Characterization of lactic acid bacteria isolated from infant faeces as potential probiotic starter cultures for fermented sausages

Food Microbiology
Volume 38, April 2014, Pages 303–311
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2013.07.015

Highlights

• Lactobacillus gasseri and Enterococcus faecalis were the main species in infant faeces.
• RAPD-PCR discriminated 60 profiles out of 109 LAB isolates.
• Six of 109 LAB isolated from infants were qualified as potential probiotics.
• Selected lactobacilli were assayed as starter cultures in model sausages.
• Three of the selected strains were effective meat starter cultures.

Abstract

A total of 109 lactic acid bacteria isolated from infant faeces were identified by partial 16S rRNA, cpn60 and/or pheS sequencing. Lactobacillus was the most prevalent genus, representing 48% of the isolates followed by Enterococcus (38%). Lactobacillus gasseri (21%) and Enterococcus faecalis (38%) were the main species detected. A further selection of potential probiotic starter cultures for fermented sausages focused on Lactobacillus as the most technologically relevant genus in this type of product. Lactobacilli strains were evaluated for their ability to grow in vitro in the processing conditions of fermented sausages and for their functional and safety properties, including antagonistic activity against foodborne pathogens, survival from gastrointestinal tract conditions (acidity, bile and pancreatin), tyramine production, antibiotic susceptibility and aggregation capacity. The best strains according to the results obtained were Lactobacillus casei/paracasei CTC1677, L. casei/paracasei CTC1678, Lactobacillus rhamnosus CTC1679, L. gasseri CTC1700, L. gasseri CTC1704, Lactobacillus fermentum CTC1693. Those strains were further assayed as starter cultures in model sausages. L. casei/paracasei CTC1677, L. casei/paracasei CTC1678 and L. rhamnosus CTC1679 were able to lead the fermentation and dominate (levels ca. 10^8 CFU/g) the endogenous lactic acid bacteria, confirming their suitability as probiotic starter cultures.

Keywords

Fermented sausages; Lactic acid bacteria; Lactobacillus; RAPD-PCR; Probiotics

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740002013001548

Virgin ant queens mate with their own sons to avoid failure at colony foundation

Naturwissenschaften
January 2014, Volume 101, Issue 1, pp 69-72
Cover Date 2014-01-01
DOI 10.1007/s00114-013-1126-2

Christine Vanessa Schmidt, Sabine Frohschammer, Alexandra Schrempf, Jürgen Heinze

Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93040, Regensburg, Germany

Abstract

Mother–son mating (oedipal mating) is practically non-existent in social Hymenoptera, as queens typically avoid inbreeding, mate only early in life and do not mate again after having begun to lay eggs. In the ant genus Cardiocondyla mating occurs among sib in the natal nests. Sex ratios are extremely female-biased and young queens face the risk of remaining without mating partners. Here, we show that virgin queens of Cardiocondyla argyrotricha produce sons from their own unfertilized eggs and later mate with them to produce female offspring from fertilized eggs. Oedipal mating may allow C. argyrotricha queens to found new colonies when no mating partners are available and thus maintains their unusual life history combining monogyny, mating in the nest, and low male production. Our result indicates that a trait that sporadically occurs in solitary haplodiploid animals may evolve also in social Hymenoptera under appropriate ecological and social conditions.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-013-1126-2

Infertility in Star Trek

World Future Review
November, Winter 2012 vol. 4 no. 4 19-27
doi: 10.1177/194675671200400405

Victor Grech

Abstract

It is fair to say that Star Trek comprises a selfcontained subgenre within science fiction (SF). Over nearly 50 years, through six distinct television series, and eleven feature length films, the “Star Trek universe” envisioned by Gene Roddenberry has become arguably the world's most elaborate and widely recognized depiction of life in future times (covering roughly the twenty-second through the twenty-ninth centuries). In this article, situations involving infertility occurring in episodes from different Star Trek series are examined and some general conclusions offered concerning the perception of this problem and the variety of responses proposed.

STAR TREK; INFERTILITY; MEDICINE IN SCIENCE FICTION

http://wfr.sagepub.com/content/4/4/19.abstract

Impulsive frotteurism: A case report

Medicine, Science and the Law
October 21, 2013 vol. 53 no. 4 235-238
doi: 10.1177/0025802412474813

Ambika Prasad Patra [1], Balaji Bharadwaj [2], Kusa Kumar Shaha [1], Siddhartha Das [1], Anand P Rayamane [3], Chandra Sekhara Tripathi [4]

[1] Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, 605006 India
[2] Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Research, India
[3] Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences, India
[4] Department of Psychiatry, M.K.C.G. Medical College & Hospital, India

Abstract

Frotteurism is a perverted sexual behaviour wherein the person tends to rub or bring about physical contact between his genitals and an unrelated female or male to derive sexual pleasure. Moreover, frotteurism is a common phenomenon among the general population which usually goes unnoticed or overlooked. Nevertheless, public frottage has legal implications in almost all countries over the world. But, when frotteurism manifests on the backdrop of psychiatric illness or as a developmental abnormality then it is worth discussing what the legal liability would be. The present case report is based on hypersexual frotteuristic behaviour manifested on the background of a concealed psychiatric illness, featuring depression and obsessive compulsive disease. The hypersexual behaviour manifested in the form of masturbation with features of frotteurism and subsequent development of depression. Nevertheless, compulsive manifestation of frotteuristic behaviour and subsequent development of morbid depression is rare. This paper describes a 12-year-old boy having unrestrained impulsive frotteurism with his peers, school mates and with his younger brother. He was conscious of the fact and feeling guilty of what he was doing but unable to restrain himself. It was followed by the development of symptoms of depression which was treated with Sertraline. Concurrent psychiatric counseling and rehabilitation measures were taken too. There was complete remission of the symptoms 6 months after the onset of treatment and without relapse thereafter. The paper discusses the differential diagnosis and management of hypersexual behaviour.

http://msl.sagepub.com/content/53/4/235.abstract?etoc

When backyard fun turns to trauma: risk assessment of blunt ballistic impact trauma due to potato cannons

International Journal of Legal Medicine
January 2012, Volume 126, Issue 1, pp 13-18
Cover Date 2012-01-01
DOI 10.1007/s00414-011-0552-y

Matthias Frank (1,2), Oliver Jobski (3), Britta Bockholdt (4), Rico Grossjohann (1), Dirk Stengel (1,2), Axel Ekkernkamp (1,2), Peter Hinz (2)

1. Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Sauerbruchstrasse, 17475, Greifswald, Germany
2. Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany
3. Landeskriminalamt (LKA) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rampe, Germany
4. Department of Legal Medicine, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Abstract

Although potato cannons are an area of great interest among internet users, they are almost completely unknown in the medical community. These simple ballistic devices are made from plastic plumbing pipes and are powered with propellant gas from aerosol cans. By combustion of the gas–oxygen mixture, a high pressure is produced which propels the potato chunks through the barrel. It is the aim of this study to investigate the hazardous potential of these shooting devices. Test shots were performed using three illegally manufactured potato cannons that were confiscated by police authorities. Velocity, impulse, kinetic energy, and energy density were calculated. The risk of head and chest injuries was investigated by using Sturdivan's Blunt Criterion (BC), an energy based five parametric trauma model assessing the vulnerability to blunt weapons, projectile impacts, and behind-body-armor exposures. The probability of lethality due to blunt impact trauma to the chest was assessed using Sturdivan's lethality model. For potential head impacts, all test shots far exceeded the critical BC (head) value which corresponds to a 50% risk of skull fracture. The risk of injury with regard to chest impacts was similar. All but two test shots far exceeded the critical BC (chest) value corresponding to a 50% risk of sustaining a thoracic skeletal injury of Abbreviated Injury Scale 2 or 3. The probability of a lethal injury due to blunt chest impact was as high as 20%. To conclude, this work demonstrates that potato cannons should be considered dangerous weapons rather than as toys used by adventurous adolescents.

Ethical standards

Ethical approval was not required for this experimental investigation.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00414-011-0552-y

Identification of student comprehension using forehead wrinkles

2011 International Conference on Computer, Communication and Electrical Technology (ICCCET)
Tamilnadu, 18-19 March 2011
Page(s): 66 - 70

Professor Dr. M.Mohamed Sathik, M.Sc., M.Phil., M.B.A., M.Tech., M.S., Ph.D. and Dr. G.Sofia M.C.A, M.Phil., (Ph.D)

Dept. of Comput. Sci.
Sadakathullah Appa Coll.
Tirunelveli
India

Facial Expression plays a vital role in the identification of Emotions and comprehension level of the students in the virtual classrooms. Expressions that signal emotions include muscle movements such as raising the eyebrows, wrinkling the brow (the forehead or eyebrow), rolling the eyes or curling the lip. Here, we propose an efficient method for identifying the expressions of the students to recognize their comprehension from the facial expressions in static images containing the frontal view of the human face. Our goal is to categorize the facial expressions of the students in the given image into two basic emotional expression states - comprehensible, incomprehensible. One of the key action units in the face to expose expression is forehead. In this paper, Facial expressions are identified from the wrinkles of the forehead. Our method consists of three steps, Forehead detection, Wrinkle extraction and Emotion recognition. The proposed method is tested on the images from YALE and JAFFE Face databases.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=5762440

Infants of mothers with persistent nipple pain exert strong sucking vacuums

Acta Paediatrica
Volume 97, Issue 9, pages 1205–1209, September 2008

Holly L McClellan [1], DT Geddes [1], JC Kent [1], CP Garbin [1], LR Mitoulas [2] and PE Hartmann [1]

[1]  School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, M310, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia, 6009
[2] Medela AG, Medical Technology, Lättichstrasse 4b, Baar, Switzerland

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to determine whether infants of mothers experiencing persistent nipple pain exerted very strong intraoral vacuums during a breastfeed.

Methods: Thirty mothers experiencing persistent pain during breastfeeding (Pain group; infants aged 49.4 ± 35.5 days) were compared to 30 successfully breastfeeding mothers (Control group; infants aged 55.0 ± 22.7 days). Infant intraoral vacuums were measured via a small milk-filled tube taped alongside the nipple and connected to a pressure transducer. Milk intake was measured using the test weigh method.

Results: Infants in the Pain group applied significantly stronger baseline (−90.8 ± 54.5 vs. −56.4 ± 31.4 mmHg, p = 0.004), peak (−214.3 ± 60.5 vs. 163.2 ± 62.4 mmHg, p = 0.002) and pause vacuums (−104.8 ± 67.9 vs. −45.8 ± 30.3 mmHg, p < 0.001). Despite similar active sucking times (377.5 ± 175.2 vs. 349.4 ± 184.0 sec, p = 0.554) the mean milk intake was significantly lower for infants of mothers with nipple pain (41.6 ± 31.3 vs. 70.7 ± 30.7 g, p = 0.001).

Conclusion: Infants of breastfeeding mothers experiencing persistent nipple pain applied significantly higher vacuum to the breast during breastfeeding despite assistance with positioning and attachment from a lactation consultant. Further investigation into the cause of the abnormally high vacuums is essential to develop successful interventions for these mother–infant dyads.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.00882.x/abstract

Do We Learn from Our Mistakes? An Examination of the Impact of Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences on College Students’ Drinking Patterns and Perceptions

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
March 2006 : Volume 67, Issue 2: 269-276

Kimberly A. Mallett, Christine M. Lee, Clayton Neighbors, Mary E. Larimer, Rob Turrisi

Prevention Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 204 East Calder Way, Suite 208, State College, Pennsylvania 16801

Christine M. Lee, Clayton Neighbors, and Mary E. Larimer are with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Rob Turrisi is with the Department of Biobehavioral Health and Prevention Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Objective

Little research has examined antecedents of specific drinking consequences (vomiting, regretted sex, hangover, blackouts) among college students. This research examined how students’ experiences of past consequences relate to their beliefs of experiencing similar consequences in the future and how these beliefs relate to current drinking patterns.

Method

Self-reported past drinking behavior and resulting consequences associated with specific occasions were assessed among 303 (66% women) college students. Students also estimated number of drinks associated with risk of experiencing future similar consequences.

Results

Paired-samples t tests indicated that students significantly overestimated the number of drinks it would take to vomit, have unwanted sexual experiences, experience hangovers, and black out in comparison with the actual self-reported number of drinks consumed the last time identical consequences were experienced. In addition, a series of multiple-regression analyses revealed that greater misperceptions between the perceived and actual number of drinks associated with each type of consequence were consistently associated with heavier drinking.

Conclusions

Results suggest that heavier-drinking students do not learn from their mistakes but instead overestimate the amount of alcohol they can consume without experiencing negative consequences. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed in terms of augmenting brief interventions aimed at heavy-drinking college students.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443639/

Harry Potter casts a spell on accident prone children

BMJ 2005;331:1505
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1505
(Published 22 December 2005)

Stephen Gwilym, specialist registrar
Dominic P J Howard, senior house officer
Nev Davies, specialist registrar
Keith Willett, consultant

Department of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU

Abstract

In the infancy of this millennium two things are certain: children injure themselves on the latest “craze” and children will (probably) read the Harry Potter books. Previous reports have highlighted the impact of emerging crazes such as inline skating and microscooters, with attention being drawn to potential accident prevention and emerging patterns of injury.

One modern craze is the Harry Potter series of books and films. In the United Kingdom sales ofthe latest Harry Potter book, The Half-Blood Prince, are estimated to reach fourmillion, with around three million volumes being sold in the first week.

Given the lack of horizontal velocity, height, wheels, or sharp edges associated with this particular craze we were interested to investigate the impact the Harry Potter books had on children's traumatic injuries during the peak of their use.

http://www.bmj.com/content/331/7531/1505

Recent rapid responses

Marilyn J Cox
Medical Secretary, NHS Professionals
Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust

Harry Potter - Hidden Dangers
5 January 2006

I read with great interest the findings of your study. However, although it has demonstrated that the initial reading of the books reduces the incidence of accidents, further research should address the potential increase in head trauma, fractures and other musculoskeletal injuries resulting from children throwing themselves at railway station walls in an attempt to reach Platform 9¾.

Competing interests: Author sustained slight bruising to toe after dropping 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' on foot.

Farting as a defence against unspeakable dread

Journal of Analytical Psychology
Volume 41, Issue 2, pages 165–178, April 1996
DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-5922.1996.00165.x

Mara Sidoli

Washington

This paper describes some features of the behaviour of a severely disturbed adopted latency boy. Peter was born premature, suffered several early hospitalizations and surgical operations, and at 2 months of age was removed from his mother's care by Social Services for neglect and abandonment.

Although his subsequent development has been clouded by a series of losses and sudden changes of caregivers, Peter has maintained an unexpected desire to relate, showing considerable innate resilience. When feeling endangered, Peter had developed a defensive olfactive container using his bodily smell and farts to envelop himself in a protective cloud of familiarity against the dread of falling apart, and to hold his personality together.

In the paper Fordham's views of development and Anzieu's concept of psychic envelopes constitute the theoretical underpinning. Bion's concepts of beta- and alpha-elements are discussed in relation to Jung's views on symbolic development and psychological containment.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-5922.1996.00165.x/abstract

Behavior of young children under conditions simulating entrapment in refrigerators

Pediatrics
Vol. 22 No. 4 October 1, 1958
pp. 628 -647

Katherine Bain, Marion L. Faegre, Robert S. Wyly

Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (K.B.), and National Bureau of Standards, U. S. Department of Commerce

Abstract

Behavior of young children in a situation simulating entrapment in refrigerators was studied in order to develop standards for inside releasing devices, in accordance with Public Law 930 of the 84th Congress.

Using a specially designed enclosure, 201 children 2 to 5 years of age took part in tests in which six devices were used, including two developed in the course of this experiment as the result of observation of behavior.

Success in escaping was dependent on the device, a child's age and size and his behavior. It was also influenced by the educational level of the parents, a higher rate of success being associated with fewer years of education attained by mother and father combined. Three major types of behavior were observed: (1) inaction, with no effort or only slight effort to get out (24%); (2) purposeful effort to escape (39%); (3) violent action both directed toward escape and undirected (37%).

Some of the children made no outcry (6% of the 2-year-olds and 50% of the 5-year-olds). Not all children pushed. When tested with devices where pushing was appropriate, 61% used this technique. Some children had curious twisting and twining movements of the fingers or clenching of the hands. When presented with a gadget that could be grasped, some (18%) pulled, a few (9%) pushed, but 40% tried to turn it like a doorknob.

Time of confinement in the enclosure was short for most children. Three-fourths released themselves or were released in less than 3 minutes; one-fourth in less than 10 seconds. Of those who let themselves out, one-half did so in less than 10 seconds. One-third of the children emerged unruffled, about half were upset but could be comforted easily, and a small group (11%) required some help to become calm.

Forces exerted in any horizontal direction by the children for whom such records were obtained ranged up to 29 pounds. The average was about 10 pounds for 3-year-olds and about 21 pounds for 5-year-olds. For reasons not known, the 2-year-old group exerted a slightly greater average force than did the 3-year-old group.

More than one-fourth of the children exerted in excess of 18 pounds and almost two-thirds in excess of 12 pounds.

Data from these experiments proved valuable in developing standards for release devices (as required by Public Law 930), which are expected to be effective for self-release by a large percentage of, but not all, entrapped children. An important result of the behavior study was the finding that, when entrapped, children most often try to escape either by pushing on the door through which they entered the enclosure, or by manipulating a knob release as they would a doorknob. Relatively few children pushed against the back, sides or ceiling of the enclosure.

A follow-up study of 96 test subjects, 8 months after the tests, by interviews with the mothers showed very little obvious residual effect. Reversion to infantile behavior was not found. A number of children still talked about the tests, some with pleasure, a few with resentment. Mothers were not aware of more than ephemeral emotional upset in any of the children.

Reasons for the low level of anxiety engendered by the tests may lie in the precautions taken and in factors inherent in the situation; the parents were not involved in the incident, which enabled them to be calm and casual with the children.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/22/4/628