An increasing number of studies exploit the occurrence of unexpected events during the fieldwork of public opinion surveys to estimate causal effects. In this paper, we discuss the use of this identification strategy based on unforeseen and salient events that split the sample of respondents into treatment and control groups: the Unexpected Event during Survey Design. In particular, we focus on the assumptions under which unexpected events can be exploited to estimate causal effects and we discuss potential threats to identification, paying especial attention to the observable and testable implications of these assumptions. We propose a series of best practices in the form of various estimation strategies and robustness checks that can be used to lend credibility to the causal estimates. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey, we illustrate the discussion of this method with an original study of the impact of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks (Paris, 01/07/2015) on French citizens’ satisfaction with their national government.

The electoral consequences of the Great Recession are analysed in this article by combining insights from economic voting theories and the literature on party system change. Taking cues from these two theoretical perspectives, the impact of the Great Recession on the stability and change of Western, Central and Eastern European party systems is assessed. The article starts from the premise that, in order to fully assess the impact of the contemporary crisis, classic economic voting hypotheses focused on incumbent parties need to be combined with accounts of long-term party system change provided by realignment and dealignment theories. The empirical analysis draws on an original dataset of election results and economic and political indicators in 30 European democracies. The results indicate that during the Great Recession economic strain was associated with sizable losses for incumbent parties and an increasing destabilisation of Western European party systems, while its impact was significantly weaker in Central and Eastern European countries, where political rather than economic failures appeared to be more relevant. In line with the realignment perspective, the results also reveal that in Western Europe populist radical right, radical left and non-mainstream parties benefited the most from the economic hardship, while support for mainstream parties decreased further.

Mycotoxins comprise a family of fungal toxins, many of which have been implicated as chemical progenitors of toxicity in man and animals. The most thoroughly studied are the aflatoxins. A variety of physical, chemical, and biological methods to counteract the mycotoxin problem have been reported, but large-scale, practical, and cost-effective methods for detoxifying mycotoxin-containing feedstuffs are currently not available. The most recent approach to the problem has been the addition to the animal's diet of nonnutritive sorbents that sequester mycotoxins and reduce their gastrointestinal absorption, avoiding their toxic effects on livestock and toxin carryover into animal products. This review comments on the in vitro efficacy of several of the adsorbents assayed, and their in vivo applications in a range of animals will be discussed. The sorbents reviewed are activated charcoal, bentonite, zeolite, hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (HSCAS) and a wide variety of clays and synthetic ion-exchange resins.

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The viability of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from commercial fermented milks was studied during storage at 4°C. The enumeration of total viable bacteria was assessed using fluorescence microscopy. Plate counting on selective media was used to enumerate LAB. Using LIVE/DEADÒ BacLight TM viability staining, it was observed that bacterial counts decreased gradually after expiry dates, the number of viable bacteria remaining above 10 6 bacteria g )1 for all of the products. Viable cell counts estimated by plating onto selective media were lower than those obtained by direct microscopic counting. The viability of LAB contained in acid products decreased during their storage period at 4°C. All products contain viable LAB ranging from 10 8 to 10 9 bacteria g )1 and could be considered as probiotic, given that the recommended minimum number of probiotic bacteria in such food products is approximately 10 7 bacteria mL )1 product. The number of bifidobacteria in commercial fermented milks declared to contain bifidobacteria varied from 10 4 to 10 7 bacteria mL )1 . This study confirms the usefulness of fluorescent techniques for a rapid and accurate evaluation of bacterial viability in probiotic products.

The purpose of this study was to compare the neurotrophic factor response following one session of high-intensity exercise, resistance training or both in a cohort of physically inactive overweight adults aged 18–30 years old. A randomized, parallel-group clinical trial of 51 men (23.6 ± 3.5 years; 83.5 ± 7.8 kg; 28.0 ± 1.9 kg/m2) who are physically inactive (i.e., < 150 min of moderate-intensity exercise per week or IPAQ score of <600 MET min/week for >6 months) and are either abdominally obese (waist circumference ≥90 cm) or have a body mass index, BMI ≥25 and ≤ 30 kg/m2 were randomized to the following four exercise protocols: high-intensity exercise (4 × 4 min intervals at 85–95% maximum heart rate [HRmax] interspersed with 4 min of recovery at 75–85% HRmax) (n = 14), resistance training (12–15 repetitions per set, at 50–70% of one repetition maximum with 60 s of recovery) (n = 12), combined high-intensity and resistance exercise (n = 13), or non-exercising control (n = 12). The plasma levels of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), neurotrophin-4 (also known as neurotrophin 4/5; NT-4 or NT-4/5), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were determined before (pre-exercise) and 1-min post-exercise for each protocol session. Resistance training induced significant increases in NT-3 (+39.6 ng/mL [95% CI, 2.5–76.6; p = 0.004], and NT-4/5 (+1.3 ng/mL [95% CI, 0.3–2.3; p = 0.014]), respectively. Additionally, combined training results in favorable effects on BDNF (+22.0, 95% CI, 2.6–41.5; p = 0.029) and NT-3 (+32.9 ng/mL [95% CI, 12.3–53.4; p = 0.004]), respectively. The regression analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between changes in BDNF levels and changes in NT-4/5 levels from baseline to immediate post-exercise in the combined training group (R2 = 0.345, p = 0.034) but not the other intervention groups. The findings indicate that acute resistance training and combined exercise increase neurotrophic factors in physically inactive overweight adults. Further studies are required to determine the biological importance of changes in neurotrophic responses in overweight men and chronic effects of these exercise protocols.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02915913 (Date: September 22, 2016).