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Abstract: Meat is an integral part of the human diet. Besides essential amino acids and nutritive factors of high quality and availability, meat provides often overlooked components of importance for human health. These are amino acids and bioactive compounds that may be very important in i) preventing muscle wasting diseases, such as in sarcopenia, ii) reducing food and caloric intake to prevent metabolic syndrome, iii) blood pressure homeostasis via ACE-inhibitory components from connective tissue, and iv) maintaining functional gut environment through meat-derived nucleotides and nucleosides. In addition, meat could be an important source of phytanic acid, conjugated linoleic acids and antioxidants. Further, it becomes increasingly apparent that design of in vitro meat will be possible, and that this development may lead to improved health benefits from commercially viable and sustainable meat products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: One factor affecting meat quality is pre-slaughter stress. We investigated the effects of exercise stress on drip loss and toughness in relation to resting times of 0, 1 or 3h following exercise on a treadmill. This exercise stress was regarded as combined physical and physiological stress. Exercise stress increased the muscle temperature, reduced the creatine phosphate, ATP and glycogen content of pigs slaughtered immediately after stress exposure. These conditions lead to a reduced pH early post mortem and an increased drip loss, while only 1h of rest after exercise stress normalised these effects. However, an overshooting effect was noted when pigs were rested for 1–3h before slaughter, emphasising the importance of critical control of the resting period when studying exercise stress-induced effects on meat quality. Furthermore, meat from exercise stressed pigs, irrespective of resting, had increased toughness compared to controls, indicating that the toughness was not related to drip loss in meat from exercise stressed pigs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Duroc and Landrace pigs as well as primary myotubes from these breeds were used to investigate mechanisms behind differences in their response to creatine monohydrate (CMH). Pigs were supplemented with 0, 12.5, 25 or 50g CMH/d for 5 days (n =10 per treatment and breed). Plasma levels of creatine increased dose-dependently in both breeds, while muscle-creatine phosphate content increased only in the Duroc pigs. 1H NMR metabolic profiling showed a tendency towards clustering according to CMH supplementation only among Duroc pigs, revealing a stronger response compared to Landrace pigs. The abundance of insulin-like growth factor I and myostatin mRNA was decreased by CMH supplementation while that of type 1 IGF-receptor and creatine transporter was unaffected. Protein synthesis, increased in the myotubes from both breeds, indicating protein accretion, but no effect was observed on the mRNA abundance of IGF-I, type 1 IGF-receptor, myostatin or the creatine transporter in myotubes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Increased creatine content in the muscle may delay post mortem lactate formation and postpone the pH decline, hence potentially improving the water-holding capacity (WHC). Duroc and Landrace pigs were supplemented with 0, 12.5, 25 or 50g creatine monohydrate (CMH)/d for 5 days prior to slaughter. Meat from Longissimus dorsi (LD) of Duroc pigs had a higher WHC and pH at all times, lower colour determinants; a* (redness), b* (yellowness), L* (lightness) and was more juicy compared to that of Landrace pigs. Furthermore, higher pH2h, pH24h and decreased colour determinants were observed in carcass sides exposed to a faster cooling profile. Dietary supplementation with CMH increased the body weight gain of both breeds. However, only meat from Duroc pigs had higher pH30min and pH45min (at 50g CMH/d) and WHC, but reduced redness (reduced in both breeds) and juiciness when supplemented with CMH compared to non-supplemented controls. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

ABSTRACT In commercial production, chickens are subjected to feed withdrawal prior to slaughter and exposed to stress during transport and handling of the animals at the slaughterhouse; this causes plasma glucose and glycogen stores in liver and muscle to decrease, which has a negative impact on meat quality. The aim of the present study was to investigate how supplementation of the energy complements creatine and pyruvate during the fasting period would affect postmortem pH decrease, water-holding capacity, and color of the meat. Female Ross 208 broilers were supplemented with glucose combined with either pyruvate or creatine via the drinking water for 18 or 42 h prior to slaughter, i.e., before and throughout the fasting period. Chickens were slaughtered at 42 or 43 d of age. Temperature and pH were measured at 1, 10, 30, and 45 min and 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 h postmortem. The results showed that the pyruvate and glucose supplementation increased the pH at 45 min postmortem by 0.25 units and decreased drip loss of musculus pectoralis major (PM) by 50 to 65% in chickens supplemented for 42 h. The creatine and glucose supplementation reduced pH at 3 and 4 h postmortem by 0.32 to 0.42 units, increased the lightness (L*) by 2.3 to 5.6 units, and increased drip loss by 51 to 137% in the PM of chickens supplemented for 18 and 42 h. Pyruvate and glucose supplementation thus appear beneficial but whether this is concomitant with an overall improvement in meat quality remains to be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses results of an experiment conducted on chickens that were fed a diet supplemented with a combination of ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol or oregano in order to ameliorate a negative effect of stress on meat quality characteristics. Tocopherol content in feed and muscle; Carotenoid content in oregano; Erythrocyte stability; Effect on activities of antioxidative enzymes.

This study investigates the structure of factors that influence consumer intentions to both try and to consume cultured proteins, and their intentions to substitute vegan, vegetarian and omnivore diets with these alternative protein sources. Comprehensive survey data (N = 3862) was collected from three Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, and Norway) and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Theoretically, this article draws from behavioural models of environmental psychology, identity theory, and attitude theory. Results indicate that beliefs about the necessity of an industry producing cultured proteins and impacts of cultured proteins on the global economy are significant predictors of consumer intentions. Moreover, participants who exhibited high levels of general and food innovativeness were more likely to express positive intentions to consume cultured proteins. Social norms influenced consumer intentions: Individuals surrounded by positive attitudes and intentions toward cultured proteins within their social networks were more inclined to want to consume these products. The predictor variables in the final model accounted for between 39% and 66% of the variance in the different cultured proteins related intentions. Understanding consumer intentions better can inform targeted communication strategies aimed at promoting the advantages of cultured proteins and facilitating its adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics was applied to investigate the effects of pre-slaughter exercise stress on the plasma metabolite profile at time of slaughter. The study included a total of 40 slaughter pigs, which were exposed to one of the following treatments: No pre-slaughter stress (control treatment), pre-slaughter exercise on a treadmill and subsequently 0, 1, or 3h rest prior to slaughter. NMR-based metabonomics revealed a clear difference in the plasma metabolite profile at time of slaughter between control pigs and pigs exercised without rest, which mainly could be ascribed to increased plasma lactate due to exercise. A resting period of 1 or 3h prior to slaughter reversed the stress-induced perturbations in the plasma metabolite profile. The plasma metabolite profile at time of slaughter was highly correlated with muscle temperature 1min post-mortem, and a correlation to WHC was also demonstrated. Lactate was found to be the metabolite of importance for the association between the plasma metabolome and pH, temperature and WHC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Creatine content in the muscle may delay postmortem lactate formation and postpone the pH decline, hence potentially improving the water-holding capacity (WHC) as shown in a previous study including purebred Duroc pigs, although the same study did not find any effect on meat from purebred Landrace pigs. In the present study Danish D(LY) crossbreeds were supplemented with 0 or 50g creatine monohydrate (CMH)/d for five days prior to the slaughter. CMH supplementation had no effect on meat quality indicators (pH and temperature), meat quality attributes (WHC and colour) or eating quality (juiciness and tenderness) of meat from the D(LY) crossbred pigs. As a consequence the D(LY) crossbreed was classified as a non-responder to CMH supplementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present experiment investigated the effects of a calcium deficient diet on the use of outdoor areas, foraging activity and production parameters in two strains of slow-growing broilers (i657 and a Labresse cross). The birds were housed as day-old in an indoor system of 2×8 groups of each 111 birds (11.8 birds/m2). After 6 weeks, the groups were moved to an outdoor housing system of 2×8 houses (3 m×5 m) with free access to outdoor grass-covered areas (9 m×22 m). The outdoor areas were equipped with two supported sloping roofs and a sandpit. In the outdoor system, the birds were fed one of the two feeds; high (1.1%) or low (0.3%) calcium, ad libitum in a 2×2 factorial design with four replicates. In each group, number and behaviour of birds outside were recorded 1 day per week between sunrise and sunset (15 scan samples per group per day) during a 6-week period until slaughter at 84 days of age. The number of birds in the outdoor area and the proportion of these being inactive was unaffected by the treatment. Surprisingly, birds on the high calcium diet showed more foraging activity when outside (P=0.04), and these birds also consumed more pelleted feed (P=0.01) and consequently had a larger body weight at slaughter (P=0.01). Birds on both treatments showed a diurnal activity rhythm and stayed more in the zones closest to and furthest from the house. In conclusion, the deprivation of calcium diminished foraging activity, feed intake and growth rate of the broilers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the hot hole dynamics on a subpicosecond time scale in highly excited intrinsic gallium arsenide. Use of a kinetic model to determine hole temperature behavior; Effect of phonon emission process on the data consistency; Importance of electron-hole and hole-lattice interactions.

Many longitudinal studies have investigated whether self‐esteem predicts depressive symptoms (vulnerability model) or the other way around (scar model) in adolescents. The most common method of analysis has been the cross‐lagged panel model (CLPM). The CLPM does not separate between‐person effects from within‐person effects, making it unclear whether the results from previous studies actually reflect the within‐person effects or whether they reflect differences between people. We investigated the associations between self‐esteem and depressive symptoms at the within‐person level, using random intercept cross‐lagged panel models (RI‐CLPMs). To get an impression of the magnitude of possible differences between the RI‐CLPM and the CLPM, we compared the results of both models. We used data from three longitudinal adolescent samples (age range: 7–18 years; study 1: N = 1948; study 2: N = 1455; study 3: N = 316). Intervals between the measurements were 1–1.5 years. Single‐paper meta‐analyses showed support for small within‐person associations from self‐esteem to depressive symptoms, but not the other way around, thus only providing some support for the vulnerability model. The cross‐lagged associations in the aggregated RI‐CLPM and CLPM showed similar effect sizes. Overall, our results show that over 1‐ to 1.5‐year time intervals, low self‐esteem may negatively influence depressive symptoms over time within adolescents, but only weakly so. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to validate previously reported associations between microarray gene expression levels and pork quality traits using real-time PCR. Meat samples and meat quality data from 100 pigs were collected from a different pig breed to the one tested by microarray (Large White versus Pietrain) and a different country of origin (Denmark versus Germany). Ten genes ( CARP, MB, CSRP3, TNNC1, VAPB, TNNI1, HSPB1, TNNT1, TIMP-1, RAD-like) were chosen from the original microarray study on the basis of the association between gene expression levels and the meat quality traits meat %, back fat, pH24, drip loss %, colour a*, colour b*, colour L*, WB-SF, SFA, MUFA, PUFA. Real-time PCR detection methods were developed for validation of all ten genes, confirming association with drip loss (two of two genes), ultimate pH (three of four genes), a* (redness) (two of six genes) and L*(lightness) (two of four genes). Furthermore, several new correlations for MUFA and PUFA were established due to additional meat quality trait information on fatty acid composition not available for the microarray study. Regression studies showed that the maximum explanation of the phenotypic variance of the meat quality traits was 50% for the ultimate pH trait using these ten genes only. Additional studies showed that the gene expression of several of the genes was correlated with each other. We conclude that the genes initially selected from the microarray study were robust, explaining variances of the genes for the meat quality traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The optical absorption of GaAsN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrates is measured using the mirage effect photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). The PDS spectra were fitted with a modified Fernelius model, which takes into account multiple reflections within the GaAsN layer and GaAs substrate. This allowed the extraction of bandedge parameters for a series of GaAsN films with N content varying from 0.24% to 1.4% N. All films show a clear Urbach absorption edge with a composition-dependent bandgap consistent with literature and Urbach slope parameters roughly 3 times larger than GaAs values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Probabilistic risk assessment is gaining acceptance as the most appropriate way to characterize and communicate uncertainties in estimates of human health risk and/or reference levels of exposure such as benchmark doses. Although probabilistic techniques are well established in the exposure-assessment component of the National Research Council’s risk-assessment paradigm, they are less well developed in the dose–response-assessment component. This paper proposes the use of hierarchical statistical models as tools for implementing probabilistic dose–response assessments, in that such models provide a natural connection between the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) components of dose–response models. The results show that incorporating internal dose information into dose–response assessments via the coupling of PK and PD models in a hierarchical structure can reduce the uncertainty in the dose–response assessment of risk. However, information on the mean of the internal dose distribution is sufficient; having information on the variance of internal dose does not affect the uncertainty in the resulting estimates of excess risks or benchmark doses. In addition, the complexity of a PK model of internal dose does not affect how the variability in risk is measured via the ultimate endpoint. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the feed and strain effects on the use of outdoor areas by broilers. Assessment of consequences for production, meat quality and health of Ross 208 (ROSS) and Labresse cross (LAB) broilers; Evidence for diurnal rhythm of broilers with other birds; Questions regarding meat quality of LAB and growth of ROSS in free production environment.