Biochemical measurements of beef are a good predictor of untrained consumer sensory scores across muscles

The ability of the biochemical measurements, haem iron, intramuscular fat (IMF%), moisture content, and total, soluble and insoluble collagen contents, to predict untrained consumer sensory scores both across different muscles and within the same muscle from different carcasses were investigated. Sensory scores from 540 untrained French consumers (tenderness, flavour liking, juiciness and overall liking) were obtained for six muscles; outside (m. biceps femoris), topside (m. semimembranosus), striploin (m. longissimus thoracis), rump (m. gluteus medius), oyster blade (m. infraspinatus) and tenderloin (m. psoas major) from each of 18 French and 18 Australian cattle. The four sensory scores were weighted and combined into a single score termed MQ4, which was also analysed. All sensory scores were highly correlated with each other and with MQ4. This in part reflects the fact that MQ4 is derived from the consumer scores for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking and also reflects an interrelationship between the sensory scores themselves and in turn validates the use of the MQ4 term to reflect the scope of the consumer eating experience. When evaluated across the six different muscles, all biochemical measurements, except soluble collagen, had a significant effect on all of the sensory scores and MQ4. The average magnitude of impact of IMF%, haem iron, moisture content, total and insoluble collagen contents across the four different sensory scores are 34.9, 5.1, 7.2, 36.3 and 41.3, respectively. When evaluated within the same muscle, only IMF% and moisture content had a significant effect on overall liking (5.9 and 6.2, respectively) and flavour liking (6.1 and 6.4, respectively). These results indicate that in a commercial eating quality prediction model including muscle type, only IMF% or moisture content has the capacity to add any precision. However, all tested biochemical measurements, particularly IMF% and insoluble collagen contents, are strong predictors of eating quality when muscle type is not known. This demonstrates their potential usefulness in extrapolating the sensory data derived from these six muscles to other muscles with no sensory data, but with similar biochemical parameters, and therefore reducing the amount of future sensory testing required.     

Estimating Treatment Effects of Longitudinal Designs using Regression Models on Propensity Scores

Summary We derive regression estimators that can compare longitudinal treatments using only the longitudinal propensity scores as regressors. These estimators, which assume knowledge of the variables used in the treatment assignment, are important for reducing the large dimension of covariates for two reasons. First, if the regression models on the longitudinal propensity scores are correct, then our estimators share advantages of correctly specified model‐based estimators, a benefit not shared by estimators based on weights alone. Second, if the models are incorrect, the misspecification can be more easily limited through model checking than with models based on the full covariates. Thus, our estimators can also be better when used in place of the regression on the full covariates. We use our methods to compare longitudinal treatments for type II diabetes mellitus.     

Detecting dyads of related individuals in large collections of DNA-profiles by controlling the false discovery rate

The search for pairs (dyads) of related individuals in large databases of DNA-profiles has become an increasingly important inference tool in ecology. However, the many, partly dependent, pairwise comparisons introduce statistical issues. We show that the false discovery rate (FDR) procedure is well suited to control for the proportion of false positives, i.e. dyads consisting of unrelated individuals, which under normal circumstances would have been labelled as related individuals. We verify the behaviour of the standard FDR procedure by simulation, demonstrating that the FDR procedure works satisfactory in spite of the many dependent pairwise comparisons involved in an exhaustive database screening. A computer program that implements this method is available online. In addition, we propose to implement a second stage in the procedure, in which additional independent genetic markers are used to identify the false positives. We demonstrate the application of the approach in an analysis of a DNA database consisting of 3300 individual minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) each typed at ten microsatellite loci. Applying the standard procedure with an FDR of 50% led to the identification of 74 putative dyads of 1st- or 2nd-order relatives. However, introducing the second step, which involved additional genotypes at 15 microsatellite loci, revealed that only 21 of the putative dyads can be claimed with high certainty to be true dyads.     

Association of permanent arterial hypertension with the renin-angiotensin and kinin-bradykinin system genes in children

A new approach, based on scoring, was proposed for a more objective estimation of the contribution of several genetic variants to a multifactorial disease. Two variants of the approach—genotype scoring and unfavorable factor scoring—were tested by analyzing the polymorphisms of REN (I9–83G>A), AGT (M235T), ACE (I/D), AGTR1 (1166A>C), ATGR2 (3123C>A), and BKR2 (?58T>C and I/D) in children with arterial hypertension (AH). Each of the two variants reported that the genes of the renin-angiotensin and kinin-brady-kinin systems play an important role in permanent AH in girls.     

Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Rat Bone Marrow Downregulate Caspase-3-mediated Apoptotic Pathway After Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

Mesenchymal stem cells have been intensively studied for their potential use in reparative strategies for neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic injuries. We used mesenchymal stem cells (rMSC) from rat bone marrow to evaluate the therapeutic potential after spinal cord injury (SCI). Immunohistochemistry confirmed a large number of apoptotic neurons and oligodendrocytes in caudal segments 2 mm away from the lesion site. Expression of caspase-3 on both neurons and oligodendrocytes after SCI was significantly downregulated by rMSC. Caspase-3 downregulation by rMSC involves increased expression of FLIP and XIAP in the cytosol and inhibition of PARP cleavage in the nucleus. Animals treated with rMSC had higher Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scoring and better recovery of hind limb sensitivity. Treatment with rMSC had a positive effect on behavioral outcome and histopathological assessment after SCI. The ability of rMSC to incorporate into the spinal cord, differentiate and to improve locomotor recovery hold promise for a potential cure after SCI. Special issue in honor of Naren Banik.     

The impact of different operating conditions on membrane fouling and EPS production

The main goal of this research was to investigate how different factors influence membrane fouling. The impact of the different concentrations of activated sludge and the amount of extracellular polymer substances (EPS) were monitored. Two pilot plants with submerged membrane modules (hollow fiber and flat sheet) were operated and the raw wastewater was used.Humic substances were identified as the major components of EPS in the activated sludge (more than 34%) in both pilot plants. As the basic constituent in permeate, humic substances were identified as the most dominant components in the effluent (61%) in both pilot plants. Conversely, proteins were mostly analyzed in permeate and supernatant below the detection limit. The total amount of EPS [mg g⁻¹ (VSS)] was similar for concentrations of activated sludge 6, 10 and 14 g L⁻¹. Carbohydrates were identified as the component of EPS which tends most to clog membranes.     

改良早期预警评分对转院转运工作影响的临床研究

目的 研究改良早期预警（MEWS）评分对转院转运工作的影响.方法 在转院转运工作中应用MEWS评分系统对患者进行病情评估,对比其应用前（对照组）、应用后（研究组）转院患者转运途中病情恶化的发生率、患者或家属满意度及医生、护士对实施MEWS评分转运管理模式前（对照组）、后（研究组）满意度的变化.结果 转院患者转运途中病情恶化发生率由应用前（对照组）的10.63%降至应用后（研究组）的3.74%,应用前、后比较差异有显著统计学意义（P＜0.01）;患方满意度则由96%提高至99%,医护人员对实施MEWS评分转运管理模式前、后的满意度由应用前的83.3%提高至应用后的95%,应用前、后比较均有显著性意义（P＜0.05）.结论 MEWS评分能对转院患者的病情进行比较客观、准确的评估,提高了医务人员的质量和医疗干预意识,从而有效降低转院患者转运途中的病情恶化发生率和提高院前医患双方的满意度,是转院转运工作中简便、快捷、客观、实用的病情评估方法和模式,值得推广应用.     

A comparison of macrophyte indices in headwaters of rivers in Flanders (Belgium)

Macrophytes were monitored in 48 headwater rivers in Flanders (Belgium). Only 26 sites had macrophyte vegetation, which was used to calculate five different indices and scores. These indices originated from UK, France, Czech Republic and Germany. Macrophytes were significantly correlated with a number of habitat variables, such as transect size, river width, slope, Huet zonation, distance to source, shadowing and average depth. For the substrate there were significant negative correlations with the fine particle sizes and a positive correlation with the coarse particles. A multivariate analysis of the macrophytes in these headwaters showed three groupings, essentially separated on basis of water hardness and pH.     

Quantile-based permutation thresholds for quantitative trait Loci hotspots

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) hotspots (genomic locations affecting many traits) are a common feature in genetical genomics studies and are biologically interesting since they may harbor critical regulators. Therefore, statistical procedures to assess the significance of hotspots are of key importance. One approach, randomly allocating observed QTL across the genomic locations separately by trait, implicitly assumes all traits are uncorrelated. Recently, an empirical test for QTL hotspots was proposed on the basis of the number of traits that exceed a predetermined LOD value, such as the standard permutation LOD threshold. The permutation null distribution of the maximum number of traits across all genomic locations preserves the correlation structure among the phenotypes, avoiding the detection of spurious hotspots due to nongenetic correlation induced by uncontrolled environmental factors and unmeasured variables. However, by considering only the number of traits above a threshold, without accounting for the magnitude of the LOD scores, relevant information is lost. In particular, biologically interesting hotspots composed of a moderate to small number of traits with strong LOD scores may be neglected as nonsignificant. In this article we propose a quantile-based permutation approach that simultaneously accounts for the number and the LOD scores of traits within the hotspots. By considering a sliding scale of mapping thresholds, our method can assess the statistical significance of both small and large hotspots. Although the proposed approach can be applied to any type of heritable high-volume "omic" data set, we restrict our attention to expression (e)QTL analysis. We assess and compare the performances of these three methods in simulations and we illustrate how our approach can effectively assess the significance of moderate and small hotspots with strong LOD scores in a yeast expression data set.