frozen at higher freezing rates. Salmon frozen at higher freezing rates also had much lighter (L*) than samples frozen at slower freezing rates. Color difference (∆E) decreased amongst frozen samples frozen at higher freezing rates when compared to a control frozen Atlantic salmon sample (change for new ∆E values). Readings of maximum force from texture analysis also varied between frozen samples frozen at different rates based upon Muellenet-Owens razor shear blade and Warner-Bratzler shear force analysis. Surface ice crystal pore size decreased with an increase in freezing rate in samples, while total number of pores increased with an increase freezing rate

‘I can’t say that anything has changed’: parents of autistic young people (16–25 years) discuss the impact of the Children and Families Act in England and Wales

IntroductionIn 2014, changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation were introduced in England and Wales. These reforms aimed for young people and their families to receive the help and support they need, have a say regarding their support needs, and achieve better outcomes.MethodsWe examine the views of parents of autistic young people (16–25 years) regarding the impact of the reforms, several years after their introduction. In total, 115 parents of autistic young people (16–25 years) in England and Wales took part in our research: 84 completed an online survey, one took part in an interview, and 30 participated in both the survey and interview. Quantitative data, collected via the online survey, were analyzed descriptively. Qualitative data, collected via the survey and interview, were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsParents overwhelmingly reported that their experiences had not improved since the introduction of the SEND reforms. This experience impacted their own, and their children’s, wellbeing. Parents felt that the reforms were simply delaying the inevitable, and there was still limited support for them or their children as they transitioned to adulthood.DiscussionDespite promises of a radically different system, and the potential of these reforms, parents reported that little had changed for them or their children since the introduction of the Children and Families Act

Potable Water and Terrestrial Resources on Grand Bahama Post-Hurricane Dorian: Opportunities for Climate Resilience

The catastrophic impact of Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 was unprecedented for the island of Grand Bahama. Flooding in the western portion of the island damaged pine ecosystems, inundated the soil and groundwater with salt water, and disrupted potable water service throughout the island. More than two years post-Hurricane Dorian, the freshwater lenses that the island relies on for potable water are still inundated with salt water. This collaborative paper summarizes all efforts of researchers and practitioners to evaluate the freshwater lenses, as well as their associated ecosystems, that serve as the main source of drinking water for the island of Grand Bahama. Hydrogeologic and vegetation assessments were conducted on the two primary wellfields that provide 95% of the drinking water to the island, over the span of two and a half years from the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Dorian through present day. While salinity and total dissolved solid concentrations in groundwater have declined, present levels indicate that the full recovery of the freshwater lenses may take decades. Forest assessments indicate that in Wellfield 6, which was the primary source of potable water pre-Hurricane Dorian, the pine forests suffered significant damage with complete pine mortality and little regeneration of pine trees occurring, which could impact the underlying freshwater lens. Lessons learned from this event underscore the vulnerability of water resources in The Bahamas and the critical need for adaptation strategies to improve resilience to future extreme events and climate change

GOLIAH (Gaming Open Library for Intervention in Autism at Home): a 6-month single blind matched controlled exploratory study

BackgroundTo meet the required hours of intensive intervention for treating children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we developed an automated serious gaming platform (11 games) to deliver intervention at home (GOLIAH) by mapping the imitation and joint attention (JA) subset of age-adapted stimuli from the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) intervention. Here, we report the results of a 6-month matched controlled exploratory study.MethodsFrom two specialized clinics, we included 14 children (age range 5–8 years) with ASD and 10 controls matched for gender, age, sites, and treatment as usual (TAU). Participants from the experimental group received in addition to TAU four 30-min sessions with GOLIAH per week at home and one at hospital for 6 months. Statistics were performed using Linear Mixed Models.ResultsChildren and parents participated in 40% of the planned sessions. They were able to use the 11 games, and participants trained with GOLIAH improved time to perform the task in most JA games and imitation scores in most imitation games. GOLIAH intervention did not affect Parental Stress Index scores. At end-point, we found in both groups a significant improvement for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores, Vineland socialization score, Parental Stress Index total score, and Child Behavior Checklist internalizing, externalizing and total problems. However, we found no significant change for by time × group interaction.ConclusionsDespite the lack of superiority of TAU + GOLIAH versus TAU, the results are interesting both in terms of changes by using the gaming platform and lack of parental stress increase. A large randomized controlled trial with younger participants (who are the core target of ESDM model) is now discussed. This should be facilitated by computing GOLIAH for a web platform.Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT0256041

A Deletion in Exon 9 of the LIPH Gene Is Responsible for the Rex Hair Coat Phenotype in Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

The fur of common rabbits is constituted of 3 types of hair differing in length and diameter while that of rex animals is essentially made up of amazingly soft down-hair. Rex short hair coat phenotypes in rabbits were shown to be controlled by three distinct loci. We focused on the “r1” mutation which segregates at a simple autosomal-recessive locus in our rabbit strains. A positional candidate gene approach was used to identify the rex gene and the corresponding mutation. The gene was primo-localized within a 40 cM region on rabbit chromosome 14 by genome scanning families of 187 rabbits in an experimental mating scheme. Then, fine mapping refined the region to 0.5 cM (Z = 78) by genotyping an additional 359 offspring for 94 microsatellites present or newly generated within the first defined interval. Comparative mapping pointed out a candidate gene in this 700 kb region, namely LIPH (Lipase Member H). In humans, several mutations in this major gene cause alopecia, hair loss phenotypes. The rabbit gene structure was established and a deletion of a single nucleotide was found in LIPH exon 9 of rex rabbits (1362delA). This mutation results in a frameshift and introduces a premature stop codon potentially shortening the protein by 19 amino acids. The association between this deletion and the rex phenotype was complete, as determined by its presence in our rabbit families and among a panel of 60 rex and its absence in all 60 non-rex rabbits. This strongly suggests that this deletion, in a homozygous state, is responsible for the rex phenotype in rabbits

A Deletion in Exon 9 of the LIPH Gene Is Responsible for the Rex Hair Coat Phenotype in Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

The fur of common rabbits is constituted of 3 types of hair differing in length and diameter while that of rex animals is essentially made up of amazingly soft down-hair. Rex short hair coat phenotypes in rabbits were shown to be controlled by three distinct loci. We focused on the “r1” mutation which segregates at a simple autosomal-recessive locus in our rabbit strains. A positional candidate gene approach was used to identify the rex gene and the corresponding mutation. The gene was primo-localized within a 40 cM region on rabbit chromosome 14 by genome scanning families of 187 rabbits in an experimental mating scheme. Then, fine mapping refined the region to 0.5 cM (Z = 78) by genotyping an additional 359 offspring for 94 microsatellites present or newly generated within the first defined interval. Comparative mapping pointed out a candidate gene in this 700 kb region, namely LIPH (Lipase Member H). In humans, several mutations in this major gene cause alopecia, hair loss phenotypes. The rabbit gene structure was established and a deletion of a single nucleotide was found in LIPH exon 9 of rex rabbits (1362delA). This mutation results in a frameshift and introduces a premature stop codon potentially shortening the protein by 19 amino acids. The association between this deletion and the rex phenotype was complete, as determined by its presence in our rabbit families and among a panel of 60 rex and its absence in all 60 non-rex rabbits. This strongly suggests that this deletion, in a homozygous state, is responsible for the rex phenotype in rabbits

Development and implementation of a highly-multiplexed SNP array for genetic mapping in maritime pine and comparative mapping with loblolly pine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most abundant source of genetic variation among individuals of a species. New genotyping technologies allow examining hundreds to thousands of SNPs in a single reaction for a wide range of applications such as genetic diversity analysis, linkage mapping, fine QTL mapping, association studies, marker-assisted or genome-wide selection. In this paper, we evaluated the potential of highly-multiplexed SNP genotyping for genetic mapping in maritime pine (<it>Pinus pinaster </it>Ait.), the main conifer used for commercial plantation in southwestern Europe.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We designed a custom GoldenGate assay for 1,536 SNPs detected through the resequencing of gene fragments (707 <it>in vitro </it>SNPs/Indels) and from Sanger-derived Expressed Sequenced Tags assembled into a unigene set (829 <it>in silico </it>SNPs/Indels). Offspring from three-generation outbred (G2) and inbred (F2) pedigrees were genotyped. The success rate of the assay was 63.6% and 74.8% for <it>in silico </it>and <it>in vitro </it>SNPs, respectively. A genotyping error rate of 0.4% was further estimated from segregating data of SNPs belonging to the same gene. Overall, 394 SNPs were available for mapping. A total of 287 SNPs were integrated with previously mapped markers in the G2 parental maps, while 179 SNPs were localized on the map generated from the analysis of the F2 progeny. Based on 98 markers segregating in both pedigrees, we were able to generate a consensus map comprising 357 SNPs from 292 different loci. Finally, the analysis of sequence homology between mapped markers and their orthologs in a <it>Pinus taeda </it>linkage map, made it possible to align the 12 linkage groups of both species.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results show that the GoldenGate assay can be used successfully for high-throughput SNP genotyping in maritime pine, a conifer species that has a genome seven times the size of the human genome. This SNP-array will be extended thanks to recent sequencing effort using new generation sequencing technologies and will include SNPs from comparative orthologous sequences that were identified in the present study, providing a wider collection of anchor points for comparative genomics among the conifers.</p

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good