A broken market: can increased access to broken rice decrease food insecurity in Haiti?

Haiti is a unique rice market in the sense that, despite the high poverty rates and dependency on rice as a staple, it relies on imports (80% of total consumption) of high-quality milled rice for which it pays a premium price. Haiti requires that all imported rice have a maximum of 4% broken kernels, which results in Haiti importing one of the most expensive non-fragrant long grain rice in the world. This study implements a non-hypothetical field experiment (300 observations) to elicit which rice attributes Haitians valued as revealed by their purchasing behavior in an open-air market setting. Specifically, we set out to estimate if Haitians would discount broken rice in such a manner that strict import regulations, which keeps cheaper imported broken rice out of domestic markets, continue to be warranted. Our findings suggest consumers (across locations and income groups) were not found to pay more for a reduced amount of broken rice, with the exception of the highest income group. This should signal to policy makers in Haiti that consumers are willing to consume rice with a higher percentage of brokens than the 4% importation standard. This is important from a food security standpoint as rice with a higher broken percentage provides the same nutritional value as rice with a lower broken rate, and can be sourced globally at a discounted price. Allowing imports of rice with higher broken rate could help alleviate food insecurity in Haiti by providing a cheaper alternative to relatively expensive domestic rice and imported rice, which currently has an inflated price due to its high-quality standards imposed by Haitian importers.

Wearable Technology Effects on Training Outcomes of Restaurant Food Handlers

Food safety training does not always result in behavior change, perhaps because of flaws inherent in traditional training designs. New technologies such as augmented reality headsets or head-mounted action cameras could transform the way food safety training is conducted in the food industry. Training conducted with wearable technology presents visual content in the first-person or actor's perspective, as opposed to the traditional third-person or observer perspective. This visual hands-on first-person perspective may provide an effective way of conveying information and encouraging behavior execution because it uses the mirror neuron system. There is little published literature about the impact of perspective on food safety training outcomes, such as motivation. The present study included a repeated-measures design to determine how first- and third-person camera angles affected hand washing training reactions among 108 currently employed restaurant food handlers. Participants were assessed on their posttraining compliance intentions, compliance self-efficacy, perceived utility of the training, overall satisfaction with the training, and video perspective preference. A significant proportion of food handlers (64%) preferred the first-person video perspective ( z = 5.00, P < 0.001), and a significant correlation was found between compliance intentions and compliance self-efficacy ( r(108) = 0.361, P < 0.001) for the first-person video. No significant differences in video preference were found for demographic variables, including age (χ² (2, n = 104) = 1.69, P = 0.430), which suggests that the first-person training format appeals to a diverse workforce. These findings support the application of wearable technology to enhance hand washing training outcomes across a wide range of demographic groups. This research lays the framework for future studies to assess the impact of instructional design on compliance concerning hand washing and other food handling behaviors.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 populations in ruminants can be reduced by orange peel product feeding

Foodborne pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 are threats to the safety of beef. Citrus peel and dried orange pulp are by-products from citrus juice production that have natural antimicrobial effects and are often incorporated into least-cost ration formulations for beef and dairy cattle. This study was designed to determine if orange peel and pulp affected E. coli O157:H7 populations in vivo. Sheep (n = 24) were fed a cracked corn grain-based diet that was supplemented with a 50-50 mixture of dried orange pellet and fresh orange peel to achieve a final concentration (dry matter basis, wt/wt) of 0, 5, or 10% pelleted orange peel (OP) for 10 days. Sheep were artificially inoculated with 10(10) CFU of E. coli O157:H7 by oral dosing. Fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 was measured daily for 5 days after inoculation, after which all animals were humanely euthanized. At 96 h postinoculation, E. coli O157:H7 shedding was reduced (P < 0.05) in sheep fed 10% OP. Populations of inoculated E. coli O157:H7 were reduced by OP treatment throughout the gastrointestinal tract; however, this reduction reached significant levels in the rumen (P < 0.05) of sheep fed 10% OP diets. Cecal and rectal populations of E. coli O157:H7 were reduced (P < 0.05) by inclusion of both 5 and 10% OP diets. Our results demonstrate that orange peel products can be used as a preharvest intervention strategy as part of an integrated pathogen reduction scheme.

Temporal lobe epilepsy, temporal lobectomy, and major depression

Sixty-two patients with medically intractable complex partial seizures who had either surgical or no surgical intervention were followed up at a mean of 10.9 years after surgery or initial evaluation. Of the 49 surgical patients, 45% had a life-time history of depression, versus 15% of the 13 patients in the nonsurgical comparison group. In the surgical group, 77% had prior history of depression; of these, 47% experienced no further episodes after surgery. Depression occurred de novo after lobectomy in 5 surgical patients (approximately 10%), 4 developing depression within 1 year. Presurgical presence of depressive episodes predicted continued postoperative depressive episodes. The significantly higher depression rate in patients with temporal lobe seizure foci suggests limbic system dysfunction in the increased risk for depression. Postsurgical resolution of episodes in almost 50% of these patients supports the tenet that depression per se is not a contraindication for surgery in patients with intractable seizures.

Neuronal firing patterns during the spread of an occipital lobe seizure to the temporal lobes in man

Neuronal recordings from occipital cortex and hippocampus during a seizure originating in the occipital lobe of a patient with an occipito-temporal tumor demonstrated that the visual aura resulted from neuronal activation of medial peristriate and possibly other occipital lobe neurons while the psychomotor automatisms followed 10-20 sec later and were caused by recruitment of hippocampal neurons bilaterally. This confirmed that the complex seizure symptoms were caused by propagation from an occipital lobe focus. The psychomotor symptoms have not recurred for the 6 months since interruption of occipito-temporal connections; however, the spared medial occipital neurons still produce visual auras.