The floriculture industry in Malta

The floriculture industry in Malta is relatively small when compared to that of other European countries. However, despite several constraints, a number of growers deal exclusively with the production of floriculture products for local use. In the early 1970s, a locally based company was much involved in the export of floricultural products to the United Kingdom. This year (2002), four local growers initiated the growing and export of gladioli flowers to Italy.peer-reviewe

Choice and Tested Recipes

Ladies of Cuba, NY, have joined forces to contribute some of their best-loved recipes in this 86-page cookbook from the World War I era. A journey back in time representing food staples (e.g., brown bread, tomato soup, suet pudding, boiled salad dressing) as well as local businesses (advertisements appear throughout the recipe book), Choice and Tested Recipes is dedicated “to those ‘Plucky Housewives’ who master their work instead of allowing it to master them.” Beyond recipes that highlight some of the area’s finest ingredients (Jell-o from LeRoy and Royal baking powder from Brooklyn, NY), Choice and Tested Recipes offers a course-specific quote at the beginning of each section (e.g., John Heywood’s “Would you both eat your cake and have your cake?” for the section on cakes), advice for remedying household challenges (e.g., removing old tea/coffee stains, healing bruises, adding nutrients to and removing slugs from rose bushes, cleaning up while one works), and additional concoctions for healing those in the “sick room.” Choice and Tested Recipes is organized by course, with a general table of contents on the last page, including breads, soups, meats, pies and puddings, conserves and jellies, and beverages. The recipes are simple, written in short paragraph format, and reveal a bit of each contributing housewife’s personality. For instance Miss Wright’s Clubhouse Sandwiches are “fit for a prince,” Mrs. C.A. Wheeler deems her Smothered Ham “a delicious dish,” and Mrs. G.E.P.’s tomato bisque recipe warns fellow housewives to “stir tomatoes slowly into the milk; if the reverse is done it will curdle.” Bon appetit! (summary written by Kim Hoffman)https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/historical-reprints/1020/thumbnail.jp

要介護認定基準の変更と影響の同期検証 －2009 年10 月版と2006 年版一次判定の較差－

本研究では，要介護認定基準2009年10月版と，旧版要介護認定基準2006年版との較差を比較するために，経年的な対象者における要介護状況の変化を除外して，それぞれを同期検証することを研究目的とした。その比較する対象を，同一対象者で同一時期に，それぞれの要介護認定基準ごとに別々の認定調査員の認定調査結果から要介護認定一次判定を実施した。それぞれの認定調査結果から，要介護認定基準の変更と影響について，8施設（400名）と8在宅事業所（208名）の要介護者等608名を研究対象として分析した。同期検証した結果，総体的に2009年10月版は，平均合計要介護時間は3.37分ほど多めに有意差を持って算出された。要介護度の2006年版から2009年10月版での一致率は，半数近くの調査対象者の要介護度が変化して，軽度化する調査対象者も2割半前後いた。要介護5の一致率が64.23%と最も高く，要支援1の一致率は29.73%と最も低くなった。要介護5以上の要介護時間に該当する要介護者は2009年10月版の方が2006年版よりも多く分布し，動ける認知症の要介護度はその全体の41.67%も軽度化していた。要介護認定には，要介護基準等介護時間だけによらない総合的指標である総合介護度の構築が必要である。In this research, the accreditation criteria of certifi cation standards of long-term care needed level have been changed to be stricter at the fiscal year 2009 in Japan. The difference and influence were compared in the primary judgment between the fiscal year 2006 and the fiscal year 2009 October version at the synchronized analysis. As for the synchronized analysis, each different investigator surveyed the same long-term care needed or assisted at the simultaneous time with the certifi cation standard for long-term care needed with 2009 October and 2006 version. The change and the influence of them were detected by each investigation result of the 608 long-term care needed who used the services of 8 institutions or the 8 in-home facilities. As a result, total 3.37 minutes needed more average time for total long-term care was signifi cantly calculated by 2009 October than 2006 version(p<0.01). The long-care needed levels of the same respondents have been changed with over half coincidence rate between 2009 October and 2006 versions. The 2009 October version was possible to slightly improve about 25 percent of the long-term care assisted level from 2006 to 2009 October, version, too. At the long-term care needed level 5, the 64.23% coincidence rate of the long-term care needed level was highest. At the long-term care assisted level 1, the 29.73% coincidence rate of the long-term care assisted level was lowest. There were more time and number distribution over the long-term care needed level 5 calculated by 2009 October than 2006 versions. 41.67% of the self-movable dementia was considerably lightened at the long-term care moderately needed and assisted level. The certification standard for long-term care needed should be constructed by not only the long-term care time but also total factors with the burden or necessity indexes for the judgment of the long-term care needed.報告Report

Chemical composition, antioxidant activity and bioaccessibility studies in phenolic extracts of two Hericium wild edible species

Mushrooms are rich sources of bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids. When ingested, these molecules have to be released from the matrix to be transformed/absorbed by the organism, so that they can exert their bioactivity. Several in vitro methodologies have been developed in order to evaluate the bioavailability of bioactive compounds. Herein, two Hericium species were analyzed for their chemical composition and antioxidant activity. Furthermore, an in vitro digestion of the mushrooms and mushroom phenolic extracts was performed, and the digested samples were also submitted to antioxidant activity evaluation in order to evaluate the bioaccessibility of the phenolic acids identified in the samples. Hericium species showed similar chemical profiles (except for tocopherols), varying only in the concentration of the compounds. The phenolic extracts revealed higher antioxidant activity than the in vitro digested samples, meaning that this process decrease the antioxidant properties of the extract/mushroom. Nevertheless, phenolic acids were found in the digested samples, meaning that those molecules are bioaccessible.The authors are grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011), S.A. Heleno grant (BD/70304/2010) and L. Barros contract under “Programa Compromisso com a Ciência-2008”