1,721,106 research outputs found
Shelf-life of blue molded cheeses packaged in polylactic acid trays
No full textThe shelf-life of hard and semi-hard cheeses is usually prolonged by means modified atmosphere packaging in very high barrier materials, in order to prevent as long as possible the interactions between cheese and oxygen, responsible for microbiological and oxidative decay. However, the complete exclusion of oxygen into the headspace of packages containing "respiring cheeses" may be detrimental for their right and prolonged preservation. In this work the possible use of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) for the packaging of Gorgonzola cheese will be discussed. A predictive simple model was used to foresee the atmosphere evolution inside the PLA trays, as a function of the cheese respiration rates and the package OTR. According to the result obtained, slices of Gorgonzola were packaged in the selected PLA trays and stored at 4° C for a month. The analytical controls performed at fixed interval of time (headspace composition, pH, color, weight loss) demonstrated that the use of PLA allows a good refrigerated shelf-life of Gorgonzola up to 4 weeks
Optimization of chia seed mucilage extraction for the development of biobased films and coatings
No full textChia (Salvia hispanica L.) seed mucilage (CSM) is a water-soluble gel consisting in a mixture of polysaccharides (xylose, glucose and methyl glucuronic acid). During hydration of chia seeds, mucilage is released which strongly binds to the seed surface. CSM has film forming capacity, which can be exploited for the development of edible films and coatings. The aim of this study was the optimization of the extraction procedure of CSM and the development and characterization of a biobased film for food application. The time of extraction was set at 1 h for all the conditions, while the extraction yield was optimized through an experimental design (factorial design, LF) with 3 levels and 3 factors. The independent variables were extraction temperature (25, 55 and 80 °C), seed:water ratio (1:10, 1:20, 1:40) and sonication (0, 5 and 10 minutes). The optimum conditions were extraction temperature 80°C; seed:water ratio 1:40. At every condition, no significant effect of sonication was observed. After hydration, the aqueous suspension was oven dried at 55°C overnight and the dried mucilage was separated by rubbing over a sieve. The dried mucilage was used for the preparation of a CSM film forming solution (2 % in water), used to prepare control films and blend films, obtained by mixing CSM with Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) at different ratios. The films were characterized for their mechanical (tensile properties), optical (colour and UV-Vis analysis) and barrier (water vapor transmission rate, WVTR) properties. A significant improvement of the main properties of the blend films was achieved, compared to the control, thus paving the way towards the potential use of CSM as the base for coatings or films for food applications
Shelf-life modelling of moisture sensitive food products
No full textThe water vapour sorption isotherms of different types of "starch-based dried products" were determined at 25°C and the experimental data were fitted through available sorption equations. The validity of fit was evaluated by means of the mean relative deviation modules and the equation with the best fit was selected. The sorption isotherm equation, the permeability values of the packages and others product characteristics were used together in a mathematical model to predict the moisture gain by packaged biscuits and crackers. Good agreement was found between the experimental data obtained from actual storage testing of the same products and those predicted by the model
Risk of infectious diseases and cutaneous tumours in solid organ transplant recipients: a metananlysis of the literature.
No full textAIM: To compare the risk of cutaneous infections and tumours in kidney transplant recipients with data recently published about this topic.
METHODS: In the present work, we evaluated the incidence of bacterial, fungal and viral cutaneous infectious diseases and the development of skin cancers in a cohort of 436 patients who underwent a renal transplantation. The median age at transplantation of our patients was 50 years and the median duration of the immunosuppression was of 7.2 years. Data obtained from our cohort were compared with those obtained by a systematic review of the literature of the last 20 years about the same topic.
RESULTS: Infectious diseases were the most frequent dermatological disorders that were diagnosed after transplantation, affecting about the 16.5% of patients. Herpes virus reactivation occurs in about the 35% of patients and is more common within 6 mo from transplantation, whereas when the immunosuppression is reduced, skin infections are mainly represented by Human Papilloma Virus infections and localized mycosis, such as pityriasis versicolor and superficial candidiasis. Bacterial infections were relatively rare and occur mainly in the first months after transplantation. The cumulative risk to develop skin cancer enhance significantly over the time, as consequence of long-term immunosuppressive regiments. Endogenous and exogenous risk factors, as well as the schedule of immunosuppression can play a role and justify the different incidence of skin cancer in the various series.
CONCLUSION: Skin infections and cancer, commonly diagnosed in transplanted patients, impact on survival and life-quality, justifying the realization of follow-up programs for the early diagnosis and treatment
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Effect of different illumination sources on colour and oxidative stability of seasoned Coppa di Parma PGI
Full text linkThe influence of different lighting durations, lamps and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the colour and oxidative stability of lipids was studied in Coppa di Parma PGI. The samples were stored (4°C) in darkness or lighted by UV-free lamps. In trials 1 and 2, the samples were lighted 24 and 12 h/day, respectively, and were packaged in air. In trial 3, samples were packaged in MA (70% N2/30% CO2) and lighted 12 h/day. In air, illumination reduced oxidative stability, redness, colour saturation and increased the Hue angle. In MAP, the lighting conditions did not affect colour and oxidative stability. During storage the lipid oxidation increased. Overall, light negatively affected the studied parameters
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
