Growth Response of Eurotium chevalieri, Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium brevicompactum in Argentine Milk Jam

Milk jam ( dulce de leche) is a typical Argentine sweet spread prepared from milk concentrated by evaporation to about 70% w/w total solids at atmospheric pressure with added sucrose, glucose and vanillin. Growth of xerotolerant moulds represents a severe problem in this type of product with high sugar concentration. This work aimed at analysing the influence of water activity (aw range 0.74–0.85), pH (5.5 and 6.0) and the addition of 1,000 ppm potassium sorbate on Eurotium chevalieri, Aspergillus fumigatusand Penicillium brevicompactumgrowth response in milk jam stored at 25 °C or 35 °C during 90 days. Growth curves were successfully modelled by applying the modified version of Gompertz equation. There were proposed polynomials equations relating time to detection, λ, with two independent variables: potassium sorbate and water activity at pH 6.0. Some useful combinations of these factors were found to assure inhibition of mould growth during a critical storage period. Results might contribute to optimise manufacture conditions and/or milk jam composition to obtain a safer product when failure occurs during the hot filling process or when the product is stored for a long period of time.

Lung abscess: a changing pattern of the disease

Alcoholic stupor with aspiration has been the most commonly recognized cause of lung abscess. Eighty-nine patients treated for lung abscess in a large community hospital from 1968 through 1982 have been described. Forty-six percent of these patients were 60 to 80 years of age. The most common predisposing factors included pneumonia, immunosuppression steroid therapy, carcinoma at a distant site, alcoholism, and lung cancer. Surgical therapy was employed in 23 patients when there was suspicion of cancer and failure to improve with medical management. Fifty-seven percent of patients were either cured or improved at the time of discharge. Twenty-nine percent died from other causes during hospitalization, and 9 percent died as a direct result of the abscess. Thus, the patients encountered in the community hospital setting tended to be older and had a wide variety of illnesses that precipitated the development of lung abscesses.