A sandwich ELISA for the detection of mollusks and mollusk products.

Mollusks are a major allergenic food under the food allergen regulations of many countries and must be declared on food products to reduce the risk of allergic reactions. However, a reliable immunoassay for detecting edible mollusks (cephalopods, gastropods, and bivalves) has not been reported. In this study, the developed sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (sELISA) detected 32 edible mollusk species in raw and heated without cross-reaction with non-mollusk species. The detection limits of the assay were 0.1 ppm for heated mollusks and 0.1-0.5 ppm for raw mollusks, depending on the mollusk species tested. The inter-assay and intra-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) were ≤14.83 and ≤8.11, respectively. The assay detected steamed, boiled, baked, fried, and autoclaved mollusk samples and all commercial mollusk products tested. In this study, we developed a mollusk-specific sELISA to protect people allergic to mollusks.

Effect of species, muscle location, food processing and refrigerated storage on the fish allergens, tropomyosin and parvalbumin.

Fish tropomyosin is a latest identified fish allergen without full understanding of its biochemical characteristics from the perspective of food allergen. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of species, muscle location, food processing, and refrigerated storage on fish tropomyosin and compare with main fish allergen, parvalbumin. The result of mass spectrometry analysis revealed tropomyosin as the most abundant thermally stable protein in fish muscle. Fish tropomyosin was ubiquitous among all 28 edible fish species tested, abundant in fish skeletal muscle, resistant to common food processing, and resistant to refrigerated storage up to six days. By contrast, parvalbumin content varied between fish species and was not as thermally stable as tropomyosin under autoclaving. This study demonstrates the intrinsic and processing factors affecting fish allergens and provides valuable information for the presence of major fish allergens and practical consideration of fish allergen detection.

Comparison of Survival Outcomes between Minimally Invasive Surgery and Open Radical Hysterectomy in Early-Stage Cervical Cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the survival outcomes between minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and laparotomy radical hysterectomy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study involving women who received a radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer, stage IA1 with lymphovascular invasion, IA2, IB1, IB2, or IIA from 2008 to 2016. Clinicopathologic and perioperative outcomes were compared using appropriate statistical methodologies. RESULTS: Oncologic survival outcomes were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Among the 105 cases identified, 58 (55.2%) and 47 (44.8%) women underwent MIS and open radical hysterectomy, respectively. Over a median follow-up period of 62 months, women who underwent MIS and open radical hysterectomy had a 5-year overall survival rate of 87.9% and 89.4% (p = 0.845) and a 5-year disease-free survival rate of 82.5% and 86.7% (p = 0.624), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: For early-stage cervical cancer, patients who underwent MIS radical hysterectomy had survival outcomes that were comparable to those who underwent open surgery at our institute.