Development of a nutritionally balanced pizza as a functional meal designed to meet published dietary guidelines.

Objective: To develop a worked example of product reformulation of a very popular 'junk food' to meet nutritional guidelines for public health in a ready meal.

Design: Indicative survey of popular Margherita pizzas, followed by product reformulation, applying dietary guidelines to generate a single-item pizza meal containing 30 % daily amounts of energy and all nutrients. An iterative process was used; first to optimize nutrient balance by adjusting the proportions of bread base, tomato-based sauce and mozzarella topping, then adding ingredients to provide specific nutrients and consumer tasting.

Occurrence of toxigenic Aspergillus spp. and aflatoxins in selected food commodities of Asian origin sourced in the West of Scotland.

The occurrence of Aspergillus moulds and aflatoxins in 12 commercially-available dried foods of Asian origin were examined. All food samples, except green beans and three types of dried fruit, contained multiple genera of moulds of which Aspergillus (55%) was the most frequently detected. Penicillium (15%), Rhizopus (11%), Mucor (3%), Monascus (1%), Eurotium (1%) and unidentified (14%) were also observed.

Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets.

A total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the "index of economic freedom," indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation.

Fear of causing harm: use of mannequin-based simulation to decrease student anxiety prior to interacting with female teaching associates.

Background: There is a paucity of research assessing the potential benefits of mannequin trainers when preparing students to interact with teaching associates.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to better understand the effects of mannequin-based simulators on student comfort toward learning specific aspects of the clinical female pelvic exam.

Methods: First-year medical students (N = 344) were surveyed before and after a mannequin-based simulation curriculum to assess their comfort levels toward learning the female pelvic exam.

Occurrence and function of yeasts in Asian indigenous fermented foods.

In the Asian region, indigenous fermented foods are important in daily life. In many of these foods, yeasts are predominant and functional during the fermentation. The diversity of foods in which yeasts predominate ranges from leavened bread-like products such as nan and idli, to alcoholic beverages such as rice and palm wines, and condiments such as papads and soy sauce.

Heat-stable toxin production by strains of Bacillus cereus, Bacillus firmus, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus simplex and Bacillus licheniformis.

Strains of Bacillus cereus can produce a heat-stable toxin (cereulide). In this study, 101 Bacillus strains representing 7 Bacillus species were tested for production of heat-stable toxins. Strains of B.

The use of an air filtration system in podiatry clinics.

A small-scale study was conducted to ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of an air filtration system for use in podiatry/chiropody clinics (Electromedia Model 35F (A), Clean Air Ltd, Scotland, UK). Three clinics were identified, enabling comparison of data between podiatry clinics in the West of Scotland. The sampling was conducted using a portable Surface Air Sampler (Cherwell Laboratories, Bicester, UK).

Sugar profile of extracellular polysaccharides from different Tremella species.

Heteropolysaccharides isolated from liquid cultures of Tremella species were derivatised to alditol acetates and identified by GLC against derivatised sugar standards. From the sugar profiles it was evident that all of the polysaccharides contained essentially the same sugars but in different ratios. Some of the polysaccharides contained the five carbon sugars-fucose, ribose, xylose and arabinose together with six carbon sugars-mannose, galactose and glucose.