Case study of a commercial sheep flock under extensive mountain grazing: Pasture derived lipid compounds in milk and cheese.

Terpenoid, fat-soluble antioxidant and fatty acid (FA) composition of pasture as well as those of milk and cheese from a commercial sheep flock managed under extensive mountain grazing in the east region of the Cantabrian mountain (Northern Spain) was investigated. The grazing period lasted for 2 months and ewes were at late lactation stage. Plants, feces, bulk milk and cheese samples were collected on two sampling dates. The abundance of the dominating botanical families in the mountain pasture prevailed in the sheep diet of the commercial flock. Major terpenoids and tocols in the pasture appeared as major ones in milk and cheese, whereas C18 unsaturated FAs in milk and cheese were derived from the intake of C18 polyunsaturated FAs which were prevalent in the pasture. No carotene was detected in the dairy samples but retinol (free or esterified), derived from the intake of ß-carotene present in pasture plants, was found in milk and cheese.

Short communication: Sensory profile of raw goat milk cheeses made with artisan kid rennet pastes from commercial-weight animals: alternative to farmhouse goat cheeses.

The loss of traditional kid rennet pastes in the Canary Islands (Spain), as in many other regions, is most likely due to the custom of using abomasa from very young animals killed below desirable commercial weight. In addition, the reasonable price of commercial rennets (CR) has resulted in the loss of typical sensory characteristics for most farmhouse raw goat milk cheeses, placing them at a disadvantage when local and international markets are full of different cheeses, often with aggressive marketing strategies. This paper analyzes the sensory characteristics of raw goat milk cheeses made with rennet pastes prepared from commercial kid abomasa in 2 ways: dried while full of ingested milk [full, commercial, artisan kid rennet (FCKR)], or dried after being emptied of ingested milk and refilled with raw goat milk [empty, commercial, artisan kid rennet (ECKR)]. This latter practice allows the use of empty abomasa, or abomasa with grass, soil, and so on. Sensory profiles of cheeses made with FCKR and ECKR rennets were compared with those made with CR by an expert panel (n=7). The FCKR and ECKR cheeses had similar sensory profiles. Although scores for FCKR cheeses were somewhat higher than for ECKR cheeses, they were in the range found for traditional cheeses made with rennet prepared with abomasa from very young animals. The sensory profile of CR cheeses was very different. Almost 90% of consumer panelists (n=90) preferred cheeses made with the experimental rennet pastes. These results demonstrate the possibility to prepare artisan rennet pastes from commercial-weight kids in an easy way for farmhouse cheese makers using local resources that would otherwise be destroyed in abattoirs.

Influence of lamb rennet paste on the lipolytic and sensory profile of Murcia al Vino cheese.

The influence of lamb rennet paste (71.1% chymosin, 177 international milk-clotting units/mL, 4.57U/g of lipase activity) during the ripening of Murcia al Vino goat cheese was studied. The aim of this study was to improve the knowledge of the effect of lamb rennet paste on the lipolytic patterns in this type of cheese by reference to the evolution of total and free fatty acids. A sensory analysis was carried out to compare cheeses made with commercial and paste rennet. The rennet paste showed higher lipolytic activity, enhancing the production of short-chain free fatty acids. In addition, the cheese produced with lamb rennet paste had a slightly more bitter and piquant taste, making it an attractive commercial alternative that can be used to develop new varieties of goat cheese.

Effects of seasonal changes in feeding management under part-time grazing on the evolution of the composition and coagulation properties of raw milk from ewes.

Ewe raw milk composition, rennet coagulation parameters, and curd texture were monitored throughout the milk production season in 11 commercial flocks reared under a part-time grazing system. Milking season lasted from February to July. During that period, the diet of the animals shifted from indoor feeding, consisting of concentrate and forage, to an outdoor grazing diet. Lean dry matter, fat, protein, calcium, and magnesium contents increased throughout the milking season, as did rennet coagulation time, curd firmness, and curd resistance to compression. However, lean dry matter, protein content, and curd resistance to compression stabilized when sheep started to graze. Principal component analysis correlated curd resistance to compression and proteins, whereas curd firmness was highly correlated with fat content and minerals. Discriminant analysis distributed milk samples according to the feeding management. Curd firmness, fat, and magnesium turned out to be discriminant variables. Those variables reflected the evolution of the composition and coagulation parameters when fresh pasture prevailed over other feeds in the diet of the flocks. The present study shows that seasonal changes associated with feeding management influence milk technological quality and that milk of good processing quality can be obtained under part-time grazing.

Fiebre de menos de 48 horas: frecuente consulta en atención primaria / Fever for less than 48 hours, a frequent consultation in primary care

En el presente trabajo se revisa la fiebre como uno de los motivos más frecuentes de consulta en atención primaria infantil. En nuestras consultas, somos testigos de la alarma que la fiebre en los niños produce en sus familias y, por consiguiente, la precocidad con la que se consulta. Ello nos conduce a plantear un estudio que refleje la realidad de este tema en nuestra comunidad. Recabamos la información a partir de la anamnesis y exploración habitual y consensuada. Los datos obtenidos se reflejaron en hojas diseñadas específicamente a tal efecto; posteriormente, se analizaron diversas variables (fiebre de menos de 48 horas y otras relacionadas), describiendo los resultados y conclusiones según los modelos observacionales de tipo longitudinal. Destaca, entre otros resultados, que la mayor parte de las consultas se realizan antes de las 24 horas de evolución del proceso febril y, por consiguiente, este hecho nos conduce a la ausencia de un diagnóstico en la mayoría de las ocasiones; conforme aumentan las horas de evolución del proceso, aumenta también el número de diagnósticos realizados. Éstos y otros resultados nos conducen a establecer conclusiones que nos servirán de gran ayuda en el manejo eficaz de los instrumentos que precisamos, para ofrecer una educación sanitaria de calidad a la población de nuestra zona básica de salud (AU)

This paper reviews fever as one of the most common reasons for consultations in paediatric primary care. In our surgeries we witness the alarm fever in children causes among families, leading them to prematurely attend medical consultations. That has led us to conduct a study that sets out the reality of this matter in our community. We gathered the information through the anamnesis and the routine, consensual medical examination. The data obtained was set out on sheets especially designed for that purpose. Subsequently, the variables (fever for less than 48 hours and other related variables) were analysed, and the results and conclusions were described according to longitudinal-type observational models. What was noteworthy, among other results, was that the majority of the consultations are made within less than 24 hours of the onset of the febrile episode which, consequently, in most cases leads to a lack of a diagnosis. As the hours of the progress of the condition increase, so does the number of diagnoses made. These and other results lead us to establish conclusions that will be of great use for the efficient handling of the instruments we require in order to provide quality health education to the population of our basic health area (AU)

Gentamicin release from modified acrylic bone cements with lactose and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose.

Modified polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cements formulations were prepared by including different proportions of gentamicin and release modulators such as lactose or hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC). Surface aspect, gentamicin release and porosity of these modified formulations were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a specially designed system for the dissolution studies of the bone cements, and mercury intrusion porosimetry. Lactose modified cements presented an irregular surface with numerous hollows and voids due to the lactose dissolution. HPMC cements presented a characteristic laminated and flaky surface. The drug release of lactose formulations was up to four-fold greater (13%) than the commercial bone cement CMW1 Gentamicin one (3%). The amount of gentamicin eluted at the first withdrawn sample ranged from 30% to 60% of total gentamicin released over the assay. Gentamicin release from lactose formulations increased as lactose percentage was increased which agree with the porosity results. Nevertheless, the use of release modulator HPMC increased porosity, but did not produce an increase in the gentamicin release. HPMC dissolution creates a surrounding sticky and viscous medium similar to a gel that makes the gentamicin release from the cement matrix difficult.

Coagulating and lipolytic activities of artisanal lamb rennet pastes.

Lamb rennet pastes were prepared by the procedure most commonly used by Idiazabal cheese manufacturers. We studied the effects on their coagulating and lipolytic activities of the state of the stomach at the time of death (full of milk or empty), the amount of NaCl added, the origin of the lambs and paste storage time. Coagulating activities were generally between 155 and 363 units/g tissue. Pastes prepared from stomachs of lambs from slaughterhouse flocks had significantly higher coagulating activities than those of lambs from separate flocks. No significant decrease in coagulating activity was observed after 1 year storage at 4 degrees C. Chymosin represented 75-80% of the total coagulating activity with the remainder being pepsin. Rennet paste extracts with pH < 4.7 did not have increased coagulating activities when their pH was lowered to 2.0, while those with pH > 5.2 had activities 1.5-fold those before treatment. Lipase activity was higher in extracts of rennet pastes prepared using the stomachs of lambs that arrived at the slaughterhouse in the morning just prior to slaughter than in those prepared with the stomachs of lambs that had arrived on the previous evening. However, the reverse was the case for esterase activity. Activating the coagulating activity by pH cycling completely destroyed both lipolytic activities. Storage at 4 degrees C for > 1 year did not affect esterase activity but lipase activity decreased substantially after 4-5 months. Lipase, but not esterase, activity was responsible for the liberation of short-chain free fatty acids from ovine milk fat.

Enzymatic synthesis of sorbitan esters using a low-boiling-point azeotrope as a reaction solvent.

Sorbitan esters were prepared by controlled dehydration of sorbitol followed by lipase-catalyzed esterification of the resulting "sorbitan." The reaction was carried out in azeotropic mixtures of tert-butanol/n-hexane. A partial phase diagram to determine the temperature required for the distillation of the azeotrope at a given ratio of the solvents was constructed. The effect of varying concentrations of the two solvents on the rate of esterification and the monoester/diester ratio of the final product was investigated in detail. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 54: 351-356, 1997.

Immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase and some properties of the immobilized enzyme.

Lipase (triacylglycerol ester hydrolase, E.C.3.1.1.3) from Candida rugosa has been immobilized on commercially available microporous polypropylene. The enzyme was rapidly adsorbed on the support, and more than 60% of the soluble activity disappeared from the medium after 1 min of incubation at room temperature. A recovery of immobilized activity of 21% was obtained when the wet preparation was immediately assayed with olive oil at the end of the immobilization protocol. The activity of the immobilized enzyme drastically decreased with the loss of water of the preparation. Pretreatment of the support with organic solvents significantly increased the recovered immobilized activity. Our results strongly suggest that the soluble lipase could exist in different aggregation forms depending on the pH of the medium. At acidic pH, the relative proportion of high-molecular-weight forms of the enzyme is higher than at pH 7.0, suggesting that the lipase would be also immobilized in different aggregation forms depending on the pH used in the immobilization procedure. Crosslinking of the adsorbed enzyme with glutaraldehyde diminished its activity but increased the stability of the lipase against the washing-out effect of Triton X-100. Data on the most relevant catalytic properties of the soluble and immobilized enzyme, such as optimum pH and temperature as well as ranges of stability, kinetic parameters, and activation energy for the hydrolysis of olive oil and p-nitrophenyl acetate, are reported.

The interaction of Triton X-100 with purple membranes. Detergent binding, spectral changes and membrane solubilization.

The interaction of the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100 with Halobacterium purple membranes has been examined at sublytic and lytic surfactant concentrations. These membranes present a number of important peculiarities in their behaviour towards the surfactant. Although solubilization is a very slow process, with a half-time of the order of hours, detergent binding appears to occur at the same fast rate as that found in other membranes. Lipids are solubilized more easily than proteins, so that hardly any protein is solubilized at surfactant concentrations at which about 75% of the lipid is in the form of detergent-mixed micelles; once started, protein solubilization takes place within a narrow range of surfactant concentrations. Retinal provides a built-in probe to monitor detergent-induced conformational changes by spectroscopy in the visible range. No spectral variation is detected at the prelytic stage, i.e. when detergent is incorporated into the membrane in monomeric form. Membrane disruption is accompanied by a blue shift in the absorption maximum, retinal isomerization (from all-trans to 13-cis), and a decrease in specific absorbance (bleaching). Increasing detergent concentrations after solubilization is completed do not produce further shifts in the spectral maximum, but the specific absorbance is progressively decreased. It is shown that Triton X-100 has a complex effect on the retinal chromophore, modifying its configuration and microenvironment (changes in maximum wavelength) and promoting hydrolysis of the retinal-bacteriorhopsin Schiff's base (bleaching).

Calcium binding and induction of conidiation in protoplasts of Penicillium cyclopium.

Cell wall-free protoplasts of P. cyclopium could regenerate a cell wall and form mycelia in liquid culture with high rates of viability. When calcium was added to the medium, protoplasts displayed biphasic accumulation with an immediate metabolism-independent adsorption phase, followed by slow metabolism-dependent uptake. Exposure of the protoplasts to Ca2+ for periods of 2 min, followed by incubation in calcium-free medium for 24 hours, was sufficient to induce conidiation with morphogenetic events parallel to those found in cultures containing calcium throughout the incubation period, and similar to those reported in cultures inoculated from conidia. The conidiation event caused by short exposure to calcium could be reversed, within 2 hours of Ca2+ addition, by a brief treatment with the specific calcium chelating agent BAPTA (100 microM), which removed 65 to 75% of the total cell calcium. The results implicate the membrane-bound calcium fraction in the process of conidiation induction.

[Effectiveness of disodium cromoglycate, salbutamol, and ipratropium bromide in the inhibition of exercise-induced bronchospasm]. / Efectividad del cromoglicato disódico, salbutamol y bromuro de ipratropio en la inhibición de broncospasmo inducido por ejercicio.

Forty-nine asymptomatic asthmatic children who showed exercise induced bronchospasm (EIB), received in a randomized double-blind fashion one of the four following drugs administered through nebulizer and facial mask: salbutamol 4 mg (13 patients), disodium chromoglycate 20 mg (12 patients), ipratroprium bromide 0.4 mg (12 patients), placebo (12 patients). They performed exercise fifteen minutes after receiving the drugs and spirometries were done 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes after the end of the exercise. Bronchodilation was noticed 15 minutes after the administration of salbutamol and ipratroprium bromide but not after cromoglycate or placebo. No patient receiving either salbutamol or cromoglycate had EIB whereas it occurred in 50% of those receiving ipratroprium bromide and 91.6% of those receiving placebo.

[Chronic idiopathic fibrous mediastinitis]. / Mediastinitis crónica fibrosa idiopática.

We present two cases of idiopathic mediastinal fibrosis. Morphological study disclosed the presence of fibrosis, granulomas and an inespecific inflamatory infiltration. Because this morfological pattern, the entity has been confused with Hodgkin's disease, tuberculosis, hystoplasmosis and silicosis. Idiopathic mediastinal fibrosis is probably a fibromatosis and the amount of inflammatory infiltration dependes of the clinical stage.