Evaluation of scientific criteria for identifying allergenic foods of public health importance.

Identification of allergenic foods of public health importance should be based on well-defined criteria. Björkstén et al. (2008) proposed that the criteria should assess the evidence for an IgE mechanism, the reaction, the potency and the severity of the effect of the food and its prevalence. This study evaluated the application of the proposed criteria based on published reports. Publications were selected from two databases to test whether the descriptions for ranking the level of evidence for each criterion were unambiguous and covered the full range of levels of evidence regarding seven foods, five known to be allergenic and two negative controls. The options available to rank the quality of evidence were appropriate but needed refinement to improve clarity and conceptual value. The criteria were helpful to assess known IgE-dependent allergens, and to exclude the non-allergenic substances. The criteria framework discriminated between papers with high, moderate and low quality of evidence. The advantage of using the proposed criteria is to make the decision-making process and rationale explicit. The framework helps to identify gaps in knowledge and to uncover the level of heterogeneity of the evidence thus guiding research and providing a basis for sound risk management decisions.

EURRECA: development of tools to improve the alignment of micronutrient recommendations.

Approaches through which reference values for micronutrients are derived, as well as the reference values themselves, vary considerably across countries. Harmonisation is needed to improve nutrition policy and public health strategies. The EURRECA (EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned, http://www.eurreca.org) Network of Excellence is developing generic tools for systematically establishing and updating micronutrient reference values or recommendations. Different types of instruments (including best practice guidelines, interlinked web pages, online databases and decision trees) have been identified. The first set of instruments is for training purposes and includes mainly interactive digital learning materials. The second set of instruments comprises collection and interlinkage of diverse information sources that have widely varying contents and purposes. In general, these sources are collections of existing information. The purpose of the majority of these information sources is to provide guidance on best practice for use in a wider scientific community or for users and stakeholders of reference values. The third set of instruments includes decision trees and frameworks. The purpose of these tools is to guide non-scientists in decision making based on scientific evidence. This platform of instruments will, in particular in Central and Eastern European countries, contribute to future capacity-building development in nutrition. The use of these tools by the scientific community, the European Food Safety Authority, bodies responsible for setting national nutrient requirements and others should ultimately help to align nutrient-based recommendations across Europe. Therefore, EURRECA can contribute towards nutrition policy development and public health strategies.

Functional Food Science in Europe.

The goal of the Functional Food Science in Europe (FUFOSE) concerted action was to reach consensus on scientific concepts of functional foods in Europe by using the science base that supports evidence that specific nutrients positively affect physiological functions. The outcome proposes "a working definition" of functional foods: foods can be regarded as functional if they can be satisfactorily demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects, in a way relevant to an improved state of health and well-being and/or reduction of risk of disease. Functional foods must remain foods and they must achieve their effects in amounts normally consumed in a diet. Evidence from human studies, based on markers relating to biological response or on intermediate endpoint markers of disease, could provide a sound scientific basis for messages and claims about the functional food products. Two types of claims are proposed that relate directly to these two categories of markers: Enhanced function claims (type A) and reduced risk of disease claims (type B). A new EU Concerted Action will start with, and build upon, the principles defined within FUFOSE. This project PASSCLAIM will (i) produce a consensus on principles for the scientific substantiation of health-related claims for food and food components, (ii) select common criteria for how markers should be identified, validated and used in well-designed studies to explore the links between diet and health and (iii) to evaluate critically the existing schemes which assess the scientific substantiation of claims.

Differential protein phosphorylation in induction of thyroid cell proliferation by thyrotropin, epidermal growth factor, or phorbol ester.

Protein phosphorylation was studied in primary cultures of thyroid epithelial cells after the addition of different mitogens: thyrotropin (TSH) acting through cyclic AMP, epidermal growth factor (EGF), or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). EGF or TPA increased the phosphorylation of five common polypeptides. Among these, two 42-kilodalton proteins contained phosphotyrosine and phosphoserine with or without phosphothreonine. Their characteristics suggested that they are similar to the two 42-kilodalton target proteins for tyrosine protein phosphorylation demonstrated in fibroblasts in response to mitogens. No common phosphorylated proteins were detected in TSH-treated cells and in EGF- or TPA-treated cells. The differences in the protein phosphorylation patterns in response to TSH, EGF, and TPA suggested that the newly emerging cyclic AMP-mediated mitogenic pathway is distinct from the better known growth factor- and tumor promoter-induced pathways.

Use of electroblotting to detect and analyze phosphotyrosine containing peptides separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

A technique to detect and analyze phosphotyrosine containing peptides after separation of total cellular proteins by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis is described. This is achieved by electroblotting of proteins on nylon membranes followed by alkali treatment. In comparison with direct alkali treatment of the polyacrylamide gel, this procedure is easier to perform; avoids the diffusion of proteins out of the gel during alkali treatment; allows a more precise localization of phosphotyrosine containing peptides on the untreated membrane; and is less time consuming with respect to extraction of proteins for phosphoamino acid analysis.

Carbamylcholine and thyrotropin activate distinctive pathways of protein phosphorylation in dog thyroid.

The role of protein phosphorylation in the regulation of thyroid function by carbamylcholine was investigated using dog thyroid slices incubated in the presence of [32P]phosphate and two-dimensional electrophoresis. In these intact cells, carbachol increased the phosphorylation of three polypeptides with Mr values of 21500, 24 000 and 29000. Maximal [32P]phosphate incorporation occurred within 5 min of addition of carbamylcholine and was still observed after 10 min of action of this agent. Incubation of dog thyroid slices with thyrotropin for 10 min increased the phosphorylation of 11 polypeptides which were identical to those observed previously after 2 h of hormone action (Lecocq, R., Lamy, F. and Dumont, J.E. (1979) Eur. J. Biochem. 102, 147-152). All three polypeptides whose phosphorylation is increased by carbamylcholine were different from those whose phosphorylation is increased by thyrotropin. Under our experimental conditions, the calcium ionophore A23187 did not stimulate significantly [32P]phosphate incorporation in these three polypeptides. In conclusion, our results show that carbamylcholine and thyrotropin, which have some antagonist and some similar effects on dog thyroid, do not act through the phosphorylation of the same proteins. Although we have, in our previous paper, established that a rise in intracellular cyclic AMP could account for the effect of thyrotropin on protein phosphorylation, the nature of the intracellular mediator of carbamylcholine action on this parameter is still uncertain.