The effect of transportation vibration on the microbiological status of bottled mineral water

BACKGROUND

Microbiological status and stability are important in mineral waters because of increased global demand. An increase in distribution and supply chains has led to prolonged periods of transportation, causing microbiological changes. Therefore, this study examines the effect of vibration on mineral water quality. Freshly bottled and previously sterilized mineral waters inoculated with microbes isolated from freshly bottled water were tested. The water samples were exposed to random vibration using ASTM (D4169) truck level I, II and III standard vibration protocol for truck transportation at 4 × 1 h at 22 ± 1 °C. After agitation their microbiological status was determined.

RESULTS

Under the influence of low-intensity mechanical impact, the growth rate of autochthonous species in the freshly bottled natural mineral water tripled (μ_control  = 0.036 h^-1 , μ_vibrated  = 0.093 h^-1 ) and that of allochthonous species doubled (μ_control  = 0.035 h^-1 , μ_vibrated  = 0.069 h^-1 ). The latter was also observed in the case of high-intensity vibration (μ_control  = 0.102 h^-1 , μ_vibrated  = 0.200 h^-1 ). The effect of the medium intensity of the standard was manifested in the delay in microbial growth.

CONCLUSION

The impact of transportation vibrations on microbiological status changes in mineral water could be observed when subjected to vibration. The native and allochthonous species of mineral water respond differently to changes in intensity. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Time restricted feeding modifies leukocyte responsiveness and improves inflammation outcome

Time restricted eating, the dietary approach limiting food intake to a maximal 10-hour period of daytime is considered beneficial in metabolic dysfunctions, such as obesity and diabetes. Rhythm of food intake and parallel changes in serum nutrient levels are also important entrainment signals for the circadian clock, particularly in tissues involved in metabolic regulation. As both the metabolic state and the circadian clock have large impact on immune functions, we investigated in mice whether time restricted feeding (TRF) affects systemic inflammatory potential. TRF slackened the symptoms in K/BxN serum-transfer arthritis, an experimental model of human autoimmune joint inflammation. Compared to ad libitum conditions TRF reduced the expression of inflammatory mediators in visceral adipose tissue, an integrator and coordinator of metabolic and inflammatory processes. Furthermore, TRF strengthened the oscillation of peripheral leukocyte counts and alongside decreased the pool of both marginated and tissue leukocytes. Our data suggest that the altered leukocyte distribution in TRF mice is related to the attenuated expression of adhesion molecules on the surface of neutrophils and monocytes. We propose that TRF modifies both rhythm and inflammatory potential of leukocytes which contribute to the milder reactivity of the immune system and therefore time-restricted eating could serve as an effective complementary tool in the therapy of autoinflammatory processes.

Synthesis of Hydrofluoroolefin‐Based Iodonium Reagent via Dyotropic Rearrangement and Its Utilization in Fluoroalkylation

[1,2]‐shift of atoms in alkyl fragments belongs to the class of dyotropic rearrangements. Various atoms, including halogens can be involved in the migration, however participation of iodine is unprecedented. Herein, we report our experimental and DFT studies on the oxidation triggered dyotropic rearrangement of iodo and chloro functions via butterfly‐type transition state to demonstrate the migrating ability of λ³‐iodane centre. With the exploitation of dyotropic rearrangement we designed and synthesized a novel fluoroalkyl iodonium reagent from industrial feedstock gas HFO‐1234yf. We demonstrated that the hypervalent reagent serves as an excellent fluoroalkylation agent for various amines and nitrogen heterocycles.

Mid-Infrared Imaging Characterization to Differentiate Lung Cancer Subtypes

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most common malignancy worldwide. Squamous cell carcinoma (SQ) and adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are the two most frequent histological subtypes. Small cell carcinoma (SCLC) subtype has the worst prognosis. Differential diagnosis is essential for proper oncological treatment. Life science associated mid- and near-infrared based microscopic techniques have been developed exponentially, especially in the past decade. Vibrational spectroscopy is a potential non-destructive approach to investigate malignancies.

Aims: Our goal was to differentiate lung cancer subtypes by their label-free mid-infrared spectra using supervised multivariate analyses.

Material and Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples were selected from the archives. Three subtypes were selected for each group: 10-10 cases SQ, LUAD and SCLC. 2 μm thick sections were cut and laid on aluminium coated glass slides. Transflection optical setup was applied on Perkin-Elmer infrared microscope. 250 × 600 μm areas were imaged and the so-called mid-infrared fingerprint region (1800-648cm⁻¹) was further analysed with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) methods.

Results: Both “patient-based” and “pixel-based” approaches were examined. Patient-based analysis by using 3 LDA models and 2 SVM models resulted in different separations. The higher the cut-off value the lower is the accuracy. The linear C-support vector classification (C-SVC) SVM resulted in the best (100%) accuracy for the three subtypes using a 50% cut-off value. The pixel-based analysis gave, similarly, the linear C-SVC SVM model to be the most efficient in the statistical indicators (SQ sensitivity 81.65%, LUAD sensitivity 82.89% and SCLC sensitivity 88.89%). The spectra cut-off, the kernel function and the algorithm function influence the accuracy.

Conclusion: Mid-Infrared imaging could be used to differentiate FFPE lung cancer subtypes. Supervised multivariate tools are promising to accurately separate lung tumor subtypes. The long-term perspective is to develop a spectroscopy-based diagnostic tool, revolutionizing medical differential diagnostics, especially cancer identification.

Nationwide Effectiveness of First and Second SARS-CoV2 Booster Vaccines During the Delta and Omicron Pandemic Waves in Hungary (HUN-VE 2 Study)

Background

In Hungary, the pandemic waves in late 2021 and early 2022 were dominated by the Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants, respectively. Booster vaccines were offered with one or two doses for the vulnerable population during these periods.

Methods and Findings

The nationwide HUN-VE 2 study examined the effectiveness of primary immunization, single booster, and double booster vaccination in the prevention of Covid-19 related mortality during the Delta and Omicron waves, compared to an unvaccinated control population without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection during the same study periods. The risk of Covid-19 related death was 55% lower during the Omicron vs. Delta wave in the whole study population (n=9,569,648 and n=9,581,927, respectively; rate ratio [RR]: 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44-0.48). During the Delta wave, the risk of Covid-19 related death was 74% lower in the primary immunized population (RR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.25-0.28) and 96% lower in the booster immunized population (RR: 0.04; 95% CI: 0.04-0.05), vs. the unvaccinated control group. During the Omicron wave, the risk of Covid-19 related death was 40% lower in the primary immunized population (RR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.55-0.65) and 82% lower in the booster immunized population (RR: 0.18; 95% CI: 0.16-0.2) vs. the unvaccinated control group. The double booster immunized population had a 93% lower risk of Covid-19 related death compared to those with only one booster dose (RR: 0.07; 95% CI. 0.01-0.46). The benefit of the second booster was slightly more pronounced in older age groups.

Conclusions

The HUN-VE 2 study demonstrated the significantly lower risk of Covid-19 related mortality associated with the Omicron vs. Delta variant and confirmed the benefit of single and double booster vaccination against Covid-19 related death. Furthermore, the results showed the additional benefit of a second booster dose in terms of SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 related mortality.

Specific Antibody and the T-Cell Response Elicited by BNT162b2 Boosting After Two ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in Common Variable Immunodeficiency

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) patients have markedly decreased immune response to vaccinations. In this study we evaluated humoral and T cell-mediated responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-Cov-2) with additional flow cytometric changes in CVID patients receiving booster vaccination with BNT162b2 after two ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. The BNT162b2 vaccine raised the anti-spike protein S immunoglobulin G over the cut-off value from 70% to 83% in CVID, anti-neutralizing antibody had been raised over a cut-off value from 70% to 80% but levels after boosting were significantly less in both tests than in healthy controls (*p=0.02; **p=0.009 respectively). Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin A became less positive in CVID after boosting, but the difference was not significant. The cumulative interferon-γ positive T cell response by ELISpot was over the cut-off value in 53% of the tested individuals and raised to 83% after boosting. This and flow cytometric control of cumulative CD4+ and CD8+ virus-specific T cell absolute counts in CVID were also statistically not different from healthy individuals after boosting. Additional flow cytometric measures for CD45+ lymphocytes, CD3+, and CD19+ cells have not shown significant differences from controls except for lower CD4+T cell counts at both time points (**p=0.003; **p=0.002), in parallel CD4+ virus-specific T-cell ratio was significantly lower in CVID patients at the first time point (*p: 0.03). After boosting, in more than 33% of both CVID patients and also in their healthy controls we detected a decrease in absolute CD45+, CD3+, CD3+CD4+, and CD3+CD8+, CD19+, and CD16+56+ cell counts. CD16+CD56+ cell counts were significantly lower compared to controls before and after boosting (*p=0.02, *p=0.02). CVID patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy throughout the previous year or autologous stem cell transplantation two years before vaccination had worse responses in anti-spike, anti-neutralizing antibody, CD3+CD4+T, CD19+ B, and natural killer cell counts than the whole CVID group. Vaccinations had few side effects. Based on these data, CVID patients receiving booster vaccination with BNT162b2 after two ChadOx1 can effectively elevate the levels of protection against COVID-19 infection, but the duration of the immune response together with COVID-19 morbidity data needs further investigation among these patients.