Comparative study of minutiae selection methods for digital fingerprints.

Biometric systems are more and more used for many applications (physical access control, e-payment, etc.). Digital fingerprint is an interesting biometric modality as it can easily be used for embedded systems (smartcard, smartphone, and smartwatch).

Logical Attacks and Countermeasures for Fingerprint On-Card-Comparison Systems.

Digital fingerprints are being used more and more to secure applications for logical and physical access control. In order to guarantee security and privacy trends, a biometric system is often implemented on a secure element to store the biometric reference template and for the matching with a probe template (on-card-comparison). In order to assess the performance and robustness against attacks of these systems, it is necessary to better understand which information could help an attacker successfully impersonate a legitimate user.

Highlighting of quorum sensing lux genes and their expression in the hydrothermal vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata ectosymbiontic community. Possible use as biogeographic markers.

Rimicaris exoculata is a caridean shrimp that dominates the fauna at several hydrothermal vent sites of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It has two distinct and stable microbial communities. One of these epibiontic bacterial communities is located in the shrimp gut and has a distribution and role that are poorly understood.

Y chromosome--a tool in infertility studies of Latvian population.

Unlabelled: Human Y chromosome is used as a tool in male infertility and population genetic studies. The aims of this research were to analyse the prevalence of Y chromosome microdeletions among infertile Latvian men, and to identify possible lineages of Y chromosome that may be at increased risk of developing infertility. A study encompassed 105 infertile men with different spermatogenic disturbances.

Mycotoxin fumonisin B1 increases intestinal colonization by pathogenic Escherichia coli in pigs.

Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) is a mycotoxin that commonly occurs in maize. FB(1) causes a variety of toxic effects in different animal species and has been implicated as a contributing factor of esophageal cancers in humans. In the present study, we examined the effect of dietary exposure to FB(1) on intestinal colonization by pathogenic Escherichia coli associated with extraintestinal infection.

Kinetic studies of Heck coupling reactions using palladacycle catalysts: experimental and kinetic modeling of the role of dimer species.

Experimental kinetic studies of the coupling of p-bromobenzaldehyde (1) with butyl acrylate (2) using the dimeric palladacycles complex (4) with chelating nitrogen ligands were carried out together with kinetic modeling using a reaction rate expression based on the mechanism shown in Scheme 2. The oxidative addition product of 1 was found to be the resting state within the catalytic cycle. The formation of dimeric Pd species external to the catalytic cycle helped to rationalize a non-first-order rate dependence on catalyst concentration.

Comparative study of cytochemical tests for sperm chromatin integrity.

Tests were carried out on sperm from 40 fertile and infertile men to evaluate 2 DNA in situ denaturation methods using acridine orange (AO; the modified Rigler-Roschlau method and the Tejada method), alongside routine aniline blue (AB) and toluidine blue (TB) tests in our modification, and in order to estimate and compare the practical value of different in situ cytochemical tests for sperm chromatin structure. In addition, the methods were applied to rat and boar spermiogenesis models. The sperm heads with abnormal versus normal chromatin structure were specified as orange-red versus green by the AO method, blue versus uncolored by the AB method, and purple-violet versus light blue by the TB method.

Evaluation of a fluorodensitometric method for analysis of ergosterol as a fungal marker in compound feeds.

Ergosterol is the principal sterol of fungi and plays an essential role as a component of the cell membrane and other cell constituents. This molecule is considered a good marker of fungal contamination in foods and feeds. This paper reports a rapid and sensitive method to test ergosterol content in compound feeds based on fluorodensitometry after thin-layer chromatography (TLC) separation.

Correlation of desensitisation of platelet activating factor (PAF) receptors with intensity of inflammation and intestinal PAF content during experimental ileitis in guinea pig.

Aim: To determine the kinetics of platelet activating factor (PAF) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptor desensitisation during intestinal inflammation induced by trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid (TNB) instillation and to study the relation between receptor regulation, inflammatory lesions, and PAF content of the gut wall.

Methods: Receptor desensitisation was assessed on isolated smooth muscle cells from the circular layer. PAF content of the intestinal wall was determined by thin layer chromatography and radioimmunoassay.

Recent acute and subacute mycotoxicoses recognized in France.

Successful investigation and prevention of mycotoxic problems requires close collaboration between scientists from several disciplines ranging from agronomists and technologists required during production of food and feeds, to toxicologists and pathologists examining the effects of mycotoxins on animals and man. Zootoxic metabolites following fungal infection result from four general mechanisms: (i) secondary fungal metabolism (mycotoxins, eg, aflatoxins); (ii) bioconversion of vegetal compounds (eg, dicoumarol); (iii) plant reactions (phytoalexins, eg, coumestrol); and (iv) plant-fungus associations (endophytes, eg, Acremonium/Festuca). In reported pathologic field cases, close cooperation through a selected veterinary network has allowed diagnosis of acute and subacute mycotoxicoses in France.

Characterization of monascidin A from Monascus as citrinin.

Following our investigations on red pigments and monascidin co-production by Monascus species, the antibiotic called monascidin A was characterized as citrinin. Evidence was given by qualitative methods, mass spectra and NMR. Citrinin, a nephrotoxic agent was produced both by Monascus purpureus and Monascus ruber, either in submerged culture of concentrations of 270 and 340 mg/l, respectively, or in solid state culture of concentration of 100 and 300 mg/kg dried matter, respectively.

Thermostability of Ochratoxin A in wheat under two moisture conditions.

The decomposition of ochratoxin A (OTA) was examined, under different temperature and moisture conditions. The calculated half-lives, corresponding to 50% values, were 707, 201, 12, and 6 min, respectively, at 100, 150, 200, and 250 degrees C for dry wheat and 145, 60, and 19 min, respectively, at 100, 150, and 200 degrees C for wheat heated under wet conditions. The presence of water (50%) increased the decomposition of OTA at 100 and 150 degrees C; the opposite was observed at 200 degrees C.

Time of Aspergillus flavus infection and aflatoxin formation in ripening of figs.

Figs in an orchard were inoculated with an aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus strain in two ways by spore injection or by dusting at three maturation stages: firm ripe, shrivelled, and dried. Fruits were individually examined for fungal development and analyzed for aflatoxin B1 (AF B1) after 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 days. Fruit injected at the first stage showed fungal development and AF B1 contamination within two days.

Thermostability of Fumonisin B(1), a Mycotoxin from Fusarium moniliforme, in Corn.

Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) is a mycotoxin from Fusarium moniliforme that is frequently associated with corn. Thermal treatments are used in many processes concerning this cereal and its derivatives. The thermostability of this toxin in dry contaminated corn, resulting from F.

XASH-3, a novel Xenopus achaete-scute homolog, provides an early marker of planar neural induction and position along the mediolateral axis of the neural plate.

We have isolated a novel Xenopus homolog of the Drosophila achaete-scute genes, called XASH-3. XASH-3 expression is neural specific and is detected as early as stage 11 1/2, making it one of the earliest markers of neural induction so far described. Moreover, XASH-3 expression within the neural plate is regionally restricted.

In vitro effect of diacetoxyscirpenol and deoxynivalenol on microbicidal activity of murine peritoneal macrophages.

Diacetoxyscirpenol and deoxynivalenol, two trichothecene mycotoxins shown previously to exert immunosuppressive effects on the immune system were examined for their in vitro effects on some functions of murine peritoneal macrophages. The cells were pre-incubated for 4 hr with the mycotoxin concentrations of 0.1 ng/ml-1 micrograms/ml.

Detection and occurrence of cyclopiazonic acid in cheeses.

Techniques for detection of cyclopiazonic acid in P. camemberti fermented cheeses are described. They include extraction with CHCl3-MeOH, purification, analysis and quantitation by thin-layer chromatography, and confirmation procedures.

Ecotoxinogenesis of Pithomyces chartarum.

Facial eczema is a hepatogenous photosensitivity mycotoxicosis resulting from sporidesmin ingestion. The morphological characters of toxigenic strains of P. chartarum are reported and the effect of temperature on growth and mycotoxin production are studied.

Production of aflatoxin B1 by Aspergillus ruber THOM and CHURCH.

Production of aflatoxins by Aspergillus ruber THOM and CHURCH was first reported by KULIK and HOLADAY (1967), although these results have lacked confirmation. In this paper we provide evidence that this fungal strain produces aflatoxins. This finding has implications for food hygiene, especially in countries where such moulds are used in the preparation of foodstuffs.

Gonadotrophin release in ovariectomized ewes fed different amounts of coumestrol.

Three experiments were conducted to study changes in pulsatile secretion of LH and FSH during the breeding season or anoestrus in ovariectomized Ile-de-France ewes fed different amounts of the phyto-oestrogen coumestrol. In Exp. 1, conducted during the breeding season, ewes (3-4 per group) were fed lucerne supplying 4, 18 or 30 mg coumestrol per ewe per day for 15 days.

Comparative incidence of oral ochratoxicosis and aflatoxicosis on the activity of drug-metabolizing enzymes in rat liver.

Mycotoxicosis has been produced in the rat by daily oral administrations of ochratoxin A (1.5 mg/kg/day) or aflatoxin B1 (1 mg/kg/day). Hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 and b5 contents and many phase I and II biotransformation systems have been measured in the course of ochratoxicosis (4 to 15 dosings) and aflatoxicosis (1 to 8 dosings).

[Enhancement factors of penicillic acid production by Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium in foodstuffs (author's transl)].

Main parameters of penicillic acid (P.A.) production by P.

Cyclopiazonic acid production by Penicillium camemberti Thom and natural occurrence of this mycotoxin in cheese.

Every Penicillium camemberti strain freshly isolated from 20 commercial cheese brands produced cyclopiazonic acid in two culture media at 25, 13, and 4 degrees C; the toxin yield was greatly dependent on the strain and environmental parameters (medium, temperature, and incubation time). The toxigenic ability appeared as a log-normal distribution. This mycotoxin was found in the crust (0.

Cyclopiazonic acid bioproduction by Penicillium camemberti Thom: effect of temperature on individual strains.

The effect of temperature on cyclopiazonic acid production varied with the strain used. Accordingly, strains weakly toxigenic at the temperature of cheese ripening and storage can be selected and should be used.