The influence of the malting barley genotype on the apparent attenuation limit (AAL) was investigated. The AAL level correlated closely with the maltose concentration in the wort but was not affected by other fermentable sugars or by the total carbohydrate content. The chemical composition, modification, amylolytic enzyme activities and several starch properties of selected malts were studied in detail. Variations in the maltose concentration could almost solely be traced back to genotype-dependent disparities of ␤-amylase thermostability. These differences are due to interallelic polymorphisms of the ␤-amylase gene and are easily detected by PCR. Hence, PCR primers offer remarkable prospects for breeding barley on the basis of a marker-assisted selection (MAS). Key words: Apparent attenuation limit, ␤-amylase, ␤-amylase thermostability, barley breeding, carbohydrates, fermentability, maltose. -2863(9'8-32In recent decades, malting barley breeding work has led to a considerable improvement in extract yield and modification. However, the extract yields currently attainable appear to be limited by the structure and chemical composition of the grain. Further attempts to enhance the extract may deteriorate barley quality, for example by an increased susceptibility to fungal attack caused by split husks. Efforts to improve malt quality are therefore intended to focus on increasing quality features of extract and thus its fermentability. The high heredity of the apparent attenuation limit (AAL) provides a good precondition for successful breeding work. However, the genetic basis of different AALs must first be unravelled.Expressing the percentage decline of 'extract' after complete fermentation, the AAL is intended to give information about the yield of fermentable sugars in the wort. It can be influenced by several factors as follows.A lack of extract and/or fermentable sugars in the wort can be due to a poor malt modification. If cell wall components and storage proteins are not sufficiently hydrolysed throughout the endosperm during malting, starch kernels will remain well embedded within the protein matrix and the interior of endosperm cell walls 23 . In this state, the granules gelatinise incompletely during mashing 23 and, hence, are less accessible for amylolytic enzymes 20 . A clear relationship between malt modification and the AAL could undoubtedly be confirmed both on a laboratory scale 11 and in brewing practice 12 . Differences in the extent of starch hydrolysis during mashing can also be affected by the starch itself. It has been ascertained that higher gelatinisation temperatures lead to a lower concentration of fermentable sugars in the wort 27 . This is obviously due to the ␤-amylase, as complete starch gelatinisation occurs at temperatures, where thermal inactivation of that enzyme has already occurred 27 . The ␤-amylase releases maltose from the non-reducing ends of ␣-1,4-linked poly-and oligoglucans 31 and is therefore considered essential for starch degradation during mashing. Both the characteris...

Secondary growth is a common post-harvest problem when pre-infected crops are attacked by filamentous fungi during storage or processing. Several antifungal approaches are thus pursued based on chemical, physical, or bio-control treatments; however, many of these methods are inefficient, affect product quality, or cause severe side effects on the environment. A protein that can potentially overcome these limitations is the antifungal protein AFP, an abundantly secreted peptide of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus giganteus. This protein specifically and at low concentrations disturbs the integrity of fungal cell walls and plasma membranes but does not interfere with the viability of other pro- and eukaryotic systems. We thus studied in this work the applicability of AFP to efficiently prevent secondary growth of filamentous fungi on food stuff and chose, as a case study, the malting process where naturally infested raw barley is often to be used as starting material. Malting was performed under lab scale conditions as well as in a pilot plant, and AFP was applied at different steps during the process. AFP appeared to be very efficient against the main fungal contaminants, mainly belonging to the genus Fusarium. Fungal growth was completely blocked after the addition of AFP, a result that was not observed for traditional disinfectants such as ozone, hydrogen peroxide, and chlorine dioxide. We furthermore detected reduced levels of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol after AFP treatment, further supporting the fungicidal activity of the protein. As AFP treatments did not compromise any properties and qualities of the final products malt and wort, we consider the protein as an excellent biological alternative to combat secondary growth of filamentous fungi on food stuff.

Review of the cosleeping literature yields a very limited body of prevalence research, only a small portion of which involves psychiatric populations. An archival records review of child and adolescent urban outpatients suggests that prevalence has been underestimated in the literature and that cosleeping is associated with child and parent anxiety and issues of separation and sleep management, rather than with inappropriate sexual contact.

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