Perfecting Potato Products with Pulse Electric Fields

PEF with regards to potato processing has opened up a new realm of possibilities as opposed to the traditional method of blanching. In these experiments, a few things were assessed- how much reducing sugars PEF treated potatoes would pull out, if time and/or temperature were the leading causes of sugar extraction, and if potato products made with PEF were they similar in taste, texture and smell. The reducing sugars are important because they are one of the reactants that form acrylamide, which is a suspected carcinogen and neurotoxin. Many states and countries within the EU have been banning fried potato products as a result, and PEF offers an alternative solution for consumer safety. Assessing if instant mashed potatoes that were made with non-PEF treated potatoes vs PEF treated potatoes was to ensure that product quality would not suffer at the hand of innovation

Pulsed Electric Fields and Potato Product Applications

Acrylamide is a problematic byproduct that comes from reducing sugars, like glucose and fructose, reacting with amino acids, like asparagine, which results in a compound that is considered a neurotoxin and probable carcinogen. In particular, it\u27s formed when potato slices undergo frying to form chips, and pulsed electric fields are a proposed solution to held reduce the amount of reactants available to form less acrylamide

COVID-19 Trial Enrollment for Those Who Cannot Consent: Ethical Challenges Posed by a Pandemic

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered an intense global research effort to inform the life-saving work of frontline clinicians who need reliable information as soon as possible. Yet research done in pressured circumstances can lead to ethical dilemmas, especially for vulnerable research subjects. We present the case of a child with neurocognitive impairment who is diagnosed with COVID-19 infection after presenting with fever and a seizure. The child lives in a group home and is in the custody of the state; her parents lost parental rights many years ago. Some members of the health care team want to enroll her in a randomized clinical trial evaluating an experimental treatment of COVID-19. For minor patients to enroll in this clinical trial, the institutional review board requires assent of patients and consent of guardians. An ethics consult is called to help identify relevant concerns in enrollment. In the accompanying case discussion, we address historical perspectives on research involving people with disabilities; proper management of research participation for people with disabilities including consent by proxy, therapeutic misconception, and other threats to the ethical validity of clinical trials; and the potentially conflicting obligations of researchers and clinicians

High prevalence of rectal gonorrhea and Chlamydia infection in women attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic.

Background: Testing women for urogenital Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is common in sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics. However, women may not be routinely tested for rectal GC/CT. This may lead to missed infections in women reporting anal intercourse (AI). Methods: This was a retrospective review of all women who underwent rectal GC/CT testing from August 2012 to June 2013 at an STD clinic in Columbus, Ohio. All women who reported AI in the last year had a rectal swab collected for GC/CT nucleic acid amplification testing (n=331). Using log-binomial regression models, we computed unadjusted and adjusted associations for demographic and behavioral factors associated with rectal GC/CT infection. Results: Participants (n=331) were 47% African-American, with median age of 29 years. Prevalence of rectal GC was 6%, rectal CT was 13%, and either rectal infection was 19%. Prevalence of urogenital GC and CT was 7% and 13% respectively. Among women with rectal GC, 14% tested negative for urogenital GC. Similarly, 14% of women with rectal CT tested negative for urogenital CT. In unadjusted analyses, there was increased rectal GC prevalence among women reporting sex in the last year with an injection drug user, with a person exchanging sex for drugs or money, with anonymous partners, and while intoxicated/high on alcohol or illicit drugs. After multivariable adjustment, no significant associations persisted, but a trend of increased rectal GC prevalence was observed for women <26 years of age (p=0.06) and those reporting sex while intoxicated/high on alcohol or drugs (p=0.05). For rectal CT, only age <26 years was associated with prevalent infection in unadjusted models; this association strengthened after multivariable adjustment (prevalence ratio: 6.03; 95% confidence interval: 2.29–15.90). Conclusion: Nearly one in five women who reported AI in the last year had rectal GC or CT infection. Urogenital testing alone would have missed 14% of rectal infections. Standardized guidelines would increase rectal GC/CT testing in women and help detect missed infections