Improved Salmonella And Campylobacter Detection Using Hyperspectral Imaging

A type of high-tech imaging can be used to distinguish the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter from other microorganisms as quickly as 24 hours after a sample is placed on solid media in a Petri dish, according to a study published by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.

The researchers, with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), used technology called hyperspectral imaging, which combines digital imaging with spectroscopy, to provide hundreds of individual wavelength measurements for each image pixel. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

According to the study, microorganisms grown on solid media carry unique spectral fingerprints in the specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. A hyperspectral imager identifies these fingerprints by measuring light waves that bounce off or through these objects.

Unlike the human eye, which sees only visible light, hyperspectral imaging can detect visible light as well as light from the ultraviolet to near-infrared ranges. Hyperspectral imaging may also be applicable to other pathogen detection studies.

Campylobacter infections in humans are a major cause of bacterial foodborne illness both in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Growing Campylobacter directly on solid media has been an effective method to isolate this organism, but distinguishing Campylobacter from non-Campylobacter microorganisms is difficult because different bacteria can often look very similar.

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New Health Canada And FDA Studies Support BPA Safety

As part of its research commitment on bisphenol A (BPA), Health Canada released today the results of a new survey of BPA exposure levels in a variety of soft drink and beer products. The results from this latest government survey provide confirmation that foods and beverages packaged in BPA epoxy resin coated metal cans do not pose a health risk.

The survey results clearly indicate that exposure to BPA from the tested beverage products would be extremely low. In the report, Health Canada officials confirmed their previous conclusion "that current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging uses is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population." This same finding has been reaffirmed by other international food regulatory agencies in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia-New Zealand.

As part of its ongoing research program, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists recently published results from two pharmacokinetic studies. The data from those studies show that BPA is effectively and efficiently metabolized and excreted out of the body. The study authors stated that no age-related effects were seen in the ability to metabolize BPA and that previous studies on postnatal rats would likely over predict any possible effects.

"Health Canada has again confirmed that BPA-based liners in use with food and beverages are safe for use and migrate exceedingly low levels of BPA into their products. Coupled with FDA's new studies that show that primates, like humans, can quickly metabolize these trace levels and remove them from the body is compelling evidence of BPA's safety," stated Dr. John Rost, Chairman of NAMPA.

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Doctors' Religious Faith Influences End Of Life Care

A new study from the UK suggests that doctors' religious faith strongly influences end of life care, with agnostic and atheist doctors nearly twice as willing to take decisions that speed up end of life for very sick patients compared to their deeply religious peers.

Dr Clive Seale, a professor in the Centre for Health Sciences at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, wrote about the findings in a paper published online 23 August in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Data for the study came from a postal survey of UK doctors working in a range of specialisms where end of life decisions are most likely to occur, such as care of the elderly, palliative care, intensive care, certain hospital specialties, and general practice.

The survey asked participants questions about their own faith and religious beliefs, ethnicity, and views on assisted dying and euthanasia. It also asked them a series of questions about the care of their last patient who died (if relevant), including whether they had given them continuous deep sedation until death, and if they had talked to the patient about decisions judged likely to shorten life.

3,733 doctors responded to the survey (42 % of the total invited). Of these, 2,933 answered questions on the care of a patient who died.

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Failure Better Teacher Than Success

While success is surely sweeter than failure, it seems failure is a far better teacher, and organizations that fail spectacularly often flourish more in the long run, according to a new study by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School.
Desai's research, published in the Academy of Management Journal, focused on companies and organizations that launch satellites, rockets and shuttles into space - an arena where failures are high profile and hard to conceal.
Working with Peter Madsen, assistant professor at BYU School of Management, Desai found that organizations not only learned more from failure than success, they retained that knowledge longer.
"We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years," he said. "But there is a tendency in organizations to ignore failure or try not to focus on it. Managers may fire people or turn over the entire workforce while they should be treating the failure as a learning opportunity."
The researchers said they discovered little "significant organizational learning from success" but added "we do not discount the possibility that it may occur in other settings."
Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the 2002 Atlantis flight, a piece of insulation broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster but did not impede the mission or the program. There was little follow-up or investigation.
The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven-person crew were destroyed.
The disaster prompted the suspension of shuttle flights and led to a major investigation resulting in 29 recommended changes to prevent future calamities.
The difference in response in the two cases, Desai said, came down to this: The Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.
"Whenever you have a failure it causes a company to search for solutions and when you search for solutions it puts you as an executive in a different mindset, a more open mindset," said Desai.
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Drug Targets BRAF Cancer Gene Shows Promise Against Metastatic Melanoma

A phase 1 clinical trial using a new formulation of an experimental drug that targets the BRAF cancer gene, has shown early promise in treating melanoma in patients with a mutated form of the gene and whose skin cancer has progressed to the metastatic stage.
A paper on the trial appears in the 26 August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM.
Lead and corresponding author, Dr Keith Flaherty, director of Developmental Therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center in Boston, told the press that:
"Metastatic melanoma has a devastating prognosis and is one of the top causes of cancer death in young patients."
In the US, the current prognosis for surviving metastatic melanoma, where the skin cancer has spread to other parts of the body, is about 9 months. About 9,000 Americans die of the disease every year.
Many melanomas have a mutation of BRAF that activates a protein called serine-threonine kinase (B-RAF or BRAF) that drives the growth of cancer cells. The mutation is called V600E. These mutations of BRAF also occur in other cancers.
In this phase 1 trial, Flaherty and colleagues from other research centers in the US and Australia, found that a new formulation of PLX4032 (an earlier formulation had not succeeded in a previous trial), inhibited the V600E mutation of BRAF and 26 of the 32 patients they treated with it (81 per cent) showed a partial or complete response that lasted at least 19 months.
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