Influence of composition and processing of Frankfurter sausages on the growth dynamics of Listeria Monocytogenes under vacuum

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products, such as Frankfurter sausages, are often linked to cases of listeriosis, which is a disease caused by the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Frankfurter sausages vary, from manufacturer to manufacturer, in many aspects: (i) composition, (ii) physicochemical characteristics, (iii) background flora, (iv) processing technology and (v) organoleptic characteristics. Some of these factors have been widely investigated for their effect on L. monocytogenes on food products. However, studies on the specific effect of composition and processing technology on L. monocytogenes dynamics between two sausages are lacking. In this study, the growth dynamics of L. monocytogenes on two types of Frankfurter sausages, fresh and in brine, were studied at constant storage temperatures (4, 8 and 12°C). Additionally, the physicochemical and compositional characteristics of both types of sausages were analysed. In order to study the isolated effect of preservatives, L. monocytogenes growth dynamics, at 4°C and 30°C, were studied in two types of liquid systems. These were prepared with the same level of preservatives as in the two types of sausages. Results indicated no major significant differences in physicochemical characteristics for the two types of sausages; but, statistically significant variability was detected in the concentration of preservatives. In liquid systems, the maximum specific growth rate (μmax) remained unaffected by the effect of preservatives, but the lag phase was longer in the system mimicking fresh sausages. In sausages, the 'in brine' type had two-fold higher μmax at all temperatures and shorter lag phase at 4°C. The presence/absence of sausage skin, which was found to be impermeable from L. monocytogenes cells and was present in the fresh sausage, could explain those differences. In conclusion, this study highlighted the influence of processing factors, and specifically of the sausage casing on L. monocytogenes growth dynamics. Therefore, an edible membrane, which is heat resistant and impermeable to the cells, could be a hurdle strategy to control the microbiological food safety. monocytogenes growth dynamics can vary in different types of Frankfurters. monocytogenes growth on Frankfurters. monocytogenes growth on Frankfurters. monocytogenes cells.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Influence of composition and processing of Frankfurter sausages on the growth dynamics of Listeria monocytogenes under vacuum journaltitle: Food Research International articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2014.12.047 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe

Navigating young minds: reliability and validity of the Greek version of kiddie – schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia – present and lifetime DSM-5 version (K-SADS-PL-GR-5)

Abstract Background The Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) is one of the most popular semi-structured psychiatric interviews for children and adolescents. Its latest DSM-5 version (K-SADS-PL DSM-5) has only recently been adapted and validated in various languages. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Greek version of the K-SADS-PL DSM-5. Methods A total of 137 patients consecutively referred for admission, aged 7–17, were included. The K-SADS-PL DSM-IV was translated and adapted to correspond to DSM-5 categories. Convergent and divergent validity were assessed against two self-report rating scales, Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). Inter-rater reliability was calculated exclusively for instances where a diagnosis involved three or more patients. Results Our findings revealed good to excellent inter-rater reliability and good to excellent consensual validity across most psychiatric diagnoses, except for panic disorder. Diagnostic efficiency, measured by sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, consistently showed high specificity and negative predictive validity across all diagnostic categories. Conclusions These findings support the applicability of the Greek version of the K-SADS-PL DSM-5 as a reliable and valid diagnostic tool in Greek-speaking populations

An experimental study on kind and generic readings across,languages: bare plural vs. definite plural

To express kind and generic readings, Romance languages like Italian have been reported to use definite plurals but Germanic languages like English make use of bare plurals (Krifka et al., 1995; Chierchia, 1998), where Greek patterns with Romance (Alexiadou et al., 2007). German is discussed as an exception, as both bare and definite plurals are used to express kind (Krifka et al., 1995) and generic (Longobardi, 1994) readings. We present results from an experimental study comparing English, German, Italian and Greek, focusing on two novel findings: i) German and English both express kind/generic readings with bare plurals; ii) the effect of speaker distance (Acton, 2019) makes the definite plural an additional option in German