Effect of blending Jersey and Holstein-Friesian milk on Cheddar cheese processing, composition, and quality.

The effect of Jersey milk use solely or at different inclusion rates in Holstein-Friesian milk on Cheddar cheese production was investigated. Cheese was produced every month over a year using nonstandardized milk consisting of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% Jersey milk in Holstein-Friesian milk in a 100-L vat. Actual, theoretical, and moisture-adjusted yield increased linearly with percentage of Jersey milk. This was also associated with increased fat and protein recoveries and lower yield of whey. The composition of whey was also affected by the percentage of Jersey milk, with lower whey protein and higher whey lactose and solids. Cutting time was lower when Jersey milk was used, but the cutting to milling time was higher because of slower acidity development. Hence, overall cheesemaking time was not affected by the use of Jersey milk. Using Jersey milk increased cheese fat content in autumn, winter, and spring and decreased cheese moisture in spring and summer. Cheese protein, salt, and pH levels were not affected. Cheese was analyzed for texture and color, and it was professionally graded at 3 and 8mo. The effect of Jersey on cheese sensory quality was an increase in cheese yellowness during summer and a higher total grading score at 3mo in winter; no other difference in cheese quality was found. The study indicates that using Jersey milk is a valid method of improving Cheddar cheese yield.

Short communication: Estimation of the financial benefit of using Jersey milk at different inclusion rates for Cheddar cheese production using partial budgeting.

Partial budgeting was used to estimate the net benefit of blending Jersey milk in Holstein-Friesian milk for Cheddar cheese production. Jersey milk increases Cheddar cheese yield. However, the cost of Jersey milk is also higher; thus, determining the balance of profitability is necessary, including consideration of seasonal effects. Input variables were based on a pilot plant experiment run from 2012 to 2013 and industry milk and cheese prices during this period. When Jersey milk was used at an increasing rate with Holstein-Friesian milk (25, 50, 75, and 100% Jersey milk), it resulted in an increase of average net profit of 3.41, 6.44, 8.57, and 11.18 pence per kilogram of milk, respectively, and this additional profit was constant throughout the year. Sensitivity analysis showed that the most influential input on additional profit was cheese yield, whereas cheese price and milk price had a small effect. The minimum increase in yield, which was necessary for the use of Jersey milk to be profitable, was 2.63, 7.28, 9.95, and 12.37% at 25, 50, 75, and 100% Jersey milk, respectively. Including Jersey milk did not affect the quantity of whey butter and powder produced. Although further research is needed to ascertain the amount of additional profit that would be found on a commercial scale, the results indicate that using Jersey milk for Cheddar cheese making would lead to an improvement in profit for the cheese makers, especially at higher inclusion rates.

The reversibility of osteoarthritis: a review.

Osteoarthritis, usually considered a wear and tear, or age-associated disease, is generally regarded as inexorably progressive once it has become clinically symptomatic. Enormous advances in the understanding of the normal cell biology of hyaline cartilage, synovium, and bone have led some to suspect that the process can be arrested, or even reversed. Some of the lines of evidence, both experimental and clinical, supporting this proposition, are presented in this paper. I first noted an apparent partial reversal of severe osteoarthritis of the hips in an 85-year-old man, as assessed by reappearance of hip joint spaces, when examined radiologically. The favorable change persisted until his death at age 92. Since then a number of similar cases have been observed, other types of evidence of reversibility examined, and an extensive study of the literature made. Five main areas are described: Modern and ancient concepts of osteoarthritis; myths and misconceptions; theories of etiology and pathogenesis; advances in basic knowledge of tissue involved and lines of evidence of arrest or reversibility derived from these advances; and an outline of practical, clinical management based on the cell biology of hyaline cartilage, synovium, and bone, especially subchondral bone. Aspirin is emphasized as the drug of choice and a method of administration is described.

Auranofin versus placebo in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

In a six-month, multicenter, double-blind study involving 340 patients, auranofin, 3 mg twice daily, was compared with placebo in the treatment of adult-onset rheumatoid arthritis. All patients were continued on a therapeutic regimen of salicylates and/or a newer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Patients in both treatment groups who completed six months of therapy with coded medications showed significant improvement in the clinical features of rheumatoid arthritis (that is, number of tender and swollen joints, severity of pain, grip strength and duration of morning stiffness); however, the mean improvement was greater in the auranofin-treated group. Fifty-two percent of the auranofin-treated patients compared with 24 percent of the placebo-treated patients (p less than 0.05) were judged by their physician to have shown marked or moderate improvement. Only in the auranofin-treated patients was there significant improvement from baseline in the laboratory parameters of disease activity: erythrocyte sedimentation rate, IgA, IgG, and IgM. After at least three months of therapy, 30 percent (46 of 152) of the placebo-treated patients but only 9 percent (13 of 152) of the auranofin-treated patients (p less than 0.05) withdrew from coded medication due to insufficient therapeutic effect. Study medication was discontinued by 5 percent (eight of 152) of the auranofin-treated patients and 3 percent (four of 152) of the placebo-treated patients because of adverse therapy events (p = 0.24). This study demonstrates the efficacy of auranofin when added to salicylates and/or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Anatomy and physiology of the cervical spine.

Although the lumbar spine was extensively studied from 1934 to the present, the cervical spine has received far less attention. Anatomic, physiological, biochemical, and biomechanical characteristics of the lumbar spine are often presumed to apply to the cervical spine. The differences are far too extensive to warrant such an assumed correlation. Beginning in 1955, the authors have collected 171 whole human spines and studied them anatomically, physiologically, and histologically. Reported in this article are clinically important anatomic characteristics of the nucleus pulposus, the uncinate process, nerve root exit sites, position of the motor (anterior) nerve root, relation of spinal cord volume to size and shape of the spinal canal, anatomy of the anterior and posterior spinal canal, menisci of the zygapophyseal joints, and the anatomy and clinical significance of the autonomic nervous system in the cervical spine.

The painful shoulder.

The shoulder, a very common site of pain syndromes in medical practice, lends itself well to precise clinical analysis and identification of the pain-sensitive structure or structures. Once identified, rational and effective management can be applied, associated with predictably good prognosis. Early identification of the emerging specific syndrome is important in decreasing the duration of the clinical disorder and in achieving optimum return of shoulder function. Laboratory and X-ray studies are not commonly required in diagnosis and management. There are a confusing variety of names attached to the many shoulder pain syndromes; however, there are two most common categories. One is associated with severe pain but little or no limitation of shoulder movement (at least passive movement), in which the pain-sensitive structure is tendon or tendon sheath; the other is associated with both pain and limitation of active and passive motion, in which the pain-sensitive structures are capsule, bursa, and synovium as well as muscle and multiple tendons.

Rheumatic syndromes in endocrine disease.

It is not widely appreciated that endocrine disease may present primarily as rheumatic syndromes, sometimes spectacular in onset, more commonly insidious and subtle, making their true recognition difficult. The underlying hormonal, biochemical, and metabolic events have understandable reflection in the structure and function of bone, joint, and muscle.

The effect of hemodilution with albumin or Ringer's lactate on water balance and blood use in open-heart surgery.

To determine the effect of intraoperative albumin administration on blood use, water balance, and postoperative clinical course, we studied two groups of adult cardiac surgical patients. Group I (30 patients) received 25 gm of albumin during withdrawal of 2 units of blood prior to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and 50 gm of albumin in the oxygenator prime. Group II (32 patients) received no albumin prior to the end of CPB. No difference in clinical course could be identified, nor was there a significant difference in blood use. Group I patients had lower hematocrit values intraoperatively from the time of blood withdrawal until the conclusion of operation. Coronary artery bypass operations were associated with greater positive water balance than were heat valve operations. Forty-three percent of the patients having coronary artery bypass grafting had a positive water balance greater than 5 liters, whereas 50% of those undergoing valve procedures had a balance less than 3 liters. We conclude that the principal effect of withholding albumin under these circumstances is to increase net positive water balance. The greater positive water balance does not appear to be detrimental.

The efficacy and safety of auranofin compared to placebo in rheumatoid arthritis.

This double-blind multicenter study compares the effect of adding auranofin (AF) 3 mg bid or placebo to patients already taking nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. The 242 patients who completed 3 months of therapy demonstrated that the group receiving AF responded better than those receiving placebo. Of the 144 patients who completed 6 months coded medication, the efficacy in the AF group was superior to the placebo group in several parameters including a reduction in the number of painful or swollen joints, grip strength, dropout rate, and global efficacy as judged by the evaluating physician. A significant lowering of the Westergren erythrocyte sedimentation rate and immunoglobulin levels was noted in the AF treated patients. This study includes data summarizing the difference between both groups with respect to on-therapy conditions and toxicity.

Cervical and thoracic pain.

The cervical spine has long been an area in which the assumption is made that no undescribed anatomy and physiology will be forthcoming. Herein described are cervical anatomy and physiology that have not been reported, as well as anatomy that has been extensively described but does not exist. Fresh research needs to be done on the distinctive and poorly understood characteristics of the autonomic nervous system in the cervical spine. Included in research reports are evidence of herniation of intradiscal gas; efficacy of early mobilization of patients with long-standing neck pain; successful surgical treatment relieving severe hemicranial migraine attack; and the use of magnetic resonance imaging in thoracic disk herniation, permitting precise localization and determination of the magnitude of cord compression.

Symptomatic intraspinal synovial cyst in a 66-year-old marathon runner.

A 66-year-old marathon runner developed an intraspinal synovial cyst arising from the L5-S1 zygapophyseal joint, clinically characterized by episodic pain, paresthesia and sense of coldness. Symptoms were predictably and completely relieved by running; Valsalva maneuver elicited the pain, paresthesia and cold sensation. A precisely similar episode occurred 3 years previously on the right side and disappeared spontaneously without recurrence. Routine films and myelogram were not diagnostic; a CAT scan showed the lesion. The cyst was successfully resected; the patient has been asymptomatic for 2 year postoperatively.

Halothane-induced decrease in experimental myocardial ischemia in the non-failing canine heart.

The effect of halothane on net myocardial oxygen balance of ischemic myocardium was studied in the non-failing canine heart. Myocardial ischemia was produced by repeated reversible occlusions of a coronary artery; the severity of ischemia was estimated by summating ST-segment elevations (sigma ST) obtained by epicardial ECG mapping at 15 to 18 sites. Control measurements were obtained before and after administration of halothane (0.75 per cent) to six dogs with chloralose-urethane basal anesthesia. Halothane was associated with significant decreases of systemic arterial pressure (P less than .001), heart rate (P less than .01), and the product of systolic arterial pressure X heart rate (P less than .01), an indirect index of myocardial oxygen consumption, while left atrial pressure remained unchanged at normal levels. sigmaST during occlusion was less (P less .001) during halothane (26.5 +/- 7.4 (SD) mv) than before (36.6 +/- 5.4 mv) or after (34.4 +/- 8.2 mv) its administration. Thus, halothane decreased the severity of experimentally-induced myocardial ischemia in the non-failing canine heart. The data suggest that, in the absence of ventricular failure, halothane influences the relationship between myocardial oxygen supply and demand in a favorable direction when coronary blood flow is limited.

Suppressor cell activity in progressive systemic sclerosis.

Prostaglandin-producing suppressor cell activity was significantly increased in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (p less than .01). No significant differences were found in concanavalin-A induced suppressor T cell activity. Although these results indicate an alteration in immunoregulatory function they may represent a compensatory reaction to a defect in the regulation of fibrogenesis.