Chicken Meat: Organic Acids, Plant Extracts And Irradiation Combine To Beat The Bacteria

A mixture of some organic acids and some extracts from plants turns out to be enough to greatly reduce pathogenic bacteria on chicken breast meat. Add some irradiation to the mix and it makes a lethal combination against the bacteria.Food Safety Consortium researchers at the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture found that they could greatly reduce E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium in the chicken breast meat by infusing combinations of organic acids – acetic, citric, lactic, malic and tartaric – into the meat. The experiments were also performed with extracts from green tea and grape seeds in combination with the acids.

Three of the organic acids – malic, citric and tartaric – were most effective against S. Typhimurium and E. coli O157:H7, more than against L. monocytogenes. With irradiation factored in, the results were significant against all the pathogens.

“We want to determine the least amount of plant extracts that we can use and the least amount of irradiation dosage to get the best inhibitory effect,” said Navam Hettiarachchy, a UA food science professor who supervised the project.

Previous research by Hettiarachchy’s research team showed that extracts from grape seed and green tea reduced L. monocytogenes to undetectable levels when applied in combination with nisin, a bacteriocin recognized as a safe food preservative.

The researchers are also using the plant extracts to serve as antioxidants, which minimizes lipid oxidation. Lipid oxidation is a process that causes meat quality to deteriorate by adversely affecting characteristics such as flavor, color and texture.

Hettiarachchy said the research team has examined the effects of irradiation on the chicken’s color and texture and found no significant change.

The research is continuing, but Hettiarachchy said a poultry company has already expressed interest in the project’s findings. Irradiation, however, has not yet been applied widely in the United States as many companies have worried about potential resistance among consumers.

Hettiarachcy suggested that labels on irradiated products could have a brief explanation of irradiation to educate consumers.

“I am hopeful that with time the public will become aware of irradiation processing so that they accept irradiation in processing poultry and meat products for safety against pathogens,” Hettiarachchy said. “A new education component is very important and may be the key for acceptance for irradiated food products by the consumer.”

Stem Cells Transplanted From Marrow Into Heart May Improve Heart's Performance

The Cardiology department and the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital Reina Sofia are carrying out clinical tests with patients who have suffered from a severe heart attack. With the implantation of the patient's stem cells, the heart regenerates thus improving its wall motion, that is, its cardiac performance. Indeed for the last four years, the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital, led by haematologist Dr. Concha Herrera, has been implementing a therapy program with adult stem cells in patients with heart-related problems. However, this therapy is not a service the hospital offers yet. More specifically, at the end of 2007 the hospital ended a clinical test with patients who had suffered a severe myocardial infarction, that is, an obstruction of one of the main coronary arteries that stops the blood pump to the heart.

The test consisted of treating 30 people split into three groups of ten each at random. The first group was the control group, where patients received standard treatment for acute myocardial infarction; the second group was treated with stem cells directly implanted into the coronary artery affected using a catheterization; the third group was treated with a medicine called G-CSF, which makes cells move from the marrow to the blood, so that they get to the heart in a natural way, without having to do so through a catheter.

At the end of the test, the results revealed that the two groups treated without cells improved slightly, whereas patients transplanted with stem cells through the coronary arteries (vessels which bring the blood to the Herat muscle) did improve their ventricular function much more. This was interpreted as a significant decrease of the cardiac failure symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness when making small efforts.

Moreover, with this process it is possible to prevent some acute arrhythmias (change or irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat), which in many cases could result in the patient's death. ‘However, it does not prevent a future heart attack', Dr. Herrera assures.

In short, the stem cells transplanted from the marrow into the heart muscle have a double function: on the one hand they regenerate the heart cells, the cardiomiocites. In addition to this, they segregate a series of proangiogenic factors that produce blood vessels (angiogenesis) and can also produce the recruitment of stem cells that are in the myocardium itself.

The Are of Cell Therapy, led by Dr. Herrera, is currently developing other trials in the cardiology department, both in patients with acute myocardial infarction (35) and in those with chronic ischemic cardiopathy, due to one or more heart attacks suffered in the past, either months or years ago (20 patients). Moreover, in the last few months a new clinical trial has been started - so far in eight patients- who suffer from a disease called Dilated Myocardiopathy. The origin of this disease is unknown but it causes a very severe cardiac failure which conditions the need for a heart transplant in many cases. So far, ‘the results in these first patients are very satisfactory'.

'We will start shortly a clinical test where we will use stem cells from the marrow in diabetic patients who have the artery taking the blood to the lower limbs blocked. This pathology, called peripheral ischemia, can result in a limb being amputated'.

This work, published in Revista Española de Cardiología journal, has been awarded with a prize by the Sociedad Española de Cardiología.

Stronger Material For Filling Dental Cavities Has Ingredients From Human Body

Scientists in Canada and China are reporting development of a new dental filling material that substitutes natural ingredients from the human body for controversial ingredients in existing "composite," or plastic, fillings. The new material appears stronger and longer lasting as well, with the potential for reducing painful filling cracks and emergency visits to the dentist, the scientists say. Julian X.X. Zhu and colleagues point out that dentists increasingly are using white fillings made from plastic, rather than "silver" dental fillings. Those traditional fillings contain mercury, which has raised health concerns among some consumers and environmental issues in its production. However, many plastic fillings contain controversial ingredients (such as BisGMA) linked to premature cracking of fillings and slowly release bisphenol A, a substance considered as potentially toxic to humans and to the environment.

The scientists developed a dental composite that does not contain these ingredients. Instead, it uses "bile acids," natural substances produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder that help digest fats. The researchers showed in laboratory studies that the bile acid-derived resins form a hard, durable plastic that resists cracking better than existing composites.