Consumer acceptance of microalgae as a novel food - Where are we now? And how to get further.

Microalgae provide a potential new food resource for sustainable human nutrition. Many microalgae species can produce a high content of total protein with a balanced composition of essential amino acids, healthy oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, fibers, and vitamins. These components can be made available via unprocessed microalgae or refined as individual ingredients. In either case, if added to foods, microalgae may affect taste, smell, texture, and appearance. This review focuses on how consumer acceptance of new foods - such as microalgae - can be accessed in the world of sensory science by bringing together examples from recent consumer surveys. The main aim is to obtain an overview of the attitude towards microalgae as a food ingredient in Europe. The overarching finding suggests that European consumers generally find microalgae acceptable as ingredients in food products. However, there is a prevailing preference for keeping inclusion levels low, primarily attributed to the vivid green color that algae impart to food items upon addition. Additionally, consumers tend to favor the taste of freshwater algae over marine species, often finding the latter's pronounced fishy flavor less appealing.

Social learning and the adaptiveness of expressing and perceiving fearfulness.

The fearful ape hypothesis revolves around our ability to express and perceive fearfulness. Here, we address these abilities from a social learning perspective which casts fearfulness in a slightly different light. Our commentary argues that any theory that characterizes a (human) social signal as being adaptive, needs to address the role of social learning as an alternative candidate explanation.

Prediction of survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a nationwide, Danish cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease with great heterogeneity. Biological prognostic markers are needed for the patients to plan future supportive treatment, palliative treatment, and end-of-life decisions. In addition, prognostic markers are greatly needed for the randomization in clinical trials. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to test the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) progression rate (ΔFS) as a prognostic marker of survival in a Danish ALS cohort. METHODS: The ALSFRS-R score at test date in association with duration of symptoms, from the onset of symptoms until test date, (defined as ΔFS') was calculated for 90 Danish patients diagnosed with either probable or definite sporadic ALS. Median survival time was then estimated from the onset of symptoms until primary endpoint (either death or tracheostomy). ΔFS' was subjected to survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards modelling, log-rank test, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Both ΔFS' and age was found to be strong predictors of survival of the Danish ALS cohort. Both variables are easily obtained at the time of diagnosis and could be used by clinicians and ALS patients to plan future supportive and palliative treatment. Furthermore, ΔFS', is a simple, prognostic marker that predicts survival in the early phase of disease as well as at later stages of the disease.

Continuous EEG Monitoring in a Consecutive Patient Cohort with Sepsis and Delirium.

BACKGROUND: Delirium is common during sepsis, although under-recognized. We aimed to assess the value of continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) to aid in the diagnosis of delirium in septic patients. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 102 consecutive patients in a medical intensive care unit (ICU), who had sepsis or septic shock, without evidence of acute primary central nervous system disease. We initiated cEEG recording immediately after identification. The median cEEG time per patient was 44 h (interquartile range 21-99 h). A total of 6723 h of cEEG recordings were examined. The Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) was administered six times daily to identify delirium. We analyzed the correlation between cEEG and delirium using 1252 two-minute EEG sequences recorded simultaneously with the CAM-ICU scorings. RESULTS: Of the 102 included patients, 66 (65%) had at least one delirium episode during their ICU stay, 30 (29%) remained delirium-free, and 6 (6%) were not assessable due to deep sedation or coma. The absence of delirium was independently associated with preserved high-frequency beta activity (> 13 Hz) (P < 10-7) and cEEG reactivity (P < 0.001). Delirium was associated with preponderance of low-frequency cEEG activity and absence of high-frequency cEEG activity. Sporadic periodic cEEG discharges occurred in 15 patients, 13 of whom were delirious. No patient showed clinical or electrographic evidence of non-convulsive status epilepticus. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that cEEG can help distinguish septic patients with delirium from non-delirious patients.

Repeated exposure to vegetable-enriched snack bars may increase children's liking for the bars - but not for the vegetables.

Most children do not consume enough vegetables and a key reason is their relatively low hedonic acceptance. The aims of this study were to test if integration of vegetables into a popular snack product might serve as a means to increase the liking for vegetables and to test how exposure frequency influences the intake and liking. Totally 256 children from 12 school classes, aged 7-10 years, participated in the study. School classes were assigned to one of six intervention groups based on the bar they were exposed to: beetroot/carrot (B/C), n = 45; spinach/Jerusalem artichoke (S/J), n = 34; pumpkin/sweet potato (P/S), n = 44; Neutral, n = 46, who received a neutral bar without vegetables; and a Boredom Group, who received the beetroot/carrot (b/c) bar at high frequency, n = 47. These groups received 8 exposures. The Boredom Group was exposed daily while the other groups were exposed every second day. A Control Group (n = 40) was not exposed. Liking for the bars was assessed at baseline and post-intervention and the intake of the bars was recorded during all exposures. Results showed increases in liking for the exposed bars in all groups except the Boredom Group, but changes were only significant in the B/C Group (p = 0.03) and the P/S Group (p = 0.02). Some increases towards unexposed bars were observed. Liking for vegetables remained stable or decreased. Intake of the bars during exposures did not differ significantly between groups, but was somewhat lower in the Boredom Group. In conclusion, repeated exposure may be a successful approach to increase liking for a vegetable bar, but does not generalize to changes in vegetable liking, and a lower exposure frequency may be advantageous.

Carbon monoxide inhalation induces headache in a human headache model.

Introduction Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenously produced signalling molecule that has a role in nociceptive processing and cerebral vasodilatation. We hypothesized that inhalation of CO would induce headache and vasodilation of cephalic and extracephalic arteries. Methods In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, 12 healthy volunteers were allocated to inhalation of CO (carboxyhemoglobin 22%) or placebo on two separate days. Headache was scored on a verbal rating scale from 0-10. We recorded mean blood velocity in the middle cerebral artery (VMCA) by transcranial Doppler, diameter of the superficial temporal artery (STA) and radial artery (RA) by high-resolution ultrasonography and facial skin blood flow by laser speckle contrast imaging. Results Ten volunteers developed headache after CO compared to six after placebo. The area under the curve for headache (0-12 hours) was increased after CO compared with placebo ( p = 0.021). CO increased VMCA ( p = 0.002) and facial skin blood flow ( p = 0.012), but did not change the diameter of the STA ( p = 0.060) and RA ( p = 0.433). Conclusion In conclusion, the study demonstrated that CO caused mild prolonged headache but no arterial dilatation in healthy volunteers. We suggest this may be caused by a combination of hypoxic and direct cellular effects of CO.

Equality bias impairs collective decision-making across cultures.

We tend to think that everyone deserves an equal say in a debate. This seemingly innocuous assumption can be damaging when we make decisions together as part of a group. To make optimal decisions, group members should weight their differing opinions according to how competent they are relative to one another; whenever they differ in competence, an equal weighting is suboptimal. Here, we asked how people deal with individual differences in competence in the context of a collective perceptual decision-making task. We developed a metric for estimating how participants weight their partner's opinion relative to their own and compared this weighting to an optimal benchmark. Replicated across three countries (Denmark, Iran, and China), we show that participants assigned nearly equal weights to each other's opinions regardless of true differences in their competence-even when informed by explicit feedback about their competence gap or under monetary incentives to maximize collective accuracy. This equality bias, whereby people behave as if they are as good or as bad as their partner, is particularly costly for a group when a competence gap separates its members.

Bioactive compounds and antioxidant activities of some cereal milling by-products.

The present study was performed to evaluate the phytochemicals profiles of some cereal milling by-products such as wheat (bran, germ and shorts), rice (bran, germ and husk) and corn (bran, germ and germ meal) to assess their potentiality as bioactive compounds sources. Distilled water, ethanol, methanol, and acetone separately were used as solvents for the extraction of phytochemicals compounds. The antioxidant activity (AOA), total phenolics content (TPC), and total flavonoids content (TFC) of the extracts were investigated using various in vitro assays. The results showed that tannins content was ranged from 113.4 to 389.5 (mg/100 g sample).The study revealed that TPC and TFC of cereal by-products extracts were significantly different for various solvents. TPC content varied from 366.1 to 1924.9 mg/100 g and TFC content varied from 139.3 to 681.6 mg/100 g. High carotenoids content was observed for corn germ meal and minimum for wheat bran. Distilled water, ethanol and methanol extracts showed significantly different antioxidant activity. Significant variations were observed with regard to AOA of different cereal by-products by using various solvents. The ethanol and methanol were observed to be the best solvents to extract phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity, while acetone extract showed less efficiency. Also, the cereal milling by-products were rich in bioactive compounds and could be used as a value added products.

Migraine induced by hypoxia: an MRI spectroscopy and angiography study.

Migraine with aura is prevalent in high-altitude populations suggesting an association between migraine aura and hypoxia. We investigated whether experimental hypoxia triggers migraine and aura attacks in patients suffering from migraine with aura. We also investigated the metabolic and vascular response to hypoxia. In a randomized double-blind crossover study design, 15 migraine with aura patients were exposed to 180 min of normobaric hypoxia (capillary oxygen saturation 70-75%) or sham on two separate days and 14 healthy controls were exposed to hypoxia. Glutamate and lactate concentrations in the visual cortex were measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The circumference of cranial arteries was measured by 3 T high-resolution magnetic resonance angiography. Hypoxia induced migraine-like attacks in eight patients compared to one patient after sham (P = 0.039), aura in three and possible aura in 4 of 15 patients. Hypoxia did not change glutamate concentration in the visual cortex compared to sham, but increased lactate concentration (P = 0.028) and circumference of the cranial arteries (P < 0.05). We found no difference in the metabolic or vascular responses to hypoxia between migraine patients and controls. In conclusion, hypoxia induced migraine-like attacks with and without aura and dilated the cranial arteries in patients with migraine with aura. Hypoxia-induced attacks were not associated with altered concentration of glutamate or other metabolites. The present study suggests that hypoxia may provoke migraine headache and aura symptoms in some patients. The mechanisms behind the migraine-inducing effect of hypoxia should be further investigated.

The number of in-out catheterisations is reduced by mobilising the postoperative patient with bladder needs to the toilet in the recovery room: A randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Many patients are diagnosed with postoperative urine retention in the recovery room and treated with in-out catheterisation (IOC). OBJECTIVES: We hypothesised that the use of IOC could be reduced by mobilising patients to the toilet to pass urine instead of offering a bedpan or urinal. DESIGN: A randomised, controlled, nonblinded study with two groups. SETTING: University Hospital, October 2009 to June 2012. PATIENTS: One hundred and fifty-two patients scheduled for surgery for cervical or lumbar disc herniation. Inclusion criteria were a bladder volume more than 350 ml and/or the need to pass urine in the recovery room. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomised in the recovery room for mobilisation to the toilet (Group I) or use of a bedpan or urinal in the bed (Group C). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of IOC cases in the recovery room (primary outcome) and the duration of stay in the recovery room. RESULTS: Thirteen of 67 patients (19%) in Group I and 38 of 71 patients in Group C (54%) required IOC (P < 0.001). The median (IQR) durations of stay in the RR were 125 (97 to 125) min in Group I and 157 (115 to 214) min in Group C (P = 0.006). The median times from arrival to first general ward mobilisation were 85 (37 to 139) min in Group I and 180 (118 to 245) min in Group C (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Patients were mobilised early after disc herniation intervention to permit toilet visits in the recovery room. This strategy decreased the number of IOCs, duration of stay in the recovery room and time from arrival to first mobilisation in the general ward.

Does interaction matter? Testing whether a confidence heuristic can replace interaction in collective decision-making.

In a range of contexts, individuals arrive at collective decisions by sharing confidence in their judgements. This tendency to evaluate the reliability of information by the confidence with which it is expressed has been termed the 'confidence heuristic'. We tested two ways of implementing the confidence heuristic in the context of a collective perceptual decision-making task: either directly, by opting for the judgement made with higher confidence, or indirectly, by opting for the faster judgement, exploiting an inverse correlation between confidence and reaction time. We found that the success of these heuristics depends on how similar individuals are in terms of the reliability of their judgements and, more importantly, that for dissimilar individuals such heuristics are dramatically inferior to interaction. Interaction allows individuals to alleviate, but not fully resolve, differences in the reliability of their judgements. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of confidence and collective decision-making.

Effect of head rotation during surgery in the prone position on regional cerebral oxygen saturation: A prospective controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used to study regional cerebral blood oxygen saturation (rScO2) in patients in the prone position. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to test the hypothesis that head rotation more than 45° would affect the rScO2. DESIGN: A prospective, controlled, single cohort study. SETTING: University Hospital specialising in spinal surgery. PATIENTS: Fifty-two patients undergoing spinal surgery in prone position were enrolled and 48 completed the study. INTERVENTIONS: NIRS sensors were attached to each side of the forehead. Measurements were conducted during steady-state anaesthesia with the head in the neutral position, rotated left, rotated right and returned to the neutral position. Each series consisted of three measurements: resting on the head support, during head lift (to relieve pressure on the tissue at the sensors) and returned to rest on the head support. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The differences in rScO2 between the neutral and the turned head positions. RESULTS: For both left and right sensors, the median differences in rScO2 between neutral and left or right positions were between 0 and -1 with the head up (P = 0.14 to 0.84). The median differences with the head down were between 3.8 and -0.8, with a significant difference for the left sensor when turned left (P < 0.01) and for the right sensor (P = 0.006) when turned right. Ten patients showed reductions of more than 10 in rScO2 in the rotated (and lifted) positions. When the head was lifted from the head support, the rScO2 was -0.5 to 3.75 units higher, but there was high variability between patients. CONCLUSION: We recommend the neutral head position for prone patients.TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01760369.

Self-positioning followed by induction of anaesthesia and insertion of a laryngeal mask airway versus endotracheal intubation and subsequent positioning for spinal surgery in the prone position: a randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Anaesthesia followed by positioning in the prone position takes time and may have complications. OBJECTIVE: The hypothesis was that self-positioning in the prone position followed by anaesthesia and introduction of a laryngeal mask airway (LM method) would be faster with fewer complications than positioning after tracheal intubation (ET method). DESIGN: Randomised, controlled trial. SETTING: University Hospital, March 2009 to March 2011. PATIENTS: One hundred forty patients scheduled for spinal surgery were allocated to the LM or the ET method. Exclusion criteria were surgery expected to last more than 2 h, American Society of Anesthesiologists status more than II, age more than 70 years, abnormal neck, throat, and mouth anatomy and function, Mallampati score III-IV, BMI more than 35 kg m, anticipated difficult airway/mask ventilation and decreased neck mobility. INTERVENTIONS: Patients in the LM group placed themselves in the prone position, anaesthesia was induced and a laryngeal mask was introduced. Patients in the ET group were anaesthetised, intubated and then placed in the prone position. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time taken from identification of the patient at the outset to readiness for radiographic examination following anaesthesia and positioning. Airway problems, sore throat, hoarseness and pain from muscles and joints were also noted. RESULTS: One hundred and forty patients were randomised to LM (n = 70) and ET (n = 70). Data from 64 and 67 patients were analysed. Values are expressed as median (interquartiles) [range]. The primary outcome time was 25 min (23 to 29) [16 to 44] in the LM group and 30 min (26 to 33) [17 to 47] in the ET group (P <0.001). In two patients in group LM, a complete seal could not be obtained; one was intubated, and the other had surgery cancelled due to arterial hypotension. There were fewer cases with sore throat, hoarseness and pain from muscles and joints in the LM group at 3 h, but not at 24 h postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Self-positioning and induction of anaesthesia in the prone position saves time. More patients should be studied to confirm safety and examine whether the method reduces the number of severe complications associated with the prone position. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01041352.

Should patients walk from the postanesthesia care unit to the general ward after a lumbar discectomy? A randomized study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether it was feasible and safe to mobilize patients shortly after lumbar disc surgery with the objective of reducing postoperative complications and allowing shorter hospitalization. DESIGN: Randomized controlled study. METHOD: The patients were randomized into two groups, intervention and control groups. Those in the intervention group used a walking frame to walk, with a porter and a nurse, from the postanesthesia care unit to the general ward. Patients in the control group were transported in their beds. The Bournemouth Questionnaire was used to define the various aspects of well-being of the patients. FINDINGS: A total of 22 patients were included, 11 in each group. Owing to the limited number of patients, statistical comparisons were not performed. However, patients in the walking group were mobilized earlier than the controls, and needed fewer painkillers and less oxygen supplement during the first postoperative day. The length of stay and the number of postoperative complications were similar in the two groups as tested during the three weeks after surgery. CONCLUSION: This pilot study suggests that it might be feasible and safe to mobilize patients shortly after lumbar disc surgery. There were no indications of an increased number of postoperative complications.

On the social nature of abstraction: cognitive implications of interaction and diversity.

The human capacity for abstraction is remarkable. We effortlessly form abstract representations from varied experiences, generalizing and flexibly transferring experiences and knowledge between contexts, which can facilitate reasoning, problem solving and learning across many domains. The cognitive process of abstraction, however, is often portrayed and investigated as an individual process. This paper addresses how cognitive processes of abstraction-together with other aspects of human reasoning and problem solving-are fundamentally shaped and modulated by online social interaction. Starting from a general distinction between convergent thinking, divergent thinking and processes of abstraction, we address how social interaction shapes information processing differently depending on cognitive demands, social coordination and task ecologies. In particular, we suggest that processes of abstraction are facilitated by the interactive sharing and integration of varied individual experiences. To this end, we also discuss how the dynamics of group interactions vary as a function of group composition; that is, in terms of the similarity and diversity between the group members. We conclude by outlining the role of cognitive diversity in interactive processes and consider the importance of group diversity in processes of abstraction. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.

Reproducibility of cerebral blood flow, oxygen metabolism, and lactate and N-acetyl-aspartate concentrations measured using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.

In humans, resting cerebral perfusion, oxygen consumption and energy metabolism demonstrate large intersubject variation regardless of methodology. Whether a similar large variation is also present longitudinally in individual subjects is much less studied, but knowing the time variance in reproducibility is important when designing and interpreting longitudinal follow-up studies examining brain physiology. Therefore, we examined the reproducibility of cerebral blood flow (CBF), global cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2), global arteriovenous oxygen saturation difference (A-V.O2), and cerebral lactate and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) concentrations measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) techniques through repeated measurements at 6 h, 24 h, 7 days and several weeks after initial baseline measurements in young healthy adults (N = 26, 13 females, age range 18-35 years). Using this setup, we calculated the correlation, limit of agreement (LoA) and within-subject coefficient of variation (CoVWS) between baseline values and the subsequent repeated measurements to examine the longitudinal variation in individual cerebral physiology. CBF and CMRO2 correlated significantly between baseline and all subsequent measurements. The strength of the correlations (R2) and reproducibility metrics (LoA and CoVWS) demonstrated the best reproducibility for the within-day measurements and generally declined with longer time between measurements. Cerebral lactate and NAA concentrations also correlated significantly for all measurements, except between baseline and the 7-day measurement for lactate. Similar to CBF and CMRO2, lactate and NAA demonstrated the best reproducibility for within-day repeated measurements. The gradual decline in reproducibility over time should be considered when designing and interpreting studies on brain physiology, for example, in the evaluation of treatment efficacy.

Coming to terms: quantifying the benefits of linguistic coordination.

Sharing a public language facilitates particularly efficient forms of joint perception and action by giving interlocutors refined tools for directing attention and aligning conceptual models and action. We hypothesized that interlocutors who flexibly align their linguistic practices and converge on a shared language will improve their cooperative performance on joint tasks. To test this prediction, we employed a novel experimental design, in which pairs of participants cooperated linguistically to solve a perceptual task. We found that dyad members generally showed a high propensity to adapt to each other's linguistic practices. However, although general linguistic alignment did not have a positive effect on performance, the alignment of particular task-relevant vocabularies strongly correlated with collective performance. In other words, the more dyad members selectively aligned linguistic tools fit for the task, the better they performed. Our work thus uncovers the interplay between social dynamics and sensitivity to task affordances in successful cooperation.

Umami potential of fermented beverages: Sake, wine, champagne, and beer.

The free amino acid (FAA) contents of a special selection of fermented beverages have been measured by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). The selection, which includes 8 sakes, 9 white, rosé, and sparkling wines, 9 genuine champagnes, as well as 5 types of beer, was made to uncover the umami potential of different types of fermented beverages, in particular whether long yeast contact and ageing may influence the contents of free glutamate that is known to elicit umami sensation. The data show that in particular sakes as well as some beers, wines and champagnes with long yeast contact contain appreciable amounts of free glutamate. The results are discussed in the context of food pairing where umami synergy can be achieved by combining fermented beverages with long yeast contact with food rich in free nucleotides.

Gastrophysical and chemical characterization of structural changes in cooked squid mantle.

Squid (Loligo forbesii and Loligo vulgaris) mantles were cooked by sous vide cooking using different temperatures (46°C, 55°C, 77°C) and times (30 s, 2 min, 15 min, 1 h, 5 h, 24 h), including samples of raw tissue. Macroscopic textural properties were characterized by texture analysis (TA) conducted with Meullenet-Owens razor shear blade and compared to analysis results from differential scanning calorimetry. The collagen content of raw tissues of squid was quantified as amount of total hydroxyproline using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography. Structural changes were monitored by Raman spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering and visualized by second harmonic generation microscopy. Collagen in the squid tissue was found to be highest in arms (4.3% of total protein), then fins (3.0%), and lowest in the mantle (1.5%), the content of the mantle being very low compared to that of other species of squid. Collagen was found to be the major protein responsible for cooking loss, whereas both collagen and actin were found to be key to mechanical textural changes. A significant decreased amount of cooking loss was obtained using a lower cooking temperature of 55°C compared to 77°C, without yielding significant textural changes in most TA parameters, except for TA hardness which was significantly less reduced. An optimized sous vide cooking time and temperature around 55-77°C and 0.5-5 h deserves further investigation, preferably coupled to sensory consumer evaluation. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The study provides knowledge about structural changes during sous vide cooking of squid mantle. The results may be translated into gastronomic use, promoting the use of an underutilized resource of delicious and nutritious protein (Loligo vulgaris and Loligo forbesii).