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Impact of enological tannins on laccase activity
No full textAims: The aim of this research was to determine and quantify the ability of enological tannins to reduce laccase activity and, consequently, to protect wine color against enzymatic browning and/or oxidasic haze.
Methods and results: Botrytized grape juice with laccase activity was obtained by inoculating Botrytis cinerea in healthy mature grapes. Laccase activity was determined in grape juice before and after supplementation with enological tannins using the syringaldazine method. White micro-fermentations were performed in the presence or not of laccase activity and supplemented or not with enological tannins in order to determine how the color was affected. Similarly, red micro-fermentations were performed using white grape juice supplemented with malvidin-3-O-glucoside. All enological tannins inhibited laccase activity and protected the wine color.
Conclusion: Supplementation with enological tannins is an interesting tool to inhibit laccase activity and protect the color of white wines from browning and the color of red wines from oxidasic haze.
Significance and impact of the study: This is the first scientific study evidencing the inhibitory effect of enological tannins on laccase activity in winemaking conditions
Vitreomacular interface abnormalities and glaucoma in an elderly population (the MONTRACHET study)
No full textPurpose: To investigate the prevalence of vitreomacular interface abnormalities (VMIAs) in a French elderly glaucomatous population. Methods: Using a population-based study, the MONTRACHET (Maculopathy Optic Nerve nuTRition neurovAsCular and HEarT diseases) study conducted in Dijon from 2009 to 2013 in individuals older than 75 years, the prevalence of VMIAs was estimated on glaucoma patients. Results: A total of 1130 participants (2225 eyes) were included in the study. The mean age of participants was 82.3 +/- 3.8 years, and 62.74% were women. Regarding the frequency of all VMIAs, there was no statistical difference between glaucoma patients and nonglaucoma participants (51.85% vs. 53.92%, respectively, P = 0.372). In univariate analysis, vitreomacular adherences were more frequent in nonglaucoma participants (18.39% vs. 10.78%, P = 0.036). Epiretinal membranes were more frequent in the glaucomatous population (47.06% vs. 38.13%, P = 0.018). The prevalence of macular cysts was comparable in the two groups (7.84% vs. 5.64%, P = 0.262). Macular cysts were more frequent in eyes treated with preservative-free, IOP-lowering eye drops when compared with the eyes of nonglaucomatous participants treated with IOP-lowering eye drops containing a preservative (26.67% vs. 3.37% and 5.76%, respectively, P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, these results were no longer significant. Conclusions: The prevalence of VMIAs was high in this elderly population and similar in both glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous participants. The information provided by macular optical coherence tomography scans should be considered with caution when used for glaucoma management in elderly patients
Corporate–NGO Partnerships through Sustainability Labeling Schemes: Motives and Risks
No full textThis article examines the development of partnerships between multinational companies
(MNCs) and large nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) through voluntary product labeling
schemes. First, the economics, management, and business literature are reviewed to highlight
cross-checking, consistencies, and complementarities among these disciplines to identify and analyze
the motives of partnering via voluntary product labeling. This analysis shows that, through
such partnerships, companies and NGOs share similar objectives, viability and visibility and
exchange essential resources, information and legitimacy. The development of shared goals and
the complementarity of resources are the basis for successful partnerships, but they also create
a phenomenon of blurred roles between companies and NGOs. Each partner enters the other’s
sphere, which allows for better communication among partners, a clear and common vision of the
partnership, a mutual trust, and a symmetric commitment of partners, necessary conditions for
successful partnerships. However, I show that this phenomenon also leads to new risks for partners:
competition, “NGO-capture”, and inconsistency
An HRM assay to differentiate sheeppox virus vaccine strains from sheeppox virus field isolates and other capripoxvirus species
No full textSheep poxvirus (SPPV), goat poxvirus (GTPV) and lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) affect small ruminants and cattle causing sheeppox (SPP), goatpox (GTP) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) respectively. In endemic areas, vaccination with live attenuated vaccines derived from SPPV, GTPV or LSDV provides protection from SPP and GTP. As live poxviruses may cause adverse reactions in vaccinated animals, it is imperative to develop new diagnostic tools for the differentiation of SPPV field strains from attenuated vaccine strains. Within the capripoxvirus (CaPV) homolog of the variola virus B22R gene, we identified a unique region in SPPV vaccines with two deletions of 21 and 27 nucleotides and developed a High-Resolution Melting (HRM)-based assay. The HRM assay produces four distinct melting peaks, enabling the differentiation between SPPV vaccines, SPPV field isolates, GTPV and LSDV. This HRM assay is sensitive, specific, and provides a cost-effective means for the detection and classification of CaPVs and the differentiation of SPPV vaccines from SPPV field isolates
Sensitivity analyses of simulated biomass yield and carbon-fluxes from Euro-Mediterranean grasslands
No full textUltra-processed food intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: prospective cohort study (NutriNet-Santé)
No full textObjective[br/]
To assess the prospective associations between consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of cardiovascular diseases.[br/]
Design[br/]
Population based cohort study.[br/]
Setting[br/]
NutriNet-Santé cohort, France 2009-18.[br/]
Participants[br/]
105 159 participants aged at least 18 years. Dietary intakes were collected using repeated 24 hour dietary records (5.7 for each participant on average), designed to register participants’ usual consumption of 3300 food items. These foods were categorised using the NOVA classification according to degree of processing.[br/]
Main outcome measures[br/]
Associations between intake of ultra-processed food and overall risk of cardiovascular, coronary heart, and cerebrovascular diseases assessed by multivariable Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for known risk factors.[br/]
Results[br/]
During a median follow-up of 5.2 years, intake of ultra-processed food was associated with a higher risk of overall cardiovascular disease (1409 cases; hazard ratio for an absolute increment of 10 in the percentage of ultra-processed foods in the diet 1.12 (95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.20); P<0.001, 518 208 person years, incidence rates in high consumers of ultra-processed foods (fourth quarter) 277 per 100 000 person years, and in low consumers (first quarter) 242 per 100 000 person years), coronary heart disease risk (665 cases; hazard ratio 1.13 (1.02 to 1.24); P=0.02, 520 319 person years, incidence rates 124 and 109 per 100 000 person years, in the high and low consumers, respectively), and cerebrovascular disease risk (829 cases; hazard ratio 1.11 (1.01 to 1.21); P=0.02, 520 023 person years, incidence rates 163 and 144 per 100 000 person years, in high and low consumers, respectively). These results remained statistically significant after adjustment for several markers of the nutritional quality of the diet (saturated fatty acids, sodium and sugar intakes, dietary fibre, or a healthy dietary pattern derived by principal component analysis) and after a large range of sensitivity analyses.[br/]
Conclusions[br/]
In this large observational prospective study, higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with higher risks of cardiovascular, coronary heart, and cerebrovascular diseases. These results need to be confirmed in other populations and settings, and causality remains to be established. Various factors in processing, such as nutritional composition of the final product, additives, contact materials, and neoformed contaminants might play a role in these associations, and further studies are needed to understand better the relative contributions. Meanwhile, public health authorities in several countries have recently started to promote unprocessed or minimally processed foods and to recommend limiting the consumption of ultra-processed foods.[br/]
Study registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03335644
On the uselessness of self-insurance clauses ?
No full textAn insurer can monitor the policyholder's prevention effort when it is observable ex-post by using a contract clause. The literature on insurance contracts does not explicitly address the role of contract clauses. We examine the role of such clauses in case of self-insurance. Because of the substitutability between insurance and self-insurance, contract clauses focused on self-insurance investments could cause a possible deterrent effect on insurance demand, highlighting their puzzling nature. In a theoretical model, we examine two arguments to overcome the compulsory self-insurance clause paradox: the observability of the self-insurance investment and the role of the self-insurance clause on insurance demand. The fact that self-insurance investments are not observable ex-ante cannot justify the use of a mandatory clause. Neither the demand for insurance nor the demand for prevention is observability-dependent. Therefore, self-insurance clauses are, at best, useless, at worst, counterproductive: when binding, they reduce the size of the insurance market
