Blood products from donors with OBI carry a high risk of HBV transmission by transfusion. This risk is dependent on presence of anti-HBs and viral dose. This may justify safety measures such as anti-HBc and HBV nucleic acid test screening depending on epidemiology.

OBJECTIVEDiabetes is a common cause of shortened life expectancy. We aimed to assess the association between diabetes and cause-specific death. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSWe used the pooled analysis of individual data from 12 Spanish population cohorts with 10-year follow-up. Participants had no previous history of cardiovascular diseases and were 35-79 years old. Diabetes status was self-reported or defined as glycemia >125 mg/dL at baseline. Vital status and causes of death were ascertained by medical records review and linkage with the official death registry. The hazard ratios and cumulative mortality function were assessed with two approaches, with and without competing risks: proportional subdistribution hazard (PSH) and cause-specific hazard (CSH), respectively. Multivariate analyses were fitted for cardiovascular, cancer, and noncardiovascular noncancer deaths. RESULTSWe included 55,292 individuals (15.6% with diabetes and overall mortality of 9.1%). The adjusted hazard ratios showed that diabetes increased mortality risk: 1) cardiovascular death, CSH = 2.03 (95% CI 1.63-2.52) and PSH = 1.99 (1.60-2.49) in men; and CSH = 2.28 (1.75-2.97) and PSH = 2.23 (1.70-2.91) in women; 2) cancer death, CSH = 1.37 (1.13-1.67) and PSH = 1.35 (1.10-1.65) in men; and CSH = 1.68 (1.29-2.20) and PSH = 1.66 (1.25-2.19) in women; and 3) noncardiovascular noncancer death, CSH = 1.53 (1.23-1.91) and PSH = 1.50 (1.20-1.89) in men; and CSH = 1.89 (1.43-2.48) and PSH = 1.84 (1.39-2.45) in women. In all instances, the cumulative mortality function was significantly higher in individuals with diabetes. CONCLUSIONSDiabetes is associated with premature death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and noncardiovascular noncancer causes. The use of CSH and PSH provides a comprehensive view of mortality dynamics in a population with diabetes.Diabetes constitutes a worldwide public health problem (1) that affected 382 million people (8.3% of the world's population) in 2013 (2). Recent projections suggest that this prevalence is likely to increase in the next 20 years, affecting 592 million people (10.1%) in 2035. In Spain, diabetes affects 13.8% of individuals older than 18 years and is more prevalent in men than in women (3,4).The average life expectancy of a 50-year-old individual with diabetes is 6 years shorter than it would be without the disease (5). Diabetes not only doubles or

The bitterness of the main compounds identified in the phenolic extract of virgin olive (Olea europaea L.) oils has been sensory-tested. The aldehydic form of oleuropein aglycone (AOA) was responsible for this attribute. Correlations between the sensory bitterness and concentrations of secoiridoid derivatives, analyzed separately or in different combinations, were obtained for olive oils from different olive varieties. The best correlation obtained corresponds to AOA content (r = 0.96; P = 1.83 × 10 −17 ) in the concentration range of 0.03 to 0.5 mmol/kg. AOA concentrations ≥0.5 mmol/kg produce sensory saturation of this attribute. The correlation with AOA concentration was better than that with the absorbance of the phenolic extract at 225 nm. Therefore, the equation obtained allows the evaluation of the bitterness in virgin olive oils by HPLC analysis of the phenolic extract using detection at 280 nm.Paper no. J10590 in JAOCS 81, 71-75 (January 2004).

Storage at 3 and 18 °C of 'Arbequina' olives (Olea europaea L.) cultivated in hedgerows and harvested manually or mechanically (wine grape harvester) was tested. Fruit characteristics and oil quality were monitored. Mechanical harvesting caused internal fruit damage that induced its rapid softening and decay, but also facilitated obtaining higher amounts of oil, which suffered a rapid deterioration during fruit storage. This oil presented lower tocopherol and phenol contents and lower oxidative stability than the oil extracted from manually harvested olives, but showed similar fatty acid composition. Cold storage (3 °C) delayed all of these deterioration processes. It allowed maintaining the best commercial level of quality ("extra") in the oil from mechanically harvested olives for 10 days. This cold storage could be considered as an alternative to the increase in machinery for processing the growing olive production, due to both hedgerow cultivation and mechanized harvesting.

Olives (Olea europaea cv. Arbequina, Blanqueta, Lechín, Villalonga, and Verdial) used for oil production were harvested and distributed in four successive stages of ripening according to their skin color (green, spotted, purple, and black). The firmness of the fruits and the quality of the oils extracted from these fruits were analyzed. The resistance to postharvest handling measured by fruit firmness decreased during fruit ripening. The total oil content, the total oil extracted, and the α-tocopherol content did not change appreciably during this process. In general, the parameters which measure the oxidation of the oils extracted (K 230, K 270, and stability to oxidation) indicated a progressive deterioration of oil quality as fruit ripening progressed. Moreover, in this process bitterness indices decreased in the oils. The stage of ripening mainly affected the sensory quality of the oils obtained from the Verdial and Blanqueta varieties, which clearly decreased during fruit ripening. Keywords: Olea europaea; maturity; postharvest; oil quality; analytical determinations

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Olives (Olea europaea cv. Picual) used for oil production were stored for 60 days at three different temperatures (ambient, 5 °C, and 8 °C) in containers used for fruit storage, each with a capacity for 64 kg of olives. The quality of both the fruits and the oils extracted from these fruits was analyzed. Fruit storage at 5 °C maintained the initial sensorial and chemical qualities of the oil for 45 days, but at 8 °C, these qualities were maintained for only 15 days. At room temperature, these qualities deteriorated just after 7 days of storage.

Olives (Olea europaea cv. Blanqueta and Villalonga) used for oil production (130 000 kg for each variety) were stored at two different temperatures (ambient and 5 °C) on an industrial scale. Refrigeration of the olives at 5 °C delayed deterioration of the physical, chemical, and sensorial parameters, measures of oil quality, allowing an additional 30 days of storage without changes in the initial oil quality. The Blanqueta variety does not maintain oil quality under cold storage as well as the Villalonga variety.