Taste sorting and naming: can taste concepts be misrepresented by traditional psychophysical labelling systems?

Japanese and American subjects were required to sort filterpapers, soaked in taste stimuli, into categories that had conceptuallythe same taste. Both Japanese and Americans sorted in the samemanner, indicating similar conceptualization. Taste names weregiven to the taste categories obtained by using the traditional‘four basic taste’ naming system, common in tastepsychophysics. This method was seen to underestimate the numberof categories actually present. This suggests a re-assessmentof current psychophysical taste-naming techniques.     

Analysis of chemometric models applied to Raman spectroscopy for monitoring key metabolites of cell culture

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiative of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) encourages the monitoring of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes by innovative solutions. Raman spectroscopy and the chemometric modeling tool partial least squares (PLS) have been applied to this aim for monitoring cell culture process variables. This study compares the chemometric modeling methods of Support Vector Machine radial (SVMr), Random Forests (RF), and Cubist to the commonly used linear PLS model for predicting cell culture components—glucose, lactate, and ammonia. This research is performed to assess whether the use of PLS as standard practice is justified for chemometric modeling of Raman spectroscopy and cell culture data. Model development data from five small-scale bioreactors (2 × 1 L and 3 × 5 L) using two Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines were used to predict against a manufacturing scale bioreactor (2,000 L). Analysis demonstrated that Cubist predictive models were better for average performance over PLS, SVMr, and RF for glucose, lactate, and ammonia. The root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of Cubist modeling was acceptable for the process concentration ranges of glucose (1.437 mM), lactate (2.0 mM), and ammonia (0.819 mM). Interpretation of variable importance (VI) results theorizes the potential advantages of Cubist modeling in avoiding interference of Raman spectral peaks. Predictors/Raman wavenumbers (cm⁻¹) of interest for individual variables are X1139–X1141 for glucose, X846–X849 for lactate, and X2941–X2943 for ammonia. These results demonstrate that other beneficial chemometric models are available for use in monitoring cell culture with Raman spectroscopy.     

The diet of Little Owls Athene noctua in Gloucestershire,England

Capsule Little Owls take a wide variety of food, most of which is made up of earthworms, but also includes bats.     

Differential responses by two closely related native fishes to restoration actions

Globally, river degradation has decimated freshwater fish populations. To help reverse this trend in a southeastern Australia river, we used multiple restoration actions, including reintroduction of instream woody habitat, riparian revegetation, removal of a weir hindering fish movement, fencing out livestock, and controlling riparian weeds. We monitored the responses of native fish at the segment scale (20 km) and reach scale (0.3 km) over 7 years to assess the effectiveness of the different restoration strategies. Two closely related species, Murray cod Maccullochella peeli and trout cod Maccullochella macquariensis, increased at the restored segment compared with the control segment. However, inherent differences between river segments and low sample size hampered assessment of the mechanisms responsible for segment‐scale changes in fish abundance. In contrast, at the reach scale, only M. peeli abundance significantly increased in reaches supplemented with wood. These differential responses by 2 closely related fish species likely reflect species‐specific responses to increased habitat availability and enhanced longitudinal connectivity when the weir improved passage around a fishway. Changes in M. peeli abundance in segments supplemented with and without wood suggest an increase in carrying capacity and not simply a redistribution of individuals within the segment, facilitated the observed expansion. Our findings confirm the need to consider individual fish species' habitat preferences carefully when designing restoration interventions. Further, species‐specific responses to restoration actions provide waterway managers with precise strategies to target fish species for recovery and the potential to predict fish outcomes based on ecological preferences.     

Comparison of morphological characters in Irish and English populations of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Müller, 1776)

Pomphorhynchus laevis is believed on ecological evidence to exist as three strains in the British Isles. However, the strains have never been shown to be capable of being distinguished using morphological characters. A morphological comparison was made between a sample of P. laevis from Salmo trutta in L. Feeagh in the west of Ireland and a sample from Leuciscus cephalus in R. Culm in the south of England. The length and width of the trunk, neck, bulb, proboscis and hooks were measured. The number of hooks per row, the number of rows and the positions of the stoutest and longest hooks were also recorded. A Principal Components Analysis based on the morphological measurements confirmed the separation of the two populations and showed that two characters successfully identified the populations: the position of the stoutest hook and the ratio of numbers of anterior to posterior hooks.     

Taste suppression following lingual capsaicin pre-treatment in humans

The effect of oral capsaicin on taste sensations in humans was reinvestigated with attention to methodological issues raised in previous studies, including the mode of presentation and temperature of the tastant stimulus, as well as the sensitizing and desensitizing properties of capsaicin. One-half of the dorsal anterior tongue was pre-treated with capsaicin, followed by bilateral tastant application (sucrose, NaCl, quinine, monosodium glutamate and citric acid). Subjects indicated on which side the taste intensity was greater in a two-alternative, forced-choice procedure and also rated taste intensity independently on each side of the tongue. Each of the five tastants was tested sequentially, with reapplication of capsaicin between trials in order to maintain a constant level of burn. Four experiments were conducted: (i) a high concentration (33 p.p.m.) (109 microM) capsaicin effect on taste intensity elicited by high tastant concentrations; (ii) a high concentration capsaicin effect on taste intensity elicited by low tastant concentrations; (iii) a low concentration (1.5 p.p.m.) (4.9 microM) capsaicin effect on taste intensity elicited by low tastant concentrations; and (iv) validation of the method for localizing taste by pre-treating one side of the tongue with Gymnema sylvestre, followed by bilateral application of sucrose. In the first experiment, a significant proportion of the subjects chose the non-treated side in the two-alternative, forced-choice procedure and assigned significantly higher ratings to that side for sucrose-induced sweetness, quinine-induced bitterness and glutamate-induced umami sensations. Salty and sour sensations were not different between sides. A 15 min break was imposed in order to allow the capsaicin burn to disappear and desensitization to set in, followed by reapplication of the tastant test solutions. There were no bilateral differences in the intensity of the sensations elicited by any of the five tastants. Similar results were obtained in experiments 2 and 3. In the fourth experiment, all 15 subjects tested chose the side not treated with Gymnema sylvestre as having a stronger sweet taste and assigned significantly higher ratings to that side, thereby validating the method for taste localization. These results indicate that oral capsaicin reduces certain but not all taste sensations and are discussed in terms of possible physiological and cognitive interactions.     

Targeting of lipid-protamine-DNA (LPD) lipopolyplexes using RGD motifs

The incorporation of pegylated lipid into Lipid-Protamine-DNA (LPD-PEG) lipopolyplexes causes a decrease of their in vitro transfection activity. This can be partially attributed to a reduction in particle binding to cells. To restore particle binding and specifically target LPD formulations to tumor cells, the lipid-peptide conjugate DSPE-PEG5K-succinyl-ACDCRGDCFCG-COOH (DSPE-PEG5K-RGD-4C) was generated and incorporated into LPD formulations (LPD-PEG-RGD). LPD-PEG-RGD was characterized with respect to its biophysical and biological properties. The Incorporation of DSPE-PEG5K-RGD-4C ligands into LPD formulations results in a 5 and a 15 fold increase in the LPD-PEG-RGD binding and uptake, respectively, over an LPD-PEG formulation. Enhancement of binding and uptake resulted in a 100 fold enhancement of transfection activity. Moreover, this transfection enhancement was specific to cells expressing appropriate integrin receptors (MDA-MB-231). Huh7 cells, known for their low level of alphavbeta3 and alphavbeta5 integrin expression, failed to show RGD mediated transfection enhancement. This transfection enhancement can be abolished in a competitive manner using free RGD peptide, but not an RGE control peptide. Results demonstrated RGD mediated enhanced LPD-PEG cell binding and transfection in cells expressing the integrin receptor. These formulations provide the basis for effective, targeted, systemic gene delivery.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">TRAF1/C5</Emphasis>polymorphism is not associated with increased mortality in rheumatoid arthritis: two large longitudinal studies

Introduction  

Recently an association between a genetic variation in TRAF1/C5 and mortality from sepsis or cancer was found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The most prevalent cause of death, cardiovascular disease, may have been missed in that study, since patients were enrolled at an advanced disease stage. Therefore, we used an inception cohort of RA patients to investigate the association between TRAF1/C5 and cardiovascular mortality, and replicate the findings on all-cause mortality. As TRAF1/C5 associated mortality may not be restricted to RA, we also studied a large cohort of non-RA patients.