High pressure inactivation of Clostridium botulinum type E endospores in model emulsion systems

Clostridium botulinum type E is a cold-tolerant, neurotoxigenic, endospore-forming organism, primarily associated with aquatic environments. High pressure thermal (HPT) processing presents a promising tool to enhance food safety and stability. The effect of fat on HPT inactivation of C. botulinum type E spores was investigated using an emulsion model system. The distribution of spores in oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions and their HPT (300–750?MPa, 45–75?°C, 10?min) inactivation was determined as a function of emulsion fat content (30–70% (v/v) soybean oil in buffer). Approximately 26% and 74% of the spores were located at the oil–buffer interface and the continuous phase, respectively. Spore inactivation in emulsion systems decreased with increasing oil contents, which suggests that the fat content of food plays an important role in the protection of C. botulinum type E endospores against HPT treatments. These results can be helpful for future safety considerations.     

Tuning Thiophene with Phosphorus: Synthesis and Electronic Properties of Benzobisthiaphospholes

1,4‐Dimercapto‐2,5‐diphosphinobenzene and 3,6‐bis(hexyloxy)‐1,4‐dimercapto‐2,5‐diphosphinobenzene were synthesized and combined with various acid chlorides to obtain a series of benzobisthiaphospholes. Electrochemical and photophysical properties of the substituted benzobisthiaphospholes have been evaluated, and the observed reductions are more facile than the related benzothiaphospholes and 2,6‐diphenylbenzobisthiazole. A benzobisthiaphosphole with C₆H₄‐p‐CN substituents was reduced at E_1/2=?1.08 V (vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE)). X‐ray diffraction data for several of these phosphorus heterocycles has been obtained, and DFT calculations at the B3LYP level have been performed.     

Frequency and temperature dependence of molecular and micromechanical transitions in PPO/PMMA/P(S-g-EO) blends

The frequency and temperature dependence of molecular and micromechanical transitions were studied in polymer blends with an interphase. The viscoelastic properties of poly(2,6-dimethyl-p-phenylene oxide) (PPO) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends that were compatibilized by a poly(styrene-graft-ethylene oxide) (P(S-g-EO)) copolymer were studied by dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMS) and the experimental data were compared with an interlayer model. The addition of the copolymer resulted in a micromechanical transition, and the relation between the volume fraction of interphase, the activation energy of the micromechanical transition, and the micromechanical transition temperature was studied. A qualitative agreement between experiments and theory was achieved. The quantitative difference was explained by partial mixing of PPO and/or PMMA with the copolymer in the interphase. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

New designer drugs N-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-2-ethoxyethanamine (PCEEA) and N-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-2-methoxyethanamine (PCMEA): Studies on their metabolism and toxicological detection in rat urine using gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric techniques

Studies are described on the metabolism and the toxicological detection of the phencyclidine-derived designer drugs N-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-2-ethoxyethanamine (PCEEA) and N-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-2-methoxyethanamine (PCMEA) in rat urine using gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) techniques. The identified metabolites indicated that PCEEA and PCMEA were transformed to the same metabolites by N-dealkylation and O-dealkylation partially followed by oxidation of the resulting alcohol to the respective carboxylic acid and hydroxylation of the cyclohexyl ring at different positions and combinations of those. Finally, aromatic hydroxylation of the O-dealkylated metabolites was partially followed by hydroxylation of the cyclohexyl ring at different positions. All metabolites were partially excreted in conjugated form. The authors' systematic toxicological analysis (STA) procedure using full-scan GC/MS after acid hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction and microwave-assisted acetylation allowed the detection of an intake of a common drug users' dose both of PCEEA and PCMEA in rat urine. Assuming similar metabolism in humans, the STA should be suitable for proof of an intake of PCEEA and PCMEA in human urine, although their differentiation is not possible due to common metabolites.     

On ϵ productions for terminals in E0L forms

When working with E0L forms, equality of languages and of language families has traditionally been considered modulo the empty word ? to avoid trivial but cumbersome distinctions of cases. Despite this fact, the role of ?-productions is often significant in L form theory particular, it has previously been shown that vomplete forms must have ?-productions We strengthen this result by proving that vomplete forms must even have ?-productions for nonterminals. Based on this theorem we establish that there are E0L forms with the property that any form equivalent E0L form must generate the empty word. Thus, despite the fact that we define equality of languages modulo ?, we are still unable to ignore the presence of the empty word in languages when studying L forms. The proof of our main theorem is based on a number of lemmas which allow to show that certain E0L forms are not form equivalent. In view of the difficulty of proving or disproving form equivalence of arbitrary E0L forms (conjectured to be undecidable) these lemmas may well be of independent interest.     

Optical properties of fiber optics materials

The advances in optical waveguides have permitted a clear measurement of many glass properties normally obscured by impurities in conventional glasses. Among these is the intrinsic optical absorption in both the infrared and ultraviolet regions. The wavelength dependence and the statistical fluctuations of another intrinsic property, the refractive index, have also been determined in detail. Knowing accurately the foregoing characteristics of “pure” glasses, deviations due to additives are easier to detect. This has led to absorption determinations for atomic defects and selected impurities as well as for deliberate additions of other oxides.     

Matroid basis graphs. I

A matroid may be defined as a collection of sets, called bases, which satisfy a certain exchange axiom. The basis graph of a matroid has a vertex for each basis and an edge for each pair of bases that differ by the exchange of a single pair of elements. Two characterizations of basis graphs are obtained. The first involves certain local subgraphs and how they lie when the given graph is leveled with respect to distance from a particular vertex. The second involves the existence of a special mapping from the given graph to some “full” basis graph. It is also shown that in a natural sense all basis graphs are homotopically trivial.     

Uptake and release kinetics of 22 polar organic chemicals in the Chemcatcher passive sampler

The Chemcatcher passive sampler, which uses Empore? disks as sampling phase, is frequently used to monitor polar organic chemicals in river water and effluents. Uptake kinetics need to be quantified to calculate time-weighted average concentrations from Chemcatcher field deployments. Information on release kinetics is needed if performance reference compounds (PRCs) are used to quantify the influence of environmental conditions on the uptake. In a series of uptake and elimination experiments, we used Empore? SDB disks (poly(styrenedivinylbenzene) copolymer modified with sulfonic acid groups) as a sampling phase and 22 compounds with a logK _ow (octanol–water partitioning coefficient) range from ?2.6 to 3.8. Uptake experiments were conducted in river water or tap water and lasted up to 25 days. Only 1 of 22 compounds (sulfamethoxazole) approached equilibrium in the uptake trials. Other compounds showed continuing non-linear uptake, even after 25 days. All compounds could be released from SDB disks, and desorption was proportionally higher in disks loaded for shorter periods. Desorption showed two-phase characteristics, and desorption was proportionally higher for passively sorbed compounds compared to actively loaded compounds (active loading was performed by pulling spiked river water over SDB disks using vacuum). We hypothesise that the two-phase kinetics and better retention of actively loaded compounds—and compounds loaded for a longer period—may be caused by slow diffusion of chemicals within the polymer. As sorption and desorption did not show isotropic kinetics, it is not possible to develop robust PRCs for adsorbent material like SDB disks.