Pros and cons of using a computer vision system for color evaluation of meat and meat products

The ability of a computer vision system to evaluate the color of meat and meat products was investigated by a comparison study with color measurements from a traditional colorimeter. Pros and cons of using a computer vision system for color evaluation of meat and meat products were evaluated. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the instrumental values in all three dimensions (L*, a*, b*) between the computer vision system and the colorimeter. The computer vision system-generated colors were perceived as being more similar to the sample of the meat products visualized on the monitor, compared to colorimeter-generated colors in all (100%) individual trials performed. The use of the computer vision system is, therefore, considered a superior and less expensive alternative to the traditional method for measuring color of meat and meat products. The disadvantages of the computer vision system are its size, which makes it stationary, and the lack of official manufacturers that can provide ready-to-use systems. This type of computerized system still demands experts for its assembly and utilization

DOT-WINGED CRAKE PORZANA SPILOPTERA (RALLIDAE; DURNFORD, 1877) IN CHILE: NEW RECORDS AND A REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF PACIFIC POPULATIONS

We report new records of the Dot-winged Crake Porzana spiloptera in southern Chile, an almost unknown species distributed mainly in Argentina and recently discovered in Chile. The occasional capture of a juvenile of the species at Cruces River wetland (39°S), and the analysis of sound recordings obtained to explore the acoustic attributes of urban wetland soundscapes, made it possible to discuss the status of the Pacific populations of the species. The new records show that P. spiloptera has a resident status and suggest that the presence of the species in Chile went historically unnoticed, and that it has been confused with the Black Rail Laterallus jamaicensis. Comprehensive surveys and dedicated research that provide fundamental biological aspects such as the current distribution, population abundance, habitat requirements, and main threats for these secretive rails are urgently needed for their conservation

Food safety and environmental risks based on meat and dairy consumption surveys

This paper gives an overview of the possibilities of using meat and dairy consumption studies in food safety and environmental risk scenarios. For both types of risk-based scenarios, common denominators are consumption patterns such as frequency and quantity of consumed food, demographic profile of consumers and food safety hazard or environmental impact of a specific type of food. This type of data enables development of simulation models where the Monte Carlo method is considered as a useful mathematical tool. Synergy of three dimensions - field research used in consumption studies, advanced chemometric tools necessary for quantifying chemical food safety hazards or environmental impacts and simulation models - has the potential to adapt datasets from various sources into useful food safety and/or environmental information

A monoclonal antibody to Siglec-8 suppresses non-allergic airway inflammation and inhibits IgE-independent mast cell activation.

In addition to their well characterized role in mediating IgE-dependent allergic diseases, aberrant accumulation and activation of mast cells (MCs) is associated with many non-allergic inflammatory diseases, whereby their activation is likely triggered by non-IgE stimuli (e.g., IL-33). Siglec-8 is an inhibitory receptor expressed on MCs and eosinophils that has been shown to inhibit IgE-mediated MC responses and reduce allergic inflammation upon ligation with a monoclonal antibody (mAb). Herein, we evaluated the effects of an anti-Siglec-8 mAb (anti-S8) in non-allergic disease models of experimental cigarette-smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bleomycin-induced lung injury in Siglec-8 transgenic mice. Therapeutic treatment with anti-S8 inhibited MC activation and reduced recruitment of immune cells, airway inflammation, and lung fibrosis. Similarly, using a model of MC-dependent, IL-33-induced inflammation, anti-S8 treatment suppressed neutrophil influx, and cytokine production through MC inhibition. Transcriptomic profiling of MCs further demonstrated anti-S8-mediated downregulation of MC signaling pathways induced by IL-33, including TNF signaling via NF-κB. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that ligating Siglec-8 with an antibody reduces non-allergic inflammation and inhibits IgE-independent MC activation, supporting the evaluation of an anti-Siglec-8 mAb as a therapeutic approach in both allergic and non-allergic inflammatory diseases in which MCs play a role

Attitudes and beliefs of Eastern European consumers towards piglet castration and meat from castrated pigs

Castration of male piglets is a common practice to avoid boar taint but is being questioned. The present work has an exploratory character and aims to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of Eastern European consumers regarding boar taint, surgical castration immunocastration and perception of meat from castrated pigs and to find out possible segments of consumers regarding these attitudes and beliefs. For this purpose, a consumer study was carried out involving 5508 consumers from 13 Eastern European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, North Macedonia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine). The questionnaire included statements related to beliefs about castration and perception of meat from castrated pigs, attitudes towards meat from castrated pigs. Results show that in general beliefs and attitudes of the consumers are not defined, probably because of the lack of knowledge (information was not provided to the consumers) towards these issues. Three different clusters of consumers were obtained with different beliefs towards castration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The MDM2-p53 pathway is involved in preconditioning-induced neuronal tolerance to ischemia.

Brain preconditioning (PC) refers to a state of transient tolerance against a lethal insult that can be evoked by a prior mild event. It is thought that PC may induce different pathways responsible for neuroprotection, which may involve the attenuation of cell damage pathways, including the apoptotic cell death. In this context, p53 is a stress sensor that accumulates during brain ischemia leading to neuronal death. The murine double minute 2 gene (MDM2), a p53-specific E3 ubiquitin ligase, is the main cellular antagonist of p53, mediating its degradation by the proteasome. Here, we study the role of MDM2-p53 pathway on PC-induced neuroprotection both in cultured neurons (in vitro) and rat brain (in vivo). Our results show that PC increased neuronal MDM2 protein levels, which prevented ischemiainduced p53 stabilization and neuronal death. Indeed, PC attenuated ischemia-induced activation of the p53/PUMA/caspase-3 signaling pathway. Pharmacological inhibition of MDM2-p53 interaction in neurons abrogated PC-induced neuroprotection against ischemia. Finally, the relevance of the MDM2-p53 pathway was confirmed in rat brain using a PC model in vivo. These findings demonstrate the key role of the MDM2-p53 pathway in PC-induced neuroprotection against a subsequent ischemic insult and poses MDM2 as an essential target in ischemic tolerance

Last Men Standing: Chlamydatus Portraits and Public Life in Late Antique Corinth

Notable among the marble sculptures excavated at Corinth are seven portraits of men wearing the long chlamys of Late Antique imperial office. This unusual costume, contemporary portrait heads, and inscribed statue bases all help confirm that new public statuary was created and erected at Corinth during the 4th and 5th centuries. These chlamydatus portraits, published together here for the first time, are likely to represent the Governor of Achaia in his capital city, in the company of local benefactors. Among the last works of the ancient sculptural tradition, they form a valuable source of information on public life in Late Antique Corinth

A Systematic Review of Dynamometry and its Role in Hand Trauma Assessment

The dynamometer was developed by American neurologists and came into general use in the late 19th century. It is still used in various ways as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in clinical settings. In this systematic review we assessed in detail the different uses of dynamometry, its reliability, different dynamometers used and the influence of rater experience by bringing together and evaluating all published literature in this field. It was found that dynamometry is applied in a wide range of medical conditions. Furthermore, the great majority of studies reported acceptable to high reliability of dynamometry. Jamar mechanical dynamometer was used most often in the studies reviewed. There were mixed results concerning the effect of rater experience. The factors influencing the results of dynamometry were identified as age, gender, body weight, grip strength, BMI, non/dominant hand, assessing upper/lower limbs, rater and patient’s strength and the distance from the joint where the dynamometer is placed. This review provides an understanding of the relevance and significance of dynamometry which should serve as a starting point to guide its use in hand trauma assessment. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that hand dynamometry has a great potential, and could be used more often in clinical practice

Epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection and sepsis in critically ill patients: “AbSeS”, a multinational observational cohort study and ESICM Trials Group Project

Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection in an international cohort of ICU patients according to a new system that classifies cases according to setting of infection acquisition (community-acquired, early onset hospital-acquired, and late-onset hospital-acquired), anatomical disruption (absent or present with localized or diffuse peritonitis), and severity of disease expression (infection, sepsis, and septic shock). Methods: We performed a multicenter (n = 309), observational, epidemiological study including adult ICU patients diagnosed with intra-abdominal infection. Risk factors for mortality were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Results: The cohort included 2621 patients. Setting of infection acquisition was community-acquired in 31.6%, early onset hospital-acquired in 25%, and late-onset hospital-acquired in 43.4% of patients. Overall prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was 26.3% and difficult-to-treat resistant Gram-negative bacteria 4.3%, with great variation according to geographic region. No difference in prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was observed according to setting of infection acquisition. Overall mortality was 29.1%. Independent risk factors for mortality included late-onset hospital-acquired infection, diffuse peritonitis, sepsis, septic shock, older age, malnutrition, liver failure, congestive heart failure, antimicrobial resistance (either methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacteria, or carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria) and source control failure evidenced by either the need for surgical revision or persistent inflammation. Conclusion: This multinational, heterogeneous cohort of ICU patients with intra-abdominal infection revealed that setting of infection acquisition, anatomical disruption, and severity of disease expression are disease-specific phenotypic characteristics associated with outcome, irrespective of the type of infection. Antimicrobial resistance is equally common in community-acquired as in hospital-acquired infection

Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues in the age of COVID ‐19: evidence from an online survey in 15 countries

Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues in the age of COVID ‐19: evidence from an online survey in 15 countries Igor Tomasevic Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) Quakenbrück Germany Department of Dairy Technology and Functional Foods, Faculty of Food Sciences and Biotechnology University of Life Sciences in Lublin Lublin Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1611-2264 Garegin Hambardzumyan Armenian National Agrarian University Yerevan Armenia Gayane Marmaryan Armenian National Agrarian University Yerevan Armenia Aleksandra Nikolic Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences University of Sarajevo Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Alen Mujcinovic Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences University of Sarajevo Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Weizheng Sun School of Food Science and Engineering South China University of Technology Guangzhou China https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5769-4275 Xiao‐Chen Liu School of Food Science and Engineering South China University of Technology Guangzhou China Danijela Bursać Kovačević Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia Anica Bebek Markovinović Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia Nino Terjung German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) Quakenbrück Germany Volker Heinz German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) Quakenbrück Germany Maria Papageorgiou Department of Food Science and Technology International Hellenic University Thessaloniki Greece Adriana Skendi Department of Food Science and Technology International Hellenic University Thessaloniki Greece Gunjan Goel Department of Microbiology Central University of Haryana Mahendragarh India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8761-929X Mamta Raghav Department of Life Sciences RPS Degree College Mahendragarh India Antonella Dalle Zotte Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health University of Padova Padova Italy Dimitar Nakov Faculty of Agriculture "Goce Delcev" University in Stip Shtip Republic of North Macedonia Faculty of Medical Sciences "Goce Delcev" University in Stip Shtip Republic of North Macedonia Valentina Velkoska Faculty of Agriculture "Goce Delcev" University in Stip Shtip Republic of North Macedonia Bartosz G. Sołowiej Department of Dairy Technology and Functional Foods, Faculty of Food Sciences and Biotechnology University of Life Sciences in Lublin Lublin Poland Anastasia A. Semenova V. M. Gorbatov Federal Research Center for Food Systems Moscow Russia Oksana A. Kuznetsova V. M. Gorbatov Federal Research Center for Food Systems Moscow Russia Miroslav Krocko Department of Technology and Quality of Animal Products, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences Institute of Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Nitra Slovakia Viera Duckova Department of Technology and Quality of Animal Products, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences Institute of Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Nitra Slovakia Jose M. Lorenzo Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia Ourense Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7725-9294 Noemi Echegaray Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia Ourense Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7393-2955 Emel Oz Department of Food Engineering, Agriculture Faculty Atatürk University Erzurum Türkiye https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3766-2713 Fatih Oz Department of Food Engineering, Agriculture Faculty Atatürk University Erzurum Türkiye https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5300-7519 Ilija Djekic Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia Abstract BACKGROUND This investigation provides an important insight into Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues influenced by the COVID‐19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in 15 European and Asian countries involving more than 4000 consumers. RESULTS It has confirmed that different socioeconomic characteristics, cultural aspects and education levels shape food safety perceptions within Eurasian countries. The COVID‐19 pandemic influenced their beliefs and trust in food safety, which is relatively low on average. However, it is significantly higher for European consumers (especially European Union ones) compared to their Asian counterparts. Both Asian and European respondents agreed that food fraud and climate changes represent a food safety issue. However, European consumers were less concerned regarding the food safety of genetically modified foods and meat and dairy analogs/hybrids. Asian consumers were, to a greater extent, worried about the risk of getting COVID‐19 from food, restaurants, food retail establishments and home food deliveries. CONCLUSION Eurasian consumers have put their greatest extent of trust, when food safety assurance is concerned, into food scientists and food producers holding a food safety certificate. Broadly, they are uncertain to what extent their federal governments and food inspectors are competent, able and efficient in ensuring food safety. Higher education of Eurasian consumers was followed by increased food safety confidence in all parts of the food chain. © 2023 The Authors. 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