1,720,984 research outputs found
P.11 - Detection of viral RNA of zoonotic foodborne pathogens in raw milk samples collected from small ruminants
No full textBackground: Acute gastroenteritis cases, caused by emerging and re-emerging viral zoonotic foodborne pathogens, have widely increased in many developed and incoming countries in the world. More in detail, astrovirus (AstV), hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis E virus (HEV), norovirus genogroups I and II (NoV-GI and NoV-GII), and rotavirus (RotV) can infect consumers by the ingestion of raw and contaminated food matrices as raw milk.
Objective: Aims of this study are to apply quantitative and qualitative biomolecular methods to discover AstV, HAV, HEV, NoV-GI, NoV-GII, and RotV RNA regions in raw milk samples collected from small ruminants.
Materials and Methods: A total of 628 small ruminants including sheep (n=245) and goats (n=383), farmed in Central Italy, were included in this study. From each animal, aliquots of raw milk (50 mL) were collected during their lactation peaks. The extracted RNA was successively used for real time RT-qPCR and nested RT-PCR assays.
Results: Results showed that 12.74% of the screened milk samples harbored the RNA of at least one of the considered viral pathogens. More in detail, 6.68% were positive to HEV, 5.57% to AstV, and 4.14% to NoV-GI. Based on a comparative perspective, goats detected more viral RNA than ovine (p-value= <0.001).
Discussion and Conclusion: The discovered AstV, HEV, and NoV-GI RNA regions represent the first harborings and co-harborings in Italy. Concerning HEV, the observed prevalence was higher than the 2.80% described in Czech Republic, and lower than 18.50% in Turkey. These findings can be scientifically justified by different variables e.g., naked viruses’ ultrastructural characteristics (high environmental resistance), cross-species infections, farming methods and graze area sharing with wild target hosts provide the ideal conditions for viral persistence.
Perspectives: Analysing raw milk, collected from small ruminants, can be useful for public health authorities and farmers contributing to guarantee safe foodstuffs for consumers
C32 | Valutazione dell’efficacia della friggitrice ad aria nell’inattivazione di salmonella typhimurium in hamburger e valutazione delle pratiche di cottura dei consumatori
No full textScopo. Il presente studio ha avuto l’obiettivo di valutare l’efficacia della cottura in friggitrice ad aria nell’inattivare Salmonella Typhimurium in hamburger ottenuti da un mix di carne bovina e suina. Contestualmente, sono state indagate la conoscenza e le pratiche dei consumatori in relazione ai metodi di cottura degli hamburger, con particolare riferimento all’impiego della friggitrice ad aria. Metodi. Hamburger sono stati preparati utilizzando carne macinata contaminata artificialmente con S. Typhimurium a tre livelli di carica batterica: ≈100 ufc/g, ≈10 ufc/g
C32 | Evaluation of the effectiveness of air fryers in inactivating Salmonella typhimurium in hamburgers and assessment of consumer cooking practices
No full textPurpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of air fryer cooking in inactivating SalmonellaTyphimurium in hamburgers made from a mixture of beef and pork. At the same time, consumer knowledge and practices regarding hamburger cooking methods were investigated, with particular reference to the use of air fryers. Methods. Hamburgers were prepared using minced meat artificially contaminated with S. Typhimurium at three bacterial load levels: ≈100 cfu/g, ≈10 cfu/g and <10 cfu/g. The samples were cooked in an air fryer at 200°C for 5 and 10 minutes. The presence of the pathogen was assessed by quantitative and qualitative microbiological analyses, conducted before cooking and after each treatment time (5 and 10 minutes). At the same time, a semi-structured online questionnaire was distributed via social media platforms and mailing lists to gather information on: 1) the demographic characteristics of the participants; 2) their knowledge of food safety in hamburger cooking; 3) product handling and storage practices. Results. After 5 minutes of cooking, S. Typhimurium was not quantifiable in the samples analysed, but its presence was confirmed in all cases by enrichment, indicating residual survival of the pathogen. After 10 minutes, Salmonella was never detected, indicating complete inactivation. The questionnaire collected 135 responses. 92.4% of participants stated that they did not monitor the internal temperature of burgers during cooking; 27.4% showed little awareness of the importance of reaching an adequate internal temperature for microbiological safety; 35.5% reported a preference for few-cooked burgers. 57.1% of respondents own an air fryer and 29.7% use it to cook burgers. In addition, 34.3% store the burger after cooking and 30.5% consume it within 12–24 hours. Only 50% of respondents reported adopting correct hygiene practices when handling raw meat. Finally, 35.6% stated that they would consume a hamburger cooked for only 5 minutes in an air fryer. Conclusions. Cooking burgers in an air fryer at 200°C for at least 10 minutes has been shown to be microbiologically effective in inactivating Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, even at different initial levels of contamination. However, the survey highlighted consumer behaviours and perceptions that may pose significant risks to public health. In particular, a significant percentage of participants stated that they would consume a hamburger cooked for only 5 minutes in an air fryer, unaware that S. Typhimurium is not completely eliminated at this treatment time: although below the limit of quantification, the pathogen is still detectable by selective enrichment. This indicates residual survival which, when combined with subsequent storage practices, may pose a real risk
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
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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