Comparison of air and immersion chilling on meat quality and shelf life of marinated broiler breast fillets.

Marinated broiler breast fillets were evaluated using both air- and immersion-chilling treatments. Ninety fillets from air-chilled broiler carcasses and 90 fillets from immersion-chilled broiler carcasses were obtained from a processor to determine differences in meat quality, sensory, and shelf life. At 24 h postmortem, the fillets were vacuum-tumbled (25 in Hg, 30 min, 14 rpm, 4 degrees C) in 2 replications per treatment with a 20% solution (wt/wt) yielding 0.70% NaCl and 0.45% sodium tripolyphosphate in the final product. One-third of the fillets in each replication were packaged in a tray covered with plastic wrap and stored in retail cases to simulate retail shelf-life conditions. The remaining fillets were stored at 4 degrees C for 24 h until analysis for marinade retention, cook loss, consumer evaluation, and objective tenderness. The immersion-chilled fillets had a significantly lower pH (5.56) and were lighter (L* 54.73) when compared with the air-chilled fillets (5.64, L* 50.13, respectively). The air-chilled fillets had a significantly higher marinade pickup (15.51%) than the immersion-chilled (14.07%) fillets. However, there were no significant differences in cook loss percentage in either treatment (approximately 20.03). Shear value was significantly higher in the immersion-chilled fillets (4.14 N), indicating less tender meat than the air-chilled fillets (3.62 N). In the consumer analyses, the air-chilled fillets were significantly different. Of the respondents that noted differences, 19% indicated differences in texture, and 9.67% indicated taste differences. The air-chilled treatment had significantly lower aerobic plate count in postpackaging d 0, 3, and 9. Also, coliforms were significantly lower in the air-chilled treatment through d 6. Therefore, air chilling carcasses may improve color, marination yield, tenderness, and increase the shelf life of retail-packaged broiler breast fillets.

Marination of turkey breast fillets to control the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and improve meat quality in deli loaves.

Turkey deli loaves were evaluated using organic marinades in the raw product to control the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and improve meat quality in the cooked product. Treatments included sodium tripolyphosphate (STP; 0.45%, control), sodium lactate (3%), sodium diacetate (0.25%), sodium citrate (0.75%), and sodium lactate (3%)/sodium diacetate (0.25%) combination, all containing 1.5% salt. Data collected in the 2 trials included pH; lightness, redness, and yellowness; bind ability; cooked meat moisture; oxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances); aerobic plate count (d 0 to 80); and sensory evaluation. Also, thirty-two slices from each loaf were inoculated with a 10(3) cfu/ mL surface inoculum streptomycin-resistant LM cocktail and analyzed for LM levels (d 0 to 77). The sodium lactate treatment was lower in pH (5.84) postmarination. Lactate, citrate, and the combination treatments had significantly lower lightness values; lactate, diacetate, and citrate had higher redness values; and lactate had lower yellowness values postmarination compared with premarination. Cook loss, moisture, and bind ability were higher in the STP treatment. Citrate and the combination treatments had lower thiobarbituric acid reactive substances on d 3, but there were no differences by d 15. Cohesiveness was significantly higher in the STP, lactate, and diacetate treatments, and turkey flavor was more intense in the combination treatment. The STP loaves had >10(6) cfu/cm(2) aerobic plate count by 14 d, lactate by 20 d, citrate by 40 d, diacetate by 70 d, and lactate/diacetate by 74 d. Sodium diacetate, citrate, and lactate/diacetate all extended the lag phase of LM. Therefore, acidic marinades applied in the raw product do have a negative effect on some cooked product quality attributes but do improve shelf life and decrease LM growth by extending the lag phase through 21 d postmortem.

Respiratory papillomatosis: a rare cause of collapse in a young adult presenting to the emergency department.

Treating patients with rapidly deteriorating respiratory compromise in the emergency room is difficult and stressful. The patient in front of you is rapidly progressing towards total cardiorespiratory collapse and you may have no idea why. A case is reported of an adult presenting with impending cardiorespiratory collapse attributed to asthma who actually had upper airway obstruction caused by laryngeal papillomata. This case report reinforces the importance of airway assessment, gives an overview of respiratory papillomatosis, and reiterates both the non-surgical and surgical approach to the difficult airway.

A statistical-based approach to assessing the fidelity of combinatorial libraries encoded with electrophoric molecular tags. Development and application of tag decode-assisted single bead LC/MS analysis.

A statistical sampling protocol is described to assess the fidelity of libraries encoded with molecular tags. The methodology, termed library QA, is based on the combined application of tag decode analysis and single bead LC/MS. The physical existence of library compounds eluted from beads is established by comparing the molecular weight predicted by tag decode with empirical measurement. The goal of sampling is to provide information on overall library fidelity and an indication of the performance of individual library synthons. The minimal sampling size n for library QA is l0 x the largest synthon set. Data are reported as proportion (p) +/- lower and upper boundary (lb-ub) computed at the 95% confidence level (alpha = 0.05). As a practical demonstration, library QA was performed on a 25,200-member library of statine amides (size = 40 x 63 x 10). Sampling was conducted three times at n approximately 630 beads per run for a total of 1902 beads. The overall proportions found for the three runs were consistent with one another: p = 84.4%, lb-ub = 81.5-87.2%; p = 83.1%, lb-ub = 80.2-85.95; and p = 84.5%, lb-ub = 81.8-87.3%, suggesting the true value of p is close to 84% compound confirmation. The performance pi of individual synthons was also computed. Corroboration of QA data with biological screening results obtained from assaying the library against cathepsin D and plasmepsin II is discussed.

Screening aspartyl proteases with combinatorial libraries.

Large numbers of pharmaceutically relevant low-molecular weight compounds can now be synthesized using combinatorial methods. Screening these large libraries of compounds requires high throughput assays. These methods are utilized to search for inhibitors of the aspartyl proteases, plasmepsin II and cathepsin D. Plasmepsin II, a protease found in the malaria parasite, hydrolyzes human hemoglobin, the nutrient source for the parasite and is a new target for anti-malaria therapy. Cathepsin D may be involved in many biological processes and inhibitors would help to clarify the role of cathepsin D in these processes. Plasmepsin II and cathepsin D are approximately 35% identical in amino acid sequence. Therefore, a comparison of the screening results of these two enzymes will be very useful in determining each enzyme's specificity and demonstrating the power of utilizing encoded combinatorial libraries.

Evaluation of a structure-based statine cyclic diamino amide encoded combinatorial library against plasmepsin II and cathepsin D.

A structure-based 18,900-member combinatorial library was synthesized containing a statine template and three cyclic diamino acids as potential P1, P2-P4 surrogates. Evaluation of this encoded library against two aspartyl proteases, plasmepsin II and cathepsin D, led to the identification of selective inhibitors for each enzyme.

Identification of potent inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum plasmepsin II from an encoded statine combinatorial library.

An encoded 13,020-member combinatorial library was synthesized containing a statine core. Evaluation of this library with plasmepsin II, an aspartyl protease required for hemoglobin metabolism in the malaria parasite, led to the identification of potent and selective inhibitors as well as novel structure-activity relationships.

Atlantooccipital junction: standards for measurement in normal children.

This study describes a simple method for measuring the distance between the occiput and atlas when a distraction-dislocation injury is suspected in a child. Measurements were made at five evenly spaced locations along the atlantooccipital joint on cross-table lateral skull radiographs in 100 normal children. These data were compared with similar measurements in eight patients with proved atlantooccipital dislocation. The mean normal measurement fell between 1.96-2.63 mm for all five points. For boys or girls aged 1-15 years, the normal distance should not exceed 5 mm at any point in the joint. The likelihood that any normal child will have a measurement greater than or equal to 4.5 mm at any point is between 0.4-5.85% (expected false-positive rate).