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As part of the regulatory approval process in Europe, comparison of endogenous soybean allergen levels between genetically engineered (GE) and non-GE plants has been requested. A quantitative multiplex analytical method using tandem mass spectrometry was developed and validated to measure 10 potential soybean allergens from soybean seed. The analytical method was implemented at six laboratories to demonstrate the robustness of the method and further applied to three soybean field studies across multiple growing seasons (including 21 non-GE soybean varieties) to assess the natural variation of allergen levels. The results show environmental factors contribute more than genetic factors to the large variation in allergen abundance (2- to 50-fold between environmental replicates) as well as a large contribution of Gly m 5 and Gly m 6 to the total allergen profile, calling into question the scientific rational for measurement of endogenous allergen levels between GE and non-GE varieties in the safety assessment.

Flue gas properties are very important for evaluation of a boiler’s performance. Non-homogeneity of the properties and large dimensions of flue-gas ducts require measurements with large number of measuring points to provide high accuracy of measurement results. An analysis of simpler measuring methods is presented. It is shown that high accuracy can be achieved with small number of measuring points if their positions are optimised with respect to pre-determined conditions in the flue gas duct. The methods can be used as operational measurements to monitor boiler’s performance and for on-line calculation of boiler’s efficiency.

The process of heating gases to high temperatures by volumetric absorption of concentrated solar radiation is presented. Research on the influence of the size and substance on the absorption and reflection abilities of carbonaceous particles and particle-gas suspensions were carried out. Theoretical predictions were confirmed with experiments. The possibility of applying the process of gasification of coals with concentrated solar radiation in a coal particle-superheated steam suspension is discussed.

Classical optics holds that the extinction cross of particles should be equal to twice their geometric cross section, in the limit where the particles are much larger than the wavelength. It follows that the extinction coefficient of such large scatterers should be independent of wavelength. Snowflakes are much larger than the wavelengths of visible and infrared radiation, yet many investigators have found that the visible and infrared extinction coefficient of falling snow measured with transmissometers is wavelength dependent. This dependency is known to be a result of the scattering contribution to the transmissometer signal. Furthermore, many measurements in the visible and infrared show that extinction values measured simultaneously with two transmissometers are linearly related up to at least 12 km(-1). The slope depends on the wavelengths and optical characteristics of the transmissometers. We show that for small values of extinction, the observations can be explained by taking into account single-scattering contributions to transmissometer signals. For high values of extinction, a multiplescattering model gives good agreement with measurements.

In patients with suspicious breast lesions, scintimammography (SM) using Tc-99m tetrofosmin (TETRO) and hydroxymethylene-diphosphonate (HDP) and Gd-DTPA MRI were performed. For both TETRO and MRI sensitivity was 93% compared to 71% for HDP; specificity was lower for TETRO and HDP (71%) than for MRI (86%). This preliminary study shows that, in contrast to HDP, TETRO SM and Gd-DTPA MRI are of additional diagnostic value in diagnosing breast cancer.

Diabetics are more liable than the general population to suffer a deterioration of colour vision especially affecting blue discrimination (Verriest, 1964; Kinnear, Aspinall and Lakowski, 1972; Lakowski, Aspinall and Kinnear, 1973; Barca and Vaccari, 1978). It is also suggested that early signs of dyschromatopsia precede recognisable diabetic changes in the retina.