Acrylamide in potato crisps prepared from 20 UK-grown varieties: effects of variety and tuber storage time

Twenty varieties of field-grown potato were stored for 2 months and 6 months at 8 °C. Mean acrylamide contents in crisps prepared from all varieties at both storage times ranged from 131 μg per kg in Verdi to 5360 μg per kg in Pentland Dell. In contrast to previous studies, the longer storage period did not affect acrylamide formation significantly for most varieties, the exceptions being Innovator, where acrylamide formation increased, and Saturna, where it decreased. Four of the five varieties designated as suitable for crisping produced crisps with acrylamide levels below the European Commission indicative value of 1000 μg per kg (Saturna, Lady Rosetta, Lady Claire, and Verdi); the exception was Hermes. Two varieties more often used for French fries, Markies and Fontane, also produced crisps with less than 1000 μg per kg acrylamide. Correlations between acrylamide, its precursors and crisp colour are described, and the implications of the results for production of potato crisps are discussed.

Effects of water availability on free amino acids, sugars, and acrylamide-forming potential in potato

Irrigation is used frequently in potato cultivation to maximize yield, but water availability may also affect the composition of the crop, with implications for processing properties and food safety. Five varieties of potatoes, including drought-tolerant and -sensitive types, which had been grown with and without irrigation, were analyzed to show the effect of water supply on concentrations of free asparagine, other free amino acids, and sugars and on the acrylamide-forming potential of the tubers. Two varieties were also analyzed under more severe drought stress in a glasshouse. Water availability had profound effects on tuber free amino acid and sugar concentrations, and it was concluded that potato farmers should irrigate only if necessary to maintain the health and yield of the crop, because irrigation may increase the acrylamide-forming potential of potatoes. Even mild drought stress caused significant changes in composition, but these differed from those caused by more extreme drought stress. Free proline concentration, for example, increased in the field-grown potatoes of one variety from 7.02 mmol/kg with irrigation to 104.58 mmol/kg without irrigation, whereas free asparagine concentration was not affected significantly in the field but almost doubled from 132.03 to 242.26 mmol/kg in response to more severe drought stress in the glasshouse. Furthermore, the different genotypes were affected in dissimilar fashion by the same treatment, indicating that there is no single, unifying potato tuber drought stress response.

Big Data and ecosystem research programmes

The size and complexity of data sets generated within ecosystem-level programmes merits their capture, curation, storage and analysis, synthesis and visualisation using Big Data approaches. This review looks at previous attempts to organise and analyse such data through the International Biological Programme and draws on the mistakes made and the lessons learned for effective Big Data approaches to current Research Councils United Kingdom (RCUK) ecosystem-level programmes, using Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) and Environmental Virtual Observatory Pilot (EVOp) as exemplars. The challenges raised by such data are identified, explored and suggestions are made for the two major issues of extending analyses across different spatio-temporal scales and for the effective integration of quantitative and qualitative data.

Designing care bundle documentation to support the recognition and treatment of acute kidney injury: a route to quality improvement

The chapter describes development of care bundle documentation, through an iterative, user-centred design process, to support the recognition and treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI). The chapter details stages of user and stakeholder consultation, employed to develop a design response that was sensitive to user experience and need, culminating in simulation testing of a near final prototype. The development of supplementary awareness-raising materials, relating to the main care bundle tool is also discussed. This information design response to a complex clinical decision-making process is contrasted to other approaches to promoting AKI care. The need for different but related approaches to the working tool itself and the tool’s communication are discussed. More general recommendations are made for the development of communication tools to support complex clinical processes.

Water, women, waste, wisdom and wealth: harvesting the confluences and opportunities

This special volume offers a collection of papers that examine challenges and solutions where water meets complex, intersections with women, waste, wisdom or wealth. This unique array of articles offer readers of the Journal of Cleaner Production multidisciplinary views of water issues involving physical and structural perspectives, as well as political, social, cultural and increasingly serious environmental challenges. By building upon extensive literature reviews along with data collected through empirical study and real world observations, the authors effectively present valuable insights into the depth and nature of many of the problems but also present a well-developed array of recommendations, based upon successful projects and programs, world-wide. Among the recommendations are proposals for policies, approaches and regulations that provide system enhancements to prevent pollution and contamination and ideas to monitor and regulate water consumption. This international collection includes studies from 15 countries, documented and written by an equal number of female and male authors.

Taste components of Sherry wines

Sherry wine has characteristic taste and aroma, different from other wine-based alcoholic beverages. This paper reports a study of the non-volatile, low-molecular weight compounds found in sherry and related alcoholic beverages that may contribute to taste. Compounds analysed included free amino acids, organic acids, sugars and small peptides (linear and cyclic). A series of seven diketopiperazines (cyclic dipeptides) namely, cyclo(Leu-Leu), cyclo(Pro-Leu), cyclo(Pro-Ile), cyclo(Pro-Met), cyclo( Pro-Val), cyclo(Pro-Pro) and cyclo(Val-Ala) were identified for the first time in sherry. Although traces were found in some other alcoholic beverages, levels were low compared with sherry. The base wine used in the sherry production had only traces of diketopiperazines, indicating that the casking stage of sherry production might be responsible for their formation.

Effect of asparaginase on flavour formation in roasted coffee

The use of asparaginase, an enzyme that hydrolyses the acrylamide precursor asparagine into aspartic acid and ammonia, is seen as a promising procedure to mitigate the formation of the potential human carcinogen acrylamide in food products, without compromising desirable sensory qualities. This study examines the effect of asparaginase treatment on the asparagine and aspartic acid content of green coffee beans prior to roasting as well as the impact on the formation of acrylamide and thermally generated aroma compounds in roasted coffee

Distinct behavioral phenotypes in male mice lacking the thyroid hormone receptor alpha1 or beta isoforms

Thyroid hormones influence both neuronal development and anxiety via the thyroid hormone receptors (TRs). The TRs are encoded by two different genes, TRalpha and TRbeta. The loss of TRalpha1 is implicated in increased anxiety in males, possibly via a hippocampal increase in GABAergic activity. We compared both social behaviors and two underlying and related non-social behaviors, state anxiety and responses to acoustic and tactile startle in the gonadally intact TRalpha1 knockout (alpha1KO) and TRbeta (betaKO) male mice to their wild-type counterparts. For the first time, we show an opposing effect of the two TR isoforms, TRalpha1 and TRbeta, in the regulation of state anxiety, with alpha1 knockout animals (alpha1KO) showing higher levels of anxiety and betaKO males showing less anxiety compared to respective wild-type mice. At odds with the increased anxiety in non-social environments, alpha1KO males also show lower levels of responsiveness to acoustic and tactile startle stimuli. Consistent with the data that T4 is inhibitory to lordosis in female mice, we show subtly increased sex behavior in alpha1KO male mice. These behaviors support the idea that TRalpha1 could be inhibitory to ERalpha driven transcription that ultimately impacts ERalpha driven behaviors such as lordosis. The behavioral phenotypes point to novel roles for the TRs, particularly in non-social behaviors such as state anxiety and startle.

Estrogen receptor-mediated transcription involves the activation of multiple kinase pathways in neuroblastoma cells

While many physiological effects of estrogens (E) are due to regulation of gene transcription by liganded estrogen receptors (ERs), several effects are also mediated, at least in part, by rapid non-genomic actions of E. Though the relative importance of rapid versus genomic effects in the central nervous system is controversial, we showed previously that membrane-limited effects of E, initiated by an estradiol bovine serum albumin conjugate (E2-BSA), could potentiate transcriptional effects of 17beta-estradiol from an estrogen response element (ERE)-reporter in neuroblastoma cells. Here, using specific inhibitors and activators in a pharmacological approach, we show that activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate kinase (PI3K) and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, dependent on a Galphaq coupled receptor signaling are important in this transcriptional potentiation. We further demonstrate, using ERalpha phospho-deficient mutants, that E2-BSA mediated phosphorylation of ERalpha is one mechanism to potentiate transcription from an ERE reporter construct. This study provides a possible mechanism by which signaling from the membrane is coupled to transcription in the nucleus, providing an integrated view of hormone signaling in the brain.

Diel surface temperature range scales with lake size

Ecological and biogeochemical processes in lakes are strongly dependent upon water temperature. Long-term surface warming of many lakes is unequivocal, but little is known about the comparative magnitude of temperature variation at diel timescales, due to a lack of appropriately resolved data. Here we quantify the pattern and magnitude of diel temperature variability of surface waters using high-frequency data from 100 lakes. We show that the near-surface diel temperature range can be substantial in summer relative to long-term change and, for lakes smaller than 3 km2, increases sharply and predictably with decreasing lake area. Most small lakes included in this study experience average summer diel ranges in their near-surface temperatures of between 4 and 7°C. Large diel temperature fluctuations in the majority of lakes undoubtedly influence their structure, function and role in biogeochemical cycles, but the full implications remain largely unexplored.

Advancing polar prediction capabilities on daily to seasonal time scales

It is argued that existing polar prediction systems do not yet meet users’ needs; and possible ways forward in advancing prediction capacity in polar regions and beyond are outlined. The polar regions have been attracting more and more attention in recent years, fuelled by the perceptible impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Polar climate change provides new opportunities, such as shorter shipping routes between Europe and East Asia, but also new risks such as the potential for industrial accidents or emergencies in ice-covered seas. Here, it is argued that environmental prediction systems for the polar regions are less developed than elsewhere. There are many reasons for this situation, including the polar regions being (historically) lower priority, with less in situ observations, and with numerous local physical processes that are less well-represented by models. By contrasting the relative importance of different physical processes in polar and lower latitudes, the need for a dedicated polar prediction effort is illustrated. Research priorities are identified that will help to advance environmental polar prediction capabilities. Examples include an improvement of the polar observing system; the use of coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean models, even for short-term prediction; and insight into polar-lower latitude linkages and their role for forecasting. Given the enormity of some of the challenges ahead, in a harsh and remote environment such as the polar regions, it is argued that rapid progress will only be possible with a coordinated international effort. More specifically, it is proposed to hold a Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) from mid-2017 to mid-2019 in which the international research and operational forecasting community will work together with stakeholders in a period of intensive observing, modelling, prediction, verification, user-engagement and educational activities.