2. Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU

The use of human milk in milk banks requires thermal processing to eliminate microbiological hazards. An evaluation is made of the stability of overall human milk bactericidal capacity following 2 modalities of thermal pasteurization: 63°C/30 minutes and 75°C/15 seconds. Ten milk samples (mature milk) were analyzed. In each sample, the effect of both thermal treatments on bactericidal capacity against Escherichia coli was evaluated in relation to the capacity of fresh milk (control). All the samples analyzed possessed bactericidal capacity. Human milk pasteurization induced a significant loss of this capacity that was more pronounced after high-temperature treatment than after low-temperature processing. Untreated milk, low-pasteurized milk, and high-pasteurized milk yielded a reduction in E. coli growth of 70.10%, 52.27%, and 36.39%, respectively. In conclusion, human milk possesses antimicrobial activity that is lost in part as a result of thermal processing. Such bactericidal capacity is, moreover, better preserved by low-temperature, long-time pasteurization.

The individual and combined antilisterial efficiency of nisin, lactic acid and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) was investigated. Raw ground pork was inoculated with a strain of Listeria monocytogenes and samples were distributed into twelve lots. Half of the lots were stored aerobically and the other six lots were packaged using the MAP. A different combination of nisin (N) and/or lactic acid (LA) was added to each lot (300 ppm N, 500 ppm N; 2% LA; 300 ppm N and 2% LA; 500 ppm N and 2% LA). All samples were stored at 4 °C for 21 days (samples with MAP) or 7 days (samples stored aerobically). The inactivation of L. monocytogenes in samples stored aerobically was attained mainly with the combination of 500 ppm N + LA; however, in samples with MAP, the L. monocytogenes population decreased 3.45 log with the addition of LA, and the combination N + LA increased the inactivation other 0.5 log.

Restriction digestion analysis of the acyl transferase (AT) domain sequences of a polyketide synthase (PKS) gene was tested as a rapid method to identify isolates of Aspergillus tubingensis from grapes. Restriction endonuclease digestion of PKS products using the endonucleases BccI, HaeIII, HpaII, MboI and TaqI distinguished five types of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Ochratoxigenic isolates were only identified within RFLP-types I and III. The RFLP assay is proposed as a rapid and easy method to identify A. tubingensis isolates from grapes. Amino acid sequences of AT domains from representative A. tubingensis isolates of the RFLP types obtained were aligned and analysed using phylogenetic methods. A comparison was also made with reference strains of Aspergillus section Nigri. Most of the A. tubingensis strains clustered into two distinct groups Gr1 and Gr2 with the exception of two isolates that remained unclustered. These results support the intraspeficific variability within A. tubingensis species reported using other techniques.

Samples from 240 carcasses were collected from four animal species (porcine, ovine, bovine and equine). Two samples were taken from each carcass, one using the excision method (EX) and the other the wet–dry swabbing method (SW). Eight areas from each carcass were sampled. Most of the samples obtained by SW revealed total aerobic viable counts (TVC) levels of between 3.1 and 4.0 log CFU cm−2, while most of the values corresponding to excision were located between 4.1 and 5.0 log CFU cm−2. Moreover, Enterobacteriaceae (EC) counts were only detected above 3.0 log CFU cm−2 in 0.85% of the carcasses when the samples were collected by swabbing, while the excision method revealed that 13.75% of the carcasses presented EC greater than 3.0 log CFU cm−2. TVC and EC by EX revealed statistically significant differences compared to SW, while no significant linear relationship was found between carcass surface bacterial counts obtained by SW and EX.

Los estudios publicados sobre la morbilidad y mortalidad asociadas con la anestesia en gatos así como la farmacología de agentes anestésicos inhalatorios forman la base para discutir algunos de los desafíos que los gatos presentan durante el mantenimiento de anestesia, encontrándose hoy en día muy por detrás de los resultados obtenidos con los perros. En el presente capítulo se va a tratar la valoración anestésica y la principal farmacología que se utiliza en la clínica diaria, y en el próximo, se expondrá el acto anestésico completo, la monitorización y principales complicaciones que se encontrarán durante la anestesia en esta especie.

In this paper, we explore two of the most relevant theories that explain financial policy in small and medium enterprises (SMEs): pecking order theory and trade-off theory. Panel data methodology is used to test the empirical hypotheses over a sample of 6482 Spanish SMEs during the five-year period 1994–1998. The results suggest that both theoretical approaches contribute to explain capital structure in SMEs. However, while we find evidence that SMEs attempt to achieve a target or optimum leverage (trade-off model), there is less support for the view that SMEs adjust their leverage level to their financing requirements (pecking order model).